Katherine helped Ben on the back of Bill's bike before pedaling towards the nearby pharmacy.

Eddie ranted the whole time. Katherine made a note to herself to eventually tell Eddie how AIDS really spread but let him rant regardless 'cause it was kind of funny.

"Fuck. I think it's great that we're helping the new kid but we also need to think about our own safety. I mean, he's bleeding all over and you guys know there's an AIDS epidemic happening right now as we speak. I mean my mom's friend in New York City got it just by touching a dirty pole in the subway and she got AIDS blood into her system through a hangnail, a hangnail!" They made it to the alley behind the pharmacy to which Katherine hopped off her bike to help Ben off and sit on the floor. "And they can amputate legs and arms. But how do you amputate a- How do you amputate a waist?! You know that there are alleys full of AIDS infected needles, right? You know that, right?"

Everyone also got off their bikes as Bill told Richie, "Richie, wait here." He looked to Stan, Katherine and Eddie. "Come on."

Katherine looked pointedly at Richie. "Don't say anything rude to him, Rich," she stated before heading inside with the boys.

Katherine took Eddie's hand. "Okay, Eds." Bill stared at their hands like it was bothering him, she always held Bill's hand most of the time when she was anxious or worried. "You're the doctor, what do we need?"

"He's bleeding out so we need to get something to stop the bleeding and keep it from getting infected," Eddie stated, pulling Katherine down the medical isle he's been down many times.

Bill pushed himself through their hands, splitting them apart. "W-W-What other supplies do we need?"

"Bandages, some kind of peroxide..." Katherine trailed off as Eddie grabbed what they needed.

"Can we afford all that?" Bill asked as Stanley counted their money.

"It's all we got," Stan answered.

"You kidding me?" Eddie questioned.

Bill looked to Eddie. "Wait, you have an account here don't you?"

"Bad idea," Katherine told Bill.

Eddie nodded in agreement. "If my mom finds out I bought all this stuff for myself, I'll spend the whole rest of the week in the emergency room getting x-rayed."

"No one panic," Katherine stated. "I'll come up with something-" she stopped as she came face to face with Beverly Marsh who hid something behind her back.

Katherine recognized the redhead. Beverly Marsh.

Probably one of the prettiest girls in the school, in Katherine's opinion. Katherine also worked with Beverly once or twice in class, the girls have been nothing but nice to one another despite not knowing each other that well. Greta Bowie bullied Beverly on a daily basis. The only reason Katherine didn't get bullied was that the boys always protected her. She went into the bathroom before and saw Greta bullying Beverly. Katherine was alone so Greta made fat jokes at the girl saying she was pregnant and she didn't who the dad was but it had to be Bill, Eddie, Richie or Stan, stating she was a slut just like Beverly.

Greta got in a fight with Katherine. Katherine slapped Greta, had a chunk of Greta's ripped hair in her fist and gave the girl a bloody nose. They got put in detention but the rumor spread like a wildfire after the fight.

Richie tried to make a joke out of it and said the baby was his but that only made things worse. Regardless, Beverly didn't believe these rumors.

"You okay?" Bill asked her.

"I'm fine, what's wrong with you?" Beverly replied, seeing the supplies in Eddie's hands.

"None of your business," Stan told her.

"There's a kid outside looks like someone killed him," Eddie answered.

"We need some s-s-s-supplies but we don't have enough money," Bill answered.

Katherine spoke up. "I got an idea." She looked at Beverly. "I need your help."

A few moments later, the girls were at the counter as Katherine now saw that Beverly was buying pads.

"I like your glasses, Mr. Keene. You look just like Clark Kent," Beverly told him.

Mr. Keene chuckled, adjusting his glasses. "I don't know about that."

"Oh, come on," Katherine agreed, holding in her disgust. "It's true."

"Can I try them on?" Beverly asked.

"Sure," he answered, removing his glasses and handing them to Beverly who placed them on her face. "What do you think?"

"Well how about that, you look just like Lois Lane," Mr. Keene stated.

"Really?"

Katherine smiled at the redhead. "Come on, let's give back Mr. Keene his glasses," she stated.

"Oh. Right."

Beverly handed them to Katherine who said, "Well, here you go." She shot her hand out, knocking over some stuff on the counter. "Shoot, I'm so sorry. I can be such a klutz."

"It's okay," Mr. Keene reassured her, putting his glasses on before bending down below the counter.

Both girls glanced behind them to see the boys hurried to try to exit but Bill accidentally knocked Eddie into a shelf but got out with the supplies.

Beverly grabbed the two boxes of cigarettes on the counter, silently handing one to Katherine who took it gratefully.

***

Once the girls left the store, Katherine stopped Beverly digging the money out of her pants pocket. "Here, you got us the supplies. We owe you. Thanks."

Beverly smiled, showing her the pack of cigarettes. "Even Steven." She winked at the blond.

"Still, I feel shitty for dragging into my fucked up plan," Katherine admitted.

"I've done that before, it really wasn't anything new," Beverly stated. Down the alley, they heard the boys arguing. Beverly recognized the boy from school. "Ben from Soc?" Beverly questioned, heading down the alley.

"You have to suck the wound before you apply the bandage. This is 101," Richie told Eddie.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Eddie replied.

"Are you okay, that looks like it hurts," Beverly said to Ben.

"No, I'm good. I just fell,"  Ben stated.

"Yeah, right into Henry Bowers," Richie replied.

"Shut it, R-R-Richie," Bill told him.

"Why? It's the truth."

"Beep beep," Katherine told him.

"You sure they got 'The Right Stuff' to fix you up?" Beverly asked with a wink, making Ben blush.

"You know w-w-w-w-we'll take care of him. Thanks again, Beverly," Bill told her.

"Sure, maybe I'll see you around," Beverly said.

Katherine looked towards the girl. "You know, we were thinking about going to the quarry tomorrow, if you wanna go with us," Katherine said.

"Good to know. Thanks," Beverly replied before leaving the alley.

"Nice going, bringing up Bowers in front of her," Stan stated as Eddie stood, brushing off her hands.

"Yeah, you heard what she did," Eddie added.

"What'd she do?" Ben asked.

"More what could she do," Richie smirked. "From what I hear, the list is longer than my wang," he said as he grabbed his groin to which Eddie shook his head.

"That's not saying much," Stan replied causing Katherine to chuckle.

"Seems like a pretty short list, then," Katherine teased. "And they're just rumors, dingus."

Richie looked back at Ben. "Anyway, Bill had her back in third grade. They kissed in the school play. The reviews said that you can't fake that kind of passion." Katherine felt sick to her stomach as Bill smiled at that. Richie clapped. "Now, pip pip and tally-ho my good fellows, I do believe this chap requires our utmost attention." He shoved Eddie towards Bill. "Get in there Dr. K. Come on, fix him up!"

"Why don't you shut the fuck up, Einstein, because I know what I'm doing and I don't want you doing the British guy-" Eddie began.

"Suck the wound. Get in there," Richie said.

Katherine hated the way Bill smiled at the mention of that kiss. In fourth grade, all their friends and kids in school were bragging about their first kiss that year. They were the only ones who didn't have their first kiss (Bill meant a kiss that wasn't for a play) so they decided to kiss one another thinking a kiss wasn't that special. Katherine was wrong.

She had tried to think that the kiss meant nothing to Bill to keep her feelings in check. She was wrong again.

It did mean something to Bill.