( TW: blood, creepy imagery, mentioned attempted s*xual ass*ult, & mild violence )

The following afternoon consisted of Steph pedaling over to Beverly's apartment as quickly as she could, her curiosity poking at her while her friends shouted from behind her to let them catch up. She ignored the exclaims and, much to her surprise, went even faster just to spite them. Her hair, that was tied up into a ponytail today, was still being gusted behind her as the wind combed through it and made it even more tangled than it already was normally. The girl could point out the soaked streets of Derry due to the huge storm that had happened the night before.

Right after Steph had been attacked by whoever had decided to break into her house the previous evening, she and Jamie had rushed over to the O'Connor residence, not even caring about the rain that was pouring down onto them as they visited the family. Rachel was in hysterics and she couldn't remove the expression of sorrow from her eyes as she sobbed uncontrollably, all while her two children were rather silent, too stunned over the news that the police had given them. And, Steph and her mother were also in utter shock that whatever happened to the father of the four had happened.

Daniel O'Connor had died in a brutal car accident just mere minutes before Steph was attacked in her own home. According to Rachel, he had called her moments before it happened and said that he would be home as soon as he could because he had worked a later shift than usual at the police station. He had been turning the car into the neighborhood that Steph lived in, only for him to suddenly hit a large tree in the middle of one of the sidewalks, and he was killed instantly. "At least he didn't suffer," Rachel had mumbled to the young girl and her two kids.

Steph cried for a long time as she consoled the older woman and hugged her, allowing her to let everything out as she held her. She couldn't believe it.... Daniel dead? The idea sounded almost absurd, but it was true. He had been killed five minutes before Steph had been attacked by that... that thing that had entered her house. She did, indeed, find that just a tiny bit suspicious, but she knew that now was not the time to mention that out of fear of the adults in the room finding her to be crazy. She didn't want to be sent to an asylum for the rest of her life, now did she? She certainly couldn't imagine that....

About an hour after Steph and Jamie had shown up to the house, the O'Connor's telephone rang in the living room. Rachel had hesitantly gotten up to go answer the phone, putting it to her ear; moments later, she had turned to the pre-teen girl in front of her and handed the receiver to her. It had been Beverly on the other end of the phone, mumbling to the blonde that she needed to come to her apartment tomorrow afternoon while her father was at work, and that she had already contacted the boys and asked them the same thing.

Steph could detect the shakiness in the redhead's tone and had asked her if she was okay. Beverly had said yes before bidding her farewell and hanging up the phone before she even had the chance to reply.

And that was what led her to where she was now, flying on her bicycle down Orange Grove Avenue, Cherokee sprinting by her side like he sometimes did when she would take her bike for a ride through the streets of the small town. She smiled down at him for just a moment before looking back at the road, and she crossed an intersection as she finally saw Beverly's apartment complex come into view. She had obviously been here before, since the redhead was her very first friend before all of the other Losers about four years ago.

She examined the aging brick walls and the overgrown weeds that surrounded the structure, and it made her grimace just a little bit at the fact that Beverly had to live in such a shithole like this place. But that was really due to the fact that her best friend had to have such a creepy asshole for a father, and she wished that Jamie would take her in as her own, but she was too scared to ask the woman. Steph personally believed that it was alright if you were poor, as long as you had great parents and love surrounding you in the process; she thought that it was okay to live in a neighborhood like this if your family wasn't terrible.

And, although Steph did find the middle-to-upper class life to be slightly overwhelming at times, she at least had her mother by her side to bring her back down to reality. She knew that her mother didn't really want to live in a luxury like they had, but she wanted the best childhood for her daughter, so Jamie was going to give that to her. And the young girl really respected that and loved her for it. But she couldn't help but feel sympathy towards Beverly for what she had to go through, even though the redhead very rarely brought up her home life to the girl.

Steph pulled up to the back of the apartment (something that Beverly had instructed all of them to do) and waited for the boys to catch up to her. She began to hear bickering coming from behind her just as she saw her closest friend beginning to run down the stairs of the building and, despite the fact that she was smiling at the girl, she had to resist the urge to shout at the others closing in from behind her.

"We should've gone the other way," Eddie had decided to say out of nowhere.

"No," replied Stan, "we gotta go through the alleyway!"

"The alley takes way too long!"

"No, the alley is so much faster!"

"The alley is more dangerous and it's disgusting!" protested Eddie with a bitter tone to his voice.

Steph turned her head in the direction of the arguing boys, her eyes filled with utter exasperation as she shook her head at them. She mouthed to Stan to quit quarreling with Eddie, since he would never win, and he tried to listen but the shorter boy kept on going and rambling nonetheless so the Jewish kid had to continue.

"How is it more dangerous?" Stan asked the boy, extremely confused now.

"It smells like shit and it's gross," Eddie answered with a sigh as he kept on pedaling his bicycle forward.

At this point, Beverly had already greeted Steph with a hug and a smile, and the blonde had gotten off of her bike and let it fall to the ground this time as they talked.

"Oh, my God!" exclaimed the slightly taller boy. "The side streets are the same! They smell like shit!"

"Okay, okay," Eddie grumbled under his breath as he began to slow down. "Can you just tell me what she said exactly?"

"She didn't say anything," Stan responded with a roll of his brown eyes. "She just said that you guys need to hurry over."

"She didn't say anything," Eddie repeated with a faint scoff. "Okay. Okay."

"Guys, I would really like it if y'all stopped arguing for once," Steph spoke up, glaring at them as she did so. She then turned back to Beverly with a kind smile as she put a hand on the redhead's shoulder to provide her comfort. She could sense the other girl's hesitation, but she finally said something after a moment.

"You made it. I..." she stopped for just a moment to catch her breath after sprinting down those stairs for a full thirty seconds. "I need to show you something," she added promptly.

"What is it?" Ben asked in a careful voice.

"More than what we saw at the quarry?" Richie continued for the boy in question with a playful smirk on his face.

Despite the fact that she wanted more than nothing to tear Richie's head off for saying that to her best friend, Steph remained calm and just turned to face the boy with the coke-bottle glasses framing his young face. She let out a sigh as she looked directly into his dark green eyes, letting him know that she was about to say something; she could notice the look of slight alarm in those eyes, but she knew that she wouldn't be screaming at him, no matter how much she desired to.

"Okay.... Listen to me, Richie," she said in a quiet voice. "I know that you like to joke around in order to lighten things up in the group and, sometimes, I don't mind doing the same thing with you. I like to make jokes as well, you understand? But give it a fucking rest! Now is not the time to be messing around, because something serious could be happening and you probably don't give a shit! Just shut the hell up and let the lady speak!" Steph then rounded her body to face Beverly again with a big smile. "You may continue," she added. "You were saying?"

Beverly nodded slightly as an anxious look formed in her spring clover eyes, and she drew in a sharp inhale. "My dad will kill me if he finds out I had boys in the apartment," she stated rather nervously, her hands slightly shaking as she locked eyes with the smaller, blonde girl. Steph felt sympathy towards her best friend right away as she reached out to take her hand into hers to provide solace, which she appreciated.

