Abbie woke up the next morning early. She dressed into jeans and a blue t-shirt. She put her hair up into a very high ponytail, put on some mascara, and then went downstairs to find Vern waiting for her.

"C'mon, Abbie! I want you to meet the other guys!" Vern exclaimed.

So the two exited the house, walked along the sidewalk, through what seemed like a million bushes, and soon they were in front of a tree house. Vern climbed up the ladder and Abbie followed. He stopped right before a door, a trap door, and rapped his knuckles on it. The two of them waited for a minute, but the door wouldn't open.

"C'mon guys, let me up!" Vern called.

"No," Abbie heard.

Vern sighed, "Pleeeeeease?"

"Let's think about that for another moment," the same voice said, "no."

"Alright smartass, are we gonna have to break the door?" Abbie yelled up to the voice.

"A GIRL! Out of the way, Gordie, I'm opening the door!" the voice commanded.

Abbie smirked. The only way to get a guy to let you up.

The door opened and Vern scrambled up, with Abbie following.

"Hey guys!" Vern said cheerfully after he straightened himself out, "This is my cousin, Abbie."

She smiled at a boy who was very skinny and had huge brown eyes and dark brown hair. He was wearing jeans and a red and green striped t-shirt. He gave a small shy smile back.

"I'm Gordie Lachance," the boy said.

"Nice to meet you, Gordie!" Abbie told him, "I hear that you are a very charming boy."

Gordie laughed. "Vern likes me that much, does he?"

"Hey! I don't like you like that!" Vern claimed.

"He sure does," Abbie said, ignoring Vern, "Last night I heard him moan in the next room…. 'Oh Gordie, oh Gordie!'"

Gordie smiled and commented, "Sounds like something Vern would do. I hope it's not the same with you."

Abbie chuckled, "Not at all, not at all."

She turned her head and caught another boy with thick black glasses and caramel colored hair staring at her with a grin on his face. He was wearing an army green t-shirt and black pants.

"And who are you?" Abbie asked, disdain in her tone. Clearly this was the boy who wouldn't let them up before.

"Teddy, Teddy Duchamp. You know, Abbie's a very pretty name for such a pretty girl like you-"

Abbie placed her hand up.

"Please stop before you make me sick."

"As you wish, mademoiselle."

Abbie shook her head and muttered, "Oh lord."

She heard a laugh from behind her. She turned her head and saw Chris snickering, his eyes upon her.

"Chris Chambers, we meet again," she said in a mock-formal voice, taking a tiny bow in front of him.

"Yep," he replied, "Ignore Teddy, his head is inflated."

"Hey! My head is perfect, thank you very much!" Teddy interjected.

"Yeah, I know. I hear that he's a menace to society."

Teddy turned upon Vern.

"Vern-o? What have you been poisoning her mind with?"

"Oh, and I also hear that you are a very darling young man," Abbie told Chris.

"Vern's right with Teddy and I, then. Not too sure about what he said about Gordie though," Chris said, winking at her.

"I'm a very charming boy! Right, Vern? Right?" Gordie questioned.

"Erm…."

"You seem charming to me, Gordie," Abbie said politely.

"Aha! You are poisoning her mind, Tessio!" Teddy cried, pointing at Vern.

Vern moaned and buried his face in his hands.

The other four laughed. Abbie took note to Teddy's laugh, which sounded like Eeeeeeeeeee! And this made her giggle even more.

"You guys are cooler than I thought you would be," Abbie remarked.

The four boys looked at her.

"Just saying," Abbie mumbled.

"Eh, no problem. Hey guys, wanna show the girl a good time?" Chris asked.

"Chris Chambers! That will be my job!" Teddy yelled.

"I didn't mean like that!" Chris hissed.

"Oh. Then sure, let's go!" Teddy called triumphantly, already starting down the ladder.

The others followed and soon they were strolling past shops and alleyways, joking around with each other. Abbie liked these two other boys as well. Gordie seemed really intelligent, and the most sensitive of the group. Teddy was just as Aunt Fay had described: crazy. He laughed the loudest, talked the loudest, and he even was going to jump in the middle of the street when a car was coming, but after Abbie pleaded he decided not to.

"So, where do you guys live around in town?" Abbie asked.

"Well, we passed up my house already," Gordie told her, "It was two stories and had the blue shutters. From where we are right now, it was about four blocks away."

"My house is down on the other side of town. It's close to the Castle Rock Bridge," Teddy said.

"And there's my house," Chris muttered, looking at his shoes.

Abbie looked up and saw a very dingy looking house…..was it even a house? It looked like a large shack. It was mostly wooden and there was trash in the un-mowed lawn.

"Oh. Ok," Abbie said, not wanting to make him feel bad.

"It's alright, I know my house looks like shit-"

"As do you!"

The group whipped around and saw a tall blonde guy who looked around eighteen or nineteen, wearing a black shirt with black pants. He looked different from anybody else she had ever seen. Abbie didn't know what was it about him, but he looked absolutely terrifying. Next to him was a shorter but still tall guy with greasy-looking black hair. His right eye looked weird and jittery, and he had on a red polo shirt and jeans. Both of them had on smirks.

