I woke up to something lying on my chest. Still half asleep with my eyes glued shut, I pushed it off with one of my arms. A small groan startled me and I opened them to see Bill's sleeping face right next to mine. His arm had been over my chest and I looked down to see that my legs were sprawled over his.

I rolled away in panic but bumped into his bedside table with my shoulder. A loud shatter sounded beside my head and Bill awoke abruptly, jumping to his feet.

"Shit! Sorry Bill." I whispered, hoping his parents didn't hear the noise. I could tell my face was flushed, and it was definitely not from the crash.

"W-what happened?" he asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. My eyes zoomed in on his bare chest which I had been lying against just moments ago and I felt more warmth in my cheeks. I stood up awkwardly and examined the mess on the floor; the lamp had fallen off the table and the light bulb had shattered, glass sparkling in the sunlight from the window.

"Uhhh," I said unsurely. "I woke up and you were lying on the floor. Maybe you fell of the bed during the night, I don't know. I guess it freaked me a little and I bumped into your table."

"Oh, w-w-why w-" Bill was cut off by the sound of the bedroom door opening and I sprawled onto the floor, my face inches from the glass.

"Bill? What was that noise?" asked a female voice that I recognised as Bill's mum. I saw her purple slippers step into the room and start to walk towards my direction. Thinking quickly, I pushed myself under Bill's bed, trying my best not to sneeze from the dust.

The purple slippers stopped on the side of the bed closest to the door and I watched Bill's bare feet walk around towards them. "Oh, I juh-juh-just knocked the lamp of the table. S-s-sorry if I woke you."

"Be careful next time, Bill. You're father had a hard day at work yesterday and he isn't happy at being woken up at this hour." his mum replied. I felt sneeze coming and I pinched my nose and scrunched my eyes shut, willing it to go away.

"I w-will." Bill said. I heard footsteps leaving and opened my eyes to see the purple slippers standing in the doorway.

"Bill, why did you take out the mattress?" she asked and I froze. Bill's legs had stopped moving, and I assumed he had as well.

"I, uh, I wuh-wuh-was.... I was cleaning under my b-bed." Bill lied. I prayed to the heavens Sharon believed him, because she wasn't the type of lady that condoned boys and girls sleeping in each other's rooms.

"I thought you cleaned it last week." she replied suspiciously.

"Oh, yeah I d-did. I missed a spot though, so I'm d-d-doing it now." Bill said.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it then." she said and I saw the door start to close, but then open again. "Also, some other mum's have told me about you hanging out with the girl across the road. Lara, I think her name is? Anyway, I've heard a lot of bad things about that girl and her mother, so I'd prefer it if you stayed away from her."

I felt as if I had been stabbed in the chest with a butter knife. I knew teenagers talked, but adults? I had had conversations with Bill's mother and father plenty of times without the slightest hint of what they thought of me.

"She's n-n-not like what the rumours s-s-say, mum." Bill replied and I felt a wave of gratitude for him.

"Well, maybe she isn't, but the ones about her mother are certainly true. And what's to say she hasn't spouted ideas in her daughter's mind? Look, it's best if you distance yourself from her a little. She's bad news."

Suddenly, the sneeze I had been trying so hard to hold in came out in a small squeak. It was quiet for a moment and I almost believed that she didn't hear me. "What was that?" she asked and I silently groaned.

Bill let out a cough. "Uh, there was a mouse under my bed last night. I think it might still be there." he lied. "But it's okay, I can get it myself." he said quickly as his mother took a step towards me.

"Okay then. I've got some rat poisoning downstairs if you need." she said before turning around. The door closed and the purple slippers disappeared from view. Bill crouched down and peered at me under the bed, his face an expression of sympathy.

"I'm s-s-so s-sorry you had to hear that." he said. I screwed up my face.

"It's okay." I replied, not really wanting to talk about it. I had always been terrible at expressing my feeling and actually understanding them in general. Especially when those feelings brought pity.

The look on Bill's face made me want to run away and hide in a hole for the rest of my life. I was about to slide out from under the bed when Bill's eyes widened as he looked on my shoulder.

"What?" I asked nervously.

"L-l-lara don't f-f-fr-freak out, but there is a sp-p-pider on you." he said.

I freaked out.

Looking down, I saw a black hairy spider the size of a tennis ball sitting on my shoulder, it's eight legs spread out menacingly. Wriggling and swatting my hands all over my body, I shimmied my way out from under the bed while silently squealing.

"Oh my god, is it still there?" I whispered in panic as I stood up. It felt as if a bajillion little bugs were crawling all over my body and I couldn't stop sweeping my hands over myself.

"I don't think so." Bill replied, looking at me with slight amusement. "It looked like the sp-p-pider from the other day, the one we took ph-photos of."

"Fuck that spider and fuck it's whole family." I muttered, trying to shake myself free of the jitters. I was usually fine with spiders, as long as they weren't touching me. To have a big black spider inches from my face and staring at me with its too many eyes, it was a whole nother story.

