Disclaimer: I do not own IT or any of the characters. That all belongs to the awesome and talented Stephen King. I only own my OC and other characters I make up along the way.

A/N: Yo! I hope you guys had an awesome Halloween! I sure did, I went trick or treating even though I'm 21 and I have no shame whatsoever. Plus I'm proud of my costume. I was a hippie *tehe* Anyways this is more of a filler chapter. However it's in chapter 16 that things really start to move again. So be ready for that because it's gonna include the projector scene! D:

I do not own any songs mentioned in this chapter. The song Sweet Child O' Mine is originally done by the band Guns 'N Roses, but the version Gwen sings is more acoustic. It's still a beautiful song especially the beginning and chorus.

Sorry for any grammar mistakes. It's two o'clock in the morning right now. I'll try to edit this chapter later.

"Life's an experience, not a destination. All of us have the same destination, but not one of us has an identical experience. You'll find someone who will be there when the fireworks fizzle out and the sky turns black and love you just the same. That's the one to hold onto." ― Marilyn Grey, Bloom

Chapter 14: Happy fourth of July

A couple weeks later

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

Gwen huffed, exasperated. She about had it with the damn conversation she was having with her mother. They've been talking about the topic of her singing for almost half an hour now. She was currently sitting on the living room couch while her mother stood over her. "Mom! How many times am I gonna have to say no? I'm not doing it!"

"But I already signed you up, and I told everyone in the committee you were going to be the first one to sing tomorrow." Maggie informed her daughter, panicking . The older woman was beginning to get irritated that her daughter wasn't right away agreeing with singing at the fourth of July festival tomorrow. To her it seemed like such an honor for her daughter to perform. But no, instead Gwen was refusing to do so. Maggie frowned at her daughter. "Why are you being so negative about this?"

Gwen made a pretend thinking face. "Uh, maybe because you wait until now to tell me. The day before." Her tone of voice then took a serious turn. "Not to mention you didn't even ask me if I wanted to sing in the first place."

"That's because I knew you'd refuse." Maggie fired back.

"And yet you still signed me up?" Gwen retorted back to her mother.

Since her daughter wasn't seeing things her way, Maggie decided to take a softer approach. Perhaps if she played the sad "I'm sorry" card she would get Gwen to agree. Maggie breathed in and out, readying herself for the act she was about to do. "I shouldn't have signed your name without asking you first." She said trying her best to look apologetic. "That was wrong of me to do so. You just have such a nice voice and I thought you would want others to hear it. But if you don't want to sing that's fine." She forced tears to fill her eyes and felt a few go down her cheeks. She purposely let them fall down so Gwen would see. "I'm sorry for causing you such annoyance."

Gwen Tozier never liked seeing her mother cry. Ever since she was little seeing her mother burst into tears made her feel weird and bad. Even when she wasn't the reason for mother's crying. Her sadness always got to the Tozier girl. She'd much rather see a scowl on her mother's face than tears in her eyes. Which is why her tears made it so much easier for her mother to get her to do what she wanted―especially since Gwen thought she really was crying because of her refusal to sing. She had no idea her mother was playing her.

"Mom, please don't cry." Gwen begged. Her expression fell, no longer having that irksome look she had a few seconds ago. "It just would have been better if you had asked me first."

Maggie let out another cry hearing her daughter say that. She wiped her cheeks, making a huge show out of it.

Gwen couldn't take it anymore. The awkwardness of the situation and her feeling bad for making her mother cry made her finally cave. "Alright, fine!" She said causing her mother to stop her crying. She lowered her voice once she had her mother's attention. "I'll sing tomorrow."

Despite being happy that she got what she wanted, Maggie remained dismal with her acting. "Really?" She asked, sniffing her nose.

"Yes, just don't cry anymore." Gwen responded with a pleading tone. "It's weird..." She commented, murmuring the last part.

