Sunflower //Chris Chambers

"You guys wanna see a dead body?"

  Jessica Michaels never did have it good growing up, considering that her father died when she was four and her mother was a drunk. She couldn't really make friends either, because of her brother Steven who was in a gang called The Cobras. The only real friends she ever had were the four boys that she had been friends with since kindergarten.

Their names where Teddy Duchamp, Vern Tessio, Gordie Lachance, and her absolute best friend and the leader of the group, Chris Chambers. Chris always seemed to have her back when she was hurt or being made fun of. And her anxiety didn't help much either, so whenever she would start to hyperventilate he would clam her down by saying "it's okay sunflower." Or, "Your gonna be okay sunflower."

"Hey, how do you know a French mans been in your backyard?" Chris asks as we all look up.

"Hey, I'm French, Okay!" Teddy yells back.

"Your garbage can is empty and your dogs pregnant!" As soon as Chris said that we all burst into laughter. Except for teddy, who gave Chris a very pissed look.

"Didn't I just say I was French?" Teddy said to Chris as we all finished our laughing fit.

"I knock." Chris says looking over and winking at me.

"Shit..." Teddy mumbles as the cigarette almost fell out of his mouth.

"Twenty-nine."

"Twenty-two."

"Piss up a rope!" Gordie yells through our laughter.

"Gordie's out! Oh Gordie just bit the bag and stepped out the door!" Teddy yells causing him to laugh even more.

"Okay Chris I want in now." I say burning my cigarette out and grabbing my cards.

"I knock."  I look at teddy in awe.

"You four-eyed pile of shit!" I yell at him.

"A pile of shit has one thousand eyes!" He yells back at me to be a smart ass. Chris and I burst into laughter at his joke.

"What? What are you guys laughing at?" I lean my head on Chris' shoulder and take the cigarette from his mouth.

"Oh great, Gordie we better leave so the two love birds can fuck some more!" He says through Gordie and his laughter. I playfully punch his shoulder. Chris just gives him a mean glare and try's not to blush.

We then all hear a knock at the trap door.

"That's not the secret knock." Gordie says as he turns the page to his magazine.

" I forgot the secret knock, let me in."

"Vernnnnn." we all say in sinc as we sighed and moved the table out of the way so he could come in.

"Oh man you guys are'nt gonna believe this! This is so boss!Oh man, wait'll you hear this! You won't believe it, it's unbelievable. Lemme catch me breath, I just ran all the way from my house."

"I ran all the way home, just to say I'm sorry!" Gordie, Teddy, Chris, and I all sang simultaneously.

"Come on guys listen to me, this is boss! Come on! Okay forget it, I don't have to tell you guys nothin,"  Vern said crossing his arms and giving all of us a mean look.

"Okay so then what is it Verno?"

"Okay great, you guys aren't gonna believe this sincerely!"

Chris begins to sing again waiting for us to join "I ran all the way home, just-."

"Shut the fuck up dicks!" I holler at them, hitting Chris' shoulder. Vern thanks me with a small smile.

"Can you guys camp out tonight?" He asked

"Yeah I can my mom has been really drunk lately, and as long as Chris is there my brother will let me go." I say with a nod. My brother always liked Chris he knew that if he was there I would be safe.

"How bout' you Gordie?" Vern asks

"Yeah you know my parents they haven't really been paying attention to me lately." Gordie's parents hadn't been acknowledging him ever since his brother Denny had gotten in that Jeep accident.

"I know I can!" Teddy says

"What about you" I say turning me head towards him.

" I mean I think so. My dads been on kinda a mean streak , you know. He's been drinking a lot lately." He said as I let out a small sigh. Chris didn't come from a very good family and everyone knew he would turn out bad, hell even Chris knew.

"So what ya pissin' and moanin' about Verno?" Teddy asked. Vern looks at the ground and starts to twiddle with his thumbs.

"You guys wanna see a dead body?"