"Well, well, well, looks like the faggots actually picked up a girl," the black haired guy commented.

"They're all girls, Eyeball," the blonde said and started to laugh. His laugh was so cold, but smooth. It scared the living shit out of her.

"Can you please just leave us alone?" Gordie asked, but with annoyance.

"If we take the girl with us, we'll shove off," the black haired guy bargained.

Chris stepped forward.

"No way, Eyeball. When he said leave us alone, he meant all of us. So why don't you and your boyfriend Ace just go fuck each other?" Chris seethed, and it sounded like hate was just dripping from his words. Abbie stared wide eyed at him. How could someone be that brave? It seemed like it happened in one quick second. Chris had turned around and then in a flash Ace had his whole body pressed on top of Chris', pushing his head into the cement.

"Oh shit!" Chris moaned.

Ace pushed his head harder.

"Take it back, Chambers."

Abbie's eyes darted back and forth between everybody. The other three boys just seemed frozen, but Eyeball was laughing.

"Stop it, you're hurting him!" Abbie commanded shakily, but confident.

"Bastard! Let go man!" Chris yelled.

"Stop it!" Abbie repeated.

Ace lifted Chris' head up high, and for a second Abbie felt a rush of relief. But then Ace suddenly gripped it tighter and smashed Chris' head onto the cement. Chris groaned with immense pain, and then Ace did it once more.

"Leave him alone!" Abbie screamed, "Take me with you! I'll go wherever you want!"

Ace had just lifted Chris' head up, but he dropped it back onto the cement and stood up. Gordie was glaring daggers at the both of them, and Teddy looked ready for a fight. Vern, however, was still staring at the whole scene, frozen in place with fear.

"C'mon, fight us!" Teddy dared.

Ace ignored him, but gave Gordie a smirk. Eyeball darted forward, grabbed Abbie's arm, and pulled her back to him and Ace. Chris remained on the ground, his hands holding his head and his eyes closed.

"Catch you cats, later!" Ace called, and with that the two boys walked away, dragging Abbie with them. The boys led her to a black Ford and forced her into the car. They sped off down the road, Ace driving and Eyeball still holding onto her in the back. Abbie couldn't believe that she traded herself for a guy that she didn't know too well yet. But he had stood up for her, so she had to stand up for him. She hoped Chris was going to be alright. She stared at her feet while Eyeball stared at her, a genuine smirk on his face.

"Boy, Ace, we really got a good one on our hands," Eyeball commented.

"Oh yes we do," Ace replied smoothly. Abbie looked up at the back of Ace's head. So this was Ace. Suddenly, something clicked. Ace…..Ace……Ace Merrill! This was Ace Merrill, Billy's friend!

"Hey, aren't you the leader of the Cobras?" Abbie asked, forcing interest into her voice.

Ace looked back at her and said, "I guess you heard about me already."

"Yes, the infamous leader, Ace Merrill."

Ace smirked. "Infamous, huh? What do you think of me?"

"Hey, if you're the leader of the Cobras, you must be pretty boss," Abbie remarked, "Do you think I can meet the rest of the Cobras? I want to make sure that you really are the leader."

"I am boss and the leader," Ace said arrogantly, and then pulled up into a junkyard. The three of them got out of the car and walked over to a group of five boys.

"Meet the Cobras, baby. Jack, Fuzzy, Charlie, Vince, and Billy," Ace said, pulling Abbie out of Eyeball's grip and into his own.

Charlie, Vince, and Billy recognized her right away. Just what she was hoping for.

"Abbie?" Vince asked with disbelief.

"What are you doing here?" Charlie questioned.

"None of your fucking business, Charlie," Ace replied rudely, "And how do you cock-knockers know her?"

"Ace, man, that's my cousin!" Billy cried.

Ace rolled his eyes, "That fat one that you were talking about?"

Abbie's eyes widened with fury.

"Do you and Vern just go tell everyone that I used to be heavy?" Abbie asked Billy.

Ace did a double take, and asked, "So you are his cousin?"

"Yes, god damnit! Can I leave now?" Abbie burst out.

"Yeah, c'mon, where do you want to go?" Billy questioned before Ace could say anything.

"Just get me in the damn car, Billy. Then I'll tell you."

So Billy grabbed Abbie, put her in his car, and then they raced off without another word from Ace or the rest of the gang.

"Abbie, what the hell were you doing with Ace and Eyeball?" Billy demanded.

"They kidnapped me! Those cheap hoods!" Abbie yelled.

"Well, it doesn't matter; let's just get you away from them."

"Why?"

"They aren't your type. How did they find you?"

"I was with Vern and Gordie Lachance and Teddy Duchamp and Chris Chambers-"

"You were with Chris Chambers?" Billy asked, "And Eyeball took you while he was there?"

"Yeah, so what?" Abbie asked, annoyed.

