"I apologize about earlier-"
"-Hey, it's okay. At least I know you still want me to be your friend, right?" Alissa asked, still trying to play it cool, tricking herself that she's talking to Paul. But deep inside, Alissa felt it in her heart that Pennywise was Paul. Alissa noticed that instead of speaking hostile to Paul like she always did, she felt like she needed to be careful with her words. Yes, that's the reason behind it, she thought. Alissa convinced herself that she was only speaking warmly to Paul because she had to be careful, not entertaining the thought that the possibility of Paul being Pennywise changed everything.
It changed the way she saw him, the way she spoke to him, and the feeling she had whenever he spoke.
"Thank you for being such a good friend, Paul." She said and stopped walking, "Even though I'm a little bitchy."
"Of course." Paul said with a smirk. Pennywise thought it finally had the upperhand. The manipulation worked once again.
"And thanks for walking me to the car." She chuckled, "I'll see you tomorrow."
This made Paul look at her,
"See you at the dancers' club."
He just looked at her and smirked,
"What?" she looked around, "I just realized I've been bitchy to you after our little argument earlier."
"It wasn't really an argument."
"I know, but still." She opened her car door and slid right in, "I'll see you tomorrow." She kept a straight face.
Paul shrugged, "'til morrow."
Alissa tried to shrug the realization off her head and only nodded, closed the door, and waved once before she drove off.
Pennywise knew there was something different in the way she acted. It followed her home and returned in its invisible form, spying on what Alissa could be thinking and doing. It stayed in a corner of the room watching over her. But Alissa knew better.
While she studied for school, it almost bored the hell out of Pennywise, but Alissa didn't pay much attention at the possibility that it was watching her. When it reached night, she took her camera and looked through the photos. Pennywise walked to glance over her shoulder, his towering figure unseen by a human.
Pennywise saw Alissa delete all the photos while she hummed her favorite song. Afterwards, she put the camera down in its original place, went to bed, and slept. Then, it finally left, realizing that Alissa did nothing to raise it's attention.
When it left, Alissa almost could not sleep as she was nervous. She replayed in her mind the speech she was going to say tomorrow. When she looked through the photos, it was evident that the reflection in Paul's eyes were real. But she deleted the original photos out in the open in the possibility that Pennywise might be spying on her.
Morning came and the first thought that flashed in Alissa's mind before she even opened her eyes was Paul.
She opened her eyes and glanced at her phone. When she realized she was late for class, she didn't even freak out. She just laid there.
Alissa could not stop thinking about Paul. For the first time, she recalled everything that they've been through. She laid awake all night having flashbacks. Alissa made sure she didn't miss a thing about everything he said and did. She remembered when he appeared out of nowhere the day before she went to college, she remembered how he could easily just find her randomly, she remembered how he spoke-now it all came to her. When she recalled how Paul talked, it was as if she was talking to a tamed Pennywise.
She remembered Halloween. She remembered how Paul was angry about 'defeating the sole purpose of the clown' because her Uncle Daniel played with the kids wearing Pennywise's clown costume. She remembered how Paul didn't want her to take him home. It's not because he ran away, but maybe because he didn't have a place to say because Paul isn't real.
She remembered how it was so hard for her to find out about him that she had to ask him. She remembered how he spoke about fun. How he convinced her to forget about the clown.
Alissa recalled the moment in her head, shut her eyes, and replayed it all exactly how it had happened-and there she felt it again. The feeling she's always had. She was too eager to find out if Paul was real.
If Paul wasn't real, and was a demon clown after all, why would it try to gain her affection? Alissa had to find out. She wasn't sure why she wanted to; was it because she'll end things with Paul and kill the demon? No, definitely not.
Alissa thought of something completely opposite. And she could not even think about it out loud.
Today was the day she'd finally confront him. She was sure of it. And she was ready, she thought. It all makes sense now. There was no backing down. Hurriedly, Alissa stood up from her bed and prepared for her classes.