𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐌𝐄 - 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬

𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬

"it was almost noon as we set out to find the body of a dead kid named ray brower."

caroline, wearing her earlier outfit of blue boyfriend jeans, a navy blue shirt, and her already dirty white shoes, ran into chambers and lachance near the corner of the blue point diner. a brown knapsack adorned her back, along with a tied-up sleeping bag. 

"what're you guys running from?" asked caroline as the two boys practically bodied her.

chris, still riding the adrenaline of the earlier mishap with the gun, explained the situation. the boys then went off with their back-and-forth banter.

"oh man, you should have seen your face! yeah, that was cool! you should have been there to see it, cals!"

not taking it as lightly, gordie chided, "you knew it was loaded, you wet end!" he expressed concern about getting in trouble.

"shit gordie, she thought it was firecrackers!" retorted chris who was attempting to downplay the situation.

caroline's expression shifted to one of almost disappointment as she saw how mad gordie became because of chris's reckless play. why would he play around with a loaded gun? she also considered the potential anger of chris's father, akin to a storm about to unleash its fury.

chris placed a hand on gordie's shoulder, bringing his walk to a halt. in a more serious tone, he explained that he genuinely had no idea the gun had any bullets in it.

"you swear?" gordie spoke under his breath.

"yeah, i swear."

"on your mother's name?"

caroline knew the gravity of that pledge.

"yeah."

"even if she goes to hell because you lied?"

chris sweared.

"pinky swear?" 

he raised his pinky in the air. it was a rare sight for caroline, who had never seen gordie so earnest about something like this before. however, despite the seriousness, caroline couldn't take him seriously as he wore a baseball cap that was two sizes too big for his head.

"pinky swear."

when the tension diffused between the two boys, the trio continued their walk. just as caroline was about to inquire about their getaway, her attention was snagged by the sight of eyeball and ace leaving a store, slamming the door behind them.

before caroline could alert chris and gordie, eyeball and ace noticed them. 

"hey girls, where're you goin'?" mocked eyeball.

ace then snatched gordie's baseball cap off his head. despite the size difference of their gangs, caroline was ready to defend her friends, especially knowing the cap's original owner. 

"hey, come on man, my brother gave me that!"

gordie, who was determined to reclaim his baseball cap, attempted to reach for it, but ace kept raising it out of his reach.