The next morning I was actually really excited to get up and start my day. I mean, think about it– I actually had plans today! Plans with potential friends and even that cute boy Richie from yesterday. Since I let myself sleep in pretty late today, I figured I'd just grab an apple from the counter, hop on my bike and meet Bev by the Paul Bunyan statue. I jogged down the stairs, my backpack slipping off of my shoulder. When I hit the last step, I fixed it and immediately came to a stop. "What are you still doing here?"

My mom turned around from the stove, holding a container. "Well, Good Morning to you too."

"You know what I mean," I replied, rolling my eyes and walking towards the island. "weren't you supposed to be at work hours ago?"

"I decided to come home for lunch a little early today, would you like me to make you something?"

I reached onto the island and grabbed an apple, taking a bite out of it. "No, I'm going to meet some friends."

She raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Friends huh?"

"Yeah, just a few. Eddie included shockingly."

"Well, I won't hold you up. Have fun and be safe, make sure you're back for curfew."

"Bye, mom!" I called out, running out the door and grabbing my bike from off of the porch.

There were more kids out now than there were in the first couple days of summer, I guess parents were starting to get more lenient with letting their kids go out. That and I'm assuming kids snuck out of the house while their parents were at work. Either way, I think that's one thing I really liked about this town. When I left my house, I wasn't greeted with fancy cars, distant sounds of the highway and huge palm trees. I was greeted with neighbors working on their lawn, kids playing in the driveway and quietness of the street. I could see why my mom loved growing up here. "Dani!"

I could see Bev standing with her bike by the statue. "Hey! Ready to go?"

"You bet." She replied, getting onto her bike and starting to peddle away.

I peddled faster in order to catch up to her and soon we were riding side by side in the street. "The lack of traffic in this place is almost disturbing."

"Well, you did come from Los Angeles, the city of movie stars. This is Derry, it's just a small town where the adults work all day and the kids roam the streets with nothing better to do."

As we rode through the town, I noticed how we were going off road and heading more into the woods area of town. "So what is this quarry thing? Is it like a park?"

"No? It's what it is," she laughed, peddling ahead of me as we reach a slight uphill. "do you know what a quarry is?"

"Not really! I just know that my mom said her and my Uncle and their friends would hang out there sometimes."

"It's just kind of this huge cliff that basically overlooks the river. It's what a lot of kids use to jump off of and into the water."

"Wait, so that's the swimming hole and cliff she'd talk about?" I started to peddle faster in an effort to catch up with her, but to no avail, she disappeared over the top of the hill. "but I didn't bring a bathing suit!"

"Alright, w-who's first?" Bill asked, looking at his friends.

I huffed and kept peddling up the hill until I came to a stop where Bev was dropping her Bike. Ahead of us, stood the five boys from yesterday, all in their underwear and looking down over the rocky edge, talking amongst themselves. "Dare me to go first?" She asked, looking at me as I walked up beside her.

"Sure, but listen– I don't think I can jump into the water. I didn't bring a bathing suit-"

The boys all turned around as Bev took off her dress and let it drop to the ground, standing just in her bra and underwear. "I'll go."

"Oh my god," I said, bringing my hand to my face and looking away at the fact that she was just running towards a cliff in undergarments.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Richie yelled as Bev jumped off of the cliff, landing into the water with a splash. He turned to his friends in disbelief. "We just got showed up by a girl!"

"Come on!" I heard Bev call out from the water.

One by one, I watched the boys jump into the water, leaving only Richie and Eddie behind. "What are you waiting for Eds? Go ahead and jump!" He said, jokingly pushing Eddie in the arm.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Eddie replied, slapping his hand away from him. "What about you? I don't see you jumping anytime soon?"

"I'll jump when you jump, cause I think you're stalling and you don't have the balls to do it."

"No, it's not! It's cause I..."Eddie looked at me and then looked back at Richie before turning to walk towards the pile of backpacks. "I need to take another hit of my inhaler before I jump."

"Whatever Eds," Richie laughed and looked at me. "hey new girl, jump on in." He turned back towards the water and jumped off of the rocky edge, screaming on his way down.

