Chapter 4: The Gang's All Here
"Bill hurry up you're going to be late." His mother calls from the bottom of the stairs.
"C-Coming," he calls, packing his sketchbook in his bag along with his new school supplies. He hurries down the stairs to the kitchen, where a simple breakfast is waiting for them. Toast since that was the only appliance that was hooked up to the house. Georgie sits at the old dining room table eating his jam toast, while their father reads the morning paper while sipping a cup of coffee.
"Hawkins is certainly an interesting town," he muses as Bill takes a seat to eat his dry toast.
"What makes you say that?" his wife asks, as she packs paper bag lunches for her sons.
"Well, it has one of the last remaining national laboratories in North America, which sprung up just after World War Two."
Bill pauses, remembering the newspaper articles that he'd thrown away the night before, several mentioning the same laboratory.
"D-Do they say what they d-do there?" Bill asks.
"Not really, apparently after a nasty chemical leak killed a local teenager and caused strange hallucinations to other residents, it's been closed down and quarantined."
"What are hallucinations?" Georgie asks.
"They're images or thoughts that we think we can see but are not there," his father explains, deciding not to go into too much detail with his young son. "Often brought on by different chemicals."
"So that monster in my closet is a hallucination?" the six-year-old asks.
"Georgie there are no monsters in your closet," his mother says firmly. "You're just not used to the house yet."
"But I saw it, Mommy, I did!" he insists.
"There's no such thing as monsters' honey," she sighs.
"Yes, there is, there was one in Derry, the one that lived in the sewer right Bill?"
Bill doesn't know how to respond. His parents look at him, waiting for a response. His ears turn red in embarrassment. He eats more of his toast before saying anything else. There's no point in trying to convince his parents of anything. For some reason, the adults in Derry never saw It, why that was, no one could be sure, but what he and his friends had seen was most definitely a monster.
"T-There was s-something in the s-sewer," he finally manages to say.
"Probably just some animal, many of them get trapped in there," his father says. "Besides, there is something in the sewers, high levels of toxins."
Bill just finishes his toast and gets up. "Come on G-Georgie," he says. "We have to get going."
He grabs his lunch from his mother and goes to get his backpack, sidestepping the mountains of boxes. His little brother follows, suit, ready to start his first day of first grade.
"I got your bikes down from the roof," his father, Zack, calls out.
Their mother presses Bill's hair down flat and kisses each of them. "Please stay safe out there, we don't know what the traffic is like in this town."
"Okay," Bill says.
"Do you know where you're going?" she asks.
"W-We saw the school driving in-n," Bill nods. "I have to g-go meet the others anyway."
"Just be careful," Sharon Denbrough says, as both her sons go for their bikes. She stands on the front porch and waves as the two begin to ride once around the cul-de-sac before heading out towards the open streets.
...
"Nancy!" Mike shouts, pounding on the bathroom door. "Other people have to get ready too."
"Then maybe you should haul your ass out of bed sooner, sucks to be you," she shouts, applying more makeup in front of the bathroom mirror.
"You're just making yourself look uglier," Mike hollers back.
"Shut Up you little...!"
"You two stop fighting," their mother orders. "You're scaring Holly."
Mrs. Wheeler holds her young daughter, who is in a pink dress and had her hair up in pigtails, in preparation for her first day of Grade 1.
"Why can't I use your bathroom?" Mike whines.
"Because your father is shaving in there," his mother explains, rolling her eyes. Mike could always tell when his mother was just as annoyed with her husband as she was with her bickering children. She would clench her jaw and grind her teeth, before making herself scarce, which is what she did after making sure Holly was ready.
When Nancy finally does get out of the bathroom, Mike rushes to get ready for school. He grabs his walkie-talkie and shoves a few comic books in his bag before heading downstairs.
Mrs. Wheeler is snapping photographs of her youngest as it's her first official day of school. Mike rolls his eyes and just slips out the door without saying goodbye.
He grabs his bike, while Nancy waits for Johnathan to pick her up.
"You know you could save time by just walking," Mike snickers at prissy Nancy, all dressed up and no place to go.
Nancy flips her brother the bird. She could not wait to move out of this house, go to college and leave all her memories behind.
Mike begins biking along the street, away from his hectic family life and going to school. He was slightly upset that he wouldn't be able to see Eleven, but he tries to remember that he'll see her after school.
Suddenly, a figure darts out of some nearby trees, right in front of Mike's bike. The preteen tries to break hard and steer around the figure, but he ends up tipping his bike sideways and landing on the concrete.
He's about to scream at the person until he sees the familiar brown eyes and hair falling around in loose curls.
She runs over to help him up.
"Geez El, you scared me," he says.
"Sorry, I wanted to surprise you before school," she says.
"Well, mission accomplished," he says, brushing himself off. "Nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry," she apologizes. "Can I ride?"
Mike smiles, his mind flashing back to the times she would cling to his back as they sped through town, mostly to avoid danger, but to have her so close, allowed him to forget everything else.
"Yes," he says. "Hop on."
Eleven climbs onto the back of Mike's bike like she'd done so many times before. The entire group had tried to teach her how to ride a bike over the summer, but she much preferred riding to pedalling.
The two set off down the street again, the cool late summer air blowing in their faces and rusting their hair.
"Where's Hopper?" Mike asks. "I thought he told you to stay home."
"Snuck out," she smirks.
"El, you are bad," he smiles.
"Bitchin'" she smiles to herself, letting the wind clear her head.
...
"Hey, if it isn't Big Bill," a familiar and obnoxious voice calls as Bill and Georgie pull into the schoolyard.
With his big glasses practically hanging on the edge of his nose, Richie Tozier sits, leaning against his bike at the edge of the schoolyard, waiting for his friend.
