CHAPTER THREE
jump.

...

She hadn't even let herself think about it.

If she had, then she would've ended up over-thinking, then she would've backed out in front of the boys. Nicole would've embarrassed herself-- so she just ran.

And jumped, Beverly right beside her. It felt as if they were suspended in mid-air for a whole year, held there by the stopping of time. Then, all too fast, they were falling. The water was rushing closer.

"Holy shit!" Someone had yelled above her.

Then she hit the water with little sound, slipping beneath the cold surface, gone without a trace.

Until, of course, Nicole popped up from the water, sputtering and coughing. But she was ecstatic. She whooped loudly as the boys followed the girls... more hesitantly, of course.

She had been stewing over that jump for hours the previous night, over-thinking in the comfort of her home as her parents fought below her.

Nic knew she'd laugh it off in later years, jokingly being teased for being scared of such a jump. For now, she could enjoy the thrill.

"I could hear you screaming all the way down, Nic. Like, I bet Beverly is deaf now." Richie piped up as the seven of them swam to the shallower side. By then, Nicole could touch the bottom with her feet.

"Oh, screw you, Richie. At least I didn't hesitate. And you wanna talk about screaming all the way down." She snickered as she cast her gaze towards Bill, who scoffed in mock-offence.

"Y-you'll regret that, Nicole." He stated, earning a laugh from the girl.

"Oh? Is that a threat, or a promise?"

"You pick." Bill shrugged nonchalantly, letting Nicole turn around before he struck.

Suddenly, Nicole was lifted into the air. She yelped, fear of the creature beneath her gripping her stomach hard... until she realized that it was, in fact, Bill. Richie excitedly shoved Eddie under the water, then climbed up onto his shoulders.

Eddie came back up sputtering and cursing at Richie, but the thrill of the fight soon set in and both boys had their target-- Nicole perched on Bill's shoulders.

Nic's fingers locked with Richie's and both kids began to push against each other, aiming to throw the other off.

"Give it up, Nicole. I'm just too great!" Richie yelped, suddenly thrown off balance. She jutted her foot out, catching his, and jerked her leg upwards. This threw his leg off centre on Eddie's shoulders. The strain became too much really quick and, soon, the smaller boy was falling and taking Richie down with him.

"Yeah, too great my ass. You're such a ditz sometimes, Tozier." She snickered. Richie splashed at Bill and Nicole, but they were already going down. Bill locked his fingers around her ankles and fell backwards, tugging Nicole with him as she yelped in protest. "Bill!" She coughed when they both came back to the surface, chests filled with laughter.

"I told y-y-you." Bill smiled. True.

"Fine. You know, at least we beat Rich and Eddie." She chuckled. "We're the reigning champions."

Ben and Bev challenged them next, to which a tie was settled after long debate. At one point, Richie, Eddie and Stan attempted to stack all three, making the "ultimate challenger", but that sadly ended quite prematurely. Bev and Nic went up to retrieve the boombox.

Nicole made her way to the shoreline, where the boys were sat. They were cracking jokes, but quickly fell quiet as the music came on. Nicole and Beverly laid out in the sunlight, drying their wet hair and warming their cold skin.

Of course, everyone was in their underwear and if they were awkward at all, then it would've been uncomfortable. Nicole was comfortable and that was all that really mattered to her. She closed her eyes, feeling okay for the first time in a while... being away from home and the school really put colour into her life.

She felt a chill run up her spine and her eyes popped open. When her eyes shifted to the boys, theirs diverted away from the two, faces flushing. She smiled.

"Hey, Nic, you like this one?" Bev held something in her hands. After a quick look, Nicole determined that it was her book-- Anne of Green Gables. She nodded sheepishly.

"Uh, yeah... it's pretty good. Good to... pass... the time?" She stumbled over her words and Bev sent her a smile.

"One of my favourites. Good choice, I like your taste in books." She winked, then got up and moved to where Ben was sitting. He was explaining a strange occurrence in Derry-- the fact that people there died way more than the rest of the United States.

Nicole was suddenly intrigued, too, and set the book down to scootch up beside Bill. He shifted beside her as she peered at Ben's folder, which held many different papers and entries about the occurrences. Kids just... disappearing. That sent a chill up and down Nicole's spine.

Georgie. Betty.

Holy shit.

