Richie let Eddie ride on the back of his bike on our journey through town and to his house. I took the job of holding onto Eddie's bike while riding my own– just to make sure that his bike made it home with him. Stan rode by me the entire time, looking over at me frequently to make sure I was okay or something. I don't know what his intention was– he didn't speak. I was nervous though. I mean, we were taking Eddie back to his house where his mom would be– aka my Aunt Sonia. I hadn't seen her since that trip to the grocery store and God knows how long it's been since I've uttered a single word to her. All I knew was that she was incredibly protective over Eddie and that she most likely would not take the news of his broken arm well.

When we pulled up to his house, I found myself hit with a huge rush of nostalgia. I almost forgot how Aunt Sonia said that they still lived in the same house...even after all of these years. I could still remember times when Eddie and I would play in the little blow-up pool my Uncle had bought us both. "You can just put my bike on the grass," Eddie said.

I got off of my bike and walked him over onto his yard, putting down the kickstand. I joined the rest of the group as Bill and Richie walked Eddie up to his front door. "Is anyone else scared?" Stan asked as we watched them walk. "Because I am."

"Of his mom?" Mike asked.

"Oh yeah, she's a piece of work," Stan replied, looking at me. "Isn't she Dani?"

I went to reply, but the sound of the front door opening and the gasp of Aunt Sonia stopped me. We watched as she grabbed Eddie's shoulders and brought him into the house, slamming the door shut in Bill and Richie's faces. "Yeah, a real piece of work."

Bill and Richie walked back down the stairs and over to us onto the sidewalk in front of the Kaspbrak home. "Well, that went as well as expected," Richie mumbled, kicking at the ground.

"S-She didn't even s-s-say anything," Bill replied, turning back to the house.

The front door opened and out walked Aunt Sonia with a tight grip on Eddie's perfectly intact arm. She trudged towards us with a scowl on her face and angry eyes. I could hear Stan gulp nervously as she got closer. "You did this," she said, pointing at our group. She grabbed the back of Eddie's neck, pushing him ahead to break up the half-circle our group was standing in. We all turned around to look at her as she opened up the passenger door. "You all know how delicate he is.

Bill stepped up to the front of the group, talk about a brave kid. "We were attacked M-M-Mrs. K."

"Don't!" She said, ushering Eddie into the car. She turned back to us, the scowl still on her face. "Don't you try and blame anyone else!" She slammed the door shut, causing Eddie to practically jump in his seat.

Aunt Sonia turned around so fast, she dropped her car keys onto the ground. Bev, without a second thought, leaned down to pick them up for her. "Here, let me–" and turned back to us

"GET BACK!" Aunt Sonia yelled, throwing her arm out to prevent Bev was getting the keys. She bent down as far as her body would allow and stood up, staring at Bev. She stepped closer to Bev, almost getting directly into her face and her scowl slowly turned into a half smile. "Oh I've heard about you Miss Marsh," she eyed Bev up and down before looking back at her again– her scowl in full force. "and I don't want a dirty girl like you touching my son."

I looked at Aunt Sonia and for the first time, I think I could understand just why she and my mother never got along. I stepped in front of Bev as Aunt Sonia turned to go to the car. I could see Eddie looking at us– he looked like a sad puppy. "Aunt Sonia I-"

She turned around quickly, her hand raised high. She glared at me and pointed her chubby finger in my face. "And you," she laughed and shook her head while maintaining her intimidating look on her face. "I knew you'd always be trouble from the moment you were born." She looked around at the group and shook her head. "Hanging out with a bunch of boys," her eyes landed back on me– and for a moment I could see the cruelness behind them. "you're a little Jezebel just like your mother."

"Mrs. K I s-sw-swear-"

"No!" She yelled, pointing at us again. "You are all monsters, all of you!"She stood up straight and walked around to the driver's side of her car and opened up the door. "Eddie is done with you, you hear? Done!"

