A/N: Ahh, thanks for the lovely reviews ladies! I know, kind of a quick update, but I swear, this is definitely my favorite part of the movie in terms of acting skills and such (RIVERRRRRRRR) So yeah….. I had to get this part out, plus I'm kinda proud of it. This is going to be less of a Gordie/Andy chapter and definitely more of a Chris/Andy chapter…just so you know.
Disclaimer: Blah I don't own anything except for Andy and her feelings and dialogue and blah.
Finally, after about ten minutes, Chris trouped back to the campsite, struggling with the firewood, but not asking for any help. He threw them down carelessly, sat down, struck a match, and threw it into the pile of wood. The group stared at him silently, Andy's fists clenching at her own stupidity of striking that chord inside of him. Gordie got out the hamburger to eat, and they began to cook.
"Wow, that was the all time train dodge," Teddy said conversationally, "Too cool. Vern, you look so scared you looked like that fat guy in Abbot and Costello when he saw the mummy."
"I wasn't that scared!" Vern claimed.
Everyone gave him a withering look.
"You wouldn't mind then if we checked the seat of your jockeys for Hershey squirts, will ya?" Gordie joked, an adorable smile on his face, Andy noticed.
"Hey Vern, you better turn yours over," Chris instructed, studying Vern's hamburger which suddenly fell into the fire. Everyone else started cracking up.
"Aw man! You got anymore Gordie?"
"Sorry, Vern."
"This isn't funny, what am I supposed to eat?" Vern questioned worriedly, poking the fire with his stick to revive his hamburger meat.
"Why don't you cook your dick?" Teddy snickered.
"It'd be a small meal!" Chris exclaimed in a deep, mocking voice, and this caused everyone to go absolutely nuts. Andy pushed Chris good-naturedly, and the two laughed. Suddenly, Chris stopped and stared at her. Andy noticed, and she coughed and turned away from him.
Andy was staring at the dead body of Ray Brower. The weird thing was that she didn't feel anything, no sort of remorse or awkward feeling. Also, it was just grassland. No trees, no railroad tracks, no nothing. Just grass, her, and Ray. Ray's eyes were open in dead shock, blue eyes that reminded her of electrical currents. A hand touched her shoulder.
Andy whipped around, her fists ready for a fight. But no….it was only Gordie. His soft brown eyes simply stared at her as he reached to stroke her cheek. As he did so, he grabbed her face gently and kissed her tenderly on the lips. And just as soon as he appeared, Gordie vanished. Andy searched with her eyes around the grassy plains, but finding no trace of him.
Andy looked back down at Ray Brower. Suddenly, the body began to change, change dramatically. The electric blue eyes turned into friendly, ocean-colored eyes tinted with green. The black mop of hair turned into short, dirty blonde hair. The odd clothes turned into a faded white t-shirt, ripped jeans, and scuffled sneakers.
Andy's mouth flew open to scream in surprise and distraught, but no sound came out. But what really made her blood turn cold was the pocket knife lodged into the boy's neck…..
"OH MY GOD!"
"It's that Brower kid…his ghost is out walking in the woods."
An ear-piercing howl, or was it a screech, filled the air, shooting Andy out of her twisted dream. Once Vern saw that she was awake, he immediately launched himself at her, engulfing her in a huge bear hug, whimpering like a puppy.
Her eyes flicked around to see Teddy standing up, starting to walk away.
"Hey Teddy sit down," Chris told him, who was positioned on his knees, holding the gun up into the air, Gordie right by his side.
"I'm just going to go see the ghost-"
"Teddy," Andy hissed, "Sit your ass down now."
Suddenly, another shriek filled the air, and Teddy fell back clumsily, saying a favorite expression of his: "Jesus H. Baldheaded Christ!"
After a few moments of silence, Vern quivered, "Ma-maybe we should stand guard."
"Give me the gun," Teddy ordered to Chris, holding his hand out, "I'll take the first watch."
After a few minutes of begging, pleading, and eye rolling passed, Chris finally handed the gun over to Teddy, who smiled gleefully.
"Shit he's going to kill us," Andy murmured to Gordie, staring as Teddy pointed the gun at Vern, who hid in his sleeping bag. Everyone got into their sleeping bags, and after yelling at Teddy to shut his pathetic army routine up, Andy finally fell back asleep.
Andy's eyes flashed open and she felt like growling. Somebody was moaning and groaning in his sleep, and Andy was going to break his glasses in half. She turned on her side, and discovered that it wasn't the usual suspect: it was Gordie. His face was twisted in pain, and he seemed to be struggling. His body language gave off uncomfortable and hurt vibes. Andy suddenly noticed that Chris was awake and the one keeping watch, the gun laying at his side as he poked the fire with a stick, glancing over at Gordie here and there. Suddenly, Gordie screamed and jumped up, fully awake.
