"Quick, out the side door!" Richie whispered. We sprinted through the seats, ignoring the shouts of protest as we jumped over legs and boxes of popcorn. Running as quickly as we could we made our way down the stairs, stopping briefly while Richie pushed open the door.

"Oh fuck, that was close." I panted, taking deep breaths of the cool, night air. The door had led us to a one-way alleyway and I leaned my back against it, holding it shut.

"Have those guys really got it in for you, Ben?" Beverly asked.

"Yeah, I guess they do." Ben replied. "I got in a fight with Henry Bowers on the last day of school."

"Did he hurt you?"

"Not as much as he wanted to." Ben said. "That's why he's still mad, I guess."

"Ole Haystack lost a fair amount of skin. From what I heard, he scraped Henry up a fair bit too. I don't think he was very pleased about that, either." Richie added.

A cat which had been hiding in a garbage can hissed and dashed past us, scrambling up and over the fence at the blocked end. Beverly jumped as it landed on the trashcan lid and grabbed Richie's arm, laughing nervously. "I guess I'm still a little spooked from the movie." she said.

"You won't-" Richie began.

"Hello fuckface." Henry Bowers said from behind us. Startled, the four of us spun around to see him, Belch and Victor standing at the mouth of the alley. There was still no sign of Patrick.

"Oh shit, I knew this was going to happen." Ben moaned. I turned back towards the door to the Aladdin Theatre, but it was closed. There was no way to open it from the outside.

"Say goodbye, fuckface." Henry said and ran at Ben. Beverly stepped forward, as if to meet Henry and shake his hand.

"Leave him alone!" she shouted. "Pick on someone your own size!"

"He's as big as a fucking Mack truck, bitch." Henry snarled. "Now get out of my-"

Richie stuck out his foot and it was almost as if he didn't realise he was doing it. He looked down in surprise when Henry fell forward, sliding on his stomach like a hockey puck. He started to get up, his shirt covered in brown muck and bits of lettuce. "Oh you guys are gonna DIE!" he screamed.

All of a sudden, a loud yell came from beside me and I turned in surprise to see Ben charge forward. He grabbed one of the garbage cans and held it above his head, letting out a roar as he threw it towards his assailant.

I stared at Ben in awe. In the brief moment he held it still above his head, he looked like something out of a movie.

It struck Henry in the small of the back and he fell flat again with a grunt.

"Let's get out of here!" I yelled and we ran towards the mouth of the alley where Victor and Belch stood guarding it.

Victor jumped in front of us, but Ben charged into him head on, bellowing.

"Oof!" Victor grunted and sprawled on the ground into a sitting position.

Belch grabbed a fistful of my hair and whipped me against the Aladdin's brick wall, but I managed to push off with my hands without seriously hitting it. I used the momentum to push me forward and I ran blindly down the alley, following the bright red hair of Beverly.

I looked behind me dizzily to see Richie holding a trashcan lid in defence, meeting it with Belch's fist. A loud bang sounded through the alley and Belch screamed, jumping up and down as he held his hand.

Richie looked down at the trashcan lid in surprise before throwing it like a frisbee behind him blindly as he ran after the rest of us. It hit Henry, who had just started to get up again, right between the eyes. He fell back onto the ground and didn't get up.

We ran down Centre street as fast as we could, ignoring the looks from passerby's. My vision had cleared up and I looked to Richie who had his hand pressed between the frames of his glasses so he wouldn't lose them.

I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins and I started laughing, ignoring the aching in my chest as it burned for oxygen. I heard Richie join in, then Beverly and Ben.

We turned onto Court Street and collapsed on a bench outside Derry Police Station, still laughing. In that moment, this was the only place we felt possibly safe from the Bowers gang.

Beverly looped an arm around me and Ben's neck and I put my arm around Richie. We hugged each other furiously.

"That was great!" Beverly said, her eyes sparkling. "Did you see those guys? Did you see them?"

"I saw them all right, and I never want to see them again." Ben said, sending us all into another storm of hysterical laughter. I kept expecting Henry to come around the corner and take after us again, despite the police station. That didn't stop me from laughing though. Beverly was right, it had been great.