Maggie Tozier, however, didn't hear what her daughter said last. She was too focused on the first part she said. A smile now broke onto her face, tears long forgotten. "Perfect! This is great. I'll get you up and early tomorrow. Do your hair and makeup." When she said this Gwen's face fell, but Maggie chose to ignore it. "I also still have to go buy your dress." She excitedly said to her.

Now that had Gwen reacting verbally. Her posture went straight from where she was sitting on the couch. "Wait a dress? I have to wear a dress?" She asked her mother with a displeased expression.

"It's a festival and you're performing." Maggie obviously pointed out to her. She was looking at her daughter as if she had grown three heads after asking such a question. "Of course you have to wear a dress."

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Gwen wanted to refuse but she knew better than to do so. Knowing her mother, she would have started crying again. Gwen sighed, once again caving to her mother's demands. "I'll wear a dress then."

"I know the perfect red dress you could―"

"No." Gwen immediately protested.

Maggie frowned at her daughter's response. "Excuse me?"

Gwen closed her eyes briefly before opening them again. She looked at her mother with a solemn stare. "I'll wear a dress, and I'll even let you pick it out yourself, but it can't be red." Ever since the night she was supposed to meet up with Chase for their date, Gwen hadn't worn any red colored dresses. She even threw away the red dress she wore that night in the trash. Red now was just an awful reminder of the date she never got to have with Chase and of his unexpected death. So for this certain demand from her mother there was no negotiation whatsoever. A thought popped into Gwen's head, and she went with it. "Get me a blue colored one instead." She told her mother. She could deal with blue. Gwen liked the color blue because it reminded her of Chase's eyes.

Although Maggie wanted her daughter to wear a red dress (in her opinion red was her daughter's color), she knew Gwen was too stubborn with this demand to give in. Tears wouldn't help Maggie this time. She sighed, nodding her head. "I'll get a blue dress then." She was about to bend down to give her daughter a hug but decided at the last second to just give her a forced smile. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Gwen and her weren't that affectionately close to one another. Not unless they were going through something emotional (like when Maggie had to break the sad news to Gwen about George Denbrough's disappearance). Without saying anything else to her, Maggie grabbed her purse and then left through the front door.

Looking passed the hug she thought her mother was about to give to her, Gwen's straight posture faltered and she leaned back against the couch. All thoughts were now focused about tomorrows festival and how she was going to sing. She got a weird feeling in her stomach. It wasn't because of nerves (she was never one to get stage fright), it was because she wasn't looking forward for tomorrow morning. She was going to get her hair and makeup done...by her mother of all people. If Francine were here she probably would have been laughing her ass off. Good thing she wasn't. Gwen huffed and ran a hand through her dark locks.

There was a creak coming from the stairs before a whisper filled the air.

"Is she gone?"

A small smile appeared on Gwen's face recognizing her brother's voice. He'd been smart enough to stay upstairs while she and their mother talked. No doubt he heard the whole conversation. So why act like he hadn't? "Yeah, she's gone now. She went out to go buy me my dress." She said with false enthusiasm.

Richie hurriedly went down the stairs and sat down next to Gwen on the couch. He turned to look at her, his head tilting a bit. "You caved in a lot quicker than I thought you would." He blurted out to her.

Not surprised that he said this, Gwen continued with the conversation. "She started crying. What was I supposed to do? Richie, you know I hate it when she cries." She said, once again feeling the awkwardness from her mother's crying. Letting her annoyed emotions get the better of her, Gwen let out a irritated sound as she once again thought about tomorrow and what it would entail. "Ah, this is such bullshit."

"You can always not sing." Richie offered trying to ease his sister's annoyance.

Gwen let out a scoff. "And face mom crying her eyes out? I can already imagine her saying..." She fixed her voice so it sounded like her mother's. "I just wanted everyone to hear your lovely voice, was that so much to ask?" She pretended to cry before sobering up. "Yeah, I don't think so." The dark haired girl would much rather deal with an angry mom than a sad one. "Tomorrow I'll just sing and get it over with. Besides, it's only in the morning." And that's what got Gwen through. She would sing in the morning and hopefully afterwards she'd be out of whatever dress her mother got her and then would wear her normal clothing of shorts and whatever t-shirt she wanted to wear tomorrow.