"Wuh-Wuh-We'll leave a lookout," Bill assured the redhead with a kind smile. "Richie, st-stuh-stay here." The rest of the ground dropped their bicycles, except for Stan (who put his kickstand down like he always did), and followed Beverly and Steph towards the apartment stairway. The latter girl froze halfway up the first flight once she heard Richie speaking to the group.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Richie shouted over to them. "What if her dad comes back?!"

"Do what you always do: start talking!" Stan retaliated in response, rolling his eyes as he turned away and followed the others up the stairs.

"It is a gift!" Richie shouted at them, and Steph couldn't deny the fact that the statement made her giggle just a little bit.

"Hey, at least you have Cherokee to keep you company!" Steph shouted down to him and he nodded in reply as she heard her dog bark a little bit.

After the group of six traveled up the many, many stairs and after Beverly had opened the back door to her apartment, they cut through the living room and then ended up in the hallway. Steph didn't really have to examine the place, since she had (unfortunately) been here before when she had sleepovers with Bev; let's just say that the place creeped her out to no end and that it always had. The peeling and browning wallpaper disgusted her and she had to look away so she wouldn't be too grossed out at how filthy the place looked. Looked like a certain parent didn't bother with keeping up with his own home... and being a janitor was really freaking pointless in that case.

The girl turned the corner and stood beside Beverly, her eyes taking a glimpse at the bathroom door that stood right at the end of the hall. She noticed the other girl tensing up beside her, which made her give her a look of concern. "What's wrong?" she asked her in a faint whisper.

"In there..." Beverly replied rather quietly, the words directed towards all of them.

"What is it?" Stan pondered.

"You'll see," Beverly said in a fearful tone.

Steph's breathing began to tremble as she took a hesitant step forward, her left hand tightening around the strap of her purse that hung from her shoulder. The girl could see the red tint around the door very clearly and it made her dread what she was about to see behind it as she followed Bill, grabbing his hand out of instinct. He squeezed her hand in return as he gave her a look that told her, "It's alright, you're safe." And it made her nod in response.

"Are you bringing us to your bathroom?" Eddie asked in a shaking voice as he began to overreact to the entire situation. "I just want you to know that eighty-nine percent of the worst accidents at home are caused in bathrooms. And... I mean... that's where all the bacteria and fungi are and i-it's not a really sanitary place...."

The blonde girl slowly reached behind herself with her free hand and placed it on Eddie's shoulder, whispering to him that it was okay. At least, she thought everything was okay...

She was dead wrong.

The moment Bill opened the bathroom door and Steph saw what was inside, she had to fight the wish to puke all over the place.

All she could see, from the top of the bathroom to the bottom, was blood. A horrid, maroon shade of blood that covered the mirror and wallpaper and literally every. single. inch. It still looked and smelled fresh, which made nausea crawl up the poor girl's ribs as she grabbed the collar of her t-shirt and covered her mouth with it to cover any gagging sounds. "Oh, my God, that's fucking disgusting..." she murmured under her breath as she looked away for a moment, the stench of metallic copper stinging her nostrils.

"I knew it!" Eddie whimpered, taking a step back as he audibly gagged.

"Do you see it?" Beverly inquired in the most hopeful voice she could muster, and Steph hummed in response while nodding.

"Yes," came Eddie's whispered reply from right behind Steph.

"What happened in here?" Stan mumbled in a quivering tone, which made Steph glance at him with concern laced in her eyes, sighing a little bit.

"My dad couldn't see it, I thought I might be crazy," Beverly answered vaguely, hugging her arms to her chest.

Ben let out a light chuckle as he shrugged his shoulders a little. "Well, if you're crazy, then we're all crazy," he mumbled softly just as Steph bravely took a glance back into the bloody bathroom, ignoring how disgusting it looked to her. A trembling breath left her lungs as she stared down at her feet, lucky that she wore older shoes today.

"We c-c-can't leave it like this," Bill whispered as he took a courageous step into the room with a curious look in his blue-green eyes. Steph looked at him as though he were crazy for a moment, but she soon entered the bathroom after him, not letting him be alone in this.

After Steph had left her purse hanging from one of the chairs in the kitchen, she had grabbed every last cleaning supply that she could find below the sink before going back to the inevitable room. She put on the yellow gloves that would protect her hands from the filth before beginning to scrub at the walls, her eyes scrunched with revulsion, but at least Beverly's stereo that she was playing throughout the house kept her at comfort. Many songs by different bands began playing, such as Into the Fire by Dokken and Dear Mr. Fantasy by Traffic, which were among her absolute favorites.

She looked around the room to see Beverly wiping the mirror, Stan cleaning the window above the bathtub, Ben and Bill washing down the other wall in the room, and Eddie mopping the wall while wincing every time blood got anywhere near him. Steph couldn't help but smile at all of them, happy that she wasn't alone in this situation, grateful that she had friends in the first place. If she didn't have them, she wouldn't know what to do with herself or her life because it would never have been the same at all.

Over an hour later, memories of what happened the night before came back to the girl and she stopped what she was doing for a second as she stared at the mostly clean wall. She could still feel slight pain in the back of her head from where that clown had slammed it down onto the floor with more force than any normal person would have used, and she felt her right arm hurting out of nowhere. She looked at it but she didn't see anything, so she had to assume that she had only pulled a muscle from pushing her dresser in front of her bedroom door.

Steph squeezed her eyes shut for a moment to rid the vivid images from her head as she tried to forget about it, shuddering a little bit from the horror of it all. She just went back to scrubbing the wall again until it was completely clean, not even observing the fact that a certain someone was looking at her with a worrisome expression in his gentle eyes.

Yet another hour passed and the Losers were finally finished with cleaning the bathroom, and Steph grinned at how clean and neat it looked now, putting both of her hands on her hips. "Good job, children!" she congratulated her friends. "Now it doesn't look like a murder scene anymore, thanks to y'all."

"Thanks for helping, guys," Beverly replied with a cheerful smile on her freckled face, and everyone replied with "You're welcome."

Beverly Marsh was officially a part of their group with that small exchange.

And with that, all that was left was to take out the trash bags piled up with bloody washrags and paper towels; so Ben, Beverly, Eddie, and Stan were left with that job while Steph and Bill were tasked to dump the buckets filled with the eloquent blood. The two helped each other get the job done pretty quickly and then got lost in a conversation about the local fair that would be happening within the next few weeks and then continuing into September. They ended up laughing together in the middle of the chat when Bill brought up an funny experience at said fair that involved Richie doing stupid shit, like always, and it made Steph giggle out of amusement.

Steph then walked over to Bill after washing her hands, smiling over at the boy as she felt a feeling of nervousness settle in her stomach. That was when she realized that she was alone with him in the bathroom now, and she felt just a tiny bit awkward. But she pretended that nothing was wrong whatsoever as she glanced back at the clean bathtub, biting her bottom lip shyly.

"How a-a-are you doing today?" Bill asked all of a sudden, glancing over at the blonde girl with those familiar eyes of his and a small smile on his face.

