Chapter 2.7:
The Clubhouse
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"Holy shit, Ben! This place is amazing!" Maya grinned to herself, looking around the wooden clubhouse.

"What the dick is this? How'd you build it?" Richie was next to speak, pushing up his glasses.

"When did you build it?" Bill asked, his jaw open as he took in the room.

"Here and there, I guess.. it was already dug out from something so I just had to reinforce the walls and get some wood for the door and that's pretty much it!" Ben explained cheerily, "Pretty good for my first time, right?"

Ben leaned all the wooden post, knocking out of place causing part of the ceiling to fall through.

"Now, that's a cool feature! What happens when you put your hand on the other pillar, professor?"

"Oh, shit!" Maya jumped back into Beverly, "Oh, sorry, Bev."

Beverly smiled, poking Maya's cheek gently, "You're lucky you're so pretty."

"Gross. Stop flirting with each other!" Richie fake gagged, "Unless it leads to something else-"

"What? Like an orgy?" Maya rose a brow, "Right. Like that'd ever happen."

"This! This is exactly why we have safety codes! Why we have permits!" He smacked his hand against his palm, "This place is a death trap! Do you understand that"

"I don't know, Eds, this place has potential.. just, uh, needs some TLC.. couple of nails.. maybe some paint." Maya looked around, brushing her.

"W-Well, it's a work in progress.. okay, Eddie?" Ben muttered, his voice soft and sad.

"Just so you know, if I get hurt, you're liable! Also what is this? A switch for an iron maiden?" Eddie smacked whatever was hanging down.

"Looks like an electric box.." Maya tilted her head.

"That's a flashlight."

"What is that? A horse hitch? When do you have horses down- Oh this is cool." Eddie picked up a paddle with the string attached to it.

"Hey, check it out, Stan!" He began paddling it in the curly haired boy's face.

"Can you maybe not?" Stan said, flinching away fro Eddie.

"Oh, oh, oh, can you maybe not what? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe not what? Huh? Maybe not what? Be awesome and have fun and celebrate the magic of the paddle ball!"

The paddle ball broke and fell to the ground.

"Great job!" Maya clapped sarcastically, "Very entertaining. Are you taking notes?"

"Wow! Oh, good going fuck nut! You broke his thing!"

"Stan didn't break shit, Eds. That was all you."

"I broke it?"

"Yeah! You broke it with your face."

"What?" Stan looked down at the red ball, confused.

"Jesus, Eddie." Maya groaned, shaking her head.

"I'm not putting my fucking hand down there!"

Maya smiled as she looked around at the old clubhouse, her body being filled with nostalgia as she looked at all of the old posters and notes.

"Hey, losers!" A voice called from the darkness. Maya jumped back, her heart rate increasing almost immediately. "Time to float."

Maya started hyperventilating, closing her eyes as she stumbled back into the wall.

Laughter cut her off. Very familiar laughter. She popped her eyes open to reveal Richie cackling to himself.

"Fuck you!"

"You already have, babe."

"Ew.."

"Wait! Do you remember when he'd do that little dance?" Richie mimicked Pennywise's dance, moving his arms side to side. "Am I the only one that remembers that shit?"

"Tha-That was the dumbest dance I'd ever seen." Maya chuckled to herself.

"Are you two gonna be like this the entire time we're home?"

"Right.. just tryin' to add some levity to this shit.. I'll go fuck myself.. or Maya."

"Hey, you guys? This-This.. S-Stan.. For the use of Loser's only.."

"Thanks, Stan!" Maya took the lollipop out of her mouth to take the shower cap from him.

She began trying to tuck her hair into it, but she was struggling.

"Here, let me help." Beverly smiled kindly at her. Their hands worked together, trying to get Maya's thick hair into the small shower cap. Maya blushed as their hands brushed together briefly. Beverly managed to tuck Maya's long hair into the shower cap.

"Thanks, babe." Maya smiled gently at her girlfriend.

"No problem, beautiful." Beverly's lips turned into a smirk, but at the same time, it was a smile.

"What the fuck is this?" Richie roughly grabbed the shower cap from Stan.

"So you don't get spiders stuck in your hair when you're down here.." Stan explained innocently.

"Stanley, we're not afraid of fuckin' spiders." Richie threw the cap behind him and went back to reading his comic book. His eyes moved back to group, his eyebrow raising when he saw everyone in shower caps.

"I stand corrected.."

"That's a first." Beverly smirked, nudging her girlfriend. Maya giggled, rolling her eyes teasingly.

Eddie stepped forward to the hammock, "Hey, Richie! Your ten minutes are up."

"What are you talking about?" Richue pretended not to know.

