Disclaimer: I only own the obivious characters.
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Five Months later~
I stepped off the train platform, searching for my Uncle Daniel (my Mother's older brother) and his wife, my Aunt Charlene. I had just traveled for nearly two days from L.A. to Castle Rock Oregon to live with them and there two boys: Billy (a year older than me) and Vern (three year's younger). I'd met them a couple of times, but hadn't seen them in nearly five years. I hoped they reconized me, but then again, I kind of hoped they didn't. Then maybe I could go back to California and live with some of my mother's friends like I had been, till all these arrangments for me to come live here had been made. I'd had my Sixteenth birthday in March, but nobody paid it any attention. I was gradually getting over the hump of my Mother's death.
"Storm!" A man's voice called somewhere to my left. So much for going back to California. The man reached me, and I reconized him as my Uncle. Aunt Charlene and the boy's followed him. "Look at her Charlene! The spitting image of Camille!" He pulled me into a hug and a smelled the rich scent of cigars.
"Oh, she's beautiful!" Aunt Charlene squealed. "Hello, Storm!" She envolped me and I nearly died of suffaction.
"Um, hello." I tried to smile, but it came off as more of a smirk, I think. I tried to remember the things I had to planned to say. "It's nice of you to let me come live here." Lame, lame, lame.
"Oh, sweetheart, don't think a thing about it!" Aunt Charlene told me, taking my hand and pulling toward their car.
"Billy, get her things." Uncle Daniel command the his oldest son. Billy picked up my single suitcase.
"This it?" He grunted.
"Yeah." The only things I had bought were my Mother's blue, gauze dress, her poetry books, the picture of her and my father, my sketchpad and pencils, and my birth certificate, and about four outfits, including the one I had on.
"That's all you brought, Storm?" Aunt Charlene asked. We were sitting in the car now, me in the backseat between Billy and Vern. "Tomorrow, we'll take you shopping, okay?"
"Okay." Said my mouth. 'Oh Gee, I can't wait.' Said my brain. I could just imagine the clothes Aunt Charlene would dress me in. Skirt and sweater sets, saddle shoes, and bobby sox, just what I wanted to wear, let me tell you.
I didn't speak much on the way to my new home. As, we drove through Castle Rock, Billy and Vern pointed out different places.
"That's the high school. What grade will you be in, Storm?" Vern asked. "I'll be in the eight next year. Billy'll be a senior."
"I'll be in the 11th." I told him. Billy nodded towards a small building on the main drag.
"That's the Blue Point Dinner. Me and my friends hang out there. I'll introduce them to you later. You'll like 'em." Billy looked like he could really care less whether I liked his friends or not. I suspected he was only talking to me because his parents had filled him in on what happened and told him to be nice to me. He didn't look like the kind of guy who generally listened to his parents, what with his white tee shirt, ripped jeans, and greased back hairdo.
"Um, that'd be nice I guess."
We pulled up in front of the house just then and I immeditly fell in love with it. It was a two story white Victorian, with blue trim. I had never lived in a house before. Seriously. My Mother and I had lived all over the world: Mexico, Germany, Amstradam, Paris, but we always lived in apartments- never a house.
"Here we are!" Uncle Daniel proclaimed. He smiled at me and I took the time to study him. He was tall with dark hair, like the boys, a little on the thin side. Aunt Charlene had strawberry blonde hair and green eyes. I thought she was very pretty, but not as beautiful as my mother had been. I felt my eyes fill with tears at the thought of her and willed them not to fall. It didn't work and they slid down my cheeks.
"Hey! Storm's crying!" Vern exclaimed. Billy elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Ouch! Hey, that hurt Bill! Mom, he hit me!"
"Hush now, Vern." Aunt Charlene commanded him. She took my arm. "Come along, honey. I'll show you to your room."
She led me upstairs and into the bedroom at the end of the hall. Billy followed with my suitcase. The room was cute, all laces and frills, and I liked it. Mother would have ripped everything down and threw it in Aunt Charlene's face, but I wasn't my Mother. As this story progresses, I'll figure that out more and more. Anyway, I sat down on the pale pink bedspread and sniffled.
"I think we'll just leave you to settle in, honey." Aunt Charlene told me. Billy sat my suitcase down. "I'll send one of the boy's up for you when lunch is ready."