Steph looked over at him again, a half-smile on her face that was mixed with a frown. She hesitated on whether she should tell him the truth or not, considering the fact that her best friend was already going through a lot at the moment and she didn't want to add onto that stress; but she also remembered that Bill would find out about what she wanted to tell him soon enough and she couldn't hide it forever, no matter how much she wanted to.

Steph, just tell him! Just get it over with that way you won't have to suffer with keeping it a secret, one side of her mind was shouting as loudly as it could.

I don't think it's a good idea, though, the other side of her mind spoke. I don't want him to be more upset than he has been since last October.

After a full twenty seconds of not speaking, the girl finally opened her mouth.

"Actually..." she mumbled, sighing a little bit and just deciding to cut straight to the chase. "I'm not really doing that good.... I hate to tell you this but, um, Rachel called my mom and I last night and told us that Daniel died..."

Bill felt surprise cross his face as his grin turned into a frown of sadness, and he put a hand on Steph's shoulder to provide comfort. He honestly didn't know how to react to that, since he knew how much Daniel meant to the girl, being her literal father figure and all. And only to now lose him... he couldn't imagine how that must've felt. A normal, sane person would believe that he had gone through the same type of loss, but he kept believing that Georgie was still missing, so those people would be wrong.

He felt Steph put a hand over his and squeeze it gently as a way to thank him for being by her side through all of this. And he thought she was going to break down into tears, but she didn't; she just remained stone-faced and emotionless after saying those words.

"I-I'm so sorry, Steph," he whispered to her and she shrugged a little bit. "I r-r-really am. How did he duh-die...? I mean, i-if you don't mind me a-a-asking...."

"Car accident," Steph answered right away, looking over at him with a look of pain hidden in her ocean eyes. "Rachel said it was a horrible car accident, too. God, I can't imagine the grief her kids must be going through... I mean, they lost their own father. I know what that's like, and I wish they didn't have that happen to them, you know?"

Bill nodded out of understanding as he began to rub her back in a comforting manner, a look of pure sympathy on his face. He had completely forgotten that he was just a foot away from the girl he liked very much, since all he could see was a person that needed support and care for the time being and he was going to be there for her no matter what. He wasn't going to let his feelings towards her get in the way of the act of helping her through something so horrible and heartbreaking.

"The funeral's on Sunday," Steph added as she directed her eyes back towards the bathtub, running a hand over her tired face. "I have to take Amber and Justin there since they're coming to my house for a sleepover tomorrow night, because Rachel has to work all night at the hospital."

"Being a r-ruh-registered nurse must b-be difficult," Bill said with a slight chuckle and this managed to get a real smile out of Steph, one that reached those delightful eyes of hers.

"Yeah, it probably is," Steph replied with a soft giggle, before hope began to fill her eyes as she turned back to face Bill. "But I would really appreciate it if you guys came to the funeral. You know, to remember him for who he was. I mean, I know Ben didn't know him, but he could probably still go."

Bill's head bobbed up and down as he smiled at Steph, a smile filled with care and reassurance. No words needed to be said in that moment, all the girl needed was one look from him and she knew his answer. It helped that she could read his mind and know what he was meaning to say if he had spoken. And it made her smile back at him before looking away with a small blush, unaware that the pink color on her face had caused the boy's stomach to do somersaults in happiness.

"Okay, okay," the girl mumbled, sighing just a little bit. "Can we talk about something else to get my mind off of the stress? Please?"

Bill chuckled a little, his hand dropping from her back as he nodded, not knowing that she missed his touch. "Sh-Sure," he responded, thinking for a little bit before having a thought in his mind. "Um, can I-I tell you something that huh-happened when we first b-b-became friends?" he added with a bright look on his face. "Suh-Something that you might n-n-not remember...?"

Steph smiled as she glanced over at Bill with interest in her eyes, nodding just a tiny bit. "Yeah, sure," she said out of curiosity. "Most of the past is kind of a blur anyway, so go ahead. Tell me."

Bill grinned at her as he looked down for a moment, the lightest blush covering his face as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Wuh-Well, about a m-month after the Losers and I met y-y-y-you, I wanted you to meet my puh-parents. D-Do you remember that?" At her nod, he continued what he was saying. "So, I brought you o-o-over to my house after sc-school one day and they loved you... but I remember Juh-Juh-Georgie standing behind Muh-Mom and going, 'Mommy, is that an angel?' He wuh-was only three y-y-years old...."

The pre-teen girl felt her heart go soft at what he had just said, and those words made her miss Georgie even more, but she did smile at the memory. What Bill had reminded her of now gave her a little bit more of determination to help him find the poor boy that was lost out there, all by himself and very lonely; if she had to die in order to confirm that her best friend's little brother was found alive, then so be it. She didn't really care.

All she wanted was for Bill to be truly happy again. No matter what it took.

She hadn't seen him talk about Georgie in a cheerful way since he had disappeared, and it made her heart flutter when she saw him smiling again, and all she wanted was to hug the boy tightly to her and never let him go. But she didn't dare move towards him out of fear of suddenly making him uncomfortable in her presence. All she did instead was smile over at him fleetingly as she nodded a little bit.

"I actually kind of remember that," she said with a big grin on her face, chortling a little. "I swear, he was the most adorable kid I had ever met. I'm not even lying to you...."

The two chuckled together for a little while before a small bit of silence fell upon them and it was kind of awkward for them, since they didn't know what to say. Steph's hands began to slightly shake and she hid that factor of her actions from Bill, instead smiling and putting her hands on her hips.

"Aren't you glad we don't have to look at that disgusting mess anymore?" she inquired, looking over at him.

The teenage boy turned to her with a twinkle in his gentle eyes, nodding a little bit as he giggled softly. "I-I was surprised th-th-that we were able to c-clean it up to begin with, b-b-b-buh-but yeah, I'm g-glad we don't have to l-luh-look at it again," he replied, and Steph's head bobbed a little bit in response.

"It looks really good, by the way," Steph said, beaming as she nodded to herself. "I'm proud of you guys. You did great."

Bill felt his stomach flip yet another time when he saw that beautiful smile of Steph's adorning her face as he looked at her with a look of nervousness on his own face. "Y-Yeah, I-I think we did good, t-t-too," he replied, secretly fidgeting with his hands. "Th-Thank you."

"It's no problem," Steph said in response, shrugging her shoulders lightly. "Can't help but compliment a friend." She then glanced at Bill, quietly observing the pink tint on his face and the fact that he looked a tiny bit embarrassed, which she found rather cute as she grinned. But then her smile faded to a half-frown after a few seconds, beginning to think about something that the boy next to her obviously didn't know because he couldn't read her mind. "You know, I thought this was going to be a horrible summer, with the Bowers Gang running around, causing mayhem and all," she added. "But this summer is actually going really great because I have you guys around.... Y'all don't make me feel alone."

Bill could feel his heart leap at those words and he grinned at Steph, although a lot more shyly than before. The supportive, strong side of him had vanished, replaced with a timid and vulnerable side, but he also felt a bit of sympathy towards the girl. He had no idea that when he and the others weren't around her, she felt all alone; she pretty much meant that she didn't deserve to be friends with them, and he wanted so badly to tell her the opposite. He wanted to prove that she had every right to tell him that she felt lonely when the Losers weren't around her, and he wanted her to know that she was loved by everyone around her, that she was cared for very deeply.

