Jane waited with Beverly for the school to empty so as not to meet anyone. She wasn't scared, but she wanted to move away as much as possible when Richie would see her lip and ask questions.
She walked home slowly, thinking about how to get to Bowers, without saying anything to her family.
Arriving home, she noticed her father's car parked in the driveway, she decided to walk around the house and go straight to his garden shed.
When Jane opened the door, Wentworth was sitting at his desk reading his newspaper. He didn't look up from his newspaper when he asked her:
"What do you want, Jane?"
She wasn't expecting it, he knew it was her even though she hadn't said anything.
"Your mother is more direct and Richie is always louder when he comes, he forgets that I'm there to work normally."
"Dad, you're a dentist, you don't need an office at home since you have a practice in town."
The man laughs. "You sound like your mother." He finally put his newspaper down to look at his daughter. "Why are you coming so suddenly?" He pauses and goes on, "Jane, sweetheart, what happened to your lip?"
She immediately lowered her head to hide her face from her father.
"Nothing, I... I ran into someone when I was running, so I wouldn't be late for class, that's okay, don't worry." She let out a nervous laugh, before continuing. "You know I'm in the high school tutor program? I have a new student who lives quite far away, and I was wondering if you could take me there? "
He stood up instantly.
"Here we go, grab the keys and off we go."
She got in the car, and waited for her father while checking her stuff.
"So ! Where does your student live? "
The question she dreaded, she would have preferred to avoid, and honestly, she ignored it.
"Jane, are you listening to me? I can take you wherever you want, but for that I have to know where you want to go. "
He started the car and began to drive towards the city center.
After a long moment of silence, she made up her mind.
"It's at Henry Bowers."
She felt her father tense up on the wheel a little, and he let out an "ah" before turning the first right. It was the first time that one of their car rides had gone so quietly, when neither was asleep.
The car stopped in front of Bowers' house and Jane tried to run outside, but Wentworth grabbed her by the arm.
"Stay two minutes, I have to talk to you."
She glanced around the house, then at her father's watch, she was going to be late.
"It's not going to be long, I just have a couple of questions for you."
She looked at him, there was too much tension in the car for her to say anything.
"Did he do this to you?" He tried to stroke her lip, but she avoided him. "Because if it's him, I don't want you to come near him, if he forces you for these lessons I'll talk to his father. If you have any problems you can talk to your mother and to me, you can trust us, you know that? "
Jane stared at him. God, she loved her father.
"Everything is fine, dad, don't worry."
"It's not fine, Jane, you've been off your bike for over a month. You wince in pain whenever you have to make a move and there you come home with a split lip, and you tell me you have to teach the boy who broke your glasses on your birthday. How do you want me not to worry? "
He was right, he had reason to worry, and she couldn't blame him for wanting to protect her.
"Dad, it's all set, and my lip has nothing to do with these classes, I told you I ran into someone."
He looked at her incredulously.
"Is that somebody Bowers? Did you run straight into his fist? This boy isn't someone you have to hang out with."
She looked at him and responded defensively.
"This boy is also the one who helped me and brought me back when I had an asthma attack so bad I couldn't walk, and he was the one who promised to protect me from others if I taught him."
"Do you think I haven't seen that you're hardly asleep? That I haven't seen the look you make when you have to go to school? And how will he protect you? How many of your classmates are you having problems with? Being left alone at school isn't meant to be the payment for private lessons! "
Jane looked down, she dared not say anything, the more she spoke, the more she sank.
Her father looked at her, still angry, but softened all the same.
"Jane, I just want you to know that with your mother, we love you more than you could imagine your brother and you, and seeing you hurt, hurts us a lot, especially if there is nothing we can do to help you. If you have the slightest problem, you should never hesitate to talk to us, and we will always find a solution together. When you say nothing, it really worries us. "
Still looking down, Jane tried:
"I know dad, I don't want to worry you, I'm grown up, and I want to handle it all on my own, I don't know if I can, I don't know if I will be able to, but I know you will always be there to help mom and you when I need it, and that's what I want to try. "
He looked at her, smiling, his little girl had grown up. He didn't want to let her put herself in danger, but she guaranteed him there was none, and he wanted to trust her.
"I'll let you go, but, if anything happens, I want to know about it, and I'll pick you up in an hour and a half."
Jane looked at him gratefully and opened the door to exit.
"Jane, I'm going to go shopping, do you have any painkillers left?"
"It was from you ? I thought it was Richie! I don't mind another box, please ..."
Her father had noticed that she had been doing badly for a while, and somehow she felt relieved to know that she had an ally among the surrounding adults. She didn't have to fight on her own, she could call for help, and she wouldn't be considered weaker. It was like a release, like lifting a weight off his shoulders.
