Chapter 10

TW: homophobic language, Greta's friend grp you guys know the shit 

Friday 11th September 1986, 3:23pm

Eddie's shoes squeaked a little as he walked unwillingly down the hall, towards the unused history classroom right at the other end of the school. It had acclaimed its new title of the detention room ever since a few kids had decided it would be a good idea to have an after school fight there and ended up smashing half the chairs to pieces whilst using them as weapons, so now the room only had 6 chairs in it, well 7 if you counted the one with the splinters. 

He didn't want to have the badly drawn portraits of the 15th president that the grade 12's from 6 years ago had done staring down at him while he wrote lines for the next hour, but what could he do, he and Richie had gotten a fairly light punishment for what they had done, so it was only right that they pay the price. Drawing nearer to the classroom, he saw Mr. Clarke appearing from around the corner, and anxious to not be hated for the rest of the year, Eddie gave him a weak smile. Mr. Clarke however, threw Eddie a disapproving look before walking off in the direction of the staff room, and as much as Eddie tried not to be offended, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

There goes my chemistry grade, he thought approaching the door of the classroom.

Detention.

He peered in through the little glass window, struggling to see anything because of how dirty it was. He wanted to know whether Richie had arrived or not, since he hadn't heard from the boy since 2nd period that morning and lunch.

  "Well. Are you just going to stand there boy? Open the darn door," came a nasally voice from behind him, and Eddie immediately pushed the door open, rushing inside and not bothering to look at who is was, because he knew the voice too well. 

The librarian walked in, eyeing Eddie and somebody else in the room with disgust, before grabbing a piece of chalk and starting to scribble something on the board. The small boy quickly sat himself down at the nearest desk, right at the front, and scrambled about to get a pen and start writing down some lines. He was just about to start writing when the librarian said, "You, boy, and you," she pointed at someone behind Eddie, "are not to go anywhere, I have to go find that Tozier boy that's meant to be here as well. I've written your names down on this piece of paper," she held up a tiny sheet, "To show that you've turned up, but if I come back without the boy and see that you've left as well, I will be taking it up with the principal you understand me?"

  Eddie nodded silently and watched as she left the room in search of Richie, slamming the door behind her. He turned around, wanting to see the only other person in the room besides himself, and then whipped his head back around to face the front, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath.

  Why? Just why.

It was just his luck that it turned out to be Betty Ripsom, Greta Bowie's best friend, and of course, part of the group of high school mean girls, that thought they were better than everyone else because one of the jocks had acknowledged their existence. He couldn't forget the fact that they were in fact the female version of the Bower's gang, not as violent, but they could spread rumours like wildfire, it was their job to poke their nose into everyone's business, whether they were wanted there or not. 

He cringed inwardly remembering where the nickname 'girly boy' had started from, that one day in 5th grade he'd come in wearing shorts that just happened to be shorter than Greta's ugly dungarees, and that's all the girls had called him from that day onwards. After that, most of the grade started to call him that hell the name even caught onto the teachers, only the mean ones, but Eddie sometimes suspected that everyone called him that when he wasn't around. 

He was still slightly surprised that the name had managed to stick around so long, but hoped for his sake that they'd all grow up and learn his name instead, because he wasn't a girly boy. He just happened to like some of the same things that girls did. That didn't make him any less of a boy, or a girly boy, he was a boy, just not the one that everyone expected him to be. Eddie sighed, preparing himself for the awkward hour ahead, and if Richie didn't show up, he was done for, he couldn't spend so long, alone, with a girl, especially a girl he really didn't like. 

Eddie looked up at the clock, and then down at the line's he'd written, the librarian told them to fill the first page, and he'd done that, well sort of. He looked back up at the clock feeling slightly worried that it had been over 10 mins and the librarian still hadn't found Richie. He'd told his mom that he had to work on a project after school, sure he had until 5pm, but what if the librarian didn't find Richie? And she didn't come back in time? Would they have to stay and wait for her? Would she accuse them of leaving before she dismissed them? What if his mom-

"Hey, girly boy," Betty whispered, cutting off Eddie's train of thought

Eddie ignored her, maybe if he pretended she didn't exist, she'd stop talking.

