Chapter 5

The next two periods passed without another encounter with Richie, because after art they had both gone their separate ways.

They had been walking to third period together, a choice that Eddie didn't have much say in, when Richie mysteriously disappeared.The taller one had once again crept up behind him to link his gangly arm in Eddie's small one, to which Eddie had responded by calmly removing himself from Richie's grasp, but still remaining by his side while they walked to third. They passed hundreds of dull blue lockers, the library, the cafeteria, the gym and all the science labs but still not a single word was said; Richie wasn't usually this quiet. Eddie shuffled a bit, pulling the straps of his heavy backpack higher onto his shoulders, not knowing what to say to fill in the awkward silence that had come along with having someone to walk with. Clearing his throat, he turned his head to face Richie, 

"Are you okay?"

"What?" Richie asked, not entirely focused, his eyes on the ground whilst they turned the corner into the main corridor. "I said, Are you okay?" "Course I am Eds, why wouldn't I be?" "Don't call me that. And.... I mean, you haven't said anything since we left art," "And that's a problem because...?" Eddie frowned, it wasn't really a problem, it's just that in the two hours of knowing Richie, he had proved to be anything but quiet. "I.... don't know, you just aren't...." "This quiet?" "I mean.... yeah" "Ok here's the truth," Richie stopped in the middle of the corridor, not giving a fuck about the blockage he was causing as people threw him annoyed looks. He gave a sigh, and twirling a loose string of his bag strap said, "The thing is, I.... I need to break it off with your mom, and I just... I don't know how," Eddie gave him a blank stare, he had honestly been expecting some sort of problem bothering Richie, and even though he didn't know the boy very well, he would have been willing to help. "Why? Why did I even ask?"

Richie forced a grin back, somewhat satisfied that he had gotten Eddie off of his trail, he wasn't really in the mood to explain his random wave of silence, he never was really in the mood to explain anything. Seeing Eddie's picture.... It had done something to him, stirred up the memories from before and- no he really couldn't think about it without confusing himself. It seemed to happen a lot, where he would zone out of reality and feel solely consumed by his own thoughts, not being able to get away from them, but also not being able to put them into words.

 It was extremely frustrating, but Richie thought as he briefly closed his eyes and collected himself, nothing a good cigarette wouldn't solve. The two were just about to start down the corridor again, when Richie had to stop for a second time, furrowing his eyebrows and looking behind him. He'd heard her voice, and needed her company now more than anything, and whilst he did like annoying Eddie, a nice smoke behind the school and an opportunity to ditch sounded better. He squinted, searching the crowd of people, because was tall enough to tower over their heads, and at last, gave a wave to someone far behind, and started to walk back to where they had come from.

"Where the fuck are you going?" Richie's mouth formed a small 'o' as he looked back at eddie, "Oh, uh sorry about this one Eds, I've got to be somewhere....but I'll catch you later!" he called stumbling forward through a group of girls, narrowly dodging a harsh slam into the jocks as well. And with that, Richie Tozier disappeared into the sea of students for the second time that morning, leaving a confused Eddie to troop to geography all alone.

...

Eddie didn't mind Richie's absence, and as he reached for his compass to chart some more co-ordinates on his miniature world map, he knew he was finally at peace and could think without having to a hear a mom joke every 2.5 seconds. But there was still a tiny, very tiny, extremely tiny part of him that felt that it would be better if Richie were sitting next to him, sure he wouldn't be able to focus and would probably get a detention for getting no work done, but at least it would be somewhat entertaining. 

However, he chose to ignore that part of him, and instead thought about how confusing the latitude and longitude were, continental drifts, and why nobody talks about the south pole as much as they should. Anything to keep his mind from wondering to what shit Richie was doing whilst bunking, and what would have happened if he'd followed along.

...

Three figures snuck out of the back of the building just as the screech of the bell rang through the whole school signalling the start of 3rd period. No one heard the clattering of their metal bikes being picked up and speedily rolled down the small gravel path. Their loud footsteps and heavy breathing added to all the noise, and despite the back entrance being directly in front of the staff quarters, there wasn't an attempt to stop them playing truant. 

And so, after a short ride filled with complaints and calls from the adults of the streets, which were tactfully ignored, their bikes ended up in a pile of the ground once again, but this time, at the top of a hill that led to the Quarry. The sand was quickly filled with footprints as the three of them ran forward through the trees that protected people from the sheer drop of the cliff.

