Chapter 1: Whisper to a Scream
"You're doing it again," Sophia said, gently elbowing her best friend in the side. "I can literally tell when you're thinking about him. You get that dumb puppy dog look plastered across your face and you totally lose your hold on reality. If you don't stop, he might actually notice this time," she chided.
Jack felt a dark pink blush quickly spill across his now burning red cheeks. "Dammit," he mumbled nervously, averting his attention from the gorgeous thirteen year old boy that was constantly on his mind.
It was only the second day of film production for It, and it was painfully obvious (to Sophia at least) that Jack had it bad. Finn Wolfhard, his acting idol and celebrity crush, was now his co-star, and it honestly excited and terrified him beyond belief.
"If you want to break the ice, why don't you just go up to him and confess your undying love and devotion for him?" she teased.
"Soph, seriously, shut up," Jack demanded between gritted teeth.
The older girl giggled as she continued to tease her friend. "No I'm being serious too! Start off with something like, I know yesterday was awkward but I've been in love with you since the first time I ever watched Stranger Things and I love your hair and your pretty pink lips and your perfect bu-"
"Sophia, for god's sake just stop it already!" Jack cried. "First of all, I'm not 'in love' with him, it's just a stupid crush! Secondly, there's no way in hell a guy like him would ever be into someone like me, he's probably straight anyways! Lastly, after what happened yesterday, he'll never want to be my friend anyway!"
The mousy haired girl stopped her relentless teasing and worried her bottom lip between her teeth. "Come on, you know the first day of production wasn't as awful as you're making it sound."
"It was the single most mortifying experience of my acting career," Jack scoffed dramatically.
The first day of production was the most excruciating day of Jack's life.
~Flashback~
"Can you tell how anxious I am?" Jack asked. "It feels like I'm about to have a panic attack."
Sophia snickered. "Calm down, Eddie. You look like you're about to piss yourself."
The shorter boy rolled his eyes and swiftly brushed off her sassy comment. "Can you believe we're actually here?" he questioned aloud, extending his thin arms in the air like a bird about to take flight. "On a real movie production set?"
"It's pretty cool," Sophia replied with a slight smile. "I'm happy we got here early. It's so nice and quiet and really peaceful. I can't believe how stunning this neighborhood looks."
"We're so lucky our moms let us come check the place out early," Jack remarked brightly as his eyes lit up with pure happiness. "This is the only time I've ever been to Canada, but I can officially say it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Everything looks so well maintained and classic."
Sophia's mom, Katherine, and Jack's mom, Tania, allowed the two teenagers to leave their shared hotel room and explore the film set that was located less than two miles away from where they were staying. After the two teens were dropped off at dawn, they sprinted pass the guarded check point station and straight towards the set of It.
"Yeah," the mousy haired girl agreed, her eyes scanning the enormous set around her. "You aren't just saying Canada is the most beautiful place you've ever been to because it happens to be Finn's home country, are you?" she joked.
Jack blushed at the accusation but remained quiet. Sophia took his silence as a clear yes.
"Finn Wolfhard or not, I'm grateful to be here nonetheless," Sophia said faintly, more to herself than to Jack.
Thousands of girls auditioned for the role of Beverly Marsh, and Sophia felt like the luckiest girl in the world for getting the part. To add to her good fortune, her best friend since the age of six, Jack, also got a starring role in the film. She never believed in luck or fate or whatever you want to call it, but right now, for her, in this day of her life, it all felt so real.
"What time do you think the others will get here?" the brown haired boy asked offhandedly, breaking the engrossed girl away from her racing thoughts.
"Not for another hour or two at the most, which means we'll have the entire place to ourselves for a while."
A wicked smile crossed Jack's attractive face. "Do you know what that means?"
"Do I want to know what that means?" she asked, feeding into whatever ridiculous idea he had in mind.
"It means we'll have the costumes all to ourselves!"
Sophia grinned, her mind taking her back to a conversation she and Jack had almost a decade ago. She was five and he was four, and they had somehow managed to sneak into Sophia's parent's room undetected and completely raid their shared wardrobe. In under ten minutes they were both clad in expensive clothing; Sophia in a gorgeous red dress that was much too big for her and Jack in a fancy tuxedo that barely stayed on his tiny frame.
After their outfits were complete, the little five year old rushed to her mother's dresser at full speed and started pilling on necklaces, rings, and bracelets.
"Oh!" Jack shrieked sharply. "Lemme see, lemme see! I wanna put some on too."
He climbed onto his tiptoes and grabbed the first article of jewelry he laid his eyes on, a classic white pearl necklace.
