"ready?"

pt. sixteen

{{ chapter energy }}
portofino 1 - raymond scott
weird fishes / arpeggi - radiohead

the cool, autumn sun shone brightly through richie's window. his alarm blared loudly, ushering him out of bed. he groggily smacked his alarm clock to stop its incessant beeping. he reached around blindly, finally swiping his glasses from his nightstand, and put them on.

he yawned loudly, slowly- very slowly- registering the day ahead of him. even more slowly, registering the day before. the thought of it made him smile, made him speed up his usual morning routine.

he quickly slipped on some battered jeans and a loose fitting sweater, swung his backpack over his shoulder, and headed downstairs. bev was already sat at the kitchen table, reading and eating some toast.

"morning rich," she said wearily,"made ya some toast if you're interested, s'on the counter."

"thanks bev," he said, dropping his backpack near the front door and heading into the kitchen,"how long you been up?"

"couldn't sleep," she said with a sigh.

"ahh one of those nights," he replied, taking a bite of toast,"ya know i can always talk to that kid jeremy again if you need."

"heh- thanks rich but i'll be alright," she laughed,"just this bogus amount of homework i've got right now is kicking my ass."

"i feel you marsh," he shook his head,"oh the struggles of an all-american teen."

"oh come on rich we both know eddie does all your homework," she smiled,"plus, you're not the one in ap classes, you've got it easy tozier."

"i let eddie do my work," he responded,"we both know i'm a secret genius. im simply preserving my real intelligence for when it's needed most."

"uh-huh," she rolled her eyes,"well einstein we've got about ten minutes til school starts so i suggest you finish your breakfast asap- or do you need eddie to do that for you too?"

he scoffed and finished the last of his toast, quickly slipping on his shoes, and nearly tripping out of the house. he raced after bev who was already down the street and they made their way to school.

xxx

the classroom door flung open and richie barged in loudly. everyone turned toward him as he breathed heavily, hands on his knees.

"im here!" he said, panting.

"and you're late, again," the teacher replied firmly,"take your seat tozier."

he sighed and made his way to his desk, a paper ball hitting his head as he placed his bag on the floor next to him. he looked over to see who had thrown it. none other than conner bowers, grinning wildly and nudging his friend with his elbow, he looked back at richie.

richie opened the paper ball, which loudly crumpled making the teacher shoot him another annoyed look. the paper had one word scrawled on it in big sharpie-inked letters.

"FAGGOT"

richie glanced from the paper to conner. he snickered and looked away. richie simply wrote "conner bowers is a" above it and balled the paper back up. the ball hit the back of conner's head with a dull thwap sound.

he shot richie a perplexed look and picked up the ball once again, opening it haphazardly, and staring blankly at the paper. richie threw an air kiss his way and returned to the paper in front of him. conner's mouth hung open and he angrily crumpled the ball of paper once more, shoving it into his bag.

xxx

the bell tolled obnoxiously, lunch time, finally. the losers were all slowly gathering at the table- richie being the last, as usual.

"why hello," he said, bowing exaggeratively and taking a seat between eddie and ben.

"hiya rich," eddie smiled.
"hey richie," mike said, raising his hand facilely.
"hi rich," stan said, nose deep in his autobiography.
"hey," ben said with a tepid smile.
"what's up edison," bev smirked.

"how's it going tesla," richie retorted, swiveling in his seat to face eddie,"thanks for trying to help me with everything yesterday. i brought you one of my rubix cubes cuz i know you like em- plus you're way better at them than me."

richie held the puzzle out to eddie in the palm of his hand. eddie obliged, taking it in his hands and felt the tips of his ears grow hot. he looked up quickly, his mouth moving before his words could even catch up.

"thanks rich, it's really no problem though," he said warmly,"if you ever wanna try again im always free."

"might have to take you up on that kasprak," richie nudged him lightly, a slight smirk playing at his lips.

eddie knew his cheeks must be glowing by that point, so he shoved the rubix cube in his bag and finished eating the apple he had been fidgeting with.

"hey guys," stan said, putting a thread in his book and shutting it,"you remember those black cats i had forever ago- the firecrackers?"

"shit of course," mike replied, swiftly,"we lit em off after you guys chased off bowers in the gravel pit."

"yeah!" stan smiled,"well, i know it's a bit childish and all- but i got some the other day and i just wanted to see if you guys wanted to go hang by the quarry and set some off after school."

they all agreed enthusiastically and planned to meet by the bike rack after school. not soon after, the bell rang again, beckoning them all back to their classes.

the entire next class period, eddie could not focus and instead spent the entire hour solving the worn rubix cube richie gave him. he ran his thumb over the peeling stickers fondly and watched the clock with anticipation.

after what seemed like an eternity of tik tik tikking the bell chimed loudly, signally the start of the end of the school day. the last period of the day came and went fast as a rabbit, and soon the losers were all scrambling to their lockers and out the south exit just as fast.