It was cold for a summer's day, but most of that had to do with sprinting away from the quarry soaking wet to avoid getting pummeled by the Bowers gang.
"H-hurry up R-Richie!" Bill called, eyes wide in fear as Richie continued to trip over his flip flops, allowing their attackers to close in on him.
Richie glanced back and saw Victor Cross getting uncomfortably close to him, as he was the fastest runner in the gang. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," Richie mumbled, kicking off his flip flops, knowing he could get a new pair. His parents may be mad, but their anger was preferable to getting an ugly scar from the attackers.
The teenagers on the run continued to sprint, not stopping until they got to Bill's house, which lied the closest to the quarry. They rushed in through the door and slammed it behind them, locking it.
Bill, Stan, and Mike all sat down in the entry way, gasping for breath while Richie ran over to the window. He smiled seeing the Bowers gang swearing in defeat, glaring at Richie who stood in the window.
He threw up his middle finger and opened the window. "Better luck next time, fuckers!" he yelled.
Henry, their leader, glared at him and ran his pointer finger across his throat as a silent threat.
"You... seriously have... to provoke them?" Stan gasped out, walking into the living room where Richie was smiling out the window.
"We're safe in here, Stan the Man. I don't know why you're worried," Richie responded, flopping down onto the couch.
"We have to leave at some point, trashmouth," Mike said with a disappointed look. "We can't live at Bill's house."
"Why not? The Debroughs love us!" Richie exclaimed, sitting down and throwing an arm over Stan's shoulder, who pushed him off with a scowl.
"Fuck off, Richie. We're going to get killed the next time they see us," Stan said, scooting as far away from Richie as possible.
"Boys!" Zack Debrough, Bill's father called, walking in the room. "I'm okay with you all hanging out here, but I'm trying to finalize some real estate work with the town, so please keep it down."
The teenagers all exchanged confused looks. Zack worked with the city and their old structures, but almost never with real estate.
"Wh-What are you f-finalizing, dad?" Bill asked, unaware of what his father was doing.
"Some lady is purchasing the mansion where old town Derry stood. A lot of people want it to be a museum, but she's putting up an offer and I have to help make sure people aren't protesting the purchase."
"Purchasing as in buying it straight up?" Richie asked, knowing how old the mansion was.
"Yes, as in, she owns it and two acres around it. She's also talked to the city to ensure that no one disturbs her." Zack looked directly at Richie. "So don't get any ideas about sneaking around, got it?"
"Don't worry, my dear sir." Richie stood up and gave a bow to go along with his British accent. "I would never dream of disturbing the dear lady in her new dwelling."
Zack rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath before leaving the room. As soon as he went to his office, Richie ran up to Bill's room, knowing he had a map of the town including old town Derry.
"What are you doing, Rich?" Mike asked, knowing nothing he had planned was good.
"Well, obviously we're not listening to Bill's dad. Why the hell would one lady purchase the mansion? Clearly she's hiding something, and I wanna know what it is," Richie said, as if it was obvious. He opened up Bill's map and pulled out a sharpie to mark down a path.
"M-my dad w-would literally kill m-me," Bill said, snatching the map from Richie with a scowl. "He sp-specifically told us n-not to go there."
"It's summer, Billiam. Summer means time to not listen to what people tell us to do and to find out what this lady is hiding."
Stan punched Richie in the arm. "You are going to get your dumbass killed someday because you don't know when to stop."
Richie shrugged, ignoring Stan and picking up Bill's phone. Before anyone could ask who he was calling, the other line picked up.
"Hello?" came a girl's voice, clearly confused.
"Bev, my dearest partner in crime!"
A deep sigh could be heard on the other end of the line. "What do you want, trashmouth?"
"I want your help breaking into the old mansion on Kennedy street!"
"Ooooo, you gonna tell me why?"
Bill snatched the phone from Richie while Mike tackled Richie to the ground so he couldn't grab it back. "Ig-ignore him, B-Bev. Enjoy y-your date with B-Ben. Tell him I s-say hi!" Bill said as quick as he could before hanging up.
"You guys are no fun," Richie said with a glare, unable to move because both Mike and Stan were sitting on his back. "Can you two get off of me?"
"Not until you promise that you won't get your stupid ass killed trying to sneak into that place," Mike said.
"Fine. I promise," Richie mumbled, and his two friends got off, allowing him to stand. "I'm gonna go home, now. We're all doing a movie night tomorrow, yeah?"
Bill still held a scowl on his face but nodded anyway. The other three watched as Richie ran out of the room, yelling goodbye in as many languages as he knew just to irritate them.
"He's totally gonna sneak into that place tonight, isn't he?" Mike asked once they heard the front door slam behind Richie.
"Oh, for sure. I hope he ends up trapped there so we don't have to put up with his stupid ass anymore," Stan said, ignoring the looks he received.
"I j-just hope if h-he breaks in he g-gets bored and doesn't f-find anything, or else h-he'll keep going b-back," Bill muttered, glancing out the window and watching Richie run barefoot down the road toward his house.
