Stay With Me || A Henry Bowers Story

t h r e e

Ava POV

(The next day)

I woke up on the bench outside of the pharmacy, with the sunlight blinding the hell out of me.

I yelp and fall off the bench.

Standing up, I grab my backpack and take out a hairbrush.

After running it through my hair a couple times, I place it back in my bag and zip it up.

Today was Monday. Which meant school. Damn.

I walked up to a woman who was peering through the window of the pharmacy looking at walkers and canes.

"Excuse me, ma'am, do you know the time?" I ask her.

She looks down at her watch. "It's 10:36, dear,"

School starts at 8:30. Shit.

I thanked her and started jogging towards the school.

I arrive at the sidewalk in about five minutes, I hurry up the steps and tug open the door.

I should be in math right about now so I climb the stairs and speed walk down the hallway until I get to the door.

I exhale before entering the classroom and as soon as I open the door the teacher starts giving me a lecture.

"Young lady, might I have you know that you should've been here two hours ago!"

I roll my eyes at her and walk to a seat at the back of the classroom.

"You waltzing into class in the middle of a lesson is so disruptive and-"

"Yeah, yeah I know," I interrupted her. "I'm so disrespectful, you tell me every day,"

She sighs and goes back to teaching.

I would pay attention but there was no point. I knew I was going to fail my exams.

I lean back in my chair and gaze out the window.

I stare out at the town of Derry for a few minutes before I feel eyes on the back of my head.

I turn and see Henry sitting in the desk across from mine next to Victor Criss.

He quickly looks away. I don't care enough to think about it so I just put my head down on my desk until the bell rang.

I lag behind a bit so I don't get swarmed in the hallways, and then I exit the classroom.

It's lunchtime now so I head to the cafeteria in search of Stanley and some food.

I found Stanley sitting with the rest of his friends at a table in the far corner of the large room.

I had a bit of change left so I bought an apple and trudged towards the Losers club.

I sit down between Stanley and Richie. "Hey guys,"

"Hey hot stuff," Richie coos and wraps his arm around me.

I shove his arm off and lean my head on Stans shoulder.

"Rough night?" He asks.

I nod and stand up, apple in hand.

I was almost out of the cafeteria when I saw a freshman sitting alone in the corner, with no food and looking quite hungry.

I walked up to him until about three feet divided us. "Hey," I get his attention.

I toss him my apple and he catches it.

"T-thank you so much!" He cries.

"Forget about it," I smile at him and leave.