Author's Note/Disclaimer/Reviewer Gratification:
I do not own Stand By Me and/or The Body. I just really, really wish I did.
Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I was going through a HORRIBLE bout of writer's block, but now I'm back.
If it sounds like Jovie's looking at things differently it's because I'm trying to get back into the way she sees things and it's not working. Just thought I'd let you guys in on that.:) So yeah… on with the reviewer gratitude!
Cassie- The update chant works every time, this time I was just being lazy and I was going through serious Writer's Block. Then I watched the movie and instant story!
Bleezie- Aw thanks! I like your stuff too!
StormShadow21-Ace is awesome and I love Kiefer. Sigh. This is exciting and when I build my time machine we can go back to the sixties. Won't it be exciting!?
Alison- Don't be jealous! I bet you're a good writer too!
Jessie13- I updated… it just wasn't soon. Darn! :(
Megan- Look Claire's in this chapter! Dies… Okay, I'm better now.
Chapter Five
"This is Cassandra White, Danielle Sumter, and Elizabeth Taylor." Bell introduced them to me. "Girls, this is Jovanna Cameron."
"Just call me Jovie though." I added, trying a smile out.
"Yeah, I'm just Lizzie."
I glanced at the girl who had spoken and liked her almost at once. She was cheerful enough, but not overly cheerful like Jezebel. That would've driven me crazy.
"What class do you have first period?" Danielle wondered. I pulled my schedule out of my backpack and handed it to her. Cassandra and Lizzie crowded around her to check it out too.
"They like you." Jezebel whispered and, for some weird reason, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my chest.
"Well, you've got three classes with me," Lizzie piped up, brushing her brown hair away from her face as she handed me the schedule. "One with psycho Danni, one with Ms. Perfect, a.k.a. Cassandra, and the last one with the motor mouth."
"Which means that you've got four classes with Claire LeBeau. What a bitch." Danielle grimaced. You could tell she had a lot on her mind and was going to tell you what it was, whether you wanted to hear it or not.
"You're such a bad influence on the rest of us." Cassandra shook her head. She was the smart one, who would get into trouble but not because she started it.
I sighed, finally feeling like I belonged somewhere. Even Chris's friends hadn't… what was that word I was looking for? Fit?
The bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. I followed Danni through the crowded hallways, feeling like a shadow. It was weird because usually people shadowed me.
"You know, you're really quiet compared to Jez. And don't tell her I said this, but it's kinda nice."
"Yeah?" I asked. I didn't know what else to say. I still felt kind of shy. When I got to know these girls well enough though, I would have plenty to say. Besides, I already felt that maybe I could talk to Lizzie.
"Yeah, here we are. Geometry." Danni rolled her eyes and pulled the door open. She was like me with Math. It was simple, I just hated doing it.
Geometry passed by fast, which surprised me. We had a lot of homework though and I wondered who was going to help me now that Dad wasn't there. I stopped thinking about it as soon as I felt the tears sting my eyes. I refused to cry anymore. I'm tougher than that.
Then came English, my best subject, which I had with Lizzie. I thought it was interesting. Lizzie just doodled, really. She's a good artist. Claire sat at the other end of the room with Mandy and Allison, so I didn't get a good look at her.
The last class before lunch was Chemistry and that was boring too. We weren't mixing chemicals or anything and itching for lunch to start. Cassandra's in that class with me and trust me, when Lizzie called her Ms. Perfect, she wasn't joking. Her notes are easily read and I couldn't think of anything more boring.
Finally lunch rolled around and I bumped into Claire. Literally.
I walked with Cassandra into the cafeteria, trying to find where the others had gone.
"They'll probably be outside. That's where Jez always makes us go because she likes eating with Billy."
I giggled as we got into the lunch line. Billy was such a loser and the thought of Jezebel being madly in love with him was funny.
We made it through fairly quickly and took our trays outside to the bleachers. We had just opened the door when I collided with someone and my lunch went everywhere.
"I'm so sor-" I began, but stopped in mid sentence.
"Watch where you're going next time." Claire said angrily, brushing herself off. Following close behind her was Andrea, Allison, Mandy, and Jane. They glared at us like we were the lowest forms of life, but the same could be said of them and it would be true.
I nodded and stood up, brushing myself off. Cassandra rolled her eyes when Claire and he little mindless skags had gone.
"She must have broke up with Ace again." Cassandra said thoughtfully.
"Does it happen often?" I wondered. She nodded.
"Every two weeks they're on again, off again."
"Hey guys." Danni said as we joined them. She was sitting on the bottom bleacher, back to back with Lizzie.
"Hi." Cassandra and I said at the same time. We broke into grins.
"You'll never guess who just had another break up." Lizzie whispered when we sat down. Jez was sitting up at top with Billy, Ace, Eyeball, and Fuzzy.
"Claire and Ace?" Cassandra suggested. Lizzie nodded. I sighed, missing the food that had been spilled in the incident.
"Hey Jov, come on up!" Jez called.
"You're being summoned." Lizzie grinned. I sighed again and slowly made my way up the bleachers.
"Hi." I mumbled, looking at the cold steel. I sat down right underneath Eyeball, sending him a death glare.
Ace lit up a cigarette and I rolled my eyes. I sincerely hated smoking. There was nothing cool about it and it was just gross.
"So, Jov, how's school going so far?" Jez asked. We had last class together, which happened to be Gym.
"Not so bad."
Ace looked down at me and blew smoke. I rolled my eyes and waved it away from my face. He gave that cocky smile and I had to look away. He really irked me.
"So why'd you break up this time?" Fuzzy asked.
