Mesmerizing Mute ~ Richie Tozier

Prolougue I ~ First Day

(November 1988)

Tate stepped up the stairs leading into her new school. She found the office, and by the time her tour was finished it was a half-period from lunch. This can't get any worse. Tate thought. She walked into science class with the principal. The teacher, Mr. Keel, seemed nice.

"This must be our new student?" he asked as the two walked in. New, she supposed. It hadn't been a whole year she was out, but nobody thought of her. Ever since she fell into a coma after the car crash she had been in with her sister, nobody thought of Tate for months. She kind of assumed that they guessed she died like the others lately in town. Tate smiled faintly and nodded, hoping to avoid everyone taking a notice of her persona, "dead girl". This encounter happened every start of the next classes. Tate quickly took her seat in the back and started daydreaming of the friends she could possibly make.

•••••

Ring. Finally last period is over. Tate thought to herself. She picked up her books and headed out of the classroom. She moved so quickly to leave she didn't realize that there was a boy in front of the door before she ran into him and completely fell on her back. Of course Tate didn't remember that this was the Henry Bowers, full-time Derry Middle bully.

"S- u- uh- orry," she forced in a quiet, scratchy voice.

"Look dead girl came back to life. Watch out bitch," he said as he walked over Tate.

"You okay?" Richie Trashmouth Tozier came and asked her. He had been staring at her since she arrived in science fourth period. The seemingly-shy girl nodded her head and took his offer of a hand up.

'Thank you,' Tate signed to the boy with hilariously large glasses. He clearly had no idea what she was doing, but nodded with furrowed eyebrows at the girl. Richie could only focus on how pretty the auburn-haired girl looked.

"What's your name, hot stuff?" he asked. The girl gave a giddy smile. She, of course, remembered the boy for his loud mouth and awful jokes, some of which she didn't understand. Although she had been into bad things before, Tate wasn't very exposed to things such as relationships. With only her dad being around, it was a touchy subject.

"T- a- aa- ate" she tried ever so hard. The car crash had severely damaged the girl's vocal cords, causing pain for her to speak anything above a whisper.

"Tate? Well, I'm Richie, but you can just call me tonight," he winked. The boy a complete flirt, but it wasn't common, or even existent, that he would get such a reaction. The two made their way down the hall side by side, unintentionally, but they soon realized their lockers were across the hall from each other's.

"Hey Rich," a shorter boy wearing a fanny pack and running shorts said. His name was Eddie Kaspbrak. "Who's that?" he asked motioned his head towards Tate.

"This is Tate. She's the- um- new girl," he explained, trying to be as polite as possible. After those few moments, the Losers were her new friends. Tate never would've imagined having made a friend on her first day, but instead she made four.

Word Count = 445

A/N - When I use 'apostrophes' instead of quotes it means it's in American Sign Language just to explain. Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter promise the others are much longer.