**Say What You Mean Out Loud**

~ F O U R T E E N ~

Bowers you asshole

Greyson Elliot fiddled with her straw, sipping on her water and watching Stanley read the Torah.
"Well why is Richie mad, though? Did Bill do something?"

Stan sighed and glanced at her from the side.
"I don't want to talk about it! Can you seriously not remember?"

She rolled her eyes.
"What? Was my bloody vomit not indication enough?" She poked him in side playfully. "Need me to do it again?"

He snickered and pushed her.
"No, please don't." He smiled.

She fake barfed on him, shooting her hands out like they were flying from her mouth.
The two kids laughed, sitting incredibly close to each other on the bench now.

They stared at each other with idiotic smiles plastered on their faces.
Grey cleared her throat and sat up.

"W-well I should be walking down to the arcade soon. Unless you wanna give me a ride?" She smiled, reaching for her jacket hanging on the back of the booth.

"I'm uh, I'm not supposed to leave till my dad gets here." He sighed.
She shrugged and stood up.

"Wait! Uh, you can stay a little longer, c-can't you?" Stan wrung his hands, and Grey laughed.

"Why? You seem like you don't really need me here."
He nodded. "Of course I do! Uh, come w-with me?"

They stood up and walked to back to his father's office.
Stan cautiously opened the door, peeking around the room and speed walking to the bookshelf on the other side.

Grey moseyed in and watched him curiously.
"Are you okay?" She asked him.
He shielded his eyes from an ugly painting on the wall, and grabbed Grey's hand to drag her out of there.

"Stanley, what's wrong?"
He shut the door behind him and shook his head.
"I just don't like it in there. That painting... that's when I saw..."

She frowned and rubbed her shoulder.
"The clo-"
"Let's not talk about it." He interrupted, walking back to the booths.

She followed him, sitting beside him on the booth.
"Stanley, if we never talk about it than we can never get past it."

She kept her voice low and calm, as not to disrupt the gentle quietness of the Temple.
"I don't want to have to worry about it. It's summer! I don't want to get killed by some freaking monster!"

She sighed and leaned against his arm.
"Stanley. You jumped into a quarry. You went to Neibolt and came face to face with the devil. You stood up for me when I couldn't stand up for myself."

Stan smiled and nudged her.
"You do remember then?"
"I just wanted you to remember."

He scoffed. "I remember that day vividly."
"Of course you don't. You think you're still just a scared kid. And you are so not."

She looked up at him and his smile slowly faded.
They stared at each other wistfully, an unnameable force pushing them closer and closer together.

Grey was completely absorbed by this boy.
Everything about him; his hair, his smile, his way of talking, his shadowed confidence.

Stan felt terribly confused by the girl in return.
He was equally fascinated and scared of her.
But he was scared of everything.
She didn't think so. She saw more to him than anyone ever had.

When they were mere centimeters away from each other, the bell chimed through the Temple.

Grey was brought up from her trance and awkwardly scooted away.
Both the kids' faces turned red, as she checked the big clock on the wall.

It read 4:00.
"Oh my god I have to go!" She jumped up and grabbed her jacket.

"Shit shit shit I was supposed to be at the arcade 15 minutes ago!"
She ran towards the front door and Stan followed her.

"Uh, y-you can take my bike! It'll be faster."
She spun around and looked at him.
"Really?"

He nodded and she gasped.
"Oh my god thank you thank you thank you Stanley!" She ran to him and kissed him on the cheek, shaking the life out of him. "Thank you!!"

She ran outside and grabbed the crazy clean bike from the side of the building.
She took off towards the arcade, leaving Stanley in complete bafflement and a redder than red blush.

She wobbled and shook at first, having not ridden a bike in so long, but soon got the hang out it and was whooping and hollering as the wind broke through her auburn hair.

She arrived at the arcade, putting the bike up on the kickstand like Stan usually does and running inside.

She saw Richie through the window, talking to somebody by the counter.
When she got in, she saw Henry Bowers screaming at Richie.

"Get out of here you fucking fag!!" He screamed.
Richie ran out, pushing past Grey in the process.

She spotted Henry and her heart stopped.
After all they'd been through, she couldn't ever look at her tormenter the same way.

The girl with blonde hair was standing at the counter, so she knew Jared had already left.
It was probably 4:10 by now, and he had already gone home to find Grey.

"Hey freak!"
She flinched and made eye contact with Henry.
"You're not off the hook either."

They advanced towards her and she shrieked.
Before she could get to the door, they grabbed her by the arms and dragged her towards the singular, women's bathroom, laughs filling the room.

They threw her in there, and she started hyperventilating on the dirty floor.
When she looked back up at them, they threw a lit match into the garbage can, and tipped it over.

All the while, they were laughing.
Laughing at her fear, laughing at her helplessness.
All except Belch Huggins, who looked unsure.

Nonetheless, they shut the door, leaving Grey inside the burning bathroom.
The ground was covered in scattered paper towels and miscellaneous items, that were engulfed in flames.

The room was quickly filling with smoke.
She picked herself up from the floor and ran straight for the door.

Her face smacked against the door and she stumbled back, holding her nose in pain.
She pressed hands against the door again, but it wouldn't budge.

She started banging on the door loudly.
"Help!! Help me, get me out of here!"

She kicked and pounded her fists against the wood, and was starting to cough.
She peered behind her and the fire was getting worse, more and more smoke accumulated in the room.

She held her sleeve over her face and coughed violently.
"Help! Help me, there's a fire in here!"

Finally she heard clacking on the other side of the door.
"Help." Her voice was weak, and she slid to the ground, where there was less smoke.

The door swung open and she crawled out, backing and coughing.
The blonde worker charged in with a fire extinguisher and put out the fire, blowing cold white gas into the bathroom.

Grey stood up and scanned the arcade.
At least Bowers was gone.
But she really could use Eddie's inhaler right about now.