Ms. Francez liked to believe that she was the best humanities teacher in the school- at least,her students seemed to believe so. Her classroom was decorated with numerous posters and artworks from past classes. Her lesson plans normally included games and unconventional learning activities

"So, have we reached any important conclusions on the Great Depression?"

"Maybe.... That it's hard to study?" Richie Tozier snarked from his seat in the back of the classroom, earning giggles from the surrounding students.

Ms. Francez herself allowed a grin, shaking her head. "Thank you, Richie, but that wasn't exactly what I was going for."

"That it was a disastrous event for the people involved, but might have improved the country in the long run?" Stanley Uris, one of her favorite students in the class suggested, shooting a look to Richie.

"Excellent answer, Stanley," Ms. Francez agreed. "An interesting take. I think I would agree, but if anyone else has any other opinions? Remember- no opinion is wrong."

"Except for any of Richie's," Beverly Marsh mumbled, earning a small smack on the arm from Richie, who was sitting next to her.

Ms. Francez paused for a moment, waiting for any other answers. She didn't like to wait for too long (the silences that came from waiting for students to reply were enjoyable for no one), so when it became clear no one was about to talk, she moved on. "Well, since we're wrapping up the unit, it brings us to the final project."

The students shifted in their seats. Some with excitement, such as Betty Ripsom and Stan Uris, but others with uncomfort like John Crane and Bev Marsh. And others, like-

"Richie?" Ms. Francez said calmly, looking at the boy who was not listening but instead drawing something very intently in the back of his notebook. His head shot up in surprise. "Are you listening?"

"Of course," he said with a toothy grin, closing his notebook quickly. "Continue, please, Ms. Francez."

"Why, thank you for permission," she replied, the class holding back giggles. "As I was saying, your final project. I'd like you to partner with someone else to create a poster of some aspect of the Great Depression. It'll be worth half of this semester's grade, so I suggest you put some time into it."

Stanley and Beverly immediately made eye contact across the room, leaving Richie Tozier, the clear third person in the friendship scrambling for straws. Ms. Francez bit her lip sympathetically, but she'd already decided on the partner aspect. The students were to have free will this year, she'd decided; so choosing their own partners was a liberty she'd given them.

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Ms. Francez had gotten to school late, something she hated. She'd run into the classroom at the same time as her first class, setting her bag down on the desk and sighing. "Apologies. My car wouldn't start this morning."

Her class mumbled soft reassurances, and she smiled. Her first class was so much more peaceful than her last class- though that was due to specific people in each.

"So- was everyone able to look over the topics I gave out in class yesterday?"

The students nodded, and one hand raised.

"D-do you- are th-the topic-cs the only ones ava-available?" Bill Denbrough asked carefully.

"Good question!" Ms. Francez said, sitting on her desk. "No- if you have an idea for another topic, talk to me! I'd love to hear any other ideas you have."

Another hand raised. "How many partners can we have?" Mike Hanlon asked.

"Only one," Ms. Francez said with a sad smile to the quiet groans. "I know, I know, but it'll be better for the grading! Plus, now you can individually put more work into your posters, which I know most of you have been looking forward to."

Silence.

"Alright, now, you'll turn in your partners at the end of the week. For now, continue reviewing the topics! I'll put some chapters from our textbook on the board for specific topics that might interest you." She looked around the room, watching the students take out their folders and textbooks. She made eye contact with Eddie Kaspbrak, one of the quietest but best students she had. He smiled at her, which she returned, before she went to the board.

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"Ms. Francez?"

The teacher looked up in surprise. "Richie! How can I help you?"

Richie stood, all gangly arms and legs, in front of her desk with a smile, unperturbed by the the students dismissed by the bell. "I had a question about partners."

"Yes, I was going to ask you about your missing partner sheet. What's your question?"

"Can I partner with someone from the morning class?"

"Someone from my other block?" Ms. Francez said curiously. "Well, I'm not sure. I hadn't really thought about it."

Richie paused. "Well... what do you think about it now?"

"I-I suppose it wouldn't be a problem, if you can work together after school. You'd have less in class work time to work together, but they could bring it in in the mornings and leave it for you to work on in the afternoons, then you could bring it home for both of you to work. That sounds like a bit of work- are you sure you're ready for that?"

