A/N: Hope you like this! Translations are given at the bottom.
From The Eyes of A Skag
Chapter 2: A Visit to
the Lake
By Preppygirl
I sat on the front porch swing, rocking back and forth. I had changed into my favorite skirt and top. Who cared if the skirt hem was a little high, or that the top was a little low-cut? Ace never did. The outfit had the bonuses of being blue, my best color, and Ace's favorite, which almost guaranteed results.
My brother was, indeed, working that night, so I was free to go to the lake. Ever since... the incident, my dad had kinda been in and out of the world- and mostly out. Unfortunately, my older brother, Adam, 24, had decided that that meant he had to act in my pa's place. Luckily, Remmy, our younger brother, was eight, and old enough to take care of himself for a few hours. I could only typically go out if Adam was working, as he didn't like Ace and the Cobras, or what he call my j.d. buddies.
Ace pulled up in his car, and I ran out and jumped in. I have always loved Ace's car, a black '52 Chevy with awesome stenciling, and the words, "Wild Card," across the back.
"Hey lover boy. Ready for tonight?" I asked, somewhat saucily. He eyed my shirt top.
"Oh, yeah," he replied, jazzed already. I inwardly smirked. Guys are so easy to manipulate, especially if you know what buttons to press. Ace hit the gas, and we spend down the road. I glanced at Ace, then leaned over to give him a quick kiss, just to keep him going until later. However, his head turned and it was not 'just a quick kiss,' causing the car to swerve and a trucker to shout obscenities at us. Ace replied in kind, giving him a quick grin and the finger. Shortly later, we pulled into the gas station parking lot. Most of the gang was already there.
"Where's Eyeball?" I asked, doing a quick head count.
"Oh, yeah. When I stopped by to pick him up, he said his dad was making him do some sort of fucked up family bonding thing," Vince said.
As the only other Cobra with a car, Vince often picked up the others when we were scheduled to meet. Unlike Ace, though, Vince's car was nowhere near the coolest car I'd ever seen. It was a '54 Studebaker, which was boss enough by itself, but it was the ugliest shade of pink you will ever lay eyes on. I'd always flat-out refused to be caught dead in that thing, so even when Ace and I were at odds, I rode in his Chevy. I was the boss lady. I could do things like that. I could do just about anything, in that group, and get away with it. Not necessarily the best thing for me, to prepare me for world outside Castle Rock, but back then, getting out was just a swirl of smoke in my mind.
"Race you to the lake," Ace challenged Vince as Charlie, Allison, and Andrea climbed in the back of the Chevy. Ace revved the engine.
"No fuckin' way, Ace," Vince replied, shaking his head. "You'll make me look like a fuckin' loser, cause you'll beat me so bad. And in front of my girl, too," he added, nodding his head at Mandy, who giggled.
"Aww, Vince, man. You hurt me real deep this time. Look. You got less people in your damn car then me," Ace argued. He didn't know it, but the times Ace sounded the most immature was when he was pleading- and not really meaning it. In that fake, sarcastic voice, he sounded like one of the little boys, trying to look cool in front of his friends. 'The little boys' were Eyeball's brother, Chris Chambers, Gordie LaChance, Teddy DuChamp, and Billy's brother, Vern Tessio.
We didn't really like them much. They were thirteen, and had gotten Ace and the rest of the Cobras in some trouble earlier that summer. Something to do with a body. None of the girls or I had been around then. It only happened over a couple of days. Wouldn't you know that that one week, that one not-boring week out of the who knows how many in summer vacation, was the one the girls and I had gone to spend with my uncle and aunt in Ontario.
"C'mon, Vince," Allison, Andrea and I teased. Vince looked at us, and relented.
"Fine, fine. We'll race. One, two, three. Go!" he said, hitting the petal at three. Ace, however, had gone at two, giving everyone in the Studebaker a mouthful of dust. Jane coughed.
"I'll get you-" cough, cough "Ace-" cough, cough "Merril, you-" cough, cough "total bastard!" She screamed at us, and we chuckled at waved merrily back at them.
Ace easily beat them to the lake. I think, sometimes, that if he ever got out of Castle Rock, he should have been a racecar driver. He loved racing, knowing just when to slow down for a curve, and when to accelerate. He loved that car. It was his baby, his one true love. He took care of it, waxed it, covered it in the rain, and polished it. But Ace Merril would never leave Castle Rock, never become a racecar driver.
The lake is out of town, about 5 minutes away. Nestled deep in the woods, near the Canadian/Maine border, the lake was a place teens loved. Not just American teens, either. Everyone in a while, we'd see some teens from Beaumont, the small Canadian town two miles from the border. Beaumont was also where most of us had been born. Beaumont has a midwife. Castle Rock doesn't. When a woman goes into labor, she could get to the midwife within 10 minutes, verses the 1½ hours it took to get to the nearest hospital. Most of us were, legally, Canadian citizens, as well as Americans. Dual citizenship. There's a road, between the two towns, with a guard on the border. If you have a school id, worker's id, or driver's license from one of the two towns, you can cross without any problems. Or, at least, that's the way it used to be. Back then, when they didn't worry so much about smuggling, or fake ids.
