The Next Day
The morning breezes blew themselves as they struck my face lightly. The air around the city was cold, and yet relaxing to be felt. I was riding my bicycle as the misty hazes began to fade in the presence of sunlight. Upon seeing the pharmacy to my right, I slowed down before I got off and propped my bike beside the window.
I looked around to see if Beverly was already waiting for me. My head went in many directions, searching for any sign of her. I gave up a minute later, and went on to sit on my bicycle seat. Not long, I saw a redhead riding her bike towards me.
"Hey, Jaz!" she shouted. "Sorry if I made you wait for a while."
"It's alright, Beverly," I responded in a clear voice as I walked closer to her. "Have you got all your stuff ready for the quarry?"
"Yup," chirped Beverly when I glanced at her hair for a second, noticing a difference at it.
"Your hair...did you cut it!?" I asked her in surprise.
"I actually did it," she replied with a smile.
"Where?"
"At home," Beverly said, "I am just so bored with long hair, so I cut it."
"Well, you actually look pretty with your haircut," I complimented Beverly on her new hair.
"Aww, thanks Jaz," she beamed as we left the pharmacy with our bicycles.
Several Minutes Later
While riding, we talked about many different topics, like our hobbies, our favorite food, our favorite movies, our favorite subjects at school, make-up and beauty trends, my greatest fear, and some jokes. After running out of good conversation topics when we entered a more secluded area, I asked her out of curiosity.
"What is your greatest fear?"
There was no response for the next. Beverly's face turned sad.
"People had told me I am nothing, but a slut," she told me quietly as we continued to ride on the forest path, "Greta, Henry, even my daddy, said that..."
My heart became heavy upon listening to her answer. I pondered on why she deserved to be called that, and I had not found even a single reason why.
"Why?" I sorrowfully asked, "Why do they call you that?"
"I don't know," Beverly muttered, "But they suck ass. My daddy, though, is the worst out of them."
I didn't know what to say for the next few minutes, thinking of a response to comfort her. It was not until we could see the light blue sky that overlooked the rocky heights and the cerulean waters.
I went on to hug her and softly spoke, "But you got me and the losers." Her face brightened once more when I mentioned our guy friends.
In the meantime, I could hear them arguing over who would jump first. They spit saliva to the waters, trying to outcompete each other.
"Oh my god, that was so terrible. I win," Richie proudly declared to the other boys.
"Won!?" Eddie questioned, definitely upset over it.
"Yeah."
"Did you see my loogie?"
As the boys continued to ramble on who won the spitting contest, Beverly whispered to me as I put my backpack and picnic hamper in the front basket of my bicycle.
"Jaz, how about we dive first?"
"No way, Beverly. I'm scared," I shouted in a whisper.
"Come on, Jaz, it's going to be fun."
I argued with her for a few seconds before I gave into her idea. Meanwhile, the boys kept on arguing before Bill broke off the fight and asked.
"A-Alright, which first?"
As Beverly and I watched the boys looking down the cliff, she said.
"We'll go."
The boys immediately turned to look at us while she undressed herself to her bra and underwear. I followed suit as I took off my light bathrobe and pink boots, revealing my one-piece in front of the boys' confused dazes.
"Sissies," Beverly snickered as she grabbed my arm and ran off with me to the edge of the cliff.
"Beverly, stop for a sec-," I quietly admonished her to slow down. It was too late though as we began to walk on air before cascading into the depths of the waters.
"What the fuck?" was all Richie utter.
Mighty splashes could be heard when our bodies hit the cold waters, interrupting its serene silence.
As I swam my way up to the surface, I heard Richie yell. "Holy shit! We got stood by not only one, but two girls."
"Well, you did not jump first," Stan said with a chuckle. "Guess I'll go next."
One by one, the boys dove into the lake in haste . I giggled as the water repeatedly splashed my face, causing my eyelids to shut in. A second later, I saw everyone's head popping out of the surface, breathing in the cool air. We swam towards the shallow part of the lake at the sound of the refreshing winds blowing. When we were in close proximity with each other, we took turns hitting each other with huge waves of water. Shrieks of joy and genuine laughter escaped from our joyful hearts and wide grins.
"C-C-Chicken fight!" yelled Bill, diverting our attention to him. "W-Who's on my te-team?"
"I'll be in your team," Beverly answered, paddling to where Bill was.
After Ben and Eddie decided to team up together and Stan chose to just watch, it was only Richie and I left who were without a team.
"Guess we are the only ones left," I said, looking at him swimming to me.
"I know, now hop on me, buttercup," Richie smirked before he made a gesture, letting my legs wrap around his shoulders while he went underwater.
"Damn, your legs wrapped around my neck just perfectly, just like if you wrap around my..."
"Um, Richie, the others are waiting for us," I politely reminded him as I pointed out to him at the others.
"Agaass-eo (1)," he teased in a mock Korean accent. My face flustered a little from hearing this.