And, most importantly, he wanted to hold her close and whisper to her that she meant everything to him. But he definitely couldn't do that; he didn't want to ruin what they had between them. He didn't want to poison their friendship with the romantic words that might cause her to run away from him forever.

So, instead, he said something else to her.

"H-Hey," he spoke up.

Steph turned to look at him.

"Y-Y-You're not alone... You'll a-a-always have us. Please d-duh-don't worry, okay? W-We couldn't b-be any more lucky to have y-you as a f-f-friend...." He had said the word 'friend' with the slightest amount of distaste in his mouth, since he really wished that it could be more between him and the beautiful girl named Stephanie.

Wow, way to go, you fucking idiot, he thought to himself. You could not have said that in a much lamer way. Now, she definitely doesn't like you in that way.

But, when Bill looked back up at her, Steph was smiling rather timidly, her face a little red from the sugar sweet blush as she looked down at the floor. Her fingers were intertwined together from her trembling hands, her nerves out of control at that moment; the boy could notice the look of shyness in her eyes and it made him grin from ear to ear again, confidence filling his heart at the idea that the girl appreciated what he had said. At least, he hoped that she did.

After Steph got over that bit of embarrassment and mumbled a "Thank you," she looked over at Bill, an expression of concern in her own eyes. She was curious as to how he had been feeling emotionally lately, so she took a daring move on her part and gently took his hand into hers, her heart beginning to race a little bit against her ribcage. But she remained calm, taking a deep breath and looking right into his eyes. "I haven't gotten to ask you this in quite a while but..." she whispered. "...have you been doing okay recently? I just want to know."

Bill stared at Steph for a long moment, a lot going through his mind as he let out a shaky breath. First of all, his thoughts were going insane at the feeling of her hand encased in his, her fingers brushing against his out of comfort. Oh, my God, she's holding my hand! She's holding my freaking hand! he was frantically thinking to himself. But secondly, he was pondering over whether or not he should tell her the truth or to just lie and tell her that he was perfectly fine. But he didn't want to deceive her and not be truthful with his best friend that pretty much told him everything, especially considering that he knew that he wasn't okay.

He remembered what he had seen in his basement the night before and it made him shudder with fear, but it was barely noticeable. He looked away from Steph as he took a deep breath.

"S-Sort of," he replied truthfully. "I-I don't know a-a-anymore. It's just.... I-I-It's just been d-d-d-difficult. I've buh-been going through so much s-st-stress lately and I d-duh-don't know what to d-do with muh-myself anymore, you know?" His voice was lightly quivering as he sighed gently, looking in the opposite direction now as he felt stupid for what he had said. He shouldn't have even spoken those words aloud, since he didn't want to look internally exposed to the girl that could read him like a book.

Steph's expression of concern transformed into one of sympathy as her lips curled downward and into a frown. She had been wishing that the boy beside her hadn't gone through this unbelievable tragedy and, since she had recently suffered through something eerily similar, she couldn't help but feel empathy for him after putting herself into his shoes in a situation like that. Bill had lost someone very close to him, his own brother, and Steph couldn't even imagine how terrible that must've been; but she herself had just lost the person that was the only father figure in her whole life, and she knew that she wouldn't get him back. She just had to suck it up and move on... but why was it so difficult?

She felt very bad for Bill at that moment, the secret desire of taking his place so he could be the happiest boy in the world seeping into her thoughts. She wished that she could be the one that suffered instead of him, since he was the sweetest boy in the world and he didn't deserve the pain that was brought upon him and his parents. But, then again, his parents didn't even pay attention to him anymore; hell, they practically acted as though he didn't exist at all.

Maybe that's why he always comes to my house and talks to Mom, Steph thought to herself. He needs a true parent figure.

Steph looked out the window for a moment, seeing the rest of the boys already outside and conversing with one another, and she could see how cheerful they were acting. She really hoped that Bill would finally smile openly soon enough, that he could be as happy as their friends were, like he used to be. If she had the ability to drain his sadness completely for him, she would in a heartbeat. Of course, that was not physically possible but she would try her absolute hardest to cheer him up whenever he needed it most.

So, with that thought in mind, not caring that her heart skipped a beat while doing so, she squeezed his hand softly while holding it tightly in hers.

"We'll find him, Bill," she whispered soothingly, looking right at him now. "Don't worry." This time, she wasn't lying to her friend whatsoever, unlike all of the other times that she had reassured him this fact. She was telling the complete and honest truth, not hiding inside of her shell anymore. She gave him a look that told him, "We're in this together, no matter what. No turning back now." Steph even took a deep breath so she could feel a lot more confident about the whole situation that they were now stuck in. She couldn't change anything about it from now on.

Bill stared back at Steph in complete and utter awe, in immense appreciation of how supportive she was towards him. He felt as though he didn't deserve her comfort at all, but he secretly appreciated it, knowing that the words that she had spoken were truthful; and that relieved him. He couldn't stop his heart from leaping once more at her words of solace, and he let out a shaky breath of nervousness. But he bravely stepped forward and hugged the girl tightly, ignoring how much he was blushing and the urge to kiss her right there. He would have time for that someday in the future... hopefully.

"Thank you for being a great friend, Steph," he murmured without stuttering one time.

Steph was surprised that Bill had hugged her so suddenly, since she felt as if she didn't do anything that deserved that. But she hugged him back just as tightly, her face turning just as red as his, if not more. To be honest, she really needed the hug at that moment, since she needed something to ease her soul at the moment, especially after all of the emotional and physical exhaustion that had affected her over the past twenty-four hours. So, she held him tightly as she smiled just a bit, feeling a little better than she felt earlier that morning. "It's no problem," she replied in a gentle tone, resting her forehead on his shoulder as she felt butterflies in her stomach.

The two stayed in that embrace for a lot longer than they would have thought, since they wouldn't be hugging for this long in the first place. But something about the empathy they shared for one another kept them close to one another, feeling as though each one needed the other with them at that moment. They didn't want the hug to end or to be ruined by something else happening. They just wanted to stay there forever in the comfort of each other's arms.

But a few soft knocks on the bathroom door interrupted Steph and Bill's moment.

The two reluctantly separated from the hug and turned to see Beverly looking at the both of them with suspicion in her eyes. "Am I intruding on something here?" she asked them in a cautious manner.

Steph simply shook her head slightly, feeling a little nervous to be truthful towards the redhead. "No, you're not," she lied. "We were just talking."

Beverly narrowed her eyes ever so lightly, tried her best to hide a knowing smile. But she nodded her head regardless before shrugging her shoulders. "Anyway, we're about to head out, so you two may wanna tag along," she mumbled.

Steph nodded a little, watching as Bill walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. Once he was out of her line of vision, she glanced over at her redheaded best friend, only to see a tiny smirk on the girl's freckled face. Her expression became one of confusion as she tilted her head a little bit. "What?" she asked innocently, giggling faintly.

