"Take that Eddie! And that, and that, and that!" Richie shouted at the arcade game screen as his street fighting character repeatedly sucker punched Eddie's.

"Nope, this game is rigged." Eddie said, backing away with his hands up as the words 'PLAYER 1 HAS WON THE GAME' appeared on the screen.

"Aw, don't be a sore loser Eds. You didn't stand a chance anyway, I'm practically undefeated." Richie replied, pushing up his glasses as he pressed some buttons on the screen. "Who wants to try me next?"

Stan joined Richie and I turned to Billy who was playing space invaders at the arcade machine opposite them.

"No, you've got to go this way and then shoot after it's gone past." I pointed at the screen and Billy grunted in reply, not doing what I had suggested. After a few seconds the game started beeping and the words 'YOU LOSE' flashed on the screen.

"I told you." I said, and he rolled his eyes.

"It w-wouldn't have worked anyway." he said, and I moved him over, taking his seat.

"I'll show you how it's done." I winked, and started playing the game with a smirk.

"Ha! See, it worked!" I shouted and threw my hands in the air as I passed the part Billy had died on, but a few seconds later the same words appeared ion the screen. I had lost after I failed to move my character because I had been distracted by my victory.

"Well shit." I said, staring at the screen. Bill laughed. "About the other day..." I started, but Bill cut me off.

"N-no, you d-d-don't have to say anything."

"No Bill, I think I do." I said, taking a deep breath before I continued. "I've never really felt anything for anyone before and I don't really know how to act when I do. But Bill, I'm not good for you. You deserve someone more kind, honest and loyal than me and-"

"But y-you are those things, Lara." he cut me off. I looked at him sadly.

"But I'm not. And I wish I could tell you why but I don't think you'd look at me the same way if I did."

"Y-you can tell me. It w-won't change anything." Bill replied. I could see frustration settling in the crease between his eyebrows.

"No Bill, I can't."

"Whatever." Bill shrugged before walking over to the others, leaving me alone.

I huffed in annoyance as I sat on the stool, listening to the buzz of arcade games and the voices of Richie and Stan yelling at each other. Ever since the argument about Patrick being in the art project with me and Bill, the boys had been a bit distant to me. Especially Bill. I didn't blame him, though. I'd walked out on him when he told me he liked me.

The thing was, I had never felt about someone in that way, nor had I ever been felt about in that way. When Billy had said he liked me, I freaked. I didn't know how to react and I wasn't sure how I felt about him in return. I did have feelings for him, there was no denying that, but I didn't know what they were and what to do with them. More than that, though, I didn't want to hurt him.

"And victory is mine! Suck my dick, Stan." I heard Richie shout. Stanley grumbled something in reply.

"Get over yourself Richie, this just proves how much time you waste playing this shit." Eddie said, putting his pills back into his fanny pack after swallowing one.

"You're all just jealous of my incredible talent." Richie replied proudly.

Stanley rolled his eyes. "Come on guys, let's go somewhere else. This place is lame."

They all walked over to me and we headed on out of the arcade into the streets of Derry, the midday sun momentarily blinding us.

"Jesus christ, I think my eyes just got sunburnt." Richie said as we headed off down the street. The wind started to pick up and we shielded our eyes as dirt and rubbish started flying everywhere, Eddie cowering behind Stanley in fear of getting dirty.

"Get off me, idiot." Stan pushed Eddie away lightly as the wind stopped blowing. I could feel something wrong with my hair and my suspicions were confirmed when the boys looked at me and erupted into laughter.

"Holy shit Lara, you look like a fucking porcupine!" Richie gasped. I quickly tried to smooth down the large amount of flyaways, to no avail.

"W-wait, you have something in it." Billy walked over to me and touched my hair, pulling out a small piece of paper.

"What does it say?" I asked as he read it carefully.

"Terry Holt is having a p-party tonight at his cabin house, anyone 'cool' is w-welcome." Billy said and Richie whooped.

"Hell yeah, we're going to a high school party!" he shouted.

"Wait, who said we were actually going?" Eddie asked. "Have you heard what happens at parties? Apparently some people get so drunk that they vomit and pass out and that is something I do not want to experience myself or anyone else doing." he shuddered.

