𝓭𝓪𝓶𝓪𝓰𝓮𝓭 {𝓻𝓮𝓭𝓭𝓲𝓮}

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓸𝓷𝓮

September 2st, 2019
Richie's pov:

«Sweetie wake up, you are gonna be late.» my mom cooed. I moaned annoyed. It was the first day of school after summer break. I was in Hawaii on vacation the whole summer so I didn't get to see any of our friends. I'd missed them so much, especially Eddie. I didn't know why though but I felt a special bond with him. I always had. I'd trusted him since day one. He was a little smaller than me. He had sparkling brown eyes in which you could always tell how he was feeling. He had freckles all over his face but mostly on his nose. His hair was a mixture of curly and wavy. It was soft and I loved to mess it up just because Eddie didn't.

I had moved to Derry when I was 12. Just on day one me, Richie Tozier, managed to get beaten up by the school bully. I did make fun of his Jacket though but still. That just was who I was. I always made jokes and did voices. My friends always told me to stop but I didn't even consider that they were serious.

At around the same time we'd moved my dad's brother died which made him a total wreck. He started drinking and even beating my mom and me. I didn't want to tell anyone about it because I was ashamed. I was 15 now and my dad was more „sure“ about abusing his family. He wouldn't mind breaking me a few ribs. He actually did once.

I got out of my bed and dressed. I usually wore black jeans in combination with one of my crazy shirts or my neon green hoodie. I took my favorite black vans and my glasses. I went into the bathroom and did my business. That already was the moment I was late. I quickly took my school bag and got onto my bike. Since I'd moved here Beverly, Eddie and me rode our bikes to school together every day.

First I came past Bev's. I jumped off my bike and hit her doorbell 3 times so she knew it's gonna be me.

«RICHIE!!» Beverly yelled when she ran out of the house instantly hugging me. Our relationship was something special. She was my best friend, we could do anything together and nothing would be weird about it. We were the only 2 of our group who smoked. Sometimes we had sleepovers at her place where we watched movies or she put me some make up on. Or even the other way around. Usually we can even bring her dad to the point where we both were putting on some nail polish on him. Beverly's father Al was like a dad to me as well. He was super funny and he loved doing stuff with Bev and me. He was one of those adults you'd consider as a friend. He was so full of life and had always the craziest ideas. Sometimes he even goes camping or fishing together with us. I even taught him how to play some songs on the piano. I always played when I was in a bad mood, mostly because of my dad, so I was like a little Mozart. Of course I didn't play classical music. Beverly was a pretty good singer so we sometimes wrote our own songs. They weren't serious. We were laughing our asses off at them. We sometimes showed them to Al. He always said «Jeez kiddos that's a hella masterpiece» causing us to laugh even more.

«BEVVIE!!» I yelled and squeezed her.

«Oh my God I missed you so much..»

«You did?» I smirked.

«Um.. nOoOo...»

I grinned and hugged her tighter.

«My dad insists of you coming over after school. He missed you so much.»

«I'd love to!» I said letting go of her. «Isn't he here?»

«No he's getting my new bike, mine was stolen a few days ago so I guess I have to ride with you Daddy Long Legs.» she said and sat down one the racks on my bike. «Now come on, we have to get Eddie or we all will be late.»

I got onto my bike and I drove past like 14 houses until I saw Eddie next to his house waiting for us.

«Y'ALL ARE LATE»

«I'VE MISSED YA TOO EDS»

«OH GOD NOT AGAIN»

I laughed. I saw a little smirk on his face. Something was different about him that day. Not really about him, more like something between... us..

The way he smiled at me made me melt away and every time I got lost in thoughts I caught myself staring at him. We first met Stan, Bill and Ben at lunch. Mike was still home schooled. We talked about each other's vacations and stuff. Stan was in Europe visiting an old friend who had moved there a few years ago while Bill was in Miami for a few weeks. Eddie just was visiting his grandparents for a few days and Beverly and his dad went together with the Hanscom's to Spain. I'd missed my friends so much but I would never admit it to myself.

Next periode was Art. I had this class together with Eddie, just with Eddie. Bev and Stan had PE, Ben History and Bill had Physics.

Eddie and I entered the classroom chattering about what he did all summer when he was alone.

«Usually me and my dad went to the quarry, you know he loves it there.»

«Yeah but like.. Have you found any new friends? Or a girlfriend?» I asked pretending as I was joking with the girlfriend part.

«Don't be silly» he just said and we took a seat in the last row.

«Hello class, the first two hours I thought we start with something fun. You have to draw a sketch of your neighbor!» our teacher Ms. Austin said.

I grinned at Eddie who immediately started drawing the poop emoji thing. He grinned at his drawing which apart from the poop emoji was terrible.

«Dickhead!» I said and threw my rubber at him. He just laughed. Arts class was one of my favorites. I had that class with Eddie which was except for PE the only class we had together. I loved drawing. I actually was pretty good at it. You could express all your feelings in art. Joy, Sadness, Anger,... When I didn't feel well I always drew or played the piano. Sometimes I even wrote serious songs not even Bev knew about. I was a pretty artsy kid what for some reason no one really knew.

I was drawing every hair, every shadow, every feature Eddie had in his face. I drew him with his beautiful smirk he gave me almost every time our PE teacher let us run extra rounds around the football field because we both sucked at PE. I also was a pretty quick drawer. I could draw a face sketch in like one and a half hours while for example Eddie wasn't even ready after the double periode we had. While I was drawing he once looked at my paper and gasped.
«Rich.. Since when have you been drawing like that??» I just grinned and handed him the finished drawing. I got every freckle right. I knew them by heart.

«Chee, that's amazing! Why didn't I know you could draw?!»

I blushed a little. «Not many people know.» I took the drawing back with my left hand. I was sitting on the left side of the table so Eddie couldn't see it the whole time.

«What's that?» Eddie asked and grabbed my arm causing me to wince in pain. «Oh my God sorry» he said letting go immediately. I had a big bruise on my left arm. My dad had given it to me the evening before. I accidentally dropped a plate when I was cleaning the kitchen. He'd grabbed my arm so tight that I even teared up. My mom always tried to protect me from him but he hated me even more than her.

«it's okay..»

«Where is that bruise from?»

«not important.. I fell down the stairs, that's all..»

«Really?»

I nodded.

When the bell rang I was the first out of the classroom heading to next periode. I felt a weird feeling in my throat. I wanted to cry. More when I thought about how great Bev's and Eddie's dads were. I didn't go to History that day. I locked myself in the bathroom. I was looking at my bruise until the bell rang again. But I stayed in the bathroom stall. I didn't want to face Eddie that day. He clearly didn't buy my story. A silent tear flowed down my face. I was smoking like 3 cigarettes while sitting there. I was so ashamed. Suddenly I heard a groups of boys enter the bathroom.

The Bowers gang.