15So sorry it's taken a while to update! Feel free to leave me ideas of what you'd like to see here. One reviewer asked what the IT ships would be - I'm OT7 but heavy on the Reddie and I like a bit of Stanbrough and Benverly but also Billverly and Stanlon and Ben/Mike. And Beverchie. Literally I really just ship them all together.
So, let me know what you'd like to see. I have an overall plot but want to work in your ideas, too.
chapter 2
As soon as he sees her, Ben Hanscom is in love. She's beautiful, in a way that he's never seen in person. Movies, definitely - pale skin and big eyes that aren't quite blue, not quite green. Long eyelashes and silky red hair that falls in wavy ropes down her shoulders and back. For a moment, it's like all the air leaves the room and his round, flushed cheeks go impossibly pinker. She's coming towards him, in slow motion, and he hears old Motown music in his head...
"Bill Denbrough?" Her musical voice is the needle scratching off the record, the cold water needed to douse him back into reality.
Standing outside the girls' cabin while their counselor, Steve, had gone inside to request art supplies, the guys have been making awkward small talk and shifting uncomfortably. Richie and Mike, the nearly identical twins, have been arguing over whether or not their sister has already banged the counselor, and why he acts like he doesn't know who they are. Ben, as usual, feels out of place.
He's not funny - in an obnoxious way - like Richie. He's not cool and stoic like Mike H (Ben fights the urge to label him 'black Mike,' because he knows it's not right and there are probably a million more defining qualities to the guy), or full of random information like Stanley, who has been pointing out various plants and birds and wild life as they trekked through the camp. Even Eddie, who is small but also fierce, seems fascinating. His fanny pack bulges at the seems as he rambles somewhat paranoid nonsense about poison ivy, not touching any feathers they might happen upon ("do you know how many /diseases/ birds carry?!"), the importance of staying hydrated... Ben gets the sense that it's his first time away from home, and that maybe his parents had been a bit too dramatic and thorough when explaining the wonder of nature.
Ben watches, spellbound, as the pretty redhead girl walks right up to the auburn-haired Bill, who can barely make it through a sentence without a punishing stutter jumbling his words, and pulls him into a tight hug. Bill looks as stunned as the rest of them - Ben realizes he's not the only one enraptured by her. Dustin, the kid with no front teeth and frizzy, mouse-brown hair sticking out from under his hat, had a dumbstruck look on his soft face.
"Be-be-Beverly M-Marsh," Bill stammers when she pulls back. Her eyes are dancing above a crooked smile, and Ben thinks he would go to great lengths to have the beauty look upon him like that.
"What are you doing here?" This Beverly Marsh is holding both of Bill's hands and Bill stares at their joined appendages somewhat in disbelief. Beverly Marsh doesn't seem to notice.
"M-my parents thought I-I-it would be g-good, after Ge-Ge-Georgie." Bill blushes and a darkness slides over his features. Ben is curious, but respectful and knows he won't push despite his burning thirst for answers. He's always like that, with something he gets hooked on. Particularly history, but the sorrow on his cabin-mates face is enough to make him wonder.
"Hey, Big Bill, ya gonna introduce us or what?" Richie puts his hands on his hips and squints through his thick lenses at the pair.
"S-s-Sorry," Bill says, blushing deeper. "This is Be-Beverly. W-w-we go to sc-school to-ge-gether." Bill swallows thickly.
"It'll take all day if /you/ introduce us," Richie says, but not harshly. He's trying to make it a joke, and Bill chuckles and ducks his head. "Most importantly, I'm Richie Wheeler. That ugly shmuck is my brother Mike -"
"Oh shut it, Trashmouth," Mike says with a dramatic eye roll. Apparently, Steve's nickname from earlier stuck.
"Then there's Stan the Man, Eddie Spaghetti, Haystack, The Cool Mike, Dustin, Mucus, and Will." Haystack? Obviously it's Ben, but he's not sure if he's offended or not.
Beverly is grinning widely. Another redhead (do they run in pairs? Ben wonders with an inner smile) sticks her head out the door. She crosses her arms and sets her cool green stare on them.
Ben wonders at Richie's nicknames. He's surprised that he's not offended, and likes that he found a better identifier for Mike than 'black.' The other guys are shifting around nervously, awkwardly, but if Beverly notices she politely doesn't comment.
"Is that a Dig Dug pin?" Dustin asks and breaks away from the group to survey the smaller redhead.
"I am sorry, about your brother," Beverly says quietly.
"I think I'm getting sunburn," Eddie says, to no one in particular, but Stanley comes to survey the shorter boy's face.
"Your brother called me /Mucus/," Lucas says to Mike, who shrugs and looks exasperated. It's a lot for Ben to take in. Cool Mike, Will, and himself stand together, observing, but not unhappy. It's warm, it's summer, and it's a mess of too many conversations but even though he's not directly included, Ben feels like he's part of the gang for the first time in his life. That's good enough, he thinks.
