❝ so NOW i RISK it ALL,
just for the FEELING of JOY
you BRING me ❞
[ bill denbrough x oc ] [it 2017]
-
in which the sunshine girl of derry
offers six boys and one girl a friendship bracelet each,
ending up in a mess of a friendship and summer of...
APRIL WASN'T EXACTLY SURE WHAT SHE EXPECTED. She just knew that she didn't expect to be watching as five boys stripped themselves of their pants and shorts at the top of the quarry's cliff. She stood to the back, still by Bill's bike, her hand gripping onto the cold handlebar nervously.
The thought of pulling her dress off was frightening her, to reveal the large bandage on her arm. She hadn't mastered a lie! She hasn't a clue what she'd say if asked, which she would be.
She attempted to brush the worry away, listening as the five boys clear their throats loudly, gathering spit into their throats before spitting off the edge aggressively and she couldn't help but wonder 'what compelled them to find this fun?'.
"So easy," Richie chuckles, watching as Stan and Bill spit off.
Eddie sighing, looking down and watching as Bill's spit lands right onto a tree. "Poor tree," He murmurs, some of April's worry washing away as she shakes her head at Eddie's precious observation.
"So easy!" Richie repeats, Ben spitting before Eddie follows after — his spit barely making it off the edge. "Oh, my God. That was terrible. I win!" He laughs, adjusting his glasses as all the boys grimace.
Looking to him, Eddie shakes his head. "You won?".
"Yeah!" Richie responds, nodding his head eagerly.
"Did you see my loogie?" Eddie asks, pointing to the ground, April rolling her eyes as she walks towards the group and stands to the side of Richie, still in her dress.
"That went the farthest!" Richie argues, referring o his as Eddie scoffs. "It's by distance!".
"Mass. It's always been mass," Eddie argues back.
Richie stammers for a moment in disbelief, shaking his head. "What is mass?" He asks.
Quietly, looking at the ground April speaks up. "The amount of matter in something, Rich," She mumbles barely audible — she recalled it from science.
As it turned out, she was too quiet. " Who cares how far it goes? It matters how cool it looks, like it's green or it's white or juicy and fat," Eddie rambles on, getting 'Ew's in response from the others.
"All right," Bill interjects before Eddie could get into more detail, gesturing down to the water at the bottom of the cliff and only then did they all realize how terribly far the drop was. "Who's first?" He asks.
Richie laughs, nudging April playfully. "I've gotta say Ambie! Take that dress of yours off, let us see your legs—" He begins, getting cut off by a voice from behind them.
"I'll go!" They all turn, seeing Beverly drop her bike and stripping herself of her cream dress before running towards the cliff. "Sissies," She laughs.
"What the fuck!" Richie shouts, watching as her body hurls itself off the cliff and land in the green water with a loud splash. "Oh, holy shit! She just got showed up by a girl," He stares down in disbelief.
Stan speaks up, looking to Richie nervously. "Do we have to do that now?" He asks nervously as April begins to feel her throat tighten up at the thought of her taking off her dress.
Quietly, Eddie looks to Stan with wide eyes. "Yes," He mumbles.
"Come on!" Beverly calls to them from the bottom. "April, you haven't even taken off your dress!" She adds, a smile on her face directed towards the usually sunny girl, all heads turning to April as she breathes in a breath sharply.
They have questioning looks on their faces and she felt her throat tighten more and more. "I—Uh, heights! N-Not my strong suit," She rambles, gripping her wounded forearm nervously. "I-I-I... Uh, I... L-Like I was saying, heights! S-S-Scary, right?" She rambles, the boys wearing confused looks before Richie shakes his head.
"You're stuttering worse than Big Bill and that's saying something," He laughs before plunging himself off the cliff and into the air before his body is entrapped within the cool water.
The rest follow, April standing in the same spot, staring down at the water. She hasn't even noticed that Bill hadn't jumped yet — her eyes were so trained on the ground. That lie was terrible. She wasn't scared of heights. In fact, she'd probably jump to the opportunity of jumping off the cliff first had she not of been... Scratched.
"S-S-Sunshine," She's brought out of her thoughts by Bill's voice, her eyes snapping towards him as he walks towards her shyly.
She hums, biting the inside of her cheek. He could totally tell she was lying. "Yes?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows to feign innocence.
He puts an hand on her arm lightly, looking to her in concern. "Are y-y-you okay?" He asks noticing the way she flinched at the touch. "You aren't afraid o-o-of heights, a-are you?" He presses on at the silence he received from his previous question.
She sucks in a breath, nervousness radiating off her. Bill has never seen her so... Not happy before. She shakes her head, no. "I'm not," She says, teeth chattering at the thought of having to lie more. "I just... I've got... Yesterday, after you dropped me off..." She trails, fiddling with the bracelet on her wrist.
He nods, indicating to her that he's listening to her words — eyes filled with concern. "I... Went to the backyard to grab the toolbox for my dad," She ponders does a moment. "And, uh, a tree branch, it... Uh, scratched me," She goes on, her shaking hand lifting up her sleeve and revealing the bandage wrapped around her arm.
Bill's eyes soften. Sensing that what she was telling him was a twist of the truth, considering the way she paused to think and stumbled — it was clear. However, if she wasn't comfortable telling him, he didn't want to press. "A-A-Are you o-o-okay? D-Do you want m-me to ask E-Eddie to..." He trails off as April shakes her head.
"No, no. It's okay, Billy. It's fine," She declines the offer. "I guess, since the jig is up, I might as well," She rambles, looking down at her blue dress shyly. Bill's eyes glassed over before realizing what she meant and turning away despite the fact that he'd be seeing her either way.
Hurriedly, she lifts her dress off her body and drops it to the ground. "So, me or you?" She asks after a moment, Bill looking back to her with a small smile, attempting to ignore the large bandage on her arm and push his curiosity aside.
"H-How about," He mumbles, taking her hand in his in a split second — fast enough for him not to think anything of it. Fast enough for him to hurl them both off the cliff and towards the water.
For a moment, while they fell into the water, hands still intertwined, he got a glimpse of her in a state that seemed so fitting. A laugh escaping her, her eyes crinkled and hair flooding the air like a halo. "Billy!" She laughs as they smack into the water and begin swimming up from under.
Somehow, they remained to have their hands locked. Only now feeling the range of emotions in their heads. The way their hearts were facing and heads were turning as they stared at one another with water droplets dripping from their hair and into their eyes.
'There's something about April Ambrose...' Bill thought as he watched her smile as him widely, eyes sparkling in the sun. 'Something that felt like home,'. And, for the first time in a terribly long time, Bill felt at peace with himself — if only, it couldn't stayed like this forever.