They made their way to the large oak that sat closest to the edge, far enough to stop them from accidently toppling over, but near enough to feel the rush of adrenaline by just looking at the lake over 20m below. Two of them plonked themselves down, out of breath and panting, leaning against the tree trunk, and wondering why the hell the sun had chosen to come out right now, the rays beating down hot and strong, in September too. Unpredictable weather was the worst. The last person preferred not to sit on the ground, but stood, bent over a little, his palms on his knees, taking deep breaths trying to regain his normal pulse.

  "No matter how many times you make us do that Richie, it does not get easier. I hate you." he huffed, now standing up straight, and taking his backpack off of his shoulders, reaching into it and fishing out a water bottle. He gulped down at least 1/4 of it, before screwing the lid back on and chucking it at Richie's head. 

Richie caught it easily, his long fingers wrapping around it and speedily opening the bottle to chug down some of its contents and then passing it over to the person sitting next to him. She too, drank the water as if she'd never tasted it before and drained the bottle, the empty plastic waste being thrown back at the first boy, who scowled as it landed on his head, burying itself in his nest of peanut coloured locks.

"I hate you Richie," the boy muttered removing the bottle from on top of his head, "Really? That's not what your mom was saying last night. God the noises she was making, Ah fuck Rich, Ah yes right there, God I love-" "That's enough you dingbat," the girl said while a grin, shoving Richie's arm lightly as the taller boy chuckled half-heartedly.

The second boy just rolled his eyes and said nothing, walking over to where the other two were sitting, and, after taking off his jumper and placing it on the ground next to Richie, he sat down, being careful that no sand got on his shorts. The three of them sat in silence, looking out at the giant lake and watching as the wisps of clouds rolled slowly over the sky which had gone from grey to a pleasant light blue. 

There was a snap of a lighter and a flicker of a flame, the girl on Richie's left cupped the end of the cigarette as she lit it, handing it over to Richie and then, lighting one for herself. The boy took a long drag, relishing the way that the smoke filled up his lungs, and a wave of calm washed over him, relieving the incoming headache that would have been unavoidable with the thoughts overcrowding his mind. He closed his eyes, resting his head on the shoulder of the boy on his right, letting the smoke flow out through his nose into the air around him. He felt so much better.

The silence felt good.

Really good actually.

They stayed like that for a while.

But it was wrong, there was something wrong, the peanut hue could feel it, Richie was never this quiet, there was something going on in his mind. Something that actually was making the cogs work, and keeping them working, not letting them rest. He cast a glance over to the girl, who, with the cigarette resting between her lips, was also looking at Richie with a concerned look on her face. The two exchanged words with their expressions, they knew each other well enough to practically read the other's minds, and the boy pursed up his lips, casting his eyes down at Richie, who's head was still on his shoulder, and he wondered whether the taller one had actually fallen asleep.

"Rich, hey.....Richie...Are you okay?" the girl stretched her hand out towards him, her slender fingers brushing through his hair, and his eyes fluttered open as he leaned away from her touch, "Yeah, I'm good," Suddenly, the other boy shifted away, taking away Richie's makeshift pillow forcing him to sit up. He moved his body so that he faced the taller one, and tucked a few curls behind his ear, "Don't lie to me." he stated simply. "Look me in the eye and say what you just said." Richie tried- he stared into the other boys' eyes, holding the cigarette between his fingers, but it was just too hard. He couldn't lie to that face. Stanley Uris, and Beverley Marsh, his two best friends. His family. The only people who cared.

...

A/N 

Aghhh I hope this makes sense, I haven't read through this either-

I'm gonna stop saying that, just know that I won't have read through anything for the next 12 chapters. So call me out on any grammar and stuff that needs to be fixed because according to some ppl I'm not good at that 🙄 

*Anyways random shoutout to @dysFUNctional and @mistyhorizonss because they put up with my trashy grammar (go check out @dysFUNctional if you like tvd and teen wolf)*

Oof I didn't really know how else to introduce everyone, this is my first fanfic and I'm trying to make it go as smoothly as possible lmao. I'm currently in the middle of writing chapter 15 so I'll be posting the second part to this chapter once I finish that one, which may I add may take a long time so PLEASE PLEASE comment some updating schedules because its you guys who read. Don't ignore this. 

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Bmao hope you enjoyed reading, if you want to, tell me what you think in the comments 

Have a great day guys ly alll <3333

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