"Speaking about tomorrow..." Richie finally began saying what he needed to tell her. "Bill called while you and mom were, um, talking."

Bill called? She'd been way into the conversation with her mother that neither of them even heard the house phone ring. "What'd he say?" Gwen inquired her younger brother.

"He wants all of us to meet at the festival tomorrow to further discuss about...you know." Richie said taking an unusual serious tone and expression.

Gwen got the same type of expression on her face. "Got it." And she did get it.

She knew what all of us meant. It meant Richie, herself, Bill, Ben, Beverly, Stan, Eddie, and Mike. Their new found friend.

Ever since that rock fight with Henry Bowers (the very fight they won), Mike had easily become apart of their friend group. A friend group that was now known as the Losers' Club. Their friendship with Mike grew even more stronger after they all went to the Tozier home to hangout and watch a movie together.

Much to Richie's delight they did end up watching Star Wars because as it turned out Mike was a huge fan of the Star Wars movie trilogy. The group of friends only got to watch A New Hope before their fun movie session was interrupted by Maggie Tozier.

Their fun didn't end there though. During those last couple of weeks, Gwen and the others had found out about the clubhouse Ben built. The clubhouse where all eight of them would now sometimes hangout. The clubhouse where Gwen would read comics with her little brother.

The clubhouse where Gwen would bring her boombox and jam out to music. The clubhouse where Stan would ask them to wear those ridiculous shower caps...and Gwen (along with the others, minus Richie) would wear them because she did not want spiders in her hair.

All eight of them ended up loving that clubhouse. Gwen felt the clubhouse had brought them even closer to each other. They had a lot of meaningful conversations down there. Some more serious and stomach dropping than others.

Like when they discovered that Mike was seeing weird scary things. He admitted that he too had seen a clown. That had distressed Gwen and the others.

It was now even more obvious to them that there was some strange being tormenting them. And as much as Gwen wanted to discuss and confront this issue, it made her feel sick to her stomach. Memories of that eerie smiling clown filled her mind and she felt like hiding under her bed covers.

Richie saw the dread on his sister's face and went to ease it away. "Hey..." He said catching her attention. "Wanna go hang out at the arcade for a little while? You can help me out with my Street Fighter training." He said offering her a smile.

Gwen greatly appreciated the distraction. Not to mention spending time with her brother always brightened up her mood. She returned the smile. "Sure, why not?"

The two of them grabbed whatever loose change they found around the house and then rode their bikes toward the local arcade together. They knew tomorrow would entail confronting this "clown" issue head on, but right now they chose to ignore it. They instead enjoyed the sibling time they got to have with each other.

Early the next morning people were up and running around town. Decorations of red and blue could be seen everywhere. The fourth of July festival the town of Derry, Maine had each year was a huge celebration for the townsfolk. Even with the disappearance, the majority of people looked past the misfortune that surrounded the town and instead focused more on the annual celebration.

This was a problem only a certain group of kids could no longer ignore.

Among the ignorant crowd of adults, Richie and Stan, two members of now established Losers' Club walked together to where the stage was located in the center of town. They were supposed to meet the rest of the group members there to watch Gwen perform together and then meet afterwards to talk. Stan knew how consequential today was going to be (Bill calling him yesterday was proof of that), but despite the anxiousness he was feeling because of that dreaded conversation they were soon going to have, he couldn't help but allow himself to feel excited about hearing Gwen sing. It was the only good thing that he had going for this day. That and the firework show Derry had every year for the fourth of July.

"So, is she really performing today?" Stan asked Richie for the fifth time today since leaving his house. He knew this question was beginning to annoy his bespectacled friend, but his eagerness was getting the better of him.

Behind his glasses, Richie rolled his eyes. "I already told you, she is."

Stan smiled, excitedly. "I can't wait to hear her sing."

