we're just kids | bill denbrough { book one }

v.

CHAPTER FIVE
[ the rock war ]

"No I love being your personal doorman, really" Richie said as he rode circles around our group. While, the rest of us walked alongside our bikes down the street. "Could you idiots have taken any longer?"

"Shut up Richie" Eddie said.

"Yeah, shut up Richie" Stanley agreed.

"Oh, okay trash the trash mouther I get it. Hey, I wasn't the one scrubbing the bathroom floor imagining it went all Eddie's mom's vagina on Halloween"

"She didn't imagine it" Bill said. We all stopped walking, staring at him. "I s-s-saw something too"

"You saw blood too?" Stan asked.

Bill shook his head. "Not blood. I saw G-G-Georgie. It seemed so real. I mean it seemed like him but there was this..."

"Clown" Eddie finished. "Yeah, I saw him too"

"Me too" I confessed. Now everyone was staring at me.

Bill has a worried look on his face. "Was that what you were going to tell me about?" I nodded. Looking around, Stanley and Ben looked equally as frightened as Bill, Eddie and I.

"Wait can only virgins see this stuff?" Richie asked. "Is that why I'm not seeing any of this shit?"

I rolled my eyes. Leave it Richie to make a joke while the rest of us are genuinely creeped out. There was a sudden noise coming from the woods ahead of us, distracting our attention. It sounded like yelling.

"Oh shit that's Belch Huggins' car." Eddie pointed out. "We should probably get out of here"

"Wait isn't that, that homeschool kid's bike?" Bill asked noticing the bike laying on the ground near the car.

"Yeah, I think so." I answered. "Mike. Isn't that his name?"

"We have to help him" Beverly insisted.

"We should?" Richie asked unenthusiastically.

"Yes" Beverly said, dropping her bike and running off.

"Use your brain, Tozier" I said doing the same as Beverly. The guys all dropped their bikes as well. Except for Stanley, who put his stand on and we all ran into the woods.

When we found Mike, he was laying on the ground being pinned down by Henry. He was getting ready to hit Mike with a rock. Acting fast, Beverly grabbed a rock and threw it at Henry. It hit him right in the head, causing him to fall off of Mike.

"Nice throw." Stanley completed.

"Thanks" she said.

Mike hurried over to our side of the creek. He struggled as he kept tripping in the water. The rest of us all grabbed a rock.

"You losers are trying too hard." Henry said. "Beverly will do you if you ask nicely. Like I did" and in disgusting Henry Bowers fashion, he grabbed his crotch for dramatic affect.

Ben screamed and threw a rock at Henry. It hit him right on the head again. Henry looked shocked at the sudden outburst from the new kid. He managed to shake it off and just laugh maniacally.

"Aw did I make the little fatty mad?" Henry teased. His eyes then made contact with me. Looking me up and down which, made me uneasy. He sighed. "Now Kate, I'm sure she's a real delight to have under the sheets"

His very words made me want to vomit. I watched as Bill launched his rock at Henry, hitting him in the head now for the third time. I decided to throw my rock at him too. Henry and his gang started to pick up rocks also and throw them at us.

Mike managed to set on the rocks, out of the water and hopefully out of the way of what was about to go down.

"Rock war!" Richie yelled, then was hit directly on the head with a rock. Which, caused him to fall down.

We all started hurtling rocks each way. Belch threw a rock at me and it hit my shoulder, making a cut. That didn't stop me from throwing rocks at them.

Henry's gang ran off, leaving Henry lying on the ground. He seemed to be grasping at the fact that for once, the losers fought back. The losers won.

"Are y-you okay?" Bill said pointing to the cut on my shirt. The cut was bleeding pretty bad.

"Yeah I'm fine" I assured him, it looked worse than it felt.

"But you're bleeding." He said. "Let me see if Eddie has a band-aid."

We walked away from the creek and headed back to our bikes.

"Go blow your dad, you mullet wearing asshole!" I heard Richie yell behind us. I looked over my shoulder to see Richie flipping Bowers off with both hands. I couldn't help but laugh. Even though Richie sometimes doesn't know when to stop talking, he always knows the right thing to say when defending his friends.

"H-h-here" Bill said, holding a band-aid once, causing us to stop for a moment. "It might not be big enough"

"It'll be fine, Bill" I said kindly.

"Let me put it on for you" Bill said. He opened the band-aid and gently placed it on my cut. "Good as new" he smiled softly at me.

"Thank you" I said looking, in his eyes making me get lost in them. Neither of us looked away, we just stood there for a minute staring at one another.

"Thanks guys, but you shouldn't have done that" Mike said, causing Bill and I break from our trance. We all started to walk again "He'll be after you guys too now"

"Ah, no, no, Bowers is always after us" Eddie said.

"That's a th-th-thing we have in common" Bill added.

"Yeah homeschool." Richie said. "Welcome to the losers club"

Once we got back to our bikes, we all started to walk with them. As I looked behind me, I noticed Beverly was walking slowly behind us. She seemed to be thinking hard about something. It almost seemed as if it were bothering her.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

"Yeah, just thinking" she seemed flustered. That's when I knew right away, it had to do with a boy.

"About who?"

"Not so loud" she whispered. She pulled something folded up out of her pocket and handed it to me. "I can't stop thing about this. I have no idea who it's from"

I unfolded what she handed me. It was a postcard.

"Your hair-" I began to read.

"Not out loud!" Beverly warned out of panic the guys would hear.

"I'm just messing with you" I laughed. I started to read what the letter said, to myself this time.

Your hair is winter fire,
January embers,
My heart burns there too

"Bev, I think you have a secret admirer" I teased.

"Who do you think it is?" She asked, while her cheeks started to blush.

I studied the postcard. It didn't take me long to realize that I had seen this exact postcard before. Then, I knew exactly who it was from.

Ben.