warning: spoilers for Halloween 3 below!! also, ignore how cheesy this chapter is!!

Babysitting was actually going pretty nicely for Steph so far; it was everything she needed to get rid of her stress for the time being. Plus, the kids she was watching over completely distracted her from the fears that were taking over her mental state and, for that, she was grateful. They had played some board games and had cooked a meal for themselves (which went well, much to the girl's surprise) and, now, Halloween III: Season of the Witch was playing on the television as temporary background noise.

Steph, while waiting for Bill to show up to assist her in this (sometimes) difficult job, was just sitting on the couch, her midnight blue eyes glued to the television; but, in reality, the young girl was just staring into space, completely zoned out again. It was almost as if she had turned the entire world around her off and that everything... every single thing surrounding her... was silent. Much to her great shock, however, the nothingness didn't bother her, since it left her alone with her own thoughts. It allowed her time to think, which was exactly what she needed at the moment.

She felt that nothing that had taken place recently had been the same since Georgie had gone missing; in fact, everything had just... changed. And Steph didn't know if that was for better or worse, or if everything that had changed was

(more depressing)

weirder than before. The pre-teen had tried her best not to care about all of that, but that just piled more stress onto her shoulders and weighed her down more than ever before, which was something that she despised with a passion. It always led to her wringing her hands together, a nervous habit of hers, and often getting annoyed at herself for even thinking such atrocities such as this.

But, sometimes, she wasn't able to stop those thoughts from showing up... they just happened.

And, because of this, Steph sometimes wanted to rip her hair out of her skull from the insane thoughts plaguing her brain. Despite this, she resisted the urge to do this, always trying to stay as calm as she could be; even if it was difficult to do at times, she just had to do it, or she would literally be driven completely mad.

At least her friends were always there for her to prevent such things from happening, so she was relieved that she had them in her life.

After Jamie had told her the heart-shattering news, she had taken Steph to visit Bill, since she knew that her daughter wanted to see him. The girl was grateful that her mother had the time to do this for her, since she was desperate to console the boy waiting for her inside his room. A part of her was slightly hesitant to even enter the room because she knew the sight she would discover on the other side. She wanted to give her best friend peace, but she was already here; it was too late to walk away.

Steph knew that the moment she opened that bedroom door, everything would change. Nothing would be the same ever again, even if Georgie was found and there was already a very slim chance of that ever happening. She could already feel the slight depression flood through her heart, but it was temporarily replaced with sympathy. Her best friend had just lost his own brother, and it broke her heart to smithereens. Just thinking about that made her grip the golden doorknob tighter than she already was.

After taking a few deep breaths, she raised her hand and gently knocked on the door.

No turning back now, she thought to herself.

"Bill?" she called out quietly, her voice trembling, hoping for a quick reply; she wasn't surprised when no word of response fell into her ears, but it only broke her more than she already was. "Can I please come in? I want to see you..." she pleaded. She couldn't deny the fact that tears were falling from her vivid eyes and down her face, making the skin turn red. She sniffed and wiped at the salty water, but that only caused more to arrive.

"Please...?" she whispered one more time but she was loud enough for just her best friend to hear.

Another excruciating moment of silence passed and she was about to turn around and walk away, even if she knew it would be a mistake. Her right hand slowly began to slip off of the doorknob and she took a step back, wiping her tears away.

"C-C-Come in..."

The reply was very quiet and weak, but Steph was able to hear it; in fact, it made her heart skip a beat, since she was very scared to walk into the room. Her heart was hammering against her ribcage in worry, and she was never more petrified to do something so small in her entire life. In her heart, it was horrific and painful and it stabbed through her like a blade covered in dry ice, the worst kind of pain.

But, ignoring the warnings in her mind that she was making a mistake, Steph slowly opened the door, sticking her head into the widen open bedroom. She didn't see anyone at first until she glanced to her left, seeing Bill sitting on his bed; this made her push the door open more so she could see him better. A sad smile formed on her face, but it instantly fell when she got a closer look at the boy.

