[if i can live without you, sue me, somebody told me that you think i'm tryna make you jealous]
JEALOUS MUCH?
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with maxine alongside me, i continued to shine the flashlight on various objects in the water as richie and eddie began to argue.
"did stanley charm you? not that i care i juh - just.." i question. i really do kinda care. i'm afraid i'm beginning to feel for her a bit. and i'm not mad about it.
max chuckles. "jealous much?" she teases me. i roll my eyes. even though it's too dark for max to tell, i can feel a blush creep onto my cheeks.
"i am n - not!" i lie as i begin to fluster. she huffs. "f - fine.. you got me." i admit. there's a moment of silence and i start to overthink.
i had wondered if i had possibly made her uncomfortable in any way.
"there's no reason to be." she assures me. "i only would have been flattered if you would have done that." she told. i blushed even harder and nodded, continuing to look for clues of georgie's disappearance.
in the corner of my eye, i spot max bending down and picking up a shoe. it's sort of blue, but it's hard to tell what colour it is originally because it's old looking and dirty.
"bill, check it out." she instructed, handing the shoe over to me. i dust it off and shine my flashlight on it, expecting every detail.
"hold on," max stops me and turns to the others. "guys! quit your bickering for one moment please." she demanded, interrupting richie, stanley, and eddie as the three payed their attention to us.
i held up the shoe. stanley's eyes widened along with everyone else's, except for maxine, who looked slightly bored, as if she were about to fall asleep.
"shit, don't tell me that's.." stanley began. i shook my head.
"no. g - geo - georgie wore galoshes." i informed him, making stan let out a sigh of relief. richie stepped closer, gently pushing max aside as he stood next to me.
we shined the light inside of the shoe. there was slightly faded writing in sharpie.
"B. RIPSOM"
a shocked look spread across both of our faces. "it's betty ripsom's." richie told them. as eddie began to panic about how he didn't like this place, i watched as maxine's expression grew confused.
"who the fuck is betty ripsom?" max questioned us as richie puts the shoe in his backpack.
stanley scratched the back of his neck. "she's another missing kid. her posters are all over the town." he told her. max nodded.
"shit." she responded. stan nodded and looked down slightly.
"yeah." he mumbled. i turned back towards the tunnel and kept walking through the grey water, having richie follow me as maxine leaned on one of the sides with spray paint.
"eddie, come on!" he shouted for him. eddie scoffed.
"my mom will have an aneurysm, okay? if she finds out we're playing down here, i'm serious." eddie worried, looking at me, who was now facing him again. "bill?"
i huffed. "if i were betty ripsom, i'd want us to find her." i said. "g - geo - georgie too." i added. eddie pauses and looked down.
"what if i don't wanna find them?" he asked quietly. maxine turned her head to him, still leaning on the concrete wall.
"good god!" she scoffed, giving him a death glare. eddie looked like he felt sort of bad.
"i'm sorry! but i don't wanna end up like geo-" he paused, realizing what he was about to say. "i don't wanna go missing either." he rephrased himself.
maxine rolled her eyes and stepped a bit forward. "i get what your saying, pipsqueak, but what happens if we just give up?" she defends my point of view. i smile, causing her to give one back in return.
"well, he has a point." stanley peeps. i chuckle under my breath.
"y - you too?" i guilt him.
max sighs. "shut up, shut the fuck up and let me finish guys." she demands, making us close our mouths. "i mean, georgie, and the other missing kids could be alive somewhere, and if they are, they're probably scared to death, starving, dehydrated, so on!" she explains. "so if we do this and succeed, save people's lives and shit, get the kidnapper or whatever locked up, imagine how good of people that will make us." she adds.
we all nod. she lowers her voice. "and you all get bullied. doing this could possibly lift the bowers gang off your dicks for a while or something. i hate seeing you guys get ratted on by those brain dead orcs." she says. for once, she sounds sweet and genuine.
but still, stan isn't done talking. "but, it's summer. we're supposed to be having fun." he states before we hear a big splash in the river behind us, making the five of us jump and gasp.
it's a boy from school. he's all beat up, tears in his clothes, blood on his face and shirt. scratched up.
richie fixes his glasses. "holy shit, what happened to you?" he asked the boy, who looked up to us, panting.
"you look like a proper day release." maxine adds. i nudge her. she looks up at me defensively. "what? i'm not wrong!"
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