"The most important things are the hardest to say"-Stephen King. Mr. King is right, the most important things are the hardest to say, such as "I love you". That's always a hard thing to say because it's so important and could change your life forever. Those three words have so much power when strung together. There's another quote that I've taken a liking to: "After the first death, there is no other."-Dylan Thomas. Mr. Thomas is more right than anybody could believe. After the death of someone, everybody else dies with that person, or at least that is how I interpret it. But I learned that the hard way. Because I'm dead. My passing away was caused by the death of another person. Suppose you mixed "I love you" and "the death" together. What would you get? The end of my life.

"You're a fucking liar! You ain't got no royal flush!" one boy named Teddy Duchamp declared in protest.

Another boy laid out his hand and revealed his royal flush of spades.

"Oh really? I think not. Give me your money, shitheap," Christopher Chambers said with a smirk on his face.

"Shit," Teddy mumbled under his breath.

The two boys were sitting on the steps of their friend's porch. They were playing a form of poker, and Chris was winning easily. Another boy was two steps above them, laying on the step and looking up at the blue sky which was covered with gray, angry storm clouds. The last of the four boys was under the porch, digging frantically in the dirt. He was in search of a jar of pennies that he had buried under the porch two years back. The poor boy just wouldn't give up. And the others didn't have the heart to tell him that they found the pennies one day and bought candy with it. These boys were now fourteen and getting ready to enter high school. They were all friends, but the four of them felt each other drifting apart slowly but surely. They seemed to be splitting into pairs now, for Chris and Gordie, the one who was laying on the step, had been best friends forever, and they felt themselves moving away from Teddy and Vern, the one under the porch. They were in separate classes, Gordie and Chris in the college courses and Teddy and Vern in the shop courses. Their interests were starting to vary and they began to lose some touch. But the four boys gathered together on this day before school started in a week, almost to the two-year anniversary of their journey to find the body of a missing boy named Ray Brower. That was an important event in all of their lives, and they knew that they would never forget it. They didn't look much different from that time when they were twelve. Gordon Lachance was still as skinny as a beanpole, and had huge doe-like brown eyes. His dark brown hair sometimes hung into his face because of the way it was styled and he still had a deep passion for making up stories and of course still missed his older brother, Denny, who had died in a jeep accident, but he seemed to become a little more relaxed. His best friend Christopher Chambers was the tallest and oldest of the gang, and still the leader. He looked almost exactly the same, but somehow more appealing. His ocean blue eyes, his dirty blonde hair, his normal sized figure-everything was the same. Except that there were more bruises and cuts on his tan skin now, for his father had gotten angry over him taking the college courses. He was the heart and soul of the group, the one with the heart of gold. Teddy Duchamp was still the craziest person around and had that anger inside of him from his father. His hair was like caramel, and his eyes were like chocolate. He wore his coke-bottle glasses and his silver dog tag around his neck. He seemed to get crazier and crazier by the day. Vern Tessio had grown somewhat slimmer over the two years, but his stiff and short black hair and his enormous light blue eyes were the same. His scardey-cat attitude still stuck with him, and so did his amazing stupidity. But sometimes, Vern surprised the gang. Just like he did on this day.

"Hey you guys!" Vern called as he crawled out from under the porch and wiped the dirt off of himself.

"What?" Teddy asked with an annoyed tone as Chris put his nickels in his pockets.

"My cousin's coming over. She has to stay here for a year I think. Her parents are taking a trip across the country and don't want to take her."

"A girl cousin?" Teddy asked with anticipation in his voice. He had become a little girl crazy.

"Yeah. Remember the one I was telling you guys about a long time ago? The fat one? God, last time I saw her, she was blown up like an air balloon!" Vern exclaimed.

Teddy sighed, disappointed.

"So she has to come to school here and stuff?" Chris asked.

Vern nodded.

"Well I guess that'll be cool," Chris said.

"What! A fatty like her! You think it'll be cool!" Teddy burst out unbelievably.

"Teddy, you're too into the looks. C'mon man, deal."

With a sigh of frustration, Teddy dealt the cards out and went on to be beaten by Chris seven times.

"God damnit! Lose would ya, wet end!" Teddy yelled.

"Not my fault that I'm good," Chris replied.

"Is your cousin going to be in the college courses?" Gordie questioned suddenly.

"Yeah, she's supposed to be like this huge genius or something….why?"

"Just wondering."

Teddy smirked. "I think you're interested, Lachance!"

Gordie sat up and looked at Teddy pitifully.

"At least I don't push, and get down on my hands and knees and beg, unlike others."

"Hey, the girls like me! And I dig the girls!" Teddy said casually, standing up. "I dig the ladies like Vern digs those holes under his porch!"

"And you both can't get what you're looking for," Gordie said in a smooth voice. This made Chris burst into laughter, Teddy angry, and Vern confused.

"I don't like the holes under my porch! I have to dig them so I can find my pennies!" Vern exclaimed.

Chris instantly stopped laughing and sighed with annoyance.

"It's a joke, Vern," he said while rolling his eyes.

"Well Lachance, I bet I can make this girl fall for me faster than any of you could!" Teddy claimed.

"If we're making this a bet, then I'm not doing it. It's Vern's cousin for god sakes!"

Teddy rolled his eyes. "Just remember that I'm the best."

Gordie sighed and smiled. "Yeah Teddy, you're the best."

"Damn right I am!"

"Anyway, I was wondering, she's coming over tomorrow, and I want you guys to stay here and help me get her settled. Will ya?" Vern asked hopefully.

"Pssh, no," Teddy said immediately.

"I can't, Vern. I have to help my mom with some work around the house," Gordie said.

"I guess I will. Anything's better than staying with my dad," Chris replied gravely, and him and Gordie exchanged glances.

"Great! We have to stay here though and wait, Billy's picking her up from the train station at noon-"

"Hey you guys, it's raining. Wanna go inside?" Gordie asked, his palm up with rain falling into it.

The other three boys nodded and followed Gordie into Vern's house. It was a wise thing, because soon rain started to pour and the wind rapped violently on the windows of the house. Little did they know that tomorrow would bring up one more experience that the boys would share.