She closed the door and started to walk towards the house.
"One last thing, young girl!"
He had called out to her from the car window, and once again she turned to face him.
"If you don't want me to guess next time, find a more believable lie. Be careful, see you later!"
This time he drove off in earnest, leaving her alone outside Bowers's house, for over an hour of lesson.
She knocked on the door, still anxious about what to expect inside the house, and she almost jumped when Henry Bowers opened the door. She immediately lowered her head, she was totally in new territory, and she preferred to keep a low profile.
"Punctuality would not define you the best, Toziette. Come in."
She didn't know if he was trying to be funny or if he was really blaming her for being late. In doubt, she fell silent and entered the house. She followed him through the living room, then up the stairs. At least Bowers's friends weren't there to do anything to her. She followed him upstairs down a dark hallway, before Bowers opened a door.
The boy's room was oddly normal, Jane wasn't sure what to expect, but so much normalcy coming from the boy that terrorized most of the young people in town was surprising. An unmade bed, posters on the walls, clothes on the floor and a messy desk, the bedroom of a kid lambda.
"Take a picture, Toziette, it'll last longer."
She jumped again, she was not serene in the boy's presence, she knew he had promised her not to hit her again, but she had already witnessed some of his mood swings, he could go from simple mocking to a pure violence in a second, for no reason, it was enough for the person in front not to respond the way Henry wanted, for him to let his rage flow.
She glanced at the boy's hands, the condition of his knuckles, reddened and bruised, testifying to the regular violence he displayed.
With a wave of his hand, he showed her the desk, in front of which were two chairs. Jane sat down in the chair on the left, furthest from the door, but that way she's better able to hide her lip. She didn't think he would care, or even notice, but she preferred to avoid questions.
She started to get her things out, and turned to Henry, who was still looking at her standing in the entrance of the bedroom.
"Which subjects do you want to work on?"
She cursed herself internally when she heard his voice, trembling and barely audible. She coughed to regain some composure.
"I mean, my dad picks me up at 5pm, so that would be nice if we got started."
She congratulated herself inwardly, she had spoken normally this time.
The boy finally decided to move to sit down and grab a pencil. She tensed at the closeness of the boy. He must have felt it since he shifted a little further.
"Math... And science subjects in general."
She nodded, sensing in the boy's tone that he didn't want any comment.
"Alright, so let's start easy, tell me what you know and what you don't."
The look he gave her made her feel that the lessons were going to be long.
"It's okay, we'll resume the program in order and see. We're going to do a series of exercises, to see where you stand, and we'll find out. "
She grabbed a piece of paper and began to write down several problems and other calculations before handing it to him. She knew it would take at least three quarters of an hour, so she took out her own homework.
The room was silent, Jane was reading a book for her English class while watching her neighbor's every move out of the corner of her eye, contracting with each movement a little sharper or faster than the others, restraining her starts.
Until Henry banged his fists on the table, knocking the pencils off the edge of the desk to the floor. The shock surprised Jane so much that she dropped her book.
"I'm fed up. We're taking a break."
He stood up and walked to the door, watched by Jane, still surprised at the sudden violence.
"You're coming? I don't want you to be alone in my room."
She picked up her book, put it on the desk, and followed him without objecting. They took the same route as down the aisle, but when they got to the living room, he walked over to the kitchen and opened the fridge.
"You want something to drink ?"
She just shook her head. He took out a beer and pointed to the door leading to the back garden for Jane.
The garden wasn't really one, it was more of an open field into the forest that surrounded Derry. Henry sat on the doorstep and took out a cigarette before handing the package to Jane.
"I have asthma, Bowers."
He laughs before putting the package away.
He smoked in silence for a moment, taking a sip of his beer every now and then.
"You are silent today, Toziette. Don't you have one of your infamous jokes for me? "
"No... I have nothing now."
Silence was heard again. It must have been too much for Bowers, since he spoke again.
"What happened to your face? You didn't have that this afternoon. "
Taken aback, she began to stutter:
"Nothing... I... ran into... a locker door because I wasn't looking where I was going. You know how clumsy I am. "
A nervous laugh escaped her. She really didn't know how to lie, improvisation didn't work for her, and her lie was no more believable than the one she told her father. She hoped Bowers would settle for that and look no further, she didn't want Hockstetter to know she had spoken, she didn't want to risk him locking her in a corner for revenge. Beverly and Victor wouldn't always be there to protect her, and she wouldn't be able to avoid him forever.
Henry laughed.
"You see, you can be funny. Really, what happened?"
