float | it

ix. jealousy

He nodded and Sarah walked out of the room.

Beverly chased after her.

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"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT RICHIE?"
Eddie screamed at him.

"WHAT?!"

"She slept over didn't she........"
Stan said.
There was an awkward silence as Richie stared at the floor.

"You gu-guys did-didn't--"

"NO! Bill! We would never do that. She was just scared. She had nowhere else to go.... so she slept over here.."

"If you guys slept on the same bed I'll throw up."
Eddie said, very clearly annoyed.

Richie looked at the floor and twiddled his fingers.

"Well..."

They all groaned and yelled.

"Alright! Calm your ass down. Nothing happened."

They all looked at him disbelievingly.

"Nothing. Happened."

They all sighed.

"Listen. I'm sorry about this. She came to me, I didn't go out of my way to hurt you guys. You know I wouldn't ever."

"Yeah but you clearly want her to like you more."
Eddie stated passive aggressively.

"And you don't?"
They all sat in silence.

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"Sarah! Sarah wait!"
Beverly grabbed her shoulder and turned her around.

She was crying terribly, and had a mortified look on her face.

"Be-Beverly."
She said as she tried to play it off like she wasn't sobbing her brains out.

"What was that?"
She said as she sat down with her in the parlor.

"Ri-Richie and I we-were...."

Beverly had the same stupid grin over her face.

"Did you...."

She looked confused.

"Kiss!"
She said in a hushed voice.

Sarah bit her lip and looked up at Beverly. Now she had the same grin across her face.

Beverly shot up out of excitement and began to screech, but with her mouth closed so no one would hear.

"Are you together now???"

"No.... he didn't really say anything about being together."

Beverly tried to calm herself as Sarah began to ask her question confusedly.

"Why do you care so much?"

Beverly suddenly became very nervous and began to stutter.

"We'll be-c-cause u-h well-"

Sarah had a stern look on her face.

Beverly sighed and fessed up.

"Well... I overheard the boys talking... and....we'll every one of them has a crush on you."

Sarah was shocked.

How?

When?

"Even Bill... and I... kinda like him. So if you and Richie were together, he might stop liking you."

Sarah laughed.

"You're -you're joking right? I mean, they can't all have a crush on me. Have you seen me? I'm freakin piano girl! I'm the weird kid across the street who's so weak they can't even unload a truck by them self. I'm ugly. I'm surprised  Richie likes me."

Beverly scoffed.

"If you were that ugly then how come they all adore you? You're one of those lucky clueless girls who say they're ugly when they're the opposite! So suck it up, and own it!"
She said as she stormed out of the room.

Shit.
Now even Beverly is angry?

Tears began to form in her eyes as she got up and began to open the door. She could hear the boys yelling at each other from upstairs.

What the hell have I done?

She said to herself as she closed the door behind her and began to walk home.

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