A/N: Hey, it took me long enough, huh? Sorry I haven't updated this story in a while. I was just taking a bit of a break from It. But I felt the inspiration hit me again, so here's another chapter! This one kinda ends unceremoniously, so I apologize for that, but the following chapter sort of picks up what this one sets up. This chapter takes place after Richie to the Rescue, but before the Halloween chapters. Yeah, remember when I said that one was supposed to be the last chapter before the Halloween chapters? I was wrong XD But I'm pretty sure this one will be the last one to take place before those chapters. This chapter also explains why Georgie wasn't present in Richie to the Rescue. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this long overdue chapter!

Georgie had caught that flu bug from his big brother. After two days of being sick at home, he had finally returned to school. It was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it was good that he wasn't sick anymore. He hated being sick, as anyone does. But on the other hand, that meant that he had to go back to boring school instead of staying home and watching TV in his pajamas all day.

Bill was always jealous of Georgie when it came to being sick, since it seemed like their parents were a lot more lenient with his little brother than himself. If Georgie so much as had a sore throat or a case of the sniffles, Mom saw it fit for him to stay home another day. While Bill, on the other hand, could only get away with staying home from school if he had something as dire as a fever. Even if he happened to be coughing his lungs out along with fat, green phlegm—no fever, good enough to go. To top it all off, Georgie got the complete luxuries when he stayed home: breakfast in bed, unlimited TV, excused from homework. Meanwhile, if Bill did happen to have a fever and had to stay home, he was confined to his bedroom only, where he was limited to resting in bed the entire day. And he still had to catch up on the homework that was due the next day (although, to be fair towards Zack and Sharon, this was more the fault of Bill's teachers than them.) Life was often very unfair toward the elder sibling.

But that didn't matter too much now, given that the end of the school day had come. Georgie waited outside of Derry Elementary School for his brother and his friends to come pick him up so they could walk home.

"Hey, Georg-o!" Richie said as the Losers arrived.

"Georgie!" the seven-year-old corrected. Richie's failed attempts at creating nicknames for everyone got really tiresome at times. As their group continued to walk along, Georgie joined Bev, who was new to Bill's group of friends. "Hi, Beverly!" Georgie said.

"Hey, Georgie! How was your day today?" Bev asked as she held Georgie's small hand. She didn't seem to pay any mind to the fact that he was recently sick.

"It was okay. Nothin' too special."

"Really? Well, that's sad to hear," Beverly said. "School is all downhill from second grade."

Georgie looked over at Ben, who was their newest friend that Georgie had met. Ben met eyes with Georgie and smiled, but he didn't say anything to him. He didn't talk much aside from the first time he met Georgie. But that was okay. It was a nice change of pace from the rest of the Losers. Speaking of which,

"No, there's no way!" Richie yelled. "Spider-Man would totally kick Batman's ass!"

"What?! How?" Bill said.

"'Cause Batman has no powers, duh! He's just got his gadgets! Spider-Man has his webs. And his spidey-sense!"

"Yeah, I think Richie has a point there, Bill," Eddie said.

"Well, I st-still think Batman is a b-better character," Bill said.

"Doesn't mean Spider-Man wouldn't wipe the floor with him!" Richie countered.

"Why are we even having this discussion?" Stan asked. "Spider-Man and Batman don't even live in the same universe."

"I dunno, it was just something to think about," Richie said.

As they continued to stroll along the sidewalk, Mike came up, riding on his bike. "Hey, guys, what's up?" he said as a he came to a stop.

"Hey, Mike," Bill said. "How've you b-been?"

"Eh, okay. Just doing my delivery round right now." Mike spotted a small figure hiding behind Bill shyly. "Hey, who's that?" Mike smiled.

"Th-this is Georgie, my little brother." Bill pulled Georgie out from behind him. "This is Mike, Georgie. He's our n-new friend. W-w-wanna say 'hi' to him?"

"Hey, Georgie!" Mike greeted cheerfully. "What's goin' on?"

"Hi," Georgie spoke quietly as he waved at Mike.

"I don't know w-w-why he gets like this. Every t-time he meets someone new, he gets really sh-shy, so don't take it personally."

"It's all good," Mike replied. "I get it, Georgie, it's hard to meet new people sometimes." Mike turned to Bill. "Do ya'll mind if I walk with you guys?"

"N-n-no, of course not! We're happy t-to have you around," Bill said.

As the gang continued walking, Georgie asked Bill, "How come Mike doesn't go to school with you?"

"Mike is ho-homeschooled," Bill answered.

"You go to school at home?!" Georgie asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah," Mike responded succinctly.

"That's awesome! I wish I could do that!"

Mike chuckled. "It's not as great as you'd think."

"Why not?"

"Well, my grandma's a fine enough tutor, but…I get kinda lonely on the farm. I miss out on stuff like…well, this," Mike gestured to the group of friends. "You know? I feel like I'm missin' out on making friends."

"Well, you have us as friends now," Ben said, a rare occasion for him.

"Yeah, and I really can't express enough how grateful I am of you guys, even though we haven't known each other for very long."

"Wait, did you say you live on a farm?" Georgie interrupted innocently.

Mike smiled amusedly and said, "Yeah. Maybe I can have you guys come over one of these days."

"That'd be fun!" Beverly said.

"Yeah, I'd be down for that," Ben agreed.

"Do you have animals on your farm?" Georgie asked.

"We do, actually. We got sheep, chickens, and pigs."

"Awww, I wanna go, Billy! Let's go!"

"Well, n-not today, Georgie. Whenever Mike d-decides to invite us."

"We'll definitely have to do that soon, then," Mike said cheerfully. "I'd be more than happy to have you guys over."

As the Losers continued to walk home, their group began to thin out as everybody took their separate paths home, until it was only Bill and Georgie left walking down Witcham Street towards their house. "So, w-what do you think of M-Mike, Georgie?" Bill asked.

"I think he's nice. I can't wait to go to his farm and see all the animals!"

"Yeah, th-that would be fun."

"Don't you think it's kinda weird how many friends you've been making recently, Bill? I mean, for the longest time, you only had three friends, not counting myself, since I know I'm your best best. But now you have six!"

"Yeah. It is kinda w-weird how that happened. But it feels r-r-right…for some reason. I dunno."

"Hey, next week is Halloween!" Georgie excitedly realized. "We should all go trick-or-treating together! We'd be a huge group! It'd be so much fun!"

"Yeah, that would b-be fun, huh? I'll l-let everyone know. Hopefully they c-can all come."

"I'm liking you with these new friends, now! They're certainly better than Richie!"

"All my friends are better than Richie," Bill joked as they arrived home.