✓ | TEENS AND THINGS → richie tozier ²

one

ASH WASN'T asleep.

It was the day before high school and like an idiot, she was up reading her old journals at 2 am.

She shone her flashlight over the words, nostalgia of sixth grade where all she cared about were who was dating who and the new Nightmare on Elm Street washed over her and she smiled faintly.

The only reason Ash was up this late- or early, she supposed- was because she was so fucking nervous about the following day.

She had no idea what the fuck was bound to happen in high school; and while Rich would scoff and tell her not to worry about it, she couldn't help it. This was huge.

As she absently flipped to the next page, switching her flashlight to her right hand as her left one was starting to ache, she heard a tap at the window.

She glanced up, and her mouth dropped open.

Sitting at the window, his face barely able to make out, was Richie.

Ash slowly got up, setting her flashlight aside and moved over to the window, lifting it.

"Richie?" She whispered. "What the hell-"

She stopped mid sentence as he looked up at her, and his face was thrown into sharp relief.

A large purple bruise was forming on his left cheek, his eyes red and bloodshot, and his nose bloody.

Richie forced a smile, and said shakily, "Pretty cool, huh? Battle scars."

His laugh made his voice catch and break as he ducked his head and let out a loud sob, looking back up at Ash.

"C-can I come in?"

She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into her bedroom, holding him steady as he stumbled over the window sill, and she closed the window behind him.

Richie slowly sank down onto the bed, and he looked up at her, his eyes glistening.

"All I did was say no. And the next thing I knew she was on top of me, raging like-like some psycho bitch. Sh-said you weren't good enough, and I corrected her, and then- and then-"

He was unable to finish, burying his face into his hands as he choked on another sob.

Ash crossed the room in one stride, bending down and gripping his arm. "Richie, look at me."

Richie didn't- no, he couldn't- answer her, feeling weak and stupid, hating the way he was breaking down in front of her.

Ash slipped her hands to the sides of his face and forced it up to meet hers. "Look at me."

Tears were streaming down her boyfriend's face as his puffy eyes met her own dark brown, and Ash swallowed. "She's not worth it. Okay? That bitch isn't worth a damn of your time."

His lower lip trembled as more tears slipped silently down his face. "She was right. About me. I can't fucking even stand up against my own-"

Ash didn't let him finish. "Bullshit, Richie! You are so much fucking more than that! I know you and I love you so fucking much, believe me, I know what you are!"

He tried to nod, and she twisted her fingers around his shaking ones, gripping them tightly.

"Tomorrow, after school, I am going to your house and I am going to set that twisted little bitch straight." Ash said determinedly.

His head whipped up towards hers, and in a hoarse voice he said, "What?"

"Your mom. Tomorrow I am going over there and-"