"Yeah, I don't think I'd be allowed to go anyway. Jewish parents." Stanley said.

I nodded in agreement. "Mm, I don't really think it's a good idea Richie. Pretty sure we don't fall into the 'cool' category." I had been to a few parties at my old schools and they were all the same. I couldn't really see any of the boys having a good time at one of them.

"Whatever, losers." Richie rolled his eyes and we walked up to a large patch of grass and sat down.

"Hey, have y-you guys handed in your permission form f-for camp on Monday?" Billy asked.

"I handed mine in yesterday. Had to forge the signature though, my mum was barely home last week." I said, instantly regretting it when I saw the boys' faces change. I knew their minds were going to my mum's 'business'.

"I did too, but it took weeks of convincing. My mum is scared I might get aids or something and I don't blame her. The cabins we stay in are so unsanitary, it isn't funny." Eddie said, fumbling around in his fanny pack.

"Don't worry Eds, we won't be staying in cabins this time. It's a camping camp, remember? We'll be sleeping in tents." Richie looked at Eddie mischievously.

"Oh fuck fuck fuck fuck! That's a billion times worse." Eddie wailed and we all tried to conceal our laughter.

"Just remember to bring bug spray and look out for poison ivy. There's a lot of it where we're going." Stan said, causing Eddie to take out his inhaler.

"Yeah, I heard mosquitos c-carry lots of deadly d-diseases." Billy said and Eddie puffed harder.

"Guys, stop. I think Eddie might have a heart attack if he hears any more." I laughed, covering the boy's ears with my hands.

"Yeah, we don't want to scare him into not going! I don't know how I would survive without my Eddiebear." Richie cooed. Eddie slapped him away, knocking off his glasses.

We all stared at the large spectacles on the ground, Richie wavering around blindly for them. In an instant, we all rushed to grab them. Richie had never let us try them on and this was our opportunity.

"Ha! I got them!" Eddie shouted in victory, holding them up in the air. He placed them on his face and Billy, Stan and I burst into laughter, struggling to breathe at the sight of Eddie's now enlarged brown eyes.

"How do I look?" Eddie said, turning to Richie with a grin.

"How am I supposed to know? I can't fucking see!" Richie shouted, grabbing at Eddie's face. He managed to pull the glasses off him after sticking a couple of fingers up Eddie's nose by accident. The small boy pulled away at this, his eyes watering as he blowed out the germs like crazy.

"Oh my god, I think you poked my fucking brain!" he screamed as Richie finally put on his glasses and looked at the boy in front of him.

"That's what you get for touching my glasses." he replied.

All of a sudden, a large shadow loomed over us. Reluctantly, I turned around to see the Bower's gang looking down at us.

"Look at this, boys. Seems like the Losers Club is having a picnic! How lame can they get?" Henry said. The other boys snickered and Patrick stomped down onto Bill's foot, causing him to cry out in pain.

"How can it be a picnic, if we don't have any food?" Stan muttered quietly. Unfortunately, Henry didn't miss it.

"What did you say?" he leaned down and pulled Stanley up by the shirt with.

"I-I didn't say anything." Stan stuttered in fright, his curly hair sticking up at odd angles.

"You tryna be a smart-mouth? You wanna play like that?" Henry spat and dropped him to the ground. Stan crawled back to us and tried to act inconspicuous, his cheeks pink.

I turned to glare at Henry, my eyes burning into his. "What do you want, Bowers."

He looked at me with a weird smile. "I actually wanted to talk to you, Lara. Patrick told me all about your encounter and I was wondering if I could do you next."

I felt Bill tense next to me and I looked at Patrick who had a wide grin on his face. Of course he wouldn't keep it to himself. I didn't know why I ever thought he would.

"Sh-shut up, Bowers." Billy said. Stan let out a groan.

Henry and his gang turned to look at Bill hungrily. "I'm giving you a break because of your brother, Denbitch. But if you don't keep your mouth shut, I won't hold back." he turned back to look at me. "You have my number, you know where to find me."

And with that, they stalked off, putting me in a bad mood that I knew would last the rest of the weekend.