Stand By Me, Chris

Chapter 6

I ran inside my house slamming the front door behind me.

"Lauren? Where were you?" I heard my mom yell. I walked into the kitchen and saw her and Will eating dinner. "You're late, wait, what happened to your neck? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch. I think I'm gonna go to bed, I had a long day," I said walking to my bedroom. I laid down on my bed and thought about what had happened. Chris tried to kiss me. Did he like me? Did I like him back? Why didn't I let him kiss me? I didn't know the answers to any of my questions and soon I was thinking about my dad. It was so odd that he ended up moving to the same small town as we did. I didn't want to see my dad, I had just made friends and I didn't want to move. I decided not to tell my mom that my dad was here.

"Honey, are you sure you're okay?" My mom asked peeking her head into my room.

"Yeah I'm fine," I said. She left and closed the door behind her. I got up off the bed and got ready to go to sleep. It took a while to fall asleep, I was thinking about the long day I had.

I woke up to Will yelling, "Lauren! You're gonna be late if you don't leave soon!"

I jumped out of bed and got ready as fast as I could. I ran out the front just in time to see Teddy walking by my house.

"Morning Teddy!"

"Hey Lauren, ready for another long day of school?" Teddy asked.

"Not at all," I said laughing.

We walked the short way to school and got there just on time. Chris wasn't standing out front waiting for us today. Was our friendship ruined? Sure, we hadn't been friends for long, but we had grown close in the couple days we had known each other.

"See ya later Teddy," I said walking to my locker as he walked the other way. I grabbed a couple books and headed to homeroom.

When I walked into the room I saw that Chris was already there, talking to Beth. I felt a bit of anger inside me, but I didn't know why. Was it jealousy? Maybe I did like Chris. I sat down in my seat beside him, I couldn't tell if he looked angry or embarrassed.

"Hey Lauren," Beth said, "what happened to your neck?"

"Nothing," I said sighing, I was tired of everyone asking what happened. Beth turned around and started writing in her notebook, I guess she could tell Chris and I needed to talk.

"Chris? Are you mad at me?" I asked, hoping he wasn't.

"No, just forget about it. I shouldn't have done that, sorry," he said with his head down.

"Hey guys!" Gordie said sitting down next to Chris.

"Hey Gordie, how's it going?" I asked.

"Good, Chris, why are you so quiet today?" Gordie asked.

"I'm just being myself," he replied rudely. Gordie looked at me and I just shrugged. The teacher walked in and started to write on the chalkboard, the beginning of a long day.

When it was finally time for lunch I had no intentions of sitting with Gordie, Teddy, and Vern. I was going to find Chris so we could talk. I walked down the crowded hallway and spotted just who I was looking for.

"Chris!" I shouted to him. He turned around and I motioned for him to come with me. He followed me out to the football fields and we sat down on the grass.

"You know the guys are gonna be looking for us, right?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, but I think we need to talk. Why did you kiss me?" I asked nervously.

"Why did I kiss you? I like you, I like you a lot, I might even love you. We've only known each other for a couple days, but there's something about you that's different from anyone else." I was speechless, Chris said he might love me. I couldn't help but smile, I think I might love him too.

"Chris, I..."

"There you guys are! We've been looking all over for you!" Vern interrupted me as he, Gordie, and Teddy sat down next to us.

"Sorry, um, I thought I told you guys that we were going to eat lunch out here today, I guess I forgot," I said making up an excuse.

"Can we go back inside? The grass is getting my pants wet," Vern whined.

"Shut up Vern," Teddy said.

"I don't think I can make it to the treehouse after school today, I have to help my mom unpack some more," I said winking a Chris, making sure no one else saw.

"Yeah, I can't either. I um, I got grounded because Eyeball told my dad I got in a fight with Ace yesterday," Chris said.

"Hey Lauren, can I sit with you guys?" I heard a voice say from behind me. I turned around to see Daniel.

"Of course," I said, scooting over to make room for him. "This is Daniel, he's, um, he's a good friend."

"Hey," Daniel smiled at all of the boys.

"I'm Vern," Vern said shaking hands with Daniel.

"Teddy Duchamp at your service," Teddy smiled while the rest of us just starting laughing.

"I'm Gordie," Gordie said with a mouth full of food.

"I'm Chris."

"Well thanks for letting me join you guys, other than Lauren I don't really know anyone." Daniel said smiling at me.

"Are you guys dating or something?" Vern asked.

"No way!" Daniel laughed.

"Well we're kinda related," I explained, "Daniel is my half brother."

"Well Daniel, we've heard absolutely nothing about you," Teddy grinned.

"That's rude, Teddy. Daniel, how do you like it here so far?" I asked.

"It's nice I guess." He replied.

"Hey, we better go if we want to get to class on time," Gordie said getting up. We all started to go our own ways to get to class, but Chris grabbed my hand.

"Lauren, meet me here after school and we will find somewhere to talk," Chris said.

"Okay, see you then," I said walking away.

"I love you..." I heard Chris say faintly. He probably didn't think I heard, but I did, and it took everything in my not to run up to him and tell him that I love him too.