"Hey, wheezy. Turn around when I talk to you, what'd you get in here for?" 

Eddie turned around, "Chemistry explosion," he said quietly

"Really?" she paused "Are you sure it you or that Tozier kid?" Betty said skeptically, putting emphasis on Tozier, and looking at Eddie as though he was a child. 

"It was both of us." Eddie said shortly, focusing on his lines again.

"You know," Betty drawled from behind Eddie, "He's kinda..... he's kinda cute. For a nerd I guess, without the glasses obviously, he looks like a toad with them, but without them...." she paused again and Eddie heard her give a content sigh, "I'd let him fuck me," 

Eddie tried to hold in the gag, and instead gave Betty a disturbed look

"What?" she snapped, not seeing anything wrong with what she'd just said.

Eddie had known Richie for about 3 days, and could not imagine him fucking anyone, and especially not Betty. Well he does find her hot, but that's completely besides the point, he must know what a bitch she is. Honestly, Eddie found it grosser than he should have, but to be fair, anyone willingly getting with Betty would have weirded him out, because they would really need to re-evaluate their life choices. There was another silence in which Eddie stared at the clock, still thinking about how strange it was that both Richie and Betty found the other attractive, and Betty sat there, scratching things into the wood on the table with her nails. 

She suddenly stopped and looked up at Eddie

"Is it true you're gay?"

"Is it true you don't know how to mind your own business?" Eddie said sharply not looking up but still feeling caught off guard by the irrelevant question. 

"So you are."

"What?! No, no I'm not. Who said tha-"

"Everyone says that. You dress like a f*g." she stated

"But-"

"Just answer the question straight, are you gay? Because if you are," she stopped to look at Eddie's shorts, which were blue today with a white trim, "That's fucking disgusting"

"I'm not." Eddie said icily, turning around, really wanting to get out of the room. 

Who the actual fuck did Betty think she was. Me? Gay? No? 

The small boy let out a quiet but frustrated sigh, the whole thought of being gay just made him uncomfortable and the more time he spent thinking about it the more he felt that he could never-

No.

He wouldn't think about it.

He would just ignore her and carry on with his lines

"Haven't seen you with a girl before," 

Eddie ignored that, so what if he hadn't had a girlfriend? It wasn't as though any of the girls in this school were begging to be with him, and he didn't want to be with them either, they weren't exactly girlfriend material. Not like he would know, but he could tell all of them only wanted a boyfriend to have sex and boast about it, not for the romantic aspect of a relationship, definitely not for their personalities. God, he really wished Richie would hurry up.

Just then there was quite a lot of shouting that sounded suspiciously like the librarian, and both Eddie and Betty turned their heads towards the door, which opened and Richie stumbled in, plonking himself down on the desk next to Eddie and giving him a goofy grin. 

"Stop that," the librarian said, and the grin slid off Richie's face, being replaced with mock seriousness, "Yes ma'am."

"You're late Tozier, just finish your lines. I'll be in the library, but if I come back and see a single one of you gone before these 2 hours are up I'll be taking you to the principal, and I will," she glared at them, "I will get you punished,"

As soon as she left, Eddie turned to Richie and whispered harshly "Why the fuck were you so late?"

"The art of fucking your mom takes time Eds, you gotta learn how to do it just right." the other boy said with a lazy smile, propping his feet up on the desk.

"Shut up," 3 days of mom jokes and Eddie had gotten used to it, the disgust had died down a little. Sure Richie's jokes were a little gross, okay a lot gross from time to time, but they were just so Richie, that Eddie couldn't really picture him any other way.

...

 

All three of them sat the 2 hours out, the two boys ended up playing multiple rounds of naughts and crosses and played hangman at least 12 times. Richie lost nearly all the games, demanding a rematch every time he made a dumb move and knew he would lose. Eddie's very first detention wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, even if it was a bit annoying when Richie would randomly zone out to stare at Betty's boobs, they did mostly ignore her, and though Eddie found it hard to admit, he had a lot of fun with the boy, and honestly wouldn't mind being around him in a non-detention situation. 