"I think only girls are supposed to wear that," Sophia explained as Jack clasped the necklace into place around his delicate neck.
The younger boy frowned. "Why can only girls do it? I like it. It makes me feel pretty."
If Sophia had known then what she knew now, she would have realized right then and there that Jack was different from most boys their age. Being only five years old, the reaction flew right over her head, but looking back on it now, she saw how obvious it all truly was.
"I don't know why," she admitted. "I just never see boys wearing them, only big girls and my mom."
Jack pulled a matching pearl bracelet off of the dresser and effortlessly slipped it onto his thin wrist. Sophia shrugged and reached into her mother's makeup bag, pulling out a tube of mascara and some red lipstick.
"Let me put it on you!" Jack cried excitedly.
The younger girl obliged and handed him the items. "Do you even know how to put on makeup?"
"Do you?" he countered.
Sophia shrugged once again, sitting back and letting Jack apply her makeup. After he was done, he brought the makeup bag down to his level and started pulling out other things to add like eye shadow, eye linear, blush, and lip linear.
"How do you know what all of this stuff is for?" the mousy haired girl asked as he applied light blue eye shadow to her eyelids.
"My mom and aunt go on and on about this stuff," he clarified. "They're always sharing beauty tricks, asking me how they look, and telling me how different products give your face different effects. Like right now, I'm using blue eye shadow because it'll make your eyes look bigger and brighter, and I'm using the red lipstick you picked out because it'll compliment your outfit."
"You really know your stuff, huh?" she said in utter amazement.
Jack grinned cheerfully, the finishing touches on Sophia's makeup now complete. The five year old looked at herself in the mirror and gasped.
"I look just like a movie star!" she declared gleefully as she clapped her little hands together. "I feel way cuter than Gabriella and Sharpay!"
"Now it's my turn," Jack stated.
Jack applied a light coat of mascara onto his eyelashes, used nude brown eye shadow on his eyelids, added winged eyeliner to put the look together, rubbed blush onto his cheeks, and used a light pink lipstick and matching lip linear to make his lips stand out.
"I can't believe you just did that," the blue eyed girl conceded. "I've never seen a boy look so much like a girl before."
Jack looked at himself in the mirror and couldn't help but stare at himself. In his eyes, he had never looked more beautiful. He liked wearing makeup and fancy jewels and a bunch of other things he wasn't supposed to be drawn to.
"If Chad and Mark ever saw you like that, they'd probably beat you up," Sophia whispered bitterly.
The shorter boy frowned. "Why would they?"
Sophia nervously twirled her long brown hair in between her fingers and sighed. "Because they already make fun of you for being little and short and wearing cute clothes like a girl... I don't know, I just feel like they would say you're a girl and make fun of you."
The younger boy blinked as his mind desperately searched for an explanation. "Everyone always does what movie stars do," Jack started innocently. "They cut their hair like them, wear clothes they like, and some even act like them. When I'm a big kid, I'm going to be a movie star. I'll wear stuff that girls normally wear and then everyone will start doing it too, and then Chad and Mark will never be able to make fun of me again."
"You'll start a trend where everyone isn't afraid to be themselves," Sophia said encouragingly. "We'll both be super famous movie stars and we can help people and change the world."
"You promise?" Jack asked, raising his pinky in the air.
"I promise," she replied, taking his pinky in her own and twisting it.
"Movie stars?"
"Movie stars."
"Are you just going to stand there all day?" Jack quipped at the unmoving Sophia.
"Yeah, sorry, I blanked out for a second."
"Well, now that you're back in then real world, let's go!"
Sophia laughed as she followed closely behind the bolting teen. They entered the surprisingly unlocked dressing room and immediately got down to business. Just like when they were children, the fourteen year old girl was instantly drawn to a satin red dress and a tall pair of black high heels. Within a matter of minutes she transformed herself into a movie star decorated with luxurious clothing and sparkling jewels.
Jack, on the other hand, chose to break away from what he normally would have dressed himself as a child. Instead of picking a random tuxedo or an outfit typically worn by teenagers his age, he selected a pair of ripped girl's leggings, a pretty white off the shoulder crop top, and a pair of black platform ankle boots.
"Someone's definitely a lot bolder than they were 10 years ago," Sophia pointed out.
Jack smirked and did a little twirl in front of the mirror. "I was afraid to pick a girlier outfit back then, I thought you would judge me. But now, I know I have nothing to be afraid of."
Just as the words escaped Jack's lips, the door to the costume room suddenly swung open. Finn took a few steps in and awkwardly froze in the middle of the room. His dark brown eyes glanced at Jack, then at Sophia, but then they curiously landed on Jack once again. Finn's eyes traced his body from head to toe and lingered on the younger boy's smaller frame, causing his cheeks to burn dark red.