—
After lunch, Beverly wants to explore the camp, and Max tags along with quiet Jane following too. The campground is thick with trees and bushes and bramble off the narrow dirt roads, but there are smaller trails weaving through the brush and once the girls smell like Banana Boat and Off! they head into the woods with determination.
"So was that like, your boyfriend?" Max asks.
Beverly is glad she's leading them as she blushes. "No, I just know him from back home." Sweet Bill Denbrough with the stutter and the dead brother. If it was anyone else, she would have felt apathetic. Beverly Marsh had her own shit to worry about. But Bill was so sweet, so pure, that it made her chest ache to think of the sadness that had darkened his eyes earlier. His parents were right to send him away, get him out of Derry for a while. Out of his head. He seemed lighter and smiled bigger already and it was only day one.
"Uh huh. That's why you were all over him?" Max is teasing and Bev chuckles to herself. They're far enough off the trail that sneaking a cigarette isn't super dangerous, so she fishes her pack and lighter out of her backpack to light one.
"What about you, Mad Max? See anyone you liked?" Beverly holds her smoke between her teeth and winks as the smaller redhead's face floods with color.
"Ugh, no. They were all just... annoying." Max dramatically shivers in disgust.
"What about you, Jane?" Beverly encourages and Jane smiles very softly but shakes her head. The trio of girls continue, leisurely, as the trail snakes up a hill. They chat about nothing, really - music (they all reluctantly admit that Madonna is catchy as hell, the Beatles are an all time favorite, and Bev and Max tease Jane when she says she likes George Michael), movies (they all agree that Ghostbusters is fantastic and they all secretly loved Footloose). Their lives back home... Beverly doesn't talk about her father, instead explaining that she lived with her aunt and it was just the two of them. Max's parents are divorced, and her step father and brother were the definition of wasteoids.
"Billy is a counselor here. You'll meet him," Max says as she crouches to examine a cluster of yellow wildflowers. She frowns. "He thinks he's Rob Lowe."
"What about you, Jane?" Beverly tries to include the practically mute girl. She is curious, and once she gets curious, it's hard to deter herself. She glances over her slender shoulder to find Jane chewing her lip and focusing on the forest floor as they trek up the hill.
"I live with a foster family," she says after a long stretch of silence. "My papa... isn't a good father." The weight of her words are a heavy stone in Beverly's belly and despite the humid summer air she shivers, knowingly. They have all stopped and Max even looks sad - she seems to have two moods, annoyed and amused, and the frown that turns her lips down along with the furrowed brow shows her concern.
"My Dad was shitty, too." Beverly stomps her smoke out and picks up the butt, not wanting to litter or leave evidence. "You don't have to talk about it. But I'm always here if you do."
Jane gives her a relieved smile. "Thank you."
They continue on until they reach the top of the hill and burst from the thick of woods into a flat, open field. A huge pavilion sits a ways away, casting a long shadow on a smaller, brown cottage. Through the trees, Bev could see the glimmering lake below.
"Wonder what this is?" Max muses. They amble over, peeking into the windows of the cottage. Jane notices the sign above the door first.
"Drama Hut." She points. Bev tries the door, unsurprised to find it locked, and slides a bobby-pin out of her hair, holds it up and winks at her new friends. Jane looks puzzled, Max impressed. The padlock takes only a few seconds of careful manipulation before it dislodges.
"We're in," Bev says with a smug smile.
"You /have/ to teach me how to do that!" Max has respect shining in her sea green eyes. Slipping inside, it takes a moment for her eyes to adjust, and Beverly realizes they are surrounded by an assortment of costumes, painted scenery - trees and rocks and what looks like maybe a castle - an ancient looking piano... she runs her fingers over a rack of costumes and continues into the cabin.
"This is amazing." Max holds up a lion costume with a mangy looking orange mane, and Jane has put on a massive felt hat with a black feather stuck in the brim. Laughing, they all find ridiculous things to wear - a bright pink feather boa for Beverly, knee high go-go boots for Max, some sort of Tin-Man or maybe knights armor for Jane. After getting over the novelty of it, the collapse onto a dusty, ancient couch that puffs out dust under their weight.
"This is actually kinda cool," Max admits, glancing around the exposed rafters where cobwebs hang thick. "We should make this like, our hide out."
"Definitely," Beverly agrees. Jane is staring out the window, and she follows her line of sight. Nancy, their camp counselor, and another guy that Beverly doesn't recognize, are standing against a tree. It doesn't take long for Beverly to realize what they're doing. Smirking at Jane, she flops back on the couch again and pulls out another cigarette. If their counselor is doing indecent things against some tree in the woods, she's not so worried about being busted with a Marlboro.
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