Only ten more minutes.

Ten more minutes until she could get the fuck out of this shithole. Oh god, the thought was making her ecstatic. Her foot was frantically tapping against the marmoleum flooring as the clock ticked like it was the interlude in a soundtrack of her life. Bea's bag was already packed and ready to go, not caring about saying bye to anyone in this class. The bell would blare and her earphones would emit sweet music, probably Gorillaz or Frank Ocean.

Finally, it went. The entire school almost erupted into a cheer as she bounced off her desk and smiled. Bea did what she'd planned and shoved on a pair of sunglasses, looking like a straight up stone cold bitch - and she loved it.

Her walls didn't fall in the nightmarish hallway of Derry High, she kept her head up and headed for the front door.

All was going fine until she was stopped by, you guessed it, Greta Bowie-Keene.

"What the fuck do you want you basic ass bitch?" Bea wasn't in the mood for anyone's shit today. Greta's face visibly showed shock from Bea's comment and stuttered on her words before coming up with a passable comeback. "I warned you before, you've got hell to pay you skank." Bea cringed at her attempt to insult her.
"Skank? Hun, you and I both know I'm the biggest virgin in this school - can you please make your insults match accordingly? You could've called me a prude or hell, even a sexually repressed megalomaniac with a drug problem. Or maybe even make fun of my mom! I'm so disappointed in you, Greta." Greta was truly at a loss for words. Even her whole posse was dumbfounded at what Bea was saying. Leaving them with utter confusion, Bea winked from under her sunglasses and smiled,
"Have a great summer, Greta." And continued to strut down the hallways of Derry High.

This truly was the best day ever, the day where she could look these fuckers in the eye and know that she wouldn't have to deal with their bullshit for the next seven weeks. Even the Bowers Gang's regular catcalling and insults that were shouted at her were easy to ignore knowing that those assholes would mean nothing to her this upcoming summer.

The appearance of the sun when Bea arrived outside made her slightly smile. All she had to do was get her bike and get out of there. Everything was going great. Until she saw her best friend and his group situated right beside the bikes.

They were emptying out their bags, a ritual they performed at the start of each summer. Richie was passionately ranting about all the pussy he supposedly was going to get during the summer and despite not being about to see his face, Bea could tell Stan looked depressed as usual while he went through his phone. It was also evident to her that Eddie had zoned out, sick of listening to Richie's extensive use of unnecessary vulgar language and graphic descriptions of his summer goals. Bill looked deep in thought, it wasn't uncommon to see him like this - especially after Georgie - but Bea could tell this boy had a plan. A plan he was reciting in his head in order to reduce his loudmouthed friend to background noise. His eyes had a glazed look about them, someone could probably kick a football at his head and he wouldn't flinch.

Her mouth slowly curved into a grin as she decided to creep up on Stan as his friends remained individually distracted. She broke the lack of anybody but Richie's vocal presence by exclaiming, "You guys are fuckin' weird. Like really, fuckin' weird." Stan turned around with a smile.
"Me and Bill debated that in a past life we might've tried to sneak out of Alcatraz or something, that's why we're all stuck with Richie in this one. It's our punishment." The grin remained on her face as she looked at Bill who shyly smiled in confirmation while scratching the back of his neck.
"God Stan, I'm sending my deepest regrets and my best wishes," Placing a hand over her heart, she bowed slightly, causing the Stan to laugh at her comment.
Richie stared at her for a few moments, curious of the being just beyond him. The girl was a total stranger and yet, she seemed like an old friend. Their eyes locked for a few seconds as the boys individually gasped at her, unmoving as Bea wore a unamused face. This was the most contact with a girl outside of their own families or Greta that any of them had experienced. "Can you move?" She crossed her arms while tapping her left foot, decorated in a slightly worn pair of vans.
"This is a free country doll-face, we can stand anywhere we want." Richie sweetly smiled at her, matching her movements and providing a smart-ass look on his face. Her signature eye roll took centre stage.
"So I could get my bike, dummy." The clarification made all boys shift to opposite sides, as if Bea was Moses and they were they were the human embodiment of the Red Sea.

