October 3, 1988
RINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRING!
Richie's brown eyes shot open as he slowly sat up in bed and hit the snooze button on his alarm clock. He flopped back onto the bed as he sleepily put his pillow into his face.
"F*ck..." Richie groaned into his pillow. "I hate Mondays..."
He swung his legs over his bed and stretched his arms out before yawning heavily. He glanced over on his alarm clock and it read 7:05AM in digital. He had to go brush his teeth, wash his face, get dressed, and go downstairs for breakfast like every morning.
He marched to the bathroom to go brush his teeth and wash his face before picking out a faded yellow He-Man sweatshirt and acid-washed jeans. He put on his large Coke-bottle glasses and headed downstairs for breakfast.
Richie smelled apples, French toast, oatmeal, and apple cider as he went down the steps. He went downstairs to greet his mother, who was preparing breakfast and lunch for him.
His mother warmly said back, "Good morning, sweetheart."
"G'Morning, mom!"
Richie dug into his breakfast without hesitation. Unlike his friends' parents, both of his parents treated him very well. His father was a dentist and was out most of the time, but he treated his wife and son very well despite that. His father would even join Richie on mimicking voices and doing impressions of people whenever they were together.
Richie's mother treated him very well too, but she couldn't understand him very well no matter how hard she tried. She even accidentally mentioned that it would have been easier to understand Richie if he was girl at one point, which hurt her son's feelings.
Richie still felt most comfortable hanging out with his friends though. They were people his age, so they had a better connection with them. After he was done slurping the last of his apple cider, he dumped his dish and glass into the sink before grabbing his black-and-silver backpack and charging out of the front door with his packed lunch.
"See you later, mom!" Richie waved back at his mom as he ran towards the school bus.
"Take care, honey!" Richie's mom waved back at him, smiling. "Be careful out there!"
"I will! Thanks, mom!" Richie said as entered the school bus.
All of the other kids in Richie's neighborhood were piling into the bus as their parents bid them farewell outside of their couldn't blame the parents at this moment, there was a killer clown who appeared two days ago and tried to eat a boy. The parents would act horribly if they found out their kids were eaten by a cannibalistic clown.
Richie's parents would act horrified if they found out he suddenly disappeared too. He also knew Eddie's mom would act even worse since she was WAY overprotective of her son.
He sat in the front seat as the other kids around him talked to each other about about the terrible events that occurred so far over the weekend.
"I'm never looking into the sewers again!"
"Why was there a clown in the storm drain anyways?"
"Poor boy! I hope he is still safe!"
"I hope the clown didn't rip his arm off and eat it!"
"Did you hear about what happened yesterday?!"
"The new kid almost got killed by that Beverly girl at that haunted house!"
"I knew that girl was trouble!"
"I hope she goes to jail like Dorsey's evil stepfather!"
Richie already knew who those people who were just mentioned were. Richie was best buds with Bill Denbrough, Stan Uris, AND "Eddie Spaghetti" Kaspbrak since they were in preschool.
Richie was also there when Bill's little brother was born two years after they met. He, Eddie, and Stan would occasionally help Bill babysit his little brother while their parents were away. It was kinda stressful given that Bill's brother was painfully naive and innocent and that he would do dumb stuff like going outside by himself. But Richie couldn't blame Georgie though, he was only a little kid and he hadn't reached puberty yet. It was very natural for little kids to make irrational decisions and act inappropriately in a lot of situations.
When Richie heard the news about Georgie almost getting killed, he ran to Bill's house without hesitation. But Bill and his family had already gone to the hospital, so Richie had to run home, soaking wet in the rain.
Richie hoped that Bill was feeling better since he had a cold and had to stay home for like a week. He also hoped Georgie was feeling better after his near-death experience last Saturday, someone so young and innocent like Georgie didn't deserve a horrible fate.
And about the "new kid" and the "Beverly girl", he hardly even knew them besides the fact they shared the same school together. Richie obviously didn't know much about the "new kid" because he just moved to Derry a few months ago. Richie had been around Beverly longer, but they hardly interacted with each other, even when they shared a few classes before.
And Dorsey Corcoran was the younger brother of Edward Corcoran, he was hospitalized in May 1988 after he was found almost beaten to death by his abusive stepfather. Thankfully, Dorsey successfully healed from his injuries and his abusive stepdad was sent to Shawshank State Penitentiary for life. Dorsey amassed a lot of shock and pity from his school and was given a lot get-well presents while he recovered in the hospital for four months. Dorsey was back in time before school started and was now happy and healthy.
Richie hoped that Dorsey would continue to stay out of harm's way since there was a killer clown on the loose in Derry. Poor Dorsey deserved better after that brutal beating by his stepfather.
