OUCH! ( stand by me. ) -ON HOLD-

four

july 1, 1959

gordie and vallory walked to vallory's house and talked, mostly about their home lives. gordie told her about his brother's death and how at home he had become the "invisible boy". vallory told him about his mother's drug and gang problems, along with her father's death and how that ruined their family. she also talked about tacoma, and what it was like. the cities, the people, everything.

"so, you couldn't trust the forecast?" gordie whispered as they approached vallory's house.

"nope." she replied. they walked behind the house and underneath her window. since it was a single-floored home, they had almost no trouble getting into vallory's room. gordie sat on her bed as she packed some clothes, money, books, and things to sleep . she knew her mother wouldn't care, but daniel would.

"stay here, i need to go tell daniel where i'm going." she said, quietly walking out of her door. she tip-toed down the hall and into her brothers room, seeing him awake reading a comic.

"vallory? where the hell have you been?" daniel whisper yelled.

"shut up, dally! ma might hear. anyways, i'm going away for a few days. you know that hill that we passed on the way here that overlooks castle rock? the one with the tree house? i'm going there. i have everything i need. please, please do not tell ma where i'm going. if ya need anything or wanna check up on me. go down the road with the nice houses and walk to the house with a large 'L' by the front door. that's gordie's house. he'll take you there, no suspicion. i promise i'll be safe. i love you dally, see you soon." vallory told daniel. daniel just sat and nodded through the whole story, understanding. he gave vallory a kiss on the cheek and motioned for her to leave, which she did. vallory and gordie walked to the tree house in the dark.

once they got to the tree house, gordie went up the ladder and through the door, holding it open for vallory. he showed her the secret knock for when she needed in, and led her to where they kept their food stashes and cigarettes.

"this is basically it. if you hear anyone come in early in the morning or late at night, it's probably chris. when things go shitty with his dad he comes here to escape the drunk madness." gordie informed with a yawn.

"are you tired?" vallory asked.

"yeah, i'm gonna head home. goodnight, stay safe, if you need anything you know where i'm at." he said. he opened the door and walked down the ladder, leaving vallory in the tree house alone. she made sure to put something heavy over the door so nothing or no one can break in.

♧♧

july 2, 1959

vallory woke up to scratching noises and what sounds like someone grunting. she looked out towards the window and sees that the morning light is still fresh, meaning it could only be around five or six.

"who's down there?" she yells.

"vallory? i-it's me. it's chris." he said, confused as to why vallory was there, and why so early. vallory got out of her "bed" and opened the door for her friend. he climbed up and looked at her.

"your face! what the hell happened to your face?" chris asked worryingly. he moved his hand to push her hair away, to see the bruises and cuts.

"it's nothing," vallory sighed, "it was just my mom." her eyes followed chris's hand.

"this is horrible, vallory! i'm gonna run to the pharmacy to get you some supplies. this needs to he cleaned before it gets infected." chris said before jumping out of the tree house. vallory watched him run down the hill and towards the beautiful town full of wretched families.

about ten minutes later, chris came back with a bag of first-aid stuff. first, he took rubbing alcohol and some cotton balls to clean the cuts. every few moments, it would sting which would cause vallory to wince. after that, chris would patch-up the big cuts with gauze and medical tape. then, he took bandaids and placed them on the smaller, less painful cuts.

"there, all better... hopefully." he smiled. vallory giggled and smiled back. they both studied each other's facial features. vallory noticed the up-turn of chris's nose, and chris noticed the rosieness of vallory's nose and cheeks.

"ahem," chris coughed awkwardly, "so.. why are you here?"

"oh, um, my mom. she beat me to, well, this," she answered, motioning to her damaged features, "and we argued. this wasn't the first time, though. so, i just decided that i needed a break. from her, from my house, even from daniel. which, by the way, is surprising to me. i went to gordie's house and talked to him and asked him where i could go. he told me he knew a place, so we walked back to my house, got some supplies, came here and here we are!" she exclaimed, out of breath.

"wow. good story, you kinda sound like gordie." chris laughed. vallory nodded and smiled, something anyone would do when they didn't understand what someone else was talking about.

the two teenagers talked for hours about their lives, learning a lot about each other. it wasn't until around the afternoon that the other boys showed up. first it was gordie. then, teddy. last, but absolutely not the least, vern. teddy and chris taught vallory how to play cards. gordie read his magazines and comics, and vern went on about the random things that popped into his special head.

"care for a smoke?" chris asked vallory, holding out a cigarette.

"yeah, thanks." vallory answered, taking the cigarette and lighting it. this wasn't her first time smoking. she smoked for a good two months back in tacoma when her dad died. again for about three weeks before they moved, and now. though she knows it is bad for her, she can't go too long without smoking. thanks, mom.

"wait, you smoke? that's boss, man. real boss." teddy complimented.

"well, i tend to do shitty things when things go shitty."

♧♧

a/n
hey y'all guess the fuck what?? this shit has like 165 reads!! damn!! like literally last week this had, what, 50 reads? I've probably gained 110 reads on this in like 6-8 days. I can tell this will go good for me. anywhore, thank you sm for reading. i rlly appreciate it. have a good day/night ladies and laddies :))