Yellow Dress//Bill Denbrough

T w e l v e

a little bit of rights ig

"Miss Bowie, would you mind sharing your side of the story?" the vice principal, Mr. Howell, asks menacingly.

"I was just- defending- my friend- Carnation- from- M-M-Monica!" Greta pretends to cry. It's a very unconvincing argument. "And then- she slapped me!"

Monica rolls her eyes dramatically.

"Do you have something to say, Miss Smith?"

"Yes."

"Well, what is it?"

"Greta- well, all the girls in our gym class, really, they were just led by her..."

"Yes....?"

"She was harassing Carnation Holland. Calling her a slut and laughing in her face and stuff like that. And I got so angry that I slapped Greta."

"I would never call Carnation a name like that! She's one of the sweetest-"

"Oh, that's BS and you know it!"

"Enough!" he bellows, silencing them both. "Why don't we just bring Miss Holland in, and she can tell us herself?"

"That sounds fair."

Mr. Howell phones the secretary, asking her to bring Carn in. A few seconds later, the door opens, and in comes the traumatized young girl.

"Miss Holland. Sit."

She obeys the vice principal. When she sits down, she begins to play with the hem of her floral dress.

"Were either of these girls bullying you?"

Carn hates to accuse anyone of anything, whether it was true or not. But she also doesn't want her friend to get in trouble.

"Yes, sir."

"Well? Which one, girl?"

"Greta, sir," her voice is hardly audible.

"And Miss Smith slapped Miss Bowie?"

"I cannot deny that statement."

"Yes. I admittedly slapped her," Monica speaks up.

"Very well. Monica, you are receiving a three day suspension. Thank you all."

Greta smirks at the other two girls, who are outraged.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you've got it all wrong. Monica was just defending me. She didn't initiate anything," Carn pleads.

"And why is Greta going without any punishment? She was bullying another student!"

"Since we have no evidence but the word of two other students, there is no way to prove that, and therefore she is not subjected to disciplinary actions."

"Yet there's proof that I slapped her?"

"There's a mark on Miss Bowie's face, not to mention you admitted to hitting her. And, in case you are unaware, Derry High's code of conduct is very strict about physical violence," he shoots back, making Carn flinch. "Your suspension begins tomorrow. Back to class, you two. Miss Smith, stay here and we'll call your mother."

Whispering an apology to Monica, Carn leaves his office. The secretary, with a bright grin, hands her a pass.

"Thank you," she says, walking to her last period- AP lit.

Bill's face lights up when she finally gets to class, but anxiety shadows it when he sees how upset she looked. Carn passes him without even giving a wave, handing the teacher her pass.

When she sits down in the desk in front of Bill, there is a sharp poke in her shoulder.

"Ouch!" she whips her head around.

"W-what's wrong?" her boyfriend whispers, sharpened pencil in his hand.

"That hurt, for one thing."

"S-s-sorry. But what's buh-bothering you?"

She pauses, nervously chewing on her lip. "They know."

"Who? Wh-who knows?"

"Everyone."

Oh my God.

Because their teacher is giving them a stern look, Carn has to turn around and get out her textbook. When class findlay ends, Bill walks her to her locker.

When they get there, they find her combination lock busted. Carn and Bill glance at each other, as if to say, Oh no. This can't be good.

Slowly opening it up, she finds her sonogram picture that was taped to it gone. In place of it, someone wrote the word "slut" in ugly, puke green paint.

Bill's heart breaks when Carn's lip starts to tremble. She tries so hard to restrain herself from crying as she packs up her book bag. Bill's hand grabs hers, lacing their fingers together.

Some people stare and whisper, and some jeer as they walk past. Word had spread to almost everyone in the whole school, even the freshmen.

As Bill presses kisses to her hand repeatedly, they realize there is nothing they can do to prepare them for the months ahead. The countless notes in their lockers. The foul words graffitied in their textbooks. The nasty things whispered in their ears when they would simply be working on college applications in the library. Even their teachers treating them differently.

Carn and Bill walk to their pizza parlor, not saying a word to their peers. As they exit the doors, Bill sticks up his middle finger to them all.

Sitting in their usual booth, he presses himself against Carn, wiping away every. single. tear.

"Thuh-they're."

Kiss.

"Not."

Kiss.

"W-w-worth."

Kiss.

"It."

Carn moves from cradling her bump to throwing her arms around Bill. He runs his fingers through her hair, calming her down.

"You're so s-strong, Carnation. We're guh-guh-going to g-get through this."

"Thank you, Bill."

He holds her the whole time. The waitress who takes their order (Coke for Bill and a Shirley Temple for Carn, of course) gives them strange looks, but they couldn't care less.

By the time their drinks come, Carn is practically in Bill's lap. He's holding her stomach, languidly rubbing it with his thumbs. He doesn't want to take his hands away, so she holds his cup behind her shoulder, letting him slurp his straw.

Their drinks are empty all too soon, and it's back to reality. Bill has to work on a school project, so they can't hang out anymore tonight, but he gives her a ride to Mike's in his car.

She gives him a good night peck and goes inside. And when she dumped out her backpack, a small note flutters out.

"You've got to be freaking kidding me."

But as she unfolds it, she sees that it isn't a hate note, not at all.

It's in Bill's handwriting.

Keep your head held high. Love you.