"Okay first of all Richie, you didn't get a hot girl to hangout with us. I did." Eddie argued, crossing his arms over his chest. Richie turned to him, blinking twice.

"You really think that Alice Bell would hangout with you? You wear a fanny pack." 

"Actually, I wear two. And so? I offered for her to come hangout because none of you guys would do it." Eddie argued back.

"Exactly! So why would she want to hangout with you?" Richie asked.

"Guys s-stop arguing," Bill said, finally annoyed by their bickering. "Maybe s-she's hanging out with us b-because she actually w-wants to." He added, rubbing his hands together slightly.

"Ugh, fuck this," Richie said, annoyed. "Let's just go okay? I don't want to stay here any longer and have a chance Henry comes back and sees us." 

The boys all agreed, getting to their bikes and riding away from the school, to wherever they felt like hanging out for the day.

Nobody would admit it, but they were all excited to be hanging out with Alice the next day. Richie thought she was extremely hot, and always made comments at her. He loved how she laughed at every single one of his jokes, never getting offended by them. 

Eddie loved the fact that she wasn't afraid of anything, from what it seemed. She was always raising her hand, answering questions. She was always the first to present her projects in class. She wasn't even afraid of Henry Bowers, who mostly everyone was afraid of. Even some adults.

Stanley loved how lighthearted she was. She was kind, and loved everything. He'd always seen Alice stopping to pet every animal she saw, she even saved a hurt puppy along the street one time. When someone's sibling or child goes missing, she bakes them cookies, knowing it won't help much but she wanted them to know she was there for them, whether she could help or not.

And Bill. Bill loved everything that the other boys loved, but he loved more than those. Just thinking about the small girl put a funny feeling in his stomach. He didn't know what it was, but he loved it. He wanted to keep feeling that feeling. He remembered the first time they'd talked; it was a couple days after Georgie disappeared. Everyone stared at him as he walked through the halls at school, and he hated it. Alice noticed him and walked up, wrapping her small arms around him to give him the biggest and best hug he'd ever received- besides from Georgie of course. They'd hugged for the majority of passing period, and that had made him feel just a little bit better for the rest of the day.

****

Alice woke up around eleven the next day, seeing she had about an hour before she had to meet the four boys at the ice cream shop. She got dressed, putting on some overall shorts and a white t-shirt on under them. She put on some black shoes on and brushed through her hair, putting it into a ponytail for the day. She didn't normally do her makeup, but put on some chapstick before telling her mom she was hanging out with friends.

She hopped on her bike, pedaling her way to the local ice cream shop. After getting there and getting inside, she ordered a bowl of strawberry ice cream, paying and sitting in the booth that the boys could see her in when they got there. 

Alice was early, it was a habit of hers. She was early to almost everything, but she didn't mind the wait as it gave her time to think. Soon enough, four loud boys walked through the doors, Bill's eyes immediately landing on Alice sitting alone.

"Okay, I think I want chocolate chip cookie dough because that shit's the bomb," Richie said as he looked at the small menu.

"I'm going to get a small bowl of vanilla." Eddie said, not wanting his mom to find out about him eating something sweet without permission.

"I'm going to get just plain chocolate I think, what are you wanting Bill?" Stanley asked his friend, noticing Bill was already focused on something else.

It was Alice, and Stan's eyes landed on her also, staring at her pale complexion. Her cheeks had a natural rose tint to them, her eyes shining from the light shining into the store. Her hair was put up into a pony tail, none of them ever seeing it like that before. She hadn't noticed the boys yet, focused on looking out the window of the store, not even eating her ice cream yet.

"And what do you boys want?" The man asked Stan and Bill, and Stan ordered his plain chocolate ice cream, while Bill got the same.

What they didn't know, was Alice was focused on something standing across the street from outside of the shop. It was a clown, holding a red balloon. He waved at her, mouthing her name. 

Alice.

It felt as if he was whispering it in her ear, and it sent shivers down her spine.

"Hey Alice!" Eddie happily greeted, bringing her out of whatever trance she'd been in. She glanced at Eddie, saying hello before looking back at the clown.

But he was gone.

Eddie scooted in the booth across from her, his ice cream bowl way smaller than hers. Richie came over, scooting in next to Eddie, who ended up being extremely close to the wall. 

