EDDIE WAS FREAKING OUT. Hayley had never seen anyone so worried about anything ever, and they were just trying to bandage the new kid, who was somewhat injured, so that he could go on with his life. It could not be good for Eddie's blood pressure to be so scared of every little thing all the time. He rambled on as they walked.

"I think it's great that we're helping the new kid but we also need to think about our own safety. I mean, he's bleeding all over, and you guys know there's an AIDS epidemic happening right now as we speak. I mean, my mom's friend in New York City got it just by touching a dirty pole in the subway, and she got AIDS blood into her system through a hangnail, a hangnail! And they can amputate legs and arms. But how do you amputate waist? You know that there are alleys full of AIDS infected needles, right?"

Once they put the kid down in the alley, Bill turned back to his friend and ordered, "Richie, wait here."

"Can we afford all that?" Bill asked once they were in the drug store because Eddie and Hayley's arms were full of bandages and alcohol to clean the wounds. He held up the few bills that they had, and all four of them sighed. Bill turned to the Kaspbrak kid like an idea had just hit him. "Wait, you have an account here don't you?"

"If my mom finds out I bought all this stuff for myself, I'll spend the whole rest of the week in the emergency room," Eddie told them, which probably wasn't even an exaggeration. His mom would have every scan in the book done on him.

Hayley sighed, and she left the aisle to scan the other ones in case there was anything they could use as substitutes or on sale or if there was candy she could stress eat. She paused on the feminine products aisle, noticing a familiar face.

Beverley Marsh was standing in front of the tampons, looking scared and confused. Hayley remembered being in a very similar position about six months ago, and she slowly approached the redhead from behind. She reached forward and tapped on one of the boxes, causing Beverley to jump like she had been caught doing something she shouldn't be.

"I like these," Hayley told her. But the reached to the side and grabbed a different box by the same brand, handing it to the girl. "You should get a variety pack, though, so you can figure out what size you need for which day."

Beverley looked up at her, getting over her surprise before offering a small smile. "Thanks." When she noticed the medical supplies in Hayley's hands, she asked, "What happened?"

"There's this new kid, and he got really badly beaten up. So, we're trying to patch him up, but we don't have enough money," Hayley responded as they left the aisle. She stopped again back where the boys were, and Bev panicked, hiding the box in her hand from them.

Bill, Stan, and Eddie stared at the two girls in shock, and Beverley turned back to the Forbes girl. "I might have an idea."

"She's a genius!" Stan exclaimed once they had made it out of the store. Bev had gone up to creepy Mr. Keene at the pharmacy and checkout and distracted him while the boys and Hayley stole what they needed.

Eddie nodded in agreement as they rounded the corner toward the alley. "We should have thought of that. We can send Hayley up next time."

"Are you kidding?" she laughed, shaking her head. That was ridiculous. Beverley was beautiful, and she was really brave. "That's a move that only works with someone as pretty as Beverly." She kept walking, but all three boys had stopped in their tracks at her words.

"Please tell me she's joking," Eddie muttered, looking at his friends in confusion. Bill just stared after her as she approached Ben and crouched down in front of him. She smiled that damn smile, and he couldn't believe that she would ever say something like that.
They then joined their friends, and Eddie and Richie of course started arguing about how to properly care for Ben. When Eddie asked for someone to go get his fanny packs, Hayley stood up and jogged back over to the bikes. Before she could head back, however, she spotted Beverley walking down the sidewalk, bag in hand. "Hey, thanks for what you did back there."

"Old men are creepy. Nothing new. Glad I could be of service," the redhead responded with a shrug. She glanced down the alley to where the boys were yelling, and she commented, "I didn't know you hung out with these guys."

"Thought I was a bitchy cheerleader?" Hayley questioned. She wasn't exactly offended because that was what most people assumed about her.

Beverley answered simply, "Yes."

"Well, I've turned over a new leaf, and Bill invited me to hang out with them. We've been neighbors for forever," Hayley explained, and she started walking back toward the guys. Bev followed.

"Cool," she responded, and her eyes widened when she saw who the boy that had been beat up was. "Ben from Soc? Are you okay? That looks like it hurts."

Ben's eyes shot up, and he immediately nodded, despite the fact that there was blood still running down his face. Eddie snatched the fanny pack from Hayley's hands and got to work as the boy answered, "No, I'm good. I just fell."

"Yeah, right into Henry Bowers," Richie retorted.

