Chapter Two:
Unapproved Thoughts
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

      Maya laid the bike carefully by the tree, before running over to her group of friends.

      "What's up, losers?" She shouted, shimmying out of her shorts and pulling her shirt over her head. "Which one of you is going first?"

      Eddie cleared his throat and looked away from the girl standing in front of him. He had always thought Maya was incredibly beautiful, he never wanted to admit it, but he had a huge crush on her.

      "Damn, hotstuff you're hiding a hot body under those clothes." Richie winked, teasingly. "But of course, I already knew that. If you know what I mean."

      "Beep, beep, Rich." she retailed, rolling her eyes, quickly covering herself up with her arms. Her confidence draining with the stares of the boys set on her.

      "Alright, who's first?" Bill asked, turning around and looking back down at the quarry.

      "I'll go!" Maya turned around quickly at the sound of a feminine voice. Her eyes landing on Beverly, who was taking off her dress. Maya's jaw dropped as she quickly tried to recover. Tearing her eyes away from the redhead, she turned back to the quarry, suddenly feeling guilty for admiring Beverly in that way within her permission.

      "Yeah, uh, m-me too" she managed out. Scratching her arm and pulling on the hairties on her wrist. Richie stopped her quickly after, giving her a look to ask if she was okay. Maya smiled shortly, nodding her head.

      Maya knew she would have to tell him soon. She couldn't hide it forever, especially not from Richie. He knew her far too well to try and hide anything from him.

      Beverly smiled brightly and grabbed her hand. Maya felt nervousness flood her body. She felft worry wash over her, as well. She was pulled out of her trance as Beverly yanked on her arm lightly.

      "Sissies!" Beverly yelled taking off running, with Maya on her tail.

      Maya fell down to the quarry, screaming. She was confused, she had caught herself staring at the girl more than once, and they've only known each other for two days. It wasn't fair to Beverly.

      "What the fuck?" She heard Richie's yell from above, giggling slightly and turning towards the redhead.

      "Holy shit! We just shown up by a girl!" Richie groaned.

      "Two girls." Eddie corrected.

"Do we have to do that now?" Stan asked, nervously.

      "Yes." Eddie said looking down at Maya, he wanted to impress her by being brave, so he jumped, only to regret it seconds after.

      "Come on!" Beverly shouted up to them before looking back to Maya.

      "You cut your hair?" Maya tilted her head as her blue eyes looked over Beverly's features. Beverly nodded with a smile on her face.

      "Yeah, I did! Does it look good?" She asked doing a small twirl while laughing

      "Incredible." Maya confirmed, only then noticing the splashing of the boys beside her. Maya tore her eyes away from the girl, and to the boys. She looked around until she found Richie and swam towards him.

      "Hey, I need to talk to you after the quarry." Maya whispered in his ear.

      "Okay." He nodded, Maya whispered a quick thank you, before turning to swim back towards her new friend.

      Maya watched her group of friends having a chicken-fight, giggling as Richie successfully knocked Beverly off of Bill's shoulders. He threw his hands up in victory and looked towards Maya. She smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. While the boys played she swam over to Beverly.

      "Hey, Bev, do you wanna have a sleepover tomorrow? It can be at my house?" Maya asks, nervously. She hoped she wasn't coming off as weird or creepy.

      Maya barely caught the "I'll ask my dad." Maya nodded as she stared at the girl. Her mind traveling quickly to thoughts about her.

      What is wrong with me? I need to get this under control. Maya felt scared as she swam over to the rock taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

      "Hey, where you goin' Maya?" Richie called, causing her to freeze in place.

      "O-Oh, no where in particular. Just gonna go tan." She replied, picking up her towel. Richie seemed satisfied with her answer, causing Maya to let out a sigh of relief.