Bill looked like he was staring into space, not even looking at his best friend as his breathing began to grow more frantic out of worry of what Steph would say to him. At the same time, he could care so much less than he normally would, since his mind was on a different problem than the girl's own concern for him. He was currently suffering through the worst kind of pain in his life (that of grief), and he could barely handle it; he had already tried to hold back the tears when he had learnt of the saddening news, but he just ended up sobbing as if he were an infant.

And now, he felt no emotion as he just stared at the wall, his blank eyes slightly red and tired from crying so many tears in the past hour, his auburn hair a complete mess from having his head buried into a pillow from the emotional breakdown, and his heart entirely shattered into pieces. Bill felt as if he were about to go crazy, and he thought that would happen if his best friend spoke up again, which he knew would eventually happen.

He was right. Bill Denbrough... was right. He was always right.

"Bill..." the blonde-haired girl whispered, stepping closer to him as he sighed quietly. "I'm not going to ask what's wrong, since that would be stupid of me because I already know the answer to that.... I'm going to ask this. Do you want to talk about it...?" As she finished the question, her right hand gently slipped into the grasp of Bill's left one, squeezing it softly as she sat down next to him. "You don't have to if you don't want to, though.... I just thought it would be better if you did..."

That was when the poor boy broke, a single tear falling down his right cheek as he finally turned his head to look at the girl next to him. He lost it then, closing his blue-green eyes as he started sobbing once more, his shoulders shaking as his hand that was clasped in Steph's began to tremble. He lowered his head just as his best friend pulled him into her gentle arms and hugged him tightly, softly shushing him as she rubbed his back very soothingly. Her shushes were slightly shaky, however, since she herself began crying; Steph tried to stay strong despite this, since she didn't want to look weak in front of Bill.

If there was one thing that Stephanie Palmer despised, it was feeling or looking weak, especially whenever she cried. Her friends often asked her why she rarely cried, and this was the reason: she had learned to be tough and strong so she would never show her sensitive side around other people, since it often made her feel guilty if she did so. She hid the second side of her personality behind sarcasm and a happy smile every day, even though it would fail every now and then, much to her misfortune.

Despite this, she sniffed as she wiped the tears away, resting her head on top of Bill's while continuing to shush him. "It'll be okay, Bill.... It'll be okay..." she murmured, although she had a slight suspicion that her biggest hope would turn out not to come true in the months to follow. And it seemed that the boy in her arms was able to read her mind, since he shook his head seconds after she said this.

"No, it w-wuh-won't..." he replied, his voice cracking as he continued to cry. "It won't b-b-b-b-be okay... He's guh-gone... He's really gone..."

Steph's dark eyes widened to the size of saucers when she heard this, her head shaking frantically before she even had a second to think about it. "No, don't you dare say that!" she said. "Don't you dare say that, William Denbrough. He is not gone. Don't even try telling yourself that! What you're saying isn't true!"

But she didn't realize that what she was saying would end up being a lie in ten months from today.

"IT IS TRUE!" Bill shouted, practically screaming at her; this made Steph flinch back as he pulled away from her, and he did feel bad instantly afterward, but he didn't care right now. "Georgie is gone... just gone! A-A-A-A-A-And it's all my fault... my fault!" He broke down into tears again, his whole body shaking now as the girl in front of him stared at him in shock. Bill had never shouted at her before and it was truly scaring her at the moment, since she looked a little hurt; it wasn't just from his anger, but also from what he was saying. It was truly breaking her heart to hear those painful words leave his lips, but she couldn't stop it now.

But, instead of shouting back, Steph lifted her hands up and put them on Bill's face, gently wiping the tears away as she stared into his eyes. "Please don't say that..." she whispered softly, not wanting to push his buttons further. "Don't say it like that, Bill... He isn't gone... He can't be gone.... Maybe he just got lost and couldn't find his way home..."

Bill shook his head immediately, believing that she was lying. "They f-f-fuh-found his blood next to one of th-th-th-the storm drains.... H-H-Huh-His blood! And it's my fault..." He saw Steph about to shake her head, but he stopped her from doing that with his next sentence. "I let him g-g-g-g-g-go out there b-b-buh-by himself... and now he's m-m-m-missing.... It's my f-f-f-fuh-fault that he's gone, Steph...

