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i. school's out for summer
AS THE BELL RANG TO SIGNAL THE END OF SCHOOL, a feeling of relief washed over Verity Summers. Finally, it was the summer, and the girl could be free from the sympathetic questions and the pitying glances.
After her brother's body had been found lying mangled in the barrens, she had withdrawn into herself; stopped talking to people unless she had to. People didn't bother her as she kept her head down, and she planned to keep it that way in the new term. The only things that still mattered to her were photography, and running the school newspaper.
She as walking to her locker when someone bumped into her, literally. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" She muttered, picking up the books she had dropped.
"Oh crap, I'm so sorry, Verity!" She recognised the voice; Ben Hanscom, the new kid.
He was balancing what looked like the contents of his entire locker in his arms; his round face flushed with embarrassment and exertion.
"No, it's my fault Ben," She reassured him. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
She liked Ben. He was pretty quiet, but once you got past that he was a good friend. He even helped out with the paper sometimes, (and although Verity knew he did it to hide from Henry Bowers, the school's resident bully, it still meant a lot.)
"Want any help with those?" She asked, and Ben shook his head.
"Nah, I'm alright. Thanks though!" He called as he walked away, leaving Verity at her locker.
Please can that kid get a break this summer, she thought. Bowers hasn't gotten time alone with him yet.
She stepped over the threshold of the school, glad that summer was finally there. Of course, she wasn't going to spend much time at home during the holidays. The Summers household had changed since Isaac had gone. Verity couldn't bring herself to say the alternative - died.
Even months after, she still expected to see her brother around the house, as though nothing had ever happened. Playing with his lego, sitting at the kitchen table, or swinging on the old tyre that hung from the tree in their yard. Never again.
Don't think about it, okay? Just try and enjoy the next couple of months. She thought, but deep down she knew that would be impossible. Enjoying the holiday seemed as likely as Verity flying to the moon.
She turned the corner- and ran straight into Henry Bowers. "Wow, nice to know you're keeping busy after school ends." She said dryly, taking in the scene; the bully was messing with Bill Denbrough and his friends as usual, which really pissed her off. She stood between the two groups, tired of watching Bowers picking on people all the time.
