Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Stand by me. I do own Danni and everybody else, which you don't recognise.
"So what, you like him. Big Deal. It doesn't make you a bad person Dan." Raquel said a little too loudly.
Danni threw her finger to her mouth and looked at Raquel wide eyed.
"Shut up. I don't want Joanna to know about it. She'll spill it to everybody Raquel. I don't want him to find out." Danni whispered
Raquel rolled her eyes and stood on her tip toes to put her arm around her friends shoulder. Danni looked down at Raquel and bit the inside of her mouth.
"I won't tell anyone Dan-Dan. But don't you want to tell him?" Raquel assured.
Danni nodded and closed her eyes.
"I would like to tell him Raquel. But if Karen found out, then she'd destroy me. I don't wanna risk facing Karen over a silly crush. She'd flatten me with her chest." Danni said with all sincerity
Raquel looked at Danni and burst out laughing, never before had she heard Danni say something like that.
"So who's this girl then Chambers? Are you gonna spill or not?" Teddy asked lighting a match on the doorstep and putting it to the cigarette that was protruding from his mouth.
"Danni Hart. We have homeroom with her." Chris replied
Teddy looked at Chris in disbelief. He cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.
"You like Danni Hart? Danni Hart. As in the mute?" Teddy asked arrogantly
Chris looked up at Teddy and glared at him. "You don't even know her Teddy. She's not a mute."
Teddy rolled his eyes and took off his coke bottle glasses. "Hey wait a minute. I didn't say that was necessarily a bad thing. Girls who talk too much get annoying. And Danni's quite good looking too, kinda plain but pretty. She's kinda weird too. Always reading. Good girl though. Even if she does read to much."
Chris shook his head as he watched Teddy clean his glasses with his t-shirt.
"Reading's a good thing. I guess. I mean I don't do it a lot but it's still a good thing.
Teddy nodded to shut up Chris up then took a long drag on his cigarette as if in deep thought.
"So one of her tag alongs is having a party tonight then?" Teddy asked
Chris nodded and kicked a stone along the ground. "Yeah. Raquel. I don't know who's gonna be there but…Danni said she'd go if I went."
"And Raquel definitely said that you could invite as many people as you like?" Teddy asked eagerly
"Yeah, as many as I like."
"Where do you want me to put this…fountain?" Danni asked
"Oh just put it on that table right there Dan." Raquel mumbled as she and Joanna tried their best to pin up a banner
"Don't you think your going a bit over the top with this party Raquel? I mean other than Jo and me you've only invited Christopher Chambers. I suppose he'll bring Teddy Duchamp and Vern Tessio but I'm not sure that he'll feel obliged to invite any other people."
"We told him to invite as many people as he liked." Joanna pointed out
"Yeah and I'm not going over the top with this. I want this party to be the biggest one of the year. I want to make a good impression." Raquel agreed as the banner was pinned onto the wall.
Both girls climbed down from the ladder and stood either side of Danni looking at the banner proudly.
"This party is gonna be such a success!" Joanna squealed
Danni smiled as Raquel nodded in agreement. After a moments silence, one side of the banner came tumbling down off the wall. Danni looked at Raquel and Joanna both of whom were standing in dismay, she shrugged her shoulders and cocked an eyebrow as both girls walked over angrily to attempt to put it back up. Danni sighed and went back to setting things up. After a few more attempts the banner finally stayed up and the girls carried on preparing for the party later that night. Once they had finished both Danni and Joanna left to go and get ready.
"So what makes you think you like Danni anyway?" Vern asked as he, Teddy and Chris walked along the road towards the blue point diner.
"I don't know. I know I like her though." Chris replied
"How can you be so sure though?" Vern asked eagerly
"I don't know Vern god dammit." Chris replied irritated with answering Vern's questions.
"Sorry. I was just wondering."
"Look, I don't know what it is. But there's something about her. Something fascinating." Chris sighed as they entered the diner.
"Speak of the devil." Teddy laughed
Chris and Vern both looked over to the counter where Danni and Joanna were standing.
"So it's a copy of Gone with the wind?" Francine asked
"Yes. The cover has a sunset on it and the title written in big orange letters." Danni explained
"Ok. Gone with the wind was enough." Francine replied
"Oh. Thank you." Danni called as Francine walked into the back
"C'mon Dan, let's go sit down. There's Chris, Teddy and Vern." Joanna said waving with a grin
Danni turned around sharply and looked at Chris for a moment. She was beginning to get really nervous. There was no way she was going over there, however Joanna had other ideas and had already grabbed Danni's hand and pulled her over to them.
"Hi boys."
"Hello ladies." Teddy replied
"So are you boys coming to Raquel's party tonight?" Joanna asked
Teddy nodded "We sure are."
"That's cool. You can invite as many people as you want remember."
"Already done. What are you two doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be at home, getting ready or whatever it is you do?" Teddy asked
"Danni left her book. So she dragged me along with her to get it."
