I Won't Be Afraid Just As Long As You Stand By Me

Chapter 10: Leeches!

     After a while, Chris calmed down. I sat with him the whole time, not even bothering to try to get some sleep. Once his shift was finished, I told him to go lay down to sleep, but he was very hesitant. Eventually he agreed and I began my shift.
     Without Chris, or anyone for that matter, to speak to, it was very boring. Time seemed to pass extra slow, just for me. I was kind of grateful, though. Anyway, I had always been more of a 'suffer in silence' type as Chris had once said. I would rather stay quiet and think things over than to speak to someone about my problems. No one needed to be burdened with my complaints.
     I thought about all that had happened so far. I had gotten chased by a dog, nearly run over by a train, and had seen the toughest guy I knew cry. Pretty eventful, huh?
     I thought about the 'ultimate train dodge' as Teddy had put it, and remembered my leg. The pain had slowly gone away, which I was thankful for. The last thing I needed was to have sprained something.
     I rolled up my pant leg, examining where I had hit the hardest against the wood. I saw a bruise forming about half way down my leg, between my knee and my foot. Of course, I poked it to see just how much it hurt. I'll tell you now, that was very stupid of me and it hurt like a bitch.  Luckily though, there was no blood and I hadn't broken or sprained anything.
     A while later, I woke Gordie up. He was having a nightmare about Denny's funeral, and seemed glad that I had woke him.
     After poking the fire with a stick to keep it going, I crawled into my sleeping bag. It took a while, but I eventually dozed off into a deep, and thankfully dreamless, sleep.

     I was awoken the next morning by the sound of a passing train. Somehow, I had managed to crawl out of my sleeping bag while I was asleep and I found myself about a foot away from where I had laid down the previous night. I had leaves in my knotted hair and dirt all over my clothes.
     I spent a few minutes trying to get all of the leaves out, but I was getting frustrated; I couldn't get the ones at the back of my head. Teddy was laughing the whole time, as if it was the funniest thing in the world, while Gordie and Vern just packed everything up. Chris was kind enough to help me, though.
    
     We headed out soon, snacking on the blackberries that the guys and I had picked near where we had set up camp. There was a ring of purple around each of our mouths, but none of said anything about it to each other.
     "Geez Gordie, why couldn't you and Liza have got some breakfast stuff, like Twinkies, and pez, and root beer?" Vern complained as we walked. He looked over at me from where he was beside Gordie, "I thought girls were supposed to know all this stuff." I was mildly offended; it wasn't as if we learned about what groceries to buy in school. I mean, I was in his class! I had been in his class since first grade. I shook it off though; it was Vern. Vern wasn't too educated on the 'female species' as he called us.
     "Sorry Vern, I guess a more experienced shopper could have gotten more for your seven cents," Gordie responded sarcastically.
     "And I guess I was away the day they taught us which breakfast foods to buy for twelve year old boys in Woman's Ed," I told him. Our comments made Chris and Teddy chuckle. Well, Chris at least; Teddy doesn't chuckle. The only sound he made was a loud tehehe.

     We fooled around on the tracks as we marched along the railroad. We came to turn in the tracks and stopped, looking out across the field. It was large and open, then merged into a forest the farther you went. We were on a bit of a hill, so we were able to look quite a ways out.
     "Lady and gentlemen," Chris said to us, "The Royal."
     "Gosh, the tracks go way out," Teddy commented, craning his neck, trying to see the end of the tracks.
     "We cut across this field right here we'll be there in an hour," Chris informed us. Vern didn't seem to like the idea of cutting across the field.
     "I think we should stick to the tracks."
     "I say we go across the field," Teddy countered, obviously wanting to annoy Vern.
     "Gordie? Liza?" Chris asked, waiting for our opinions.
     "Yeah," Gordie agreed, while I nodded. That seemed good enough for Chris.
     "Let's go," he said, beginning to go down the hill, with Gordie and I following close behind. Teddy held up his bedroll like a gun.
     "Take no prisoners!" he yelled, running down to join us. Vern said something, but we had gone down far enough that I couldn't hear him. "Come on, man!" Teddy shouted back at him. Faintly, I heard Vern run after us, falling a few times as he went. Teddy was making shooting noises, thoroughly enjoying himself.