"We decided that we saw things differently." Ace replied, taking another drag. I glanced down at Lizzie, who caught my glance and rolled my eyes. She nodded and rolled her eyes back.
"Hey Jo," Eyeball began and I stopped.
"Jo?" I asked. He shrugged as if to say "whatever." I ignored it, wondering if this was my new and unofficial nickname. "What Rich- Eyeball?"
"Ma said Aunt Heather's gonna be here in a week."
I stopped again and a shiver ran down my spine. A week? What would she be like? This whole situation had made a mess out of her, especially if she was counting on my Aunt for support and to take care of her children.
"Oh…" I trailed off. "I'm going for a walk before lunch is over. I need to stretch my legs." I got up from the bleachers and walked down carefully. Lizzie got up too and we walked along the track.
"You know, I think Ace was checking you out." Lizzie commented, breaking the silence. I laughed.
"Oh that is so gross and no he wasn't!" I exclaimed. Lizzie shook her head.
"I've known Ace Merrill for a long time and trust me, he was giving you the eye."
"You're crazy. Besides, he's a hood. There's no way he'd ever think about a good girl like me. Not that I like him thinking about me… am I confusing you yet?" I asked. Why was the thought of Ace Merrill liking me suddenly so appealing?
"Just a little. Ah, the bell." Lizzie said as the bell rang.
"Hey, what are you doing after school?" I asked.
If you asked me why I invited her over, I wouldn't be able to tell you. It just felt like we had clicked. Instant friends, I guess. The same way it had been with Claire.
"Nothing, why?"
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come over. Do homework or something."
"Yeah, sounds boss." Lizzie agreed and we set off in separate directions.
The rest of the day was uneventful until the last period.
We were running the track that day, which made me feel pretty good because I could beat the socks off of anyone in running. We were finishing our stretches on the field when Claire approached us.
"Hey, looks who's coming this way." Jez nudged me. I looked up and felt my heart sink. I hadn't done anything wrong so there was no way she was going to beat me up.
"So you're back. Wonder if you can still run as fast as you use to." Claire pondered, brushing her black hair off of her shoulder.
"Maybe." I replied, standing up. She toed the dirt and looked at the track.
"Bet I could beat you."
I raised my head. I couldn't refuse a challenge like that. It's a secret weakness or something. I glanced at the teacher, who was busy talking to a couple of other girls.
"You're on."
"One lap around the track. First to cross the finish line wins."
We stood at the starting line and waited for Jez to say go. I wondered if Claire would try anything.
"GO!" Jez called and we took off.
While I was running, I didn't bother looking at Claire. I just concentrated on my breathing and on the finish line. I pushed everything else to the corner of my mind.
"Damn, look at her go." I heard, but I didn't stop to see who said it.
A few more footfalls and I was standing at the finish line, looking back to see Claire fall just behind me. The smirk that had been on her face earlier was wiped clean and she looked like she was going to fall over.
"Walk it off." Jez said, a huge grin on her face.
"…Yeah…" I managed, putting my hands behind my head. I walked around the field and looked for the voice that had commented on my running.
Still in the bleachers, I could see Ace and Eyeball.
"Don't they have anything better to do than watch the girls run the track?"
"No." Jez replied and we both laughed.
Finally it was the end of the day and I was exhausted. I waited for Lizzie just outside the doors. She came outside, breathing heavily. You could tell she was angry.
"What's goin' on?" I asked. Her green eyes glanced back at the school and she glared.
"My boyfriend's a dick." She replied as we headed for home.
"Oh. I hate that." I said, really feeling her pain.
It was a long walk and neither of us felt like talking.
"You live down here? I live on The View."
"Really? You're family must be…" I stopped and blushed.
"Yeah, we've got money but they don't spoil me like the other kids. I'm a very grounded girl."
"Right. Well, here's home." I said, showing her the rundown shack. I felt very self-conscious, but there was no reason to be. Lizzie wasn't the type of person to judge by money as I soon learned.
"We can just listen to the radio. I don't think anyone else is home yet." I added, bringing the portable radio in.
"Sounds good to me. I don't really have any homework though."
"I don't either. Oh, my cousin Chris should be home soon." I added.
"That's okay. How old is he?"
"Thirteen and boy does he hang out with some strange cats."
We fell into another silence as we began the perilous journey through our homework, occasionally asking each other how to do a math problem or if a comma really needed to go there.
The front door creaked open about half an hour later and I heard two sets of footsteps tiptoe into the room.
"Tackle Jovie!" Chris screamed, flinging himself on me. I was stretched out on the floor doing my Geometry homework.
"Good to see you too." I said, pushing him off. "Hi Gordie."
"Hey." Gordie said, collapsing on the couch.
"Chris Chambers and Gordie LaChance, meet Lizzie Taylor. Lizzie, meet Gordie and Chris. Obviously Chris is my cousin."
"I just picked Gordie up off the street and he just kinda followed me home." Chris told her and Lizzie cracked up. Gordie and I glanced at each other and Gordie raised his eyebrow.
"Right… well… I'd better get going. I have chores to do and my Mom will freak out if I'm gone too long." Lizzie said, glancing at the radio, which had just given the time.
"Yeah," I said walking her to the door. I waved to her as she started walking home.
"You're dead!" Chris exclaimed as he and Gordie tackled me to the floor and began tickling me.
"…So not… fair…" I managed through the giggles. Finally they decided that the fun was gone from the game and they got off.
"You know, your friend's cute." Chris whispered as I went back to my homework.
"And three years older than you." Gordie pointed out.
"Two, she's only fifteen. She skipped a grade with Cassandra." I informed them. "Now, shush. I can't figure out this stupid problem."