When the school bus arrived at Derry Elementary, all of the students piled out of the bus and went inside the school. Richie stayed outside to look for his friends.
Richie found Eddie nearby and quickly ran to him. "Hey, Eddie!"
Eddie looked in Richie's direction and walked over to him. "Hey, Rich. Have you seen Bill nearby? We know Stan's not at school today."
"Not yet, is he around?" Richie adjusted his glasses.
"I don't know, that's why I came to you." Eddie said to him.
"H-H-H-Hey! L-l-leave us alone!" A familiar stuttering voice reached their ears.
Richie and Eddie looked over in the direction of the voice and didn't waste time running over.
"BILL!" Richie and Eddie called out to him as they ran to his aid.
Henry Bowers, Victor Criss, Belch Huggins, and Patrick Hockstetter were shoving Bill and the "new kid" down onto the grass. They were laughing and mocking them as they continued to bully the three as they struggled to get up.
Before Richie and Eddie could intervene however, a girl with flaming red hair tackled Belch down into the grass. Henry, Vic, and Patrick were stunned for a split-second before Richie and Eddie joined the fray.
"YIPPEE KI-YAY MOTHERF*CKER!" Richie did his best Bruce Willis' Die Hard impression as he lunged into Patrick.
Eddie lunged into Vic. Bill also took advantage of the distraction and tackled Henry into the ground. As eight of them continued to fight outside the school, one of the bus patrons ran in and stopped the fight.
"HEY! HEY! HEY! That's enough fighting for today!" She separated the Bowers' Gang from Richie, Eddie, Bill, and the redhead.
"NOW WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" She put her hands on her hips and looked at both sides disapprovingly.
Eddie quickly jumped in and pointed at the Bowers' Gang. "They attacked first, miss! We were on our way to school until they attacked us!"
"NOT TRUE!" Henry roared and then pointed at Bill. "They were the ones who drew first blood! They attacked us when we were talking to the new kid!"
Bill argued back. "N-n-n-n-n-n-no! Th-th-that wasn't what happened, miss! They were b-b-b-bullying him! I tried to st-stop them!"
"Why don't you stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, you STUTTERING FREAK?!" Vic yelled at Bill.
"Why don't you shut your f*cking mouth, a**hole?!" Richie retorted back at Vic.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" The bus patron boomed over them.
And everyone suddenly went quiet .
"Now GO INSIDE before I tell the principal about your little squabble outside! I DON'T CARE WHO started it! If I see you fighting again, you'll be at the principal's office pronto! IS THAT CLEAR?!" The patron rebuked.
"Yes, ma'am." Everyone, except Beverly and Richie said unenthusiastically in unison.
After the bus patron was gone, the club and the gang glared at each other as they walked into the school.
Bill accompanied Richie and Eddie as they continued into homeroom. Ben and Beverly went together into their homeroom with no Henry in sight.
All students in Derry High had a homeroom period at the beginning and end of school for their assigned teachers to take attendance. Students could enter whenever they wanted as long as they were present before the end of homeroom. Once the students entered their homeroom, they had to stay until the period ended or they would be marked as "cutting."
Richie and Eddie sat patiently in their assigned seats as their homeroom teacher, Mr. Fisher took their attendance. Bill walked into the classroom briskly as the teacher continued marking down the students that were present.
"Psst! Hey Bill!" Richie whispered to Bill.
Bill looked in his direction tiredly. "Wh-what, Richie?"
"You feeling better? Is your brother okay?" Richie asked him.
"Y-y-yeah. My flu's dying down and Georgie's ar-ar-arm is getting better." Bill replied.
"That's great." Eddie joined in. "Hey, Bill. You need more Kleenex? You look like you need some."
Bill gratefully accepted the pack of disposable tissues from Eddie. "Th-thanks, Eddie."
"So what happened while you were at the hospital?" Eddie asked Bill concernedly.
Bill blew his nose on a tissue. "The doc-doc-doctors at the Derry Home Hospital st-st-stitched up the scratches on Georgie's arm. The po-po-police were there too. Th-th-th-they asked Georgie to describe the cl-cl-clown who attacked him. And th-th-then you know what happened."
"The 7PM curfew." Richie answered.
"Yeah, but I then had another fe-fe-fe-fe-fe-fe-fe-fe-" Bill's face scrunched up as he tried to say the word.
Eddie's eyes widened in worry. "Fever?! How did it happen?!"
"I went out-out-outside in the rain with my parents and it was c-c-c-cold. But I-I-I didn't want Georgie to d-d-d-d-die!" Bill answered.