Steph made him stop talking by pulling him into another hug, trying to silent his cries as slowly as possible because she knew he wouldn't stop crying immediately. "We'll find him, Bill..." she whispered to him. "Don't worry..."

After a while, the boy pulled away from the hug, wiping his tears away by himself. His blue-green eyes met Steph's midnight blue ones as he reluctantly nodded, sighing quietly as he felt ever so slightly better than before. In turn, the girl smiled as she took his hand into her own again, squeezing it gently. After a while, she found herself getting lost in his eyes, not knowing that he was doing the same thing; but it wasn't weird to Steph... it felt weirdly normal and natural to her. In fact, she could have sworn that she felt her face heat up a little bit when she felt Bill take her hand and intertwine their fingers together. She smiled more as she —

Ring-Ring.

Ring-Ring.

Steph jumped as a shriek nearly escaped her lips, putting a hand over her heart as she took deep breaths to calm herself.

"Steph, the phone's ringing!" Justin shouted from the kitchen, where he and Amber were coloring in their own color books.

The blonde rolled her eyes a little as she stood up from the couch, yelling back, "Yeah, I can hear that, kiddo!" She went over to the rotary telephone that sat on the table beside the ivory cotton couch that she had taken the space of for the past hour and picked it up, bringing the device to her ear. "O'Connor residence, Steph speaking," she spoke into the phone, trying to be as normal and polite as possible.

"How's babysitting the little children going for ya, Little Loser?" came the warm and vibrant voice of Beverly Marsh, which brought a grin upon Steph's young face as she let out a small giggle, walking over to the wall and leaning her back against it.

"Oh, the usual," she responded as she sighed to herself. "It's boring at first and then it's fun, you know? So I'm just sitting on the couch and watching Halloween III while the kiddies are coloring in the kitchen." She could hear the redhead's laugh on the other end of the phone, which made her smile more. Steph rubbed at her eyes to rid herself of the sleepiness from earlier so she wouldn't be tired until she went to bed later that night.

"Wish I could come over to help you... but you know how my home life, Steph..." Beverly replied, her usually happy voice dying down ever so slightly.

Steph sighed quietly to herself as she felt her blood boil a little inside her; her small hand that wasn't holding the phone clenched into a tight fist out of pure anger. Oh, how she wished she could free her best friend from her personal problems and pull her into the happiest life that she herself could have possibly had, despite the absence of her deceased father. But, unfortunately for her, she wasn't able to help Beverly escape the horrors behind the locked doors of her own home, and that pained her and made her want to just show up and run away with the redhead.

Beverly's home life was horrendous, even worse than Steph could have had the most horrific nightmares of, and it truly disgusted the girl. The redhead's father, Alvin Marsh, was a complete and total creep, but in the worst kind of way; he scared Steph to death every time she ran into him whenever she visited Beverly, and he continued to terrify her to this day ever since she met him when she was eight. He just had something that was... off about him; she didn't know if it was either the creepy look in his cobalt blue eyes or the uncomfortable way he spoke to people in the everyday world. But he was definitely creepy...

But the worst part of it all was the apparent abuse he inflicted on his red-headed daughter, and it was so repugnant that Steph couldn't even describe it. What she was able to describe, however, was that it was so much worse for Beverly when you took the reason she was bullied into consideration. It made the blonde-haired girl feel so bad for her only female friend and she wished that she could bring her out of that rugged apartment much more often than she was able to because of Alvin's strict behavior.

"Steph...? You there, Little Loser?" Beverly's voice rang through her ears, making Steph flinch as she tore herself out of her trance. She took a deep breath as she ever so slowly calmed down, since she didn't want to worry her friend; she then ran a hand through her short, blonde hair as she sighed.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Bev... I'm just —" she began, but she was broken off by the sound of the front door of the house opening, which made her flinch just a little bit. She turned her head to see a teenage boy with cropped auburn hair and blue-green eyes step into the living room and smile at her in a friendly manner; Bill was dressed in a black t-shirt and blue jeans, which was different to what he had worn at school earlier that day.

Steph smiled back at him, although it didn't quite reach her eyes because of the memory she had relived earlier. She held up a finger to signal that she would talk to him in a second before turning back to the phone. "I was just thinking about something..." she spoke into the device.