Stanley and Bill made their way over to Alice last, Stan scooting in next to Richie, leaving the only spot for Bill next to Alice. She didn't mind but scooted over, giving him room to get in and patted the spot on the seat next to her.

Bill smiled, sitting down and setting his bowl of chocolate ice cream down in front of him.

"So what are your plans for summer, Alice?" Stan asked, taking a bite of his ice cream.

"I don't know. I normally ride around on my bike, get ice cream." She replied, moving her spoon around in her almost melted ice cream. After seeing the clown, she didn't feel like eating anymore for some reason.

"Alone?" Eddie asked, taking the last bite of the one scoop he had.

"Yeah, I don't normally hangout with anyone. You guys are the first to ask." Alice replied as if it was nothing, and all four boys' jaws fell.

"Are you s-serious?" Bill asked, finally speaking up. He was confused as to why she wasn't eating her ice cream but picking at it. He brushed it off, thinking of it as something she normally does with her food.

Although it wasn't.

"Yeah. I mean, Henry Bowers has asked me to hangout like once, I think? But he's not my type of person to hangout with," She said, trying to remember the one time Henry asked to hang.

"And you think we are? Richie and Eddie bicker twenty four seven, Richie also makes comments that annoy everyone," Stan said, before taking another bite. 

"Yeah! And Richie's a little trashmouth." Eddie got in, earning a glare from Richie.

"No I'm fucking not!" He said, proving Eddie was right. 

"Ch-Chill guys. Don't w-want too much at-ttenion on us," Bill said, his face getting red. Alice just lightly smiled over at him, before looking back out of the window to see if the clown was back.

But he wasn't.

Where did he go? How did he disappear so fast? Who was he and how did he know who Alice was?

"What are you looking at?" Richie asked, a small amount of ice cream on his chin as he turned to look out of the window.

"Oh, nothing," Alice answered. "After you guys get done eating where do you want to go?" 

"We were going to go explore this place Bill wanted us to go to," Eddie said.

"Eddie!" Bill said, not wanting Alice to know where they were going.

"Where's that at?" She asked, pushing her bowl away from her slightly. 

"The Barrens," Richie said, despite Bill's look to not say anything.

"Talking about like the area by the sewers? Why?" She asked, looking over at Bill.

He avoided eye contact, "I-I wanted to t-try t-to f-find Georgie," He quietly said, and Alice's eyes softened. 

"Then let's go," Alice said, catching not only Bill off guard, but all of the other boys.

"Really?" Bill asked, looking over at her. She nodded, smiling at him.

They threw their bowls away, making their way outside to their bikes, where they biked to the direction of the barrens. Alice tried to keep her focus on pedaling behind the boys, but her focus kept going to the odd clown.

He didn't look friendly, he looked scary, but clowns don't normally scare her. She normally thought nothing of them, she wasn't ever fond of them, but she wasn't scared to say the least.

Before she knew it, she'd hit a giant rock on the side of the road, causing her to swerve and fall off. 

Richie was the first to notice the noise, stopping his bike quickly while mumbling 'fuck'. He hopped off quickly, while the others followed and made their way over to Alice who sat on the side of the road, looking at her now cut up knee.

"W-what happened?" Bill asked, kneeling next to her.

"I um- there was a rock and I didn't see it and my bike kinda hit it," She said, and Eddie got into his fanny pack to grab a band-aid. 

He cleaned up some of the blood with a Kleenex before putting it on her knee, and Stan helped Alice up. 

"Thanks." She mumbled, wincing lightly as she walked over to her bike, picking it up. Luckily, nothing bad happened to her bike, only her knee. "Let's just keep going." She added, looking over to see the same clown, standing a distance from them. She stopped, almost tripping again.

"Alice." The clown said, her eyes widening.

"D-do you guys see that?" She asked, looking over to see the boys on their bikes, making their way over to her.

"No, what are you looking at?" Stan asked. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She just smiled, getting on her bike and pedaling away, the boys quickly going to follow behind her. 

It was weird, none of the boys could see this clown, she had no idea who this clown is, and she didn't want to admit it to herself but she was starting to get a little freaked out. 

Bill watched her closely, making sure to bike next to her as they made their way to the barrens. He didn't want her to fall again and get hurt, and he was confused on what she was seeing. He'd never seen Alice like this before, she wasn't supposed to be afraid of anything. And the others weren't able to tell, but he definitely could tell she was at least a little bit scared of something.

But what?