Angel's End / reddie ghost au

Six - Perfect Bill Denbrough

Eddie ran out of the school building and onto the playground. Panic coursing through him as he desperately looked for a quiet place to hide his crying.

He looked down to hide his flushed, glassy face and began to sprint across the tarmac, past hundreds of clusters of students.

"Eddie!" He heard a female voice call.

He whipped his head around, his chestnut hair falling in front of his eyes.

Beverly.

He was NOT in the mood to speak to her... and he wasn't sure he would be anytime soon.

His legs continued to pound against the ground, carrying him away from the ginger girl following him, when suddenly he whipped his head back around and felt himself collide with something hard.

All the wind was pushed out of his lungs as he toppled backwards. Awkwardly trying to cushion the blow of the fall by reaching his hands behind him.

Eddie looked around, stunned for a second. His eyes still fresh with tears. He finally looked up at what he had bumped into... or more like 'who' he had bumped into.

"Eddie?" His confused voice asked, looking down at the smaller boy.

Bill Denbrough.

The sight of the lanky boy in his loose red flannel and knee length denim shorts made Eddie's blood boil even more.

"Eddie are you okay?" Bill repeated, offering Eddie a hand.

Eddie just stared at his hand, a sob threatening to escape his throat, when suddenly the sound of pounding footsteps got nearer.

"Oh my god you are fast," Beverly panted from behind him, kneeling over and putting her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

This was too much confrontation for Eddie. He didn't want to talk to either of them... he just wanted to keel over and cry. For the problems to all just melt away.

Without saying anything Eddie scrambled to his feet, slightly dazed, and pushed past Bill and Bev. He disappeared into the crowd of chatting teenagers and playground noise.

Leaving a breathless Beverly and a bewildered Bill looking in the direction he just fled.

"W-w-what's going on with h-him?" Bill asked, in his famous Bill Denbrough stutter.

Beverly looked at Bill guiltily, she didn't know Bill that well. They had had a class together the previous year but never spoke to each other. But I guess they had common ground now. Eddie.
Beverly knew they had been friends in the past. She used to see them hanging out by the lockers or studying in the library together... she always used to keep an eye on them. Just to check in on the smaller boy she didn't know that well at the time. She was always aware that Eddie was bullied. In fact, her popular friendship circle contributed to that quite a lot.
She always wanted to say something to Eddie before but she just didn't know what to say... and now she'd become just as bad as the bullies that tease Eddie every time they got the chance.

"I...," She thought for a moment, wondering whether she should tell him, "I yelled at him. Said some things I shouldn't have."

Bill looked down at the floor, "Yeah... m-m- me too,"

Beverly brushed a loop of her auburn hair from her eyes, "What do you mean?"

Bill now mirrored Beverly's guilty expression, "W-when we were f-friends, a while ago... I- I did that same thing... I overestimated everything ab-bout him. I didn't realise he has it worse than a lot of people."