"Oh... okay, then..." Beverly replied, although it seemed as if she didn't believe her; nevertheless, she continued. "Well, as long as you're okay, I'm okay..."

The blonde girl nodded, before remembering that Beverly couldn't see her. "Hey, Bev, I gotta go, okay? Bill just showed up to help me with the kids... I'll see you tomorrow, so we can go shopping in town. I bet you're looking forward to that!" she said, more cheerful this time, especially when she heard the redhead's laugh on the other end, making her feel more relieved than ever, and she finally smiled again.

"Can't wait, Steph!" said Beverly in a happy tone. "Well, I'll let you go. Don't let Bill and the kids annoy you too much, and I hope you have fun. See you tomorrow, Little Loser!"

Steph chuckled a little. "Sure thing, Bev. Bye!" She then hung up the phone and set the device back on the table where it was earlier, combing a hand through her hair afterwards.

"Who w-w-wuh-was that?" Bill asked from behind her, and she turned to face him, shrugging her shoulders lightly.

"Oh, it was just Beverly... calling to check up on me like she always does," she answered his question. "You know, just a normal and friendly conversation that we often have..." She then fell silent, turning her head back to the television as she saw the factory tour scene from Halloween III playing in front of her; Steph found her attention glued to the TV for a second before she saw Bill sitting down on the couch.

"W-W-W-What are you watching?" he inquired, turning his head to look at her for a moment, and she smiled at the question as she sat down next to him, grabbing a bag of potato chips that was sitting on the coffee table in front of them.

"The third Halloween movie," she said, placing a chip in her mouth and quickly eating it. "It's the one without Michael Myers and it's one of my absolute favorites..." She smiled as she saw the character of Conal Cochran place a pumpkin mask on Little Buddy, since she knew what would happen later on in the movie. She didn't really care, since the family in the film was very annoying; then again, this was the general opinion of the audience when they first saw the film seven years prior.

Bill was thinking for a moment before it finally hit him, his face brightening a little. "Oh! It's th-th-th-the one where the m-muh-masks kill people, ruh-right?" he guessed, sighing with relief when he saw Steph's smile morph into a huge grin.

"That's correct, Denbrough!" she shouted in victory, patting him on the shoulder as she celebrated his correct answer.

This made Bill happy to see his best friend be in a comfortable and relaxed mood, especially considering what had been happening over the past several months since his little brother's disappearance. In fact, just the mere thought of Georgie often rendered Bill to tears almost every single day; but, this time, he forced those tears away and thought about what Steph had said to him that day eight months ago.

"We'll find him, Bill... Don't worry..."

There had been so much determination and hope in the girl's voice that it had even motivated him to begin looking for Georgie. But, unfortunately for him, he had to go back to school right after he got over his illness and he had to deal with the anger and frustration of not being able to search for his missing brother for eight months straight. It not only made him angry, but it also infuriated him that he wasn't allowed to do this, especially since the town had a curfew set up for all of the children of Derry.

But now, he was able to do whatever he wanted because his parents had stopped caring about what he did, and they were positive that Georgie was long gone and dead at this point. They had a valid explanation, but Bill kept refusing to believe them; that was why he had persuaded his friends, including Steph, that they should go down to the Barrens the next day and begin their grounded search for the seven-year-old boy that they had all grown to love so much. He wasn't going to give up until he saw his brother to be brought back to their home safely, even if the other Losers thought he was a little nuts for going out to look for Georgie by themselves.

Bill snapped himself out of his thoughts just as Justin and Amber walked into the doorway of the living room and saw him. "BILLY!" they screamed, charging at him and tackling him in hugs, which made him laugh as he fell over on the couch while hugging them back.

Steph saw this and smiled such a happy smile, and Bill couldn't deny that it warmed his heart to see her smiling like that. He even had to admit that Stephanie Palmer had a beautiful smile despite the braces she was wearing, and it made him grin at her out of genuine happiness but there was a second emotion in his heart that he couldn't quite recognize yet; but what he did know was that it was a pleasant — almost incredible — emotion. This was why he loved his best friend: her positive attitude always lifted him up whenever he felt down every now and then and he often felt something weird around her (which he wouldn't figure out until the next afternoon) and, although it was kind of crazy, he never wanted it to stop.

