cynosure [it characters]

june 7th, 1989 [2]

stanley and eddie walked next to each other, stan seeming to know where to go, causing eddie to blindly follow along. the two made some sort of small talk, but before they could dive into a conversation, they made it to a big building that eddie was presuming was the cafeteria.

kids gathered around of all ages, ranging from kindergarten to seniors. it sort of intimidated eddie to see seniors, since he was only a freshman himself. at least the camps were separated by grade, otherwise, he doesn't know if he would make it back to his mommy.

"i already know a few people, i've been here the past two years. i can introduce you?" stanley asked, eddie shrugging. the curly-haired boy smiled and nodded, both of them walking into the building. 

there were obviously contrasting groups, for example, the girls of one grade were all at one table, while the boys were at another. probably the middle schoolers, where dating is considered gross and weird.

stan lead eddie over to a table that consisted of three boys, one with glasses, one with dark skin, and one with a plaid shirt. "eddie, this is richie tozier," he pointed at glasses, "and mike hanlon," he switched to dark skin. "and i'm not sure who you are," stan introduced, but then divided his concentration onto the third boy, the plaid shirt.

"this is bill denbrough," richie stated, patting his new friend roughly on the back. "he's got a mad stutter, probably because he saw stan's mother last night, am i right?" richie smiled with delight. stanley rolled his eyes and sat down next to bill, eddie sitting next to his roommate.

"so, you're new?" stan turned to bill, seemingly forgetting that eddie was even there, or that he was supposed to help him talk to the other boys.

"y-yeah, my m-mom convinced me tuh-tuh-to g-go," he said, his face shading a light pink due to his speech impediment. stan smiled, he didn't mind it that much. "hoo-hoo-who are y-you?" he asked, the corners of his lips beginning to tug upwards.

"stanley, stanley uris. but my friends call me stan," he held out his hand, bill taking it slowly.

"so, newbie," richie yelled across the table, as if eddie wasn't five feet away, "what made your little ass come here?" he took a harsh bite from his chicken leg, not caring about table manners as he rested his elbows on the table.

"my mom, she sort of forced me to go," eddie explained slowly, not wanting to sound weird or something. "i live in derry, maine, maybe two hours from here-"

"alright, hotstuff, don't need that much information. but you know what, kiddo?" richie pointed his chicken leg at eddie. "you shouldn't be worrying about this camp. they don't have any rules, and i mean any. hell, we could sneak into a girl's cabin and they wouldn't give two shits, am i right?" he smiled towards mike.

richie furrowed his eyebrows as his eyes landed on eddie again. "what the hell do you have there?" eddie grew confused. "there. on your dick," he pointed with his chicken leg again. eddie's face grew red as he understood what he was trying to point out.

"my fanny pack?" mike and richie both burst into laughter. eddie grew self conscious, trying to think of a way to explain it. "it has my inhaler in it. and medication. i need it," he said softly. richie and mike eventually stopped laughing, getting used to the idea of a fanny pack.

lunch ended quickly, thank god for eddie kaspbrak. he stood up, tapping stan on the shoulder. stan and bill were talking the whole time, it's like they were suddenly best friends. "where do we, like, go next?" he asked.

stan smiled a little. "we can do whatever we want until dinner and curfew. before curfew we have late night, that's when everyone in seventh grade and lower goes in their cabins. and normally things get...well, you'll see."

eddie couldn't help but feel weird. that was all just...weird. what happens? maybe richie would tell him? "okay, i think i'm going to go talk to richie," he said, stan nodding and turning back to bill. eddie walked around the table, stopping right next to the boy with glasses.

"hey, wheezy, what'cha up to?" richie asked, smiling as he faced eddie. he already hated the new nickname, but he was assuming richie did this stuff a lot.

"i was going to ask," he paused, looking over at stan for a moment, then back at richie, "what happens at late night?" richie's smile grew wide.

"oh-ho-ho, eds, it gets wild. some nights we would play games like spin-the-bottle, some nights a pair would play seven minutes in heaven, but have to go into the woods instead of a closet. i'm telling you right now, wheezy, it gets wild."

eddie felt faint. a game with kissing? more than kissing? he couldn't understand what type of camp would allow this, but hey, just like richie said, they have no rules. they probably don't monitor anything at all.

"sometimes it's horrible playing seven minutes in heaven, let me tell you. i once went into the closet with stan's mom, and i couldn't smell for days-"

"okay, richie, shut up," stan interupted, his face growing warm. "anyway, bill and i are going to swim at the quarry, if you guys want to come?" quarry? eddie thought, what is a quarry?

"sounds scrum-diddily-dumtious, my beautiful jew," richie winked, and with that, walked out of the cafeteria, most likely to his cabin to change into swimwear. eddie walked back over to stan.

luckily, stan already knew what he was going to ask. "don't worry, eddie. the quarry is fun, and we will all be there," he attempted to make eddie feel a little better. "plus other kids. come on, you brought a swim suit, right?"

eddie nodded, slightly sighing as stan lead him out of the cafeteria, bill walking alongside them. time to have fun at the quarry, eddie thought sarcastically, i'm sure everyone will love to see my asthma attack in the water.