richie tells only the truth.

hell.

richie woke up, groaning as he smacked off his alarm clock. he found it incredibly stupid that he was to wake up at 9:30 even though it was the summer.

he dragged himself out of bed, practically falling. he made his way downstairs, tired and droopy. his mother was in the kitchen, making herself food.

"oh, is that for me?" richie asked dully.

"oh, you wanted some?" she asked, genuinely.

"no, i'd honestly much rather starve to death," richie said, no sign of sarcasm in his voice. his eyes widened and his mother shook her head. she thought he was joking. "also, the losers and i had a roughhh week a bit ago. we went into the sewers and fought off some fucking clown named pennywise that comes alive every twenty-seven years and eats kids, but no worries because we killed it, but it sure did fuck up our summer!" richie spilled. his mother was staring at him, confused and scare.

"i hope you're joking," she said.

richie, for some reason, couldn't bring himself to lie. he couldn't seem to open his mouth and say "well duh, we're called losers. how would we be able to fight a deadly clown?" but he couldn't. his mouth wouldn't even open. he stood there frozen, breaking into a sweat.

"i'm hanging out with the losers today. bye," he said, leaving. his mother stood, frozen in confusion. she sighed and got back to what she was doing.

richie stormed out of his house, about to punch something. he didn't know why he wasn't able to lie. he didn't know why he just spilled like that. but he needed someone to tell. anyone.

he sat on a bench and took a deep breath. richie dialed bill's number in and the phone rang.

"hey, r-rich," bill greeted.

"hi, i need fucking help," richie laughed.

"why, w-what happened?" bill asked with concern clear in his tone.

"i don't even know! for some reason, i can't lie. i accidentally told my mom about pennywise and i couldn't lie to her to tell her i was joking! i think i'm going insane," richie ranted.

bill stayed silent for a moment, trying to process what was going on. "you can't lie?"

"no!"

"what, is it some p-p-paranormal shit or something?" bill asked.

"i don't fucking know, bill! do you expect me to know the answer to a question i'm asking you?! maybe it was- like- that turtle or whatever," richie said, confused and straightforward.

"i don't know, m-maybe? just c-c-calm down for now."

"oh fuck you, you would freak out too if this was happening to you. especially when there's things you don't want others to know!" richie explained.

"rich, you're keeping something from us?" bill asked, genuinely curious.

"yes and i hope it stays hidden. this is fucking horrible! i could accidentally let things slip any moment, like how last year, i was the one who sneezed in eddie's food, causing him to get sick, and blamed it on the birds outside. and while we're on the topic of eddie-" richie started rambling, smacking a hand over his mouth. he continued talking, making sure to hold the phone away from his face as his words came out muffled.

"r-rich, you know you can tell us anything, right? we're l-l-losers. losers stick together," bill said. he didn't get an answer for a hot five minutes, richie realizing he needed to shut his mouth before he could open it again.

richie sighed once gaining control, sinking lower into the bench he sat on. "bill, i don't know what to fucking do! this could go two ways. horrible wrong or terribly bad."

bill took a deep breath. "okay. go to the clubhouse and wait there. i'll text the g-g-groupchat that there's an emergency. i'm on my w-way ss-soon."

"you're a fucking dumbass for making me go in front of people while i can't lie. are you trying to get me in loads of trouble?!"

"rich! c-calm down. we w-won't have trouble with you in any issue and you know that. we're not here to judge. i'm j-just saying, if this has something to do with.. pennywise.. or whatever, we need everyone to be there," bill said, making sure he kept his voice low. richie smacked himself in the forehead over and over.

"god, whatever! i'll see you there, fuckhead. i hope you know that if you knew that i wa-" richie began, hanging up before he could finish, "-s gay for eddie then you probably wouldn't want me around! you all would think i'm a disease. i even think that. see, this disease is so bad i'm talking to myself. hah." he groaned, standing and making his way to the clubhouse uneasily, and unable to stop talking to strangers along the way. 

(the chapters will be a LOT longer from now on, i just didn't have much to write here lmao)