Chapter 44: Winds of Change

Bev walks her bike to school Monday morning, deciding to take her time getting there. It's not like she was eager or excited to see anyone.

The late summer air continues to linger as the second week of September begins. Barely a chill to be felt, which was fine as Derry, Maine usually got colder much faster due to it being by the ocean. The sun shines through the slowly changing leaves, creating a tarp of green above her and the warm wind creates various fluttering shadows that cause the sidewalk to appear as if it's moving. A few pieces of trash blow along the street beside her, before getting caught in the grate of the nearby sewer. Bev does her best to ignore the thoughts creeping into her mind. This was Hawkins, not Derry. That IT thing had not followed them and neither had her father.

She reflects on how the rest of her weekend had gone. After the drama of Friday, seeing Jane again and then having Max flip out on both of them, she was glad they were able to resolve it in a good way. They started fresh and that's all she'd wanted. If only her former friends could be so mature and iron out their differences as they did. While she wasn't 100% sure that she and Max were cool, it was better than being actively hated by her. She didn't quite buy the excuse that the other redhead had given her, but whatever. After returning to the cabin, Beverly apologized and left to go home. The girls had clearly planned a sleepover and she didn't want to intrude on that. She said goodbye and said she'd stop by on another day. She then left and went home.

The rest of the weekend meant nothing, smoking in secret behind the shed (her foster parents didn't know about her habit and her older foster brother was always banished to the porch if he wanted to smoke) and homework.

Damian was her foster brother, twenty years old and still living at home. He had no job, no college prospects, and did nothing but smoke or go joyriding on his motorcycle or both. Bev thought that he was kind of cool for having a motorcycle and he even promised to show her how to ride it when she was older. He also bought cigarettes for both of them and snuck them under her door after the parents had fallen asleep. Damian was sympathetic to her, understanding how hard it is to live in a foster home. He was a foster kid as well; his Mom was an addict, in and out of rehab, leaving her unable to properly care for him, and his dad left when he was young. Mr. and Mrs. Michaels had taken him in when he was ten and they were great foster parents. He saw them as his real parents, but it's still difficult living with strangers and adjusting to their rules. Bev had lived with her aunt for a while after the incident with her father over the summer, but then her aunt got transferred because of her job and couldn't take her niece with her. That's when the Michaels offered to take her in. Bev would rather be anywhere than with her father.

…

"You sure you don't want a ride to school Bev?" Damian had asked as she grabbed her lunch from the counter. He sat at the kitchen table, in his boxer shorts, reading the paper's comics.

"Damian, you know the rules about that," Mrs. Michaels had said. "Bev can't even sit on that death trap until she's 16."

"Just trying to be helpful," he put his hands up in surrender.

"Helpful would be finding a job for yourself," Mr. Michaels said, coming into the kitchen, dressed in a suit and tie for the day. He then reached over and grabbed the Help Wanted section to replace the comics in his foster son's hands. "Anthony just called the other day saying that he has one already. He's in Colorado working as a ranger in the national parks."

"You're always comparing me to Anthony. We're not even brothers."

"Maybe not in the traditional sense, but you're still our family." Mrs. Michaels said softly. "Damian, we just want you to be successful."

"No, you want to show blatant favouritism to the oldest son you're always proud of. The first child is the first draft, so they have to work the hardest to achieve success. And she's the youngest and only girl, so you give her all the attention, plus girl power and all that. So that leaves me, by default, the forgotten middle child and the black sheep of our family," Damian said, a little too dramatically. His theatrics had Beverly smiling the entire time.

"How about instead of waxing poetically about family dynamics, how about you find a job," Mrs. Michaels insisted. She was so very used to his dramaturgy.

"It's not too late to consider working at The Hawkins Post. They're always in need of extra hands. We even have a few kids from the high school working there."

"Thanks, I'll pass. I've met those assholes you work with…"

"Language!" his foster mother scolded him.

"I've met those jerks you work with; I'm not looking for a toxic work environment."