Richie nodded. "Oh, definitely."

"Well... get them to check in with me on Monday, but I approve of it."

"Excellent!" Richie said excitedly, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "Thanks Ms. Francez! Really!" And he sprinted out of the classroom, yelling something down the hallway.

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"Ms. Francez?"

The teacher looked up with a smile. "Yes, Eddie?"

Eddie smiled back with a soft anxious look, glancing around at his working classmates. "Um, Richie said that he talked to you about us being partners, and you were okay with it?"

"Oh! You're the one he was talking about!" The teacher laughed softly. "Of course. He told you about my suggested work arrangement?"

"Yes, he did," Eddie said eagerly.

"And not that I'm bashing Richie or anything, because I know he's an incredibly bright young man, but you won't be doing the majority of the work, right? I mean this because I've observed him and class, and don't want you to be under too much pressure."

"Oh, it's alright. We'll be splitting the work pretty evenly."

"You should know that you will both be turning in classwork- essentially double the amount as the others, because normally partners share workloads. Are you okay with that?"

Eddie nodded. "Of course. Thank you Ms. Francez!"

"Of course," she said with a grin. "Don't forget to turn in your project proposition tomorrow!"

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"Richie, I understand your point, but I can definitively tell you that aliens did not found the American government."

"But Ms. Francez, I see your point, and I raise you the fact that they most definitely did."

Most kids in the class had given up on concealing their giggles, now openly laughing at Richie and Ms. Francez's antics. Stan Uris was shaking his head disappointedly, a laughing Bev Marsh sat between him and the class clown himself.

"You know what, Richie? If you can write me a two page essay giving me real evidence as to why aliens has any instrumental part in the creation of our government, I'll give you five extra credit points."

Richie smirked. "Any evidence?"

"As long as it's not forged."

Richie stood up and slapped a hand on his desk. "I'm going write the best fucking paper you've ever seen in your life, teach!"

Ms. Francez clasped a hand over her mouth to hold back laughter as the classroom erupted in guffaws. Stan Uris rested his forehead against his desk in anguish. Jack Stone fell out of his chair laughing. Richie stayed standing, watching Ms. Francez with a look of childish pride.

"Language, Richie," Ms. Francez scolded with no real bite. "And I'm looking forward to it." He sat back down, still smirking.

The dismissal bell rang, and over the rumble of students, Ms. Francez managed to yell a "please turn in your project proposals at the door!" before being swept off to go home.

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"I like your proposal that Richie turned in," Ms. Francez told a flushed Eddie Kaspbrak the next morning. "It's well written, clearly thought through- and the language suggests that both of you seemed to contribute equally, which I admire."

"Thank you," Eddie mumbled, looking to the side with a tint of bashfulness.

"So, I approve of your topic. Diseases During the Great Depression, right?"

He nodded.

"Creative. I appreciate the initiative of choosing a topic not on the list. Approved. Go forth and work!"

Eddie nodded and returned to his desk, flipping open a binder and ducking his head.

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"How's the poster coming, Richie?"

"It's splendid, Ms. Francez." Richie beamed up at her, fingers lined in potato chip dust. "Going swimmingly."

"Oh?" Ms. Francez peered over Richie's shoulder. He was right- the title had been traced in careful letters at the top of the paper. He had a stack of painstakingly cut out images of various signs and medicinal bottles next to him that he was gluing in pre drawn squares on the poster.

"Eddie made us an itinerary," Richie explained, lining a picture with his glue stick. "He'll arrange things and get them ready in the morning, and I'll do them in the afternoon."

"Not bad," Ms. Francez allowed with a smile. "It looks like it's coming along well."

Richie grinned as she moved on to Stan and Beverly who were avidly sticking letter stickers to the top of their poster to spell WASTE.

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Eddie was looking at something on his poster in frustration.

Ms. Francez stopped at his desk. "Is something the matter?"

"Richie," Eddie said in annoyance, gesturing to the back of the poster with annoyance.

In the last class of the day before the weekend, Ms. Francez had instructed her students to write their names on the back of the poster so they knew which poster was whose when they returned on Monday. Riche, with his ever excitable enthusiasm, had scrawled a messy Richie and Eddie Spaghetti that took up practically the entire page, with a large smiley face to accompany it.

Ms. Francez laughed softly. "How is the project coming?"

