OPHIDIOPHOBIA - IT

ONE

Alexa was walking to her locker on the last day of school to clean it out and retrieve her forgotten items. Thankfully on the way she didn't bump into Greta Bowie or Henry Bowers, she was too drained to deal with their torment and just wanted to go home.

Unfortunately, she didn't have that same luck leaving the school.

Seeing the stairs to the first floor gave her hope to avoid the two bullies and get home scott-free. But God had other plans for her, almost walking out of the school, she felt something pull on her backpack and found herself being pinned to a wall.

"Well, Well, Well," The voice said, Alexa was too scared to even look up at the person but still understood who had slammed her against the wall.

Henry Bowers.

With Henry was his little posse that filled him around, they never really did anything to Alexa but she saw how violent they could get. While pinning her, his friends were leaning against the wall, glaring at anyone who even looked in their direction.

To Alexa, his voice was intimidating and almost scary, she couldn't look at him. Not liking that, Henry grabbed Alexa's chin and forced her to look up at him. Alexa slightly winced at the action as he was holding her chin quite hard and she unfortunately didn't have a high pain tolerance.

Henry chuckled at this and sighed, whispering, "Y'know, I think I'll miss messing with you"

He continued to play with her curly hair and slightly pull and tug at it, Alexa responding in more winces. "Just leave me alone Henry" Alexa muttered, praying he got bored soon.

He smirked, before he could respond though, his blond friend Victor hit his shoulder. Henry growled and looked at him, silently asking what. Victor jerked his head behind Henry, signaling to look behind him. Henry stood upright and glanced behind him, where 4 boys were. Alexa saw him smirk push off the wall and glare at the boys.

She took her chance to slip away and successfully left almost tripping on her feet. She bumped into someone while adjusting her glasses and the books in her hand. Internally dying on the inside, she lifts her head and makes eye contact with one of the cutest guys she's ever seen.

It was Bill Denbrough.

She's liked him ever since the 6th grade when he picked her books up when he bumped into her. Ever since that interaction, all she thinks about is how better it could have gone and if they could have been friends. Thankfully she didn't drop anything and just pushed him slightly. "Oh!, I'm sorry!" Alexa stuttered out, trying to be as least embarrassing as possible.

Bill widened his eyes and stuttered, "O-Oh, i-it's okay" He let out a small smile and turned around to catch up with his friends. Alexa then let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in and continued her journey to leave the school.

Finally, she felt the hot sun touch her tan skin and let out a content sigh. She found the trashcans outside of the school and dumped the contents in the backpack.

After dumping everything out, she began walking to the bike stand to grab her navy blue bike. Walking in the direction of the stand, she saw Betty Ripson's mom.

She felt bad for the mother, her only daughter had been missing for the past few weeks. Before she could make it to the street, she once again felt her bag being pulled. Grunting, she fell to the ground, seeing Henry Bowers tower over her. Alexa rolled her eyes, sick of Henry, "What do you want now?" she questioned.

Henry chuckled darkly and picked her up and gripped both her arms tightly so she couldn't escape. "You know, you'd be much prettier if you weren't a colored freak," he said his voice almost at a whisper. Alexa gasped loudly at that, she finally built up the courage to do something brave and spit in his face.