"He's Eyeball's little brother."

The color drained from Abbie's face. How could Eyeball watch Ace hurt his little brother and laugh about it? He didn't make one move to stop Ace at all, just watched! What kind of brother does that? She felt anger pulse through her. Suddenly, she caught sight of four familiar faces.

"Drop me off here!"

Billy stopped the car and let Abbie out.

"Be careful, would ya?" Billy said, and then sped off.

Abbie ran over to the guys who were still in the same place where Abbie had last left them. Gordie stood up the moment he saw her.

"Oh my fucking god, are you ok?" Gordie asked.

"I'm fine, they just took me to some junkyard and Billy was there, so he got me away."

"Thank god," a voice replied thickly, and Abbie looked down to see Chris. She immediately bent down beside him. He had a bloody nose, some blood trickling down his temple, and his face was a little bruised on the side where Ace had first pressed him down.

"Now, are you ok?" Abbie questioned worriedly.

"Yeah, but boy, you're lucky. Those two would have done something really bad," Chris replied.

"Ace was awful. But Chris, how could your brother just watch Ace do that to you?" Abbie asked with amazement.

Chris sighed, "He just can."

"We should have taken them out for ya!" Teddy said angrily, his fists clenched, "We could have taken them on!"

Abbie gave him a small smile. "I bet you could have."

"We should have done something besides stand there," Vern finally commented. He had seemed like he was in a daze of some sort.

"Well, Vern, I'm finally glad that an idiot like you came to that conclusion," Abbie said seriously, but ended up laughing with the three other boys.

"Chris, I think you should go to the hospital or something," Abbie told him, studying his injuries better.

He snorted, "The hospital? I've had worse…." His voice trailed off.

"Well, we at least better get you home," Abbie decided.

"No, he's staying at my house tonight," Gordie said firmly.

"Alright, then lets get him over there," Abbie ordered.

Gordie and Teddy helped Chris up and the five walked slowly to Gordie's house. Teddy got Chris to put all of his weight on Gordie when they were about to enter the house, although Abbie didn't know how, Gordie was clearly the smallest of the group.

"Well, we'll see you guys tomorrow," Chris said.

"No," Abbie said sternly, "You have been hurt pretty bad, and I will not stand to have you out and about while you are injured. You need to rest and heal up, so get inside. Now!"

"Jesus Christ woman, I'm going, I'm going!" Chris exclaimed, him and Gordie walking into the house and out of sight. Teddy, Vern, and Abbie looked at each other for a few moments before Teddy stated, "Let's go," and the group of three continued to walk along the street. The three of them had a riot, they were all very funny, and mostly Gordie and Chris carried the seriousness in the group, although they were funny as well. Teddy walked Abbie and Vern back to their house and Vern immediately went inside. Abbie hesitated.

"Hey Teddy, can I talk with you for a second?"

Teddy's face lit up and he replied, "Sure!" and the two of them sat down on the porch.

"Teddy…..what's the deal with Ace Merrill and all those other guys with their silly gang?" Abbie asked.

Teddy cocked his head to one side, as in thought.

"Well, they steal things, break things, fuck girls, and do all that other shit they are good doing. And they are just crazy!"

Abbie smiled. "Not as crazy as you."

Teddy beamed, "Well babe, I'm a different type of crazy. I'm "the good" crazy. I just simply rule. But those guys are "the bad crazy". I mean they'll kill you if they want to. This one time when the four of us were down by Back Harlow, they came up-"

Teddy immediately stopped, like he wasn't supposed to say anything.

"Go on," Abbie coaxed, becoming really curious as to what he was saying.

"I will if you kiss me."

Abbie rolled her eyes. "Fine." She leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Now I think I have the motivation to continue," Teddy responded with a wink, "Well, they came up and….well, they just wanted something we had real bad. Vern ran away. And then Ace pulled out a knife, so of course, I tried to convince Chris to run with me but he wouldn't, so I just ran off. I mean, come on, the guy was going to kill me! Holy shit that guy was so close to killing Chris it was unbelievable. But then….KABAAM! Gordie fired a gun straight into the air and made those sons of bitches leave. Man, it was too cool!"

Abbie stared at Teddy. When the hell did this happen? Where did Gordie get a gun from and why wouldn't Chris leave? It sounded like Teddy was covering something up, but what? And why didn't they go tell the police about Ace trying to kill them?

"Wow. That's……that's boss Teddy."

"Yep."

"Well, um, I got to go. Talk to you later," Abbie said, wanting to go up and contemplate the whole thing.

"Alright, I'll be telling everybody you kissed me, bye!" Teddy said, standing up and walking away.

Abbie went straight into the house and sat on her bed, thinking about everything Teddy had just told her.

A/N: This chapter sucked major ass, didn't it? But anyway, I need another character for my story, and I want to base it off of one of you guys! Just tell me your name, what you look like, and your personality most of the time in a review to my story. I have a way of selecting the person at random. I need them by the 13th! Thanks!