It

It was the last day of school before summer. The creaking of lockers, the loud stomping of sneakers, the final shouts of teachers—it all merged into one huge, noisy farewell chaos. Amid this chaos walked them—Bill Denbrough, Stanley Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak, and Richie Tozier, known as the "Losers' Club. "

Waving their backpacks and laughing for no apparent reason, they discussed some nonsense that seemed incredibly important at the time. Bill, as usual, stuttered, but his friends didn't tease him—well, almost.

Bill: *Hey, guys, what do you h-h-think they're doing to Stan in this Jewish tradition?

• he blurted out, drawing out the words so long you could go get popcorn. *

• Before he could finish speaking, Richie, that walking generator of trash and below-the-belt jokes, immediately butted in *

• Richie: Pfft, they'll probably start burning a Star of David on his ass! he blurted out, grinning crookedly. *

The crowd erupted in laughter. Eddie doubled over laughing, and Stan rolled his eyes with the most tragic expression on his face, as if to say, "What idiots, for God's sake." Bill burst out laughing too, although he was blushing to his ears. *

• They continued to trudge down the hallway, bumping shoulders, dropping random books, waving at everyone like the kings of the school. With the last bell, summer seemed about to begin—no classes, no teachers, just them and a whole bunch of crazy ideas.