I walked downstairs to find my mum slumped on the couch, a bottle of liquor in her hand. I grabbed the TV remote and pressed the power button, cutting off a lady talking about sewers on a kids program. I picked up the empty bottles and old cigarettes around the couch and put them in a plastic bag.

By no means was my mum an alcoholic. Sometimes she needed an escape and this was how she found it. I understood that what she did was difficult and sometimes took a toll on your mental health, but she did this to herself. She wasn't making any effort to change her lifestyle.

I leaned the bag against the backdoor and then make myself a bowl of cereal. The last few days I'd found myself to be genuinely happy. Being a part of the Losers Club, I'd really felt as if I fit in. We spent our time after school riding our bikes around town and, since today was a Sunday, we'd decided to make a dam at the Barrens. Richie and Stanley had spent hours coming up with a design for it and although it looked the opposite of fool-proof, I was pretty excited.

I'd learned things about each of the boys - they all had their own distinct personalities.

Bill was the leader of the group, although it wasn't stated. It was as if everyone gravitated around him - listened to him when he spoke, did what he said. Not in a bad way, though. They admired him.

Richie was the trashmouth. He said the most inappropriate things at the worst times and had a habit of picking on Eddie, but was the one who kept the group conversations fun and alive.

Eddie was the youngest and a year below everyone, and added to having an overprotective mother, he was a handful when it came to hygiene and safety. He'd known Bill his whole life, which was why he was friends with them. I could tell he admired Bill the most out of everyone else in the group.

Stan was quieter than the rest - always thinking. He had this fascination with birds and I'd often catch him watching them rather than listening to our conversations. Like Eddie, he was also keen on hygiene and safety, but not to that extent.

I finished my cereal and met Bill at his house where we rode our bikes to Eddie's. Eddie greeted us as we reached his front door and we all hopped onto our bikes.

"Stan can't make it. He's got a Jewish thing." Eddie said as we rode onto the road.

"What a bummer." I replied.

"Yeah and Richie is coming later because his p-parents are taking him out." Bill added and Eddie groaned.

"Well then today is a total flop. Richie and Stan are the ones that actually have an idea on how to make a dam. What are we going to do now?" he cried, waving his arms in the air. His bike started to wobble and he grabbed back onto the handlebar quickly, his face turning red.

"We should be alright." I replied, "It can't be too hard to make a dam, can it? We just need some sticks and rocks and it's easy peasy from then on."

"I really don't think it is, but if you're so sure then you can be in charge."

"Aw thanks for giving me permission to boss you around, Eds." I chuckled, brushing my hair out of my face as we rode down a hill.

"It's not like you don't do it enough already. And don't call me Eds!" he huffed and Bill laughed.

In the blink of an eye we reached the Barrens where we leaned our bikes against a tree.

"So, captain Lewis. What should we do first?" Eddie asked and Billy saluted.

"Hmm, I know. Eddie, you go collect some rocks and Bill you can go pick up some sticks." I said and sat down on the ground.

"What are you g-going to do?" Billy asked as he bent down to pick up a fallen branch.

"I'm going to sit here and watch." I grinned, "Bigger rocks Eddie! What do you think we're making, a gingerbread house?"

"You shut your mouth, woman. I'm the smallest one out of all of us and you gave me the hardest job! How am I supposed to pick up massive rocks with these twigs?" Eddie waved his skinny arms about.

"Okay, then you and Billy can swap jobs. Surely those twigs can pick up some sticks?"

"Ha ha, very funny." Eddie said. He let out a yelp and held his finger to his chest.

"What happened?" Billy said as he came back from behind a tree, his arms full of rocks.

"This friggen stick cut me! Oh my gosh, I'm bleeding." Eddie held out his finger and sure enough a small ribbon of blood was trailing down his pointer finger. "Help! Help! I'm dying!"

Eddie started to waver and Bill and I ran forward, catching him before he fell into the water behind him.

"Jesus Eddie, it's only a small cut." I said as we leaned him against a tree.

"So much... blood..." Eddie said with his eyes closed, his chest heaving up and down.

"What do we do?" I panicked, looking to Billy.

"I don't know, w-where's his inhaler?" he replied, looking around for it.

I looked down at Eddie's fanny pack and brought Bill's attention to it too. "Look in there."

Bill gulped and slowly opened the zipper, Eddie still struggling to breathe and his eyes rolling back into his head.

"Come on Bill! I seriously think Eddie's dying right now."

Bill turned to me to say something but his hand slipped and Eddie's pills all came spilling out onto the ground.