"Not me, Mom." Billy said. "I'm going over to Ace's for a while. Then me and the guy's might come back here later."
"Oh, Billy, you know I don't like those boys............" Aunt Charlene's voice trailed off as they desended downstairs. I lay back on my bed. I guess I was more tired than I realized, because as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.
~@~
After lunch, Uncle Dan (as I had been instructed to call him) had headed into work. He was mill operator and had taken the morning off. Billy was still gone with his friends and Vern had taken off to play baseball with his friends. He invited me to go, but I declinded. Baseball? Me? I don't think so.
So I had set off to explore. I looked through the house, and then made my way out to the very large back yard with my sketch book. There were a bunch of junk car's way in the back and a grove of tree's beyond that. I climbed on one of the car hoods and set to drawing the tree grove. I was so intent on it, that I didn't hear Billy and his friends until they were right up on me.
"Hey Storm. What're you doing way back here?" Billy asked, trying to look at my drawing. I tilted it up so he couldn't see.
"Just exploring. What are you doing?" I asked him. He looked surprised. I guess because this was the first sentence I had actually spoken to him since I arrived. I don't know,I was feeling comfortable in this place, like I had always lived here.
"We always hang out back here." He nodded toward his friends, six tough looking guys and two girls that looked about my age. Billy introduced them to me. "Guy's this is Storm, my cousin. Storm, these are the guys: Ace, Vince, Charlie, Jack, Fuzzy, and Eyeball. And this is my girl, Valerie, and Vince's girl, Sandra."
I giggled. The sound of it shocked me. I'd hardly laughed since that fateful morning four months ago. But come on! Eyeball? What kind of a name is that? I looked at the boy, slightly stocky, with curly brown hair, velvety brown eyes, and the cutest baby face.
"Eyeball? Is that your real name, or is your entire family named after body parts?" I asked. He smirked.
"Is Storm you're real name or is your entire family named after weather patterns?"
"Sorry to disappoint you, Eyebrow, but that's my real name." I misnounced his name on purpose. The other guys looked at each other, their eyes widening in surprise. I guess, not to many girls, or people in general, stood up to this kid. He glanced at my sketch book, then grabbed it out of my hands. My blood boiled inside. Who the fuck did this guy think he was?
"What's this stupid thing you keep drawing in? What are you an artist or somethin'?" He sneered. I pulled my book right back.
"Don't you touch my stuff Eyesocket! I don't know who the hell you think you are, but keep you're goddamn hands to yourself!" I knew my not saying his name right was pissing him off. One of the other guys, Ace, I think, looked me over.
"Damn girl. You got one hell of a mouth on you." His voice had a lilt to it, so I knew he wasn't offended by me telling off his friend. In fact, the only one who looked mad was Eyeball.
"Thanks. I think." I don't know where my nerve had come from, and at the moment I didn't care. I guess it was a another stage of facing my mother's death. For the first couple of weeks, I'd had been almost catonic, not speaking at all, but now I was just angry, and this Eyeball, as he called himself, was just pissing me off even more. I took a deep breath, trying to settle myself. Valerie, Billy's girlfriend, a short, auburn haired girl, smiled.
"I like this girl. She's got spunk!" She said. Sandra, the other girl, taller and with midnight black hair, but startling green eyes, laughed.
"Don't be to upset, honey." She told me. "Cobra's bark's are worse than their bite."
"Well, I sure as hell don't want them biting me!" I said. I didn't mean to be funny, but the girls laughed. They hopped up on the carhood beside me.
"Billy said you was from California," Valerie said. "Tell us all about it!"
So, as the guys did their thing, whatever that may be, I made friends with the girls. The were a little spacey, but really very nice. I noticed, however, that Eyeball kept giving me, well, the eye.
"Why does he keep looking at me?" I whispered to Sandra.
"Who?" I nodded towards Eyeball.
"Oh," Valerie giggled. "Maybe he likes you, Storm. God, I love your name."
"I might believe that he liked me if I hadn't just insulted him." I replied. "What's up with his name anyway?"
"Oh, it's just a nickname. His real name is.....um, gosh, I don't remember!" Sandra said. "I know it start's an 'R' though. Randall? Raymond? Oh well, they call him 'Eyeball' because his right eye is sorta twitchy."
