Lisp • Richie Tozier (1)

1

I walk down the hallway on the last day of school. People throw their things in the air, the trash, and at other people. My things are tucked safely under my arm where no one can take them. I look at the clock and realize I'm going to miss the bus. I start running as fast as I can. Everyone moves out of the way.

Except him.

I run straight into someone, sending books, papers, and myself onto the ground. I groan as I watch my bus drive away. He stares down at me. "You okay?" I look up with an annoyed expression, deciding not to answer. "Hello? Are you deaf or something?" I glare at him. His friend elbows him in the stomach. "I-I don't t-think she wants to talk to y-you right now." The boy laughs and sticks out his hand. "I'm Richie." I push his hand down. "You dropped your stuff so I picked it up for you." He says. I roll my eyes. Thank you, captain obvious. "So... you missed your bus I'm guessing. You wanna walk home with me?" I shrug. "I don't really have another option." He grins. "You talk? Cool." I frown. "I don't like talking." I avoid using any word with the dreaded 's' in it. "Why not? Your voice is way prettier than Eddie's mom's." The boy who I'm assuming is Eddie  glares at him. "I um- I have a lisp." I say. "I don't mind it. It's kinda hot actually." I try not to blush but fail horribly. He notices that I'm uncomfortable and grins. We start to walk away, but someone grabs Richie's backpack causing him and the Jewish kid to fall over. "Nice frisbee, flamer." He pulls the kippah off of the kid's head and throws it onto the incoming bus. I stare up at the giant kid. "Why'd you do that? He hasn't done anything to you." I state. He pushes me into the mud. "Welcome to the loother'th club, new kid. I'm Henry Bowerth." I shut my eyes. My mom would kill me. Hopefully, she wasn't home. "Y-you S-suck Bowers!" The stuttering kid yelled. Henry stuttered back, as if it was actually funny. If there wasn't a cop there, he would've kicked the kid's ass. Instead, he and his jackass friends drove away.

Richie offered me a hand. I took it and got up. "I wish he'd disappear." I snort. "He's probably the one doing it."

Richie offers to walk me home. I decline, but he insists that I need to be with him at all times and away from Henry.

Even after we passed all of their houses, plus his, Richie's still with me telling me these terrible jokes. Still, he's making me laugh. Finally, we get to my house and I notice that my mom's car isn't in the driveway. I  give him a big hug. He laughs and doesn't pull away. "Richie, you can let go." He frowns. "Do I have to?" I glare at him and he pulls away. "Okay, I'm gonna go now." I reach out and touch his arm. "Can you just... stay? I really don't like being home alone." Lie. I love being home alone. "Okay... I guess, if you really want me to." We walk into my house and I tell him to sit wherever. "I'm gonna go change." I tell him. "Oh, can I come?" I roll my eyes. "No." I walk upstairs to my room and find a shirt and shorts to change into. I put the clothes on and suddenly, the lights go out and it's pitch black. Things grab at me and crawl on me and I scream. Richie bangs on the door. A clown comes out of no where. "Hello Julia!" I scream louder. It shows me its eight rows of teeth, making me terrified. "Open the door!" I pull at the knob and pull the door as hard as I can, the door flings open. "What is it?" He breathes heavily. "It went dark. I couldn't see anything..." I avoid bringing up the clown, not wanting him to think I'm crazy. "Hm... the power went out in guessing. It's just weird that it didn't go out downstairs." I nod. "Yeah, I guess."

Later, Richie tells me he's going to leave. "Where are you going?" I ask quickly. "Sewers. Bill thinks Georgie's in there." He grabs his things and starts to walk out the door. "Wait! Can I come with you? I can't stay here..." I say. "I mean... if you wanna walk around in the sewers, be my guest." That sounded awful, but it was still better than being alone in that house. So, I stuck a note on the table, and left.