A/N: Today is the one year anniversary of me publishing this fanfic! In celebration, here's a new chapter for you all!

To DylanJ10000, look what I said again. I said that Georgie and Bill were 7 years old and 13 years old respectively at the beginning of the movie. (And yes, Georgie is 7 in the movie, not 6.) The beginning of the movie is in October of 1988, not summer of 1989. So now you'll see that my dates are actually correct. But anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter! I wasn't really planning on continuing the whole walkie-talkie storyline with Avery, unless you had a particular prompt centered around that that you want to request. I just assumed that Avery managed to keep the walkie-talkie hidden from Patrick, and he was able to keep in contact with Georgie throughout the summer.

Another school day had ended, and Bill walked by Derry Elementary as usual to round up his little brother. Georgie came walking up to Bill, and the elder sibling could immediately tell there was something off about Georgie today. He had his left half of his face constantly turned away from Bill.

"Georgie? W-what's wrong?" Bill asked.

"It's nothing; let's just walk home," Georgie said. He didn't exude the usual cheeriness in his voice.

"Hold on, let m-m-me see your face." Bill grabbed Georgie's chin and started to turn the hidden side of his face toward him.

"No, stop! It's nothing!" Georgie said.

But just as Bill suspected, it wasn't nothing. Georgie had a black eye on his left side. Bill gasped. "Georgie! W-w-what happened?!"

"Nothing!" Georgie said.

"Georgie, this is serious! Y-y-you have to tell me what ha-happened!"

"Okay…just promise you won't tell Mom and Dad."

"Well…I can't p-promise that. But you still have to t-tell me."

Georgie sighed. "Fine. Derek beat me up at recess."

"That asshole again? What for?"

"Because he kept bothering me and my friends, so I told him to leave us alone."

"Then he b-b-beat you up?"

"Yeah. I tried to be brave, Billy. I tried standing up for myself and my friends. But he still beat me up," Georgie said in a sad, shaky voice.

"That's okay, Georgie. It's not your fault. None of this is your fault." Bill knelt down and hugged his brother tightly. "I'm super proud you even stood up for yourself at all."

"It didn't help, though. It just made him more annoyed, which made him want to beat me up. And all my friends were too scared to do anything. I don't blame them, honestly."

"And no adults were around? N-n-no teachers or anything?"

"No."

"Did you tell anyone?"

"No. 'Cause he said he'd beat me up even more if I did."

"Well, didn't your t-t-teacher notice your b-black eye?"

"Yeah, she asked me about it. I just told her I got hit in the eye by a ball. 'Cause I didn't want to get in even more trouble with Derek."

Bill shook his head, his fists clenched. He couldn't believe how kids at such a young age could be so cruel. "Alright, w-where is this asshole, Georgie? Point him out to me."

"Over there." Georgie pointed to a tall kid with brown hair and green eyes standing alone on a patch of grass outside the school. Bill started storming toward the kid. "Wait, Bill! Don't do anything to him!" Georgie said as he tried to hold back Bill. "You're just gonna make things worse!"

"I'm not letting him hurt you and g-g-get away with it!" Bill said as he walked up to Derek and grabbed him by the shirt. "Hey!" Bill yelled. Derek jerked his head toward Bill in surprise. "Explain this to me." Bill pulled Georgie in front of him and showed him his black eye.

"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about, man," Derek said nervously.

"I think you do. Because you're the one who did this to him, jackass. You think it's funny to beat up other kids? You take pleasure in seeing other kids suffer?! That's fucked up, man! You're pathetic! Don't you fucking dare touch my little brother again! Or else we're really gonna have a fucking problem! Got that?!"

Derek's facial expression was that of utter terror. His lip started quivering.

"I said, 'Got that?!'" Bill yelled in his face.

"Yes," Derek whimpered as he started to cry.

"Look who's so tough now. You were making fun of my brother for crying? Now you're the one crying. I told you you were pathetic. My brother is way stronger, and tougher, and greater than you'll ever be, because he has a big heart, unlike you."

"Let's go, Billy," Georgie said softly.

The Denbrough brothers started making their way home, leaving Derek sobbing to himself. The two brothers didn't say anything to each other. Bill was lost in his own angry thoughts. That stupid shit got what was coming to him. How dare he beat up a sweet kid like my little brother? Georgie never hurt a single soul as long as he's been living; he didn't deserve any of this. At least it looked like I scared the shit out of him; hopefully that means he'll leave Georgie alone from now on.

Bill looked at his brother, expecting to see a smile on his face, knowing that he had protected him from Derek. But instead, Georgie looked sad. How could this be? Bill thought back to what had just occurred back there. Instead of focusing on how good it felt to beat down the bully who was harming his brother, he thought about how Derek had reacted. He had been weeping, bawling, from what Bill had said to him. It seemed to have really hurt him. For all Bill knew, Derek could've been having his own issues in his personal life. That didn't excuse his disgusting behavior toward Georgie, but it made Bill feel like there may have been a better way to deal with the issue rather than bullying the bully. Bill had felt good in the moment, but that pleasure had worn off, and now Bill just felt guilty.

"Do you think I was t-t-too hard on Derek?" Bill asked his brother.

"Maybe…a little?" Georgie seemed a bit conflicted himself. "I mean, he is super mean to me, so I guess he deserved it. And I don't think he'll be bullying me again any time soon, thanks to that big scare you gave him. But…I just don't want you to become a bully yourself."

That last statement hurt Bill. He had never wanted to be associated with that word, let alone coming from his little brother. "I-I-I w-wasn't t-trying to be a bully, Georgie; I just wanted to p-protect you. You know I care about you so much, and I j-j-just don't want anyone to hurt you."

"I know. And I'm happy you tried to protect me. But next time, you shouldn't hurt someone to protect me if you don't have to. Otherwise, you're just as bad as the bully."

It was rare when Georgie gave a piece of advice to Bill. Normally, it was the other way around. And even rarer was it that Bill thought his advice to be worthwhile. But this was one of those times. "You're right, Georgie. I won't d-d-do it again."