     We were walking through the muck in the forest, squishing and sinking about a half a foot everywhere we stepped. It was gross, but fun as well.
     "I hate this shortcut," I heard Vern complain behind us. It seemed as though he was doing a lot of that today.
     "I hate this shortcut," Teddy mocked in a high-pitched voice. The next thing I heard confused me.
     "Ha ha! You flinched! You were flinching!" Vern shouted. Then there was the familiar sound of a fist hitting someone's skin. "But you flinched," Vern said innocently.
     "I know; two for flinching," I could practically hear the smirk in Teddy's voice. I chuckled as I slushed through the mud beside Chris. Gordie was on his other side, but neither of them seemed to hear Teddy and Vern's conversation.
     I looked up at the broken trees and the branches that hung limply, barely holding on. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I felt an arm stop me, pushing me back a bit. Chris had put his arm out to stop me from stepping in a large body of brown water. I nodded my head in thanks, seeing him nod back in acknowledgment.
     "How are we supposed to get across this?" Vern asked, frowning. That boy needed to stop being so negative.
     "We'll use you as a raft," I told him seriously, seeing him scowl back at me. I was joking of course, but he must have been sick and tired of jokes because he didn't even have a bit of humor in his voice when he replied.
     "Very funny."
     Chris broke a branch off of a tree, putting it in the water to check how deep it was. The stick only went in a few inches.
     "Hey, it's not that deep," he announced, "We can walk across."
     We had only taken about three steps when we suddenly dropped. Yeah sure, it wasn't that deep. The water reached my neck when I placed my feet on the bottom. The water only went up to the boys' shoulders, with the exception of Vern. He was an inch or two shorter than I was.
     "I told you we should have stuck to the tracks," he pouted. I chuckled lightly, looking at the absolutely miserable expression on his face. Teddy looked over at Vern, showing no expression.
     "Is it me, or are you the world's biggest pussy?" Teddy questioned. Vern smiled stiffly, obviously annoyed with Teddy's remarks.
     "Oh, and I suppose this is fun for you?" he inquired.
     "No," Teddy trailed off, "But this is." He pushed Vern's head under the water. Vern got a mouthful of dirty water and spat it out when he came back up.
     "Come on, Teddy! Act your age," Chris told him, stopping him from putting Vern under again.
     "This is my age," he shot back. His hair was sticking straight up, "I'm in the prime of my youth, and I'll only be young once!"
     "Yeah, but you're gonna be stupid for the rest of your life," I remarked, seeing the others laugh, including Teddy. He removed his glasses, shaking his head.
     "Oh, that's it Chapman. You just signed your own death warrant!" he raised his voice, "You die, Chapman!" He launched himself at me and Vern did the same, pushing me under. I was submerged into the water. It was brown and murky, but pretty cool all the same.
     I pushed myself off the bottom and came up above the water, pushing Teddy as he tried to put Vern under again. Chris wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me away and taking on Teddy himself. Quickly, I climbed onto Chris's back, laughing along with the rest of them. It was only then that I realized that Gordie was swimming calmly to the shore. Chris seemed to notice too.
     He turned towards Gordie with me still on his back, "Hey, where do you think you're going, Lachance?"
     "Come on, you guys," Gordie said. We all launched ourselves at him, taking him down. When I saw a dark brown spot on Vern's neck, I stopped moving.
     "Vern, there's something on your neck," I told him, but he didn't believe me.
     "No, Vern. There really is something on your neck," Chris confirmed, stopping also. Teddy mumbled something, than yelled it out.
     "Leeches!"
     We all scrambled out of the water, frantically trying to get them off of us. Without thinking, I pulled my shirt off and removed my shoes and pants, revealing my bra and underwear. There were several leeches on my stomach, arms and legs.
     We were all yelling at one another to get them off. Chris got the ones off my back, thankfully not mentioning my lack of clothes in front of four twelve year old boys. He himself was only in his underwear. They all were, except for Teddy, who still had his father's dog tags dangling from his neck.
     When we got them all off, we calmed down. Gordie looked down at himself. He grabbed the band of his underwear and pulled it out, looking down. He paled considerably.