She bit her tongue, drawing back quickly. Bill was watching her, curiosity glazing his eyes. She had seen it, what was doing this... it...

Her eyes began to sting, welling with what she hoped wasn't tears. How could she be friends with these people? She had seen Bill's little brother disappear, she hadn't said anything just from stupid fear.

But, what if it wasn't stupid? This seemed to be a pattern...

"I have more cool stuff back at my house, if you wanna see?" Ben suggested. Nicole felt her lungs collapsing. Eddie shook his head, but stayed silent as the others agreed.

"I should go home." Nicole stood quickly, collecting her clothes and book.

"Wait, it's barely even noon. This could be so cool." Beverly argued. Nicole was just pulling her dress on as she spoke.

"Y-y-yeah. It could h-have something to do with... G-georgie."

Nicole did her last button up, then sighed.

"But... but its not fun to hear about missing children. We, of all people, should know this... right?" She looked around the group, then she shoved her book into her backpack.

The others were getting dressed around her, too.

Ben paused. "Well, its not just kids. There's a lot about Derry's history that's not just... dead people. Like... something strange is here... I can show you guys." He looked around the group.

Nicole's eyes drifted to Bill, who nodded. "Okay. I'll go."

And, with those words out there, she tried to forget the way Bill's eyes lit up.

If only he knew what she'd seen.

...

The seven kids arrived at Ben's swiftly, dropping their bikes on his lawn. Nicole guessed his parents weren't home or something because the group just... walked in. He led them through the house, then ran ahead to what they assumed was his room.

Richie chuckled, but the others were just plain confused.

They entered his room and Nicole's jaw dropped. The walls were covered with newspaper articles and assorted blurbs about Derry. The past, the strange occurrences and, of course, the missing and dead people.

The group fanned out through the room as they checked out all of the history. Nicole's eyes ran across Ben's desk, then she couldn't help but smile when she spotted a familiar cover. She dug it out from under some old books and turned to the nearest person.

Who happened to be Bill. A sly smile rested on her lips as she flashed the cover of Anne of Green Gables.

"He's got good taste, I'll say that for sure." She snickered, which made Bill laugh.

"I ha-ha-haven't read that one, yet." He came closer to her, brushing her arm as he took the book and examined it. Nicole couldn't look at the book, couldn't pull her eyes off of him. She watched his brow tighten in concentration, lips moving to a silent rhythm as he scanned through the first page.

When he finally looked back at her, he just met her eyes. Wild and full of wanderlust.

Then she smiled. "You should. It's pretty good, to pass the time." He smiled back, holding her gaze. Her stomach was full of butterflies, but... this felt like where she was supposed to be.

"Look at this." Ben called the group over and Nicole's cheeks suddenly flushed bright red. She hurried past Bill, searching for what Ben was looking at and pretending like she hadn't just admitted to herself that she liked the boy.

A picture stood out... to her, at least.

She couldn't see why until she got around Richie. Her eyes must have raked across that page a thousand times, then she blinked and rubbed her eyes. She shook her head.

That fucking clown had been tormenting her dreams since the night Georgie disappeared. It showed up in the shadows, eyes glowing... hungry. It stalked her like she was some kind of prey, but never came too close.

And here he was, in this old fucking picture from Derry's past.

She shoved her finger onto it's freaky face. "What the fuck is that? You... you guys can see it, right?" She looked to them. Richie pushed his glasses up his nose, squinting.

"You mean the fucking clown?"

Relief washed over her. "Yeah... why is it... here? Look at its face..." She scowled at the picture.

"I didn't notice that at first... it's strange." Ben whispered.

"You were saying that this... thing happens every... how long?" She looked to Ben, but a voice came from the back.

"Twenty... s-seven."

"Yeah... twenty-seven years apart. People start disappearing randomly from Derry. All presumed dead and they're very rarely ever seen again. Never seen alive." Ben clarified. Nicole felt her stomach drop.

Eddie sighed. "Shit... okay, I see. Cool. We... we aren't gonna go missing, too, are we--"

"No." Nicole shook her head. No, she was going to make sure they didn't. These people were her friends, and on her life she was going to make sure that they made it out.

At least until they discovered her secret... until she lost the only people she cared about. Oh yeah, she knew that she was just setting herself up to fall... but she didn't care because, looking around at those Losers, she realized something.

Oh, but that's for another day.