The Bowers gang

5

Hey guys I hope you like it. This might be a little longer because this time line has only been within like less than a week so...

I run inside and find my dad sitting on the couch with his head buried in his hands. He must've had to stay a long time at work last night. I walk over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. "Hey Dad I'm sorry I accidentally fell asleep at my...friends house and woke up late. I hope you can forgive me." He looks up at me with his eyes staring into mine. He sighs and pulls me into a hug, chuckling. "Of course I can! I totally understand last night must've made the both of us really tired. I'm glad you wrote the note for me." I'm relieved and hug him. "I know I just got home but can I go to my other friends house? It's not far." He gets up and swings around my braids around like jump rope. "Sure Danielle I'll  see you later. Just make sure to check in or leave a note if you stay somewhere tonight." I kiss him on the cheek and run up to my room. Damn my dad is really laid back.

I open the door to see Spike on my bed. I give him a nice pat and check my drawers. I pick out a dark red long sleeve v neck with strings tied together at the top. I know it's summer, but in Derry the temperature is cool. I wear my jeans and my boots. I decide to take out my braids because I've worn them in for a while. My hair falls down and is super wavy. I walk out of my room and realized my glasses were still on. Whatever. I yell goodbye and close the door.

I walk around back to see them all playing catch. I walk over to Belch who was  taking a break and I ask, "can I borrow your gloves?" He smiles and nods. "Go right ahead." He opens a beer as I slip the baseball glove on and walk over. Henry Patrick and Victor were in a circle. Henry backs up as he sees me and goes across the yard. "Dani you wanna play?! Catch this and then you can." He chucks the ball over and I push my glasses up. "Ill try..." I say and keep my gloved hand up in the air. They laughed as the ball got closer. I catch the ball easily and all of their jaws dropped. I laugh at them and say, "So can I play?" I am good with books but I guess they didn't expect me to be good at sports, too. "....Okay so what can't you do?" I sigh and and quietly say, "I can't swim." "IM SORRY WHAT WAS THAT I COULDN'T HEAR" "I CANT FUCKING SWIM BOWERS!" I wait for him to say something and then he smirks. For the millionth fucking time. "Who wants to go to the barrens?!" They all cheer and I flipped him off. He and the rest go inside the house except for Victor who walks over to me. "If you don't want to go with us it's fine." I can tell he kind of cares and I smile. "It's fine. I'll be okay. It's probably only a few feet deep." He touches my hand and I just stare at it. "I'm going to get my stuff from inside. See you in 10?" I nod and walk to my house. I get out a green bathing suit. I put my clothes back on overtop and grab a towel. I write a note after I saw my dad snoozing on the couch. I say bye to Spike and close the door.

~
The rest of the boys walk ahead as I walk with Victor. We chat and joke around. Soon we get there and stand over the water. It's probably like 50 feet down and I gulp. Victor grabs my hand and looks at me. "I can do it I just have to wave my arms around when I'm in the water. Right?" He laughs a little. "Something like that."

Everyone is getting out of their clothes so I do so too. I can feel eyes on me but I just continue to put stuff down including my glasses. Belch jumps in first and screams the way down. Patrick comes from behind me as Henry and Victor jump down. "Patrick? Don't you dare..." He laughs and  drops me off the edge. "Shiiiiit!" I say as I fall down and crash into the water. Oh no, it's a lot deeper than I thought. I come back up but struggle to keep my head up. I feel someone scoop me up and I see Victor holding me. I hold on tightly and turn to see Patrick splash into the water and I push his head back in. He comes back up and Victor and I both look at him. "You're an ass Patrick." I laugh at him when he starts to feel really bad and I say, "It's fine. Don't stress about it."

Victor and I branch off from the rest of them so he could teach me how to swim. He's still holding me and my legs are wrapped around his waist. I get off until my feet are able to touch the bottom. "Okay here's what you're going to do..."

I kinda have the hang of it I guess. If I were to be thrown into the water again I would be ok. We all change back and I hold onto my jeans. Victor walks with me in the front of everyone and I could hear the others talk about us. I distract Victor so he doesn't hear them too. "So, How long do you think it takes to get back to Henry's?" He thinks and says, "Like about five minutes." "I bet I can make it there in two minutes!" "Is that a challenge?!" I start to hold him back so I can get a head start. He takes my hand and pushes me aside but I run the other way and try to make it first. "Race you there!" We both run as fast as we could to Henry's and I win by a few feet. "Not fair! You had a head start!" I catch my breath and shrug, "You snooze you lose."