"You ok?" Chris asked.
Gordie slowly looked up at him. The poor thing, Andy thought. He was shaking and making whimpering noises. What could he have possibly dreamed of that would make him so upset?
"I didn't cry at Denny's funeral."
Chris turned to him quickly.
"I miss him Chris. I really miss him."
Andy's stomach felt uneasy as she thought. Of course, he was having a nightmare about Denny's funeral, which she had been invited to. She had been there, standing on the other side of him in a long black dress, a veil hanging over her face to cover her tears. She remembered that she had felt so stupid and embarrassed at the time, blubbering like a fucking whale while Gordie just stared at the ground like a retarded mute. She had felt somewhat angry at him for not crying, because he wasn't showing his feelings. But then she realized: he was just trying to be strong. Not for his mom, not for his dad. But for himself and for his brother.
"I know," Chris replied, searching Gordie's face, "Go back to sleep."
And with that, Chris got up and sat down against a tree, Gordie following him. They sat by each other in silence, not knowing what to say, but finally Gordie found the perfect thing.
"Maybe you can go into the college courses with me," Gordie suggested.
"They won't let me," Chris said simply, "It's because of the way they think of my family in this town…the way they think of me. I'm just one of those lowlife Chambers kids."
"That's not true!" Gordie claimed.
"Oh, it is," Chris returned, "Nobody even asked me if I took the milk money that time. I just got a three day vacation."
There was a slight pause, and then:
"Did you take it?" Gordie asked tentatively.
"Yeah I took it, you knew I took it," Chris answered, staring at Gordie pitifully, not believing that he had no clue, "Teddy knew I took it. Andy definitely knew I took it. Everybody knew I took it, even Vern knew it I think…..but…maybe I was sorry and I tried to give it back."
"You tried to give it back?" Gordie questioned, clearly astounded.
"Maybe, just maybe. And maybe I took it to Old Lady Simons and told her, and the money was all there. But maybe I got a three day vacation anyway because it never showed up," Chris explained, bitterness dripping from his words, "And maybe the next week Old Lady Simons had a brand new sarong on when she came to school."
"Yeah!" Gordie agreed fervently, actually sounding quite excited.
"Yeah. So let's just say that I stole the milk money, but Old Lady Simons stole it back from me," Chris summed up, his voice beginning to crack, "What if I told the story? Me, Chris Chambers, kid brother to Eyeball Chambers, do you think that anyone would have believed it?"
"No," Gordie answered truthfully.
"And do you think that that bitch would have dared try anything if it had been one of those douche bags from up on the view if they had taken the money?"
"No."
"Hell no! But with me…..I'm sure she had her eye on that skirt for a long time. Anyway, she saw her chance and she took it. I was the stupid one for even trying to give it back," Chris decided, his voice just a little bit above a whisper.
And then suddenly, it happened. Tears formed in Chris's eyes. This startled Andy quite a bit. No one had ever Chris cry before. Andy had a sinking feeling that he didn't want Gordie to be the first one to see, and if he knew Andy was looking, her too. She knew Chris was ashamed of himself for crying and trying to correct his wrongdoings. But who would have ever fucking guessed that someone would try to trick and abuse Chris in such a way that could just add to his already deep, emotional scaring? Well, now that Andy thought about it, it seemed obvious. How could she have not even thought of something like that before, that someone was trying to get him in such trouble for something he tried to prevent? But, it finally happened: Christopher Chambers let himself show emotion.
"I never thought- I never thought…a teacher….oh who gives a fuck anyway?" Chris exclaimed, and then began to cry. Not just a few tears, but really cry. He took a large swallow, and then told Gordie and Andy something that broke both of their hearts: "I-I just wish that I could go someplace where nobody knows me."
He now started to cry really hard, tears flying all over his face, which he tried to hide by burying his face in between his folded arms.
"I-I guess I'm just a pussy huh?"
"No way man," Gordie told him reassuringly, rubbing his arm. After a few minutes passed with Chris still crying, Gordie asked, "Are you gonna be ok?"
"Mhmmm…yeah, you go on back to sleep," Chris answered distractedly, staring at the form of Andy, and she thought that he had finally found out that she was awake.
"You sure?"
Chris nodded, and Gordie slapped his shoulder friendly, "Hey, Chris….you're going places, man. You're so fucking determined. I believe in you, and I swear, even if it takes all my life, I'm gonna help you get to the places you wanna go."
