CHAPTER 10: SETTING UP CAMP

Teddy, Chris and I stood looking down at the gorge, paralyzed with fear. Then, suddenly, we heard coughing. We ran over and saw Gordie and Vern lying in a heap. They were covered in dust, and a tad shaken, but they were alive.

"Hey," Chris said, "at least now we know when the next train is due."

I rolled my eyes and ran over to poor Vern and Gordie. "You alright you two?"

Gordie nodded. Vern panted, "Told you we should have just hitchhiked."

I shook my head and laughed as I helped them up. The four of us then set off again. A couple hours later, we set up camp in the middle of the forest, took out the hamburger meat we had bought, and began roasting it over the fire. "That was the all-time train dodge. Too cool!" Teddy commented as we were talking. He turned to Vern and laughed. "Vern, you were so scared, you looked like that fat guy, Abbot Costello, when he saw the mummy."

Vern shrunk down a bit, but said defensively, "I wasn't that scared."

Gordie commented dryly, "Ok, so you won't mind if we check your Jockeys for Hershey squirts?"

Vern scoffed, "Go screw."

Chris eyed Vern's burger and warned, "Vern, you really oughta turn yours over."

Vern, clearly tired of everyone getting on his case, snapped, "This is the way I like to do it!"

Chris shook his head and said, "Fine."

No sooner was the word out of Chris's mouth that Vern's hamburger slid off of his stick into the fire. We were all in hysterics, but Vern said, "This isn't funny, man! What am I supposed to eat?"

Teddy gasped through his screeching laughter, "Why don't you cook your dick?"

Chris laughed even harder, then intoned, "It'll be a small meal."

I just shook my head as I wiped my face clean of tears that had formed because I was laughing so hard. "Perverts. Both of you," I laughed.

Chris sighed and looked out at the forest. He turned to us. "Anyone up for a smoke?" he asked.

All the boys said yes. I shook my head. "Nope. Sorry, boys, but this one, I'm staying out of this one."

Teddy nudged Chris. "Hey, Chambers, is our dear miss Joey turning chicken before our eyes?" he laughed. I could tell that he meant it as a joke, and said, "No, Mr. Duchamp."

Gordie took a drag on his and turned to me. "You sure you don't want one, Joey?"

Chris whirled around to Gordie. "Gordie, she said she didn't want one, so just leave her alone, ok?"

We all sat there silently for a moment. Finally, I just said, "I, um… I bought something at Quidicello's for you guys." I reached into my sack where I kept my sleeping bag, and pulled out the magazines I had bought. All the boys cheered, and invited me to come sit with them as we flipped through the pages. I couldn't help but scoff, "Can you believe these girls?" I grabbed a particularly doe-eyed, wimpy one. "This chick probably couldn't run 500 yards if someone paid her to!"

The boys all laughed. Vern shrugged a little, the way he always did when he was about to say something that meant he kind of disagreed with me on something. "Still, Joe, you've got to admit, some of these girls are really pretty."

And you know what sucked? He was right. Page after page, he turned. Gorgeous girl after gorgeous girl. For some weird reason, the sickening feeling that Chris would never think of me that way kept nagging at my brain. Why was I caring about this so much? I mean, it was Chris, for crying out loud! He never had a bad word to say about anybody. Still, that little voice kept saying, "You're ugly Joey… He'll never be in love with someone like you…"

I shook my head, like I was trying to get rid of a migraine. I sat with the boys as they smoked the last of their cigarettes. "Nothing like a smoke after a meal," Vern sighed with satisfaction.

Teddy nodded. "Yeah. I cherish these moments."

I burst out into laughter that sounded eerily like Teddy's, and Gordie, Chris and Vern all burst into fits of laughter. Teddy just looked up and shrugged, "What? What did I say?"

Chris just shook his head, and then turned to Gordie. "Gordie, why don't you tell us a story?"

Vern piped up. "Yeah, come on, Gordo."

Gordie shrugged and stuttered, "I-I-I don't know."

I put on my best puppy dog face. "Please Gordie?" I whimpered.

Gordie blushed a bit, then nodded. Teddy and Vern gave me hi-fives, and Chris just looked at me and laughed. We then all gathered around Gordie as he began to tell his story.