#wallyclarkmemorial

@wallyclarkmemorial || x

"Then what was it?" Bill asked, genuinely curious. Wally had a golden retriever energy about him that made it seem like he was incapable of malice. And maybe he was. Most people had more depth to them that they showed at face-value. Not all of it was good, but that was so very human.

Even still, Bill couldn't picture Wally doing anything with any ill-intent. It would seem wrong in those big brown doe eyes.

Chrissy had been woozy all day. Her mother had been on her case about she had needed to Chrissy's cheer skirt out a bit again, so Chrissy had skipped breakfast. And lunch. And dinner, truthfully. As an athlete, she knew she needed to eat to fuel her body, but it was hard when she had her mother's and her own conscience in the back of her head pressuring her to keep the weight off.

The stunt had gone perfectly until Chrissy had fallen. Somehow she knew this was the end. She felt no pain when she hit the track, just closed her eyes and let the darkness take over. She never heard the snap, never heard the sickening thud as her life tragically ended. She lay there for a while, thinking about how her death would change things for people. She wondered if they would elect a new cheer captain, wondered how her twin brother would react when he found out. Christopher had been at a baseball game when Chrissy had cheer practice, so he hadn't been able to watch. Which was good anyway, half the squad had a crush on him, boys included.

When she finally opened her eyes, she was semi-surprised to see her sophomore homecoming date standing over her, hand outstretched and a concerned look on his face. Surprised since Wally Clark had died two years before right over on the field in a manner similar to her own death.

@wallyclarkmemorial || x

If there was one thing Bill had learned about Wally since he'd moved here, it was that the guy didn't have a single subtle bone in his body. He was also a terrible liar.

Bright blue eyes looked around just to make sure he wouldn't be overheard before he pushed himself away from the library table he had been studying at and used a foot to kick a chair out for the brunette.

@wallyclarkmemorial || x

Moving from small town to small town would not have been his preference, but he didn't get a lot of say in the matter. The only thing he could do was make the most of it until he could go off to college. And then he'd never have to look back.

Split River was a lot like Derry in some ways and entirely different in others. Not the least significant being moving from the East Coast to the Midwest. Things just felt different here.

Starting at a new school wasn't as hard as he had expected it to be. Having that clean slate was nice, people only getting to know him as he was now and not associate him with everything that had happened to him, his brother and his friends. No one would need to know any of that if he didn't want them to.

Not that people seemed eager to pry, instead accepting the charming smile he offered and his friendly demeanor without hesitation. Everything here was perfectly normal. At least it would be if it wasn't for the slew of anachronistic students milling around. Bill had figured out pretty quickly what was going on, their presence just one more way that this place was like the one he desperately wanted to forget.

He hadn't seen many of them on their own. Or if they were, he wasn't on his own making confirming his theory harder than he would have liked. Until the afternoon he spotted the boy in the grey sweatsuit standing at the edge of the football field just staring while he was carrying his bag out from the locker room after soccer practice.

"Mm," Bill hummed, his head tilted to the side following the brunette's gaze pretty sure that the statement wasn't meant to be heard at all. Still, he moved towards the taller boy only stopping when he was a few feet away. "Do football fields do something different here than they do out east?"