I AM SO SORRY! My last day of school was yesterday, and I had finals the week before that, but since it's summer, I will be updating MUCH more often. Soooo, HERE GOES!

CHAPTER 6: A REALLY GREAT TIME

At first, we all just stood there; we figured Teddy would jump off the tracks sooner or later. But a few minutes went by… and Teddy didn't move. "Teddy, come on, quit messing around," I scolded him.

Teddy shook his head. "No." He threw his sleeping bag over to us. "I'm gonna dodge it."

Chris (who always was the most adamant that Teddy would stop being so crazy) said sternly, "Teddy, come on, man. Get off the tracks, man, you're crazy!"

Teddy, however, just ignored us. He seemed to be off in his own world. He kept on murmuring, "Train dodge. Dig it."

Gordie, Vern, and I were just looking back and forth at each other not knowing what to do, but Vern was the only one ready to spring into action. "Get the hell off the tracks, Teddy! Do you want to get yourself killed?"

Teddy just kept on ignoring us. "Just like the beach at Normandy," he whispered, and started firing an imaginary machine gun. Oh, God, not the Normandy thing again, I thought to myself. You see, before Teddy's father went totally off his rocker, he had stormed the beach at Normandy. That was the only shred of evidence that Teddy had that his father had once been normal, and he clung to that fact with everything he had in him.

Finally, Chris leapt into action. He dashed onto the tracks and wrestled Teddy off of the tracks just as the train passed by. My heart leapt into my throat as I watched the train run behind the heads of Chris and Teddy as they fist fought and Gordie and Vern broke it up. I ran in and stepped between the both of them. "STOP IT, THE BOTH OF YOU!" I screamed as the train rumbled past.

Teddy screamed angrily, "I COULD'VE DODGED IT!"

Chris screamed back, "I WAS JUST TRYING TO SAVE YOUR ASS, MAN! DO YOU WANNA KILL YOURSELF? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT, GODDAMNIT? YOU TRIED TO KILL YOURSELF!"

We all sobered up after Chris said that. Teddy really could have killed himself if Chris hadn't saved him. "Teddy, we almost lost you for good," I gently reminded him.

Teddy glared at me. "Stop being such a girl, Randall." With that, he turned to Chris and snarled, "I don't need no babysitter. I could've dodged it," he murmured as he started to stalk off.

Chris ran up and grabbed Teddy's arm. "Listen, Teddy, you can dodge it on the way back, man." He then held out his hand. "Peace. Skin it."

Teddy paused for a while, and then skinned Chris's hand. We all picked up our bags and started to set off once more. As we walked, Chris stood near me. "I'm sorry about what Teddy said. About you being a girl and all."

I shrugged. "Hey, I can't help my gender."

Chris laughed and put his arm around me in a kind of half hug. "That's why I love you, Joey," he said, and he ran off to catch up to Gordie. Is there such a thing as a Cloud 10? I backed up to walk with Teddy and Vern, and Teddy noticed how happy I was. "You got some laughing gas in you or something, Joey?" he asked.

I said, "Shut up, Duchamp," and punched him in the elbow.

Vern turned to Teddy. "See, now how come she gets to punch you?"

Teddy just shrugged. "She's a girl. Didn't your mother ever teach you that it's not polite to hit women?"

I laughed. "Theodore Duchamp, you are a maniac."

Again, we just kept on walking, until we finally reached the junkyard owned by Milo Pressman. No self-respecting kid in Castle Rock went near that place because, not only did Milo live there, but so did his dog, Chopper. Milo had not only taught Chopper to sic, but specific parts of the male anatomy, so any guy who was trying to escape the junkyard would hear the cry, "CHOPPER, SIC BALLS!" I, however, did not fall under this particular category of juvenile, so Chopper didn't even so much make me shudder. When we finally arrived at the junkyard, neither Milo nor Chopper were anywhere in sight; there were just tons and tons of broken down and rusty cars. "Well, Vern, looks like your mom's been out driving again," Gordie dryly commented.

Vern scoffed, "Oh, very funny."

"STAND BACK, MEN!" Teddy yelled as he tossed his sleeping bag over the fence like a bomb. He made an explosion sound, and then yelled, "PARATROOPS, OVER THE SIDE!" He and Vern leapt over the fence, but Chris, Gordie and I stayed back, watching Teddy and Vern run off. Finally, we scaled the fence. When we landed, Gordie voiced all our thoughts: "Teddy's crazy."

I raised my eyebrows. "You're just realizing that now, Gordo?"

