junkyard
{olivia's pov}
all five of us were staring through the tall gated fence which revealed the old junkyard. on the fence, there was a sign that read:
NO TRESPASSING
KEEP OUT
i don't think any of us payed any attention to it, though.
"hey, vern. i think your ma's been out driving again," gordie said, breaking the silence.
"that's so funny i forgot to laugh," he replied.
"can you guys quit bitchin' at each other already so we can get this over with?" i asked.
"stand back, men!" teddy yelled as he threw his belongings over the tall fence. we all followed his lead as he began to climb. chris pulled me over to the side gently while holding my arm.
"do you think you can climb that?" he asked.
"excuse me?" i asked in disbelief. "of course i can," i said, slightly offended. i tugged my arm out of his grip and began climbing it. gordie was waiting for us on the other side while teddy was screaming things i couldn't understand with vern at his side.
"teddy's crazy," gordie said. we listened to teddy for a moment and i couldn't help but let out a small laugh. i grabbed my things and straightened out my clothes.
"yeah. he won't live to be twenty, i bet," chris said.
"glad olivia isn't like him," gordie said while smiling at me and playfully elbowed my arm. i smiled back and sighed.
"yeah, he's pretty crazy. i can only keep him sane for so long," i sighed. gordie glanced at chris.
"do you remember the time you saved him in the tree?" chris nodded.
"yeah. i dream about that sometimes, except in the dream i always miss him. i get a couple of his hairs and down he goes. it's weird," he explained as he began walking. gordie and i followed.
"yeah that is weird," gordie started. "but you didn't miss him. chris chambers never misses, does he?"
"not even when the ladies leave the seat down," he said as he spit through a circle he made with his fingers. i rolled my eyes. dorks.
"i'll race you both," chris said, changing the subject. he must've seen me roll my eyes, or he just found an excuse to keep a conversation going. gordie looked at me and winked, then looked back down to the ground.
"no, i don't think so," gordie said. was it weird i knew exactly what gordie was doing? at my old school, i used to love to play that trick on boys who thought they were faster than me. i won almost every time.
"yeah, i agree with gordie," i said.
"oh c'mon, right to the pump," he said.
"nah, i'm kinda tire-" i wasn't able to finish because gordie and i started sprinting past chris. i was in front of gordie by just a little when chris came running behind the both of us. i didn't look back, even though i was tempted to.
"you're dead, lachance and duchamp!" chris shouted. i was still in front, but probably not for long. "it looks like lachance and duchamp have got him this time. they got chambers beat! but what's this? chambers is making his move!" chris commentated the race as if it were real. chris and i were right next to each other. i was determined to win. and i did. barely.
"and it's olivia duchamp at the tape. the crowd goes wild!" i shouted as i put my arms up in victory. the three of us stopped sprinting, put our hands on our knees, and panted. i didn't really care if i was tired because i still won. i smirked while looking at the two boys. we put our arms around each other and walked towards teddy and vern. maybe i was right. maybe meeting teddy's friends today wouldn't be so bad.
we all got distracted by throwing rocks inside a can as we were all sat down under, well, whatever this was. i couldn't quite make out what it was, but it was old and rusty. maybe it was a mixture of things, i didn't know. i sat in between gordie and chris.
the rock that i threw made it inside the can and i put my arms up, just like i did when i won the race. chris silently chuckled and i smiled at him.
"hey," he whispered, nudging me. i brought my attention to him, looking into his pretty blue eyes. "i just wanted to say sorry for thinking you weren't capable of climbing the fence."
"chris, it's fine. i didn't take it personally," i whispered back. he smiled and went back to throwing rocks in the can in front of all of us, and i did too.
"have you guys been watching the mickey mouse club lately?" teddy asked. my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"yeah," the other three boys replied. great, what is this all about?
"i think annette's tits are getting bigger," teddy said. he smiled to himself. my eyes widened as i looked over at him. i immediately put my legs in front of my chest, beginning to feel insecure. and also, i was the only girl there, which made it all the more awkward for me.
"think so?" chris asked.
"yeah, i think so," teddy replied.
"i think he's right," gordie said. "i've been noticing lately that the a and the e are starting to bend around the sides." i couldn't believe they were actually talking about this in front of me. maybe they were doing it on purpose, because they knew i would get pissed off at them. the boys started chuckling as gordie finished his sentence.
"annette's tits are great," vern said. the boys all nodded their heads in agreement.
"you wanna know who else's tits are great?" gordie asked, glancing at me and smirking.
"you better think twice before finishing that sentence, lachance," teddy said, giving him a death stare, making sure he didn't finish his sentence. i wasn't going to let him either.
"alright! i'm done here," i said, standing up.
"well, where do you think you're going?" chris asked.
"anywhere away from you bastards," i said, not looking behind me and flipping them off. all i heard from behind was when they 'ohh'd in unison.
chris had a point. i didn't know where i was going but i continued walking anyway. all of a sudden i heard footsteps behind me. someone threw me over their shoulder and rushed back over to where the boys were sitting.
"put me down!" i yelled, squirming and attempting to get out of the grip. i realized that it was chris who had picked me up. he put me down and the boys started jumping on top of each other in a wrestling way. i jumped on all of them and we all started laughing.
after we had calmed down and sat back down in our original spots, vern spoke up.
"this is a really good time," he said, grinning from ear to ear.
"the most," chris said, throwing another rock in the can.
"a blast," teddy said. gordie started drinking the water he brought in his canteen, then started to spit it inside the can from his spot. like another challenge for us to complete. i got out my canteen and started doing the same.
vern was right. this was a good time. even though the guys can be a real pain in the ass, they are all super funny and i can be myself around them. they don't judge me, and i was thankful for that.
teddy thought it would be funny to spit the water at vern's face, and it was funny. we all started cracking up. this was the happiest i've ever felt since my parents passed away, even though it wasn't that long ago. only a couple days. it didn't matter to me at the time. i was still happy in the moment. this moment.
"great, spit at the fat kid. real good!" vern yelled to make sure we heard over our laughing. "what time is it gordie?" i could tell vern was frustrated, but it was only a little bit of water. and teddy was joking, i hope.
"c'mon vern, lighten up. he was only joking," i admitted. gordie pulled out his watch and examined it, figuring out what the exact time was.
"it's a quarter after one," he said.
"we better go get the food. the junkyard opens at three. chopper will be here," he replied. i was still confused about the whole chopper thing.
"sic balls," chris mocked, starting to chuckle. i laughed. sic balls? the dog could sic balls? good thing i was a girl then.
"you go. you can pick us up on the way back," teddy said.
"i'm not going alone, we should all go," vern said, looking at all of us.
"i'm staying right here."
"yeah, man, i'm not going," gordie said, agreeing with teddy. they all started arguing but before it could get too bad, i spoke up so they all could hear me.
"girls, girls, cool it. we'll flip for it," i suggested. gordie pulled out five dimes for all of us to flip.
"odd man goes?" he asked.
"that's you, gordie. odd as a cod." i didn't have to look up from gordie's pocket to see who left the remark. it was obviously teddy.
"flip or eat lead," he responded, handing all of us the dimes. we all flipped and coincidentally, all of us landed on tails.
"oh, jesus, that's a goocher," vern said.
"oh c'mon, vern," gordie sighed.
"that doesn't mean anything," chris said.
"holy shit, can we just go again without you guys arguing every five seconds," i asked. they stayed quiet and we all flipped once more. hopefully i didn't have to go with one of the boys. who knows what they would say if i went with chris, gordie, or vern.