"I've lived across the street from the Chambers family for nearly sixteen years, my entire life, and I know all about them." Valerie told me. " It's sad, really, because, Mrs. Chambers is really nice and so are the younger kids. Mr. Chambers though, he's a hard ass if I ever met one."
"What'da mean?" I asked her, leaning forward. She lowered her voice, so Eyeball wouldn't hear, I guess.
"Well, he spends most of his time out drinking, but when he is home he treats his family like shit. He's always hittin' on Mrs. Chambers and Chris, that's Eyeball's next younger brother. He pretty much ignores the three youngest kids, and Frank, the oldest, is in prison. But between Chris and Eyeball he has a right regular punching bag. More Chris, than Eyeball, but I've seen him turn up with some bad bruises." She said most of this in the same breath, so I really had to listen to catch it. I glanced at Eyeball. Maybe there was more to him than I first thought.
As it grew steadly darker, Billy's friends left, till Eyeball was only one there. Billy offered to walk Valerie home, and to my surprise, Eyeball offered to walk me to the front porch. I guess he wasn't too mad.
"Why?" I asked immeditly. Ever since Pete Greene, I've been a bit suspicious of the oppisite sex. Eyeball shrugged.
"Just thought it'd be the nice thing to do." He said. "But, if you don't want me too, I'll go and you can stand here in the dark." He started to walk away and I stood there for about a nanosecond before catching up with him.
"Wait, Eyeball!" I fell in step beside him.
"Why're you here, Storm?" He asked. He flashed his brown eyes on me. "A girl like you shouldn't be stuck in Castle Rock. You should be Paris or something."
"Been there. Done that." I replied, hoping to change the subject. I'd had fun that afternoon, and I certainly didn't want to talk about my Mother.
"You've been to Paris? Paris, France?
"Only one Paris that I know of, and yes I lived there a couple of times. Didn't you know ? I've been all over the world." I told him. He looked at me from the corner of his twitchy eye.
"With your mom?"
"Yep." I rubbed the toe of my shoe in the dirt. Why did he have to ask about her? Didn't he know?
"So what happened to her?"
"Are you always this nosy with girls?"
He glanced at me again. "Yep." He was mocking me.
"Don't patronize me, Eyeball Chambers. Besides, I thought you hated me, 'cause I made fun of your name."
"How can I hate you? We just met. I don't even know you. " He smiled. We were now on the front steps. "But you could aplogize. That'd be I nice."
I looked at him, then quoted my Mother. "Only peon's make excuses for themselves. Never apoligize, never explain."
"Well, that's one way to go about it." He remarked. His eye twitched again.
"What's your real name?" I heard myself asking. He shrugged.
"Eyeball is the only name I like to go by." I rolled my eyes and he grinned. "Besides my real name's really dorky. Nobody calls me by it, except for my Mom. Oh, and school teachers, but they all hate me."
"Why's that?"
"Didn't Val and Sandra tell ya? I'm a Chambers. Everyone hates me. I'm surprised they didn't tell you. They told everything else about me."
I blushed. "Only because I asked." He leaned over the porch railing and looked up at the dark sky.
"Why ya so curious to know 'bout me?"
"I'm not. I just...................." My voice trailed off. He shrugged.
"Whatever. I better go. I wanna get 'fore my old man does." He headed out to his old, beat up car. "Thank's for the company, Storm. See ya around."
"Bye." I sat on the porch swing and watched him drive away. About three minutes later, Billy came bounding up the steps.
"Eyeball just leave?" He asked, sitting down beside me.
"Yeah, he did."
"I think he likes you, Storm." Billy scratched the back of his leg. I looked at him.
"What makes you think that?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe 'cause he couldn't keep his eyes off you this afternoon. Anyway, he doesn't have a girlfriend. You should go for it."
"Billy, I just got here. I'm not excatly looking for romance." That reminded me. "Hey, did you tell them about my Mother?"
"Just that she died. I didn't tell 'em how or anything. Figured that wasn't my place."
I was surprised at how considerate he was being. "Thanks."
"No sweat."
Aunt Charlene poked her head out the door. "Come on you two, it's time to eat."
I ate supper, then hung out with Billy and Vern (which mostly consisted of them fighting) I tried not to think about Eyeball, but you know what? I just couldn't help it.