We followed and watched helplessly as Aunt Sonia crammed herself into her car and sped off down the street– taking a crying Eddie with her. I couldn't help but just wish that I could help him somehow because now was when he needed help the most. "I saw the well," Bill said, turning around to face us all. "w-w-we know where it is and next time we'll be better prepared."

"No!" Stan yelled, catching all of by surprise. It seemed as if his voice never left a calm state– until now. "No next time Bill, you're insane!" I looked around at all of my friends, and Stan was obviously not the only one who thought it.

"Why?" Bev asked, looking between Bill and Stan. "We all know nobody else is going to do anything." Well...it was obvious Bev was on Bill's side.

"Eddie was nearly killed! Dani was almost ripped in half and look at this motherfucker–" Richie yelled, pointing at a bleeding Ben. "He's leaking hamburger helper!"

Richie had a really good point, everyone got hurt today– somehow. If not physically, then mentally, cause I don't know if there's really a person who could survive that type of psychological shit without going a little crazy. "We can't pretend that it's going to go away," Bev looked at Ben with pleading eyes, she obviously wanted a little backup. "Ben you said it yourself that IT comes back every 27 years!"

"Fine!" Ben yelled, throwing his arms into the air. "I'll be 40 and far away from here! I thought you said you wanted to get out of this town too?"

"I wanna run towards something," she said, shaking her head slightly. "not away."

"I'm sorry," Richie said, pressing his hands together and putting them against his lips as if he was in deep thought before throwing his arm in her direction. "but who invited Molly Ringwald into the group?"

I watched the exchange play through as Bev flipped him off. I didn't know what to say or what to think. I was split. Sure, I never wanted to step foot into that rotten house again– but I didn't want to be scared anymore. I haven't stopped being scared since the day that my dad died. 

"Dani?" Stan asked. I looked up from the concrete to see him looking at me with pleading eyes– he wanted me to back them up.

"I-" I looked at Bill and Bev and then looked at the rest of the group, my eyes landing on Richie last. I understood what he was thinking. Eddie is his best friend and he not only had to watch his best friend get attacked by a clown that he refused was real up until earlier today...but he also had to snap his best friends broken arm back into place. 

"I don't want to be scared anymore..." I mumble, looking back down at the ground. I couldn't handle looking at the disappointment or betrayal in their eyes.

"Holy fucking shit," Richie said in disbelief as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Richie c'mon–" Stan said, reaching out to him to stop him from blowing up.

"No," Richie said, shrugging Stan off. "I'm just saying we need to face the facts! Georgie is dead. So stop trying to get us killed too!"

Richie went to walk by Bill to get his bike, but Bill stood in his way towering over him. "Georgie's not dead."

Richie stared at him for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Maybe you couldn't save him, but you can still save yourself."

"No–" Bill said, cutting Richie's movements off again and pointing a finger in his face. "t-t-take it back. You're scared..." he looked at the rest of us before looking back at Richie. "We all are, but take it back!" He pushed Richie hard, bumping him in my direction.

"Guys, stop it!" Bev said, looking at me who was just as shocked as I was that Bill had actually pushed him.

Richie's nostrils flared in anger as he bit his bottom lip and charged towards Bill, pushing him back. "Stop it!!" I yelled.

Bill grabbed Richie's shirt collar and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. "Bill!" Bev yelled, looking at him with wide eyes and going to his side.

I squatted down to Richie's level. "Richie, are you okay?" Dumb question. Of course, he wasn't, he had just gotten punched by one of his closest friends. I help him up and he brushes me off, staring at Bill.

Bill was staring back at him, both of the boys heavily breathing as their adrenaline pumped faster than their bodies could handle. I saw Richie start to charge towards Bill, and I jumped in between them, hoping I could stop him from pushing or punching Bill so he wouldn't get punched in return...again. Richie slammed into me, pushing me down onto the ground– only stopping his advances because Stan and Mike were able to grab him. "Richie, come on," Stan said, tugging him back.