I looked at Eddie who was squatting over by his backpack, digging around. Right by us, there was a small rock formation that looked like would be a pretty good place to get undressed behind. I didn't want to be the only one not in the water. Besides, everyone else was in their underwear. God knows how they're comfortable around each other in it. I dropped my bike and walked towards the formation, quickly stepping behind it and looking around to make sure there was no one in sight. I got undressed and folded my clothes up, stuffing them into my backpack. "You can do this..." I sighed, closing my eyes for a few seconds before opening them and stepping out from behind the rock formation.

"I thought you jumped," Eddie said, scaring the shit out of me.

I brought a hand to my chest and took a deep breath. "Holy shit dude. You really know how to scare a person." I walked over to where their backpacks were and dropped mine down beside theirs. "I figured you would have jumped too."

He looked over the edge and back at me, shrugging his shoulders. "I kind of wanted to hang back and talk to you but-"

I threw my head back and laughed. "Well, that's funny because I thought you hated me."

He crinkled his eyebrows together in confusion. "What?"

"We've been going to the same school together since October, walking the same halls and eating in the same lunchroom...and yet this is the first time you've said a single word to me."

"I wasn't sure if it was you or not. I mean, I had an inkling it was, but I wasn't positive until that day at the grocery store!" He replied, looking at me but then quickly looking away.

"You didn't even reply in the grocery store!" I said, tossing my arms into the air.

I just sighed and walked over towards the edge, looking over to see the group of kids hanging out in the water. "Eddie! Dani! Come on you guys!!" Stan called out, as the rest of the kids chimed in.

"Listen," I looked to my right to see Eddie standing beside me, grabbing my hand but quickly dropping it. "I wanted to have a nice conversation about this, like really talk it out because we're family..." He looked at me again but then looked straight ahead at the scenery in front of us. "but you're my cousin and you're kind of standing in your underwear and I understand that we used to take baths together when were little but this is just a little weird."

When the reality of the fact that we were both indeed standing in our underwear and talking to one another set in, I realized just how awkward it really was. I looked at him and then looked down at the water. God, this was high. But instead of feeding into the awkward situation with what probably would have been a super awkward reply, I took a deep breath closed my eyes and jumped into the water. The moment the water engulfed me, I felt a huge adrenaline rush. I kicked my feet and came back up to the surface, wiping the water off of my face and looking around. "Nice of you to join us, Dani," Bev said as a splash of water hit all of us.

"Yeah, was Eds up there talking your ear off about all of his medication and his bifocals?" Richie laughed.

"Shut up Richie," Eddie said, spitting water out of his mouth.

"G-Gu-Guys, this is D-Dani," Bill said, motioning over to me. "D-Dani these are-"

"Stan, Eddie, Richie...." I smiled and nodded at them all, my eyes stopping at the one boy from yesterday. "And you're...Ben, right? Sorry if the names are all wrong, I only picked them up yesterday in the alleyway."

He smiled and nodded. "That's me, it's nice to meet you."

"You as well," I replied, he seemed like a sweet kid.

"Alright, so are we gonna play around or did I just strip down and embarrass you all with my great physique for shits and giggles?" Richie said, looking around before splashing Eddie in the face.

"HEY!" Eddie yelled, splashing him back.

Soon everyone started in, splashing anyone and everyone they could. It broke the ice between us all real quick. Suddenly, we weren't just a group of friends and two strangers. We were just a group of kids trying to have a good time. "Hey, Dani!"

I stopped my splash that was going to nail Stan and turned to my left to have Richie splash me in the face. I wiped my eyes and looked at him. "You're going down," I said, lunging towards him and dunking him beneath the water. Benny would always do this to me whenever we went to the pool or the beach and I absolutely hated it.

Richie came back up to the surface and shook his hair, smiling at me. "You've got some serious balls," He said, catching his breath. "but mine are bigger."

The next thing I knew, Richie was lunging towards me and my head was beneath the murky water. When I resurfaced, everyone was still splashing around...but Richie was gone. I looked around to see if he had moved towards someone else, but I couldn't see him. Suddenly, something gripped onto my legs. "AH!"

"I think I won, right?" Richie asked once he surfaced from the water...holding me on top of his shoulders. "Hey! Who wants to play chicken? Me and Dani against the two losers who think they can compete."

"We're game!" Bev said, nodding at Bill.