"Why?" Richie asked, curious. His sister was a good singer and he too was excited to hear her sing, but Stan's own excitement was through the roof. "I mean, you've heard her sing before."

Stan shrugged his shoulders, trying to act nonchalant. "It's just been a long time since she's sang out in public."

"Sure." Richie said narrowing his eyes behind his glasses. He stopped walking causing Stan to do the same. His friend looked at him oddly for the abrupt stop, but before he could say anything, Richie pulled Stan to the side. He waited until a group of teens walked passed them before he focused on Stan again. "Remind me again why you like my sister?" He asked his curly haired friend once they were alone.

Stan felt his cheeks flush at the mention of his crush on Gwen. His heart hammered against his chest."Because she's nice….and whenever I look at her it's like she's the only person in the whole room. She's like the sun…..she brings light everywhere she goes."

"Wow…." Richie uttered, but ruined whatever seriousness they were having with his next comment. "You, Stan the Man, sure have a way with words. You just might grow up to be a Hallmark Card writer."

"Shut up, Richie!" Stan retorted, flustered by embarrassment.

Richie gave his bird loving friend a look of rare sincerity. "Look, I understand why you like my sister." He said, joking thrown aside. "And as much as it weirded me out at first, I'm not against you being with her."

Stan's eyes widened. "Really?" Was that Richie's way of giving him his blessing? Stan found this odd, but he still appreciated it. It was nice knowing he no longer found his crush on Gwen to be weird.

Richie nodded his head. "Yeah, it's just that..." He adjusted his glasses as he thought of his next words to say to him. "Well...Gwen's not exactly the brightest when it comes to figuring out someone likes her. Especially since she's still hung over you know who."

Chase Campbell.

Stan lowered his eyes, crestfallen. It always came down to Chase Campbell. Stan once knew the Campbell boy. He used to live in the same neighborhood as him, so the curly haired boy would sometimes engage the blue eyed boy in conversation. He honestly could not say anything bad about Chase. He really was a nice guy. That just made it even more harder for Stan to accept the fact that Gwen still had feelings for the now deceased teen. His eyes averted back up, and he gave Richie a look that held forlorn hope. "Do you think I'll ever actually have a chance with her?"

Richie sighed taking in friend's sad hopeful exterior. He never liked being in the middle of things when it came to romantic heartfelt emotions. He preferred to be far away from that shit storm as possible. Of course that was a hard thing to accomplish when one of his closest friend's liked his older sister. Richie didn't want to be the one to cause Stan to feel despair when talking about Gwen, but what exactly was he supposed to say to him? Yes, Stan you'll get your shot with her eventually. He didn't know that for sure, and he didn't want to give his friend false hope. He wished Stan would have the balls to tell Gwen the damn truth already about how he liked her. Richie would have told Gwen himself, except that would have seriously pissed off Stan (and he didn't want to cause any drama between them), and more importantly it wasn't his place to say anything. That was all on Stan the Man.

Stan was quiet, but appeared to be waiting impatiently to hear his reply to his question. Richie adjusted his glasses again, trying to avoid saying anything to him, when all of a sudden something behind Stan caught his attention. "Speak about her and she shall appear." He commented, whimsical. This caused Stan to furrow his eyebrows, bemused.

"What are you talking about?" Stan asked him.

Instead of saying something comical or utterly ridiculous to him, Richie just used one of his fingers to point behind his curly haired friend.

Stan turned around and when he saw her it was if everything around him had gone into slow motion. It felt like he was in a sappy romantic movie and this was the scene where the girl who the main character had feelings for made her intro. And wow what an intro did Gwen Tozier make. She clearly was dressed up for the festival. Her hair was curled and she was wearing a dark blue knee length dress that complimented her very well. Stan could practically hear the song Take My Breath Away by Berlin playing in his head as he watched Gwen continue walking towards them.

Now even though Stan had seen Gwen wear dresses before in the past, for some reason this time felt different. Her beauty was more profound. Just as it had been when they were at the quarry. He did not want this moment to end. It was so surreal in the best possible way.

