Business of Misery (Ace Merrill - Stand By Me - Eyeball Chambers)

Chapter Four (CastleRockGirl)

Business of Misery

Faye

4

It was only a few days later that I realised there was more to my new friends than I had been initially made aware of.

"Pssst... Pssst."

My head turned in the direction of the persistent sound beside me, meeting the curious green eyes of the girl that sat beside me. She hadn't been in most of the week, today was her first day back, a Friday which I had to give her some credit for.

"Hey, you're the new girl, right?"

"Right," I replied in a whisper. "Faye."

"I'm Jane," she greeted with a warm smile. "How are you settling in?"

She seemed nice, like she honestly cared and wasn't just being nosy. "Okay, actually. My first day was a bit rocky but I made friends pretty quickly. These girls invited me to sit with them at lunch and since then we've been hanging out."

"Great!" she replied, a little loudly and we both ducked our heads as our history teacher's head shot up from her book. I quickly found my place in the textbook and continued copying the notes. "Which girls? Maybe I'll know them," she pressed.

"Deena, Annie and Beverly." I froze at her sudden intake of breath at my words and turned to stare at her in concern. She didn't look too thrilled. "What?" I asked hesitantly.

She shook herself, recovering from her state of shock. "It's just... I never figured those girls for taking in an outsider so easily."

"Outsider?" I repeated, a little hurt. I realised I was new, but she said it like I'd landed from another planet.

She reached out a comforting hand to my arm and shook her head vigorously, a look of apology on her face. "Oh, I didn't mean that to sound so rude. I just meant they're very cliquey. They hardly talk to anyone else and they're very close-knit. It's just surprising, is all."

That softened the previous remark a little and I shrugged to show I had let it go. "Well, Annie has been nothing but nice to me. I like them."

She arched an eyebrow. "So... you'll probably be joining their gang then?"

"What gang?"

She abandoned her notes and leaned in. "The Viper Dolls."

"What?"

Her expression turned sympathetic at my confusion. "It's kind of a link to the gang of hoodlums they hang about with. They called themselves "the Cobraettes" for a while but then they changed it- that was probably on Ace Merrill's insistence."

My confusion got even worse as I stared at her. "Ace? Merrill?"

"My God! They really didn't tell you anything!" she breathed. "Listen, you didn't hear it from me... but those girls are bad news! Then again, so is anyone who even associates with the Cobras. Ace Merrill is a complete and utter thug- and so are his friends! Trust me, you don't want to get involved with them."

I stayed silent, processing her caution, and she looked at me eagerly waiting for a response that would satisfy so I gave it. "Gee, I had no idea. Thanks for the warning, I guess."

"No problem," she replied. "Feel free to hang out with me and my friends anytime."

Before I could reply the teacher located the source of the chatter and cleared her throat in annoyance. Jane and I quickly got back to our notes. When class was over I hurriedly packed and rushed from the room before Jane could follow, not really sure if I wanted to take her up on her invitation or not.