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"We're going to have a new student in class today- oh, here he comes. Welcome, would you like to introduce yourself?"

Richie sighs in annoyance, his head in his arms, not paying attention in the slightest as he hears the bell ring. He remembers this. Though he'd started at the beginning of the school year like everyone else, everyone had already known each other since kindergarten. So, Richie had introduced himself to the class rather rudely ("Yo, fuckers! I'm Richie Tozier, I'm from Caliiii!") due to his nerves, and he'd gotten a detention on the first day. Beverly had laughed at his lack of a filter, and she had approached him, making fast friends.

Richie hears quiet footsteps, along with a small throat-clearing noise.

"Go on, Edward." The teacher says, and something tugs at Richie's brain, though he doesn't know what it is yet. He decides to ignore it, until the kid speaks.

"Eddie." He corrects, and Richie's head shoots up, instantly connecting the dots. "Call me Eddie."

Richie's eyes rake over the boy. It's him, he thinks. Holy shit.

It is him. The same brown hair and freckled face, the same small frame and soft voice. Same eyes, lips, fidgeting hands... Richie can't believe what he's seeing. He looks over at Beverly with a shocked expression.

Beverly hasn't fully made the connection, but seeing Richie's face makes her eyes widen. "That's him?" she mouths in disbelief, and Richie nods.

Eddie is wearing a large, gray sweatshirt, coupled with red athletic shorts and surprisingly white sneakers. Richie can't help admiring the way he looks, though he also notices that the shorts and sneakers are the exact same ones from his dream. Just a little less bloodstained.

"Sorry, Eddie. Go ahead and share a little about yourself." The teacher sits back in his seat, clearly not caring about Eddie's name.

Eddie swallows. "Well, hi. I'm Eddie Kaspbrak, I moved here yesterday from Pennsylvania. I like music, and I run track, and, uh... yeah." He shrugs.

"Very good. We have an excellent track team in here Derry." The teacher smiles. It's a complete lie, and everyone knows it. The Derry track team is shit. "You may sit beside Richard."

Eddie nods, and Richie can tell he just wants to get out of the spotlight. Quickly, he walks to his desk beside Richie, sitting down and trying to draw the least amount of attention to himself.

Richie blinks, his jaw still on the floor. He's glad that Eddie doesn't look over and see him staring. The teacher begins the lecture, and Richie leans over.

"Hhheeeyyy. Hey." He clears his throat. What the fuck is he doing? Why is he so tongue-tied?

"Hi. Richard, right?" Eddie whispers back, looking at him a little funnily. Richie isn't surprised by the look. He had really fucked that introduction up.

Richie shakes his head. "Richie. I told Mr. Sanders the same thing my first day. 'Richie, not Richard.' Still calls me Richard. He'll do the same with you, I bet, Edward."

Eddie scrunches his face up. "Ugh, I hate my real name. Eddie is so much better than Edward."

"Yeah." Richie swallows. He stares a second longer than he should, and there's that weird look again. Eddie probably thinks he's high. He does stare a lot when he's high. Richie wonders if maybe Eddie knows him, and that's how he had seen him in his dreams. "You look so familiar, do I know you from somewhere?"

"Have you ever been to Pennsylvania?" Eddie asks, and Richie shakes his head. "Then no. I've never been out of my hometown. I mean, I hardly left my house."