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Five Months later~
I stepped off the train platform, searching for my Uncle Daniel (my Mother's older brother) and his wife, my Aunt Charlene. I had just traveled for nearly two days from L.A. to Castle Rock Oregon to live with them and there two boys: Billy (a year older than me) and Vern (three year's younger). I'd met them a couple of times, but hadn't seen them in nearly five years. I hoped they reconized me, but then again, I kind of hoped they didn't. Then maybe I could go back to California and live with some of my mother's friends like I had been, till all these arrangments for me to come live here had been made. I'd had my Sixteenth birthday in March, but nobody paid it any attention. I was gradually getting over the hump of my Mother's death.
"Storm!" A man's voice called somewhere to my left. So much for going back to California. The man reached me, and I reconized him as my Uncle. Aunt Charlene and the boy's followed him. "Look at her Charlene! The spitting image of Camille!" He pulled me into a hug and a smelled the rich scent of cigars.
"Oh, she's beautiful!" Aunt Charlene squealed. "Hello, Storm!" She envolped me and I nearly died of suffaction.
"Um, hello." I tried to smile, but it came off as more of a smirk, I think. I tried to remember the things I had to planned to say. "It's nice of you to let me come live here." Lame, lame, lame.
"Oh, sweetheart, don't think a thing about it!" Aunt Charlene told me, taking my hand and pulling toward their car.
"Billy, get her things." Uncle Daniel command the his oldest son. Billy picked up my single suitcase.
"This it?" He grunted.
"Yeah." The only things I had bought were my Mother's blue, gauze dress, her poetry books, the picture of her and my father, my sketchpad and pencils, and my birth certificate, and about four outfits, including the one I had on.
"That's all you brought, Storm?" Aunt Charlene asked. We were sitting in the car now, me in the backseat between Billy and Vern. "Tomorrow, we'll take you shopping, okay?"
"Okay." Said my mouth. 'Oh Gee, I can't wait.' Said my brain. I could just imagine the clothes Aunt Charlene would dress me in. Skirt and sweater sets, saddle shoes, and bobby sox, just what I wanted to wear, let me tell you.
I didn't speak much on the way to my new home. As, we drove through Castle Rock, Billy and Vern pointed out different places.
"That's the high school. What grade will you be in, Storm?" Vern asked. "I'll be in the eight next year. Billy'll be a senior."
"I'll be in the 11th." I told him. Billy nodded towards a small building on the main drag.
"That's the Blue Point Dinner. Me and my friends hang out there. I'll introduce them to you later. You'll like 'em." Billy looked like he could really care less whether I liked his friends or not. I suspected he was only talking to me because his parents had filled him in on what happened and told him to be nice to me. He didn't look like the kind of guy who generally listened to his parents, what with his white tee shirt, ripped jeans, and greased back hairdo.
"Um, that'd be nice I guess."
We pulled up in front of the house just then and I immeditly fell in love with it. It was a two story white Victorian, with blue trim. I had never lived in a house before. Seriously. My Mother and I had lived all over the world: Mexico, Germany, Amstradam, Paris, but we always lived in apartments- never a house.
"Here we are!" Uncle Daniel proclaimed. He smiled at me and I took the time to study him. He was tall with dark hair, like the boys, a little on the thin side. Aunt Charlene had strawberry blonde hair and green eyes. I thought she was very pretty, but not as beautiful as my mother had been. I felt my eyes fill with tears at the thought of her and willed them not to fall. It didn't work and they slid down my cheeks.
"Hey! Storm's crying!" Vern exclaimed. Billy elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Ouch! Hey, that hurt Bill! Mom, he hit me!"
"Hush now, Vern." Aunt Charlene commanded him. She took my arm. "Come along, honey. I'll show you to your room."
She led me upstairs and into the bedroom at the end of the hall. Billy followed with my suitcase. The room was cute, all laces and frills, and I liked it. Mother would have ripped everything down and threw it in Aunt Charlene's face, but I wasn't my Mother. As this story progresses, I'll figure that out more and more. Anyway, I sat down on the pale pink bedspread and sniffled.
"I think we'll just leave you to settle in, honey." Aunt Charlene told me. Billy sat my suitcase down. "I'll send one of the boy's up for you when lunch is ready."
