Cherry Bomb- R. Tozier

Chapter 6

We swam in the Quarry for about an hour longer before all deciding to get out. I searched for the turtle the whole time, and I caught it but Eddie made me let it go.

Bev and I were laying out on our towels sunbathing and listening to music when she turns over to face me and whispers, "They're staring."

"At what? Is it another turtle?" I ask her going to stand and look at the turtle with them before she grabs my arm and tells me to glance over at the boys.

I do, and as I look over at them I have to stop myself from smirking. Eddie, Stan and Richie were all staring at me, openly. And Bill and Ben were gawking at Bev. 

Bev and I then turn to look at each other and begin to giggle, leaning against one another.

"News flash Ben, schools out for summa!" Richie says in an announcer voice, turning to dig though Ben bag. 

"Oh that? Thats not school stuff." Ben says looking down at his bag and watching as Richie just looks through all of it, not even trying to stop him. 

"Who sent you this?" Richie asks pulling out a post card. 

"No one." Ben says quickly, snatching it out of Richies hand and shoving it back in the backpack. I stand up and walk over to stand behind Richie so I can read it too, laying my head on his shoulder happily. 

Richie and I share a skeptical look before his attention diverts again to the bag, pulling out a blue folder and glancing at all of the stuff in it. 

"Whats with the history project?" He asks turning the folder to get a better look at something inside it.

"Oh... Well, when I first moved here I didn't really have anyone to hangout with, so I just started spending time in the library." Ben says as Richie hands the file over to Bill. 

"You went to the library? On purpose?" Richie asks him confused.

"You probably don't even know where the library is, Rich." I snort out amused before he flicks me in the head, but a small smile still adorning his face letting me know he wasn't mad. 

"Oh, I wanna see." Bev says standing and walking over to Bill, who was holding the file of information. 

"Whats the black spot?" Stan asks looking at one of the papers.

"The black spot was a night club that was burned down years ago by that racist cult." Ben answers casually, just knowing all of this information by heart now. 

"The what?" Stan asks confused on what they mean.

"Don't you watch Geraldo?" I hear Eddie ask before Richie taps on my hand to get my attention. 

I casually shift my head that was still on his shoulder to look at him, the same time he looks at me and our faces are inches apart. 

"Damn baby, if your eyes were the ocean I would gladly drown in them." He tells me flirtatiously with a smirk on his face.

Out of the sheer randomness of what just happened, I cant help but burst out laughing, earring a few confused looks from our friends before they all shrug it off. 

After I calmed down from my laughing fit Richie looked over to Bill before holding a hand out and saying, "Here pass it." and receiving the file.

"Why is it all murders and missing kids?" Richie asks looking through it. When he says the word murders I can feel a shiver go down my spine unwittingly. 

"Derrys not like any town I've ever been in before." Ben tells the group cryptically. "They did a study once, and it turns out, people die or disappear six times the national average."