A Million Trillion Billion (What's Eating Gilbert Grape Fanfic) *ORIGINAL*

Chapter 1 - She Saved Me Gilbert

I walk through the streets of my new home town on a cold Thursday afternoon. I'm looking for a grocery store, it's only my second day here in Endora and it's time I bought some supplies. What do college kids eat anyway? Ramen Noodles? Gross.
I'm staying in a flat, right next to my new college. Belroud college. It just opened and it's the first year for enrolling ever. It's supposed to be amazing, so I'm excited.

I turn the corner, and I see a grocery store finally. A big sign saying Lamson's Grocery stands out the front. I walk inside, and an old woman stands at the counter, in a red apron. I attempt to give her a smile but she doesn't notice me or look my way. I shrug, and grab a basket to fill with food.
I grab some fruit, juice, bread, milk, cheese, all that kinda stuff. Then I approach the interesting isles. I grab a couple of chocolate bars, and some frozen pizza and frozen chips and nuggets. That should do me for the week.
I head to the checkout, where an old man now accompanies the old woman. I greet them with a warm smile, this time receiving one back from the man. "How are you today miss?" He asks me. I'm surprised. Back where I grew up, you didn't even ask your siblings how they were going, and all you got from other people were judgemental looks. So to me, this is impressive, and also a really nice change. "I'm very well. Thank you. How are you?" My smile widens, I'm already starting to feel at home. I start to unload my groceries onto the bench. "I am well also." The man nods. "Are you new around here?" He asks as he bags my items. "Yes. I arrived here yesterday." I chuckle. "I don't suppose you're going to Belroud College then are you?" He says, referring to the new College I am going to attend. "That's spot on actually." I raise my eyebrows, in surprise. "Funny, you're the only college student we've had in here so far this year." He says, tapping in the prices. "No kidding?" I say, shoving my hand in my back pocket to grab out some cash. "Nope. Food Land is not too far away, and that's where people like to shop." He says, with a sad look in his eye. "So much more variety, so many more isles, so much bigger..." He trails off. "Well, I really like your shop. It really makes me feel at home." I shrug. "Thank you kind young lady. What might your name be?" He says, finishing bagging my food. "Oh, I'm Janie Parker." I outstretch my hand for him to shake. "Tom Lamson." He replies, shaking my hand. "I'll see you soon, Janie." He waves me off as I exit his shop, carrying my 4 shopping bags. "See you Mr. Lamson." I wave back, shutting the glass door behind me.