"It's not agaass-eo, Richie. It's arasseo (2)."
After we and the other losers gathered up, we then charged over to each other with fire burning in our eyes. Richie went over to Ben, who was carrying Eddie. The two boys were already struggling from fighting back Beverly, who managed to knock Eddie and Ben to the water.
"You are next, Jaz!" Beverly yelled while Bill carried her to where we were.
I slightly panicked before she grasped my shoulders. I did the same, and the game of push-and-pull went on. When I managed to break free from her arms, I tried to knock her off by hitting her hands with my knuckles. But luck was on her side. She evaded my fists, and we jostled for a while before I fell backwards.
"Woo, I won!"
The rest of us laughed as I swam back to the surface. I smiled, wiping off the remaining feeling of defeat on my face. We played a few more rounds of chicken fights, explored the turtles paddling underneath, and splashed each other with more water until we all started to get exhausted from the fun.
"Want some sandwiches and kimbap (3)?" I asked, looking at their tired faces.
"S-Sure, I-I'm getting h-h-hungry."
"What's a kimbap?" Ben stared at me in confusion.
"A kimbap is a food made of..."
"Rice being rolled around a sausage, just like your legs being wrapped around my w-," Richie joked before Eddie told him to shut up.
"Shut the fuck up, Richie!"
Ignoring the small fight between Richie and Eddie, I got off the water. "I think I will go back to the top for now," I said. "You guys can play here for a while."
After I grabbed my picnic basket and white towel and walked back from the bicycles, I saw the others making their way up the hill. I laid down my towel on the ground and put my picnic basket to my right side before I brought out a green thermos and several paper coffee cups.
"Who wants some drinks?"
They agreed while I poured icy liquid to a cup before giving it to Beverly, who just laid her blue towel beside mine.
"Thanks, Jaz," Beverly thanked me before taking a sip of the lemony tea. "This is delicious. What is this drink?"
"It's honey citron tea," I replied as I poured the rest for the boys and myself.
When everyone got their cups filled, the boys went back to sit on the rocks and logs while Beverly and I laid down on our towels to sunbathe and converse for a while. I heard the boys talking to each other before the sound was replaced by the song from a radio nearby. Soon, I dozed off for a while, still unsure about what has made the boys speechless all of a sudden.
It was a snore that broke my peaceful trance. I woke up when I could see Beverly turning her back to the sun and the boys looking away shyly from us. I stretched out my arms before I sat on my towel, searching for two tupperwares that were filled with sandwiches and kimbaps.
Richie, who sat beside Ben, questioned the latter, "News flash, Ben. School's out for summer."
"Oh this? This has nothing to do with school," Ben replied as Richie grabbed a postcard from the former's backpack.
The two argued for a few seconds before Ben put back the postcard inside the bag. After I took out the tupperwares and opened the lids, I knelt on the floor, holding the two snacks on each of my hands.
"I know I forgot about this, but you guys can take some snacks over here," I told everyone before placing them at the back of my towel and going over to sit next to Eddie.
Everyone, except for Richie, went over to get some food before heading back to where they were. Meanwhile, Richie continued to rummage Ben's backpack, finding a file filled with a bunch of papers. He took a glimpse of it before handing it over to Bill.
"You went to the library...on purpose?" Richie asked Ben, trying to fish for more of the latter's hidden secrets.
This got Beverly hooked as she got up and walked towards us to sit next to Bill. "I wanna see."
We discussed Ben's discovery when Bill stared at Beverly in seemingly enthralled manner.
"Y-y-your hair..."
Beverly looked at Bill, confused.
"Your hair is beautiful, Beverly!" Ben stammered.
"Oh...right, thanks."
Bill rolled his eyes at Ben out of annoyance. I held back a giggle before letting out a toothy grin, thinking how cute it was. My eyes accidentally glanced at the other boys, seeing them with blank expressions except for Richie, whose cheeks began to go baby pink. Despite the awkward disruption, Richie let out a hand towards Bill to get the file back.
"Pass it." Bill returned the file to Richie before taking another look at the papers.
"Why all murders and missing kids?" Richie had a quizzical look while Stan examined the black and white photos.
"Derry is not like any other town I've ever been before." Ben said. "They did a study once, and it turns out that the people here went missing six times the national average."
All of our happy faces were replaced with that of obvious shock and subtle distress.
"You read that?" Beverly asked with a worried look.
"Not just grown-ups," Ben further stated. "Kids are worse. Way, way worse."
The rest of us went voiceless, disturbed by what Ben has told us. Our bodies went still like the statues on the hill.
"I've got more stuff if you want to see it."
-
Note
(1) "agaass-eo" (아가았어) is actually a word play of "aga" (아가; means "baby") and "arasseo" (알았어; means "I know")
(2) "arasseo" (알았어) means "I know"
(3) "kimbap" (김밥) is a Korean food where seaweed and rice are wrapped around vegetables and meat in a similar manner done in Japanese sushi rolls.