      As she walked up the path to the cliff, more thoughts flooded her mind. Thoughts about Beverly. Thoughts that the small town of Derry would not approve of.

~~~~~~~

      While all the boy's eyes were on Beverly, expect for Eddie's, his eyes were on Maya, she desperately tried to tear her eyes away from the girl. She was unsuccessful, that is, until Beverly turned her head to look at the group.

      Maya's eyes widen as she quickly looked away from her and over to Richie and Stan, striking up a conversation with the two.

      She was too busy trying to distract herself, she didn't even notice Beverly's eyes travel over her body quickly. Beverly caught herself before they could linger, though, and she wondered why she did that. Lost in thought, she didn't look away from Maya.

      When Maya let her eyes fall to Beverly's again, she saw that Beverly was already looking at her. She felt her face heat up and her heart start racing. But, as she looked at her time seemed to stand still. For a short while, the moment didn't last long, because Richie had unknowingly interrupted it.

      "News flash, Ben, schools out for summer! Oh, that's not school stuff." Richie pulled out a postcard as Maya stood up to sit next to him. "Who sent you this?"

     "No one!" Ben said, pulling it away from him.

      "Oooo, does Ben have a secret admirer?" Maya teased, taking the postcard from Richie and reading  it. "Oh! Or is Ben the secret admirer?"

      Ben's cheeks reddened, as he snatched the card back. "It's nothing!"

     bMaya shrugged and raised her hands in surrender.

      "What's with the history project?" Eddie asked, looking at the papers Richie had pulled from Ben's bag.

      "Oh.. well, when I first moved here I didn't really have anyone to hangout with, so I went to the library." Ben explained sadly.

      "Well, now you have us!" Maya smiled and reached over to pat him on the shoulder.

      "You went to the library? On purpose?" Richie teased. Maya scoffed and hit him on the shoulder.

      "Oh, I wanna see!" Beverly said excitedly as she got up to sit next to Bill. While she looked over his shoulder Eddie explained what the black spot was to Maya and Stan.

      "Y-y-your hair-" Bill started, looking towards Beverly.

      "Your hair is beautiful, Beverly" Ben said, cutting Bill off.

      "Oh, right, thanks." Beverly blushed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Maya felt a twang of jealousy as she stared at the boys looking at her, but she quickly brushed it off.

      We aren't dating. She thought. She wouldn't date me, anyway, she doesn't even like girls. Maya sighed as she tuned out the rest of the conversation, reading over Stan and Richie's shoulders.

      "-Six times the national average.. and that's just grown-ups. Kids are worse. Way way worse." Maya heard as she tuned back in.

      Oh shit. I shouldn't have tuned out. She thought. She got up and walked over to her clothes. Putting them on she listened to them agree to go to Ben's.

~~~

      Maya walked into Ben's room, listening to whatever Richie was babbling about now. Something about an old man phone. She looked around the room plastered with newspaper articles in awe. As she read each of them, her confusion grew.

      Ben was right. The ratio of tragedies with children compared to tragedies with adults was terrifying. Why were all the kids dying and why were the events all so.. too common to be coincidences? What was happening?

"-Later that winter.. they all disappeared without a trace." Ben explained. Damn. I really need to stop tuning out. Maya thought. She walked over to look at the sticky note, and was shocked to see such a high number. How could ninety-one people just.. vanish? Without a trace?

       "The entire camp?" Eddie asked, astonished.

      "That sounds like Roanoke.." Maya whispered to herself. Maya listened intently as Ben talked about the event and the only clue being bloody clothes.

      She turned around just as Beverly shut the door, revealing a New Kids On The Block poster. Maya gasped quietly, she loved that group! She hoped that they could talk about it later.

      As Beverly opened the door, she caught eyes with Maya. Maya's breath hitched as she looked at her, and she knew, she had to do something about this crush, because she can't hide it forever. She was gonna talk to Richie. Tonight. Her mind was made up.

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{ Word Count: 1485 }

{ A/n: I'm gonna write a cute coming out scene. }

{ Edited: Yes }