"What the f*ck, man?! You went outside in the rain while you were sick! You shoulda stayed home!" Richie hissed furiously at Bill.
"But not without Georgie!" Bill suddenly rose his voice. "It was my fault that he is hurt! I should've never sent outside to play with the boat I made for him! I should've been there with him! If someone hadn't found him before..." Bill trailed off, tears threatening to leak from his eyes.
Richie and Eddie went silent as Bill started to cry.
Everyone else in the classroom pretended not to notice and kept on with their business.
Mr. Fisher cleared his throat and tapped his desk with his ruler to gain everybody's attention.
"Class? May I have your attention please?"
Everyone stopped talking and turned around to face their teacher.
"There are two new teachers who will be joining our school as of yesterday's arrangements. They will be teaching two new subjects here at our school."
All of the students whispered to each other about the two possible new subjects they would have at their school. And they wondered if the new teachers were nice and all.
Richie mischievously whispered to his friends, "Do you think our new teachers are gonna be hot chicks? I would like to put my big-a** d*ck inside either one of them and jiggle it around!"
"Beep beep Richie." Eddie glared at him disapprovingly as Bill looked at him, unamused.
Their teacher revealed the names of the teachers and their subjects on the chalkboard while holding up a packet in his other hand.
"The first one is Mr. Theophylactus Maturin, who will be teaching Latin class. You can only take one Foreign Language class per year. So if you are currently taking a Foreign Language class but want to take Latin, you can drop the previous class and replace it with Latin."
"What f*cking kind of person has a name that long?!" Richie asked his friends a little too loudly.
"Shut up, Richie." Bill admonished him.
"And the second one is Mr. Robert Gray..."
Richie didn't catch what words that came after that because he was too distracted by the sharp intake of breath Bill took.
Bill looked as pale as a ghost and he was staring into space like he heard something horrible.
"Bill?" Richie grabbed Bill's shoulder and shook him a bit. "Bill, what's wrong?!"
"BILL!" Eddie screamed as he and Richie grabbed Bill and shook him wildly.
Unfortunately, everyone in the class stopped and turned their attention to the frantic three boys.
"Excuse me, gentlemen. Is there a problem here?" Mr. Fisher glared at them sternly.
Bill snapped out of his daze and fumbled to apologize. "Uh, no! No, Mr. Fis-Fis-Fisher! I'm j-j-j-j-just not feeling very well, th-th-th-that's all!"
"Well, William Denbrough, if you are still not feeling well, I can arrange a pass for you to the nurse's office or the guidance counselor. I'm well aware of the circumstances that happened to you and your brother."
"Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh no thanks, Mr. Fisher. I'm alright." Bill said to him.
"Very well then. Just let me know if you need to excuse yourself." Mr. Fisher reminded him.
RING!RING!RING!RING!RING!RING!RING!RING!
"Class dismissed." Mr. Fisher said.
All three of them walked out of the classroom to unload stuff they didn't need for their 1st Period classes into their lockers.
Richie had Drama class 1st Period so he just got his Drama folder and notebook out of his locker before closing it shut. He made his way towards Drama class and sat in his assigned seat before the late bell rang.
"Good morning class!" His drama teacher cheerfully greeted everyone.
"Good morning, Ms. Wells." Most of the class greeted her apathetically.
"I take it you all read your lines for Act Three?" She asked everyone.
"Yes." Everyone answered.
"Excellent! Now everyone go to the auditorium so we can do our warm-up exercise!" She ushered them out to the backstage out the door.
The play they were acting in was Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde adapted by Thomas Russell Sullivan from Robert Louis Stevenson's original novel.
Richie was playing an extra, but is also a replacement for the lead character(s) in case the student was absent.
Richie loved to act and mimick impressions of other people. It helped get him attention and distract him from his loneliness despite the fact he made a fool of himself.
When they did their warm-up exercise, it was the same thing every single day.
They all had to stand around in a circle and project their voices across one another. It made everyone feel silly, but the teacher insisted they do so to get into shape.
When it was Richie's turn to project his voice, he decided to improvise by inhaling lungfuls of air and screaming out, "HEY YO, MAH NAME'S RICHIE! AND I GOT A BIG F*CKING D*CK AN' I'M NOT AFRAID TO SHOW IT!"
Richie then pompously put his hand on his crotch and thrust shamelessly.
Everyone in the class howled in laughter, except Ms. Wells who was taken aback by Richie's use of profanity.
"Mr. Tozier! We do not use foul language in this school! Excellent voice projection, but no swearing is allowed in my class!" Ms. Wells chastised Richie.
"Yes, ma'am." Richie said in a faux-French accent while adjusting his large glasses again.
"Alright, who's next?"