She remained silent, her head bowed, it would have been too good.
He crushed his cigarette on the ground before throwing the butt into a pot hanging against the wall. He stood up, causing the young girl to recoil.
"I wonder how many times I've been called 'locker door' in all these years."
He looked at his hand, before clenching his fists. "I wonder what are my other nicknames, 'fall on the high school stairs'? 'Fall on a bike'?" He approached Jane slowly. "But deep down, no one is fooled. Everyone knows the kid didn't fall down the stairs. Everyone knows he didn't fall on his bike. And I know you haven't really run into a locker door."
He stopped when he noticed how scared the girl looked.
"It's Vic or Patrick. Which one ?"
Jane felt her blood drain from her face, as if her body was liquefying, he had found the truth much faster than she thought. She didn't want to answer him, so she did what she knew how to do. Talking.
"What about Huggins? Don't you even suspect it? Wouldn't he be upset if you didn't think he could do that? "
Henry sneered.
"Unless you insulted his mother in front of him, Belch would never have hit you, and if he had, you probably wouldn't be here to lie to me."
He returned to his starting spot to pick up his beer and take a sip.
"You know Toziette, when I say something, I keep my word. I promised you my friends would stay away from you, and if you don't tell me which one it is, I couldn't stop him from doing it again. "
Jane had her throat tied, if Henry said anything to his friends they would know she had spoken.
"I bet it's Patrick, you wouldn't be so scared if it was Vic."
He looked at her, she had her head bowed, and seemed about to cry. For a moment he wondered if he hadn't gone too far, she had come to his place to teach him not to be accountable to him. In fact, he didn't care what happened to her, as long as she didn't complain and continued to help him.
He sighed before adding:
"Listen Toziette, I'm talking to him tomorrow, and he won't come near you anymore. Everything will be sorted out, and you keep coming to class."
She raised her head sharply.
"Please don't do that! "
He looked at her surprised.
"Do you know he won't stop? In fact, it may even get worse. Why don't you want me to talk to him? "
She sighed.
"Are you really asking that, Bowers? How do you react when one of the kids you hit tells his parents about it? " He was about to answer, but she cut him off. "It was rhetorical, Bowers. I know very well how you react, I lived it." She walked to the door, not looking at Henry once. "We should resume if you want to have time to start working."
She walked back into the house, this time it was Bowers who followed her.
The next ten minutes were silent, the two teenagers content to work in their corner. Until Henry handed her the worksheet for her to correct.
"Why did he do this to you?"
She closed her eyes and sighed.
"He thinks I'm blackmailing you to leave me alone, since you don't want me to talk about these lessons, I didn't say anything. You made a mistake there, can you tell me why, or you really don't know how to do that calculation? "
"Did you really tell him nothing?"
"I asked you a question."
He sighed.
"No, I don't know how to do it. Now answer. "
She looked at him annoyed.
"So we have to review the derivatives. No, I didn't say anything. I'd rather have him on my back than the four of you. If I had spoken, you would have canceled the deal we both know."
She corrected the errors and, surprisingly as it was, there weren't that many. Usually her students didn't pass the level test, it wasn't enough to pass to the next class, but at least Bowers wasn't a hopeless case.
"Good news, you're going to pass to the next level in math. At least, if you work. "
The rest of the hour went by without a hitch, although Jane continued to jump at the boy's movements, she managed to keep her cool when he got annoyed at not understanding.
When Wentworth arrived, he checked his daughter's face from all angles, looking for any new injuries. When he was satisfied, he left his daughter alone, so that she could give Bowers her study instructions.
"Go join your father Toziette, he will think that I am threatening you."
She smiled shyly at him, before turning on her heels.
"Hey Toziette! Trust me, he won't touch you anymore. "
With that, he closed the door, leaving the girl to her father.
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Heya !
Funfact, right after posting the chapter las week, i broke my phone. I'm not smiling at all.
Anyway ! First lesson for Henry, she is still alive, so good news i guess... Probably ?
Drawing time !
This is the first draw i did in 2021, like i did it the 2nd of January. It wasn't supposed to be a It one, but apparently It looks like Henry so, let's go !
I did this, it was a sort of ask game i had facial expressions and colors, and people gave me their ideas... (i love this one, and someone wrote an imagine about it, and i was so happy !!)
And the last one for the day
(They all have my former signature, back to last year :0 ) It fandom week theme body swap : Henry in Eddie's body !
(One day, I'll do Eddie in Henry's body, all lost, having a fit )
Next week I'll show you a serie i did, of all the losers. It didn't have the love it deserved XD
Don't forget to comment and vote (/hj do as you want)
Have a nice week,
I love you
Moi !