Ｓｔｕｔｔｅｒ [ｂｉｌｌ ｄｅｎｂｒｏｕｇｈ ｘ ｒｅａｄｅｒ]

ᴀɴ ᴜɴᴇxᴘᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ ɢᴜᴇꜱᴛ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀʀʀᴇɴꜱ

♧♧♧

"Take everything but the Delicious Deals, guys. Our mom loves 'em," Eddie instructed as we piled drinks and snacks into our bags. I saw Mom glance at us.

I gently tugged on the hem of Bill's flannel. He turned to face me, leaving Stan's question to hang in the air. I pulled Bill aside.

"What if we get caught?" I whispered, looking up at him. He shook his head.

"W-we won't, Y/n. The sewers are public works. W-w-we're the public, aren't w-we?" Bill questioned as he flipped through the snacks in another cabinet. I sighed, tossing another water bottle into my bag.

"Hey, Eddie, are these birth control pills?" Richie asked, shaking a bottle of medication.

"Yeah, and I'm saving them for your sister," my brother replied. I scoffed, lightly punching Eddie in the upper arm. He shot me a playful glare.

"Eddie bear, N/n, where are you guys headed off to?" Mom asks, not taking her eyes off the TV. Collectively, we stopped trying to push each other out the door.

"J-just my backy-yard, Mrs. K. I got a new c-c-c-" Bill began, but his face heated up the way it always does when he gets stuck on a word.

"A new croquet set. Jeez, spit it out, B-B-B-Bill," Richie finished. I flashed Bill a sympathetic look. He looked embarrassed.

"Okay. Oh, and Eddie, just don't go rolling around in the grass, especially if it's just been cut. And Y/n, don't forget to watch out for oak leaves."

Once again, we started to push and shove through the doorway but were stopped by Mom. Stan sighed, clutching onto the straps of his backpack.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Eddie scurried across the kitchen and into the living room, placing a quick kiss on Mom's cheek. I embarrassingly did the same. Mom chuckled.

"Do you want one from me, too, Mrs. K?" Richie asked from the doorway.

"Sorry, Mama," I said, practically shoving him out the door. He stumbled out onto the porch, laughing.

All of us rushed to our bikes that we piled in the front yard. Except for Stan's, which was up on it's kickstand and out of the way. We all begin to bike in the direction of the sewers, Bill leading the way. I reached over and turned on my portable radio, which I had duct taped to the handlebar of my bike. Stan begins to sing along to whatever is playing.

The others join. And, while it does sound horribly off-key, I'm enjoying myself. This is what summer was supposed to feel like. But, the feeling dissolved as we reached the opening to the sewers. Bill let his bike fall to the ground just near the entrance. We watched him take a step inside. Richie followed.

I attempted to follow the other two in, grabbing a flashlight out of my backpack, but Eddie pulled me back by the arm.

"Y/n, you don't know what's in that water," he says, making a face.

"It's just water," I told him, yanking my wrist from his grasp. He tried to protest but to no avail. I began to head in again but stopped a second time at Stan's voice.

"That's poison ivy, that's poison ivy, and that's poison ivy," he said, pointing at various plants that poked out of the ground.

"Where's the poison ivy?" Eddie squealed, frantically looking around the dirt.

"Nowhere! Not every fucking plant is poison ivy, Stanley," Richie said sarcastically, reaching down and grabbing a piece of wood that was sticking out of the water.