overstimulated // a reddie fic

01. Ditching

Eddie sat down at his desk, nearly all the way in the back of the classroom. The desk he willingly chose all the way at the beginning of the school year in September. Now, it’s nearing November.

He tapped the tips of his fingers lightly on the desk, recreating the beat of a song he heard a couple days ago. Shame he never got the title.

His teacher, who was supposed to be a woman named Ms. Shelley, was out on maternity leave. Now, it was some crappy sub, Mr. Tart. Many kids took advantage of his laid-backness (though Eddie himself just called it laziness) and ditched the class. What good was English class anyway, especially if it was the period directly before lunch, right? No one needed English class anyway, right?

No way would anyone catch Eddie ditching like the rest of his classmates. Eddie went low sometimes, but never that low.

Which, of course, is the main reason he has such a high grade in that class. Though Mr. Tart was so care-free he would assign work here and there-- it was never consistent-- Eddie had plenty of time to space out. Daydream. Which he did quite well.

The classroom door opened quietly, none of the kids bothered to look. Most of them were packing up to leave through that same door anyway.

"Oh-- Sorry. This is the wrong class, is it?"

Mr. Tart looked up from his phone, sliding his glasses from his bare head onto his nose.

"Ms. Shelley?"

"Yeah."

"Nope, you're in the right class." And he took his glasses off and returned to his phone.

"Where do I… Where do I sit?"

Mr. Tart sighed. "Anywhere, kid."

Upon the grand choice of ‘anywhere’, the new student sat down right next to Eddie. He dropped his backpack to the ground and kicked it under the desk, and hunched over slightly in his chair, as if trying to shy away. His eyes wandered the room and his fingers tapped the desk. Unlike Eddie, the melody had no true form. His gaze finally landed on Eddie. He noticed, and when the boy waved and quickly looked away, Eddie waved back slightly.
He watched the clock, though it was sure to be minutes behind. He watched the red second hand make its way around.

And a tap on his shoulder.
Eddie turned and locked eyes with the boy, to which the boy in question seemed to shy away from a bit.

"I'm Richie.”

Eddie nodded. He waved a bit. “I’m Eddie.”

"Is there… work?"

Eddie shook his head.

"Nah. Not today."

"Not today?"

"Mr. Tart, he's…" Eddie looked over, seeing Mr. Tart with earbuds in and staring at his phone. He spoke a bit louder now. "Mr. Tart's a little spontaneous with the work." He picked up his pencil and began scribbling little doodles onto his desk-- other faint marks around the desk have been made in the past. "He's not our actual teacher."

"I kinda figured that out. Ms. Shelley doesn't look like she'd be a shiny balding man."

Eddie snorted and smiled, Richie chuckled.

Some of the classmates slung their backpacks over their shoulders and exited the room. Richie stopped laughing for a moment, pointing at the door that now creaked quietly shut. "Where are they going?"

"Oh, who the fuck knows. People ditch this class all the time."

"Oh?" Richie smiled. Eddie noticed and shook his head.

"No."

"What?"

"No."

"Ok, fine, you don't have to come." Richie lifted his backpack. "But, just know, I'm insanely new to this area and I have no idea where anything is, so I'll probably need a tour guide."

Eddie rolled his eyes.

No one would see Eddie ditch.

Except today.

. . .

They walked through the halls, near the back entrance of the school.

"This way has less 'security'." Eddie put up air quotes.

Now it was awkward. Eddie's hands were shoved in his pockets, as were Richie's. Neither knew what to say. First impressions were hard, and some sucked, and they tried to make their's not suck.

Once they exited the building, they stopped and waited in the cool November air. Eddie squinted away from the sun, towards Richie.

"Where would you like to go?"

"Dude, I don't know jack shit about this town, you tell me." Richie looked over to Eddie and smiled.

Eddie rocked on his feet. "Do you like books?"