Chris, surprised by Gordie's speech, replied, "Man, you've got to concentrate on yourself. On your work, on your future. Not mine. Because in the end, when you're a big famous writer, you're gonna forget about all of us, all of this. And you know, I want you to forget. It'll just get in the way of everything you've got going for you."
Gordie sighed, and stood up. "With no one with me….it seems pretty damn near impossible. I just wish….why couldn't Denny be here?"
And with that somewhat confusing statement, Gordie retreated to his sleeping bag. At that moment, the world seemed silent. It was like one of those old black and white silent films: you could never tell what was going on. After a few eerie moments of this silence, Chris tilted his head to make sure Gordie was asleep, causing a few more tears to drip down his face. Once he did, he tilted his head back into the normal position and sighed.
"Oh Andy…you can come out now."
Oh shit.
Andy rose out of her sleeping back slowly and made her way over to Chris and took Gordie's old spot. Andy looked at Chris.
"You heard it all?" Chris asked offhandedly.
"Yeah," Andy answered, and then started, "Look, I'm so sorry about what I said to you earlier. You were just trying to help, and helping isn't bad. You weren't trying to do it because I'm a girl and stuff like that. You did it because you were concerned about me. The helping trait comes from what you never got, and it's great that you can recognize that. And Chris: you can never end up like your father. Maybe Eyeball, but not you. You're different."
Chris gave her a small smile, but nevertheless, it was that same sweet and sunny grin she had always come to know and love.
"Hey, it's alright. I know you're a hard hothead," Chris's eyes then misted over, seeming as if a new fresh batch of tears were about to pour out of them, "I never want to end up like my father. Or my mother, or my brother. Nah, none of them. But fuck, it's gonna happen, huh?"
"How do you know that? Anything can happen."
"Oh don't pull that sappy line. You know it, I know it, Gordie knows it, the whole world knows it! I'm gonna sign up for the college courses and those school system douche bags will be sitting around drinking their coffee, looking at papers of different students and they'll say 'Kay, 'kay, this is a good student. There's a student from the view, that one's goin' in. Oh wait, we got that ol' no good Chambers kid signed up, no way is he getting in.' And then they'll throw my résumé in the garbage, and they'll put me up for the shop courses with all the retards and social idiots. Yeah, and then thirty years from now I'm gonna be sitting in a bar, drowning myself in beer and whiskey, wondering when my car's gonna get fixed in the shop and when will be the next time I have sex with my wife. Andy, that's the way it goes."
Tears were now silently flowing down Chris's cheeks again.
"No…no it can't," Andy responded shakily, "'Ain't nobody who can drag you down except for yourself."
"And your friends," Chris added, "Me and Teddy and Vern, we've been dragging Gordie down. And you, you're starting to fall a little too. The sooner we're put in the shop courses, the better it'll get for you two."
"No Chris. I'm not letting you go. Maybe Vern and Teddy can go, but not you. You actually have potential, I know you can do it man. Gordie knows too. You are gonna be something. And when I mean something, I mean something important, something great. Not that lowlife Chambers kid shit you and everyone else in Castle Rock is feeding the non-believers. Hell Chris, you're going somewhere. And it doesn't matter where. Just as long as you get out of Castle fucking Rock," Andy replied firmly and steadily.
Chris gave her a small smile. "Fine. Why not give it a shot? It's not like anything will change if they don't accept me anyways…." Chris paused, and then turned to her, and confessed, "You know….I always wanted to be a lawyer. I thought it would be something I'd be good at it. I'd get to help people in the way that I can."
Now it was Andy's turn to smile. "You can do it, man. It's all possible, nothings out of your reach. I'm proud of you. You won't regret trying it. Just know that I'm not gonna let you be dragged down by other people. By no one. You and Gordie are getting out of this hellhole."
"Heh, whatever you say," Chris responded, rather happier and playful now, "Oh…and do you know that I used to have a crush on you?"
Andy froze and then turned her head more to him slowly. "What?"
"Yeah….but after your little speeches that you gave, I just realized that I can't like you."
"And why's that?" Andy asked curiously.
"Because," Chris answered, "You're too good of a friend to lose over those stupid things."
"And the same goes for you," Andy agreed, "Hey, do you want me to take my watch now? You need some sleep, you look like a fucking train wreck."
"Are you using that pun on purpose?"
"No…." she answered, suddenly realizing what had rolled off of her tongue, "But seriously, give me the gun and go to sleep. Please."
"Alright," Chris decided, standing up and handing her the gun.
As he sat down to take off his shoes so he could get into his sleeping bag, Andy studied him.
"Hey Chris?"
"Yeah?"
"You're gonna be a great lawyer."
"Thanks," Chris replied, slipping into his sleeping bag and soon falling asleep with that sunny sweet smile on his face.
