cue: confusion [IT FANFICTION]

i'm proud to be the cold open!

So.

I have some news.

You know what? I'm actually not going to prolong this. Let me recount what happened.

I was walking through the hallway after school got out like the civil, responsible student I am. I hadn't seen Richie and Eddie in the hallway, but I saw Bev up ahead and caught up with her, tapping her on the shoulder. She seemed to be rushing, but nevertheless turned her head and greeted me, still retaining her speed. "Hey."

"W-Where are you g-g-going?" I said, quickly matching her pace.

"Didn't you hear? Callback list is out." She told me, the excitement clear in her voice. "Richie and Eddie ran ahead, so I don't know if the list will be intact by the time we reach it, but it's worth trying."

She grabbed my wrist, practically dragging me through the hall as I stumbled to keep up. I heard some snickers as we rushed by, as dating rumors tended to spiral if any boy and girl interacted with each other ever. I thought it was stupid, seeing as I would never date a girl.

...that one of my other friends was so obviously into.

As we weaved through the hall, my heart unintentionally jumped as I saw the crowd around the weird teacher's classroom. Some students were ecstatic, others slightly quiet. I didn't really understand the fuss since it was just a callback list, not a proper cast list yet.

Among the crowd, I could see two clearly different reactions. A very shocked but enthusiastic Richie, jumping up and down and shaking the shoulders of a frozen Eddie, who it seemed had exited his own body for a moment..

"I didn't think she would consider me after I flashed everybody," Richie said brightly, appearing as though he was talking to himself because Eddie was unresponsive. "Actually, maybe that's why she did pick me!"

Bev and I approached as we heard this sentence, me raising my eyebrows slightly at this rather bold claim.

(At least, I assume it was bold. I'd really rather not find out.)

"I really doubt that's why," Bev said with a slight chuckle. "Didn't you see? There were like, 30 people at the audition. Midsummer is a show of 21, plus tech, stagehands, and understudies."

"Y-Yeah," I agreed, having no idea what any of those meant. To Richie, I commented, "Maybe y-y-you can play th-the donkey."

"Going by Shakespearean language, I would be playing the ass, actually."

I was distracted from this fascinating conversation by a break in the gradually thinning out crowd. I peeked over somebody's shoulder before they shoved me away and stormed off, and I took this opportunity to push my way to the front of the crowd.

My eyes went down the list, checking for the "M" last names before I finally found it, and I immediately smiled in relief at the name that read:

BEVERLY MARSH

But what was that, higher up on the list? A name that made me double take, neat handwriting that clearly spelled out

WILLIAM DENBROUGH

I blinked several times. This had to either be a practical joke, or Bev was right, and the theater department really was desperate. I chose to believe the latter as I stumbled back into our small chaos cluster, choosing not to think about myself for the time being.

In fact, I kept this up the rest of the conversation, the whole time I was waving goodbye to my friends, and the entire bike ride home.

The door was unlocked, and I pressed my lips together in annoyance. Sure, we lived in a safe neighborhood and all, but it wasn't too far from the school, so people could easily follow me and then I could become a protagonist in one of those horror movies.