     "Chris," he whimpered, "Oh shit, Chris," he looked up, then back down, "Oh shit man." He reached into his underwear slowly. His hand emerged, bloody. On his hand was a fat black leech. He dropped it and looked at the blood on his shaking hand. In a second, his eyes rolled back and he fell over, out cold.
     "Gordie, man, are you okay?" Chris asked the unconscious boy on the ground, not getting a response. We all huddled around him. The guys had to hop over as they still had their pants around their ankles.
     "Gordie?" I called out softly, shaking his shoulders slightly.
     "Maybe he's dead," Vern said. I rolled my eyes.
     "He's not dead," Teddy scoffed, watching Gordie closely, "He's still breathing, you idiot."
     "Well I don't know," Vern shrugged him off.
     "Cool it you guys," Chris demanded.
     "He just fainted," I told them, "Gordie?" He squeezed his eyes closed tighter, than opened them, looking at our faces.
     "I never met anybody who fainted before," Vern said in awe. I was about ready to slap that boy.
     "Maybe he made a bad mistake and looked at your face," Teddy narrowed his eyes at Vern.
     "Shut up, Teddy," Chris commanded, turning our attention back to Gordie, "You okay Gordie?" He just nodded, dazed slightly.
     We helped him to his feet, still in our underclothes. He once again looked at each of our faces, but then his eyes rested somewhere they shouldn't have; my boobs. It wasn't until then that I fully realized just how much of a mistake it was to strip down to my bra and underwear in front of four boys.
     Teddy looked at where Gordie had rested his gaze, as well as Vern. Chris just picked up my clothes and handed them to me, walking behind me as I went over to a tree to change so the others wouldn't stare at my ass. Once I was out of their line of vision, Chris left me to get dressed.
     "I swear if any of you even think about peeping, you won't be able to feel your face for a week," I threatened. I knew Teddy would try to peek, but I also knew that they knew I was serious. Dad had taught me a long time ago how to punch someone who pisses you off. I had given Teddy quite the shiner about a year and a half ago, so he knew how hard I could punch.
     I was left in peace to dress and as soon as I was done, I joined the guys, who were fully dressed. Gordie was sitting motionless against a tree, while the others were getting the water out of Teddy's bedroll. I sat down next to Gordie and rested a hand on his shoulder, sending him a small smile. He just stared back at me. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. Rethinking it, he opened his mouth again.
     "I'm sorry about-"
     "Don't worry about it," I cut him off, knowing that it was awkward for him. It was for me too. I let out a small laugh, "I know you wouldn't try anything, man."
     Our conversation seemed to go unnoticed by Chris, Teddy and Vern. Giving Gordie's arm one last pat, I stood up and walked over to them.
     "Maybe we should take Gordie back," I heard Chris say.
     "Oh great Chambers, now you're turning pussy too," Teddy groaned and let go of his bedroll, letting Chris finish rolling it up.
     "What's your problem, Teddy?" I asked, butting in, "He had a leech hanging from his balls, he fainted."
     "What are you, his mother?" he shot back at me. I glared at him, shaking my head. He always seemed to ask me that when I defended someone. Chris must have seen how pissed off I was, for he spoke up.
     "Eat shit," he told Teddy. Teddy pushed Chris back by his shoulders.
     "You eat shit," Teddy retorted, getting pushed back by Chris. Vern and I stepped between them, stopping them from going any further.
     "Hey, hey, hey. I think Chris is right, let's go back," Vern said. Teddy laughed sarcastically.
     "Oh, what a surprise, the king of the pussies wants to go back too." I was fed up with him calling everyone that stupid name.
     "Stop calling him that," I demanded, digging my finger into his chest, making him take a step back.
     "Yeah, Teddy, stop it," Vern agreed from behind me. Teddy looked over my shoulder.
     "Pussy, pussy, pussy, pussy!" Teddy taunted.
     "You four-eyed psycho," I heard Vern say behind me. He pushed me out of his way, and knocked Teddy down, sitting on top of him as he punched Teddy's arms. I fell against Chris, who helped steady me. Vern was yelling things at Teddy and Teddy was yelling right back at him.
     "Cut it out, guys," I told them, about to pull Vern off, but Chris held me back and tried himself, only to be pulled down with them. The boys on the ground ignored me.
     "Stop it!" Gordie suddenly screamed, making us all stop. We all looked at him as he stood up. "I'm not going back."