The New Group // Fem Losers Club

Chapter 1

"Alright, Bevvie, we're here!"

These were the words that Beverly Marsh had dreaded all throughout the car ride to her new home. Although Maine and Oregon were literally all the way across the country from each other, Beverly's aunt Peggy had still opted to take the car rather than a plane, for the purpose of saving money. It was a miracle they hadn't run out of gas.

She knew she was going to hate it there. Although her life definitely hadn't been perfect back in Maine, she had made a group of friends that made it seem okay. They were called the Losers Club. It wasn't a very flattering name, that was for sure, but it was accurate. They were all losers who had unrelentingly been bullied, until they found each other. Together, they were strong. And now she had to leave them. Now she was still going to be a loser and she was still going to get bullied, but this time, she would be alone, like she was all those years before.

The only thing she was excited about was being free of her father. Otherwise, she assumed Portland would be a drag. She wasn't used to big cities; she liked not having to wait in line and being able to ride her bike across town within a span of 20 minutes. And although her Aunt Peggy was nice and caring (basically the opposite of her father), the one thing about her was that she didn't smoke. That meant that rather than being able to sneak some of her father's cigarettes, she would always have to steal her own. Or she could just quit, which she definitely wasn't planning on doing anytime soon.

She got out of the car and looked at her new house. It only had one story, and that one story was quite small. But it looked comfortable; like a place she could easily learn to call 'home'. There was a small garden of flowers in front of the porch, and dandelions sprinkled throughout the front yard. The grass looked like it hadn't been mowed in months. Nonetheless, Beverly thought that her Aunty's house was beautiful.

Peggy also got out of the car and lead her to the front door. She unlocked it and let Beverly enter first. The house looked just as homey on the inside as it did on the outside. It was quite messy, though.

"Can I see my room?" She asked.

"Of course, dear."

When they got to her now bedroom, Beverly knew she had a lot of work to do. It was cleaned by her aunt beforehand, so it was simply a vacant space of nothing. It, too, was rather small, but Beverly knew she could make it just as cozy as her former. For now, all she had to do was unpack her things and get ready for school starting in two days.

~~~
1 Day Later

Her aunt had registered Beverly at Washington High School. It was already bad enough that Beverly had to start high school as a freshman, but she had to do it in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. She would persevere, though. She got her school bag ready for tomorrow and picked out her outfit. She decided that she would wear her floral blue dress. It was her favorite. She thought it perfect for the occasion because it wasn't too formal, but it also looked nice. Her room was now looking as good as it possible could at that time; all of her things were settled in but her walls looked bare without any posters. She had gone to the gas station earlier that day to steal a pack of smokes. Now she was taking said cigarettes and stuffing them into her bag for tomorrow. That was the finishing touch; now she was completely ready for her new life.

~~~
First Day of School

Beverly Marsh walked down the halls of her new school. It was quite bigger than Derry Middle, but the students here seemed a lot more tame. She held her schedule in her hand and tried to figure out where her first class should be, but it was hard to concentrate with all of the noise.  She saw a nice-looking girl presumably finishing the last of her summer reading at a bench, and decided to ask her for help.

"Hey, do you happen to know where Mrs. West's class is?" Beverly asked as she approached her. The girl looked up. She had dark skin and striking eyes. Beverly was rather taken aback, so she spat out a quick "sorry, I'm a freshman," out of nervousness.

"Oh you're fine, I'm a freshman too," the girl said with a smile.  "It's kind of across the school. Would you like me to walk you there?"

Now Beverly was really getting nervous. Not many girls had ever been this nice to her, and not many girls had ever been this pretty. If there was more where this girl came from, then maybe Portland wouldn't be that bad after all.

"Yeah, that would be great!" She replied.

As they walked down the hall, the girl started talking again. "My name's Kay, by the way. Kay McCall."

"Oh, I'm Beverly Marsh. It's nice to meet you."

"Beverly... I like that," Kay said, smiling her mesmerizing smile once again. "So did you miss orientation or what?"

"Uh, what?"

"Well I know you're a freshman but most of us get the chance to navigate the school beforehand."

"Oh, well, I'm new here. I just arrived in Portland two days ago," Beverly answered.

"Oh, that's cool! Where do you come from?"

"Maine. Pretty lame, I know."

"No, no, not lame. That's like, where Stephen King is from! Is it pretty scary there?" Kay said, giggling.

Beverly took a deep breath before replying, "you could say so."

"So are you new to big cities? I'm no expert in geography but I've never heard of any major places in Maine."

"Yeah, my old town, Derry, had a population of about 15,000. It's way different, but I kinda like it. The people, especially adults, are like way nicer here."

"Hmmm, that's weird. I've always heard the opposite."

"Well, to be fair, Derry is no ordinary town."

"How so?"

"We're kind of known for murders, but I won't get into that. It's just that everybody seems to ignore what's actually going on, like they turn a blind eye. It's just not a good place to be in, especially for kids. I'm glad I got out."

"Murders?! I'll have to look into that, it seems really interesting. My friend, Susie, works for the school paper. She might be into that, and maybe you can get us some insider information!" Kay said, playfully. Beverly couldn't help but giggle with her, she just had that way about her.

"Well this is West's class. Proceed with caution, I've heard some not-so-good things about her." Kay said.

"Ah, just my luck," Beverly remarked, smiling up at the girl. Kay was quite a bit taller than Beverly, about seven inches or so. She would've towered over all the boys at home, Beverly thought. Well, except maybe Mike.

Suddenly, Kay grabbed Beverly's school schedule. She scanned over all of her classes before handing it back.

"Great! We have Spanish and P.E. together! See you then!" She said before turning around to leave. She then turned back around to face the redhead, saying, "You have Garcia for homeroom, so my locker shouldn't be too far from your's. If you need any more assistance, you can find me," she said.

"Thank you!"

"See you around, new kid!"

Beverly jumped a little at that.