The blonde looked at him and said, "What?" This made Bill break out of his thoughts, realizing that he had zoned out for a moment while he was smiling.

"Nuh-Nothing," he replied. "It's j-j-juh-just good to see you s-sm-smile..." He didn't even notice his face growing very slightly warm as he said this, but his eyes stayed locked on Steph's to let her know that he was being truthful in his statement.

Steph smiled a sweet smile at him as she looked at the kids again. "It seems like they love you more than me..." she said jokingly, giggling a little as she pulled them off of Bill. "Okay, kids! Let the boy breathe a little bit; it seems like you're gonna smother him to death. You can kill him later, all right?"

Bill gave her a mock hurt look as he shouted, "Hey! Th-That's not nice!" Steph shrugged her shoulders, basically dismissing his complaint despite the fact that she wasn't really meaning it. This made the boy smirk as he tapped Justin on the shoulder, and he leaned closer to say something and make sure Steph wouldn't hear him.

She was able to hear every word he said, however.

"I've g-g-g-got an idea..." he whispered to the two kids. "I w-w-wuh-want you and Amber to t-t-tuh-tickle Steph until sh-she gets annoyed..."

Steph was able to see Justin and Amber turn to her as mischievous smirks began to form on their faces, and her eyes widened in mock terror. "No, don't you two dare!" she yelled, but she was too late. The children had already jumped onto her and started tickling her, neither of them knowing that the girl was very ticklish. She shrieked with laughter, smacking lightly at them so they would stop.

They didn't.

"Okay, stop!" she shouted after a while. "Stop! Leave me alone for five seconds, please!"

Bill, who had been laughing the entire time, smirked as he pulled the kids away from Steph and whispered something else to them. "L-L-Luh-Let's count down fr-fr-from five tuh-together..." he said, a goofy smile on his face as the children giggled at the idea.

"Five, four..." all there of them started, making Steph playfully roll her eyes as she began to inch away from them.

"Okay, okay, guys! Please don't!" she begged, but none of them (especially Bill) were listening to her anymore, and they just laughed at her as they continued.

"Three, two... ONE!" they all shouted as they pounced on her and began tickling her even more. Bill decided to join the kids in the attack, as he was laughing way more than all of them, especially when Steph began screaming in protest, smacking at him to get him and the others to stop.

"No!" she bellowed. "I'M GONNA TELL YOUR PARENTS!!! You better stop, or I'm telling your parents!!!"

After a while, they finally stopped, moving away from her as Bill grabbed her hands and helped her sit back up, to which she thanked him. Steph glared at him afterwards as she said, "You're never making them do that again." This made the boy raise his eyebrows as he chuckled lightly.

"Try me!" he replied, not stuttering this time. The blonde rolled her hands at this as she turned to Justin and Amber, clapping her small hands together to get their attention because their eyes were glued to the television.

"Okay, kids!" she said. "Who wants peanut butter sandwiches?" She smiled when she heard them shout that they wanted some, and she felt her heart swell up at this, truly happy for the first time in what seemed to be weeks. It was either the fact that she was finally done with school for three months or that she was actually having a good time with the kids, grateful that Bill was helping her like he always did. Because of this, she got up off of the sofa and walked into the kitchen, opening one of the cabinets and pulling out a jar of peanut butter and grabbing a spoon from a drawer next to the sink.

"Nuh-Need any help, St-Steph?" came a voice from behind the girl, making her flinch a little bit as she turned around. She saw Bill standing in the doorway of the kitchen with a look in his blue-green eyes that suggested that he wanted to assist her in this task. Therefore, she smiled as she nodded.

Taking that as a yes, Bill stepped into the kitchen, grabbing two plates for the kids from a cabinet beside Steph and setting them out on the counter. He then grabbed the package of bread and and laid out two pieces on each plate, but not before sparing a glance at Steph and smiling at her. He then decided to ask a question that he had never thought of in the past until now.

"Steph... how a-a-are you able t-t-tuh-to take care of Justin and Amber s-so easily...?" he questioned, genuinely curious as to what her answer was, since he never truly knew why his best friend liked babysitting so much.

