sugarcoat it | bill denbrough

chapter seven: the sewers

Plink... Plink... I hear pebbles at my window. Bill. I groan and roll over to see what time it is, 9:46 in the morning. Plink Plink Plink, the pebbles intensify. I reach for my walkie, "Bill, hi." I say groggily into it.

"Nevie, f-f-finally!" His voice crackles through the speaker. "Come out, we've gotta m-meet the others in f-f-fifteen minutes at the p-pipes!"

"Oh, right, yeah! I'll be down in three minutes."

"M-meet you in your driveway, see you then," he says.

I fly out of bed, throw on a pair of overalls and a yellow t-shirt, pull on my converse and run out the door, putting my hair in a braid as I go. He's waiting right by the door with Silver, his beloved bike. I grab mine, and we're off, pedaling to Derry's center sewer pipes. "R-race you there," he says as it comes into view.

"You're on!" I yell, and we being pedaling at top speed. Bill wins, but just barely. He throws Silver down and grins.

"I w-w-win," he grins at me.

"You win," I pant, smiling and putting my bike beside his, by the side of the ditch that leads to the pipes. I see Eddies, Stans, and Richies already there.

"What do I win?" He asks, "what's m-my p-p-prize?"

"Hmm," I think, "ask me anything. I'll answer honestly, that's your prize." We start heading down the dead leaf scattered ditch.

"Do you l-l-like Stan?" He asks, his head cocked.

I laugh, and a million thoughts run through my head. Stanley? No, it's you. It's always been you, do you like me back? Please say you do. Why are you asking me? Is it because you want to ask me out? But all I manage to say is, "Stan? Uh, no, why?"

"No r-reason particularly, but you always just r-r-really nice to each other."

"Are you jealous?" I joke. He sputters and turns red.

"Is there poison ivy here?" I hear a voice ask from a distance. Eddie!

"Th-thats them, lets go," Bill says. We run to them, and see a very concerned Eddie scratching at his arms. We stand in the entrance of one of the big tunnels by the barrens, with ankle deep water flowing in.

"I think that's poison ivy," Eddie says, pointing at a leafy plant behind us.

"That's poison ivy," Stan confirms. "And that's poison ivy," he points to another plant, "and that's poison ivy."

"Not every fucking plant is poison ivy, Stanley," Richie says.

"There's no poison ivy here," I assure him.

"Yeah Nevada? Then why am I so itchy?" He asks.

"Do you use the same bathroom as your mother?" Asks Richie, throwing pebbles in the river.

"Yeah, sometimes," he says.

"Then you probably have crabs," Richie shrugs.

"Oh my god," Stan and I both say at the same time, look at each other, and laugh. Bill raises his eyebrows at me as if to say see? told you!! and begins walking into the tunnel.

"That's so not funny," Eddie fumes.

"Let's go," I motion to the tunnel, where Bill is already searching for any signs of his brother.

"This is greywater, I'm not going in there," Eddie says.

"The fuck is greywater?" I ask.

"It's basically... Piss and shit. I'm just telling you," Eddie answers.