"The only reason they don't like you is because you drove around like a maniac in the parking lot that one time you dropped my lunch off."

"Still worth it," Damian snickered under his breath.

"What about the mall?" Bev suggested.

"Tried there, I'm not interested in teaching jazzercise or scooping ice cream in a sailor's outfit."

"Well, find something," Mrs. Michaels groaned. "You graduated two years ago Damian. The money well is running dry here."

"What about tutoring?" Bev spoke up again. "My friend Bill's cousin is tutoring, and you can make good money."

"Thanks for the suggestions kid," he ruffled her hair before going back to the comics section.

"Well, I'm off," Mr. Michaels says, kissing his wife, ruffling both his foster kids' hair. "Bev you sure you don't want a ride."

"I can bike," she said, following him out the door. "It's still nice weather."

"All right, wear your helmet and I'll see you tonight."

Bev waved as her foster dad drove off. It felt so strange to have a normal life, with parents who cared and even an older brother.

As she grabbed her bike, Damian ran out after her, still in his boxers.

"Bevs wait," he said.

She stopped, mortified, and amused that he was standing on their front lawn in nothing but his underwear.

He then handed her some cigarettes. "Finish the pack, I'll buy more later."

"Thanks," she said. "And you should go back inside before Mom freaks out."

"Who cares, no one will notice."

Just then, someone drove by and honked.

"GET SOME CLOTHES ON PERVERT!" they yelled from their car. "THERE ARE CHILDREN IN THIS NEIGHBOURHOOD."

Damian flipped the guy off before turning to go inside.

"Have a good day kiddo," he said.

"Please find a job," Bev called back.

"Don't hold your breath."

She rolled her eyes and kept going.

…

As she neared the school grounds, the sound of an engine revving and a car barreling down the street is heard, and Beverly knew who this was. She quickly steps onto the sidewalk, pressed herself against the nearest fence and waited for Max's asshole stepbrother to make an appearance. He'd tried to mow them down at the arcade and several times since then, it was almost normal, and Henry Bowers used to try and do the same thing in his car. To be honest, those two would get along really well. Some day, he was going to kill someone. At least Damian actually cared about people and tried to avoid hitting them.

She watches the blue Camaro come tearing down the street; smoke seemingly emanating from the tires and several other cars honk at him as the car passes. Bev looks to see a hint of red hair in the passenger seat but sees none. Wouldn't surprise her if Max decided to walk or board instead of putting her life in her brother's hands.

Once the danger has passed, she continues along the sidewalk, Bev notices that the chain on her bike is off and kneels down to fix it. It takes longer than she'd anticipated, and her fingers become covered in grease. She wished she had Stan or Ben to help her with this, both knew a lot more about mechanics than she did. She's so focused on her task that she doesn't hear a skateboard coming up the sidewalk toward her. It's not until the wood of the board is heard being flipped off the pavement does Bev realize that someone is beside her, and she doesn't need three guesses to know who it was.

"You going to move or take up the whole sidewalk?" Max asks.

Bev shoots her a look before responding. "Almost done."

"This is why I chose to board rather than bike."

Beverly bites her lip before turning to Max.

"Look if you're going to just be an ass the whole time while I fixe, just go around me!" Bev snaps, sick of the sarcasm. "There's plenty of sidewalk."

"Whoa, sorry, no need to be so snippy."

"Seriously?!" she says. She stands up and glares at Max. "All you've ever done is be snippy and sarcastic with me. Real passive-aggressive too. I've never done anything to you and yet you treat me like I spread some kind of rumour about you or dumped garbage in your backpack!"

"Chill out," Max says.

"No, I don't need to chill out. You don't get to talk here! I don't know what your problem is with me, or why it's me you've decided to hate… and I also don't buy that bullshit excuse you gave on Friday about losing your former friends. I know that was for Jane's sake to make peace, but instead of treating me shit, how about treating me like a human being who has feelings like everyone else?!"