"Good," Eddie said with a sigh, flipping over the poster. "We're on track to finish for the due date."

"Excellent!" Ms. Francez said. "Keep me updated." She moved on to Bill and Mike's poster, Eddie ducking his head to silently work.

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Richie was not working on his poster, and Ms. Francez figured that perhaps she should bring this up to him. Maybe nudge him in the direction of actually working.

She walked over to his desk, at least curious to see how he was spending his time.

Richie was gluing a picture of someone to the inside cover of his notebook. He seemed to notice the teacher approaching, however, and quickly snapped the notebook closed and gave a grin to Ms. Francez.

"Hi, Richie- what are you working on?"

"I was taking a break," he said easily, returning to the quickly improving poster. "My hand hurt."

"Got it. Do you need to see the nurse for some ice?"

Richie shook his head. "I'm good, thanks!" He winked at her before starting to copy down more information from a separate piece of paper.

Ms. Francez sighed with a smile. "Alright then."

Bev nudged Richie, sitting across from him. "Tell her how long your break was for-"

"Shut up, Beverly!" Richie hissed.

Ms. Francez shook her head slowly. "Okay. Continue on, I suppose."

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"Excuse me, Ms. Francez-"

"Yes?"

"I was wondering- about the presentations for the posters- how would that work for Richie and I?"

"Well," Ms. Francez said, pausing for a moment. "I can have you both come in for each class? So for about ten minutes, you both come in from whatever class you have during the other's period. Does that make sense?"

Eddie nodded slowly. "Will you... Could you talk to our other teachers?"

"Of course," she said with a reassuring smile. "Could you tell Richie?"

"Of course." He slung his backpack over his shoulder and left, pulling out his phone and typing something with a grin.

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Someone was in her classroom. She was certain.

It was 7:25 AM. Why would someone be in her classroom that early on a Thursday? Even she didn't want to be here, at school this early, but she needed to start writing notes on the board so her first period class could copy them down.

Ms. Francez gingerly pushed open the door. Please don't be two teenagers hooking up-

"and it was a result of the Great Depression, really, that hypothermia-"

"Eds," Richie said gently, nudging the other's shoulder.

"Don't call me that-" Eddie Kaspbrack spun around in surprise from where he was facing the classroom from in front of the teacher desk. "Oh! Hi Ms. Francez!"

"Hi Eddie," Ms. Francez said, undoubtedly relieved."You two scared me."

"Sorry," Richie said sheepishly. "Eddie Spaghetti here-" the other boy whacked his arm- "wanted to get in early to practice, like we didn't spend three hours yesterday afternoon doing exactly that."

"It's alright," Ms. Francez said, setting her bag down. "How do you feel about it now?"

"Better," Eddie allowed, nodding slowly. "I think we're ready."

"Well, I know we're ready." Richie slung his arm over Eddie's shoulders with a crooked grin. "I'll head over here around 9:20, Ms. Francez?"

The teacher nodded. "I've already spoken to Mr. Goulter about you missing part of chemistry."

Richie fistpumped with his free hand, eliciting a laugh from Eddie. "Excellent. I shall see you in an hour and a half, Ms. Francez." He ruffled Eddie's hair. "See you soon, Eds."

"Don't call me that," Eddie replied as Richie left, looking after him fondly.

"So, Eddie," Ms. Francez said, beginning to unpack. "Would you like to stay here until the first period begins?"

Eddie nodded. "Yeah, thank you."

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Eddie and Richie's project was a success.

Richie had burst through the classroom door at 9:20 on the dot, screeching a "Let's do this bitches!" that Eddie had immediately fearfully chastised him for. Ms. Francez had only laughed, made sure the class knew that Richie was from her other class period her to present with Eddie, and gestured for them to begin.

The two were really a great pair. Richie was enthusiastic and clearly made to perform given his easy going nature while presenting and throwing in jokes. Eddie was focused and made sure that everything they both were saying was factual and relevant.

The class applauded when they were done, with Bill and Mike asking a few questions and Ms. Francez congratulating them. Right afterwards, the bell rang, and students were quick to rush from their desks and out the door. Richie and Eddie stayed behind to pack up their poster, and both said a goodbye to Ms. Francez.

She returned to her desk as the two boys left the room, fingers interlaced.