When Gwen saw Stan looking her way, all she did was smile (so very unaware of his adoration) causing the curly haired boy to feel the sensation known as butterflies in his stomach. It was a simple action for her but it meant a whole lot for Stan. At the age of fifteen, Gwen Tozier was already a heart-breaker and it was a quality she would have well into her years.

From beside him, Richie saw the starry eyed look Stan had. He discreetly rolled his eyes at friend. "Close your mouth, you're drooling." He lowly said so Gwen wouldn't hear him. Stan quickly did so and tried to act cool for Gwen who was now in front of them.

Gwen smiled at her brother and Stan. "Hey guys."

Richie gave his sister a wave, while Stan continued admiring her. It wasn't until Richie elbowed him that he was able to get somewhat a hold of himself. "You look...uh..." Stan choked, still unable to find the right words to say to her. He was even more speechless now that she was standing in front of him.

His lack of words made Gwen feel self-conscious. With an awkward smile she pointed to herself. "I look freakin' ridiculous." She said trying to sound lighthearted but failed in doing so. Even though her mother had reassured her she looked beautiful, Gwen didn't think she did. Her curled hair wasn't bothering her as much as the makeup she had on. Her mother hadn't over done it, but Gwen wasn't really used to having more than simple lip gloss on. So the makeover she received from her mother so early in the morning was shell shocking to see in the mirror. It was like looking at a different person. She now really knew the power makeup had.

"No!" Stan immediately corrected her. He didn't want her having any negative thoughts. She was far from looking ridiculous. When he saw her puzzled expression he became embarrassed but he didn't back away from further complimenting her. "I think you look pretty."

Pretty. Gwen suddenly became bashful. Why was it that she accepted Stan's compliment more than her mother's? And why did it leave such a heavy impact on her? It was just a simple compliment. Her thoughts on this were soon interrupted when Richie spoke.

"Yeah, you don't look like roadkill." The youngest Tozier said with a playful smile. "So that's a plus."

Instead of getting mad or even annoyed at him, Gwen just laughed. This was her brother's way of complimenting her. "Thanks." She said thoroughly amused. She settled down her laughter and then looked at them, semi-seriously. "Um, by any chance do you guys have any food on you? I haven't ate."

"What do you mean you haven't ate?" Richie questioned, confused and concerned. She woke up extra early today to get ready. Hadn't she ate breakfast?

Stan was thinking the same thing and voiced this question out-loud. "Not even breakfast?"

Gwen sighed. "Well, I don't count a simple banana and toast as breakfast."

Richie's eyes widened more behind his glasses. "That's all you ate?"

"Mom didn't want me to eat a large breakfast because she thought that would make me bloat." Gwen replied and after she said this she felt her stomach rumble. A frown settled on her face. "I swear I'm tempted enough to sing Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley just to spite her."

Richie found her comment to be funny despite his concern for her. "You totally should." That would have totally pissed off their mother.

"What are you gonna sing?" Stan asked, deeply curious.

Gwen managed to give him a secretive smile. "You'll find out soon." Her gaze then went over to where they were selling and serving food. "Anyways, I should probably go buy something to eat before I perform. Don't want to pass out. Although that might bring more people to watch."

Richie was about to offer to buy his sister some food, when an idea came to mind. He looked at Stan and discreetly gestured to Gwen. Stan, however, did not understand this and instead gave him a confused expression. Richie inwardly rolled his eyes at how clueless his friend was. He elbowed Stan and then gestured to the food area and then back to Gwen. It took a few seconds before a look of realization crossed Stan's face. Good. Now he understood.

Stan shyly stepped forward. "I'll treat you to something."

Surprised by this kind gesture, Gwen turned to look at him immediately shaking her head. "You don't have to Stan."

"No really. I want to." Stan kindly said to her.

"But what about Richie?" Gwen asked looking her brother.

Richie comically put one of his hands against his ear. "What was that? Oh, I think someone's calling for me. Gotta go!" He then took off running to where the center stage was at to meet up with the others.