By the time the librarian got back, Eddie had won 34 - 6 and Richie announced that he just 'wasn't in the right mood' to be constantly winning all their games and that he had to let Eddie win some of them to be nice. Eddie laughed at the taller boy, as they walked out of the room together, finally on their way home. They walked out the main entrance and were just about to go their separate ways when Richie stopped and said, "Hey Eds, can I ask you something?"

"That's not my name. That was a question, but carry on,"

"Do you maybe, I mean you don't have to if you don't want to, but I was kinda wondering whether you'd like to ya know, I mean its totally fine if you say no and stuff, like I'm busy too and"

"Richie. What the actual fuck are you trying to say?"

Richie laughed nervously and then tried again, "I was wondering, whether if you had some spare time tomorrow you'd.... I don't know want to hang out? Maybe?"

Eddie crossed his arms and looked down at his wrist, staring at his imaginary wristwatch, and then shook his head, "Well let me see, do I actually have time in my schedule for you? Do I want to be spending my Saturday with you?"

Richie rolled his eyes and then looking away with a small grin said, "Well I understand if you don't want to-"

"No!" the smaller boy said quickly, worried his joke had flown right over Richie's head  

Richie turned to Eddie and his grin grew wider, and Eddie narrowed his eyes and cleared his throat, "What I meant to say was, I think I might just have a spare hour or so...maybe"

"From your extremely packed, so very, very busy schedule?" Richie teased leaning in closer to the shorter one, a few centimeters away from his face, with a huge smile

"Precisely," The small boy flicked Richie's forehead and the other flinched whilst Eddie laughed watching the taller boy scrunch up his face and rub his forehead with his index finger

"First of all, ouch."

"Shut up Richie it didn't hurt,"

"Oh but it did, right here," Richie pointed his index finger at his heart and then pointed it in the air, and once he was sure Eddie was watching it, quickly flicked the smaller boy's face in payback

"Idiot," Eddie mumbled with half a smile on his face, while Richie chuckled beside him. The smaller boy then remembered something, that made his smile fade a little "Oh and rich, only... only if my mom lets me, okay?" The boy was 15, ongoing 16 this year, but still had to get permission from his mom before going anywhere, even if it was just down town, and yes, it was quite embarrassing, he wasn't a child, but nevertheless was constantly treated like one.

Richie noticed Eddie's expression change when he said this, and bumped the boy's shoulder with his elbow "Cheer up spaghetti man, I'm sure she'll let you, because everyone loves me, especially your mom," he gave an exaggerated wink and then said, "If you do end up coming, meet me down by that shop, just around the corner of Whitacre St, at about 12, we can go wherever we want to from there, maybe grab some lunch along the way."

"Yes, definitely...wait no maybe.. possibly, you know what? hopefully. Yes hopefully"

And with that the two boys grinned, and Richie took off, setting down his skateboard, the same one that he'd crashed into eddie on, and wheeled his way down the hill. "Cheerio Eds!" he yelled in a British accent, waving behind him, as he turned the corner, "I'll maybe possibly hopefully see you tomorrow!" Eddie waved back, and murmured, "What an idiot," a smile set on his face, as his brain worked away at coming up with yet another excuse to somehow meet Richie.

A/N

Hello reader/readers I cannot be asked to exhaust my brain power to know how many of you guys there are

Unfortunately I did not pass away in this last week so I'm back to update for y'all lmaooo 

Richie in this chapter has never had an original thought, he is me, I am him, we are one in the same. Bye scratch that, all of these filler chapters are something that i've done or would do irl just to let you know

AAAAA I'm terrible at keeping a schedule, I'm trying to finish writing chapter 17 rn but I have absolutely no motivation, I have plans but no will to write. Do not fear, I'll try and have it written by next week, maybe i hope possibly maybe IM NOT SURE IM SO BAD AT DEADLINES 

ANYWAYSSSS like always i haven't read through shit BUT ima be doing a big editing thingy tomorrow its going to be boring but I'll suck it up because 

g r a m m a r   is apparently important 🙄✋ or something idk ask my bsfs 

ANYWAYS I LOVE YOU ALL IF UR STILL ON THIS BOOK AND HAVENT GIVEN UP AFTER THESE LONG CHAPTERS LMAO I HOPE YOU GUYS STAY SAFE, DRINK LOTS OF WATER AND STAY HEALTHYYYY LOVE YOUUUUU <3333