Bill whipped around at the mention of the name, and all of the boys glanced at Beverley. Hayley was really confused as the Denbrough boy muttered, "Shut it, R-R-Richie!"

That was when the blonde girl remembered the rumor that had been going around about Bev and Henry, about how she had hooked up with him, or something. "Why? It's the truth," the boy with the glasses defended, holding his hands up.

"You sure they got the right stuff to fix you up?" Bev asked, ignoring them and looking back down at Ben.

Before he could answer, Bill said, "You know w-w-w-w-we'll take care of him. Thanks again, Beverly."

"Sure, maybe I'll see you around," she replied with a small smile, glancing over at Hayley as well. She nodded at her, and the Forbes girl knew it was a thanks for her help in the store.

She stepped forward and said, "Yeah, we were maybe thinking about going to the quarry tomorrow, if you wanna come?"

"Good to know," Bev answered, and she waved at them once last time before walking out of the alley and down the road, probably headed home for the day to deal with her situation.

Richie turned to the blonde girl in confusion, and they all seemed to be thinking the same thing. "We were thinking of going to the quarry?"

"We are now."

BY THE TIME THE GIRLS MADE IT TO THE QUARRY, THE BOYS HAD STRIPPED. They were all standing there in their underwear (why they did not have swimsuits, Hayley did not know), debating about who was going to jump from the cliff first. Bill asked, "Who's first?"

"We'll go, sissies," Beverley called, causing all five of them to whip around to look at her and Hayley. Before any of them could respond, the girls lost their shoes and clothes and sprinted toward the edge, not thinking twice before letting themselves plummet to the bottom. Once they emerged, Bev shouted, "Come on!"

"Can't believe you're about to let two girls show you up!" Hayley added. Her voice was a bit shaky, partly from the cold water, partly from the shock of the jump, but also from the way Bill's eyes had immediately snapped to her. They barely even wandered when she revealed her pink and white flowery bikini that she had under her t-shirt and jean shorts. He had been trained on her face, her excited grin.

One-by-one, the boys above them came crashing down into the water, splashing the girls before swimming over to them. Hayley grinned as they all swam around, getting on each other's shoulders and fighting, laughing with each other.

She couldn't help but notice Ben's stare locked in on Beverley, and she smiled at the look on his face. She loved seeing love like that, when someone truly appreciated another. She only hoped to be cherished one day like that.

She was so focused on these interactions that she did not notice the eyes trained on her, watching her every move. Bill was transfixed. He always had been when it came to her.

After they were done swimming, Hayley and Bev were lying side-by-side with their sunglasses on, still in their underwear and swimsuit. They were sunbathing and sharing Bev's earbuds, acting like they could not feel all of the boys gaping at them. Well, they were gaping at Bev. Hayley was almost certain none of them were staring at her.

"News flash, Ben, School's out for summer," Richie announced, and the girls turned to see him digging through the backpack that Ben had brought.

Ben quickly answered, "Oh that, that's not school stuff."

"Who sent you this?" Richie questioned, holding up a postcard, but before he could flip it over and read the back, Ben had snatched it out of his hand and stuffed it back in the bag. So, Richie pulled out a folder and opened it. "What's with the history project?"

Hayley's gaze flitted over to Bill for a second, but his eyes were already on her. He seemed to snap out of some kind of trance once he was caught, and he looked over at Ben, who explained, "Oh, well, when I first moved here, I really didn't have anyone to hang out with so I just started spending time in the library."

"You went to the library? On purpose?" Richie questioned, and the folder was passed over to Bill, who began scanning it.

Bev stood up and moved to sit between Ben and Bill, leaning over to look at the file. She said, "I wanna see." Hayley rolled over onto her stomach so that she could join the conversation, smiling when she noticed Ben staring at Beverley once again.

"Your hair looks beautiful, Beverly," he complimented, kinda out of nowhere. He was referring to how she had cut it really short at some point between when they saw her yesterday and when Hayley met her to bike over there together.

The redhead touched the back of it and smiled. "Oh, right. Thanks." She then looked over to Hayley, who smirked.

"Here, pass," the Forbes girl asked, and Bill reached over to hand her the folder so that she could examine it.

Richie questioned, "Why's it all murders and missing kids?"

"Derry's not like any town I've ever been in before," Ben explained. "They did a study once... it turns out people die or disappear six times the national average. Not just grown-ups. Kids are like worse way, way worse. I've got more stuff, if you want to see it."