Isaiah’s Bakery is closer to the Crown Arcade and Derry National Park. Beverly Inhaled the sweet air that smelled of pine. And then, a small, white speck landed on Beverly’s freckled nose.

“A snowflake,” She giggled. Richie shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Welcome to Derry, Beverly. Strange you didn’t know there was snow here, considering you’ve lived in Maine your entire life.” Richie jokes.

Richie threw his bike to the ground in front of Isaiah’s Bakery. Beverly followed him inside the light pink painted bakery. The bell ringed as they entered.

There were some people there, a few teenagers around their age. Richie sighed when he saw no Bowers.

Richie sat at a window booth, his hands clasped together, as he dug through his backpack to find the coins. He watched as Beverly was asking the cashier how many dollars a strawberry muffin cost. She didn’t even bother Richie if he wanted something but he knew deep down, Beverly was going to give him a chocolate muffin.

Richie looked down and his clasped hands. He looked back at the red booth seat in front of him to see a girl with beautiful, cinnamon colored skin and dark chocolate eyes. Richie almost choked. He was in the presence of an angel.

“I’m sorry,” The girl laughed nervously. She herself has never seen such a beautiful person before. Her heart skipped a few beats as she pondered of a stupid excuse of what to say.

“I- I just moved here..?” She said. Richie blushed at her stutter. It reminded him of his friend, Bill Denbrough.

Richie knew to play it cool, but didn’t he always? He started checking out the girl, trying not to make it noticeable, then he smoothed back his hair.

“I live on Springfield Road. It’s close to this place,” The girl said, looking around Isaiah’s Bakery.

“I can tell you’re not from Derry. We get cold weather around here, considering we’re in the northern part of Maine.” Richie chuckled. Little did he know the girl was just as interested in him as he was in her. She admired his deep-bass flirtatious voice, budding Adam’s apple, pink, plump luscious lips, and light brown freckles sprinkled across his nose bridge and under his adorable, chocolate eyes.

Accidentally letting out a sigh of interest in Richie, the girl decided to reveal her name. “My name is Amanda. I live on 149 Springfield Road.”

Richie was absolutely falling head over heels for Amanda and Beverly was in the corner, watching it all go down.

“Oh, I’m Richie. I live in a house on Maple Street, the one with the black bike in front of it.” Blush crept onto his cheeks.

“Cool. So, i’ll see you around?” Amanda asked Richie. Richie continued to drown in her beauty.

“Y-yeah. See ya!” He waved heavily as he watched Amanda walk away. Richie admired Amanda’s curvaceous figure until she left the Bakery. Sighing, Richie noticed pools of sweat in his hairline.

“Well,” Beverly smirked slyly as she sat in front of Richie, where Amanda was sitting. She passed him his chocolate muffin that was standing straight up on a brown paper napkin. Richie watched as the muffin skidded on the napkin, across the small, black and white checkered table in front of him. 

“What was that?” Beverly continued, trying to stifle her giggle. Richie didn’t know how to respond to Beverly. He was too smitten by Amanda’s beauty.

“That was Richie Tozier, the Trashmouth in love!” Cooed a voice. Beverly looked up to see Stan, another member of their little gang. Stanley Uris has a few interests including writing, and bird watching, journaling what he finds in his notebook. Today, he decided to go to Isaiah’s Bakery, just to be there. He didn’t know that two of the other Losers, Bev and Richie, were there. He saw Richie’s fluster and overheard his conversation with Amanda. Even though Stanley was a quiet introvert, he loved poking fun at the Losers.

“What? No. I don’t fall in love!” Richie protested. Stan only scoffed. “I saw the way you eyed her hips. You like her!”

Richie wasn’t all for romance. He really wasn’t. Sure, he would enjoy reading Romeo and Juliet for English class and once in a while he’ll listen to romantic music but him falling in love? No, no. It’s more likely a demon clown attacks him then Richie falling in love.