"Shit shit shit!" Bill said and we both scrambled to pick them up. Eddie started screaming and writhing in pain.

"BILL OH MY GOD DO SOMETHING." I screamed, trying to put the pills back into the right containers.

Bill quickly picked up Eddie's inhaler and inserted it into his mouth, puffing it a few times until Eddie stopped moving around. Finally, he seemed to regain consciousness and opened his eyes, looking around in confusion.

"Holy shit, am I dead?" he asked dreamily. His eyes found me and he let out a loud gasp. "Oh my god, are you Jesus?"

"Ouch Eddie, you tard! It's me, Lara!" I exclaimed. I yelped when he started pulling my hair but he wouldn't let go. I looked to Bill for some help, but he was too busy laughing.

"Bill! Get him off, he's hurting me." I groaned as I tried pulling my hair away, to no avail.

"Uh, w-what do I do?" he said after he was done wheezing.

"Anything! Just get him off."

Bill looked at Eddie and then raised his hand.

"Look Bill, this isn't the time for a high five-" I was cut off by the sound of a loud smack.

"Argh, get your hands off me." Eddie protested as I tried to put a wet cloth against his pink cheek to cool it down.

"Aw shucks, Ed. It's only going to get worse if you don't let me do this. Here, you can do it yourself if you want." I said and handed him the cloth. Eddie grumbled and turned away, so I got up to help Bill collect more rocks.

"I still can't believe you just did that." I chuckled as I replayed the memory of Eddie's shocked face after it happened.

"W-well, you told me to do something and I didn't know what." he replied sheepishly.

"I mean, you could've just taken his hands off me. You didn't have to hit him!" I laughed.

"I g-guess it's just something that I've wanted to do for a while and I t-took the opportunity." he said, dodging my hand as I moved forward to smack him.

"Don't be mean to Eddie, he's younger than all of us and should be treated like a baby, not a punching bag." I lectured jokingly.

Bill stuck out his tongue in reply and dumped the rocks he'd been holding onto the sizeable pile we'd made.

I was about to ask him when Richie would get here, but I was interrupted by the sound of loud shouts coming from behind us.

"Quick, run! It's B-bowers and his gang." Bill said and we scrambled to find Eddie, but it was too late. They had seen us.

"Hey look! It's the Losers Club." Henry shouted and he and his friends approached us. Patrick was among them and was smiling sinisterly.

Eddie found us after hearing the shouts and took out his inhaler again after seeing who it was.

"And it looks like they have a new member." said Henry, eyeing me with a smirk. "Now, what's a pretty girl like you doing with these freaks? I'm sure we could give you a better time." He grabbed his crotch and I looked at him in disgust.

"W-what do you want, Bowers." Billy said, finding his voice.

"Well, B-b-billy, we want to know if you've seen a little fat boy run around here. That fag has it coming, I tell you." Henry replied, taking out his pocket knife and stroking the blade.

Okay, now this guy was seriously insane.

"We haven't seen anybody come around here." said Eddie, who had finally calmed down.

"Now if I find that you're lying to me kid, you won't need that puffer anymore because you'll be buried ten feet under." Henry said and the others laughed, causing Eddie to hyperventilate again.

"What's that they've been making?" the largest boy of the group asked. They walked towards our pile of sticks and rocks.

"Ha! Looks like these Losers have been working hard here collecting... Sticks and stones? Well, too bad all that effort's a waste. Sissies." Henry said. I watched silently as he kicked the pile, causing debris to go everywhere. The others laughed and joined in with destroying our hard work. I felt Billy tense up next to me.

"You didn't have to do that." I said once they were done.

Henry looked at me and pointed his finger. "You speak when you're spoken to, slut."

"Yeah? Well fuck you." I replied. I instantly regretted it when he stepped forward and grabbed my face roughly.

"What did you say, bitch?" he asked, staring at me with cold eyes. I felt his breath on my face, hot and smelling of smoke.

"I said fuck you."

He narrowed his eyes before pushing me backwards into the water. I let out a yell as the cold seeped into my clothes and Billy helped me up.

"A-a-are you okay?" he asked and I nodded.

"You're going to regret speaking to me like that." Henry said, pointing his finger at me.

"I regret speaking to you in general." I muttered in reply as they stormed past us. They made sure to bump Billy and Eddie, hard. I felt a hand grab my ass as Patrick walked by me and I flipped him the middle finger. He let out a deep laugh.

"See you soon, new girl." he said, before disappearing into the woods. I turned back to the two boys who were looking at me with wide eyes.

I cleared my throat. "Well that was shit."