Max is completely taken aback by the outburst. Beverly is so red in the face that her freckles have nearly disappeared. Tears are in her eyes and her hands are clenched into fists. Clearly, the loss of her previous friends had left this girl bitter and upset; obviously, Max's poor attitude and comments are not helping matters. She had agreed to start over with Beverly Marsh, but somehow that truce was forgotten. Maybe it was just for the show to keep El happy? Maybe…

Max takes a step back and swallows, a tiny bit impressed by Bev's passion and willingness to call her out. Her blue eyes dart to Bev's bike and back.

"You missed the link here…" She kneels and finishes fixing the girl's bike. She then tests the pedals to ensure that it's working and then stands up to face Beverly again.

Bev swallows a lump of anger in her throat, while she's still extremely angry, she can see in Max's face that she doesn't want a fight. In fact, she looks even a little afraid of her. Whatever her problem is, Bev doesn't want to deal with it in the middle of the street and also be late for school.

She swallows again before uttering: "Thanks."

She then grabs her bike and begins to walk again. Max hangs back for a minute, debating something in her mind before hurrying to catch up with her.

Beverly keeps looking forward, trying to ignore the other redhead.

"Look, I know I'm a pretty crappy person. I just… I have problems with people. I don't like them. I live with two complete assholes and so I've clearly become an asshole myself... I wish that I wasn't because it causes people to hate me like you do. Most of my friends don't take what I say personally, but… I don't know… I just have a hard time with this friend stuff."

"Maybe if you treated them like human beings…"

"I do treat…" Max just trails off, not wanting to keep arguing. She treated people like crap, that was true. "At least I'm not my stepbrother. He's the one…"

"Yeah, I've encountered him a few times," Bev cuts her off.

"I swear, one day he's going to end up in a wreck."

"That's what my mom says about my brother," Bev says.

"You have a brother?" Max asks.

"Foster brother."

Max looks surprised. "You're a…"

"Yeah, I'm a foster kid. Don't worry, it doesn't bother me. I live with the Michaels on Fielding Road. I lost my mom when I was younger and my dad… was a complete monster. I moved in with my aunt for a while, but when she got transferred for her job, she couldn't take me with her, so I moved in with the Michaels."

"Are they good?"

"They're the best family I could have asked for. Sure, my foster brother Anthony lives in Colorado and Damian can drive me crazy, but he's cool. It's almost weird for everything to be so normal, you know."

"I wish I knew," Max says. "My parents divorced a few years ago and then my mom married Neil and I got Billy as a stepbrother. Both of them are complete asses and don't care about anyone but themselves. Are you sure the Michaels can't adopt me too?"

The two girls turn onto the school property.

"So, what's Damian like?"

"Besides being unemployed, which my foster parents are on his ass for, he rides a motorcycle and likes to hunt in the winter."

"That is extremely cool."

"To tell you the truth, he's also a bit of a nerd, but he tries to hide it. He likes comic books and sci-fi stuff like Star Wars and Star Trek, and he's also a big history buff. I don't know how many times he's hogged the TV to watch WWII documentaries, and you know they are long documentaries. Almost 6 hours. I wanted to watch MTV."

Max lets out a short laugh. "Still a lot better than Billy. My friends would like your brother. They're big nerds too."

"Yes, aren't they D and D players?"

"Yep," Max says.

Meanwhile, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin are parking their bikes at the rack when Dustin lets out a shock of surprise.

"What the hell?"

The trio looks over to see Beverly, the girl from science class and Max walking together and laughing.

"That's new," Mike says.

Lucas then looks over.

"And that…" he points over to the stairs.

Their heads turn again.

Will has a notebook open and is talking to Bill Denbrough, the two are comparing notes about something.

"Guess the Derry kids are finding new ways to fit in," Dustin says. "Our party is going to get a whole lot bigger."

A/N: Sorry it's been such a long time. Please enjoy and feel free to drop a review about what you think. I love to read them