Far From Perfect [S.Uris]

Eden and the New Kid

It turns out that Henry had hurt the poor new kid, having cut a large 'H' on the side of his stomach. Now, he sits on the back of Bill's bike on their way to the pharmacy.

"You know, I think it's great that we're helping the new kid, but you do know there's an AIDS epidemic going on right now as we speak, right?" Eddie begins nervously.

"We? Eddie, you're the only one talking." Eden responds, holding on tightly to Stanley. "Well, i'll have you know that my mom's friend in New York got it just be touching a dirty pole in the subway. And a drop of AIDS blood got into his system through hangnail. A hangnail!" Eddie shouts.

"And they can amputate legs and arms, and— how do you amputate a waist? How you amputate a waist?!" He continues as they pull up into an alleyway.

"You guys do know that alleys are known for dirty needles that have AIDS, right? You do know that, right?" He sets down his bike as Eden and Stanley help ben onto a crate against the brick wall.

"Richie, Wait here." Bill instructs, running in towards the pharmacy. The others quickly follow after him.

Eddie immediately runs to the shelves, stacking up whatever medical supplies he may need. "Can we afford all that?" Eden questions.

Stanley reaches into his pocket, pulling out a few crumpled up bills. "It's all we got." He says. Eddie sighs "You kidding me?"

"Wait, you have an account here, don't you?" Bill asks. "If my mom finds out I bought all this stuff for myself...I'm spending the whole rest of the weekend in the emergency room getting X-rayed." Eddie responds, lowering his voice.

"Okay, well, let's just get the stuff we need. I don't think we'll need all of that." Eden speaks up. Just then, a familiar red head walks into the aisle.

As soon as she spots Eden and the boys, she hides her hand behind her back. "Oh. Hey, Bev." Eden smiles.

"Hi." The girl responds awkwardly. "You okay?" Bill inquires. "I'm fine. What's wrong with you?" She asks.

"None of your business." Stanley says. "There's a kid outside. Looked like someone killed him." Eddie explains, ignoring Stanley's previous remark.

"We need some s-s-s-supplies, but we don't have enough money." Bill adds. Beverly looks behind them towards Mr. Keene.

"Hey, if you're gonna do it, then I can help." Eden says, catching the idea the red head was throwing at them. "No you can't." Stanley quickly cuts in.