monster ; it.

VIII

The next morning I had walked to school by myself and had walked past each of the boys' houses, seeing that they were already gone. I had woken up later than usual. I walked along the sidewalk, thinking about the current events that had happened the night before. Penny had coincidentally appeared in my room late last night, telling me the things that I had never thought I'd hear him say. I had thought what had happened in the sewers was some dream, but what happened last night had made it real in my mind. I hadn't given much thought to why Penny had just decided to come back into my life, and why he had saved me that day that the lightning struck. I hadn't understood why he didn't just let me die if I hadn't meant anything to him in the first place.

"Ariana!" A voice called from behind me. My stomach soon turned upside down, as I started to worry that it had been Henry. Turning around, the face of Bill soon calmed my nerves. He was running towards me waving, a smile on his face. "Wait up!"

I walked towards him, as he soon stopped in front of me. "Where've you been? I tried calling y-your house last night, no a-answer." Bill frowned.

I faked a chuckle, my arms crossing as I looked at the floor nervously. "Oh—Richie came over last night. I probably didn't hear the phone over his loud voice."

Bill tilted his head. "You two were th-there, alone?"

I shook my head. "Nothing happened—well, other than Richie acting like a drunk basket-case, nothing." I smiled. Bill nodded as he soon changed his perspective. Bill and I walked off to school as we stayed in silence. Maybe sometimes it was good to just walk and enjoy each other's presence. We were just with each other and looking at the things around us.

But soon enough, the moment ended, and we heard the voices of kids. We were at school, and the large building was quickly put in front of us. The boys were standing in front of a small water-fountain, talking as Bill and I walked up to them.

"You use the same bathroom as your mom?" Richie asked, his arms crossed as he frowned behind his large glasses. Eddie shrugged, quickly responding with a—

"Yeah, sometimes."

"Then you probably have crabs," Richie responded, as he held his hand up in front of Stan as he waited for a high-five. Stan smacked his hand down, as Richie's face became straight.

"That is so not funny," Eddie told Richie, rolling his eyes. Bill and I looked at each other while furrowing our eyebrows. The bell rang, and everyone was rushed to class like every other morning. I hadn't heard from Henry, which was unusual considering he would usually step in front of me, showing off his foolishness.

And then it was History— the teacher had assigned us a project to work on with partners, so of course, I had been partners with Bill. He seemed to know what he was doing, and he was my only friend in the class. The minutes had gone by with Bill talking to me, explaining what he thought we should do for the project; but all I could do was slouch down over the desk as I thought about the vanished man that had somehow found his way back to me.