Catholic Girl//Bill Denbrough

T w o

"Carnation! I'm home!"

"Be down in a minute!"

I quickly finish scribbling down the last few problems of my math homework. As soon as I finish, I run downstairs and into our little kitchen.

"I want to hear all about your day at school!" My mom's getting out the ingredients for grilled cheese- my favorite.

"It wasn't so bad. My classes are okay so far, but I already have homework. I also found out that the school lunch is disgusting, can I pack tomorrow?"

"Good luck finding something," she says. "So what else? No one gave you a hard time, did they?"

The jerk who made sexual comments and his encouraging goons cross my mind. But I perish the thought.

"Nope!"

"Great! Now tell me about these new friends!"

"Oh wow! I made a lot; they're all part of one group. There's Bill, Eddie, Richie, Beverly, Ben, Stan, and Mike! They're all really nice, except Stan doesn't talk much... and Mike's homeschooled so I didn't meet him till after school. We just hung out and talked at the quarry," I ramble for awhile about them.

Heating up a can of tomato soup, she asks if I want to invite them over for dinner on Friday.

"Yeah, that would be great!" I grin. "How was your day?"

**********************************

'"Do you guys want to go up to my room?"

The Losers, who came to my house after school, agree and follow me upstairs.

"Look ginger, it's you!" Richie tells Bev, pointing to Claire on my Breakfast Club poster.

"I see the resemblance," I giggle.

"Yeah, they're both beautiful,' Ben agreed. Beverly responds with a kiss on his cheek, and he turns redder than her hair.

Stan plops down in my big comfy chair.

"How are you holding up?"

He shrugs.

"You haven't been sick lately, have you?' Eddie asks , making a point not to touch anything. Laughing, I shake my head.

"Okay," he shrugs, sinking to the floor next to Mike.

Ben goes to my bookcase, studying them all. "You have so many books."

I can tell he's impressed, so I feel a little proud of myself.

"Yeah, well, I love to read."

"Do you d-draw?" Bill asks, picking up my journal.

"No, but I love to write..."

"Let's read it!" Richie grabs it. I look away, but Eddie notices.

"Come on Richie, put it back."

"Sorry, Carn."

I scrunch my nose.

"Don't like the nickname?"

I think for a minute. "It'll grow on me. I've never been Carn before."

"C-C-Carn. I l-like it. It suits y-you," Bill puts an arm around me.

There's a comfortable silence.

"So how was school guys?" Mike asks. He's an all-around nice guy.

"Fine," we all respond monotonically.

"How was your day, Mike?"

His response is sarcastic. "Forced to kill more animals, pressure from my grandpa, the usual."