"I told you that you didn't have to come." Danni said her tone of voice harder than usual.
Joanna smiled awkwardly and blushed slightly as Danni walked over to the counter again to get the book.
"She's very…cranky." Joanna whispered as Danni returned
Danni sighed but smiled. "I've got to go now. I'll see you all tonight."
"Hey wait up Dan!" Joanna called rushing off after saying her goodbyes
"See. I told you she's not a mute." Chris said with a cocky grin
"Tracy, Carl, you home?" Danni called throughout the house
"In here Danni!" a woman's voice replied
Danni placed her book down on the table and walked through into the kitchen where a short woman with big brown eyes and auburn hair, Tracy, her foster mother was standing chopping vegetables.
"Hey Trace. Where's Carl?" Danni asked sitting down at the table.
Tracy looked up from chopping vegetables and smiled at Danni. "He's in the back. Talking to someone you might wanna see."
Danni's eyes widened and a grin spread across her face "He's here isn't he?" she asked excitedly.
Tracy nodded and immediately Danni sprung up from the table and ran out into the back yard. There, a tall and slim dark haired man, Frank, Danni's foster dad was standing talking to another man, this one a very good looking, blonde haired man. Danni watched for a moment, her eyes starting to fill with tears of happiness "Dad." She whispered
The blonde haired man turned around and grinned at Danni then ran towards her picking her up in a hug.
"Dad, I missed you so much." Danni whispered
"I missed you too baby." He replied, placing her back on the floor.
"My, my, look at you. Haven't you changed?" he asked circling her.
Danni nodded "I know. And I'm 15 now."
"Oh, I know that. And I have a gift for you."
"Oh, no, no, you didn't have to get me a gift. It's alright honestly. Just being here is enough for me."
"No don't be silly. I wouldn't be a very good father if I didn't get my only daughter a birthday present, would I?"
Danni smiled uneasily as he dug a hand into his leather jacket and pulled out a small box shaped gift wrapped in silver wrapping paper.
"Open it up Danni; I want to see your reaction."
Danni pulled the ribbon and the wrapping paper off to reveal a black box. Danni looked at it and opened it slowly took a quick glance then closed it again in shock.
"I can't take this dad. It…it must of cost you a fortune."
"It's a gift Danni, price doesn't matter, it's for you. Do you like it?"
Danni nodded and opened the box again, showing it to Carl who had the same reaction.
"Johnny, honestly you didn't have to buy something so expensive."
"Like I said before, it's for Danni; nothing is too expensive for my little girl."
"Thanks Dad. I love it. It really is beautiful."
"Well sweetheart, I got to get going now, I only came by to drop off your gift. I'll see you again soon though ok kid?"
Danni nodded and looked at her feet. "Can't you stay the night? Please? I don't want you to leave again."
"I'm sorry Dan, I've already made plans. I've got to go. Please don't cry Dan. I promise you, even though I'm not here, you know I'm with you. I need to go. You understand that don't you? Dan?"
Danni nodded and bit her lip as she felt the tears coming to her eyes once more. Danni threw her arms around Johnny's neck and hugged him tightly for a few minutes. Once he'd left Danni went back inside to get ready. She wasn't really up to going to a party but she wanted to show Raquel the gift that her dad had bought for her.
"What should I wear Tracy?" Danni asked her voice panicky
"What about that creamy gold cocktail dress that Johnny bought for you? You've not had a chance to wear it yet."
Danni nodded "Yeah. I guess I could wear that."
"Is there going to be any boys at this party?" Tracy asked curiously
Danni smiled and laughed silently "A few."
"Any that you like?"
"There is one. But he's really popular and every girl in school likes him. I don't know, there's something about him."
"Does he have a name?"
"Christopher Chambers."
"Oh. Well I'm sure that he's a lot nicer than people say."
"Oh he is. He's real nice. He's not at all what people make him out to be."
"So, do you think he likes you?"
"No. No way. Definitely not. Why would he like me? I'm not pretty enough."
"Danni, you're very pretty, you have a lovely smile, pretty eyes, and lovely hair." Tracy said as she fiddled with Danni's hair
Danni laughed and pulled away letting her shoulder blade length jet black hair fall down her back.
"You have to say that. You love me to much to tell me I'm not pretty."
"You are pretty Danni, your pretty in your own way. And that's the best way to be pretty."
"Thanks Tracy. So what about my hair then?"
Tracy smiled at Danni as she put her on top of her head in a messy ponytail then let go of it making it fall into her face. After a lot of different hair styles and different outfits Tracy decided that the first outfit she'd suggested was the best and Danni decided to just leave her hair down. Danni looked in the full length mirror moving around to see how she looked at different angles. She wasn't usually one for dressing up and wearing make up but she wanted to look nice, different to how she usually did. She wondered whether or not she really did like Chris, she'd only ever spoken to him on the odd occasion and they'd never had a real conversation. Not since grade school anyway. Danni took a final glance in the mirror sighed then went downstairs where there was an unexpected visitor waiting.