As I'm walking back to my dorm, I hear someone yell from the alleyway just around the corner. I put down my bags to go investigate.
I peek around the corner into the alley, I see 3 boys who look my age. 2 of them are laughing at the other one, the bigger one pushes him down to the ground, and starts to punch him. I clench my fists. "HEY!" I walk out, looking more brave than I feel. The boys both turn around. "GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF OF HIM!" I grab at the one who pushed the poor guy down. I throw his hands off him, and shove him back. "WHAT HAS HE EVER DONE TO YOU?" I poke him, hard. "HUH?" He doesn't respond. He just looks angry. I slap him. "ANSWER ME!" I demand, getting closer to his face. "Nothing. He's done nothing." I watch as the boy's nostrils flare. He frowns hard, looking at his shoes. "But neither have you." He looks up with an evil smile. I laugh. "Ohhhh okay, so you're gonna be an even bigger asshole and hit a girl now are ya?" I challenge him. He's gone back to not responding. "WHY DON'T YOU GO AHEAD THEN? HIT ME, GO ON." I shout into his face, holding my hands out. He looks like a coward to me anyway. "No." He says quietly. "Yeah. I thought so. Get out of my face, you immature dickbag." I point to the exit of the alley, and turn my back to him. I hear the boys run off, and I kneel beside the one they hit. He's sitting up with a smile on his face, but his jaw is bleeding. "Oh, are you okay?" I look at the wound on his face. He nods enthusiastically. "T-t-thank you for saving me miss." He says like a 5 year old. I frown, slightly confused. Then I stand up, raising my eyebrows, beginning to think. "Oi!" My thoughts are interrupted by a voice. I look up, startled. A young man, with long reddy brown hair, older than me, walks over. "What do you think you're doing hitting my brother? He's not like us, he's-" The man yells at me angrily. I shake my head. "I didn't, there were-" I start, trying to explain, but he doesn't listen. "Don't touch him. Don't ever touch him!" He shouts. He kneels beside the boy who is apparently his brother. "She saved me Gilbert! She saved me!" The boy says, pointing at me. The man, Gilbert, looks at me in confusion. "You what? Why is he bleeding?" His face relaxes a little. "There were 2 boys here, and one of them was hitting your sbrother, so I, er, told them off." I say, scratching the back of my neck. "I don't kn-" I say, but Gilbert interrupts again, standing up. He grabs my shoulders. "Thank you. Thank you so much. The other kids, they, they just don't understand. They don't get that he's different. It's not often someone like you comes around to stick up for him." Gilbert says, and I recognise the same sadness in his eyes that I saw in Mr. Lamson's earlier. "Don't thank me, it's something that I would do anyway, people are just, assholes." I look down and notice Gilbert is wearing a red apron that says Lamson's on it, just like Mr. Lamson was wearing. "Hey.. do you work at Lamson's Grocery?" I stupidly ask a question I already know the answer to. "Yeah, I do. Why, were you in there earlier?" He says, raising an eyebrow. I glance down at his brother, who is staring off into space with his mouth gaping open. A fly buzzes near him, and he tries to poke it. I look back up at Gilbert. "Yeah, just picking up some groceries to take to my new flat later." I nod. "They're actually just behind you." I point to the end of the alley, where I came in. "Huh. College student?" Gilbert nods in approval. I chuckle, nodding. "Yep." I say. Wow there mustn't be very many college students around here, everyone seems to pick it out instantly. "I wish I could get him enrolled, but he wouldn't be able to keep up with the work. He's barely able to keep up with what we're having for dinner." Gilbert gestures to his brother behind him. I give him a look of sympathy. "It must be tough. But, you know, he's one of a kind." I smile, watching as he looks at his hands like they're the most fascinating thing in the world. "I guess he is." Gilbert nods. "What's his name?" I ask, wanting to know more about him. "Arnie." Gilbert says. Arnie looks up. "Yes Gilbert?" He says. "Nothing buddy, I was just telling..." Gilbert pauses, not knowing my name yet. "Janie." I nod. "... Janie, what your name was." Gilbert finishes. "Hello Janie!" Arnie waves at me, and then closes his eye and drags his finger across it and flicks it against his nose. I chuckle. "Hi there Arnie." I say. I reach out a hand to help him up, he grabs it and stands up, looking at me with wide eyes. "Do you want to come over for dinner?" Gilbert asks me. "What? A-are you sure?" I exclaim. I'm astounded by the niceness of the people in this town. Well, most of the people. "Yeah, come over for dinner Janie!" Arnie grins, clapping excitedly. "Well, I suppose I could then." I chuckle.

