Prologue
In January 1957, Castle Rock had 1, 278 people. In May, there were 1, 281, after the whole Lake family moved. Gordie Lachance and his three friends were hoping for a new boy in town. Instead they got a girl, Maggie Lake. She moved in next door to Vern Tessio, which was how he was able to report the disappointing news.
"Guys," he said, after entering the treehouse. "It's a girl."

"Damn," Teddy muttered.

"HI," they heard a female voice.

"She followed you," Gordie asked, miffed.

"W-well, I couldn't get her to go away," Vern stuttered. "She said she'd beat me up."

"Oh, great," Gordie said. "Now we're going to have some girl bothering us."

"Man, chill," Chris said. "If we don't say anything, she'll go away."

"I see you guys up there," she shouted.

Teddy rolled his eyes. "I'll handle this." He climbed down from the treehouse. "Look, chick," he started. And then he saw her chest. Even though she was wearing a fuzzy white sweater, it stuck out like a red flag in a snowstorm. She was tan, with long curly brown hair, a round face, and bright blue eyes.

"Hi, my name's-" Teddy looked her up and down. "Jugs."

Maggie shrugged. "That works."

"Hey, Jugs," Teddy said, regaining his composure. "Go the hell home. No girls allowed."

Jugs rolled her eyes. "What, are you guys a bunch of homos?"

"N-no," Teddy stuttered. "Just go away."

"Fine." Jugs started walking away, but turned back around. "What happened to your ear?"

Teddy put his hands in his pocket. "My dad held my ear to the stove."

"Oh."

Teddy stared at her for a minute. "Go on, git," he said, louder.

"I get it," Jugs whispered. "You don't want your friends to hear?"

He nodded, and Jugs walked away.

Two days later, the gang ran into Jugs outside of the ice cream parlor. "You stalking us or something," Teddy asked.

"Hell no," Jugs said. "I have better things to do with my time. But while you guys are here, I have a little bet for you."

"How much," Teddy asked, curious.

"I'm not sure we should do this," Vern said nervously.

"She's a girl," Teddy asserted, if she weren't there. "We'll beat her ass at whatever little game she wants to play."

"What are the terms," Gordie asked. "If you win," Jugs said. "I'll leave you guys alone for the rest of the year. If I win, I hang out with you guys whenever I want for the same amount of time."

"You're on," Teddy said, before the others could respond.

"Teddy, what if we can't do it," Gordie hissed.

"She's a girl," Teddy whispered back, as if this were sufficient reassurance. "What's the bet?"

Jugs grinned. "I'm going eat an entire pint of Blue Bunny before tubby over here does, without getting brainfreeze or throwing up."

"It's Vern," Vern piped up.

"Whatever. You in or you out?"

"He's in," Teddy shouted.

"No, I'm not. You're nuts."

Teddy rolled his eyes. "Look, just do it. You gotta have at least fifty pounds on her. You can beat her, easy."

"Is he gonna do it or what," Jugs said.

"Fine," Vern said. Jugs raced in the store and bought the two pints. She and Vern ate as fast as they could.

Five minutes later, Vern put the ice cream. "Ugh," he groaned. "Brainfreeze."

Jugs smirked and kept on going. In ten minutes, she ate the last spoonful while Vern was still halfway through.

"I win," Jugs said victoriously. Chris and Gordie groaned.

"Nice going, Teddy," Gordie mumbled.

"How was I supposed to know she had a tapeworm," he snapped back.

"So," Teddy said. "We going to the treehouse?"

"Ooo, ooo, ooo," Jugs perked up. "Can we go to the McDonald's that just opened first?"

"McDonald's," Vern asked.

"Yeah, I saw it on my way over."

"What's McDonald's," Teddy asked. "It's a burger place where you can get your food at the counter and you can leave with it in a bag if you want, and their fries are so good, and so are the hamburgers," Jugs said. "And they've got good milkshakes too."

"How come you know so much about if it's new," Gordie asked.

"'Cause they had one back home."

"So what," Teddy asked. "Are you the spokeswoman?"

"No," Jugs said. "It's just good. I can't believe you guys have never heard of McDonald's. I hope they got a department store around here, or at least a movie theater. Otherwise, this is a complete hick town."

"This ain't a hick town," Chris said, finally irritated. "Where the hell are you from anyway?"

"The best city in the whole world."

"New York," Vern asked.

"Hell no. New York's trash. I'm from Los Angeles, California."

"Oh, that's why you're so tan," Gordie said. "Don't get used to the sun. Winter in Oregon'll freeze your ass off."

Jugs rolled her eyes. "It's not like I was born in California. We moved there when I was in second grade. I was born in Illinois. I'm used to it."

Teddy studied her for a minute.

"What'cha lookin' at," Jugs said.

"Nothin'," he muttered.

"So where's McDonald's," Vern asked.

"A block up."

As they walked there, Teddy walked alongside Jugs. "Why do you wanna hang out with us, anyway," he asked.

She smiled wanly. "I don't like girls."

"Why?"

"They don't like me."

"Why?"

Jugs rolled her eyes. "Guess."

"Your namesake?"

"Pretty much."

"So, do you know our names?"

"Not at first, but now I do. You guys just look cool."

Teddy blushed a little. "Do you think I look cool?"

Jugs smirked again. "Cool enough."

When they got to McDonald's, Gordie started asking questions. "So, Jugs, what do you wanna be when you grow up?"

Jugs sighed. "I wanna be famous, like Elizabeth Taylor. My name's Margaret but my friends in Los Angeles called me Maggie. But you guys can still call me Jugs."

"You know," Teddy said. "You do look like someone famous. That girl on the Mickey Mouse Club, Annette Funicello."

"Ugh, I hate her," Jugs said. "She's so fake." She started eating her hamburger and fries, and sipping her Sprite.

"How can you eat so much," Chris asked.

Jugs shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I got a tapeworm."

"What's your family like?"

"It's me and my parents. They ignore me, and they feel bad about it. So they give me whatever I want. It's not as cool as it sounds. It gets lonely sometimes."

"They sound like they suck," Teddy said. "They're okay sometimes. But most of the time, you'd be right."

"You're lonely," Gordie asked, sounding more sympathetic than before.

"Yeah," Jugs admitted. "I didn't have a lot of friends back home either."

"Oh." The boys were silent, regretting how they had behaved before.

"Well," Chris said, breaking the silence. "We'll be your friends then."

Jugs' whole face lit up, and that was when Teddy decided she was beautiful. "Thank you," she said with pure sincerity.

The next two years were filled with sleepovers, strip poker (Jugs always won), McDonald's runs and practical jokes. Jugs even made girlfriends with some girls in town and starred in all the school plays. She realized she had a crush on Teddy in sixth grade, when he willingly played the Romeo to her Juliet, even agreeing to wear tights. When everyone started pairing off about a month later, Teddy and Jugs were the first and most steadfast couple. So far they'd made it through the end of seventh grade.
Even though they always fought, they were deeply in love. They never actually broke up, and everyone knew Jugs Lake was "Teddy's girl."