Opposites (Ace Merrill Fanfic)

5

It was the sunny afternoon of a Tuesday. Walking through Castle Rock, Lizzy made her way over to the library, the sun shining down hard on her. She had read all of her books twice; New reading material was a must.

Glancing across the street Lizzy saw Ace and his gang walking her direction on the opposite side. Although he was on the other side of the street, her heart beat fast.
Why? Was she afraid that he may come over and talk to her? Or did she want him to talk her? Thinking back to Saturday night, Lizzy thought about how she may have actually been disappointed that Ace ignored her. Did she have feelings for him? Is that why her heart was beating fast now that she saw him?
'Ridiculous' she told herself. Yes, he was attractive and charming in a smug kind of way. But she couldn't. They couldn't.
'It's too complicated' she warned herself.

She glanced over again, this time Ace saw her. Their eyes locked. Thoughts raced around in Lizzy's head about whether he was going to talk to her or ignore her again.
He smirked at her before turning his head and continuing to walk down the street.
Ace hadn't ignored her but he hadn't  came over to talk to her either.

Continuing to walk, Lizzy tried to forget about Ace and thought about what books she wanted to get. Reading relaxed her, it was an escape from all the shit that went on in her life.

Just in front of her, a group of 4 younger boys were laughing and talking with each other.
Suddenly, a book fell from one of the boys' open bag. Lizzy observed he was chubby, dark-haired and completely unaware that he had dropped his book. Making an effort to catch up to them, Lizzy ran towards the boys and picked up the fallen book.
'Excuse me' she called causing all
of the boys to turn around.
'You dropped this' Lizzy explained, stretching out her arm to the boys, the book in hand.
'Gee thanks' the boy said, taking the book from Lizzy's hand and scanning the cover.
'It's for science' he began, 'Mr Roberts sure would kill me if I lost this. He's real strict. Billy told me this one time he put a student on a months after-school detention because he had done one line shorter than Mr Roberts wanted' The boy said looking round at his friends and Lizzy.
'Sincerely' he finished, nodding.
'Vern' one of his friends with short blonde hair and blue eyes spoke up, 'shut up' he told Vern.
Lizzy chuckled a little, 'so I guess your name is Vern then' she said looking to him, he nodded, smiling softly.
'What about you?' She asked the boy who had told Vern to shut up.
'Chris...this is Gordie' he said pointing to the boy with the brown hair, 'and this is Teddy' he said, this time pointing at the boy with glasses which he saluted back at.
'Nice to meet you all' she smiled, 'I'm Elizabeth'
'How come we've never seen you before?' Gordie curiously asked, the 5 of them beginning to walk together in a line.
'I just moved here about 2 weeks ago'
'How you finding Castle Rock?' Chris asked.
'It seems alright I guess' she smiled
'But, um' Lizzy began, tucking her her behind her ear, 'What do you think of Ace and his gang?' She asked, wanting to know others opinions on him. He was still on her mind. The boys exchanged dark looks to one another.
'The Cobras' Chris stated
'Is that what they call themselves?' Chris nodded in return.
'Stay away from them' he calmly said, a serious tone in his voice.
'Why?' Lizzy asked
'You don't wanna get involved with people like them' Gordie spoke up 'they're dangerous'
'How come?' She asked, sensing something had happened between these boys and the Cobras. Once again, the boys exchanged looks at each other, deciding whether to tell Lizzy or not.
'Why don't we sit over here' She said, gesturing to two park benches in front of them 'and you can tell me about it?'
Chris looked at the rest of the boys before nodding.

Sitting on the park benches, Lizzy looked around at the boys, waiting for someone to start talking.
'You know that dead kid Ray Brower?' Chris said after a couple of seconds.
'Yeah, they just found his body the other night'
'We're the ones who phoned the police and told them where to look, we found the body on Saturday' Gordie said.
'But he was found near the Back Harlow Road, that's ages away right? Especially on foot which I assume you were?'
'Yea but that didn't matter' Teddy chipped in, 'we wanted to be heroes!'
'Unfortunately Ace and the rest of The Cobras did too' said Chris, 'we were finally at the body and then they came'
'How did they know where the body was? How did you guys even know where it was?!'
'I overheard Billy and Charlie talking about it when I was under the porch, they weren't gonna tell any of the other guys about it but I guess they changed their minds' Vern told her.
'They in the Cobras?' Lizzy asked
'Yea' Chris answered, 'you seen them? Charlie's got blonde hair, kinda sticks up a bit and Billy's is dark and normally curly at the front'
Lizzy thought about the description Chris had just given her.
'Yes, I've met them, well briefly' she said thinking back to when they, Ace and Eyeball came to her house and refused to leave.
'Billy's my brother' said Vern, 'Eyeball is Chris' brother '
'Lucky us' Chris grimly remarked.
'Anyways' She began, 'what happened when they came?'
'They wanted the body, we wouldn't let 'em, Ace was prepared to kill Chris for it, until I shot the gun into the air and then they left' Gordie told her.
'He tried to kill you?' A concerned Lizzy asked Chris.
'Switchblade to the throat' Chris nodded.
'We're just waiting for retaliation' Teddy said, making Vern wiggle a little bit, a worried look forming on his face.
'Yea, Eyeball keeps reminding of that' Chris added.
Lizzy stood up, looking at the time 'listen I gotta go but thanks for telling me that, I appreciate it' she smiled.
She walked away from the benches but then turned back around to face the boys.
'Vern, Teddy, Chris, Gordie' She said, pointing at each one of them as she said their name'
'Yeah?' A confused Vern asked.
'Just making sure I know your names for next time'
'Next time?' Chris asked
'Yeah, next time I see you guys. It's a small town and I need some friends. It'll be pretty awkward if next time I see yous I don't even know your names won't it?' She laughed, making the boys chuckle with small comments of 'yes' and 'I guess'
'Bye!' She called to them, walking away.
'Bye Elizabeth' the boys called back.
'Call me Lizzy!' She shouted, turning around and smiling.

Walking down the street, thoughts of Ace raced through her mind and her smile turned into seriousness. He nearly killed Chris on Saturday.
'How could I even be considering feelings for someone like that? She thought to herself.