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june, 1989
the final bell rang signalling the end of the last day of school. stephanie cooper let out a sigh of relief as it rang, jumping out of her seat like the rest of her classmates and rushing out the door. it was finally summer and stephanie was ecstatic, she was so happy to finally be away from the bullies and the annoying teachers and she couldn't wait to spend her summer reading, like she always does. her older brother had promised to take her book shopping if she got an 'a' in all of her classes and stephanie managed that with no problem.
he also promised they'd spend more time together this summer, since she was practically abandoned by her parents after the disappearance of her younger brother, jack. although andrew had constantly protested it, stephanie felt as though her parents believed it was her fault jack disappeared. after all, she was supposed to be watching the boy, but she didn't think he would run off like he did. ever since that rainy day, mr. and mrs. cooper haven't treated their daughter the same. she's used to getting the least attention, she's not a sports star like her brother, andrew and she's not an adorable little kid like jack, she was just stephanie. she was the middle child that would rather stay inside and read, which she didn't think was a problem, she knew that her parents love her. or, loved her.
ever since they stopped searching for jack, her parents started working more and coming home less. daniel and karen cooper were two of the greatest doctors at the local derry hospital and they always seemed to have work to do. they would leave before stephanie would wake up and come home after she had gone to sleep, leaving the girl all by herself. she tried to pretend like she didn't care but deep down, she really missed her parents. it took a few weeks before something was actually done about stephanie's situation, she couldn't bare telling her older brother, she was happy he was finally able to get out of their small town and make a life for himself, she also kind of enjoyed the freedom. but of course, mrs. gordon, the nosy middle-aged woman across the street, had to get involved and ruin things. she contacted the eldest cooper and faked her concern for stephanie and how she noticed that their parents are never home. an enraged andrew immediately came home to see what was going on. even with him home, daniel and karen still didn't come around often. and that's how stephanie got where she is today. andrew had dropped out of college and got a job at the music store, claiming that when he saved enough money, him and stephanie would move out of the awful town of derry and make a life for themselves. together. although stephanie wasn't so sure that this would work out, she still appreciated him trying.
stephanie continued to shove her way through the students crowding the hall and let out a breath once she reached her locker, beginning to enter the combination. her eyes widened as she saw gretta keene round the corner, she quickly opened her locker door to hide her face from girl. gretta lived two houses down from stephanie, in one of wealthier neighborhoods of derry, she was mean and had a big crush on her brother, andrew. of course, the mean girl act vanished as soon as it was noticed that andrew was around. stephanie supposed she could use that as dirt on her one of these days. she started taking down the pictures hanging from her locker and put them in her backpack, along with any extra notebooks she had in there. stephanie glanced around quickly, relieved to see that gretta was gone and rushed to the bathroom, only to shove herself into a corner upon realizing gretta and her minions were there, tormenting some other girl. "you're trash! we just wanted to remind you." gretta said, chomping on her gum and crossing her arms as one of her friends dumped a trash bag full of water on the girl inside the stall. gretta and her friends laughed as the began heading out of the bathroom, walking right by stephanie. "have a nice summer, beaverly!" she called out before leaving. there was only one person who gretta hated as much as she hated stephanie, beverly marsh. "beverly? you alright?" stephanie asked, knocking on the stall door which opened to reveal a smiling beverly, "i'm alright, cooper. gretta doesn't bother me." she replied which caused stephanie to smile. she was never close with beverly, her mother actually didn't want her to be friends with the girl because of the rumors about her. she thought the rumors were ridiculous and never believed them, beverly seemed like a nice girl. "i wouldn't worry about her, anyways. she's the trash, not you." stephanie replied, both of the girls laughing. "have a good summer, marsh. see ya around." stephanie said, turning and walking out the door. little did stephanie know, she and beverly marsh would become best friends over the summer.
-
"best feeling ever!" stan exclaimed as him and his three best friends dumped their belongings in a nearby trash can. "yeah? try tickling your pickle for the first time." replied richie tozier, the vulgar and loud one of the group. the others groaned and rolled their eyes at their inappropriate friend. "what do you guys wanna do this summer?" eddie asked, looking at all his friends. "tomorrow, i start my training." richie said with a firm nod, earning him a confused look from eddie. "what training?" he asked, "street fighter." richie replied, talking about the video game the boy was obsessed with. eddie gave him a strange look, "is that really how you wanna spend your summer? inside of an arcade?" "beats spending it inside your mother." richie teased, grinning as he raised his hand to high-five stan who yanked his arm back down, "we could go to the quarry?" "we have the b-b-barrens, remember." bill said to his friends, who all tried to hide their disappointed looks with a nod.
"look, richie, here comes your girlfriend." eddie said, all the boys turning to watch stephanie walk towards them. richie tozier has had a crush on stephanie cooper since fifth grade, when she let him copy their math homework that the boy ignored for video games. "wouldn't mind spending the summer inside her." he said with a smirk, causing his friends to groan again. "hey, steph!" richie called out before she crossed the street, causing her to turn and make her way towards the group. "hey, hot stuff. hope i get to see you this summer." he said, leaning on the garbage can, winking at her, causing stephanie to pull a fake smile and tilt her head, "oh, it's my dream to spend the summer with the great richie tozier." she said sweetly before letting her smile drop and shake her head at him. "where ya off too, steph? wanna hangout with us?" stan asked, looking at her. "w-w-we were gonna head d-down to the b-barrens. look around for, uh.. g-georgie." bill contributes, giving the girl a shy smile. stephanie wasn't all that close with bill either, although their brothers were best friends. it was nice of him to invite her, she hadn't exactly given up on her brother missing either. "i would love to, bill. but, i've actually got some things to do and i have to meet andrew at the shop. i'll see you guys around, okay?" she said, giving the group of boys a sweet smile and a wave before turning and crossing the street, just before henry bowers and his gang arrived to pick on the boys.