"H-How are you Richie?" Bill asks as the three boys walk their bikes across the grass. "What's y-your house like?"
"Stinks like Eddie's Mom's underwear mixed with decaying poison sumac, what do you think?"
Bill forces a smile but feels awkward as he sees the schoolyard in front of them. Many Hawkins kids were already running around, greeting their friends to talk about their summers. Several other kids ride their bikes or skateboards around on the pavement to pass the time while waiting for the bell to ring. The teen looks for the rest of his friends, or anyone friendly. He notices a couple of girls whispering and pointing to the group, likely talking about who the hell they were.
Bill's heart flutters and he smiles when he sees the freckled and bright face of Beverly Marsh coming over to meet them. He manages to smile. She looked more beautiful than ever, her hair starting to grow back in, giving her a curly, shoulder-length style. She had more freckles due to being out in the sun during summer. But what made her stand out the most was how relaxed and happy she was. Her new foster family was fantastic, giving her the love and respect she deserved. She no longer had to look over her shoulder out of fear of her father and his abusive ways.
"H-Hi," Bill says.
"Hi guys, hi Georgie," she says, smiling down at the youngest.
Georgie suddenly becomes shy and looks down at the ground, stepping backwards as if to avoid her.
"Oooh, the first time she's been rejected by a guy," Richie snorts.
Bev slugs him in the shoulder in frustration. At this new school, she wanted to shed her previous reputation, start fresh and try to be normal.
"D-Don't worry about him," Bill says. "G-Georgie is j-just nervous."
"Aren't we all?" Beverly says, adjusting her backpack.
Eventually, Stan Uris comes to join the group, his Yamika pressing down his long curls. He smiles at the others and stands awkwardly with the group.
"Hey, if it isn't Rabbi Stan the Man," Richie says.
"S-Shut up, Richie!"
"How are you, Stan?" Bev asks.
"Pretty good, my dad paid more attention to cleaning up the synagogue to his standards than worrying about the house."
"Is it a nice place?" she asks.
"It's a dump," Richie cuts in. "I know that because I saw it. It's right next to the junkyard."
The group hears another bike come up behind him and the familiar sound of the puffer. Eddie Kaspbrak walks up with his usual fanny pack chock full of his usual medications. He sprays some chemicals into his mouth before parking his bike.
"Well if it isn't Wheezenhiemer himself," Richie teases.
"Shut the fuck up Richie," Eddie says.
"Hey, language!" Bill insists, nodding to Georgie.
"Ooh, someone's in a bad mood," Bev notices.
"My mom wouldn't leave me alone this morning. She had to make sure I had sunscreen, my inhaler, my allergy medication, anti-tic lotion and pepper spray."
"W-Why w-would you need pepper spray?" Bill asks.
"In case I run into any rapists or muggers," the shortest kid in the group mutters.
"Again!" Bill says. He turns to his younger brother. "H-Hey Georgie, why don't you g-go and lock your bike up, I'll be over s-soon."
The six-year-old just nods and then goes over to the bike racks. Ben Hanscom comes up to join the group too.
"Hey guys," he says, he only briefly locks eyes with Beverly before blushing and looking away. "Have you guys seen the library of the school, it looks great?"
"Who cares about the library, what about the girl's changeroom, does it have a window?"
Everyone in the group rolls their eyes.
"I also got all our time schedules and maps of the school," Ben says, handing the sheets of paper out to everyone. The group knew that they could always rely on Ben to be organized and prepared.
"Okay, who else has Math with Mrs. Wilson?" Stan asks.
"I d-do," Bill says.
...
Meanwhile, Mike parks his bike on the bike rack and waits for his friends. He had to say goodbye to Eleven at the edge of the school property and then went to wait for the rest of the party.
He notices the little boy that he'd met the other night, the one who'd moved into the Winchester's old house struggling to lock his bike.
"Need a hand?" Mike asks, leaning down to help him.
Georgie, while very shy, he manages to smile as a thank you.
"Mike!" he says, remembering the names from last night.
"Yeah that's me, and your Georgie right?"
The kid nods proudly. "Where's Jane?"
Mike's about to ask who that was but remembers El's new identity. "She's at home, she's homeschooled," he answers.
The two go into an awkward silence until Dustin Henderson pulls up on his bike. "Hey, buddy. Isn't that the pipsqueak from last night?" spraying spit with the last s?
Georgie frowns and turns a bit red before walking back toward his brother.
Mike elbows Dustin.
"What?"
"Way to insult the kid, give him a reputation before he even starts going to school here."
"Okay, sorry," Dustin mutters.
Both boys look over at the group of Derry kids that stand near the tetherball pole.
Lucas Sinclair rides up with Max Mayfield not too far behind.
"What up?" she asks the group.
Mike and Dustin turn back to their friends.
"How do we know they didn't bring some kind of radioactive shit from their town?" Dustin asks.
"It was toxins in the water, not a nuclear blast stupid," Lucas mutters.
"Well, the girl looks a lot like you Max," Mike points out.
The zoomer rolls her eyes, knowing that the girl would never be as cool as she was. "Well the dweeb in the glasses looks a lot like you," she adds.
"The tall dude with the little brother has a stutter," Dustin adds, adjusting his ball cap.
"And it looks like one of them is Jewish," Lucas observing the Yamika.
"On a scale of one to ten, how weird do you think they are?" Dustin asks.
The rest of the group look at him with disgust and roll their eyes.
Just then Will Byers pulls up on his bike.
"Hey guys," he says. "What's up?"
"Just talking about the new Derry kids," Lucas explains. Will adjusts his view in order to see the group better.
"Are they nice?" Will asks.
"They seem to be," Mike answers.
"Hope they're not just a bunch of losers," Max mutters to herself as the bell rings, indicating the beginning of school.