What's in your pencil case? (Patrick Hockstetter)

On darker roads (Part 4)

"Darling, better hurry up. Richard is already waiting outside.", her mother's voice resonated throughout their small apartment. As if he would be disappointed if she didn't walk with him. He'd probably throw a party. Richie Tozier had never made a secret out of how much he despised their neighbour's daughter. Still, until the events of last year she had always met his dislike with understanding and tried to be friendly anyway.

On Friday, he even tried to get her in trouble for walking with ..., well Patrick Hockstetter, not exactly innocence in person, but he had been protecting her nonetheless. And what did Tozier do? Point out her mistakes, as always. Anything to ruin the perfect image Maggie Tozier had of her. Unfortunately, his plan had backfired with both their mothers -best friends by default after they became neighbours- insisting on Richie accompanying her to school every day. Starting now. She sighed. Rushing towards the door while throwing on her jacket she shouted: "I'm leaving. Love you, Mum!"

She could still hear her mother's reply, as she closed the door to encounter an eye-rolling Richie. "How endearing 'Love you, Darling', maybe you should also go over to my mother so she can tell that to someone in the morning." Last year, she'd have assured him that his mother also loved him the way he was, without telling him every morning. She'd have offered to talk to his mother about him and how much he actually accomplished. But this time was over. So she just ignored the obvious jealousy in his ridicule and started their walk in silence.

There were other matters to worry about on this foggy Monday morning. The most prominent one in her thoughts being the deal she had made with the infamous Patrick Hockstetter. Usually the idea of voluntarily entering the danger zone, facing two members of the infamous Bowers Gang alone would raise her hackles. But Patrick actually had surprised her. Sure he had his strange quirks, take his pencil case for instance, but she also had her secrets in there, so she could certainly condone that. And last Friday, he hadn't been a bully or a lunatic, he had been her savior and on top of that he had shown genuine interest in her.

However, the bruises on her shoulder - she had carefully covered with her blouse- also painfully reminded her of Bowers, who would probably seek revenge. Just keep off their radar. As always. It had worked for about a year now, she'd manage today, too.

Nevertheless, she let out the air she didn't realize she had been holding, when they arrived at school and the car where she had encountered the Bowers Gang on Friday wasn't in sight.  "So are we going to meet up here after class today? Or where...", she started to ask Richie who had ignored her for the whole walk. Funny, how he can't seem to ignore anyone else when he urgently needed to, but towards her his ignorance always seemed to come easily. Yet, she discovered he had already scurried off, probably to find some of his friends. This was one thing she truly envied him for. Sure, after her fallout with Sally she didn't cut all ties. Most of them. Still, she merely had acquaintances -a word that perfectly described most of her relationships at school. Richie Tozier however was gifted with true friends. Something she could only yearn for.

As usually she was one of the first students to enter the classroom. Most of her peers would catch up with their friends beforehand. Yet, Robert Malloy also one of the kids not belonging to any group had beaten her to it today. With a smile on their lips they greeted each other. Still engaging in small talk -New glasses, Robert? They look nice. Why thank you. The weather yesterday was horrible, wasn't it? Typical Derry weather, am I right?-   she trotted to her usual place caught up in her routine, before she remembered her dilemma. Patrick had told her to sit next to him again, after their teacher had assigned the free place next to him to her on Friday. Should she really comply?

Despite most of the adults being oblivious to what really happened to their children, their teacher actually had her moments of clarity, when she noticed what was going on. The hatred between Bowie's clique and her was one of these things. So she had actually been kind of relieved to get the opportunity of getting away from them, when she had taken Victor Crisses place. But that was when Victor had skipped class. He surely wouldn't be glad about her sitting in his seat. Apart from the fact that she had wanted to avoid their attention. However, Patrick would also not be happy about her defying his order. And somehow she was also looking forward to talking to him.