6

"But- What about your mom? She'll never let you leave" Richie says staring at him with a surprised expression, "Well she'll live... Plus, it's not like I'm never coming back"

"Hell yea! We're leaving this shit town" Bev grins brightly before stopping looking around the group with a confused look, "But how only two of us have our driver's license"

"Let's worry about that later, first we have to get this dumbass cleaned up" Stanley sigh's looking down at Richie who just grins up at him making him roll his eyes, "We can go to my house it's the closest" Richie says getting back up on his feet. Eddie stays by his side trying not to freak out over the sight of blood dripping down his arm while he was trying not to freak Richie seemed so calm, he hops back onto his bike riding it like he didn't have a gash in his arm? God was he insane? Eddie thought to himself while climbing on his own bike following after the group, everyone was silent not really sure what to say, "Guy's stop acting like I'm going to die any second I've been hurt worse than this" Richie groans loudly turning into his street the group looks around at each other before Bev speaks up "At least you fucked him up"

"I know right! And I couldn't see shit" He laughs loudly as he pulls into the driveway of his house jumping off his bike leaving it laying on the grass, the group parks their bikes following him into the house. Eddie stays behind his arms still crossed he hated how Richie was acting like getting sliced in the arm was somehow normal!?

"Jesus what happened to you?" Richie's dad speaks up as the kids walk into the house, Richie still wearing his proud smile shows the cut on his arm to his dad "I got into a fight with Bower's"

"Did you win?"

"Duh"

"That's my boy"

"Holy shit Richie!?" His mom walks out of the kitchen seeming way more panicked than his dad, she hurries over to her son cupping his bloody face "What the hell Rich!"

"He started it"

"And it looks like he finished it too! What are you doing getting into fights!"

"Mom it's no big deal I'm still breathing"

"One of these day's you won't be... I keep telling you to keep that mouth of yours shut!"

"You know that's impossible honey, that's my son you're talking about" His dad chimes in with a deep chuckle, but Maggie didn't find it funny she shoots a glare at her husband letting out a sigh, "Get yourself cleaned up... We'll talk about this later" And with that she walks back into the kitchen leaving the kids standing in the entrance all staring at him waiting for him to say something... "Okay come on my mom hides all her cleaning shit in the bathroom" Is all he says rushing up the stairs, Eddie was once again dumbfounded why was he so calm!? And why did his parents not even seem to care their son could have been stabbed! With a heavy sigh he slugs his way up the stairs standing in the doorway of the bathroom watching Richie and Bev search through the medicine cabinet "Do you guys even know what you're looking for?" Eddie looks at them his brows furrowed "Duh we're not idiots Ed's" Richie rolls his eyes.

"One of you certainly is..." Stanley mumbles under his breath leaning against the wall behind them, Richie looks over at him flipping the middle finger then goes back to searching "Found it!" Bev says pulling out a basket filled with different cleaning things and a tone of different bandages "Having a nurse mom comes in handy!"

"Okay Eddie take it from here" Bev says pushing the box into the boy's hands making him stare up at her in shock "Me!?"

"Yeah you, you're basically the closest thing to a doctor out of us"

"Blood makes me queasy asshole!"

"Aw come on it's not even that bad" She shrugs looking back at Richie "Not bad!? All I see is blood and it's already making me freak"

"You always freak... Plus, us sitting here fighting over it isn't gonna stop the bleeding Eddie"

"Fine but if I puke I'm doing it on you" He glares at the girl before pushing past her walking into the bathroom, with a shaky breath he sits down on the side of the tub while Richie sat next to me holding his bloody arm out to him... Eddie stares at it for a few seconds his hands starting to feel clammy he shakes his head looking down at the box trying to find the right things to clean the wound, "Thanks for doing this" Richie whispers only loud enough for Eddie to hear while the other's chat in the hallway occasionally peaking over, "It's not like I had a choice dude"

"Still... You could have let me do it myself, which would probably end up with me cutting my arm off somehow" Richie grins making Eddie pause and look at him, not matter how hard he tried to stay mad he couldn't help but let out a small chuckle rolling his eyes "True"

"Are you mad at me?" Richie asks looking down at him through his now broken glasses, Eddie lets out a small breath looking up at him "No I'm not mad at you... Just... Why did you fight him? He's called you gay before so why now did you decide fighting him would be a good idea"