"Y-Yeah sure," Bill said, letting Bev get onto his shoulders.

I tapped the top of Richie's head, gaining his attention. "I didn't sign up to play Chicken. I didn't even sign up to sit on top of your shoulders."

"I know," he smirked. "but I don't see you complaining about it now."

I looked away to hide my blushing cheeks as Richie and Bill met in an equal middle. "A-Are you guys r-ready to-"

"GIRL FIGHT!" Richie screamed, leaning forward so I could grab Bev's arms. "Overpower! Knock her off!!"

Bev and I were in a deadlock fight for who was stronger. We gripped onto each other's elbows, trying to knock the other off balance. "Hey Bill, you've got something hanging from your nose. I think it's a huge ass booger or something."

"C-C-Can it, Richie," Bill said, keeping Bev balanced on his shoulders.

"Richie stop trash talking and focus!" I yelled as Bev and I continued to push one another off. Bill moved forward, giving her enough momentum to catch Richie and me off guard, and pushing us over.

When we surfaced Richie looked at me and I splashed him. "What was that for?"

"You lost us the match! You talk too much trash!" I said, splashing him again.

"They don't call him trashmouth Tozier for nothing!" Stan added, earning a glare from Richie.

"Can it Stan! Ben over here, you're my partner, I want a rematch." Ben swam over and Richie climbed on top of his shoulders, looking at me with a smile. "Hey hot stuff, watch how it's done, yeah?"

I just laughed and swam over to where Stan and Eddie were treading water. "My money's on Bev, she's a lot stronger than she looks." Stan said, looking at Eddie and I. "No offense Dani."

"None taken, I still say it's Richie's fault we lost," I replied, shrugging my shoulders.

"So you guys are cousins?" Eddie and I looked at one another before looking at Stan with confused looks. "I heard you in the pharmacy yesterday telling Mr. Keene that your mom's last name in high school was Kaspbrak. Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out."

I love how blunt this kid was. He looks so reserved and quiet on the outside, and then he says something like that. "I like you, you're pretty cool. And yes, we're cousins. Our parents were siblings."

"That's pretty cool," he said, looking at the chicken fight in front of us. "Go, Bev!!"

"Yeah, I guess it is," Eddie said, looking at the chicken fight and huffing. "Just imagine the germs getting into their mouths and eyes right now."

Stan and I looked at Eddie. Does he realize that he's in the same water as us right now? "WOO! WINNER!!!!" Richie yelled out, throwing his arms into the air as Bev and Bill resurfaced onto the water.

"Damn it, just imagine his ego now," Stan mumbled, tapping his hands on the top of the water.

"I told you I'd win. Ben and Richie, the dream team for the ages!" Richie called out, pointing at me and winking. "That one was for you."

"Hey, guys! Look, I th-think I see a t-turtle!" Bill called out, staring off into a distant part of the water.

We all swam over to him, looking around to see if we could still spot it. "Where is it, Bill?" I asked, looking around. I'm not sure how he was the only one to see it, considering it'd have to be close to the surface to be seen in the water.

"Yeah, I don't see it," Ben added.

"Alright that's it, I'm getting out. Do you know how many germs turtles carry?" Eddie said, looking at all of us.

"I bet you don't even know how many germs turtles carry Eds." Richie scoffed.

"I said don't call me-" but before Eddie could finish, Richie dunked him beneath the water, the air bubbles rising. When he surfaced he went to say something again, but Richie dunked him again, earning laughs from all of us.

I looked around at them all and smiled to myself. This was actually a lot of fun. I wonder why I didn't try to be friends with all of them during the school year. I couldn't help but imagine just how different the last eight months of my life could have been if I had them by my side. "RICHIE I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU FUCKING DUNK ME ONE MORE TIME!" Eddie screamed, wiping the water from his face.

"Okay, okay geez!" Richie said, holding up his arms in defense before looking at me out of the corner of his eyes and down at the water.

I subtly nodded and smiled. "Hey Eddie, I've got a question."

"WHAT?" He asked, looking at me.

"How many germs do turtles carry?!" Richie yelled as he dunked Eddie under the water one last time before frantically swimming away, leaving all of us in a laughing mess and watching Eddie chase after him in a rampage.