𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐅𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐊𝐄

1

The year was 1993 when Richie marked the world's end, and it's all Eddie's fault.

Eddie was one of Richie's best friends since kindergarten.

He was a bro, honestly. Eddie was a dork, it was well known, Richie loved him nonetheless. They were all dorks, all the losers, in their own ways. Out of everyone, Richie knew some of them would grow out of certain things.

Bill would grow out of his stutter just like Stan would grow out of his khakis. It happened, they both grew out of those things.

Bill's speech is as stutter-free as Eddie's, and Stan's been wearing jeans since the middle of High School. He knew they would change, they showed signs of progression very early on, just like Richie. Richie grew out of his glasses and preferred contacts.

It didn't stop him from wearing them sometimes, though. Just like slip-ups didn't stop Bill from stumbling over his words in front of pretty people and Stan wearing his khakis 'on laundry day'. It was inevitable to change, yet it was inevitable to sometimes go back to what you've always known.

Except Eddie didn't change, even in his senior year. Not at all.

Eddie always had pants from Target and button-up collared shirts from JcPenny.

Eddie had dark, brunette hair that was gelled into a nerdy upwards sweep.

Eddie had perfectly manicured nails, always fresh and clean from a travel-sized hand sanitizer.

Eddie was clean and tidy, like a good mama's boy should be.

Eddie was predictable.

And Eddie wasn't ever late to anything, except today.

Today was the first day of college, no less. What a perfect day for change, right?

Eddie was the last one to move onto campus, which surprised Richie because Eddie always wanted to make sure he had enough time to be prepared.

Just this summer, he made the losers go to a 12:00 am showing of Jurassic Park at 11:10 pm because he "Wanted to make sure they'd make it,". And him being not early to his first class? Universally shocking.

Richie, Stan, and Eddie all had their first class together, and it was reported, by Bill Denbrough himself, that Eddie wanted to meet by the library by 9:00 am, given their class started at 9:30 am.

They all complied, and here they were. Richie had shown up at 9:06 am, knowing that being fashionably late to Eddie's specific time would rile the shorter boy up a bit.

But when Richie strolled over to the Library, the only two standing in front was a chatty Bill and a calm Stan. It was now 9:10 am, and Richie was becoming worried, Eddie had never been late in his life. Maybe something was wrong?

"We have 20 minutes to get to class, and I know that's a reasonable amount of time, but Eddie should've been here ten minutes ago, Bill. You really don't know where he is?" Stan inquired, raising a brow as the morning sun of August beat down on them.

"I swear, he told me this morning he'd be here. He was up this morning before I was!" Bill defended, putting his hands up like someone had pointed a gun at him.

Richie sighed and leaned back on the bench they'd sat at, looking around for any signs of the Kaspbrak boy.

"Well, I hope he's alright, Eddie is never late," Stan continued his worry, crossing his legs to stop them from bouncing. Bill leaned forward on his knees to look the opposite way Richie was looking.

"I hope he's alright, too. Gee, I shoulda waited for him and walked together," Bill guilted himself, shaking his head at seeing only random students walking around campus and no sight of Eddie.