"I'm onto you two, Steph," she said teasingly, her smirk growing into a huge grin.

"Oh, shut the hell up," the blonde responded as she blushed furiously, ducking her head down out of shyness.

"Hey, it's okay," Beverly whispered in reply, chuckling softly as she placed her hands on her hips. "But just be lucky that I'm a good friend that keeps secrets.... If not, you two would've been sold out a while ago."

Steph raised her head and glared at the redhead, her face even more crimson from embarrassment. "You wouldn't!" she playfully scolded her best friend.

"Oh, I would!" Beverly taunted jokingly. "But I know you'd hate me forever if I did, so I won't."

"You better not!" Steph replied, giggling a lot now. "Hey, just wait for me outside for a minute, though. I need to wash my hands and face a little bit."

After she saw Beverly nod a little and exit the room, Steph then turned to face the mirror attached to the wall. Taking a deep breath, she turned on the faucet of the sink and washed her hands thoroughly before splashing some water onto her face. After drying her face off, she looked into the mirror, sighing just a little bit with stress. Memories of the night before came back in flashes, which made her squeeze her eyes shut for a moment, shivering a little bit with fear. She ran her hands through her hair as she recalled a voice that she had heard in her head as she was falling asleep in the safety in her bed, long after coming home from the O'Connor residence.

You'll die if you try to fight me, it had told her, which had made her eyes widen in the darkness of her bedroom.

A stinging pain in her arm brought her out of her thoughts once more, and she winced with slight agony. She looked down towards the source of where it was hurting, and her eyes became the size of saucers from what she saw.

(we all float down here)

A gigantic bruise in the shape of a handprint was resting on her forearm right below her wrist, and seeing that made her heart sink to the bottom of her stomach. The bruise was now a violet shade of color, and Steph didn't know how she possibly wasn't able to see it last night. It was unlikely that she wouldn't notice it, but that was maybe because it hadn't been there until just now. It almost felt as though the handprint from where the clown had grabbed her in her bedroom was burned into her skin, since it stung really badly whenever her fingers brushed against it. It felt as though she had scalded it on a scorching hot stove.

(we all float)

Steph kept thinking about the words that the gravelly voice had echoed in her mind the previous night and she tried to shake her head to get rid of them, but she was unable to. She tried to use her shine but to no avail.... It just wouldn't freaking work today for some reason, and she was incredibly frustrated.

(and when you're down here with me, you'll float, too)

"SHUT UP!" Steph screamed at the top of her lungs, tugging at her hair to the point that she was close to ripping it out of her skull. She was so relieved that nobody else was in the apartment with her, or there would've been some explaining to do.

But the voice was finally gone, much to her delight, and she finally relaxed.

After splashing her face with water one last time, Steph exited the apartment.

_____

Steph pulled her bike down the barren Elm Street as Cherokee trotted alongside her, wiping perspiration from her forehead with her free hand as she stared down the road and into the distance. She had lost all acknowledgement of her six friends surrounding her, either pushing their bicycles forward while walking or biking around her in circles like Richie was doing. She was trying her best to stay in the best mood she could possibly muster up, sighing a little bit to herself out of frustration because of the blabbering that Richie was letting out.

After the girl had finally followed the others outside, Eddie had begged her to let him put hand sanitizer on her hands, and she allowed him to despite giggling at his frantic behavior and mentioning that she had already washed her hands. Soon after that, she put an arm around the shorter boy's shoulders and started joking around with him and Richie to the point that every member of the group was laughing hysterically. Little did she know that Eddie Kaspbrak felt extremely grateful for her presence each time she hung out with all of them. She truly felt like the real mother figure that he needed in his life, because she treated him with such care that a great mother would have.

But he, of course, would never want to tell her that, since he was too embarrassed to.

And now, although his best friend had actually made him laugh minutes before, both Eddie and Steph were getting quite annoyed with Richie's bantering. They both noticed that the bespectacled boy seemed quite cheerful, almost as if he hadn't helped the others clean up a bathroom covered with blood. Well, that was true; he never did that. He had just stayed outside with Steph's golden retriever until they were done and, when they all left, he went right back to his usual joking self.

But the problem was that the rest of the Losers had to endure Richie's trash mouth.

"No, I love being your personal doorman, really!" he stated sarcastically, while Steph tried her best to just ignore him for once. "Could you idiots have taken any longer?!"

"Shut up, Richie!" Eddie shouted back at him in an angry tone.

"Yeah, shut up, Richie," added Stan in an annoyed voice, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, okay, trash the trashmouth, I get it!" Richie retorted sourly. "Hey, I wasn't the one scrubbing the bathroom floor imagining that her sink went all Eddie's mom's vagina on Halloween!"

"Beep beep, Richie," Steph sighed as she glared at the boy with the coke-bottle glasses framing his face and, fortunately for her, he finally shut up for a moment.

"She didn't imagine it."

The familiar voice speaking up made Steph slow her walking pace to turn to look at the boy who had said those words. She stared at him incredulously, almost not believing the sentence that Bill had spoken aloud but she somehow still trusted him with her gut. She tilted her head as her eyes widened with curiosity, her hands lightly trembling as they gripped the handlebars of her bike firmly. "What do you mean?" she mumbled as quietly as she could possibly muster.

"I s-s-saw something, too," Bill answered her in a voice that was shaking badly. Steph noticed the hesitance with how he had said this much quieter than he normally would have spoken. All she wanted was to step forward and hug him again, but something held her back from doing that; she didn't know if it was either fear or uncertainty but something in her mind told her that comforting him probably wasn't the best idea. All she needed to do was to let him continue what he was saying.

"You saw blood, too?" Stan mumbled, his voice cracking with terror because he didn't even realize that his best friend had seen something as well. He remembered the lady in the painting from where he had been at the synagogue two days prior and a chill went down his spine.

Bill paused a little bit as he looked towards Stan and shook his head lightly, taking a breath after struggling to say what he had said mere seconds ago. "Not blood," he whispered out of distress. He then lowered his gaze a little, trying to hide his anxiety from everyone else, but Steph could see right through him and he knew that. So he looked at her and her only, which made them lock eyes for a moment. And then the boy took a deep breath, getting ready for the bomb that he was about to drop on the other members of the group.

"I saw... G-G-Georgie...." he finally murmured under his breath.

Steph already knew that Bill would say that, since she had heard those words in her head right before, but that didn't suppress the shock that was planted on her face. She didn't tear up like she was expecting, but rather looked down completely, trying to register the words that her friend had just said out loud. After a long time, she glanced back up at him with incredulity on her face. "Are you serious?" she mouthed to him, and he nodded.

"It seemed so real," he continued nervously, his voice quivering with unease as his hands tapped his bicycle handlebars repeatedly. "I mean... it seemed like him but there was this..." He then stopped speaking, not even knowing how to describe what he had seen in his basement the night before. Steph kind of had an idea of what he wanted to say but she couldn't bring herself to say it for him.

