AN: Sorry it took so long for an update, but the past few weeks have been crazy for me and my internet has been on the fritz. Hopefully the next update will be quicker. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorited. Reviews and feedback are always appreciated

Ace Merrill began to brood as he stared at Eyeball's girlfriend. How he had missed out on his chance to get in bed with Sadie Tessio, he did not know. She had been there all along, growing up side by side with him, but somehow Eyeball had landed her while Ace was stuck with the dumb bum broads floating around Castle Rock. The special thing about Sadie was that she was good looking. Most of the girls who were not worried about tarnishing their reputation by hanging around the Cobras were covered in acne and had upper lips that sprouted hair. Ace would spend the summer trying to steal her away for Eyeball. If even for one chance to see what it was like to lay her down, he would be satisfied.

Sadie could feel Ace's eyes on her, but she refused to meet his gaze. While Richie was certainly never going to be voted man of the year, she knew that Ace often became violent when he drank. And he drank a lot. She would never enter into a relationship with him. Not if he was the last man on earth. She knew that other girls in town, some of her friends even, would give anything to have Ace look at them the way he did her. He was good looking. He might even be great looking. But he was also mean and dangerous.

Richie shoved a cigarette at her face. "Here, take this, babe. It's stale." She sighed and poked the left over cigarette into her red lips and lit it gracefully. She inhaled and closed her eyes against the warm sunshine. Richie pulled her close to him. He was always doing that. She gave in and leaned her head against his shoulder.

Billy spoke up next to her, "What's on the agenda today, boys?"

"Let's go fishing. I hawked some of my old man's beers out of the fridge. Still have quite a few left," Eyeball answered.

"I'm not dressed for fishing, Richie." Sadie said softly.

"Well you can go home, then. Nobody told you to get all dolled up. I didn't promise to take you out today."

Ace didn't really give a shit about Sadie's feelings, but he did give a shit about being able to ogle her all day. It wasn't a rare occasion for her to spend the day with the boys, but it didn't happen so often that he was willing to throw away the opportunity. So he spoke up, "Hey, asshole, nobody wants to go fishing anyway. It's too hot, we'll be sweatin' our dicks off out there. Let's go shoot some pool."

The gang followed Ace to the pool hall where they spent a great deal of time wasting their potential, among other things. Sadie did not necessarily enjoy watching the boys play pool for hours on end, but she tolerated it. It was much better than many of the other fine activities the Cobras enjoyed. Things such as mailbox baseball, high speed chicken, and drinking at all hours of the day. Sadie Tessio did not have the shiniest reputation in Castle Rock, but she was certainly not about to put herself in senseless danger or risk being in trouble with the law.

As Ace, Billy, Charlie Hogan, and Vince Desjardins began to rack the pool balls, Eyeball took a seat in a booth to wait to play the winner. Sadie quickly scurried over to him and took a seat. Ace looked at her with lust in his eyes and lit a cigarette.

Sadie wondered how Richie never noticed the way Ace looked at her. A little voice in the back of her mind began to tell her that Richie did notice. He noticed and he liked it. Finally, for once, Richie was the top dog. He had something that Ace wanted and couldn't have. Sadie quickly put a stop to the voice as tears began to well in her brown eyes. She knew that Richie only asked her out in the first place because she was much prettier than any other girl he would ever have a chance with. But she hoped with all of her heart, that in the two years they had been together, he had developed some sort of real feelings for her, as she had for him. As she hoped for these things, Richie put his arm around her and kissed her on the top of the head, and for the time being, the voice was satisfied.

Her eyes suddenly caught some movement out the window. Someone was walking by. As she recognized their faces, she quickly got up and walked outside, hoping no one would follow after her.

"Vern!" She accosted her brother as she walked out the door, "What are you doing walking by here? You know Billy is furious with you! If he sees you, he'll beat the dog piss out of you. Get out of here."

A look of realization suddenly came over Vern's face as his friend Teddy DuChamp shifted nervously beside him. Teddy remembered the beating Billy's friends had given him last summer after he and his friends had taken something that the Cobras thought belonged to them.

"Did he see us?" Vern asked.

"No, but he will if you stand around here any longer. Stay out of his way until he forgets that you ratted him out to mom." Sadie answered as she began to turn to go back inside.

"Thanks, Sadie." Vern said as he quickly turned around to walk on a less dangerous sidewalk.

"Who the fuck are you yakkin' at?" Richie spat at Sadie as she sat back down.

"Just a friend." She answered carefully.

"Was this a friend a guy? I swear to God if I ever find out you've been fooling around behind my back, I'll kill you both." Richie looked closely at his girlfriend's face.

"I wouldn't ever do that. It was just a friend from school. Denise." Sadie turned away from her man and crossed her arms across her chest. She hated when he accused her of things like that. She also knew what he said was true. Although Richie had never hit her with his fists, he was quick to slap her lightly when she got too mouthy or asked him a question she shouldn't have. She had seen his father get angry many times, and knew that the men in the Chambers family had an uncontrollable, and frightening, temper. Perhaps with the exclusion of Richie's younger brother Chris. Although she had exchanged very few words with the boy over the years, she could tell that there was something different about him. He seemed to have something inside of him that the rest of his family lacked. She knew that he often paled around with Vern, but she hadn't seen him around her house lately. Just that DuChamp kid.

Richie had relaxed beside her. He began to watch his friends play pool again and even treated her to a cherry cola. Sadie felt as though she should be happy, but her feelings and thoughts from the morning kept returning to her, as did Ace Merrill's eyes. Sadie began to feel as though this summer some things would change in a big way. She just didn't know in what way. Yet.