"Is this going to be a ritual for you?"

Teddy looked at Lorelei, placing a hand over his wounded heart. "You don't enjoy my company?"

"Ahh, walk, you." She had been on her way home from school again, without a ride for the second day in a row. Anya was with Chris, and she was kind of avoiding Reese. And Teddy had caught up with her again.

"How was your day?" he asked, falling into stride with her.

"Shitty."

Her quick answer startled him. "Oh. Why?"

"You're not my shrink."

"Pretend I am." He rested his elbow on her shoulder. "You're annoying when you're depressed. So stop it."

"Hmm, okay," she said brightly and sarcastically. "My best friend is off doing the nasty with the guy she knew I liked, and I let Reese Aarons kiss me."

"Jesus Christ!" Teddy exclaimed. "You need some disinfectant right away!"

"It wasn't that bad," Lorelei muttered. "He might actually come over tonight to hang out or whatever."

Teddy ran his hands through his hair. "You are disgusting, Lorelei."

"Screw you, Teddy," she replied, mocking his tone.

"You do realize why he's suddenly interested in you, don't you?" Teddy asked. "He's just trying to get back at Anya, you know. And you were there, so he figured you were convenient. He might get a few good lays out of you and that'll be a bonus for him, but in the end he just wants to hurt Anya for cheating on him."

Lorelei shot him a dirty look. "Oh, because heaven forbid some guy should actually like me! I forgot what a fucking disease I was. God, Teddy. Thank you very much."

"That's not it at all, Lorelei!" he insisted. "You're not a disease. You're funny and cool and all that shit, but Reese Aarons doesn't realize any of that! And you know it! You're just hurt over Chris and Anya. Don't settle just because your feelings are hurt, okay? It's stupid."

"You mean I'm stupid."

"Right now, yes, you're being stupid. You're not thinking, Lorelei!"

Shaking her head, she dug through her bag for a cigarette. They walked in silence for a few minutes, and then when they got to the Maple Street-Adelaide Avenue intersection, she stopped and looked at him. Tears were built up in her wide, expressive eyes. "I think I'm smart enough to find my way home from here. This is where you're turning, Teddy."

Teddy stared at her for a moment. Then he just shook his head in disgust and began to walk alone down Maple Street.

[Author's Note: Thanks again to Robyn for the idea of the flirting with strangers depicted in the next section hehe…that poor man outside the Albert's Flooring and Carpeting store must still be working it off, eh??]

Meanwhile, Chris was flirting with men and Anya was flirting with women out the window of his truck. A little girl riding a bike came up from behind the truck as they stopped at a stop sign. Anya leaned far out the window, like a dog, and cried, "TRACY?!"

The girl looked at her like she was mad.

Anya just grinned and twinkled her fingers flirtatiously.

Once Anya was safely back in the vehicle and they were moving again, Chris glanced over at her. "Can I ask why you called the poor child Tracy?"

"Yeah, but I don't know."

"Weirdo."

"Yes, yes."

They stopped at a red light. Chris looked over to see a heavyset man sitting in the passenger seat in the car next to him. "Heeeeyy!" he yelled.

The man appeared awfully confused.

"Call me?" Chris asked innocently.

"Light's green," Anya told him.

"Damn. I love that guy," Chris muttered. "So did you talk to Lorelei?"

"No. We have Home Ec together, but she never came over to talk to me. I figured she was mad and I was too scared to talk to her myself." She looked over at Chris. "I wish I had told her. I feel awful for her."

"She's a good kid," Chris agreed. "But we're not pursuing a relationship, remember? You're doing that for her. She'll forgive you. And besides, Lorelei's tough as nails."

"That's the thing; she's not," Anya said. "I mean, I know she puts up this whole front to make people think she's too detached to care, but she wears her heart out on her sleeve and she's so sensitive. This is going to hurt her, and she's going to be so upset that I never told her."

Chris came to a stop in front of Anya's house. "You're not a bad friend, Anya. I know that's what you're thinking, but it's not true. I hope Lorelei realizes how much you try to keep her from getting hurt."

She smiled softly, meeting his eyes with a distant tenderness. He was starting to mean the world to her, and she couldn't do anything about it. Without taking her eyes away from him, her hand sought the door handle blindly, and she tried to think of a way to say goodbye and thanks for the ride.

Soon the look became too intense, and Chris leaned over to her.

Before he could kiss her, she turned her head. "We're friends," she murmured, and now she couldn't look at him. "That's too friendly."

Gordie sat at the table, pushing his potatoes around with his fork. His parents were miles apart even though they were sitting right next to each other. He looked between the two, both of their faces expressionless and alien, and sighed heavily.

His deep sigh bringing his mother out of her thoughts, she looked up at him with a small smile. "Are you feeling better, sweetheart?"

"Dorothy, don't coddle the boy," his father snapped. "Gordon, you're still in the first month of school. What are you doing missing classes already? You think you can afford to slack off? You need to keep your grades up if you want to get into a good school. You don't have the talent or any promise of a future like your brother Denny did."

"Dad, Denny didn't have a future," Gordie murmured.

"He did have a future!" Mr. Lachance roared. "He would have done this family proud if it hadn't been for Mike Aarons and his goddamn drinking problem! My son paid with his life because of that man. That whole goddamn family is bad news."

"You don't know 'that whole goddamn family,'" Gordie snapped back, thinking about the day before, when he had watched Brooke walk away with such translucent poise. He had watched her until she had gotten into her car and start to cry, and then he had looked away. She wasn't so bad.

"Your problem is you don't have any respect for your brother," Mr. Lachance barked. "It's such a pity--"

Gordie interrupted, "That it was him and not me, right? It's such a pity, isn't it, Dad? If it had been me that had died, you wouldn't have to spend the rest of your life comparing the bad son to the good son, because I would be gone! Mom wouldn't have to cry every night over the miracle she lost and you wouldn't have to be embarrassed over the mistake you can't get rid of."

His parents just stared at him. Finally, Mr. Lachance found his voice, and he said, "Denny never would have--"

"Stop comparing me!" he pleaded. "I loved Denny, okay? I didn't love him because of how proud of him I was or how good he played football. I loved him because I knew who he was, and because he was the only one in this whole fucking family who was proud of me or cared what I was good at or just gave a shit about me! If you ever make a crack about me not respecting him, I am gone, do you hear me? Although I guess it wouldn't make much of a difference to you anyway, would it."

Colour stained his cheeks, but his anger had been spent on all the words he had only ever had the nerve to say to Chris. His parents knew now. Maybe they still didn't care; but they knew.

Mrs. Lachance looked up at him shyly, with the big doe eyes that he had inherited. "Do you want some more milk, sweetie?"