OUCH! ( stand by me. ) -ON HOLD-

two

june 26, 1959

alyssa, daniel, and vallory all piled into their 1942 pontiac steamliner to head to their new town, castle rock. the ride was very gloomy for vallory, as it was slightly raining that day. the day went by as slowly as one could, making the eight hour drive seem like sixteen. alyssa had already found a small house to rent in the small town. how fitting, huh?

the sign that said welcome to castle rock  was only a few hundred feet away, and vallory already felt like her life was different. she tugged on daniel's sweater and pointed to the sign. he sighed with a nod.

"welcome to the rest of your life, darling." he giggled. that giggle somehow made vallory more comfortable. she took a deep breath, and examined her new town. the roads were dry and flat. the grass next to the sidewalks were very much dead, with a few nicer looking houses that had green grass. there were no malls, or big supermarkets, or even state parks. there were small businesses and bikes scattered on the streets, along with high school students laughing inside a diner. inside the diner, vallory spotted a group of boys.

"they look about my age." she whispered to herself.

"huh?" daniel asks.

"oh, nothing." vallory rolls down the window and sticks her head out the window, hoping the boys notice her at the stoplight. one of the boys, one with glasses, squints his eyes at her. vallory waves to the boy as soon as the light turns green. the boy with glasses turns to his group of friends and says something, presumably about her, and they all turn to look. but, she's gone.

♧♧

vallory finishes unpacking her last box, this process surprisingly only took her about two hours or so. she grabs her converse and walks to the front door.

"i'm gonna go take a walk." she informed.

"be safe, val." daniel smiled. she smiled back, opened the door, and walked out. she breathed in the beautiful scent of non-stop sunshine.

"i'm gonna have to get used to this." she laughed to herself and continued to walk towards the small stores. she went inside the clothing store only to browse for the future. she saw a pretty, white flowing dress that went down to the ankles.

"excuse me, miss?" vallory said to the worker.

"yes?" the worker replied with a raised eyebrow.

" is there anywhere i can try this on?" she pointed to the dress, hoping the worker would lead her to a bathroom or a dressing room. the worker pointed down a little hallway to a dressing room and unlocked it for vallory. she stepped in and closed the door. she slipped off her overalls and t-shirt to replace it with a beautiful dress. the dress fitted her around the waist very well. it went down to her ankles with a lace trim. vallory only had about six dollars on her, and she prayed that this dress was on sale for less. she took the dress off and put on the clothes she had been wearing before. she left the dressing room and walked up to the cashier.

"um, how much is this dress?" vallory asked nervously.

"it's on sale for about five dollars and.. forty-two cents. would you like to buy it?" the cashier asks.

"yes please, thank you." vallory answered. the cashier rang up the dress, bagged it, and handed it to vallory. she smiled at the cashier and walked out the store, only to be bumped into by someone. she fell, and skinned both of her palms.

"oh my god, i-i'm so sorry. i didn't mean to, i promise." the person apologized. vallory looked up to see the same group of boys that were inside the diner when she was driving by. she ran into the one with a grown-out blonde buzzcut.

"it's okay, it's okay. sorry that i didn't see you when i was walking out and so technically, i think it's my fault," vallory laughed, "i'm new here, so i don't really know anyone. what's your guys' names?"

"well, i'm chris chambers." the blonde buzzcut said.

"i'm gordon lachance, but you can call me gordie." the skinny brown haired one said.

"i'm teddy duchamp. but you can call me anytime." the one with glasses winked.

"and i'm vern tessio." the bigger one said cheerfully.

"i'm vallory blackson. i just moved here from tacoma. you know, in washington. i actually just moved her today." vallory told them. the boys looked at her and said things like "cool" and "is that your real hair color?".

"well, if you ever need anyone to hang out with, you could always come to my house and we can all meet up. i live just down that road. my house is pretty outgoing, it has a big 'L' by the front door." gordie laughed.

"sounds good," vallory nodded, "well, i'll see you guys later. i gotta go show my brother this dress." the boys waved goodbye as vallory ran down the road to her tiny, beat up house.

"hey dally! look at this dress i bought. isn't it pretty?" vallory asked daniel, or dally, as she came into the house. she pulled out the dress and put it up against her body.

"it's beautiful, val. i bet it looks real nice on you." daniel smiled.

"yeah, i'll go put it on for you." she said as she began down the hall to her room. she closed the door and removed her clothes once again. she slid on the dress and tied it around the back. the dress was beautiful. it was long-sleeved and went down to her ankles. there were small lavender designs around the collar, and the rest of the dress was white. she walked back down the hall to show her brother.

"how's it look?" she asked with a smile.

"gorgeous." was all daniel could say. vallory laughed and ran back down the hall and into her room. she put her clothes back on, and could tell this move was a good idea after all.

a/n:
update twice in one day because why not? this chapter is rlly long though and my arms hurt from typing so much and so fast wtf. enjoy it pls i'm thirsty. good night hoes 😘😘💦