RICHIE T./ FINN W. IMAGINES.

iii. bully

"look at her, she's pathetic."

these were the whispers that followed you as you scrambled to pick up your biology notes. the high school kids had come after the bell rang to pick on you once again. but this was no more than the daily schedule and by now, you were used to this kind of mistreatment.

middle school was a harsh environment and if you didn't have a friend to go through it with, you wouldn't survive. and you were just in the brink of surviving. your grades weren't terrible, you liked art and gym and none of your teachers had a problem with you. but your social issue was much different.

you grabbed your bio binder and set off towards the buses, hoping that you hadn't missed it. you ran towards the door-just as your bus, bus 49, drove away. you sighed in frustration and ran your hand through your hair as you walked back into the hot, humid school. you decided that you would just sit outside and do homework until the next bus came.

you plopped her backpack down and took a seat in the shade on the pebble littered floor. you plugged her ear phones in your ears and listened to the faint hum of singing as you started your math homework.

by the time you finished the front side of the worksheet, you heard laughter and footsteps growing louder as you turned your head. a group of the most popular girls and their boyfriends were making their way over. you recognized one of the boys as richie, your old best friend from elementary school. that ended when richie hit puberty and girls started thinking he was cute. it started with inviting him to their lunch table and ended in a total destruction of your's and his friendship.

the group joked to each other and laughed as they grew closer and closer to where you were working.

"look, it's little miss loser!" shrieked one of the girls as she spotted you and pointed a fat finger.

richie and his friends looked up and saw you. the others walked faster towards her, but richie scratched the back of his neck anxiously and looked around before following them.

"what's this? a formula for a chemical to make you less ugly?" one of the boys laughed, snatching the notes that you were studying out of your hands and inspecting it.

"no, i need that-" but your desperate plea was drowned out but the rip rip of of your notes. you watched silently as they fell to the floor in pieces.

"let me handle this, jason," one of the girls stepped up. she seemed to be the leader of her friend group. she walked up to you and bent down on one knee so that only you could hear her say, "you think you're the shit, don't you? you think you're so smart and that you aren't as much of a piece of shit as everyone thinks you are, right? well guess what, you hoe? you are," she swung her fist back, gaining momentum to hit you, who was cowering in the corner, covering your face with your hands when richie stepped up and said, "no!"

the girl turned to him. "what is it now, tozier, you got feeling for the school slut?"

"all of you better leave her alone right now, or else i'll call the dean!" he said threateningly, shooting them fiery glances. looking shocked and disgruntled, they treaded off into the distance.

"t-thanks," you muttered as you gathered the pieces of your ripped up notes.

richie pulled two papers out of his backpack. "here, you borrow mine for right now."

"why are you being so nice to me again? you've acted like a stranger for the past three years and now suddenly we're buddy buddy again?"

"i'm sorry, y/n," he frowned sadly. "popularity went to my head. i loved the attention i was getting and i forgot about you. but you know what i loved even more than attention?"

"what?"

"our friendship. i miss sharing snacks and laughing so hard we'd get tummy aches. i miss making fun of mean teachers and arguing over the homework answers. but most of all? i miss your smile." richie wrapped an arm around you and held you close to him as you became friends once again.