“I mean, she’s really pretty.’ Stan stated matter-of-factly. “And she’s new. This is your chance to show her around because I have a feeling Bowers and his little gang are going to make her fall for him!”

Stan was right. Knowing Henry Bowers, he would probably do who knows what to the poor girl. Richie nodded as Stan slumped back into his booth, twisting his body around to face the table as he looked down at his new bird sighting discoveries.

Beverly looked at Richie as she continued to eat her muffin. “I thought we’re going to the arcade after this.” She said, interrupting Richie’s thoughts. 

“We, we are.” he stuttered. Beverly burst into laughter. The two finished their muffins and said goodbye to Stanley who only smirked as he stared in awe at his drawings. Before Richie went out the door, Stan yelled, “Go get your woman, Trashmouth Tozier!” Richie rolled his eyes as he picked up his bike, now covered in snow, gestured for Beverly to get on and rode away to the Crown Arcade.

Stuttering Bill was sitting in a blue chair near Howard’s desk. He was baffled that he stepped foot into the arcade. Really, this was Richie’s terf, him being the best gamer in the arcade.

“I thought we were going to get more band-aids after you got beaten up by Bowers.” Eddie’s high-pitched voice squeaked from beside Bill. Bill turned slowly to reveal half of his pounded, bloody eye that was turning a plum purple. He wasn’t in the mood for hearing about Eddie’s bandages. He was at the arcade only for him to hurry up and get enough paper towers to clean his eye. It really was Bill who suggested cleaning his eye with brown paper towels instead of using medicine and wrapping his head in a bandage.

“Okay,” Eddie said as he started whipping away Bill’s bloody eye. When he was done, more blood spilled out. 

“That’s it!” Eddie said, irritated. He opened his fanny pack on the side of his waist, a little above his red shorts accented with white and took out white bandages. Bill rolled his one good eye. Classic Eddie, taking care of everyone.

“Better?” Eddie asked when he was done. His hands were stained with blood as he washed them in the Boys’ bathroom. 

Bill was still silent. At that moment, they heard a loud noise. Running out to see Amanda, the two boys looked at her in shock. She was playing all the games in the arcade so fast and hooting whenever she won. There was a crowd of kids and lucky for Eddie and Bill, they could see amand just fine. Eddie went up to one of the games, Pac Man, and looked to see Amanda in first place, the username being “åmån∂å” and Richie’s being “Rich”. Eddie turned to Bill. They both had the same thought. Richie was not going to like this.

 Richie and Bev made it to the arcade a little later than planned. The road was getting too slippery to ride on so they both walked there, Richie walking his bike. There was a ruckus of children, excited to see Amanda win. They were all chanting her username, pronounced “Amada” over and over again. She was on the last game to play in the arcade, Street Fighter. Richie was consoled by anger at whoever “Amada '' was and got the best of him as he pushed everyone aside, revealing the mysterious player. Without even acknowledging who they were, Richie put his bony hands on their shoulders.

“What are you doing, beating my high score?” He asked sternly, practically yelling. Beverly joined Eddie and Bill, trying to look away from Bill whom her heart throbbed for. She then realized that the mysterious player was Amanda, her eyes widening.

“A-A-Amanda, I-I-” Before Richie could finish, the screen of Street Fighter lit up. Everyone angrily stared at Richie, except for Amanda, who continued to stare at the screen. In huge, bold red letters, it read You Lost.

Everyone groaned in annoyance and walked away from the arcade game, some leaving while others cursed furiously at Richie.

Richie turned back to the beautiful girl who was still staring at the screen. She wasn’t in shock, not about Richie making her loose. She was just...frozen. Her stomach had erupted with happiness, remembering Richie's touch on her right shoulder. Not because of losing… because of-

“Richie, what the heck, she was doing so well!” Eddie complained, which is unorthodox, considering the fact that he doesn’t like arcade games.

“Yeah, she-she almost beat you!” Bill protested.