YELLOW | EDDIE KASPBRAK

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN
SATURDAY
11:48 PM

SIX SAT IN THE GRASS, her back leaning up against the chain-link fence of the baseball diamond, her bike on the ground next to her. She'd shown up a little early to meet the boys before their escapades in the barrens, because that morning happened to be a rare one where Tommy was still there. She woke up, saw him in the living room, smoking a cigarette and grinning creepily at her and she immediately bolted.

She almost knocked on Eddie's door to see if he wanted to leave early with her, but the closest she got was the middle of the street. She was terrified of being face to face with his mother, terrified of the rejection she'd feel from her. Eddie Kaspbrak was Six's best friend, and she wasn't going to let his mother get into her head and ruin everything.

So she stood in the middle of the road for a minute, waiting to see if he'd see her and come outside, but when he didn't, she left for the diamond without him.

She scooted away from the fence, laying down on her back and staring up at the clouds, her hands behind her head. Despite how shitty she felt after seeing Tommy, she couldn't help but smile a little. She was waiting for her friends, actual friends. That was something she never thought she'd be doing again.

She blinked as a pop of color drifted into her vision, in the form of a red balloon floating in the sky. She watched it in wonder as it seemed to stop above her, and start to make its way down to her, like it was deflating slowly but steadily. Her brows knitted together in confusion, watching it get closer and closer to the ground.

"Hey, Six"

She jumped at the sudden voice, letting out a small scream as she sat up quickly, her hand on her chest, "Jesus Christ, Uris! Give me a fucking heart attack, why don't ya?"

"Sorry," he said quietly, the toe of his shoe pushing out the his kickstand of his bike, making sure it was balanced before he sat down next to her. He looked over at her, his eyes squinting a little bit at the midday sun. She was looking up at the sky again, confusion written all over her face, "What are you looking at?"

"I thought I saw-," she paused, her eyes scanning the sky again for the balloon that had disappeared completely, "Nevermind, it's nothing"

She turned her head back towards him, pulling her knees up to her chest as she smiled at him, "How are you on this fine morning, Stanley?"

He seemed taken back a little, like he wasn't used to people asking him how he felt or how he was doing, "I'm alright"

Six frowned, swaying to the side to bump their shoulders together, "Whats wrong?"

"Huh? Nothing, I said I was alright," he said, his voice sounding just as confused as Six was when she was searching for the disappearing balloon.

"No, you're not," she scoffed, her bangs flicking against her forehead as the breeze whipped against them, "No witty remark about how I almost pissed myself when you scared me? Plus, you've been here for at least five minutes, there is a bird in that tree over there and you have yet to get out your little bird book and try to tell me all about that specific bird. Somethings bothering you"

Stan felt his chest tug a little, and he almost smiled at her. He'd known her a significantly less amount of time than he'd known all his other friends, but they were so close already that she could tell that he was upset by the smallest little things, "Just kinda freaked out about my bar mitzvah. I put off preparing for it for so long and now I can't get any of my Hebrew right for what I need to recite. I'm nervous Im gonna mess up and it's only like two weeks away"

She scoffed again, a warm look on her face, "Stanley Uris? Messing something up? Unheard of."

He went to protest but Six didn't let him, "Stan, you passed our social studies class with a 110%. You're the smartest kid I know, you gotta have more faith in yourself than this, you know? You gotta believe in you as much as I do"

"You do?"

"Well, duh," she laughed, her hand pushing his arm lightly, "Out of everyone I know, you're the kid I know for sure is gonna get out of Derry. I've known that since before we even became friends. This bar mitzvah thing is just gonna be another thing you're great at, and Richie and I will be there to simultaneously be proud of you and embarrass you by cheering too loud"

"You're gonna go?" he asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Well, yeah," she said, nodding her head happily, "That's what friends are for"

He nodded too, silently agreeing with her as they watching Bill, Eddie and Richie all ride down the road towards them. Eddie adorned a sour look on his face, which Six immediately assumed was from Richie teasing him about something.

But he was just upset that it looked like she'd chosen Stan over him that day. He waited outside her house for 10 minutes before he noticed her bike was already gone. They always waited for each other on Saturdays, but she'd left early to come and sit with Stan? He didn't know why it made him so upset, but it did.

Maybe he was just mad because she was his friend first, he had first dibs. But he shook that thought out of his head quickly. If Six ever heard him say he had 'dibs' on her, she'd throw something at him.

"Hey, guys," Stan said, standing up from the grass and wiping off the back of his shorts. He held his hand down to Six, which she gladly excepted as he pulled her up.

If looks could kill, Stan and Six's hands would both be amputated and dead in the grass by then. They jumped on their bikes, all beginning to ride away towards the barrens, except Six and Eddie. She was still trying to wipe blades of grass off the back of her legs and he was begrudgingly waiting for her.

"Hi Eds," she gave him a quickly smile before looking back down to what she was doing, once she'd gotten all the grass off herself, she picked up her bike and swung her leg over the seat, "I had to leave my house really early, Tommy spent the night and I didn't wanna be there with him. I waited for you but after like 20 minutes, a girl gets bored"

"Oh," was all he said, the angry expression wiping off his features as she looked back up at him, giving him a toothy grin.

"I'll wait for you tomorrow, though. I promise"

He nodded, watching her push her bike off the grass and begin riding it down the street, going extremely slow and looking back at him, waiting for him to follow her.

For a split second, she thought she saw a red balloon floating across the field behind him.

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LEE FINALLY UPDATES HER IT FIC????? WHAT????
ITS BEEB 39383738383838 YEARS

also we love a good stan and six friendship development