"Well, that was quite the exit." Gwen said fighting the urge to laugh at her brother's eccentric behavior.

"Yeah." Stan agreed even though he knew exactly why Richie had left so swiftly. "So, what do you want to eat?"

"How about we go check out what they have?" Gwen suggested.

Stan nodded his head and walked next to her as they went to where the towns people were making and selling food. Once there they saw a bunch of different types of food that were being sold. There were hamburgers, hot-dogs, pasta salad, BB&Q, and bunch of other stuff. And although that all looked delicious to Gwen, it was the funnel cake she saw by the desserts that won her over. She should have wanted something else to eat but her sweet tooth at the moment got the better of her.

All it took was one look at the funnel cake and Stan knew that was what she wanted to eat. He had no issues paying for the funnel cake and then giving it to her. Gwen took the dessert from him, bashful yet grateful for the kind gesture. She thanked him once more before they went to go sit down at one of the empty tables the town had set up for the festival.

"You want some?" Gwen decided to ask him. It had only been a few minutes since they sat down, but she had already ate half of the funnel cake and she was beginning to get full. It had been a while since had ate one so she forgot how big they were.

Stan politely shook his head. "No, it's supposed to be for you."

"Stan, come on. Look at the size of this thing." Gwen said briefly gazing down at said dessert. "Have some." Her face then tilted to the side a bit. "Unless you don't like funnel cake."

"I've actually never tried it before." Stan shyly admitted to her.

This certainly got a reaction out of Gwen. "What?" She blurted out. "You've never tried funnel cake before? That's unacceptable. You got to try this then." She said passing the rest of the funnel cake to him.

Stan figured why not and tried a piece of the funnel cake. His eyes widen a bit by how good it was...even it was too sugary for his normal taste in things.

"So?" Gwen asked eager to hear his opinion. "What do you think?"

Stan swallowed the piece he had in his mouth. "It's sugary but good." He said as checked his shirt for any fallen crumbs. There weren't any.

Gwen found this action to be adorable. Ever the clean one. Things between them after that got quiet again. Given they were alone, Gwen figured this would be the best time to bring up what she wanted to say to him since the rock fight. She waited until he was finishing the last piece of the funnel cake before she spoke.

"I never got to fully thank you." Gwen said causing Stan to give her a confused look. She elaborated her sudden comment. "You know for defending me with what Henry said about me."

Oh. Stan tried to appear like it wasn't a big deal for him (even though it was). "That's not necessary for you to do."

"I think it is." Gwen said earnestly. Her dark eyes gazed deeply into his light brown eyes making the feeling of butterflies return to his stomach. "No one's ever stood up for me like that before." She let out a low laugh. "Well, except for Richie, but he's my brother." Her laughter stopped and she became serious again as she kept her gaze on him. "And you're not my brother. You're..." She stopped talking, unable to finish that sentence for some reason.

"I'm?" Stan asked, his eyes filled with hope that would she admit she cared for him the same way he cared for her.

The longer Gwen stared at Stan the more unsure she got with how to finish that damn sentence. Why was she having a difficult time talking to Stan? That's never been an issue before. Obviously he was her friend, so why couldn't she say that? She took a deep breath, averted her eyes from him for a few seconds before looking at him again. "You're Stan the Man." Gwen ended up saying once having composed herself. "My friend." She smiled halfheartedly. Why did saying that to him leave such an odd feeling within her? It was as if that wasn't the right word to describe what he was to her. Except that's what he was, a friend.

Friend.

The word mocked Stan. A friend was all he was ever going to be to her. Unless he finally confessed that he liked her. Except did he have the courage to do so? He took a deep breath. His eyes softened as he tried to finding the right words to say to her. "Gwen, I―"

"Gwen!"

They both turned to where the name calling had come from. There standing a few feet away from them was Maggie Tozier. The older woman was giving her daughter an impatient look as she was tapping her wrist to signify the time.