We had just gotten to the lake, and the guys had already shucked off their clothes and were jumping off a knotted rope. Honestly. Boys. Us girls were stretched out on the sandy shore. The sky was clear, and the sun was setting.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Mandy asked. Wow. Two full sentences in the one day. Pretty impressive.
"Sure is," I replied, watching Ace jump into the water. The girls giggled. I glared at them and they hurriedly began talking about what school would be like this year. Much better. Ace was mine, and they needed to remember that.
"Hey. Claire." I looked over. Ace was standing waist-deep in the water. Damn dry season wasn't dry enough, I thought angrily.
"What, Ace?" I replied, smiling. It was hard to stay mad when Ace was standing naked in front of me, and his hair was wet, and that little chunk was flopping over his forehead like that... Yes, it was hard indeed.
"Grab me a towel from the trunk," he replied.
"N'importe quoi vous voulez," I returned, standing up and walking over to the Chevy. I opened up the trunk. Ace kept everything in there. There were blankets, towels, a can opener, a church key, and extra clothes- usually food and booze as well. I grabbed a towel and tossed it to Ace. It almost hit the water, but he snatched it just in time. I almost giggled at the look he gave me, but no one giggled at Ace Merril. He came out, drying himself off, and I smiled at him. His return smile told me that I was forgiven. I pulled a blanket out of the trunk and spread it out far enough away from the girls that they couldn't hear us. He scooped up his clothes and pulled them on as we sat down.
"You ready for school to start, Ace?" I asked, playing with his shirt collar.
"I suppose," he said, catching up my fingers and kissing them. Then he leaned over and kissed me.
You know, Ace isn't really so big, so bad, so tough. I'd not go so far as to say he was really just a big pussy cat at heart, but I've probably seen him as close to that description as anyone could claim. If you knew how to handle him, he was like clay in your hands- you may have to push hard, but he'll eventually go the way you want him to. And I knew how to handle him.
You know what? That night- at the lake? It's only kinda a good memory. Ace and I fought. Not like that was unusual. We were always fighting. But see, the thing is, if we hadn't fought then, I might have been, today, Mrs. Ace Merril. But Jovanna Cameron was able to insert herself into the ring at the critical time. And I thank her everyday for it. Here's how that oh-so-important fight happened...
I was standing by the lake which was rippling softly, and then a boy would jump in, shattering that perfect mirror. Ace's arm was around me. I guess I was staring a little too hard at the water, because Ace grabbed my arm.
"Stop staring at Vince!" he growled. I snapped out of my trance, startled.
"I wasn't staring at Vince," I replied, rolling my eyes. Here we go again.
"Ahh! You like him, don't you?" Ace asked crazily, looking into my eyes. "Don't you!" he said, shaking me furiously.
"No!" I protested.
"Don't lie to me Claire! I love you! You know that! I love you!" He was almost screaming. His eyes darted around wildly.
"I know, I know," I said soothingly, trying to calm him down. "I don't like Vince, baby."
"You do, you do! I know it! How could you do this to me? To Jane? How? How? Tell me! Tell me that!" he was screaming now. The other Cobras had climbed out of the lake quietly, and were now gathered around the girls, clutching towels, but not drying themselves off. They looked scared- all of them. And I could see why.
Their brave, fearless leader and friend, had gone insane, yelling at their precious boss lady who was more than that- a friend. Our arguments always consisted of the two of us yelling at each other, never just one yelling at the other. The way things were going, it must have seemed like Ace was going to hit me. He never struck me. But if he had, I'm not sure what they would have done. They followed Ace, true, but all of the boys seemed to feel the need to protect me throughout my high school years. Which was interesting, since of all the girls, I was the one who needed the least protecting. They looked almost relieved when my temper snapped.
"Yes Ace, I admit it! Vince and I are in love and I'm carrying his love child! Are you happy Ace? Are you happy now? Well you know what? You know what? I don't care! If you think I'm cheating on you, maybe I should be! I'm tired Ace, sick and tired of your attitude, your ugly boots and- well, just you in general! We're over! Through! Good luck finding yourself a new girl!" I screamed at him. I was pissed beyond belief.
"You know what? You know what, Claire LeBeau? I was tired of you anyway! You know what else? I think I'm out of a potential bad mistake! Une erreur! The end of us was just a matter of time!"
"Fermer en haut! Juste fermer en haut!" I screamed back. We then reduced ourselves to glares and name- bad name- calling.
The drive home was quiet that night. As usual, I rode in Ace's car. I would turn the radio up, he'd turn it down. We would glare at each other. I'd switch stations, he'd switch it back. It wasn't one of our really bad arguments, but I think we all could feel a change happening on the air that made it so much worst than anything that came before.
When we pulled up, I groaned to see Adam's car already parked in the driveway. Ace glanced meanly at me.
"Good luck, bitch," he said sarcastically.
"See ya, cock-knocker," I replied, swinging out of the car. I walked inside, ready to face my brother's wrath.
A/N:
I'm not totally sure on these
translations, as I speak English and Spanish, so email me at if I'm wrong.
N'importe quoi vous
voulez is Anything you want.
Une erreur! is An Error!
Fermer en haut! Juste fermer en haut! is Shut up! Just shut up!
Review! Please? S'il vous plaît? Por favor?