"He was being a dick to all of you, you weren't even doing anything, and he still was being an asshole"

"He's always an asshole dude, I don't think he even understands the word nice"

"I remember that asshole broke your fucking arm" Richie sigh's still looking down at Eddie as he gently wiped the blood away letting him see the cut better, the words brought back the awful memories of that day... The group had just finished spending most of the day in the towns arcade and while walking out of the building Eddie was looking behind him at the group laughing about something and the one person he had to run into was Henry, he tried to apologize telling him that he wasn't paying attention but that's not even what made Bower's mad it was the fact that when Eddie ran into him it caused him to spill his soda on himself. No matter how many sorrys he said Bower's still chased after him knocking the smaller guy to the ground twisting his arm behind his back... He had twisted it so far a loud crack was the only thing that could heard before it was replaced with Eddie's loud scream, Bower and his friends only laugh watching the much smaller kid on the ground holding his already bruised arm against his chest tears pouring down his face...

"Yeah... There has to be something wrong with him, no normal person does the shit he does"

"Oh, there is a 100% something wrong with him" Richie chuckles, "This is going to hurt" Eddie warns as he pours a small amount of cleaning alcohol onto a cotton pad, Richie's tenses up closing his eyes as Eddie gently places the cold cotton against his skin the wound starting to fizz. Richie bites down on his lip his hand shaking slightly, He lets out a low groan he knew it was going to hurt but God this was way worse than he thought. "H-Hanging in there R-Rich?" Bill snickers peeking into the bathroom surprisingly Richie was able to open his eyes "Fuck you"

"This is your fault dude" Eddie chuckles starting to wrap a bandage around his width of his arm making sure it was tight enough to keep the cut safe from infections or to start bleeding again, "There that should be good" He sighs standing up shaking the queasy feeling away glad he didn't have to stare at the blood anymore "Doctor Eddie saving the day!" Bev cheer's shaking the boy her hands grabbing his shoulders, "I still hate you for making ME do it"

"Aw but you save him! He could have died" She gasp dramatically making Eddie stare at her with his brows furrowed, "Asshole"

"You know we love you Eddie" She chuckles placing her chin on top of his hair while keeping her arms around his shoulders watching Richie stand up and join them in the hallway, "So well you guys were busy we started trying to come up with a plan for this trip"

"And what did you guys come up with?" Richie asks looking at her confused, "My uncle has this van that he uses to travel freezers of meat or other stuff on our farm... So, if I could get him to let me borrow it that would fit us all and we would still have room!"

"A van... That you travel barn shit in!? Why did I agree with this" Eddie groans stopping when Bev cover's his mouth, "You agreed because this town is shit and we don't want to deal with Bower's all summer"

"So that's all we got?" Richie shrugs, "Well first we all need to ask our parent's so next Wednesday when we meet up again hopefully all with permission we can start planning more" Bev answer's him earing nods from the group "Alright cool"

"Well, I have to get back home" Eddie says breaking out of Bev's grip Stan and Bill following behind me "Yeah we have to get going to see ya!" Stan says giving a wave to his friends before the three of them walk out of the house heading back over to their bikes, "You okay E-Eddie?"

"Yeah why?"

"Just a-asking I know you Do-Don't like blood" Bill shrugs sliding back onto his bike waiting for Eddie to get on his, "Don't worry I'm fine" he says starting to peddle away the two boys following behind him. "Do you think your parent's will let you go bill?"

"I d-doubt they'll e-even care" Bill sighs, ever since his brother had been missing his parents had shut down forgetting all about Bill who had being grieving over his brother for years now, but he knew he had to move on... Unlike his parents, "My parents have been telling me I need to get out more, so I guess this counts huh?" Stanley jokes making Bill chuckle. "Yeah, I gu-guess so"

"What about you Eddie?"

"My mom is going to say no"

"Oh..."

"But I'm just going to tell her I'm going; she can't keep me locked in that house forever"

"W-won't she freak?"

"Most likely, but when I come home in one peace... Hopefully... She'll see that I can really take care of myself"

"S-smart" Bill nods the two stopping on the sidewalk waving goodbye to Eddie as he stops his bike in the driveway of his house dropping it against the wall, he waves goodbye back watching his friend's bike away for a few seconds before entering the house...

"Mom?"

"Oh Eddie- Bear you're back!"

"Uhm... I need to ask you something"