"Who even are you?" The bespectacled boy questioned, an eyebrow raised as he pushed his glasses further up this nose. "Wouldn't you like to know." Bea remained monotonous as he smirked and started to wiggle his eyebrows. "Oh I like this chick, I like this chick a lot." From the cover of the dark glass, she rolled her eyes at him and grabbed her bike. Bea could feel his eyes burning into her, it made her uncomfortable.

"Can you not?" Richie's eyes widened in defence. "I wasn't doing anything!" He put his hands up to try and calm the situation.
"You were existing." With one final comment, she hopped on her bike and sped away, causing Stan to finally break into laughter.

"Oh my god, that was tragic Rich." He shoved his phone in his jacket pocket and reached for the handle bars of his own bike.
"Sh-she destroyed you," Bill struggled through his tears of laugher. Richie scowled and continued to watch the girl cycle away, it was like she was glowing. "I'm surprised you don't know her, she's friends with Beverly Marsh." Eddie skipped to get his bike too, a grin evident on his face from the take down of Richie.

"Bev? Bev never told me she was friends with someone actually hot." He ran his fingers through the roots of his curly hair and cringed at the greasy feeling of it. "Next time I see her, I'm gonna run up and go 'Gibe da pussy boss'," Richie broke out into his awful Filthy Frank impression as the boys groaned. "Execute yourself." Stan simply said, not amused at Richie's antics (as usual). Bill laughed while nodding, agreeing with his best friend.
Eddie's face sprouted a confused look, he wasn't allowed to watch Youtube unless it was on the kids app so instead of watching edgy memes like the others, he got pregnant Elsa videos.
"Cuh-Calm down Rich. She clearly doesn't like you." Richie took Bill's statement as a challenge. "Oh but trust me Denbrough, by the end of this summer she will."

Richie wasn't exactly lying. This girl who was technically insignificant to him at that moment, would become a massive part of his life. He could tell she was special, he just couldn't tell why yet. Well, apart from the comebacks and overall sassy attitude. In a town full of squares and good girls, she was a breath of fresh air.

So that night, Richie made it his goal to add her to the boy's groupchat.

When Bea arrived home her mother was waiting, a glass of wine by her side despite it only being half three in the afternoon. The girl closed her eyes for a moment and prayed that Margot wouldn't be too pressing on her.

"Hi mom." Nothing. The woman's face didn't even bother to show recognition. It remained monotonous, just like Margot.
"What did I say about socialising with Beverly Marsh?" Bea's eyes widened at her. See, her mom wasn't exactly welcoming to knowing that Bea hung out with the rumoured school slut, especially when Margot was intent on keeping Bea's social life as minimised as possible in order for her to focus on her already perfect grades. Bea was just glad that her mom only thought that she talked to Beverly, not quite knowing what she'd do if she knew that Beverly had secretly stayed over regularly.
But Bea was good at hiding things. It was one of her trademarks.

"She needed help with calculus. Nothing more." Margot wasn't amused with her daughter's answer but was too intent on finishing her bottle of wine to press further.
Bea was lucky, if this was any other day her face would receive a cold smack. Her mother paused for a moment before rolling her eyes and murmuring, "Let her fail, Beatrice." After which she took a gulp of the puce liquid in her glass.
And with that, the Tremaine matriarch took off into the livingroom. Not realising she'd been holding her breath, Bea gasped out. There was a chance that even though she was in the clear for now, things would get worse later. She actually preferred it when her mom was buzzed, her judgement was clouded and her actions were delayed. Allowing Bea to always be two steps ahead. However, when Margot Tremaine was sober it was a different situation all together. One slip of the tongue and it was all game over for Bea. No phone, no friends, no food. It was like abusive wheel of fortune.

Just after escaping one hell, she realised that now she was stuck in another. One that was potentially even worse.