"Clown..." Eddie finished for Bill, making Steph's head snap in his direction out of surprise. The smaller boy had spoken up very quietly and meekly, and he was refusing to look at anyone else out of fright. He sighed a little bit once he realized that all eyes were on him now, before nodding a little bit, his hands gripping the handles of his own bike tightly. "Yeah, I saw him, too."

Steph closed her eyes for a moment as she turned her head away from everyone else, covering her arm with her free hand. But she knew that she would have to say something sooner or later, so she finally said something after what seemed like ages of time. "Me too..." she mumbled, and everyone was looking at her now, which made her anxiety skyrocket. "He was in my house... You guys probably just saw him, though. Not me.... He attacked me, like, physically. It was like he was trying to kill me or something. And... he, um... he left something on my arm."

After putting the kickstand of her bicycle down onto the ground, she steadily uncovered the magenta, handprint-shaped bruise on her arm and showed it to everyone. When she heard everyone audibly gasp in horror, she winced a little and immediately lowered her arm to put it out of sight. But Eddie was by her side in seconds, grabbing her arm and examining the mark. "What the hell happened, Steph?" he asked her faintly, looking right at her with panic in his brown eyes.

The blonde girl shrugged as she pulled her arm out of his hands, looking down. "I didn't even know it was there until after... after we cleaned the bathroom," she admitted timidly. "Like, I didn't even see it, it wasn't there until I looked. And then it was suddenly there. I know it's insane, but I'm serious."

"A-A-Are you okay, Steph?"

She looked over at Bill, who had a look of pure concern in his eyes, since he didn't know this had happened to the girl. His mouth had dropped open in trepidation when he saw what was on Steph's arm, since he hadn't seen anything like it in his life, since he had never believed in the supernatural... well, that was until he had seen the clown holding a puppet that eerily looked like Georgie in his own flooded basement. It was all too real to him now, but the fact that his own best friend and crush had been attacked on the same night and had almost been killed (according to her, anyway) made anger surge through him because she had been hurt. He had never wanted that to happen to her but he had to tell himself that it wasn't his fault that it happened and it wasn't hers either. He didn't want to blame himself for not being there with her, since he knew that Steph would protest against his guilt.

But Steph nodded after a very long moment, taking a breath that she didn't know that she had been holding in as she locked eyes with the boy. "Yeah, I'm okay," she replied, being honest with him. "It still hurts a little, but I'm okay. Let's just be lucky that it wasn't worse than this."

That was when Bill scanned the expressions of everyone else in the group and he easily noticed the terrified and dreaded appearances of their faces. He didn't even need to ask them any questions, already knowing what the impressions in their eyes told him: they had seen the clown as well at some point or another recently. He was, at least, glad that he wasn't alone in all of this even though he hated the fact that his friends all seemed to be scared of whatever they saw over the course of several days. At least he was crazy.

None of them were.

"Wait, can only virgins see this stuff?" Richie commented in a skeptical manner, looking around at all of the others. Steph rolled her eyes at the remark, but nobody noticed. "Is that why I'm not seeing this shit?!"

Steph wanted to yell at Richie, but she knew she couldn't since what he had said meant that he hadn't seen anything strange, unlike they had. Although she was curious as to why nothing had happened to him since the summer began, she decided to be calm and cool about it, but she couldn't help but open her mouth to speak. "Oh, come on, Richie," she deadpanned with a chuckle. "You're probably the most obvious virgin of us all, so you shouldn't be the one talking."

"Solid burn, Steph," Richie retorted bluntly, shaking his head in disbelief.

Steph giggled a little before moving a little, about to get onto her bicycle before glancing at Beverly. She saw that the redhead was still looking at her arm with apprehension, silently wanting to know if there was any way she could help her closest friend. She felt that she was stupid for not knowing how to help, but the blonde gave her a look of commiseration, smiling over at her. "I really am okay," she mouthed to her, and Beverly nodded, beaming with relief.

"Oh shit, that's Belch Huggins's car!"

The blonde girl perked up almost instantly, glancing in all directions, wondering if what Richie had said was actually true. But her midnight blue eyes eventually landed on the same blue car that infamously belonged to the Bowers Gang, and she noticed that it had been parked thirty feet away from the group this whole time. She was suddenly relieved when she saw that nobody was in the car, because if she and the others were seen, they were dead meat. However, she was pretty confused as to why the car was parked at the very edge of the woods, and that's when she noticed the abandoned bike laying discarded a few feet away from the vehicle.

"We should probably get outta here," Eddie added in a shaky voice and Steph hesitantly nodded in agreement, hopping on her bicycle. She had a bad feeling about leaving regardless, and she was very lucky when she heard Bill say something that pretty much answered her silent questions.

"Wait, isn't that the huh-homeschooled kid's bike?" he questioned, pointing at the bike that Steph had seen moments earlier.

The blonde then focused her attention back on the object just as Eddie confirmed who it belonged to, and her heartbeat kicked into overdrive out of trepidation, since she knew that somebody was in danger. Sure, she didn't know Mike Hanlon very well, but she had run into him a few times throughout her life; she knew that he lived on a farm just outside of Derry and he would often come into town to deliver meat to the stores that needed to sell them to the citizens of the town. She also knew that he was often targeted by bullies for the color of his skin, especially Bowers and his crew; one day, while they were talking outside one of the stores he had delivered meat to, Steph had assured him that she didn't see him any differently because of his race.

Unbeknownst to Steph, Jamie had raised her to treat all people equally, no matter what their race, gender, or sexuality was. She had learned that the hard way from her own mother when she had not done the same thing during her college years, and the same with Sue when it came to the whole Carrie White incident; and she was now determined to have her daughter be the opposite of how she had been, to at least have her be a good person. She didn't want her going down the same pathway she had.

But, to Steph, everyone in the world had already been equal to her because she was a kind person out of nature, not nurture. All she knew how to do was give so she just kept on giving and giving her goodwill to others, not wanting to receive anything in return. She just wanted to provide good in the world to anyone that really deserved it, and she knew that the most good-natured people really needed that in their lives; she counted her friends as absolutely being in that category for her.

"We have to help him," Beverly said a few seconds after Eddie had made it official that the bike belonged to Mike.

"We should?" inquired Richie, making Steph scoff at him as she quickly got off of her bike.

"What do you think, idiot?!" she retaliated, dropping her bicycle to the ground without giving a crap. "Yes!" she added at the same time Beverly said it.

Steph then began to sprint towards where the car was, going deeper into the woods with Beverly as she heard the sound of angry yelling and grunts of agony growing closer and closer by the second. She tripped a little when her foot found a small hole in the ground that she had failed to see but she regained her balance quickly before she could have the chance to fall and kept going. Her arms swatted at leaves and tree branches that were in her way, that way she could get a better look at what was going on when she saw a horrific sight.

The Bowers Gang were surrounding a boy around her age on the other side of the small river in front of her, pressing his face into piles of raw meat as he growled in pain. The sounds of the boy screaming at Mike, forcing him to eat the disgusting, non-edible meal made Steph feel sick to her stomach. But she couldn't move. Instead, she found herself frozen in place, not able to do anything just yet. She could distinctly sense Cherokee walking up beside her and barking aggressively, so she quickly made sure that the dog was hidden behind some bushes, not wanting the psychos to hurt her pet.

