IMPULSE {Richie Tozier}

3

Novocane leads Ivy down the road towards the pharmacy. It was time to pick up her meds, the ones she dreaded.

They didn't particularly make her feel a certain way, but sometimes when she didn't swallow them fast enough, they would dissolve on her tongue and leave the most disgusting taste in her mouth.

As she enters the building, a chime goes off. She walks past an isle, and is met with the sight of Beverly Marsh who blushes and hides a bag of pads behind her back.

Ivy giggles a little as she walks towards the counter.

The sound of Eddie Kaspbrak and Stan Uris arguing draws her attention to another isle.

Sure enough, they seem to be grabbing medical supplies. She glances around them for Richie, but is disappointed when she doesn't find him. Quietly, she continues her journey to the counter and is immediately met with the creepy pharmacist.

He doesn't say much to her, just hands her a prescription. He still felt creepy to her. Novocane even growls lowly as the man's hand lingers a bit longer than needed on Ivy's.

She pulls her hand back with the container, and turns to walk out the store. Beverly walks to the counter after her, and what she says makes Ivy want to believe the rumors that go around about her.

"...has anyone ever told you, you look just like Clark Kent?" The red head flirts, causing Ivy to almost gag as she exists the store.

The boys rush past her without paying for the supplies, and everything seems to click together. Curiosity overwhelms the girl, and she finds herself following the boy's. She peaks down the alley and see's Ben sat there holding his bloody stomach.

A gasp erupts from her, and the losers turn to notice her presence.

Richie straightens up a little, and the other boys aren't really sure what to say.

"Ben?! What the hell happened?!" The girl exclaims, walking towards the boy.

Novocane follows whining. Ben smiles lightly at her, shrugging. The other boys watch in shock. Aside from the singing, this was the most they've ever heard out of her.

"How'd you pay for all this crap anyway?" Richie questions, keeping his eyes on the girl in front of him.

"Beverly Marsh helped us out," Stan states.

"Her? I've heard the list of people she's done is longer than my wang!" He hollers, grabbing at his crotch.

Ivy rolls her eyes a bit, which Ben catches and grins.

"That's not saying much," Stan chuckles with a cheeky smirk.

Not even seconds later, Beverly comes into view.

"Ben from soc?"

"What, does everyone suddenly know who you are?" Richie scoffs, looking down at the chubby boy.

"What happened to you?" Beverly asks, ignoring Richie.

"I-uh...I-I fell..."

"Yeah, right into Henry Bowers," the trash mouth adds.

Stan nudges him, causing him to raise his hands defensively.

"You sure they got the right stuff to fix you up?" The freckled girl inquires.

Ivy giggles, knowing of Ben's obsession.

Ben blushes in response.

"I know what I'm doing," Eddie interrupts applying different things to the wound.

"You've gotta suck the wound!" Richie insists.

"Shut up! Just shut up, Richie! I know what I'm doing," Eddie exclaims, annoyed by the boy.

Dots in Ivy's head begin to add up as she sees the smile on Ben's face when he looks at Beverly. She was the pretty girl he had mentioned the other day!

A large grin spreads across her face. Ben's eyes widen, realizing he'd been caught.

A beeping goes off, causing Eddie to look down at his watch confused.

"It's not time to take my meds yet?.."

"That was mine, actually," Ivy chuckles nervously. "Gotta go, but uh– see ya later, Ben."

Eddie stares at the girl, blinking in surprise. She was kind of like him. That makes him want to hate her a little less despite what Richie always says.

Ben waves lightly at the girl and Richie's face crinkles into an emotion that even he can't name. They all watch as the girl walks off with her dog, then Eddie gets back to patching Ben up.

"I should get going too," Beverly hums, turning and walking down the alley.

"H-Hey, uh– we're going down to the quarry tomorrow...if you want t-to join us?" Bill calls.

The girl turn around with a wild grin and nods. "Sure. See ya around."

With that, she disappears.

"Why didn't we invite Ivy?" Eddie asks.

"Cause we don't want her disease," Richie reminds, causing Eddie to shudder and nod.

Ben raising a confused eyebrow. "What disease? She doesn't have a—"

"Oh yes she does! Why else would she have a service dog?" Richie cuts him off with a sure tone. "You probably have it to considering you seem to spend so much time with the weirdo."

Ben stares blankly at him.

Then, he bursts into laughter at how dumb he is. He thought maybe he was just kidding, but Richie genuinely believed that Ivy had a disease. The boys stare at him confused.

"That is why she has the dog all the time, right?" Stan questions.

Ben just can't stop laughing.

"B-Believe what you want!" He manages to say through laughter.

That's what Ivy would've said.

(What is Ivy's illness? 🤔 A question you should be asking until later explained.)