Billy, Eddie and I sat in my room talking about what had happened earlier today. We'd abandoned the ruined pile of rocks and sticks, figuring it was a lost cause, and had ridden to my house since it was the only one whose parents weren't home.

I was glad I'd cleaned up this morning. I didn't even want to know what they'd say if they saw the state my mum had left it in.

"I say we give up on the idea entirely." said Eddie, referring to the dam.

"No no, I think we'll still be able to do it. Once we get Richie and Stan to help us, it'll be no problem." I replied, hugging my pillow.

"W-what if Bowers and his gang come back again?" Bill said, looking at his house through the window. I could see the outline of his parents through their kitchen curtain. It looked like they were arguing.

"I don't think they will. And if they do, we can stick up for ourselves. Can't we?" I looked at them both who had turned their heads sheepishly.

"We're not as brave as you, Lewis." said Eddie. Bill nodded his head in agreement.

"Aw guys, come on. There are what, five of us? And there's only four of them. We can take them down easy."

"B-but they're bigger than us, and they have kn-knives." Bill shuddered.

"Yeah, haven't you head? They shoot animals for fun. Now that is a level of sickness I don't want to mess with." Eddie said.

I silently agreed. Henry and his gang were malicious and cruel and even though there were more of us than there was them, they had the size and strength. "Okay, well I still think that the dam is a cool idea. If they find us again and destroy it like they did last time, we'll find something else to do. Summer's coming in a couple of weeks so we'll have plenty of free time."

"Okay, sure." Billy agreed and Eddie screwed up his face, still unsure.

Suddenly my door burst open and Richie walked in, his face in a state of annoyance. "Where the fuck have you guys been? I went down to the Barrens to find nobody there but a mess of sticks and stones. Then I'm on my way back home, I find your bikes outside Lara's house! What have you been doing this whole time? Having a threesome?"

"Yeah Richie, we've been having a threesome. Key word: three. So I don't know what you're doing here." Eddie replied and I chuckled.

"We were at the B-barrens, but Henry and his gang found us." Bill said and Richie pushed up his spectacles.

"Okay then, spill."

After we'd told Richie everything that had happened, from Eddie almost dying, which Richie found hilarious, to Henry knocking over the pile we'd made, the annoyance he'd felt from our abandoning him was long gone.

"Holy shit Lara, you told Henry to fuck himself? Have my fucking babies, I think I'm in love." Richie said and collapsed onto me.

"Can't... breathe.. help.." I gasped and Billy pulled him off.

"Get your shit together Richie. Don't you see what the problem is? Henry knows where we're making the dam, our plan is practically over!"

'"Oh shush Eddie." I said, "They were only there because they were trying to find that 'fat kid' or whatever they called him. Who do you think he even is?"

Eddie and Bill shrugged.

"Did you say that he was looking for a fat kid?" Richie asked. We nodded. "Oh I know who it is then. It's Ben Hanscom. He was the new kid before you Lara, and Henry's been using him for his school work ever since he came here. Apparently if Henry doesn't get at least a C in all of his subjects, his dad's sending him to summer school." Richie said.

"Well let's hope he gets sent to summer school." I replied.

"N-no, then they would kill Ben." Bill said. I looked at him and smiled. He was always so caring and considerate of others' feelings, I couldn't understand how he'd ended up being friends with these two.

"That's true. Henry better get his shit together then." I replied.

"Hey, these paintings are sick as! Did you make them?" Richie asked, gesturing at the pictures above my bed.

"Yeah I did." I smiled, my cheeks turning pink. None of my friends had ever seen my artwork before.

"Wait, what? I s-saw them but I didn't realise they were done by you. Th-they're incredible Lara." Bill said.

"Yeah, they're friggen amazing. You should try selling them." Eddie suggested as he got up to get a closer look.

My stomach lurched. I had forgotten all about selling my artwork. "Shit shit shit." I said an stood up, my hands on my head.

"W-what's wrong?" Billy asked, standing up with me.

"I have to make half a grand by Tuesday and I totally forgot about it!" I panicked, walking to my table and grabbing all the paintings I could find.

"Wait, you have to make a five hundred dollars by Tuesday? What in the bloody hell for?" Richie asked, and I turned to see them all staring at me confused.

"Look, don't ask why. Just know that I need to make this money. I need to find somewhere to sell this stupid artwork in two days!" I groaned.

"Hey, w-we'll help you, won't we guys?" Billy said and stood up to help me put everything in my bag.

"Oh, um, I think I need to be home by five, so I better get going. Maybe another time." Eddie said quickly and walked towards the door. Richie mumbled something about feeding his cat and followed suit.

"Aw, come on guys. This is a matter of life and death. Trust me, you don't want to know what will happen if I don't make this money in time." I looked at them with pleading eyes.

"Yeah, well why don't you tell us?" Eddie asked.

"I... I can't. You guys will never think of me the same, and I don't want to risk that. I just want to do this and maybe finally forget about this whole damn thing." I sighed and slumped on the bed. "Please."

Eddie and Richie turned to look at each other and nodded in agreement.

"Where do we start."

- - -

We rode down the streets of Derry, dozens poster advertising my artwork stuffed into our bags.

"Richie and Eddie, you guys go down main street. Billy and I will go this way." I instructed. They nodded their heads and parted, Billy and I crossing the road.

"Do you think this will work?" I ask as we stop to stick the first poster on the wall.

"I don't know. I h-hope so." Billy replied.

We had just moved on to the next wall when I felt something land on my arm. Looking down I saw the dreaded yellow and black colours of a wasp and screamed.

"Woah, woah, what happened?" Billy asked as I danced around and swatted myself like a mad chicken.

"WASP!" I screamed and ran down the road, not caring about the startled looks I was getting. I could hear Bill shouting behind me but I ignored him, jumping over trash cans like I was a professional hurdler.

I finally felt safe enough to stop running and stopped in an alleyway to catch my breath. I'd been terrified of wasps ever since I was four years old. There had been a wasps nest in my bedroom wall and one day they came out and stung me, leaving me in the hospital for a week. Bees I'm fine with, they're peaceful and make delicious honey and pollinate plants, but wasps are just evil creatures sent from hell that have no good purpose in this world.

I stood up, finally remembering about Bill, and was about to turn back onto the street when a figure bumped into me and we both went crashing to the ground.

I groaned. Somehow I'd ended up on top of the person and I could hear them groaning as well. I opened my eyes to see Bill staring up at me. There was a brief moment where we just looked at each other until I snapped out of it and rolled off him. We both stood up hastily and looked at each other awkwardly.

"W-wasps?" he asked.

"Terrified of them." I replied and we grinned.