Hey first I just want to thank all my reviewers, this week has not been the best (very stressful in fact) but your reviews made me feel a whole lot better *hugs* I'm so glad you're enjoying this story! Hmmm I'm still not sure about the last few chapters but anyway…here are the next three!! I hope you enjoy them, please R+R and tell me what you think.  

French Class.

Gordie was just finishing up his story as the bell signalling the end of lunchtime rang.

"…. So just before Lewton dies he admits to Grant that he was the one who told Sgt. Steele about the French girl. So Lewton's dead and Grant's really confused and stuff because now he doesn't know what to think and he's angry at Lewton and he's angry at Steele and he's angry at the fuckin' Germans." Gordie paused to take a breath. This story was far from his best but the others were hanging on his every word. "So he grabs his gun."

"Machine gun." Vern corrected, his eyes shining.

"Yeah he grabs his machine gun and he runs to the front of the line and charges into the little French village. All these fuckin' krauts are everywhere and they're all shooting at him but he just keeps running. The other guys follow him only they keep getting shot down, right? But Grant, well, he gets right up to the German offence line and he shots this German commandant right between the eyes. And it doesn't matter that the commandant's men have him lined up in their shots and it doesn't matter that they all shoot him because he dies having killed the commandant." Gordie paused for effect. "He dies knowing that he just helped save all the fuckin' French people in the village."

"Including the girl?" Vern asked hopefully.

"Of course Vern" Teddy said. "Isn't that fuckin' obvious man?" He shook his head in amazement.

Gordie smiled slightly, this brought back a whole lot of memories. He wished life were as simple as it had been back then. Back then the biggest thing he'd had to worry about was that his friends wouldn't enjoy his stories. Well that wasn't exactly true but hey we all look back at our past with the old rose tinted glasses.

The bell had rung a good couple of minutes earlier and Gordie made to stub out his third cigarette and grab his backpack.

"Aw shit I got a test in French!" He said, suddenly remembering.

Teddy looked carefully at him. "Ditch."

Gordie glanced quickly at Teddy. "Skip the class?"

"Sure" Teddy said grinning. "Unless of course you're too pussy."

Gordie rolled his eyes. "It's not that man, it's just I should probably go, might be kind of important."

The other boys were drifting away, but Teddy stayed against the wall.

"I'm skipping next period, there's no fuckin' way I'm goin' to remedial social science, what kind of class is that anyway?" Teddy said then he laughed "e e eee e e eee."

That laughter cut to something inside Gordie, shit that laugh was Teddy Duchamp. It's weird when you find your life has circled around and you're back to where you were years earlier. That laugh man, that laugh was everything. Gordie found himself going back to stand next to Teddy. Teddy may be crazy, but knowing that some things never change comforted Gordie, he wanted to hold on to that feeling. Just for today.

Chris was sat in French class staring desperately at the blank page in front of him, willing it to give him some clue. He hadn't written a single thing; the seconds seemed to be inching by so slowly, this class was never going to end. He glanced wistfully at Gordie's empty chair, where was he? Chris had arrived at class late and hadn't had time to think about Gordie's whereabouts but now he found his mind wandering. Wait. There was no time for this; he had to concentrate on French. Concentrate he commanded himself. He felt sure that everyone in the room knew that he hadn't written a single word down yet he found himself looking furtively around the room searching for accusing glares. I bet they're laughing at me he thought and glowered at his paper.

The teacher was silently taking attendance and suddenly she looked up in confusion.

"Christopher ou est Gordie?"

Chris jerked his head up. "Je ne sais pas." He mumbled, feeling the eyes of his classmates upon him.

"I saw him out back." A pig like girl called Tanya offered.

"Out back?" Madame asked in surprise. "So he is in school today?"

"Yes m'am" Tanya replied. "I seen him out back with a bunch of other guys."

"Maybe he had to go see another teacher." Chris suggested, then immediately wondered why he was sticking up for Gordie again.

Tanya laughed mockingly. "I don't think so, it looked to me like he was smoking"

"Yeah" Tanya's friend Becky piped up. "He was with um what's that guy's name?"

"Terry Duchamp!" Tanya cried triumphantly.

"Yeah, yeah Terry that freaky boy with the glasses."

"Oh you mean 'Teddy'" another girl joined in. "Yeah he's that kid whose dad burnt his ear, right?"

"His dad's in an asylum!" Becky giggled.

"Girls, girls." Madame interrupted. "Get back to your tests."

Chris was frozen, his hands gripping the edge of his desk. He couldn't believe those nasty bitches and he couldn't believe Madam was letting them say stuff like that about Teddy. He couldn't get his mouth to form any words to argue back, he was speechless and he felt at once extremely helpless. Teddy is French he thought dully.

"Christopher?" Madame's voice broke through his stupor.

Chris wondered how many times she had said his name before he had heard her. "Yes m'am?"

"Take this message to the office." Madame held out a slip of paper. "If Mr Lachance thinks he can just cut my class then he will find that he cannot" Madame's eyes flashed angrily.

Chris climbed weakly to his feet; at least he was getting out of the test. He almost snatched the slip from Madame and stomped towards the door.

"Oh and Christopher, you may finish the test tomorrow lunchtime." Madame called just before the door shut.

Au revoir.