"ready?"

pt. seventeen

% chapter energy %
sober to death (car seat headrest)
reasons (built to spill)
stay beside me (ritchie valens)

they made quick work of the ride to the barrens, which would normally take about twenty minutes from the school, and instead made it in roughly ten. they were filled with overflowing anticipation- ever since school had commenced once again there had been a seemingly never ending amount of work. junior year was proving to be hellish for all of the losers.

they all barreled down, toward the stone plateau next to the quarry. they chattered and shoved eachother playfully, shrieking and laughing like hyenas. finally, they arrived at the plateau, setting down their bags and sitting down in a sort of semicircle on the large rocks strewn about.

"so stan-the-man where are these poppers," richie grinned,"the firecrackers i mean."

stan rolled his eyes but didn't let richie's comment perturb him.

"feast your eyes on these," he pulled the box of black cats from his bag gleefully, displaying them to the rest of the losers.

"geez stan, must of saved up some allowance huh," mike said, awe-stricken.

they all marveled at the golden yellow box, thinking back to that summer. stan cast the small black fireworks from the box into the palm of his hand and plucked one out, carefully laying the rest down (along with the box) on a nearby rock.

"anyone got matches?" stan inquired.

"why of course," bev said, standing up and handing one of her 'strike anywhere!' matches to him.

"thanks bev," he said and looked around at the rest of the group eagerly.

"ready for liftoff commander uris," richie said in a low, grumbly voice- seemingly holding an invisible radio,"over and out!"

with that, stan struck the match against the stone floor and held it to the fuse. once lit, he threw it down, backing up swiftly and tossing the match into the frigid water.

BANG ***

the firecracker rung out, loudly and all of the losers laughed wildly. bev let out a screeching noise and ben howled loudly in excitement. they all took a much needed break from all their stress and just hung out like they were still thirteen years old. like everything was perfectly fine just for those short couple hours.

richie lit off a few firecrackers himself despite eddie's incessant warnings about how he might lose an eye or a hand. yet of course, richie brushed this off and lit the fuse anyway. once only two firecrackers were left, stan decided to pack em up and put them away. they all sat there and took in the view, chatting about their winter break plans and such.

bev was going to visit her aunt out of state. ben was going up to northern maine with his family. mike was staying home and tending to the farm- a few of his family members were coming to visit. richie said he'd probably be at the arcade for most of it. eddie said his grandparents were coming to town and he was dreading it. stan said he didn't have a clue.

the sun was setting now and the losers decided it was time to head out. they all made it out of the woods and went their separate ways one by one. by the time richie, beverly, and eddie made it to the tozier residence the sun had set completely.

"hey man," richie said, turning to eddie as they all pulled up to the house,"you wanna stay at mine tonight? it's already past curfew and you know your mom will freak the fuck out if you come home late."

"yeah, i probably won't do much sleeping tonight, so you could take the couch too if ya want," bev said, sliding off her bike.

"eh-" eddie paused, meeting richie's hopeful eyes,"sure why not, i'll call her and see what she says."