"The hammock! Ten minutes each was the rule!"

"I don't see a sign." He said smugly, looking around the room.

Maya rolled her eyes, intertwining her fingers with Beverly, her other hand holding onto the lollipop stick.

"Are you really being this way now? Really? No, no, no, no! Why would there be a sign if it was a verbal agreement?"

"I don't remember that!"

Richie and Eddie continued to bicker as Mike sat on the swing they added.

"You agreed on the fucking ru- You know what?" Eddie got into the hammock with him.

Richie began fighting for space as he kicked Eddie gently. "I can see your vagina!"

"Nice one." Maya shook her head, glancing over at her girlfriend.

"Hey, guys? What do you think we'll do when we're older?" Maya asked, sitting on the ground. Beverly sat next to her, leaning her head on Maya's shoulder.

"I'll do anything to get the hell out of Derry." Richie scoffed, pushing Eddie's foot away when he smacked him in the face with it.

"You should go to New York City. Become a comedian or, like, an actor." Maya smiled, "You're funny enough for it. Just enough, though."

"You think s- Wait a minute, hey!"

"Maya! Stop flirting with Richie. I'm right here."

"I'm not flirting!" Maya defended, gently resting her hand on Beverly's thigh.

"Man, when I graduate, I'm gonna go down to Florida.." Mike smiled, raising his hands so that they were above his head on the swing.

"What's in Florida, Mike?" Ben asked, turning to face him.

"Oh, I-I don't know.. I guess it's just a place I've always wanted to go."

"Stan, you should go to Florida with Mike! You already act eighty, you'd fit in perfectly with all the old people. You could clean up with all the grandmas."

Stan rolled his eyes, looking away from Richie. He seemed to be thinking deeply.

"H-Hey guys.. Do you think we're all still gonna be friends? You know, when we're.. older?" He squeaked out.

"Um, hell yes! Over my dead body am I gonna let any of you go." Maya laughed, "Why wouldn't we still be friends?"

"I-I mean think about it.. do any of your parents still hang out with their friends from middle school? I mean.. things might be different then. We might be different then.." Stan looked genuinely worried.

"N-No.. we'll always be f-f-fr-friends.. I don't think that just g-g-g-go-goes away b-because we get older." Bill comforted.

"Yeah, I mean, Stan.. come on.. you don't have to be so.. sad."

"I miss him.." Maya muttered, tears forming in her eyes as she clutched the shower cap.

"He was old before his time.." Ben spoke sadly.

"I wonder what he was like all grown up.." Eddie said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Probably what he was like as a kid.. the best.." Richie muttered, staring into the darkness.

"He really was amazing, wasn't he?" Maya spoke, a soft smile on her face. Though, it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Alright, Mike, what are we doin' here?"

"The ritual.. it requires a sacrifice."

"Oh, shit! Like a human one? Are you gonna kill us, Mikey?"

"Sacrifice? I nominate Eddie."

"Wait, what?"

"Because you're little.. you'll fit on a barbecue."

"I'm like 5'9".. it's average height for most of the world.."

"It's not that kind of s-sacrifice, guys." Bill said.

"The past is buried… but you're going to have to dig it up piece by piece. And these pieces... these artifacts.. that's why we're here.. they are what you're sacrificing. And since Stan isn't here to find his, I figured we should all be here together to find his artifact."

"I think Bill just did that."

~~

"Thanks, Ben." Maya thanked him after he pulled her up from the clubhouse.

"Okay, Mike, so where do we find our tokens?"

"Yeah, I, uh, gotta be honest, man.. all due respect but this is fucking stupid. Alright? Why do we need tokens? We already remember everything. I mean, saving Bev, defeating IT.. I mean were caught up."

Maya nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I don't get it."

"It's not everything.. we fought, but what happened after that? Before the Niebolt house? Think."

Maya thought for a moment, her eyes widening when she realized.

"I-I can't remember."

"W-We c-can-can't remember." Bill nodded to Maya.

"See? There's more to our story, what happened that summer.. and those blank pages, like they're torn out of a book, that's what we need to remember. We need to split up. You each need to find your artifact.. alone. that's important."

"Split up?"

Mike nodded, "And when you find yours, meet me at the library tonight."

"I gotta say, statistically speaking, if you look at survival scenarios we're gonna do much better as a group." Eddie explained.

"Yeah, splitting up would be dumb, man. We gotta go together. Alright? We were together that summer, right?"

"No, not all of it."

Maya sighed, realizing she would have to go alone. But at least she knew what she was gonna get.

She knew exactly what she was gonna go get. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

{ Word Count: 1701 }

{ A/n: I feel like nobody reads Faker anymore :( }

{ Edited: No }