Gwen sighed, semi-annoyed. "Guess that's my cue." She got up and made sure her dress alright before she started walking towards her mother. Half-way, she glanced over shoulder. The Tozier girl gave Stan a heartfelt smile. "Thanks again...and not just for the funnel cake." With that being, said she continued walking until she reached her mother, who then dragged her off to further ready her for the performance she was about to do.

It bothered Stan that he got interrupted, but he wasn't about to miss Gwen sing. He quickly threw the now empty plate into the trash and then ran to where she was going to perform. When he got there he immediately began looking for the rest of his friends. He was having trouble finding them and it wasn't until he saw Richie waving his hands in the air that Stan saw where they all were at. They were all sitting in the front roll of the chairs that were put out, facing the stage. The curly haired boy quickly made way his over to them. He said a quick hello to all his friends before he took a seat next to Richie. The bespectacled boy looked at him with curiosity.

"So, how'd it go?"

"How'd what go?" Eddie asked from beside the other seat that was next to Richie. He had just taken his morning doze of medicine (the prescribed pills he kept in his fanny pack) when he heard Richie ask this question.

Richie gestured to Stan. "I left Stan the Man here have a moment with my dear sister."

Eddie's eyes widened. "Shit Stan, did you finally tell her?" His voice had taken a hopeful tone and it was one the rest of the group friends noticed. Bill, Ben, Beverly, and Mike (who now knew of Stan's crush on Gwen) turned to look at the curly haired boy. All of them were eager to hear his reply.

Stan was thrown back by such attention. "I..." He let out a sigh. "No."

All of them let out signs of disappointment at such response.

"Well, when are you going to?" Richie blurted out.

Stan lowered his eyes. "I just don't think it's the right time yet."

Before Richie (or any of them) could retort anything back, the sound of someone testing out the microphone caught their attention. One of the female members of the committee was on stage doing the usual announcements one would make at festivals. Once she finished, she finally called out Gwen's name. Several seconds later after the committee lady left the stage, Gwen stepped forward into the spotlight. It might have been the sun, but there on the stage, Stan found her radiating with even more beauty.

"Woohoo! Go Gwen!" Richie cheered as his sister reached for the microphone. The rest of the group, along with a few other people who were around, clapped for her. Gwen smiled bashfully before she waved to her friends who were seated in the front row. She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. When she opened them again the background music coming from the stereo was being played. Just like with the piano, singing came naturally to her. And as she started singing the melancholic lyrics to the acoustic version of Sweet Child O' Mine, it was if she had become a totally different person.

She's got a smile that it seems to me reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything was as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see her face it takes me away to that special place
And if I'd stare too long I'd probably break down and cry

Oh, oh, oh
Sweet child o' mine
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Sweet love of mine

By now the whole audience was in awe. For those had never heard Gwen sing before (which included Ben and Mike), they were especially blown away by how powerful and harmonious her voice was. While Ben and Mike were fascinated by her singing, Richie, Bill, Beverly, and Eddie were thoroughly taking in the song's lyrics, momentarily letting the song take away any troubled thoughts they were having. As for Stan...well, he continued to be enamored not just by Gwen's singing, but by her overall presence.

She's got eyes of the bluest skies as if they thought of rain
I hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain
Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass me by

Oh, oh, oh
Sweet child o' mine
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Sweet love of mine

To others this was just an ordinary performance by a young teenage girl. Nothing extraordinary about that, but for certain group of friends it was so much more than that. It was an escape from the uneasy reality they had to deal with. It was peaceful and it was exactly what they needed. The whole dreaded conversation about the clown was still to be had, but for right now none of them were thinking about that. They instead focused on the beautiful song that was being sung by Gwen.

And as she continued singing, a certain curly haired boy's feelings for her became even more intense.

A/N: Okay guys as you can tell I decided to split this chapter into two parts because this chapter was getting way too long. I apologize for that ^.^ So the next chapter will be a continuation for the fourth of July scene and will include the whole group talking more about their encounters. So look forward to that! (: