"Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly

Before they're forever banned?"

-Bob Dylan, Blowin' in the Wind

Robin stared at Chris Chambers with narrowed eyes. She couldn't believe her luck—or lack thereof. Of course after the week she had, he would be the one person to actually show up to her forum. And of course, he probably just witnessed her entire interaction with Diane. Awkward.

"What are you doing here?" Robin asked him suspiciously.

"I'm here to talk about the Vietnam War…" Chris replied, "I'm in the right place, aren't I?"

"Yes you're in the right place," she snapped back, "You know you're in the right place. But why are you here?"

"For the same reason you are, I reckon," Chris answered, shrugging his shoulders. He then gave her a wry smile. "I didn't realize being subjected to the third degree was a requirement to participate."

"Shut up," Robin grumbled, flopping into the chair facing him, "I can't believe you're the only one here...actually, yes I can."

Chris looked at her sympathetically. "I know that's got to be disappointing. But you're here too, and two is better than one."

For a brief second, Robin's father flashed into her mind.

"Ha, if you say so," she said sullenly, her fingers meeting the bump in her nose.

In an attempt to push the thought of her father out of her head, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on the physical sensation of her index finger running over her nose. After a minute or two, she put her hand down and opened her eyes to find Chris staring at her with contemplation.

"What are you looking at?"

"I—nothing."

And yet, he continued to make eye contact with her. The way his blue eyes fixed their gaze on—no, into—her green ones made her stomach give an anxious flip. Robin had to tear her eyes away.

"Well, as much as I enjoy a good staring contest," she pointed out sarcastically, eyes looking off to the left, "That's not why we're here. We're supposed to talk about the Vietnam War."

"True," Chris agreed, leaning back in his chair, "Where did you want to start?"

Robin turned to look at him again. Though Castle Rock was full of people who had their heads up their asses, she couldn't shake the disappointment that Chris Chambers was the sole person here for the forum.

"Ugh, you're the only one who showed up," Robin groaned, "I had discussion questions planned and everything!"

Chris smirked at her. "Discussion questions, huh? That really would have drawn a crowd."

Robin narrowed her eyes at him.

"Put a sock in it, would you?"

Chris held his hands up in mock surrender.

"This whole town is full of idiots," Robin said bitterly to herself, "I should have known no one would give two shits about the world and actually come and do anything to help—"

"Well…"

Robin looked up to find Chris looking at her again. He appeared both hesitant and eager to talk. She glared at him, daring him to speak.

"Well, what?"

"Well—"

"Just spit it out," she commanded frustratedly.

Chris clasped his hands together and placed them on the desk. He leaned forward slightly and looked right into her eyes.

"Well," Chris began pointedly, "For starters, you set the forum to be on a Friday afternoon at 3 PM, when school lets out for the weekend. It's probably the most inconvenient time. Don't you think people are ready to get the hell out of here after a long week?"

Robin didn't really give much thought to doing the forum on a Friday—which, she realized with a jolt, was most likely because her Friday afternoons were always free.

"Maybe so," she scoffed, "But this is Vietnam we're talking about, and if people really cared, they'd show up on any day of the week, no matter the time. Just goes to show all anyone cares about around here are their own dull-as-dishwater lives."

"Some people, yeah. But maybe more people would've cared about the forum if you didn't talk to them about it like they're stupid."

Robin felt a flicker of anger inside of her. She folded her arms over her chest.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Chris raised an eyebrow at her skeptically.

"You know what it means. People are hearing you, but they're not listening to you. And they're not going to listen to you when you talk down to them. You can't expect people to show up when you say things like, 'If you're interested in learning and talking about what's actually going on in the world.'"

Robin's mouth fell open. She couldn't deny that his words held some truth. In retrospect, she probably did speak that way to the class when she announced the forum, which she shouldn't have done. But how could he blame her when everyone else was so ignorant, so self involved? And who was he to say all of this to her?

"A little 'pot calling the kettle black,' don't you think?" Robin argued contemptuously, "What are you doing right now?"

"There's a difference between being condescending and giving feedback," Chris reasoned patiently, "I'm not trying to talk down to you, I'm trying to help you."

"Help me?!" Robin exclaimed with fury, "Help me?! I don't need your help, Chris Chambers, and I didn't ask for it either!"

"...You did, though. When you told me to 'just spit it out.'"

Robin huffed. He got her there.

"So did you just come to the forum to help me?" Robin asked sardonically, "Or maybe you're here just to put this on your college application, to get ahead of the competition?"

Chris's face darkened. Robin couldn't help but notice that this was the first time throughout their whole back-and-forth where he displayed any sort of agitation or disturbance—she must have hit some sort of nerve. But he didn't hear her anger and yell at her, like Teddy had done the day before, or storm away from her, like Diane just did. He simply tilted his head and looked her right in the eye.

"Is that what you actually think of me?" Chris asked matter-of-factly, "Why do you hate me, Robin?"

She froze. Of all the things, she was not expecting him to say that. She was used to others reacting to her vitriol with more anger and spite—not like he did. "Hate" him? How could she? That was such a strong word. Yes, she could admit to herself that she felt jealous of him and how good of a student he was. She didn't like the idea that he might beat her out to be number one in the whole graduating class: he was an obstacle to her goal. She wanted the credit, the recognition, the success. And she wanted out of here.