"I don't think the spider d-d-deserved that." Bill said with a grin.

"Wipe that smile off your face, Denbrough. You didn't have a tarantula on your shoulder just then."

"It w-wasn't a tarantula. And I thought you said you w-weren't scared of spiders." Bill replied and I rolled my eyes.

"It was big enough that anyone would be scared of it. God, it's as if I can still feel it on me." I said, rubbing my shoulders vigorously. Bill chuckled and moved around to the other side of the bed. I watched him as he picked up the blankets and pillows, shoving the mattress under and out of sight.

"Thanks for letting me stay the night." I said, giving him a small smile.

Bill looked down bashfully. "No w-w-worries, Lara. Anytime."

I gave him another smile, and then paused. "Wait... Bill, how am I supposed to get out of your house?" I asked. If his parents were awake, how would I be able to get to the front door without them seeing me?

"Oh, uh, the w-window?" Bill suggested, scratching his head. I gave him an 'are you serious' look.

"Bill, that's like a twelve foot drop!" I exclaimed, walking to the window and peering down. It didn't look too high, but it was definitely high enough to break some bones if I fell.

"I got some rope?" Bill walked to his closet and opened the door, pulling out a long piece of brown rope. It was the kind that burned you if you held on too tightly.

"How am I supposed to use that to get down?" I asked incredulously.

"T-t-tie it to the desk, and climb down." Bill said.

"I don't think this will work." I replied.

"I think it will. We juh-just need to tie some handholds." Bill said, tying a knot and showing it to me.

"If I die doing this, I blame you." I muttered. We had tied all of the handholds and had wrapped one end around the leg of his desk, the rest of the rope dangling out the window.

"Just d-don't fall."

"Wow, thanks for the advice." I muttered as I awkwardly tried to climb out his window. First I stuck my legs out before lumberingly twisting myself around so I was facing his bedroom, my upper half uncomfortably sprawled on his desk.

"Later loser." I tried to say, but it came out as more of a grunt. I slid the rest of my body out of the window, holding onto the rope. My bad hand ached as I gripped the rope tightly, but I pulled through the pain. The brick wall grazed against my skin and I prayed doing this wouldn't leave me with more injuries than I already had. I planted my feet against the wall and, using the skills I learnt from abseiling on camp, I managed to get down relatively quickly. I looked up to see Bill's pale face staring down at me with a grin.

"See ya Big Bill!" I waved up at him. "Meet me at my house before you head to the quarry so I can go with you. I still don't have a bike."

"Sure. I'll b-be there at ten." Bill replied and I grinned at him before walking up his driveway and towards my house. I felt surprisingly awake considering the late night disruption and early rise.

I made my way to the front door and turned the handle. It was unlocked, which meant that my mum probably hadn't left the house yet. I stepped inside quietly and listened for any voices but there was no sound on the bottom floor. Slowly, I made my way up the stairs, jumping over the creaky step I had learnt to avoid from all the times my mum was sleeping. She slept like a baby; waking up at the slightest noises no matter how hard you tried.

I made it to the top of the stairs and looked down the short hallway. The glass was still there, and I made a note to myself to clean it up before I left. My mum would give me a spraying if I didn't, even though she was the one that made the mess.

I still couldn't hear any noise, so I walked towards my bedroom. Her bedroom door was slightly ajar, and I paused to look inside, seeing two large lumps underneath the covers. Great, that meant Butch was still here. Hopefully they didn't wake up before I left, although it was unlikely considering the large quantity of alcohol they consumed the night before.

I was surprised that I couldn't hear Butch snoring. He looked like the kind of man that would make roller coaster sounds in his sleep.

I silently made my way into my room and closed the door quietly. I walked to my mirror and took in my appearance, surprised at how not shitty I looked. Despite just having woken up and being covered in dust from under Bill's bed, I didn't look too bad. My dark, wavy hair looked nothing like the mess it usually was when I woke up and I only had slight bags under my eyes. They weren't even purple.

Feeling good about myself, I changed out of my clothes and put on some proper underwear and a bra. They were a light pink in colour and brought out the curves in my figure. I looked at myself in the mirror, feeling unsure about what I'd do at the quarry. Would we be stripping down to our underwear or wearing actual clothes? The boys would most likely swim in their jocks, but I felt slightly hesitant to wear mine.

Beverly would have no probably showing her body, but that was because she had nothing to hide. She was very thin and slight whereas, although I wasn't very big, I had noticeable curves. I started 'developing' at a younger age than usual and I had spent most of the latter part of my life wishing I had a figure like Beverly. Having larger actual boobs and a butt made everything that my mum did seem so much more real and that wasn't something I liked to feel.

I wondered if there would ever be a time in my life that I'd be completely and utterly happy with myself. I didn't think there would.