A young man stared at the door of his last period classroom. He twirled a finger in one of his dirty blond curls and pulled down; it bounced back close to his head. He held his chin in his hand and sighed. The teacher was still talking with five minutes left of class but no one was paying attention. The droning of his teacher became a low mumble as he thought about what he was going to do for the rest of his day, after his homework of course.

The bell rang and the young man slung his backpack on and headed out. He heard a muffled "wait!" but assumed it was for someone else. Until he heard a following, "Stan!" He turned around to see Bill Denbrough, his best friend.

"Oh, sorry, man," he turned and smiled to a flustered boy who was slightly shorter than himself.

"I-I-it's oh-o-okay, Stan," the other boy responded, trying to dodge the people in the hallway. "I w-w-was w-wondering, wha-at are y-you doing t-today?"

"I don't know actually," Stan said thoughtfully, "Why?"

"D-d-do you w-wanna hang ah-out?"

"Sure!"

They made their way to their bikes and started heading over Derry Elementary. Bill seemed a little out of it, not really looking around. Stan did though; he looked all over for Bowers, not taking any chances. He eventually found him, but in Officer Bowers' car driving home. He smiled in relief and giddiness.

"Bill!," he finally snapped out of it and looked to his friend, "You hear about the senior that got in-house suspension today?" Bill's eyebrows drew together as he looked around. He spotted the blond mullet through the police car's window just before it drove away. He turned to the dirty blond with a smirk and Stan mirrored it back.

They reached the elementary soon after that, coming through the backway up to the school. They wheeled their bikes on the blacktop as soon as the bell rang. The door for the secondary side swung open and a rush of fourth and fifth graders came out, running past the two high schoolers. Stan spotted Georgie through the sea of children and smiled. He couldn't remember the last time he saw his best friend's little brother, but it was always pleasant to see him. Georgie saw him too, and smiled wide.

"Stan!," the small boy shouted as he ran over. The high schooler bent down, holding his bike steady with one hand, and gave his little friend a hug.

"Hiya, Georgie," Stan greeted, "How are you?"

"I'm... okay," the boy said softly, almost sadly, and looked down at his shoes. Stan's brow furrowed together but before he could confront Georgie, Bill interrupted.

"C'mon, M-Mom's gonna w-worry s-s-soon." Sharon never cared what her boys did, as long as they were home for supper. Stan realized soon after, he was in the middle of a family issue. What's worse was that it was Georgie he had some problem with. Bill has always adored his baby brother. Their relationship was different from other siblings, always fighting or getting on each other's nerves. Of course it did happen, but not often, and when it did it was ugly. Both of the boys would be moody if there was something going on between them. And Stan was dragged into it... again. The price of having Bill Denbrough as a best friend.

Stan stayed quiet and helped Georgie on the back of his bike. He peddled past a confused Bill who was simply walking his bike.

"Bowers may be home, but I'm not chancing his goons," the dirty blond called behind. He heard the gears fast approaching and saw his friend zoom past him. They biked to the Denbrough house and leaned their bikes on the front of the house.

"We're h-home!," Bill yelled through the house. The faint sound of a piano stopped and a few creaks of footsteps signaled their mother's acknowledgement. She stepped into the hallway and smiled.

"Hello, Stanley; boys," she said to her guest then to her sons.

"Hi, Mom," the boys chorused.

Stan stepped forward, "How are you?" He extended his hand for a formal handshake, feeling somewhat awkward but smiling anyways. She looked at the offered hand, took it, and yanked the lanky boy into her arms for a hug. He was positioned oddly but fixed himself to hug back just as warmly.

"I'm well, how are you?" Sharon peered (surprisingly) down at the young man. He was slowly reaching her own height, even closer than her oldest.

"I'm well, thank you." She pulled back, her hands on his shoulders and stared at the still-growing boy fondly.

"Mo-m," Bill groaned impatiently.

"Oh, right." Sharon let Stan go. "You go on and play," she said reflectively.

"Mo-m!," this time Bill was embarrassed.

"Oh! I mean, 'hang out'," she winked at her son like she knew what she was doing. Bill ran up the stairs and Stan went right after, leaving Georgie behind. He stared up after his brother and his friend longingly. He turned slightly and suddenly his mother's face was next to his. "It's piano lesson time!," she squealed excitedly. Georgie groaned like his brother.

Bill didn't look back but knew Stan was behind him. He swiftly opened the door to his bedroom and went in. The dirty blond slowly followed and sat on the bed next to his friend. Bill looked at him.

"S-S-Stan?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I t-tell you something?"

AN: What? A cliffhanger? "A pretty lame one at that!" Well the certain "something" is already being written but will be after the second chapter! See you soon~ ;)

P.S. the "mo-m" is like "mooooom" but shortened.