I stared at him in disbelief– this wasn't Richie. I've never seen him this angry before. I can't believe he just knocked me down and didn't say anything. Normally he'd joke around or even apologize...but instead, he was thrashing around trying to get himself loose from his friends' grip. "You're just a bunch of losers! Fuck off!" He screamed as Ben struggled to keep Bill back from punching Richie again. "You're all going to get yourselves killed trying to kill that stupid clown!"

"STOP!" Bev screamed as both Richie and Bill freed themselves from the grasps holding them back. She walked over to me and helped me up before looking at our group. "This is what IT wants! IT wants to divide us! We were all together when we hurt IT, that's why we're still alive!"

A short silence overtook the group as everyone glanced at one another. "Yeah?" Richie said, looking at her. "Well, I plan to keep it that way." He walked away, Stan and Ben following behind him.

"Richie!" I called out, walking a bit in his direction. He turned to me and opened his mouth to say something, but shook his head and got onto his bike. He looked so...betrayed. "Richie!" I yelled, my bottom lip beginning to tremble.

"Mike–" Bev said, as the newest member of our group walked away.

"I can't do this," he said, letting his arms drop to his side and shaking his head. "my Grandfather was right, I'm an outsider. It's gonna stay that way."

The three of us stood there as we watched our friends ride away. I could hear Bill sniffling and clearing his throat, trying to mask the fact that he was upset. Bev and I didn't blame them though, we couldn't. "What now?" I asked, looking at my two friends.

Bev looked at Bill and I did too. He was still staring off in the direction that our friends had left in. He took a deep breath and turned to us with a look of defeat. "We go home."

❏❏❏❏

When the time came, Bev, Bill and I all went out separate ways. The bike ride home was quiet, none of us really said anything. Bev and I didn't really know what to say to Bill and we didn't want to take the chance on hurting his feelings by saying something wrong.

By the time I got home myself, I was both physically and emotionally drained. I didn't bother bringing my bike up to my front porch, I just left it on my front yard and walked up the porch steps and into the house. I closed it behind me and started to walk towards the stairs. "Speak of the devil, she just walked into the door," my mom said, sitting up from the couch– the phone pressed against her ear. "Dani it's Benny, he wants to talk to you."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes before looking up at her. I cleared my throat in an attempt to stop the sob from escaping my throat as I held back tears. "Not right now mom," I said softly, turning back towards the stairs and walking up to them.

"She looks a little tired, why don't you call back later tonight? I'm sure she'll be able to talk then."

When I got to the top of the stairs I walked into my room and closed the door behind me. I rested my head against the door and closed my eyes, taking a few deep breaths. Once the sob I'd been holding back escaped my lips, it was all downhill from there. I slid down my door, landing on the floor and brought my knees to my chest– hugging them. I couldn't even begin to fathom the things that had happened today– it was all too much.

I brought my wrist onto my legs, playing with the ends of the bracelet. My fingers twiddled with the loosely tied strings, wrapping them around as tight as they could go before letting them go. I should probably just cut the damn thing off– I'm sure Richie had by now. A knock came from the door and I quickly sniffled and wiped my cheeks. "Yes?"

"Dani, is everything okay? You looked a little upset."

"Everything's fine mom," I replied, my voice slightly cracking.

"Did something happen today with Bev? Or Eddie or Richie or–"

"MOM!" I said, not meaning for it to come out as harsh as it did. "No-nothing happened. I'm fine. Just tired..."

I could hear her sigh from the other side of the door. I expected her to force me to let her in– she did it before back in Los Angeles shortly after my dad had died. "Okay, well I'll be downstairs."

When I heard her footsteps get further and further I let out the sob I'd been holding in since the moment I had yelled at her and the tears started rolling. Today had to be the worst day since we've moved to Derry. I'd never seen any of us that angry before or even seen them get into a fight like that. Some bickering, yeah sure. But a full out fight? No.

One thing seemed to be for certain:

the losers club was no more.