She was reminded of a time just less than a year ago when she had been cornered in a hallway of the middle school right before Science class. The Bowers Gang had caught up to her after she had tried to avoid them and had dragged her away from the classroom door right before she could make it inside. She had tried yelling for help, but Bowers had covered her mouth as the boys dragged her outside of the school to torment and bully her even more than she could ever imagine.

God, she was glad that she couldn't see Patrick Hockstetter amongst the group. In fact, she was hysterically grateful that she knew that he was missing because she never wanted to run into him after what he did to her that day. She could still remember being pinned to the ground as Henry, Victor, and Belch beat the ever-loving shit out of her, all while she felt unwonted hands where they shouldn't be. She vividly recalled screaming uncontrollably, fearing that the same thing that had happened to her mother in college was going to happen to her as well. But then Beverly found her and saw what Hockstetter was about to do to her, and let's just say that she was not happy.

And neither was Bill, come to think of it.

Every other day, Steph's mind would harken back to that day and she could think of Bill's reaction to what Beverly had said to him, informing him of what had happened to his own best friend. He had come very close to losing his sanity when he beat the life out of Hockstetter and Steph had to physically stop him from killing the guy, although she felt as though the older boy really did deserve it. She personally wouldn't have minded if Bill had killed him, but she didn't want him to go to jail for someone who wasn't worth it.

Steph was suddenly brought back to reality when she saw Mike get a foot in the face after being momentarily distracted by something the girl couldn't even see. But one thing observed right away was the fact that Mike seemed to look scared by what little bit she saw of his facial expression. She wasn't sure why just yet, but she kind of had a guess as to what had frightened him so much to give him the sudden burst of energy to try and escape his attackers. But that adrenaline was short-lived.

The blonde girl began to panic when she saw Bowers pinning Mike to the ground and raising a large rock over his head. When she realized that he was preparing to cave the poor boy's skull in with it, she nearly screamed in horror but she focused on trying to figure out a way to stop him before it was too late.

But, when she saw Henry reeling back and thudding against the ground from a sudden rock slamming into his forehead, her eyes scrunched up in confusion. She knew that somebody else had thrown it and it seemed to have come from her side of the river, so she turned to her left and saw a certain redhead lowering her arm, a look of fury in her bright eyes. Steph's jaw dropped in shock that her own surrogate sister even had the guts to do what she had just done, and she couldn't help but stare at her out of admiration.

"You did not just do that," she mumbled out of amazement.

"You shouldn't be surprised that I did do that," Beverly retorted playfully with a smile.

"Yeah, you've got a point," Steph replied with a soft giggle.

Steph then heard the frantic footsteps of the other Losers from right behind her, but she wasn't focused on that, instead seeing Mike trying to cross the river to get to them and be safe. She stopped everything she was doing and instantly reached her hand out to him, which he took and pulled himself over to where she was. She helped him up and guided him over to where the bushes could conceal him from sight. "You're okay, Mike," she whispered to him out of comfort. "Everything's gonna be alright. I won't let them hurt you again, you hear me?"

Once she was answered with an exhausted nod, Steph slowly turned her head around to face the Bowers Gang, the leader of the group getting up after the painful blow that he had received to the head. She saw a tiny gash in the skin from where the rock had made a direct hit, and she couldn't help but smirk to herself out of satisfaction. She stood on her feet after grabbing some rocks, ready to fight, stepping in front of her friend group to keep them shielded from their enemies. She would rather take damage for them instead of seeing any one of her friends get hurt.

"You losers are trying too hard," Bowers said, which made Steph glare at him, although she felt uncomfortable because of the expression in his dark and malicious eyes. "She'll do you," he added, obviously referring to Beverly, and the blonde beside said girl gritted her teeth in pure rage. But she turned her head away out of revulsion after seeing Henry grabbing his crotch in a sexual manner while saying, "You just gotta ask nicely, like I did."

"Okay, Bowers, enough!" Steph shouted angrily, sighing exasperatedly. "We've all had enough of you going after us for literally nothing, and we have never even done anything to you! You're only going after Mike because your scumbag of a father is racist and hates people who look different than him!"

"You do not talk about my father like that!" Henry snarled at her in outrage, not even expecting her to say something like that. But she had, and that made him want to literally be rid of her for good.

"Oh, I am, though!" Steph replied with a nasty smile on her face. "What's wrong, Bowers? Are you mad? Do you need me to come over there and knock some sense into you with these rocks?! Because you kind of deserve it after what you did to Mike, you fucking dickhead!"

"Shut up, Palmer!" Bowers screamed, his fists shaking with fury now as he took a step closer. "You're the most brainless bitch I've ever come across, and you don't even fucking realize that! You know what? It was a good thing your father died, that way he wouldn't have to deal with a worthless brat like you!"

Steph's heart sank into her stomach as her eyes filled with tears of hurt and surprise; she couldn't believe that he had just said that to her. Her hands began to tremble with pure rage as she started seething at him, gripping a single rock into the palm of her hand as her fingers enclosed around it tightly. Her eyes bored into his soul with utter hatred and loathing, the usual beautiful color in them disintegrating to a much darker shade that nobody would ever recognize. At least, that was how it was to her.

Had she been younger, Steph probably would have burst into tears and cried like a small child or just run away while sobbing. But now, while she did feel the salty substance stinging her eyes, she was filled with the most terrifying kind of rage anyone could have ever imagined. All she could see was red as she scowled at Henry Bowers, no longer afraid, but really fucking pissed at him.

"You unimaginable bastard," she said in a low voice, quivering from head to toe with anger.

It was all chaos from there.

After both Ben and Bill had hurled rocks towards Henry out of anger for insulting both of the girls that they were close with, and the bully had let out an exclaim of shock while stumbling backwards toward Victor, Steph took a rock of her own and flung it towards Belch. It hit him square in the stomach, making him grunt from the aching that it had caused immediately and he had tumbled to the ground for a moment before getting back up.

That was when everyone had started gathering rocks to fight with, including the bullies.

"Come on, get 'em!" Bowers furiously barked to Victor and Belch, picking up some rather large ones. "Fuck!"

Steph picked up three rocks and threw them all towards the other group on the opposite side of the river, howling with rage and fearlessness. She was completely done with their bullshit after so many years of her and her friends being tortured to the point that they had lost all hope; she herself had been one of the very first kids of Derry that the Bowers Gang began to target on a regular basis, almost daily. She would often come home with a bruise on her face or arms and Jamie had tried to get the gang locked up multiple times but Henry's father (who was a police officer himself) wasn't having any of it, not believing her stories.

Steph had been scared of Bowers and his cronies for longer than she had ever wanted but, today, she was finished. She didn't feel any more fear towards them and she didn't need anyone to protect her from their danger anymore; she was finally teaching them the lesson that they deserved to learn, even if she herself would get physically hurt in the process. She didn't really care, though.

"ROCK WAR!!!" Richie screeched at the top of his lungs but he was cut short when a stone made a direct target at his forehead. He instantly fell to the ground, groaning in pain as he clutched the area above his eyes.

