Chapter 6

That Saturday, the guys had had enough of school and were ready to kick off the weekend with a little carefree fun; the day was warm enough to wear short-sleeved shirts and baseball caps to shield the sun, even though the trees were now tinged in hues of rust and yellow, signaling the arrival of fall. They'd just finished a game of baseball in the lot behind the high school, and were now cutting through the woods to find the bottle of whiskey they'd stashed away while skipping school the other day. If Gordie closed his eyes, he could almost feel like he was searching for Ray Brower again, leaves crunching underneath their feet as they traversed trails through unchartered territory (except this situation wasn't nearly as ominous as that).

"God, guys, are we ever going to stop walking?" Vern complained. "Man, after last weekend, I don't think I can walk ever again."

"Vern, if you don't shut up I'm going to shove this bat up your pie hole," Teddy threatened, swinging his baseball bat in front of Vern's face, coming dangerously close to whacking him in the nose.

"Cut it out, Teddy!" Vern shouted, swatting him away. Teddy merely laughed, while Vern's face turned a shade of purple.

"God, I am so going to get you one day," he growled.

Teddy stopped dead in his tracks, peering over at Vern with a serious expression on his face. "I'll be sure to watch out for that."

"Guys, come on, quit it," Chris snapped. He wasn't in too good a mood that afternoon—earlier that morning over a pancake breakfast, Eyeball was starting in on him as he usually did, ragging on him for not being as tough as the other hoods.

"Ace is gonna beat your sorry ass, Chris," he'd said, shoveling bacon in to his mouth. "And I ain't gonna bail you out on this one."

"What do I care, huh? I can take him just fine."

Eyeball smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Oh, really? You don't have it in you, little bro. I'd like to see you take him on without your friends around."

Chris knew he was asking for it, knew very well he was playing with fire. "Fuck, Eyeball, I don't even care anymore…let him come at me. I'll be ready to fight."

"What's this about a fight?" Mr. Chambers stumbled downstairs, tying his robe around his heavy belly. He approached the kitchen table, and grabbed two pieces of sausage from Eyeball's plate, devouring them in two gulps. "I better not be hearing what I think I'm hearing," he growled. "I ain't bailing you two shits out of jail."

"Dad, don't worry about it," Eyeball said harshly, glaring up at his father. "This ain't nothing we can't handle, right Christopher?" He looked over at his brother with a smirk on his face. Chris could feel himself seething, but held a lid on his temper for now. There was no sense stirring up shit with his father around. One wrong move, and your head was slammed against the wall in the blink of an eye.

"Chris better not be getting in to fights…after that whole milk money ordeal, I'll be damned if I have to be ashamed of this goddamned family again. One sign of trouble and you're outta here!"

"But, Dad!" Chris huffed. "I didn't take that money, and you know it!"

Mr. Chambers took a sip of his black coffee. "I don't know nothing," he mumbled. He picked up the morning paper and buried his head down, signaling the end of discussion.

"Chris?"

Chris snapped his head up and realized he was still walking through the woods. Gordie was looking over at him strangely. He also noticed Teddy and Vern were up a ways on the path, engaged in their own boisterous conversation.

"Yeah? Sorry, I'm just not with it right now," he mumbled.

"I thought you seemed a bit off."

"It's nothing, man…don't worry about me." They walked in silence for a moment, listening to the sounds of the woods, the hum of bees and the tapping of woodpeckers against tree trunks surrounding them. Chris finally let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm just sick of it, you know? Sick of living here, sick of going to school when I know goddamned well it's not going to do a thing for me…sick of being a Chambers."

"I know." It was all Gordie knew what to say, but somehow he knew Chris would understand. Gordie knew because he'd been there before, just in a different way. While Chris' dad beat on him with fists, his own Dad waged his war with glares over the dinner table and words meant to cut him down to size.

"Remember when I asked you last week if I'd ever get out of this town?" Chris asked softly, his voice hardly above a whisper. "Well, I've been thinking about splitting, just getting on out of here."

"What?!" Gordie could feel his stomach churn in shock, not only because of Chris' plans to run away, but also for the fact that he'd only just now informed him about it. "You're really thinking about doing that? Why?"

"Because there's nothing for me here! I'll always be a lowlife Chambers here…if I go to a bigger city, I won't have to worry about none of that."

Gordie felt sick, like the world was spinning to fast for him to catch his grip on it. He didn't want to make a scene by whining about it, but he couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness as he thought of Chris leaving.

"But who else will keep Teddy in line?" Gordie asked weakly. "Or remind Vern to change his underwear every so often?"

Chris cracked a smile, and peered over at his friend. "Yeah, I am quite good at that, aren't I?" He looked down at his shoes, his eyes glazing over. "I don't know, man…I just know I'm not happy here."

"Running away isn't going to make it better, Chris…there's bad shit every where…just more so here than any other places."

Chris finally laughed, slinging an arm over friend's shoulder. "Yeah, this place really is a shit hole."

"Guys, will you walk a little faster?" They looked up to see Teddy hollering at them. "Vern's about to pass out from all this walking! I think we may have to carry him."

"Shit," Chris laughed, shaking his head.

"See, look at all the fun you'd be missing," teased Gordie.