"Not me, Mom." Billy said. "I'm going over to Ace's for a while. Then me and the guy's might come back here later."
"Oh, Billy, you know I don't like those boys............" Aunt Charlene's voice trailed off as they desended downstairs. I lay back on my bed. I guess I was more tired than I realized, because as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.
~@~
After lunch, Uncle Dan (as I had been instructed to call him) had headed into work. He was mill operator and had taken the morning off. Billy was still gone with his friends and Vern had taken off to play baseball with his friends. He invited me to go, but I declinded. Baseball? Me? I don't think so.
So I had set off to explore. I looked through the house, and then made my way out to the very large back yard with my sketch book. There were a bunch of junk car's way in the back and a grove of tree's beyond that. I climbed on one of the car hoods and set to drawing the tree grove. I was so intent on it, that I didn't hear Billy and his friends until they were right up on me.
"Hey Storm. What're you doing way back here?" Billy asked, trying to look at my drawing. I tilted it up so he couldn't see.
"Just exploring. What are you doing?" I asked him. He looked surprised. I guess because this was the first sentence I had actually spoken to him since I arrived. I don't know,I was feeling comfortable in this place, like I had always lived here.
"We always hang out back here." He nodded toward his friends, six tough looking guys and two girls that looked about my age. Billy introduced them to me. "Guy's this is Storm, my cousin. Storm, these are the guys: Ace, Vince, Charlie, Jack, Fuzzy, and Eyeball. And this is my girl, Valerie, and Vince's girl, Sandra."
I giggled. The sound of it shocked me. I'd hardly laughed since that fateful morning four months ago. But come on! Eyeball? What kind of a name is that? I looked at the boy, slightly stocky, with curly brown hair, velvety brown eyes, and the cutest baby face.
"Eyeball? Is that your real name, or is your entire family named after body parts?" I asked. He smirked.
"Is Storm you're real name or is your entire family named after weather patterns?"
"Sorry to disappoint you, Eyebrow, but that's my real name." I misnounced his name on purpose. The other guys looked at each other, their eyes widening in surprise. I guess, not to many girls, or people in general, stood up to this kid. He glanced at my sketch book, then grabbed it out of my hands. My blood boiled inside. Who the fuck did this guy think he was?
"What's this stupid thing you keep drawing in? What are you an artist or somethin'?" He sneered. I pulled my book right back.
"Don't you touch my stuff Eyesocket! I don't know who the hell you think you are, but keep you're goddamn hands to yourself!" I knew my not saying his name right was pissing him off. One of the other guys, Ace, I think, looked me over.
"Damn girl. You got one hell of a mouth on you." His voice had a lilt to it, so I knew he wasn't offended by me telling off his friend. In fact, the only one who looked mad was Eyeball.
"Thanks. I think." I don't know where my nerve had come from, and at the moment I didn't care. I guess it was a another stage of facing my mother's death. For the first couple of weeks, I'd had been almost catonic, not speaking at all, but now I was just angry, and this Eyeball, as he called himself, was just pissing me off even more. I took a deep breath, trying to settle myself. Valerie, Billy's girlfriend, a short, auburn haired girl, smiled.
"I like this girl. She's got spunk!" She said. Sandra, the other girl, taller and with midnight black hair, but startling green eyes, laughed.
"Don't be to upset, honey." She told me. "Cobra's bark's are worse than their bite."
"Well, I sure as hell don't want them biting me!" I said. I didn't mean to be funny, but the girls laughed. They hopped up on the carhood beside me.
"Billy said you was from California," Valerie said. "Tell us all about it!"
So, as the guys did their thing, whatever that may be, I made friends with the girls. The were a little spacey, but really very nice. I noticed, however, that Eyeball kept giving me, well, the eye.
"Why does he keep looking at me?" I whispered to Sandra.
"Who?" I nodded towards Eyeball.
"Oh," Valerie giggled. "Maybe he likes you, Storm. God, I love your name."
"I might believe that he liked me if I hadn't just insulted him." I replied. "What's up with his name anyway?"
"Oh, it's just a nickname. His real name is.....um, gosh, I don't remember!" Sandra said. "I know it start's an 'R' though. Randall? Raymond? Oh well, they call him 'Eyeball' because his right eye is sorta twitchy."