A cop poked his head out of an open window and shouted, "You kids get out of here right now! Take a walk!"

Richie opened his mouth to say something, but I kicked his foot. "Not now, Richie."

"Yeah Richie." Beverly laughed, looking at him fondly. "Beep beep."

"Are you alright Lara?" Ben asked, looking at my cheek. I brought my hand up to it self-consciously, instantly regretting it as pain shot through my face.

"Oh, yeah, I'm alright." I winced. "Got it from Henry's dad. Those two have the same blood, that's for sure."

Beverly placed a hand on my shoulder with a sympathetic look.

"Yeah, I'm a mess."

"At least Henry didn't carve his initial into your gut." Richie said and I nodded sympathetically towards Ben.

"Do you think it will scar?" I asked him.

"Probably, but I hope not." Ben replied.

"Oh shit, I better get going. I was supposed to be home half an hour ago." Beverly said.

"What time is it?" Ben asked.

"Nine thirty. Ugh, my dad's gonna kill me." she groaned, knotting her fingers in her hair.

"Well I don't have to be anywhere. You guys should come over to mine, my parents are out for the week." Richie suggested.

"I don't know, I don't really want to get into more trouble than I already am. I should probably head home." Beverly said.

"What about you, Haystack?" Richie asked.

"Uh, yeah, maybe. Do you have a phone I could use to let my mum know where I am?" Ben asked.

"No, I don't have a phone." Richie said sarcastically and Ben's face went red. "How about you, Lara? You in?"

"Yeah, I guess. Sounds better than being at my house." I shrugged.

"Then it's settled. We'll walk you home, Beverly, in case Henry is still around, and then the rest of us will go to mine." said Richie.

And with that we set off down the dark streets of Derry, trying our best to ignore the fact it was past the 7pm curfew.

- - -

"Wow, your house is neat." I said as we walked into Richie's double story home. He lived in the richer part of town, although the Tozier property was nowhere near as extravagant as the neighbouring ones. It was, however, nicer than the rest of the Losers' houses.

"It's alright." Richie responded, closing the front door behind us. He led us downstairs into the rumpus room and collapsed onto the couch. Ben and I stood taking in our surroundings awkwardly.

"Oh, Ben, the phone's in the kitchen. Upstairs to your right. " Richie said, picking up the remote and switching on the television. "Get Lara a bag of peas while you're at it." Ben shuffled upstairs and I sat down on a red beanbag.

"So, why aren't your parents home?" I asked.

"Oh they've gone on a romantic getaway or something. My dad's a dentist so he works a lot and they make up for lost time by going away together every couple of months."

"You don't get lonely here all by yourself?"

"Not really, it's nice to be alone sometimes." Richie replied. I heard the muffled voice of Ben talking to his mother.

"Yeah, I'm home alone quite often too. I kinda prefer it that way." I said. Richie made a noise of agreement, his eyes glued to the television screen.

"What are your parents like?" I asked curiously.

"They're nice." he shrugged. "My dad's pretty supportive of my voices and my mum goes alright. I think she wishes I was born a girl, though. Whatever."

Ben came shuffling down the stairs and I was saved from replying. He took a seat on an old, worn armchair after passing me the frozen bag of peas. He focused his attention on the TV.

"So, how'd your mum take the news, Haystack? Is she crying now that her baby boy's all grown up and staying over at dangerous people's houses?" Richie joked.

"Yeah, she was super upset that I friends with such a bad boy. She even said to me she'd rather I hang with Henry Bowers." Ben responded and I giggled.

"I hope I never have to move away again." I said suddenly, thinking of all the great friends I had made in the last month.

"Are you kidding? If I was you, I'd be dying for a chance to get out of this shit hole." said Richie.

"Yeah, Derry definitely isn't at the top of the list in terms of the best places I've been to." Ben added.

"That's true. But this is the only place I've really felt as if I belong. And I got to meet all you guys."

Richie scoffed. "We're just a bunch of losers."

I grinned. "I know."

Eventually, we nodded off during the sixth episode of Happy Days. The last thing I remembered was Richie sleepily gushing about how sexy Fonzie was.