Confident

Richie

Theme song: Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana

September 5, 1993

Richie Tozier. Everyone knows him as the class clown, dramatic loud kid. Or better yet, Trashmouth.

He's never been the most popular kid in school, though he doesn't really mind. It's not like he's bullied often. It's just that people tend to forget about him until he pulls a stunt in class. Perhaps that's why he does it. For attention.

It's not like Richie has the easiest home life, but it's far from the worst. His parents often forget to check up on him and leave him home with no dinner while they adventure off to the city to have their fancy date nights. So most days he is rather lonely.

He tries to make the most of what he's got. Often times he'll invite over his best friend, Ben. With Ben life becomes a little less lonely. Even if the boy isn't all that talkative. He's a great listener.

Honestly the boy is quite the mess when he's alone. He's constantly getting high and stealing whatever alcohol is left in his parents liquor cabinet. Richie doesn't bother replacing anything. His parents aren't home enough to notice. And even if they were, he doesn't think they'd care. They just don't care.

He finds ways to distract himself. He'll watch MTV on the television in the living room. He'll teach himself a new song on guitar. And if he's bored enough he'll even start cooking.

He sort of had to learn how to cook. His parents weren't there to feed him and he couldn't just survive off of the left over junk food and white rice.

Luckily, he has a part time job. He makes just enough money to buy himself groceries. Sometimes he'll even rack up enough money to go to the movies with Ben. That's only sometimes, though.

Ben. The only person in his life that really cares. Sure the teachers say they do and the kids love to laugh along with him at school, but they don't really care. But Ben has always cared.

"Did you know that the shortest war in history was only thirty eight minutes? It was named the Anglo-Zanzibar War."

Richie turns his head to the direction of his best friend. There his best friend sits, his nose stuck in a book. This is their daily lunch routine. Ben drags Richie along to the library to check out a few more books, then Richie drags Ben back to the music room.

They're left alone there. No one bothers coming to that room at lunch. It's total loser territory. Richie supposes that's why they like it so much. The two are both very antisocial. Ben a little more than Richie. Ben is more shy than anything, while Richie often cracks jokes. This doesn't mean people don't scare the hell out of him, though. He's just better at hiding it. He'll crack jokes all day, but the moment someone starts up a conversation with him is the moment he turns to run.

He still remembers last year when Eddie apologized to him in the hallway for accidentally bumping into him. Richie finds it hard to communicate to his own family members, let alone his peers, and definitely let alone Eddie. Hell, he's been in love with the boy since freshmen year.

"That's cool, Benny boy." Richie shoves the peanut butter sandwich down his throat.

Ben looks up from the book. His face is laced with horror and confusion. "Benny boy? Don't make me gag."

Richie smiles at this. It's an encouragement to keep on going. "What? You don't like my nicknames? I suppose we'll just have to come up with something better, huh? Big Ben? Benjamin," Richie gasps, "Benji? How bout it cap'n? I quite like that one!" Richie's awful British accent seems to bounce off of the walls.

Ben groans while rolling his eyes. He decides to keep his mouth shut. He knows better than to argue. It only makes Richie worse in these scenarios.

"Winner winner chicken dinner. We've got a winner folks! Benji it is." Richie's voice shapes into a game show host's within a matter of seconds.

"You're awful." Ben jokes, reaching over to steal one of Richie's apple slices.

"That's not what your mom said last n-..."

Ben's hand shoves Richie's face and smudges his glasses. "Beep beep, Richie."

The boy smirks. He's won this battle and he knows it. Richie doesn't carry on. He sits back smugly while picking the strings of his guitar. He'll leave Big Ben alone. At least for now.

This is Richie's life. It's lonely and it's not the best. But he enjoys packed lunches, library trips, and meals in the music room. He's happy.

He thinks.