It had been a week since the day I first saw Castle Rock. My mom and I had finished unpacking all the boxes and were officially settled into our new house. I could tell my mom liked it here, her eyes shone when she looked around the small town. I don't really know what intrigued her so much about this tiny, backwater dot-on-the-map, but I whatever it was, it was intriguing me too. True to his word, Chris came and got me the next morning and for the rest of the week the guys and me hung out. I hadn't had any trouble with Ace and those other punks either. Yet.

This particular day in June was extremely hot. It was like a giant blanket of heat settled upon the town, with no rain or relief from the blistering sun. The days to come would be just as unrelenting.

I was sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal with blessedly cold milk when there was a knock on my door. Several, in fact. It seemed the boys couldn't decide who should knock, so they all did. Chuckling a little while my mom let them in, I ate another spoonful of cereal.

"Was it really necessary for all of you to knock?" I asked them with mock exasperation as they poured into the kitchen, sitting themselves down at the table.

"Sorry, you royalness. But it's like, a bazillion degrees out, sincerely!"

I shrugged, still eating my cereal. "Try living in Mexico," I told them between mouthfuls.

"You lived in Mexico?!"

"For a bit." I put the spoon down in the now empty bowl. "So what are we gonna do now that it's a bazillion degrees out?"

Chris smiled. "Easy. Go get your swimsuit on!"

I perked up at the word 'swim'. Running to my room, I yelled to them that I'd be out in a second. It actually took me about five minutes, having to dig through my drawers because I couldn't remember where I'd put my swimsuit. I finally found it, among my winter clothes, which didn't make any sense. Cheering silently, I put it on. It was my favourite one, a sea green two-piece halter that matched my eyes perfectly. Since I didn't want to walk around Castle Rock wearing only a bikini, I threw on a pair of jean cut-off shorts and a T-shirt.

I hurried out into the hall, grabbing a beach towel from the linen closet on the way. When I got to the kitchen I saw the guys leaning on the table with looks of extreme boredom and impatience on their faces, and Teddy was even pretending to be asleep. "I didn't take THAT long," I snapped, whipping Teddy with my towel.

"OW!! What was that for?!"

"For implying that I'm a girlie girl that spends more than an hour getting ready and fussing over her looks because if she doesn't, god help her, someone might see her without make up on and then she'll DIE!" I said all of that in one big whoosh, walking away with mock haughtiness.

Unfortunately, when I got to the door and opened it, I tripped over the mat and fell flat on my face. "...Ow…That's gonna leave a mark."

Laughing like my face-plant was the funniest thing they'd ever seen, they came over to see if I was still alive. Leaning up on my elbows, I rubbed my forehead. "Shut up," I demanded, taking the hand Chris extended down to me. Staggering a little, I laughed. "Come on, let's go swimming before the lake evaporates!"

By the time we reached the lake, we were all sweating terribly. I threw my clothes off (I was wearing a bathing suit underneath remember) and dove into the cool lake. It felt so refreshing, and I began to swim out to the little dock in the middle of the water, calling to the guys, "Last one to the dock treats us to ice cream!!!"

I climbed onto the dock, dripping wet, Chris, Gordie and Teddy soon following. "Vern buys us ice cream!" I laughed as he pulled himself onto the dock dejectedly.

Suddenly something took hold of my waist andwas pulledbackwards into the water. I surfaced, sputtering, to find Chris beside me laughing. "You ass muncher! I'll get you for that!" Without warning, I dunked him under the water. Gordie, Teddy and Vern jumped into the water, hollering, and proceeded to gang up on me. While they were splashing and laughing, I sneakily swam underwater to the dock and slipped under it, where they couldn't see me, and I could breathe.

Chris and the others stopped splashing after noticing I wasn't there. "Umm, guys? Where's Callie?"

They looked around some more. "Did anyone see her come up after we dunked her?" Chris asked, hoping they had. They shook their heads. "Shit!"

I grinned evilly. Soon they would start panicking that I had drowned, and then I'd make my move. Or at least, that's what I had planned. Didn't really work out.

It had started with something tickling my shoulder. I tried to shrug it off, keeping my eyes on the boys. When it wouldn't go away, I finally looked at it. It was a huge, hairy spider! Before I had a chance to scream, another one dropped down beside it.

Shrieking, I shot out from underneath the dock, swiping at my shoulder. The guys looked at me in surprise, relieved that Ihad appeared, wondering what was wrong.

"Spiders spiders SPIDERS!!!"

Grabbing me by my now spider-free shoulders, Chris gave me a shake. "Callie, they're gone now. No spiders."

I calmed down at that. "I hate spiders," I laughed nervously.

"At least it was a harmless one," Gordie remarked, looking at the spiders that were floating/swimming back under the dock.