"I've lived across the street from the Chambers family for nearly sixteen years, my entire life, and I know all about them." Valerie told me. " It's sad, really, because, Mrs. Chambers is really nice and so are the younger kids. Mr. Chambers though, he's a hard ass if I ever met one."
"What'da mean?" I asked her, leaning forward. She lowered her voice, so Eyeball wouldn't hear, I guess.
"Well, he spends most of his time out drinking, but when he is home he treats his family like shit. He's always hittin' on Mrs. Chambers and Chris, that's Eyeball's next younger brother. He pretty much ignores the three youngest kids, and Frank, the oldest, is in prison. But between Chris and Eyeball he has a right regular punching bag. More Chris, than Eyeball, but I've seen him turn up with some bad bruises." She said most of this in the same breath, so I really had to listen to catch it. I glanced at Eyeball. Maybe there was more to him than I first thought.
As it grew steadly darker, Billy's friends left, till Eyeball was only one there. Billy offered to walk Valerie home, and to my surprise, Eyeball offered to walk me to the front porch. I guess he wasn't too mad.
"Why?" I asked immeditly. Ever since Pete Greene, I've been a bit suspicious of the oppisite sex. Eyeball shrugged.
"Just thought it'd be the nice thing to do." He said. "But, if you don't want me too, I'll go and you can stand here in the dark." He started to walk away and I stood there for about a nanosecond before catching up with him.
"Wait, Eyeball!" I fell in step beside him.
"Why're you here, Storm?" He asked. He flashed his brown eyes on me. "A girl like you shouldn't be stuck in Castle Rock. You should be Paris or something."
"Been there. Done that." I replied, hoping to change the subject. I'd had fun that afternoon, and I certainly didn't want to talk about my Mother.
"You've been to Paris? Paris, France?
"Only one Paris that I know of, and yes I lived there a couple of times. Didn't you know ? I've been all over the world." I told him. He looked at me from the corner of his twitchy eye.
"With your mom?"
"Yep." I rubbed the toe of my shoe in the dirt. Why did he have to ask about her? Didn't he know?
"So what happened to her?"
"Are you always this nosy with girls?"
He glanced at me again. "Yep." He was mocking me.
"Don't patronize me, Eyeball Chambers. Besides, I thought you hated me, 'cause I made fun of your name."
"How can I hate you? We just met. I don't even know you. " He smiled. We were now on the front steps. "But you could aplogize. That'd be I nice."
I looked at him, then quoted my Mother. "Only peon's make excuses for themselves. Never apoligize, never explain."
"Well, that's one way to go about it." He remarked. His eye twitched again.
"What's your real name?" I heard myself asking. He shrugged.
"Eyeball is the only name I like to go by." I rolled my eyes and he grinned. "Besides my real name's really dorky. Nobody calls me by it, except for my Mom. Oh, and school teachers, but they all hate me."
"Why's that?"
"Didn't Val and Sandra tell ya? I'm a Chambers. Everyone hates me. I'm surprised they didn't tell you. They told everything else about me."
I blushed. "Only because I asked." He leaned over the porch railing and looked up at the dark sky.
"Why ya so curious to know 'bout me?"
"I'm not. I just...................." My voice trailed off. He shrugged.
"Whatever. I better go. I wanna get 'fore my old man does." He headed out to his old, beat up car. "Thank's for the company, Storm. See ya around."
"Bye." I sat on the porch swing and watched him drive away. About three minutes later, Billy came bounding up the steps.
"Eyeball just leave?" He asked, sitting down beside me.
"Yeah, he did."
"I think he likes you, Storm." Billy scratched the back of his leg. I looked at him.
"What makes you think that?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe 'cause he couldn't keep his eyes off you this afternoon. Anyway, he doesn't have a girlfriend. You should go for it."
"Billy, I just got here. I'm not excatly looking for romance." That reminded me. "Hey, did you tell them about my Mother?"
"Just that she died. I didn't tell 'em how or anything. Figured that wasn't my place."
I was surprised at how considerate he was being. "Thanks."
"No sweat."
Aunt Charlene poked her head out the door. "Come on you two, it's time to eat."
I ate supper, then hung out with Billy and Vern (which mostly consisted of them fighting) I tried not to think about Eyeball, but you know what? I just couldn't help it.