princess [rt]

viii. one man high-five

A few minutes later...

Mallory's POV

We bike to Ben's house and all pile in. As we make our way up the stairs, Stan reaches for my arm.

"Aren't you glad I brought you along with me?"

"Oh yeah," I say sarcastically, "I love looking into missing children. I thought 'school was out for summa!' but nope."

"Hey, this could have something to do with Betty, you know."

I stop, right in the middle of taking a step up the staircase. This caused me to block Richie and Stan from going up the stairs.

"What's the hold up princess?"

"Stop calling me princess!" I cry out. I never even put together the pieces about Betty going missing. What if she could be found? What if I can find her?

I race up the stairs, leaving my brother and Richie on the staircase and run into Ben's room. As soon as I enter I quickly come to a stop.

His room was plastered with old newspaper articles and pictures. Richie walks in behind me and has the same reaction.

"Cool, huh?" Ben asks.

Richie looks around the room, "No, nothing cool. There's nothing cool." He mumbles the last part and walks over to Ben's dresser. I follow Bev and look at some of the pictures on the wall. 

There were sticky notes filled with information and pictures of groups of people. Camps and people cutting wood. It was all pretty fascinating. Ben wasn't joking when he said he was a history buff. 

"What's that?" Stan asks from behind us.

"That? That's the charter for Derry Township"

"Nerd alert," Richie mutters, but not very quietly. I roll my eyes and turn back to the wall, continuing to listen to Ben.

"No, actually, it's really interesting. Derry started as a beaver trapping camp-"

Richie jumps up, "Still is, am I right, boys?" I turn to find Richie holding his hand up, waiting for a high five.

"Put your hand down glasses" I smirk, to which Richie glares at me.

"Anything for you princess" He winks as he lowers his hand into a bow. 

"91 people signed the charter that made Derry," Ben continues. "But later that winter they all disappeared without a trace."

On the wall, there was a list of signatures. Words were unlined and circles in red marker. One sticky note stood out to me: "91 VANISHED"

"The entire camp?" I ask. 

Ben turns to me, "There were rumors of Indians, but no sign of an attack. Everyone just thought it was a plague or something." 

Turning back to his wall, Ben points to a picture of people crowding around each other. "But... it's like one day everyone just woke up and left The only clue was a trail of bloody clothes leading to the well house"

"Jesus," Richie sighs, "We can go on Unsolved Mysteries"

From behind me, the door creaks. I turn to see Beverly slowly closing the door, revealing a New Kids On The Block poster. 

I look towards Ben to see him giving Bev a pleading look, begging for her to open the door before one of the boys see it. I let out a quiet snicker and motion for Bev to open the door. She does.

"Where was the well house?" Bill asks at Ben's desk.

"I don't know, somewhere in town I guess. Why?"

"Nothing."

🎈

Eddie was the first to go home, said his mom wanted him home for dinner. After him, Bev left. Ben said the rest of us had to leave because his mother was expecting company, so Richie, Bill, Stan and I started to bike around. 

"We should race," Richie said.

"Now?" Stan sighed. 

"Why not?" I ask, hopping off my bike. "I'll go to the end of the road and whoever can get to me the fastest wins. Deal?"

"S-s-sounds good to me" Bill smiles as he bikes back to the end of the street. Stan sighs and follows behind him. 

I wait for Richie to go there too but he doesn't move.

"Richie, what the fuck are you doing?"

"Waiting for the princess to say I can go back!" He yells toward me.

"Go back, you idiot!" I spat.

Richie joins Bill and Stan and I raise my arms.

"On your mark!"

"Get set!"

"Get ready!" I shouted, watching the boys flinch, thinking I was going to say go.

"And!"

A long pause. For dramatic effect, of course.

"Go!"

The three of them take off towards me. I couldn't tell who was taking the lead until I felt Richie slap my arm as he passed me.

"Ow, what the fuck Richie?!" I screech. The boy just laughs.

"I win, you owe me now."

"Since when do I owe you anything??"

'Since I won."

"Richie," Stan glares, "That wasn't established"

"Y-Y-Y-Yeah Richie, that wasn't es-es-established" Stan and Bill bike toward us. 

Richie pushes up his glasses and smirks. 

"Look, Mallory, we have to go home now" Stan looks toward me.

"Why?" I groan, dragging out the 'y'. 

"Mom wanted us to be home for dinner" 

I sigh and grab my bike from the ground. Stan and I take off after waving goodbye to the two boys. Stan and I bike home, which was just down the block. As we pulled up and put our bikes away, I glare at my brother.

"What's your problem?" I ask him.

"What are you talking about?" Stan and I head through the front door and enter the house. I yell that Stan and I were home and we both go up to our room. As we enter, I close the door.

"Mom never said anything about being home for dinner?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to go home."

I glare at the boy once more. "You didn't need to lie to them, you could have just said you wanted to go home."

Stan sits on his bed and turns on the lamp by his side. "Whatever."

"Yeah," I mumble as I open the bedroom door. "Whatever". I close the door behind me and head into the kitchen to help mom with dinner.