Chris laughed. "He probably won't even live to be 20, I bet."

"Remember that time you saved him when he almost fell out of the tree house?" Gordie asked as we started walking.

Chris grew a bit pensive for a minute. "Yeah. You know, I dream about that sometimes. Except in the dream, I always miss him; I just get a couple of his hairs and down he goes."

I put my hand on his shoulder. "But you didn't miss him. Chris Chambers never misses, does he?"

Chris smiled. "Not even when the ladies leave the seat down." He and Gordie both laughed then. Why, I really don't know.

I raised my eyebrows. "Do I really want to know what that means?"

Gordie shook his head. "You'd just say we were perverts."

I nodded. "I'll take your word for it."

Chris then turned to Gordie. "Wanna race, man?"

"Nah, I don't wanna," Gordie said.

"Oh, come on, man, right to the pump!" Chris pleaded.

"No, I don't think so- GO!" Gordie yelled as he and Chris broke into a run. I decided to just make a little mischief and join in without them knowing.

"YOU ARE A DEAD MAN, LACHANCE!" Chris yelled as he tried to catch up to Gordie. "IT LOOKS LIKE LACHANCE HAS HIM THIS TIME!"

I finally caught up with the two of them and yelled back, "NEITHER LACHANCE NOR CHAMBERS, HOWEVER, COUNTED ON JOEY RANDALL JOINING IN THE FRAY!" I passed by Chris and was now inching out ahead of Gordie.

"BUT WHAT'S THIS?" I heard Chris yell from behind us. He passed Gordie as he yelled, "CHAMBERS IS MAKING HIS MOVE! HE COULD GO ALL THE WAY!"

I blew out some air and yelled, "RANDALL AND CHAMBERS ARE NECK AND NECK! THE FINISH IS IN SIGHT, AND IT'S…" my foot arrived at the pump three seconds before Chris's did. "RANDALL AT THE TAPE! THE CROWD GOES WILD!"

Vern and Teddy, who were filling their canteens with water from the pump, gave an unenthusiastic, "Yay." Gordie, Chris and I all leaned down to catch our breath. "So, what do you think of that, Chris," I panted. "Beaten by a girl."

Chris let out a breath and said, "I don't see it as that. I just lost my standing as the town's fastest runner, that's all."

Gordie grinned. "Joey, he's never going to speak to you again." He shook his head in mock disappointment. "You've broken up the Furious Five forever, Johanna. I hope you're happy."

"Shut your trap, Gordo," I laughed. We all stood upright again and I held out my hand to Chris. "No hard feelings?"

Chris smiled (gah, that smile…) and skinned my hand. "Not a chance, Joe." We then walked over to sit with Teddy and Vern to sit around and talk. I think that was what I liked most about our friendship: we could just talk.

"So, you guys been watching "The Mickey Mouse Club" lately?" Teddy asked.

We all agreed, and then Teddy said, "I think Annette's tits are getting bigger."

Vern looked surprised. "You think so?"

Gordie said, "Yeah, I think so. I've been noticing lately that the "A" and the "E" are starting to bend around the sides," and he lifted his hands up to give a general estimate of just how big Annette Funicello's tits were. This gained huge laughs from all of the boys, but a withering glance from me.

Chris said, "Hey, guys, I've actually noticed something: Joey, you're not looking so bad yourself." He glanced at me, nervous as hell.

Gordie scrunched up his eyebrows, the way he always did when he was observing something. "Actually, Joe, Chris is right."

Teddy and Vern actually burst out laughing, and Teddy gasped through his laughter, "Joe, you're actually going to let them talk about you like that to your face?"

I shrugged. "I always expected it sooner or later." I punched Gordie on the shoulder and said, "Even sweet innocent little Gordon LaChance had to fall to the male sex drive sooner or later."

Everyone burst out laughing. "This is really a great time," Vern remarked.

"The most," Chris agreed.

"A blast," Teddy laughed.

I actually don't remember how we all knew Vern was right, but for some underlying reason, we all knew.

Once again, Teddy made some degrading remark about Vern's mother, and to defend him, we all ended up in a dog pile, wrestling. After we picked ourselves up off the dirt, I asked, "Hey Gordie, you got the time?"

Gordie checked his watch. "Um, about 1:30."

Vern said, "We better hurry up and get the food. Junkyard opens at 3:00. Chopper will be here."

Chris laughed, "Oooh, sic balls!"

I looked around at all of them. Of course none of them would risk being caught by Chopper. I sighed, "I'll do it, I'll do it."