But that didn't really have to do with him and who he was. The Chambers family had a nasty reputation. Everyone in town knew that their father would regularly hit both his wife and his children after long nights of drinking with the other town drunks. Their mother was, in Robin's opinion, unfairly gossiped about for having 6 children with a man who beat her. Both of Chris's older brothers seemed to be following in their father's footsteps: Frank Chambers was in prison for rape, and Eyeball Chambers ran wild with Ace Merrill, boosting cars and dealing drugs.

She had never thought to hold anything against him because of this: her father didn't raise her that way. She judged by actions, not by hearsay. Granted, Robin never really spoke to him growing up, save for when she caught him taking the milk money in the beginning of 6th grade, which was a long time ago. She had just hung around with Martha Whittaker's group until they phased her out, then mostly with Diane, and after freshman year, with no one. Really, besides him excelling in school, she didn't think about him at all. All she had really seen was him hanging around Gordie Lachance and making A's. If anything, Chris Chambers becoming one of the best students at the school while dealing with his life circumstances was admirable.

"No, Chris," Robin answered quietly, "I don't hate you at all. I don't know you."

The ghost of a smile appeared on Chris's face.

"Exactly."

Robin furrowed her brow in confusion as she looked at him. What the hell did that mean?

Chris must have noticed the look of bewilderment on her face, as he spoke again with some clarification.

"Since you don't know me...ask me something."

Robin continued to look puzzled, but she almost appeared fearful.

"Like...what?"

Chris gave her an amused smile. "Like...what do you like to do for fun? Which classes do you hate? Who's your favorite musician? Do you believe there's life on other planets and UFOs are abducting humans for experiments? Literally anything, Robin."

She couldn't help but give him a small smile at the comment about aliens.

"Well, okay…" Robin started hesitantly, "I guess, to what we were talking about, why did you come to the forum? Especially if...especially if I didn't speak about it in the best way."

"Look, it's not that the entire announcement about it was bad," Chris assuaged, "When you started talking about what's going on over there, I could tell that you really care. And I don't know...I liked that."

"Okay...well, what do you think about the war? What do you think about all this violence?"

Chris held her gaze steadily.

"I don't agree with the war, and I don't really understand why it's a war we're even fighting in. I mean, I'm all for the idea that in America we can be who we want to be and do more for ourselves, but not at the expense of others."

Robin felt excitement stirring within her. Someone here actually thought about what's beyond this one-horse town.

"Yes!" she agreed eagerly, "Totally, I do think America does give us some freedoms. But how free is America really, if you think about it? Like how much bullshit is it that we literally just passed the Civil Rights Act last year? I think America talks a big game about freedom but if other people want to speak their mind and advocate for change, it's like this country just wants to silence them."

Chris outright grinned at her, and Robin couldn't help but notice how good it felt to be smiled at like that. She gave him a somewhat embarrassed smile back.

"Sorry, I tend to get carried away."

"No, I think it's great you care so much. And those are good points. The lengths people will go to silence others…" he trailed off, his grin fading.

"The violence," Robin offered quietly.

"Yeah," Chris uttered bleakly.

It was the first time that he looked away from her since she had entered the room. She wanted to say something to break the tension, but what could she say? She looked at him as he sighed, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. He lifted his gaze back to her, and his eyes were blazing.

"I don't believe in it, you know," Chris stated firmly, "Violence. Using it to obtain some sort of power. I think even if a country 'wins,' individually, people are hurt for the rest of their lives. What is the point of that? What good comes from it?"

It was like a trap door suddenly opened in her body, and her stomach fell through it. Violence and war had torn her whole world apart. And it seemed as if, though in a much different way, he understood the cost of violence.

"I feel the exact same way," Robin murmured.

Again came his penetrating stare, and it very quickly made her regret speaking the bare minimum about how she felt. His stare was as if he knew that there was more that she wasn't saying, and he was trying to figure out what it was. And she sure as hell wasn't going to give him the chance to do so.

"Well, I think that's enough for today," Robin said hastily, standing abruptly from her chair.

"Yeah, maybe so," Chris agreed tentatively, still seated with his eyes upon her, "Maybe so."

She backed away from him and towards the door.

"This has been...interesting."

Chris laughed in response, and though it was a wonderful sound, she didn't get why what she said was so funny.

"You can't help but be completely honest, huh?"

That question gave her the answer. She smiled with her lips pressed together.

"I guess not," she responded simply, shrugging her shoulders.

Robin turned to walk out the door, but she stopped herself and looked back at him.

"Chris?"

"Yes?" he said, almost seeming surprised.

"Do you believe that aliens are abducting humans for bodily experiments?"

He grinned at her again.

"Hell no. But it'd make for a good story, wouldn't it? I'll have to tell my friend Gordie to dip his toe into science-fiction; he's a writer. But I'll make sure we both get credit for the idea when he's rolling in dough."

She returned his answer with a small smile.

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed softly.

As she walked away, she didn't turn around to look back at him this time. But Robin could feel Chris's penetrating stare until she knew she was out of sight.