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CALLA braced herself against the brick wall after the rest of Richie's friends dropped their bikes to the ground while informing that they'd be right back.
"I'm glad I got to meet you before you died." Richie said causing Calla to frown and lift her wobbly head as she realized Richie was talking to the new kid, Ben.
All Ben could do was stare at the dark haired boy in disbelief at his blunt words. Calla scoffed as she slid down against the brick wall, her body beginning to feel really sore. She closed her eyes and placed her head back against the brick wall trying to calm herself down. She didn't want to think about the series of events that took place earlier this day. Calla knew if she would have toughened it out hanging out with Joey and her friends that none of this would have happened and that she wouldn't be so paranoid right now.
Something was out there. Calla could feel it from the red balloon to the sound of screaming in the barrens but she wanted to ignore it like she's learned to do these pass few months...
A nudging to her foot caused Calla to peel her eyes open to Richie who stood above her, "Hey...just wanted to make sure your not ya know, dead or anything. Dead bodies in an alley is way pass my limit. Although it might be cool to poke at."
Ben blinked at the words the slipped out of the boy's mouth. The dark haired thirteen year old sure knew how to put his foot in his mouth but Ben's dark green eyes trailed over to the sun-kissed girl that had her head resting against the wall. She was in the same position that he was in and he wanted to ask her how but he didn't know if...if she would want to talk to him. Ben knew about Calla Mayta's work and actually admired it, he found himself analyzing her pieces when they were hung up on the walls around school or in the glass cases. It bothered Ben to witness the Bowler's gang destroy one of her pieces that year. It was a painting of a woman, a realism painting of a dark haired woman holding her fingers outwards. Inside the lines of the woman's identity were two people, one of them happened to a baby girl and the other a man. Ben figured it to be Calla's mother and the boy found himself in awe at the amount of detail Calla placed into that painting and wondered how long it took to finish it. She was definitely talented. Ben rarely saw Calla around school and when he did, she was always covered in paint or her fingers were smudged. She walked alone, seemed not to talk much and Ben was always too nervous to say anything to her.
The dark blond haired boy watched Calla from his spot on the broken crate he currently sat on, wondering how she would handle Richie Tozier.
Calla took a small inhale wincing a little as she did so, "If I died in this alleyway I'd make sure to personally haunt you first, Tosser."
Ben raised his brows at that noticing the tone Calla had taken with the boy with glasses. It was like a silent tennis match watching the two interact. Richie pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his thin shaped nose while pressing his tongue into his cheek, "Huh. And I thought you couldn't love me anymore than you already do, Calla! It'd be a honor to be haunted by a babe like you. I truly mean that."