Steph saw this and literally screamed with anger, taking a few steps forward and tossing rocks in the gang's direction. She saw Eddie jumping into the river out of the corner of her eye, letting out cries of frustration as he threw even more stones than she could have imagined, his face contorted with fury. She stepped beside him and began to help him out, cackling with amusement whenever each rock hit one of the gang members; she was so grateful that they were starting to back away from them out of fear.

"Yeah, run away, you little babies!" she shouted towards them, still laughing hysterically. But her eyes then widened when she saw Bowers directing a rock right towards her shoulder, and it made contact with her collarbone. She let out a small cry of agony as she hit the ground, putting her hand over the spot that was throbbing with immense pain.

"That'll teach you, you stupid bitch!" Bowers yelled towards her.

Bill saw what had happened and looked towards Bowers with bitterness in his usually soft eyes, and he sprinted forward, hurling rocks more forcefully than anyone else. "YOU. DO. NOT. HURT. STEPH!" he bellowed without stuttering one time, his hands clenched into fists as he just barely held himself back from tackling Henry to the pebbled ground and beating him to a bloody pulp. He knew Steph wouldn't approve so he had to restrain himself from doing what he had desired to the most. He just kept throwing rocks until he saw Victor and Belch begin to take off running into the woods, all while Steph watched him the whole time, admiring him, although he didn't know this.

After about five minutes, the apocalyptic rock fight was finally over.

Bowers had been put to the ground by the many, many rocks that had pummeled into him, and he was left in a dazed and confused state. He just looked around at the group, giving up for good. At least, for now. He couldn't believe that they had had the courage to fight back against him, since he thought himself to be stronger than all of them combined; to be proven wrong completely baffled him in the worst way, and he didn't like it one bit. He liked to prove that he was stronger than he actually was, and he wanted those losers to fear him to the point that they were driven away from Derry once and for all.

He targeted Steph specifically because she was the most frustrating one and she was the smart one; sure, he always called her stupid, but he knew of her ability to think outside of the box. And, while the tiniest part of him wished that he could be like her, most of him hated that because he knew that she was more intelligent than he was. That was why she always tried standing up to him: she knew that he was too stupid to even try to do anything to hurt her anymore. But that didn't mean that he stopped trying, he had tried many times but kept failing. That was because it was always like Steph had some sort of sixth sense whenever he tried to sneak behind her to bully her. She always knew he was there, seemingly out of instinct, although he didn't know that it was much more than that.

But he knew that, one day, that wouldn't be happening. He would get to her when she least expected it, and she wouldn't be able to stop him; she would finally be gone once he had his way with her, since he just wanted her to be rid of for good.

Once Steph had come back to her senses, she slowly stood up, a hand still over her collarbone from where the rock had hit her. She hissed with slight pain when she put pressure on the spot, but she was relieved that it didn't hurt as bad as she thought it might have. She relaxed a little bit for only a moment but her sympathy from a mere hour ago returned tenfold when Bill rushed over to her with worry in his eyes, putting both hands on either side of her face.

"Are y-yuh-you okay?!" he asked frantically, his hands trembling as he tried his best to hold himself back from stuttering too much, but it was difficult. "He h-h-h-huh-hurt you... H-He hurt you and I-I-I couldn't even duh-do anything! I-I-I-I'm so sorry...!" He attempted to hold back tears but failed after one managed to fall down his face, and he looked down out of guilt, sighing a little bit.

"No, no, no!" Steph exclaimed, looking at Bill as she gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm okay, Bill, don't worry. You don't have to worry about me, I promise. It doesn't even hurt that much. See?" She pulled back a part of her shirt to reveal her collarbone and Bill was surprised to only see a scratch there; no bruise or blood, just a minor scrape and nothing else. She patted her best friend on the back to comfort him even further, giggling a little. "Don't worry about me so much, okay?"

Bill nodded lightly, sniffing as he wiped his tears away, taking a deep breath. "O-Okay," he stammered. "Sorry..."

Steph shook her head as she grinned at Bill, rubbing his back soothingly. "It's okay," she murmured to him, blushing ever so slightly as she took a step back from him; had she not done that, she probably would have kissed him but she was way too scared to. After moving away from him, she shyly rubbed her arm out of awkwardness, smiling faintly.

"GO BLOW YOUR DAD, YOU MULLET-WEARING ASSHOLE!" Richie screamed before holding his hands up, intentionally putting his middle fingers up for Bowers to see from a distance. Steph couldn't help but giggle as she began to walk out of the area by the river, following Eddie, Beverly, and Mike away from the others; she called Cherokee over to her, to which he was by her side immediately, making sure to not take off into the distance and leave her. She could notice Bill following behind her, which made her grin as she started appreciating the cool breeze of the summer air on her face.

After a little while, as Steph heard a train passing by far behind her and the other Losers, her hands brushed against the weeds as she trucked down a small hill with her friends, a permanent smile on her face for the time being. At this point, she was the one following Bill as he walked behind Eddie, who was surprisingly the leader of the line of kids while going to the Barrens to hang out. She could tell that Bill was still a little upset over the fact that she had gotten hurt but the fact that he felt a little more cheerful made her feel better about the whole situation.

And, for that, she was consoled by this.

"Thanks, guys, but you shouldn't have done that," Mike said suddenly, a bit of concern laced in his voice. "They'll be after you guys now."

Steph could briefly glimpse the sight of Eddie turning around to look at Mike with a nonchalant smile on his bright face. "Oh, no, no, no -- Bowers? He's always after us," he casually replied before looking back ahead, trying his best not to trip on anything.

"I guess that's one th-th-thing we all have in common," Bill added, a friendly beam on his face as he also turned to Mike.

"Yeah, homeschool! Welcome to the Losers Club!" Richie proclaimed with a small chuckle, and Steph felt a sense of pride travel through her heart. She had the feeling that their group was now completely whole for good, that eight was a great number for the club that they had created themselves. For that, she was immensely happy with the result of all of this, and glad that the rock fight had actually taken place.

Unbeknownst to her, had it not been for the fact that she and her friends had saved Mike, all eight of them probably would not have survived the rest of the summer alive....

A/N: that was a lot lmao! WHO CARES🤣

i hope you like the scene edit i made! ignore that beverly is in the first photo! shhhhhh!🤫

ANYWAYS, thoughts on this chapter? did you like it, even though it was long as fuck?

what do you think of the mystery behind daniel's death? is it interesting? what do you think really happened?

did you like the scene between steph and bill in the bathroom? they're absolutely precious and adorable! and they're not just cute for the sake of it, they actually care about each other!🥺👉🏻👈🏻

also, the handprint on steph's arm? was that surprising? it's actually a reference to this image of one of my all-time favorite horror remakes, The Ring:

basically, pennywise has went full on sadako/samara on steph🤣🤣

what did you think of the rock fight? was it accurate to the film?

did you love how bill became protective over steph? it was precious!🥹

also, prepare to hate henry EVEN MORE later on in this book! 🙄😀

predictions for the next chapter?

be looking forward to the next chapter!

-denbroughswife