"I'm sorry I-I didn't know anyone else would be in here I was just looking around and I thought this would be an interesting place to explore so I decided to come in and look around but you guys were already in here and I'm rambling now so I'm just going to leave-"
"You don't have to leave!" Sophia interrupted.
"No trust me it's fine, I think I hear my mom calling me," Finn stated.
And with that, the Stranger Things star exited the room just as swiftly as he had entered. Sophia sighed and tossed her hands up in the air.
"That was probably the single most mortifying introduction of my life!" she screeched.
Jack stood there in silence, too embarrassed to move. "He probably thinks I'm a freak now."
"Jack, sweetie, no. He doesn't think that," his best friend reassured him. Sophia decided to put her own feelings aside and comfort the heart broken boy next to her. She wrapped her arm around the teen's trembling shoulders and pulled him close to her. "Everything's going to be okay."
The thirteen year old hung his head in shame and covered his face with his hands. "I feel like I'm going to be sick."
~End of Flashback~
Thankfully, for the first day of production, the cast didn't see each other at all. That day was dedicated to making sure the costumes fit, reviewing lines with various acting coaches, and giving the makeup team time to learn the cast's shades and complexion. Now, on the second day, it was finally time for the Losers Club to officially come together.
"Soph, I'm telling you, I can't do it."
"And I'm saying that you have to!" she yelled. "I know it was really embarrassing for you, but you can't dwell on it forever. We have a movie to film and that can't happen if you refuse to go. This isn't up for discussion!"
Jack groaned and flopped down onto his bed face first. He shoved his face into the soft hotel room pillow and screamed. "I hate my life!"
"Jack Dylan Grazer, I swear to god if you utter those words one more time I will personally-"
"Hello?" a boy's voice called from outside their hotel room door, which was followed by light knocking. "Anybody home?"
"We aren't done talking about this," Sophia threatened as she shuffled over towards the door. After looking out the peephole she let out a small gasp and slowly pulled open the door.
"Finn, hi, it's super cool to finally meet you. I'm Sophia Lillis, your co-star and not at all weird costume room prowler."
The dark haired boy laugh and politely introduced himself. "I've been stopping by everyone's suite to say hello, it's awesome to finally meet you too."
"Stopping by everyone's suite, huh?" Sophia began with a mischievous tone in her voice that only Jack was able to recognize. "That sounds like fun, I'm going to get on that right away."
The blue eyed girl strolled out of the room with a smug grin tugging on the corners of her lips, slyly closing the bedroom door behind her.
"Hey," Finn said without missing a heartbeat. "You must be Jack, right?"
The thin boy rose into a sitting position and simply nodded his head. Finn smiled and started walking towards the quiet boy, Jack's heart rate increasing with each step the taller teen took.
"Can I have a seat?" he questioned, motioning to the unoccupied side of the bed next to Jack. Again, he just nodded his head in response.
"You don't talk a lot, do you?"
"I normally do, I'm just really embarrassed around you," he admitted before realizing what he said. "Talk a lot, I mean. People usually can't get me to shut up."
Finn giggled and placed a warm hand on Jack's knee. The younger boy was almost certain his heart was going to explode.
"Why are you embarrassed?" Finn asked.
Jack sighed and looked down at his swinging feet, too ashamed to meet the older boy's gaze. "Oh come on, you know why. That wasn't exactly what I had planned in my head when I pictured introducing myself to you for the first time."
"You've played that moment out in your head before?" he inquired.
"Many times, yes," he confessed. "I was just really embarrassed, okay? I saw you staring... You probably think I'm a major freak."
"I wasn't staring at you because I thought you were a freak," the black haired boy began softly. "I was staring at you because I've never really seen anyone like you before. I was looking at you because you were really cute and pretty to look at. Guys don't normally wear that kind of stuff, so seeing you look so confident and carefree was really mesmerizing."
My crush thinks I'm cute, My crush thinks I'm cute, MY CRUSH THINKS I'M CUTE!
"T-Thank you," he responded shyly. "No one's ever called me cute before."
"Really?" Finn asked in disbelief. "Then you obviously haven't been hanging around the right people. I'll see you on set, Jack."
And with that, the thirteen year old boy gave Jack one last longing look over his shoulder and left the room without another word. If only Jack could have seen the pink blush spreading across his face and the flirtatious lovesick grin pulling on his lips, and if only Finn could have seen the way Jack sank into his bed and let out a heart piercing scream into his pillow.