𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐏𝐋𝐄 *.☽ .* 𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐀𝐔

13

Derry High School, Derry, Maine
8:47 am
Monday September 5th

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"What's it like to be 17?"

That question had plagued Eddie's existence for the last couple days. It followed him around like an elongated shadow in the afternoon sunshine. His answer? Exactly the same as 16, only so much fucking worse; so much lonelier.

Eddie tugged on the toggles of his lime green hoodie out of anxiety as he plodded down the familiar hallway. He noticed a certain curly-haired boy, dressed in a pristine blue and white stripe shirt and neat black shorts resting comfortably just above his knobbly kneecaps, stood at the asthmatic's locker. A small smile tugged at Eddie's lips. This summer had painfully long without his friends by his side.

Stan's curly hair bobbed in slow motion as his head turned to meet Eddie's beaming expression. His face transformed into a mirror as his countenance matched the smaller boys almost exactly. He too had missed his best friend; summer was fun, but just not the same without Eddie.

Galloping over to his friend, Eddie hollered, "D'you miss me, Stan the man?" The hypochondriac came to a halt at his destination.

"If I didn't miss you, I wouldn't have been waiting at your locker for ten minutes," Stan huffed in his usual sarcastic tone, "what happened to the early-bird-Eddie?"

It was a well known fact that to Eddie, on time was late, and so the boy often arrived at school at 8:30 am on the dot to prepare for the day ahead.

Eddie's eyebrows knitted together slightly.

"I guess I've not really been looking forward to today to be honest," Eddie replied, seemingly downtrodden, "but it's no big deal, honestly."

Stan pouted. "But you can't be upset, it was your birthday a couple days ago!" He cast his mind back to the long phone call the two shared on September 3rd, Eddie's 17th birthday. When asking the cliché question, Stan was the only person that Eddie had told the truth to, or at least a slightly rose tinted version of the truth. Being 17 wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

"If you're upset about it, it's obviously a big deal to you, so hit me." Stan continued on, "What's bugging you?"

Eddie gulped, "The whole Richie situation is just awkward. I just want things to be how they were before, but that not going to happen."

"Well," Stan thought for a moment, before responding with, "only you can change your future, Eddie. If you really want Richie to be in your life, romantically or platonically, I know you'll find a way. You're strong."

Like a foghorn penetrating a dim, foggy harbour, the school bell ripped through the sea of teenagers and, as Stan said his goodbyes to Eddie, left the smaller boy to let Stan's words of wisdom sink in like an anchor on a sludgy sea bed.

He turned over his shoulder to see a lanky teenager with goofy oversized thick-rimmed glasses balancing clumsily on the bridge of his nose. Eddie felt a ball of embarrassment form in his stomach and manifest itself into a red flush on the apples of his cheeks. The two only locked eyes for a split second, when both of them continued walking in their opposite directions, stomping as they went.

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Eddie's eyes couldn't focus on the lecture taking place. Nothing and no one, no matter how hard Mr Clarke tried, could make graph work interesting. The precipitation forming on and dripping down the windows provided Eddie with a new form of entertainment. However, he didn't need to wait long for something more interesting to happen.

About half an hour into the lesson, a firm knock on the classroom door was heard.

A short, podgy office worker strutted into the classroom with a girl tagging behind her. Although Eddie could never be attracted to her - for obvious reasons - he could appreciate her beauty; she sported shoulder-length mousy blonde ringlets, her limbs spidery and her figure willowy, and her eyes a captivating woodland green hue. She grasped everybody's attention.

"Oh yes, class, we have a new student joining us today on our curiosity voyage," Mr Clarke beamed and turned to the girl, "would you like to introduce yourself?"

"Hey, I'm Daisy Harmon," the girl confidently spoke, "and I'm from the land of tea and crumpets. Derry is already better than England, for starters there's a lot less rain."

The girl continued to talk a little more and the class softly giggled, deciding unanimously that they liked her. Daisy made her way over to her assigned seat in front of Eddie.

While putting her backpack onto the floor beneath her desk, her left arm landed delicately onto Eddie's desk behind her. This allowed Eddie to catch a glimpse of her wrist and better yet what words were etched on it.

"Purple?" He whispered in disbelief, which gained the attention of Daisy.

Her head snapped towards him, at first her expression confused, but then her features softened into a friendly smile.

"Purple," she confirmed when she realised what the boy was ogling at. She paused a moment before adding, "Weird right?"

"Right."