"Yeah," Vern agreed. "There's this one spider that lives in Oregon called a Black Widow that can kill you!"

"Shut up Verno!" the guys chorused. My eyes widened with that new knowledge.

"Are you okay?" Chris asked me, concerned. I nodded. "And don't worry about the spider Vern was talking about, we've never seen one here."

I was recovered enough now from my spidery ordeal to take advantage. I dunked Chris swiftly, dodging the oncoming attacks from Teddy and Vern. We swam around for a couple hours, enjoying the water, but I stayed away from underneath the dock.

It wasn't until after everyone had left except for Chris and I, that I noticed his bruises. We were sitting on the dock telling jokes, and I saw the purplish yellow bruise on his shoulder, and a fading green one by his ribs.

"What are those from?" I asked without thinking.

Chris looked down at himself, blinking. "Oh," he stammered. "They-they're from Eyeball. I pissed him of a couple days ago. No biggie."

Looking at him carefully, I accepted the explanation with a nod, wondering silently if he was telling the whole truth.

Later that afternoon Chris and I were walking along, me holding my T-shirt so I wouldn't get it wet. We hadn't gotten very far when we the Cobras stopped us. I only knew a few of their names. Ace, Eyeball, and Billy, Vern's brother.

"Hey babe," Ace leered at me. "What's a foxy little broad like you doing walking around with this fucker?"

One of the guys I didn't know spoke up. "Yeah, why don't you come with us and have a real good time?"

"Leave her alone." Chris stepped forward slightly, semi-blocking me from them. But it didn't matter. Two of the Cobras grabbed Chris, pulling him to the side, struggling.

Ace stepped towards me, his hand shooting out to grab the ties of my bikini. I mentally kicked myself for not putting on my shirt earlier. But before he head a chance to pull them loose, I gathered all my strength, throwing in some anger towards his perverted attempt, and slapped him as hard as I could. Silence fell across his gang, everyone holding their breath to see what Ace would do.

"You little bitch!" He grabbed my arm, twisting it painfully, bringing his hand back to backhand me. I flinched, waiting for the stinging impact, and the sharp pain his ring would bring.

It never happened. Chris had managed to break free of guys and punched Ace right in the face. Blood spurted from Ace's nose, and he let my arm go to bring his hands to his face. Quickly, Chris grabbed my hand and started to run, pulling me along. We had turned a corner or two when I asked where we were running to. "The tree house," he replied between breaths.

A few minutes later we sat up in the tree house catching our breath. I was trembling slightly, but I forced myself to calm down and stop. "That was a good punch," I commented when I could breathe properly again.

Chris shrugged, visibly pleased with my compliment. "You've got guts to hit Ace. He'll remember it. Besides, after years of being beaten up by those guys, you learn some stuff." He didn't meet my eyes though, and again it made me think there was something he wasn't telling me. That was okay. He could tell me when he felt ready; there was a lot about my life I hadn't told him.

"So they won't come looking for us here?"

He shook his head. "They don't know we still use it. They'd rather wait for a better time to get payback anyway…When we least expect it."

Now that made me nervous. I had done too much looking over my shoulder in my life. Now I'd found a town I felt like I hadn't needed to do that. And if I hadn't been with Chris back there, who knows what would have happened? I looked over at Chris who sat beside me, and gave a small smile. "Thanks for what you did back there."

He smiled, a light blush tinting his cheeks. "No problem. How's your arm?"

I rubbed it, still feeling the deep ache. I grinned wryly. "Painful, but I'll live."

Chris smiled. He had such a beautiful smiled, and even if it sounds corny, it made my heart melt. The next thing I knew, I had leaned forward and Chris's lips were on mine. It was my first kiss, and it was soft and sweet. Warmth flowed through me, and I kissed him back deeply, forgetting the whole world.

When broke apart, both our faces were glowing and our eyes shining. I giggled softly, light-headed from the experience. "Wow."

Chris laughed, putting him arm around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder peacefully.

By the time we decided to head home, it was getting dark. We walked quickly, and I knew I was probably late for dinner. At the bottom of my driveway Chris said goodnight, brushing his lips against my cheek.

I was late for dinner, but just barely. By the way my mom kept looking at me, with a mirthful twinkle in her eye, I guessed she had seen us on the driveway. Oh well, she didn't embarrass me by bringing it up, and neither did I. When I had settled into my bed for the night, I heard the same noises I had heard last week outside my window. From Chris's house.

A/N: Hey everyone, here's an update!! Exams are soon and I have to start studying, but I'll try to update again soon. And could someone tell me that if you're writing the possessive form of Chris, is it Chris' or Chris's? It confuses me, although I used to know what to do when there was an 's' on the end. I think it's Chris' but it looks strange when I write it. Thanks, and don't forget to review!! They make me type faster!! Till next time!