Delilah skid to a stop. Her face registered shock, then anger. Her hands were empty of rocks. Why did she waste it on stupid, old Kasich's house?

"What do you want?" she asked warily.

"Shawn!" Tiffany yelled, coming up from behind Delilah and panting hard.

"I'm so glad you're here. They....they're throwing rocks!" She said to Shawn as if looking for some kind of life-saver, a tone of shock in her voice, like no one could ever throw rocks, or should be expected to.

"Tattle-tail!" Penelope yelled back, pointing her index finger at Tiffany as if condemning her to a life of being known by that moniker.

"Am not!" Tiffany shouted back.

"I'm Penelope." Penelope said to Shawn, ignoring Tiffany's retort. "Who are you?"

Shawn saw the angry look on Delilah's face, and just ignored it for now, hoping that decision wouldn't get him punched in the face. "I'm Shawn. I live across the street, so I came over to say hi! Oh, and hi Tiffany!" He gave the two one of his winningest smiles.

"Heeeeeee.....hawwww!" Penelope let out a horses laugh. "We just threw some rocks." Penelope admitted, wanting to get Shawn's impression or perhaps just to brag.

Delilah crossed her arms.

"Don't bother with him, Penny. He's a wimp."

It felt good to say that out loud, but she hadn't moved an inch closer, herself.

“That’s so cool!” Shawn seemed to think that the idea of throwing rocks in general was just the greatest thing in the whole world, almost as cool as the person throwing them! He looked directly at Delilah, meeting her gaze dead on. And then he suddenly laughed out loud, like she’d said a hilariously absurd thing. “You’re funny, Delilah!”

"Shawn!" Tiffany said in harsh shock. "They were throwing rocks." She reminded him, as if disbelieving that
Shawn could actually approve of such an act. As if Shawn must have misheard.

Just then, another boy came trotting up to the group with a bright, naive smile on his face. "Oh brother! You must be the new neighbors. I'm ....um.....um....my name is...uhhhh...Bobby."


At this point, there was an element of false charade that seemed to descend upon the environment. On one hand, both Shawn and Delilah could remember distinctly the horror of the cold, frozen night as the Clown chased down kids on Bald Hill, chopping them down in the icy snow.

On the other hand, there were memories of birthday parties and summer time picnics that they had both attended in summer California sun. Field trips to the Santa Monica area and fun ice cream stands. Kickball in the field behind the school where Delilahhadkicked a particularly far home run. All of these things were memories that ran through Shawn and Delilha's mind.

Delilah's eyes squeezed shut. She grimaced and ground the heel of her hand against her head. These clashing memories were weird and wrong. She just wanted them to go away.

Shawn let himself look a little guilty at Tiffany's comment, just to keep his hand in, but fortunately Bobby's arrival let him change the subject. Once Bobby'd introduced himself, he continued to ignore the now very stressed-looking Delilah. "Where are you from, Penelope? Oh, can I call you Penny? That's a really cool name!"

"I'm from Flint, Michigan. My Dad used to work at a place that built cars but then that place closed down. So we moved out here. But just because you move doesn't mean that you can give up on your favorite teams. Unless you're some kind of winner-picker. I'm a Detroit Red Wings fan and I'll always be one."

"I also like to break things and yeah, you can call me Penny. When we used to break things and cause mischief in Flint, me and my friends used to call it 'Causin'---A---Ruckuss'. That meant that you did fun stuff just as long as no one really got hurt." She said, giving Tiffany an evil eye.

Shawn grinned even wider when Penny mentioned the Red Wings. “Oh! My Dad roots for the Red Wings! We’re from Milwaukee, so they’re basically our home team. Only place closer is Chicago, and, well...” He made a face, like he was wondering who would even like the Blackhawks? Dad had taken him to a few hockey games before they moved, said it would help him man up. Shawn hadn’t been that interested, but he’d faked his enthusiasm anyway.

He nodded agreeably at the next thing Penny said. “I guess as long as no one gets hurt, and you’re careful about the Monster, it’s all good.” Shawn mentioned the monster like it was the most ordinary thing in the world.

Delilah narrowed her eyes at Shawn, sizing him up. She remembered him from the snow fort. She didn't believe for a second that a boy who threw like a three year-old girl liked sports.

"Don't listen to him. He's a liar."

Wasn't he? Bradford said so. And there were monsters.

Shawn immediately turned to Delilah, putting the pressure on her to respond. "Oh yeah? Are you really gonna tell Penny there's no such thing as monsters? Do you think they're fake or something?"

"I think you're the fake!" she spat back. "You're a fake friend. And, if any monsters do show up, I'll know who brought 'em."

“I know you are, but what am I?” Shawn stuck out his tongue. “Maybe you’re the one who likes monsters, ‘cause you’re the one who doesn’t want me warning people. You want Penny to get chewed up by the Gristler, so you can be the most popular girl!”

"Nuh-uh! You know the monsters! And you let everyone from before get chopped up! You're a traitor!"

Delilah was worked up into a lather now. She stalked toward Shawn, shouting and red-faced.

Everyone was watching Shawn and Delilah go at it. Bobby had a sad frown on his face. Penelope was looking back and forth between Shawn and Delilah, not really knowing what to say or make of the situation, the look of a newby not aware of the social dynamics she had walked into. She didnt' answer Shawn's question.

Tiffany was watching, dumb-founded.  Her hand reached into her front pocket, pulling out a Heath bar which she took a bite of, all the while staring to see what would come of the fight.

Ralph wandered up to the crowd huffing and puffing. He was a fat, small kid and he bent over to rest on his knees, too tired from his march in the hot sun to fully notice what was happening between Delilah and Shawn.

Shawn saw that Delilah was looking really angry and shouting, and adjusted accordingly. He was acting a little silly, quietly lighthearted, while Delilah shouted and raged. "From before what? You can't just make stuff up, Delilah, this is serious!"

"From before! From Minnesota! I know you know! And I know you're going to lie about it."

Shawn just looks at her confusedly. "I've never been to Minnesota. You're just making stuff up!"

Roll to shove Shawn?

Nothing personal, dude. ^_^