sugarcoat it | bill denbrough

chapter seventeen: rock war

"Shit that's Belch's car. The Bowers gang is probably around here, let's go," Richie says.

"Wait, isn't that the homeschool kids bike?" I say, pointing to an old rusty bike with a metal basket in the front.

"Mike, y-yeah," Bill says. Mike Hanlon is homeschooled and his family owns a farm. My mom buys meat from them, I see him biking to the butcher with his bike basket full of meat every day.

"We have to help him," Beverly and I say at the same time, and then smile at each other, dropping our bikes.

"Really?" Eddie says as everyone else drops their bikes.

"C'mon Ed," I shout as we run down the gravel path. When we reach the bottom, Bev let's out a surprised squeak. Henry Bowers, Vic Criss, and Belch Huggins are all on top of Mike Hanlon, and Henry is shoving Mikes head into a mound of raw meat.

"EAT IT," Henry screams. "LITTLE FUCKER!"

"LITTLE PUSSY!" Belch bellows, Mike tries to get up but Henry grabs him and flips him over on his back. He sits on him and holds a rock up, about it smash his head. Without thinking, I grab one of the many rocks by our feet and I chuck it as hard as I can toward Henry. It collides with his head and he falls and looks up at me with pure hate.

"Holy shit," I mutter as Mike gets up and struggles his way across the stream and over to us. I feel Bill's cold hand on my shoulder, pulling me back from the side of the creek every so slightly in a protective way.

Belch turns to us as a smile creeps across his lips, "oh, look who it is! Some fucking losers," he yells. I see Bev tense up, and I see Ben grab her hand.

"You know," Henry says to Ben, "you don't need to try so hard with her. She'll fuck you, you just need to ask nicely, like I did." He licks his lips and grabs his crotch.

"Oh GOD HENRY," I glare. "That's DISGUST-"

Before I can finish my sentence, Ben screams at the top of his lungs and hurls a rock at Henry's head. He stumbles back for a second, and before he can recover Bev has already thrown another rock at him.

"ROCK WAR!" Richie screams and then gets hit, falling over. Suddenly, everyone is armed with rocks. I begin chucking rocks at the three members of the Bower's Gang as fast as I can. It's eight against three, and we're winning. Just as I'm about to fling another rock at Vic Criss, I'm hit hard on the side of my head by a rock thrown by Henry. I stumble and fall in the cold creek water. I feel blood coming from my ear.

"Nevada!" Bill exclaims and drops the rock he's holding, pulling me to my feet.

"Thanks," I mumble, leaning down to grab another.

"You're bleeding," he says as I throw the rock.

"S'okay," I say. Mike chucks a rock impressively hard at Belch, and he falls. I cheer as him and Vic retreat into the woods, leaving Henry ducking on the gravel, helpless. I sigh in relief as he struggles to stand up, staring at us with eyes full of terror. I look back at him and touch my stinging ear, slicking my hand with blood.

I turn to the rest of the Loser's Club, and their mouths are hanging open, just like mine, in shock of what just happened. "Nevada! Your ear!" Stan says.

"Stanley! Your forehead," I say, mocking him. He has a gash above his left eye.

Bill tenses up, and then takes a step towards me and hugs me close to him. I lean my head on him and feel him take a deep breath. Henry begins to struggle to his feet, and we run out of there.

"Go blow your dad you mullet wearing asshole!" Richie screams before he follows us out of the ditch. I giggle.

We pedal to a ditch where we park our bikes and walk across a field, toward a fort that Bill and Eddie have been working on by the Barrens. "Thanks but you didn't need to do that, you know," Mike says. "Now they'll be after you, too."

"Oh, no no no, Bowers? He's always been after us," Eddie assures.

"No worries," Bev smiles at him.

"I guess that's one thing we all have in common," I say, walking through the tall grass behind Bill.

"Who are you guys, anyway?" Mike asks.

"We're kind of a club," Eddie says, smiling.

"The Losers Club," Bill says, and everyone grins.

"Yeah Homeschool, Welcome to the Losers Club." Richie says with a smile.