I sat on my bed, staring at the phone. It was Monday morning and I still hadn't received any calls inquiring about my artwork. I was starting to freak out. If i didn't get the money in time, there was the possibility that I'd have to do things that I didn't even want to think about.

There was a knock on my door and my mum walked in, a look of annoyance on her face.

"I'm taking you to school."

I looked at her weirdly. "I have a bike you know, I can get there on my own."

She hesitated, a look of guilt passed over her face but it disappeared as quick as it came. "Not anymore, I ran over it when backing out of the driveway. How many fucking times have I told you to not leave your bike lying around?"

Her aggressive tone startled me and it took a few moments before I processed what she had said. "You ran over my bike?" I whispered, my heart dropping. My bike was one of my favourite possessions and was what got me around everywhere. What was I supposed to do now? Walk?

"Yes. And that's your fault, not mine. Now hurry up, we're leaving in five."

We drove to school in silence. When we arrived I murmured a quick "thanks" before getting out of the car as fast as possible.

"Holy shit, is that your mum?" I turned to see Henry Bowers and his gang standing behind me, leaning against a red car. I kept my head down and didn't say anything, praying I'd get into the building without having to deal with them.

"Oh my fucking god, it is." Henry burst out laughing, "That's the whore my dad was banging last night. The girl's mum is a fucking prostitute!"

I felt my face go white. No, no, no. I hadn't even been here for a week yet! People couldn't start knowing about this now, everything had been going so well.

"I wonder if she'll do me." Henry wiggled his eyebrows and the others laughed. "Like daughter like mother?"

I felt my face go red in anger. "Yeah Henry, and I wouldn't even care about your small dick. As long as you pay up, I'll do whatever you want." I huffed, sarcasm dripping from my lips. They continued to laugh in the distance as I hurried away.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my shoulder. I turned to see Patrick staring at me with his dark, blue eyes.

"Like mother like daughter? If you need to make some cash, hit me up." he said before moving his grip to my arm.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I asked as he took out a black marker.

"Giving you my number." he replied as he scrawled a series of numbers on my arm.

He winked and walked back over to his friends. "See you around, new girl."

I hastily covered it with my sleeve.

- - -

By the time lunch arrived, everyone in the school was talking about my mum. I'd received more attention than the time I kicked the quarterback in the balls at my old school. I walked over to where the Losers Club had sat themselves, silently praying that the rumours hadn't caught up to them too. But by the look on their faces as I sat down, I knew they already did.

"S-so is it true?" Billy asked. The rest of the boys turned to look at me too.

"Is what true?" I asked, but I knew exactly what he was asking.

"Is your m-mum really a..."

My eyes roamed over each of the boys' faces. Some were looking at me with expressions of sympathy, some with curiosity, and then there was Richie who had a huge grin on his face.

I decided that I wasn't going to lie to them. There was no point. They were going to figure it out eventually.

"Yeah, I guess she is." and with that, the boys exploded and started screaming and cursing and flailing about everywhere.

"That is fucking insane!" I heard Eddie yell as he grabbed Stanley's head and started swinging it back and forth.

"Get off me Eddie, it took me forever to get my hair this way!" Stan struggled to pry Eddie off.

"Do you think she'll do me?" Richie asked loudly.

"Beep beep, Richie." I replied, glaring at him.

"Aw come on, I'm being serious. Lara, do you think she would? Or is she only into guys her age?"

"Sh-shut up guys." Bill said. The boys quietened instantly. He turned to look at me. "Y-you're not one too-"

"No. Of course I'm not." I cut him off. The boys looked slightly relieved but Richie looked slightly disappointed. "You guys know I wouldn't, right?"

They hastily nodded in agreement and I narrowed my eyes.

"W-what's that on your arm?" Billy asked, pointing to the spot that Patrick had written his number on.

I quickly pulled down my sleeve. "It's nothing."

Billy opened his mouth to say something more but was cut off by the sound of Eddie's high pitched squeal.

"Get that thing away from me!" he screamed as Richie taunted him, holding a stick with an unusually large earthworm dangling off the end of it.

"It's gonna get ya Eds, it's gonna get ya!" Richie moved the stick closer to Eddie's face.

"I"m going to fucking kill you Richie! I'll fucking kill you!" Eddie screamed and hit the stick with his foot, the worm flying into Stanley's hair.

