12 Years Young

Chapter 16

"Wake up, Jo." Said someone from off in the distance. I slowly opened my eyes to see Gordie right above me.

"Good morning." I said smiling and scanning his face.

The rest of the guys were still packing up. Gordie moved out of the way and I packed up too.

"I think I like Castle Rock better." Chris said from the tree line looking at the town.

"Yeah so do I. We know all the fun places to hang out and everything. Here is just plain boring." Gordie responded.

"We haven't even see the whole place!" I said watching them lose enthusiasm. I sighed and watched Chris and Gordie mind read again.

I shook my head and felt someone grab my arm. I turned to see Ben staring at me.

"Teddy said he was going to the bathroom over an hour ago." He whispered to me.

"He probably just had to take a dump." I said waving my hand I starting to turn the other way.

"Jo I think he might be lost or something." He said squeezing my arm making me turn to him again.

I scanned his face. His eyes were filled with worry. I gave him a little smile and nodded.

"You guys coming?" Chris asked from the tree line.

"Teddy found a creek not far away and went to wash his face. We're gonna go grab him quick." I said giving them a smile.

"Maybe we should come with." Gordie said glancing at Ben quickly.

"We'll be fine Gordo, we'll meet you guys up by the tracks, cool?" I said putting my backpack on.

"Gordie how about you go with and I go wait with Chris." Ben said looking from Gordie to me.

Gordie smiled a little. "Okay." He said and started walking forwards. Ben started to walk too.

I could feel the tenseness as I passed. I watched them pass each other and let out a small sigh.

They switched spots and I smiled to Gordie a little.

"Let's go." I said taking his hand a d starting to pull him through the woods.
I as going as fast as I could. I would have to tell Gordie sooner or later that something was wrong with Teddy.

"Why are we going so frickin fast?" Gordie asked trying to slow me down.

"Because Teddy is actually missing, not having fun in the creek." I said trying not to slow anymore because I was sure Gordie would want to go tell Chris.

"What?!" Gordie said stopping dead and pulling me back and into him.

I let his hand go and looked at the ground.

"You guys lied about where Teddy was?" Gordie asked. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me a little.

"Jo! Why the hell didn't you tell us about Teddy?" He asked making me look up at him. His eyes looked angry but scared at the same time.

"We didn't want you guys to worry." I said shrugging. Gordie was starting to sound like Chris.

"You could have, and should have, just told us Jo." Gordie said looking at me disappointed.

"You wouldn't have even known if you didn't get so jealous of Ben all the time!" I said, anger building up inside me.

Gordie's face flushed pink and he took his hands from my shoulders.

"Yeah, I see the way you look at him when we are talking! He sees it too! He would rather be friends with you than anything else. It's like you with your dad!" I said instantly regretting my words.

"You don't know shit about me." He said glaring.

"Actually I know almost everything, and you know almost everything about me. That's why I thought you would trust me by now." I said clenching my fists.

"I do trust you." He said turning to walk away.

"We both know you're lying, and now you're just going to leave me out here?!" I yelled at him.

"You won't be alone! Maybe Teddy is still out at that creek." He said turning to give me a smirk.

"You know what Gordon Lachance, I hate you." I said feeling the tears fill my eyes. He stopped for a split second before continuing on.

The tears were coming faster now. I kicked the ground in anger and turned the other. I walked and scanned the forest with blurry eyes.

Then I saw something run out from behind a tree and walk towards me.

"Jo? Jo it's you!" Said Teddy with a laugh running closer.

He stopped short and looked at me.

"Are you, crying?" He asked in a serious tone.

I wiped my eyes. "Let's just go Teddy, okay?" I said turning and starting to walk.

I felt Teddy put an arm around my shoulder and we started to walk.

"You and Lachance have a fight?" He asked as we made our way back through the forest.

"Yeah. It was awful. I told him I hated him." I said starting to cry at my last sentence.

"Well maybe you guys need to have a fight in order to be pulled back together." Teddy said squeezing my shoulder.

It was the most sensible thing I had ever heard Teddy say.

"Maybe." I said as we came upon the place where we were camping.

"Don't get too rattled about it. I'm sure you guys will be just fine." He said smiling at me.

I nodded and wiped my eyes again.

"Thanks Teddy." I said as we made our way towards the tree line. He didn't say anything afterwords, just nodded.

We walked in silence the rest of the way to the tracks. The rest of the guys were standing behind the building.

Gordie stared off into the distance and Chris watched us walk up with sad eyes. I looked away from him at Ben who was just awkwardly sitting on the ground.

"Hey Teddy." Chris said breaking the awkward silence. "You guys wanna play cards or something?" Chris asked with a failed attempt at a reassuring smile.

All of us just looked up at him. He shrugged and laughed nervously.

I sat on the outside by Chris. Gordie sat all the way on the other side. The silence was incredibly awkward. This was possibly one of the shittiest days of my life.