The girl was slightly startled at this question, but she chose to not show it as she came up with an answer. "Well, I figured it would be something that I liked to do and, sure enough, it is. Also, it can help me prepare for whenever I do have children one day..." As she said this last part, she felt her blood rush to her face as she blushed lightly, taking a spoonful of peanut butter and spreading it out evenly on a slice of bread on one of the plates.

Bill looked at her in slight surprise, since he had never heard her say this in the years of their friendship; but he decided to shrug off his shock, staying interested. "You w-wuh-want to have kids one d-d-d-day?" he asked, a slight smile on his face now.

Steph nodded sheepishly as she began preparing the other sandwich. "Yeah..." she said rather shyly this time. "I kind of have a dream future... God, I don't know if I should say it, though. It's embarrassing..."

The boy next to her shook his head, lightly chuckling as he smiled more. "C-C-Come on, you can tuh-tell me..." he said. "I promise I w-w-w-w-won't judge you... What's y-yuh-your dream future like...?" I'd Bill wasn't curious earlier, he definitely was now, and he wasn't letting Steph walk away until she answered his question.

The blonde sighed as she finished making the other sandwich, tossing the spoon into the sink as she turned to Bill. "I've dreamed of an entire lifetime before, Bill," she began by admitting this, the blush on her face slowly going away. "I often daydream about it, too, if I'm being honest. But, I've always dreamt of graduating high school and then college... afterwards, I would become an actress.... And then I would end up being with someone who had the same sort of interests as me. I've dreamt of marrying that person and having three children with them and then spending the rest of my life with a happy family... and..." She paused for a moment before she thought of finishing her small little speech. "I've... also daydreamed about having a dance with that person... a slow and sweet dance with... my soulmate... It's kind of crazy, I know..."

Bill stared at her as he slowly shook his head, looking directly into her vivid, midnight blue eyes now. "I don't think it's crazy at all..." he whispered, not a single stutter in his sentence.

Steph was looking into Bill's eyes for what seemed like forever, thinking to herself for a long moment. There were so many thoughts swimming through her mind that she couldn't comprehend them all at once, but a few of them were able to finally stand out to her.

Could... Could it be possible? No, it couldn't be! Could it...?

What Stephanie Palmer didn't know at that moment was that William Denbrough was thinking the exact same thing... the exact same scenario... the exact same possibility...

Or maybe she did know... she just didn't realize it....

The slightest of smiles formed on Steph's face as she thought what she was thinking. In her opinion, it sounded absolutely insane, but it was something, at least! It could happen... it could be possible! It could —

"So, are you two gonna kiss, or what?"

The girl jumped out of her skin as she turned her head to the left, and she was able to see Amber and Justin standing in the doorway, staring at her and Bill. She raised her eyebrows in confusion, laughing a little bit at the absurd question that had come out of nowhere. "What are you two talking about?" she replied with her own question. "Bill and I are just friends...."

The kids had skeptical looks in their eyes as they smirked in response. "Yeah, sure!" Amber shouted as a way to tease Steph, which did not work that well.

"It doesn't look like it by the way you two were looking at each other," Justin added, laughing along with his little sister as they walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

Steph was even more puzzled at this sly remark, and she faced Bill again, but he wasn't even returning her gaze. Instead, he was looking down at the counter in surprise; this made the girl follow his gaze to what he was staring at. Much to her shock, she saw that her hand was touching Bill's to the point that she was practically holding his hand. She jerked her hand away from his as fast as she could, relieved that the kids hadn't seen this along with what they had already seen. Trying her best to fight the blush, she grabbed the plates of peanut butter sandwiches and set them on the table in front of the siblings.

"Here's your sandwiches, kiddies," she said jokingly, pulling Bill to the kitchen table so they could both sit down with the children they were babysitting for the night. "And it's y'all's favorite, just like always!"

Justin checked to see if there was only peanut butter in his sandwich before nodding in approval. "Good," he confirmed, taking a bit of his food. "You know, if I actually liked jelly, I would've made you put it on here..."

Steph rolled her eyes, but she was thankful that the boy still wasn't teasing her about what had happened just less than a minute ago. "So... you would've forced me to make you another sandwich... that's what you're saying, right?" she replied, following along with his game as she playfully smirked at him. Bill was laughing at the look on the girl's face as he watched the conversation take place.