"Argh!" Stan yelled, trying to brush it out. The worm blended in mysteriously well with his curls. "That is so disgusting." he said when he finally managed to get it out, the poor creature mushed into pieces from the struggle.

"Eww!" I laughed when he wiped his fingers on the tree, red blood from the worm staining his fingertips. He made a face and took out his handkerchief, wiping his hands on it.

"So, have you gotten any calls yet?" Richie asked, referring to the posters we had put up yesterday.

"Nope." I said sadly. The boys looked disappointed.

"M-maybe we can go to town after school again, s-see if we can put up some more posters." Bill suggested, and we all nodded in agreement. I couldn't think of anything better to do.

"Wait guys, I don't have a bike." I said, remembering the mangled piece of metal lying in the driveway.

"What?" they all said unison.

"My mum ran over it this morning. I don't have a bike, I'm going to have to walk."

"Well that sucks more than girls on my dick." Richie said. I shoved him with my foot.

"D-does anyone have a spare one?" Bill asked and the boys all shook their heads. "I have Guh-Georgie's, but I think it's too small." he said quietly.

"That's okay, I don't mind walking." I said, trying my best to sound believable.

"Why don't you just ride on one of ours." Richie suggested, pushing up his glasses. "You should probably ride with Eddie, he has the smallest ass which makes up for your fat one."

"Fuck you Tozier." I laughed as Eddie slapped the back of his head.

- - -

"I hate this so much." Eddie groaned, his hands wrapped around my waist. We took Richie's advice with having Eddie and I share a bike and we were all riding towards main street.

"Hey, I don't like this either." I laughed, tightening my hands on the handlebars.

"But why couldn't I be in the front? I look like such a pussy! The man should always be in control." he complained.

"Lara's more of a man than you." Stan shouted from behind us and I laughed.

"Look, Richie's right. I have a big butt and wouldn't be able to fit on the back of the bike seat. I need more space than you do. If I was sitting where you are right now, it'd be right up my ass."

"Well it's right up my dick." Eddie grumbled as we turned onto Main street. We stopped our bikes and hopped off.

"Next time Lara's riding with you, Bill. That was a terrible experience." Eddie said and I shook my head.

"Wow, looks like someone has lost a little dignity." I joked. He crossed his arms.

"Okay, me, Richie and Stan will go down this side of the street, and you two can go on that side. I think it's best to keep you two separated." I said, looking at Richie and Eddie. The boys nodded in agreement.

So we set off down the street, and came to a stop at the first post. "Wait, where's the poster?" Stan asked. We all started searching the post for it, but it wasn't there.

"You're right, it's gone." I said, remembering that Bill and I had stuck one here only yesterday. "I could've sworn I put it here." I pointed at a piece of paper which now occupied the space mine had yesterday.

"Holy shit, that's Betty Ripsom." Richie said, looking at the poster I was pointing at.

Sure enough, I saw a slightly familiar face of a girl who was in my English class. The word "MISSING" was written in large, bold letters above it.

"Oh my god, is this real?" Stan asked. Richie shrugged.

"I hope not." he said.

"Wait, look what's under it." I could see a piece of paper sticking out from underneath the missing poster and I lifted it up to reveal the advertisement we had stuck up yesterday.

"Wow, Betty Ripsom full on dogged you." Richie said.

"Seriously, I mean, they couldn't have stuck it next to mine?" I gestured at the large quantity of empty space on the wooden post.

"Well it seems like they only want the town focusing on her, for now." Stan said and we moved on down the street.

Every wall and post that we came across, Betty Ripsom's face was plastered over my advertisement. By the time we had reached the end of the street I was beyond frustrated.

"This is ridiculous! Whoever stuck those posters up seriously has no consideration for others. I'm never going to be able to make the money in time now." I moaned, and slumped onto the ground.

"I'm sure Betty didn't mean to go missing, Lara." Stan said quietly.

"Look, you know that's not what I meant." I replied.

Billy and Eddie crossed the road and joined us, looking equally annoyed.

"S-someone stuck posters of Betty Ripsom over Lara's. She's m-missing." Billy said.

"Yeah, we got that too." Stan said and they all looked down at me.

I sighed. "Look, it's okay guys. I'm not going to be able to make the money in time. Let's just give up."

"Are y-you sure? We could think of something else t-to do." Billy suggested, but I shook my head.

"It's not worth it. I just want to go home."

We rode the rest of the way back to our houses in silence. Even Eddie didn't complain.