𝗖𝗥𝗨𝗘𝗟 𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗥

⁀➷ CHAPTER TWELVE

LOST CAUSE

"YOU. YOU DID this. You know how delicate he is!" Sonia Kaspbrak yelled at the group as she closed Eddie's side of the car. They could see him crying in the passenger seat, either because of the pain coming from his arm or the fact that he was being banned from seeing them.

What a shitty summer.

"W-We were attacked, Mrs. K." Bill stuttered, watching as she round the boot to stand in front of them, beginning to fiddle with her car keys angrily.

She pointed a finger at the boy and shook her head "No. Don't. Don't try and blame anyone else."

"But it's true, Mrs. Kaspbrak" Elaine backed him up, still avoiding eye contact with Bill (much to his dismay). Earlier, she had shuffled away from him when the boy had come to stand beside her. She hoped that she had been subtle, but it was the only thing running through his head right now.

"Elaine Young, I really expected more from you" she narrowed her eyes and looked her up and down "my son spoke highly of you, but I guess that even though you skipped a grade, you're still not smart enough to keep everyone out of trouble."

Elaine went to argue back, but her car keys fell to the ground. Beverly reached down to help grab them, but Mrs. Kaspbrak quickly snatched them from her hands like she had a disease.

"Oh, I've heard of you, Miss Marsh. And I don't want a dirty girl like you touching my son."

Annabeth rolled her eyes at the jab and stood in front of Beverly "a girl like what? Are you fucking kidding me right now? A grown adult, calling a 13-year old girl a whore...man, you must not have a lot of hobbies."

Sonia gasped at her, gripping her car keys tightly "don't use that tone with me, Miss Blue. Your sharp tongue is what's going to get yourself in trouble in the future...and don't think I haven't heard about you going around kissing girls, that's how you catch AIDS, and I don't need that near my poor Eddie."

Annabeth fake gasped before raising a hand and going to touch her in the face "might wanna go home and wash that off. Who knows...you might have AIDS now!"

Mrs. Kaspbrak's eyes widened as she grappled for her car keys and stuck them in the car door, shouting a "No! You are all monsters. All of you. And Eddie is done with you. Do you hear? Done!" as she sped away with a teary-eyed Eddie in the passenger seat.

"Ugh, I hate that bitch" Annabeth muttered under her breath before turning to Beverly "are you okay?"

She hummed a yes and sent a tight-lipped smile, grabbing onto the girl's hand. The two stood staring at each other as Bill cleared his throat. "I saw the well. We know where It is and next time we'll be better prepared."

"No!" Stan blurted out in a violent rage "No next time, Bill! You're insane!"

"Why? We all know no one else is going to do anything." Beverly frustratedly threw her arms out, her hand falling out of Annabeth's before she quickly reattached them.

"Eddie was nearly killed!" Richie gestured over to Ben's stomach "And look at this motherfucker. He's leaking hamburger helper!" He then looked over to where Elaine stood silently "and Bill, look at your girlfriend, aren't you even a little worried for her?!"

Elaine's head snapped up and she let out a dry laugh "We can't pretend It's gonna go away. Ben, you said it yourself, It comes back every twenty-seven years."

"Fine! I'll be 40 and far away from here." he yelled out before turning to where Beverly glared at him "I thought you said you wanted to get out of this town, too."

She rolled her eyes, face red in anger "Because I wanna run towards something. Not away!"

"I'm sorry, who invited Molly Ringwald into the group?" Richie held up his hand at Beverly and she scowled before flipping him off.

"Richie..." Stan trailed off.

"I'm just saying, let's face facts. Real-world. Georgie is dead. Stop trying to get us killed, too."

The whole group went silent, staring at him in disbelief as Bill yelled out "Georgie's not dead."

"You couldn't save him, but you can still save yourself." Richie groaned, ignoring the twinge of guilt settling into his stomach.

"Richie, just shut up for once in your God-forsaken life!" Elaine slapped his shoulder, never having seen Bill get that mad.

Bill charged forward, only seeing red "No, take it back. You're scared and we all are, but take it back!" he pushed him back making Richie stumble, but he quickly returned the shove, only making him angrier.

Almost as if in slow motion, Bill pulled his arm back and punched him across the face causing Richie to fall onto the road. Elaine stared at him with eyes wide "Bill!"

Stan and Mike helped the boy on the ground to his feet, but he pushed them away "You're just a bunch of losers! Fuck off!"

They tried restraining him as Stan shook his head "Richie, stop."

Ben had moved to hold back Bill as he went in for another strike "Bill, stop."

"You're just a bunch of losers and you'll get yourselves killed trying to catch a fucking stupid clown!" 

"Stop!" The boys all release the two and turn to face Beverly "This is what It wants. It wants to divide us. We were all together when we hurt It. That's why we're still alive!"

"Like in the house," Elaine added, "his only way of hurting us was dividing us using the doors."

She quickly looked over to Bill and he realized that something had happened after he watched her get pulled into a room by an unknown figure. It must've been the clown disguised as himself.

"Yeah? Well, I plan to keep it that way." Richie rolled his eyes and stomped over to pick up his bike, Stan following to do the same thing. What surprised her was when Mike brushed past them and picked up his own.

"Mike..." Elaine whispered over to him, but he shook his head at her.

"Guys... I can't do this." his hands tighten against the handlebars "granddad was right. I'm an outsider. Gotta stay that way."

"Annabeth?" Beverly muttered making Elaine turn her head to where she was grabbing her bike from the floor "no..."

"I'm sorry Bev, but what if he comes and takes Ellie...or you?" she still had dried tear streaks from when the clown had pierced Elaine's stomach "I don't think I could live with that."

"Well then" she looked over to where Elaine was seen, a stern look on her face "you're gonna lose me anyway."

authors note!

So, Bill knows why Elaine's anxious about his presence and Annabeth's chosen to not stick with the trio (boo, you whore).