Math class~~~ Stan Uris x reader //COMPLETE//

Chapter Five: Swimming

I showered, skipping washing my face because I didn't want to take my eyes off the closet. I quickly dressed, pulling my shirt over my head as fast as possible. Dressed, I went to open the door and found it locked, though I hadn't done that. I felt phantom fingertips tracing my neck, making me shudder, then the door unlocked and I burst out. The hairs on the back of my neck stood all throughout breakfast.
~
I arrived at the quarry at around eleven AM, because I didn't want to be alone when I arrived. Stan was the only one there.
"Hi," he said quietly.
"Hello," I replied shyly.
We stood in awkward silence, I because I was afraid to talk in case I sounded like an ass or an idiot, and I don't know about him.
"Has anything weird happened to you lately?" I asked.
He looked into my eyes, studying me. "Maybe, what type of weird thing?"
"Scary things," I said, immediately regretting it because I sounded like a child. "Horrifying, really. Nightmares and hallucinations."
His eyes got a bit wider for a fraction of a second, his eyebrows raising a little bit in surprise. "You're sure they're hallucinations?" He asked.
"Not sure," I said cautiously.
"I saw a woman with white eyes and a flute," Stan admitted.
"Tall and looked a bit like a painting?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied. "You saw her too."
"And a clown," I said. I didn't speak of the version of him that hated me.
"I didn't see any clowns, but Bill did," he said.
"At least I know I'm not hallucinating, then," I said, "but whatever is happening might make me wish I was."
"Agreed," Stan said, as Richie and Bill came.
"Hello," I said politely.
"Hi," they said dismissively. I knew they liked Beverly, not me, but I didn't hold a grudge. Let them like who they want, and not like who they want.
Bill, Stan and Richie talked amongst themselves, and I sat alone on a rock, waiting for Beverly and stealing occasional glances at Stan. Ben came, then Beverly, and finally Eddie. Mike never showed up; he was probably just busy.
"We should do some swimming," Beverly suggested. Eddie said something about his mother, but we all stripped to our underwear. Beverly was going to go first, but she grabbed my wrist and pulled me with her.
"BEVERLY!" I yelled, but I was already on my way into the water with my friend.
The boys jumped in after us, and we had a water war. Soon, Beverly was on Bill's shoulders and Richie was on Ben's, and they were trying to knock each other over, the rest of us splashing and pushing both of them. To my surprise, Stan picked me up onto his shoulders and I joined in, splashing Beverly and knocking Richie down. I fell off Stan's shoulders, giggling, leaving Bill and Beverly the winners. I was shocked at how Stan had just picked me up; I thought he didn't like me. Don't be an idiot, I told myself. He doesn't like you like that, he just wanted to join in.
I overthought it, analyzing everything. He probably only liked me as a friend, otherwise he would be uncomfortable with picking me up, right? Or did he not like me at all and just felt bad? I knew I wasn't one of them, only Beverly's friend. He probably disliked me, even, and just wanted to play or felt bad. But what if he liked me? My thoughts ran in circles as we splashed around.
~
We went to the shore, playing a radio, and Beverly and I lie down next to one another. I felt eyes on me, so I cracked my own to look at who from behind my shaded sunglasses. Bill and Ben were only looking at Beverly, and Richie and Eddie were looking at both of us. I noticed that Stan was actually looking at me... did that mean he liked me? I must have shown on my face that I had seen, because all the guys looked away, suddenly busy and social. Beverly and I shared a smirk, but as I heard people talking about routine deaths I got up to look. The guys had a very old newspaper. The headlines were EASTER EXPLOSION KILLS 88 CHILDREN, 102 TOTAL and something about a massacre — I didn't finish reading it before it got passed around, because Richie's hands were covering the second headline.
"What's with the history project?" Richie asked.
I lost myself in thought for the rest of the conversation, not butting in but looking over Bill's shoulder when he was showing Beverly.
It probably freaked me out more than it should, with the murders and the weird scary experience things. I went to go sit my the edge, dangling my toes in the water.
After about a minute, Stan came to sit by me.
"Hey," I said distantly.
"Hey," he replied quietly, "are you okay?"
"Not really," I admitted with a small smile devoid of much happiness. "These things don't make any sense. Why is this stuff happening? Why has it happened in a recurring pattern?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, but I think we need to make it stop before it gets worse."
"Yeah, that would probably be best. I think it's getting stronger with each victim," I replied. "Though I suppose I don't have any proof."
"It could be," Stan said. "I hope not, though, because if it happens like that until somebody forces it back, then what if it kills us instead of us killing it and it just gets worse?"
"That's...a disturbing scenario, to say the least," I said with a quiet and shaky laugh. I put my hand over his, hoping he wouldn't notice or that he wouldn't mind. I was scared to death doing just that, scared of rejection.
He did react, but by actually taking my hand. I smiled, enjoying the moment. No matter how bad the morning was, this had just turned into the best day ever.

~

I'm gonna stop it there, but only because it's twice the length of a normal chapter (which are short, I know, but still) and I don't want you to become bored or lose interest. Well, there you go, and now it has romance instead of just a retelling of the 2017 It remake in book form. In a different POV. But we're getting there. Thank you to anyone who reads and who stuck with me until this point. And please comment if you don't like it (or if it needs improvement, or if you like it etc.) and tell me WHY. I want to get better at this and my English teacher is crappy so please? Thanks so much for reading :)