"That is correct," said Justin not even half a second later. Steph's smirk never left her face at this reply.

"Well, kiddo, you do know that I'm older and more responsible than you, so you can't make me run around your house and do stuff for ya," Steph retorted slyly, giving him an evil smile in addition to what she was saying.

"Uh, yes, I can!" Justin said, an attitude in his voice. "And Amber can tell you what to do as well, right, sis?"

"Yup!" Amber responded, her adorable voice making Steph's heart fill itself with tons of emotion. But the blonde chose not to tear up at the cute little girl sitting beside her, still playing Justin's game.

"Well, Justin... if you try to tell me what to do... I'll buy you one of those masks from Silver Shamrock and make you wear it," she jokingly threatened. And what perfect timing, since the most famous scene from Halloween III began to play on the television in the living room.

Justin's eyes filled with genuine horror as he covered his ears. "Don't you dare, Steph!" he shouted.

"Happy, Happy Halloween! Halloween, Halloween!" Steph began singing, purposely sounding awful to annoy the boy even more. "Happy, Happy Halloween! Silver Shamrock!"

"NO, STOP IT!" Justin screamed, running into the living room to avoid her. Steph, however, chased after the younger boy and threw her arms around him and lifted him into the air, roaring playfully. She then put him on the couch and held him there, continuing to sing.

"HAPPY, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! SILVER SHAMROCK!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, unable to hold back her hysterical laughter. Bill, who had since followed Steph into the living room with Amber by his side, was chuckling at the girl's energetic behavior. It was awesome to see his best friend act like a little kid herself.

"Okay, I won't tell you what to do anymore!" shouted Justin, finally relenting so he wouldn't have to hear Steph repeat that horrible song anymore. The pre-teen finally got off of him, laughing as she patted him on the shoulder. She then looked at Bill and smiled at him, motioning for him and Amber to sit on the sofa next to her.

"Good," she told Justin. "I'm kinda exhausted now... I wanna watch the rest of the movie..."

All three of them agreed with her, getting comfortable on the couch as Amber and Justin sat on both sides of her. In return, she put both of her arms over their shoulders as she felt a relaxing feeling wash over her emotions, sighing softly to herself as she closed her eyes for a second. She felt at peace with what she was doing with the children that had become her friends over the past few years, and it made her feel giddy on the inside; she couldn't even deny that.

Ring-Ring.

Ring-Ring.

Steph groaned in annoyance, lifting her arms off of the couch and launching herself up to her feet. She stepped over to the rotary phone and delicately picked it up, placing it against her ear with a smile on her face. "O'Connor residence, Steph speaking..." she spoke into the device in her usual cheery voice.

Nothing... only silence.

The girl grew confused, her eyebrows scrunching together in puzzlement, her left hand falling from the plastic cord connected to the telephone. "Um... hello...?" she said, her voice now dropping its cheerful tone, hoping that an answer would come from the other end of the phone.

Still nothing.

Steph pulled the device away from her ear and slowly placed it back where it belonged, a misty look in her eyes as she stared at the phone. She shook her head slightly while she walked back over to the sofa and sat down in between the children.

"Who w-w-was that?" Bill asked her, pretty curious because of the look on Steph's face.

"Um... I don't know," she said, looking over at him before shrugging. "Must've been some idiot prank calling the house, I guess..."

The auburn-haired boy chose to believe what she was saying, although he himself was very confused at the look on her face. It turned out that both of them were extremely puzzled at what had just happened; but they decided to look past it as they continued to watch the movie, coming upon the scene where Dan Challis was seamlessly throwing the skull mask over the camera in the corner of the room that he was trapped in.

Who knows? It could've just been a prank phone call after all...

Or was it...?

A/N: well, this chapter is finally out! and i promise that i'll update even more throughout the summer! i have WAY MORE of this book written than you think... 273 PAGES, in fact! yeah, this book is detailed and lengthy, but i hope you don't mind!

the chapters will be much longer from now on, so i hope that's okay!

i hope you all look forward to the next chapter! i love all of you!

p.s. more adorable scenes between steph and bill to come!!

-denbroughswife