Stand By Me ~ Chris & Eliza

Chapter 7

Eliza's POV:
Cutting through the forest saved us a whole hour of walking. Chris and I held hands and he would ask me every five seconds if was okay fearing I would faint again. He kept making me drink water but I really was okay. I felt safe being with him. I never wanted to let go.

"Brower-kid must be somewhere around here. Teddy and Vern watch the left we'll take the right." Chris said. We went looking through the bushes. "There he is! I see him! Look, look over there!" Vern squealed as we ran over. There it was. The dead body of Ray Brower. The train knocked the life out of him. We stood there not being able to move or speak. I linked my arm around gently around Chris's and rested my head against his. "Lets get some branches. We'll make him a stretcher." He said breaking the silence.

Gordie became emotional, thinking of his brother Denny. "What's the matter with Gordie?" Vern said. "Don't worry about it." Chris said. Chris and I comforted Gordie as he cried about his dad hating him. My heart broke for him. Such a wonderful boy with so much potential was treated like absolute shit by his own parents.

"What the fuck do you know about this?" a familiar voice startled us. It was Ace and Eyeball, Charley, Billy and the rest of their gang. I instantly grabbed Chris's hand and arm standing close to him. "Son of a bitch!" My little brother!" Eyeball said as they walked down the ditch towards us. My heart broke hearing him say that to his own brother. "You weren't planning on taking the body from us was ya boys? And girl." Ace teased with the others laughing. "This your little girlfriend?" "Shut the fuck up." Chris said. He was so tough. It was one of the things that made me attracted to him the most. "And we got dibs, that's not fair he's ours."
"That's not fair he's ours!" Eyeball mocked. "Well not anymore."
Gordie had snuck away some where.
"There are five of us Eyeball. You just make your move." Teddy said stepping next to Chris. "Oh we will." Ace said. "Vern you little son of a whore! You was under the porch!" Billy said in gritted teeth. "No it wasn't me! I swear!" Vern said scared shitless. "You little cunt-licking bung wipe, we'll beat the shit out of you!" Billy said coming over to whip his brother's ass. "You have two choices. Either leave quietly, we take the body. Or you stay, we beat the shit out of you, we take the body." Ace crossed his arms. "Besides me and Billy found him first." Charley argued. "Yeah Vern told us how you found him." Teddy began mocking and teasing them. "That's it you're ass is grass!" Charley said about beat us making us take a step back. "Hold it." Ace said putting his hand up to stop Charley. "Okay Chambers, you little faggot. This is your last chance." There was a moment of silence.
"Why don't you go home and fuck your mother some more." Chris said. I tried not to laugh. Ace's face was priceless. Eyeball rolled his eyes. "You're dead." Ace said taking out his switch blade and pointing it at Chris. My heart started pounding, my eyes widened and Chris instantly pulled me behind him protecting me. I was scared for Chris. Even Teddy was. "Come on Chris let's split..." Teddy said running to hide in the bushes with Vern. "They're not taking him." He said not moving keeping his eyes on Ace as he got closer to us. "Chris..." I said nervously tugging on his arm from behind worried he'd get hurt. "They're not taking him." He said a little louder. "Chris he has a knife." I said to him in a quiet panic. "You're going to have to kill me Ace." He said still not moving. That's when I almost broke into tears. "Chris common!" I said trying to pull him away but he would budge. "No problem." Ace said raising the knife in the air about hurt Chris but stopped, interrupted by a gun shot making me scream. We all turned around and saw that Gordie had shot the gun in the air. "You're not taking him. Nobody's taking him." He said glaring at Ace. "Come on kid just give me the gun before you take your foot off, you ain't got the sack to shoot a wood chuck." He said about to take the gun from Gordie. "Move Ace. I swear to god I'll kill you." He said pointing it at Ace. Chris pulled me close to him by my waist. "What are you gonna do, shoot us all?"
"No Ace. Just you." Gordie said still pointing the gun at him. He took a small step back. "Give me the gun Lachance. You must have some of your brother's good sense." At that moment if I were Gordie, I would have shot him right there. "Suck my fat one you cheap-dime store-hood." Gordie said. Ace didn't know what to do next. "We're gonna get you for this." He threatened. "Maybe you will and maybe you won't." Chris said. "Oh we will. We're not gonna forget this." Ace said slowly walking away with Eyeball and the rest following.

My heart was still pounding from what could have just happened. Those boys really scared me especially since they were three years older. I put my arms around Chris's neck pulling him into a hug relieved that he wasn't hurt by Ace even though he had challenged him too. Teddy and Vern came out from behind the trees. "Suck my fat one?" I smiled at Gordie. "Whoever told you had a fat one Lachance?" Chris teased. "Biggest one in four counties." He made the moment slightly sweeter.

We turned around and stepped over to the body which was a few feet behind us. "We takin' him?" Vern asked quietly. "No." Gordie said. "I don't think we should either." I agreed. "But we came all this way. We were supposed to be heroes."
"Not this way Teddy." Gordie said.

We covered the body with one of our blankets and decided that an anonymous phone call was the best thing to do.

We headed back home. Chris I and held hands here and there but we all five of us didn't speak much in the way back.

It was about 5:00 the next day when we got back in town and we parted ways to go home. We said we'd all hang out sometime during the week.

Chris wanted to walk me and Gordie home but I think he mostly meant me. "See yeah guys." Gordie waved going inside. "Yeah see ya man." Chris said. Chris and I stayed outside my house for a bit. "Going on a mission to find a dead body is pretty overwhelming and weird huh? Especially in a new town with a group of boys you only met less than a week ago." He said. "Yeah." I sighed with a bit of a laugh. "But I'm glad I went. I was with you guys and I couldn't picture myself doing anything else this weekend to be honest."
"We're glad you came. I hope we didn't... ya know pressure you or-"
"No you didn't! It was 100% my decision and I don't regret it at all." I said in all honesty. "I was with you so..." I smiled making him turn a little pink. I could feel myself turning pink too. "Chris I know this sounds weird for only knowing you for three days but like I said before I really care about you... more than a friend and I liked you from the start." I said looking down at my dirty white converse that weren't so white anymore. "Me too." He said grabbing my hands. "That day you climbed up the tree house... I don't know... I instantly felt something for you in fact I would pussy out trying to talk to you."
"Seriously?" I said almost laughing. "Yeah I chocked. I've never met a girl like you before. Even Teddy and Vern
drooled over you a bit. Gordie probably has."
"That's ridiculous." I smiled at the ground. "Why do you do that?" He said with a curious smile.
"What?" I said shooting my head back up at him. "Look away when I talk about how beautiful you are?" I felt myself blush. "I don't know. I really like you that's why." I said stepping closer to him. He pulled me in by my waist and kissed me. "I have to go." I said breaking the kiss. "Yeah me too."
"You'll be okay going home?" I said worried. "Yeah don't worry about me. I'll see you this week!" He said. "One more thing!" He said grabbing my wrist pulling me back into him. "You'll be my... girlfriend?" He said. This hot, sandy-blond, green eyed tough boy had me dying inside. I kissed him again. "Does that answer that?" I said walking away leaving a look of amazement on that beautiful boy's face.