I finish putting all my shopping away, not that there was much anyway, and head out the door. Gilbert says the house is just down the road, and then all the way down the grassy hill.
I walk down the road, which doesn't have many houses on it, and see the grassy hill, which has a total of no houses on it. I stand on the hill, looking up at the orange sky, and feeling the warmth of the beautiful sunset. I look off in the distance, and see a brown house. I'm assuming that's theirs.
I make my way down the hill, and over to the house. I walk up the front steps and stop outside the front door, and brush off my hands, which are becoming a tad sweaty with nerves. I take a step forward, and knock on the door.
After a couple of seconds, I hear footsteps. A lady in an apron opens the door. She has a kind smile and black curly hair. "Hi Janie, I'm Amy, Gilbert's older sister." She says. "Oh, hi Amy, it's very nice to meet you." I smile. I follow Amy inside. Another girl with medium brown hair and pink lipstick sits on the couch watching the TV. In the kitchen, Gilbert looks frustrated with the oven. He glances my way and smiles. "Ah, Janie you made it! He says, walking over. "You have a nice place." I say, looking around. "Really?!" Gilbert looks shocked. "Yeah, I mean, it's so homely. I love it." I admit. "You're one of few then." He says. Arnie bounds in. "Janie! Come with me! I want to show you something." He says, grabbing my hand. "Alrighty!" I say, following Arnie.
He leads me outside and towards a gigantic tree. "Look! This is my tree!" He says, obviously very proud of it. "It's beautiful." I say in awe. "You wanna climb it Janie?" He asks. "Sure, Arnie."
We climb up the tree until we reach quite a high branch. We sit side by side on it. This is my favourite branch Janie." Arnie says, patting it. "It's a very nice branch, I like it." I nod. "Where do you live?" He asks out of the blue. I'm not taken aback by it at all though. "I live in a little apartment, down the street. It's right next to my new school." I point to the street in the distance. "You haven't lived there for long have you?" He says as we look over. "No, this is my second day here in Endora." I smile. Arnie looks back at me. "It's very nice here Janie. I think you will like it very much." He nods. "I think I will too." I say.
"DINNER!" Amy yells from inside. "We gotta go, that means dinner is on the dinner table." Arnie says to me. "Ah, ok, we better get down from this tree then." We climb down the tree, and I follow Arnie back inside.
Inside, a roast chicken sits in the middle of the table, with a bowl of roast potatoes on the side and a salad on the other side. "Dig in!" Amy says, placing a sauce bottle on the table as we all sit down. "This looks great. Thank you guys so much for having me." I say, shoving a forkful of chicken into my mouth.
Amy smiles warmly at me. "Anytime." She says. Opposite me, the girl who sat on the couch earlier sits down. "Hi, I'm Ellen." She smiles at me briefly. "Janie." I respond. Ellen looks younger than me, although not by much. "J-Janie's my hero Ellen!" Arnie exclaims. I blush, moving a piece of lettuce around my plate. "Why, what did she do..." Ellen snorts. I raise my eyebrows. Hmm, Ellen looks like a hard nut to crack. "She-she beat up Jimmy and Marcus." Arnie says, clapping. "Ugh, I hate those boys." Amy says, angrily plonking potatoes onto her plate. "Wait.. you actually beat them up? I thought you just yelled at them.." Gilbert says in astonishment. "Yeah just because you're scared out your pants of them." Ellen laughs at Gilbert. "Shut up Ellen." Gilbert shakes his head. "Um, well, they deserved it.. I guess.." I trail off. Oh man, they're gonna think I'm some violent cow now aren't they? "I think that was very brave of you actually Janie." Amy says, looking at me in admiration. "Oh... thanks." I feel me cheeks and the tips of my ears shine bright red. "No wonder Arnie thinks you're his hero, they've been bullying him for months now, ever since they moved to Endora so they could go to college." Ellen says, reapplying the bright pink lipstick that rubbed off while she was eating.
"Um, you don't mean Belroud college do you?" I say nervously. "No. I'm talking about the hole in the ground." Ellen says sarcastically, pursing her lips. Amy tells Ellen to shut up. I find myself spacing out and replaying the events of the day in my head.

After dinner, Gilbert walks me to the front door. "Thank you so much for bringing me into your home. I had a really nice time." I say. "Anytime, you are most welcome here." Gilbert says with a smile. "Bye Janie!" Arnie says from behind Gilbert. "Bye Arnie." I grin, squeezing his arm. He flicks his finger across his eye and off his nose again. I find it is a fascinating habit. Arnie is however, a fascinating creature.