.: Friday I'm In Love :|: Reddie :.

Placebos

Finals were approaching. It was nearing the end of May, and seniors got out of school in the very first week of June while the other grades had to suffer through more of that hellhole. Graduation preparations were being held and everyone was buzzing with excitement.

Today, Richie found himself sitting in Mr. Epping's room during his free period. He watched the man for a few minutes, but he knew that he was welcome even if the teacher didn't say anything. The man was more of a 'You can come to me if you need anything' type of guy. He wouldn't try to force it out of anyone. Richie watched him grade papers and he suddenly realized how much he was going to miss the guy. He'd been his English teacher almost every year of high school.

"Hey Jake," he said suddenly, an instinctive smirk wriggling its way into his face as he called the man by his first name. Ever since he had heard the librarian, Sadie, call him that, he wouldn't let it go. The man had strongly opposed it at first, but eventually gave up on contradicting him.

"Yes, Mr. Tozier?" Jake looked up from his papers, raising an eyebrow. Richie got up from his desk in the back corner and walked up the aisle, sitting on top of the front row desk that was right in front of the other guy. He hesitated, fidgeting a little bit with his hands.

"Am I allowed to ask for personal advice?" He asked quietly. Then he thought about it a little bit, and his face contorted. "Actually, fuck it, I'm a senior, I can ask you whatever I want." Richie smiled as Jake laughed, putting down the pen he had been using to grade papers.

"Be my guest, Richie." The warmth in his voice made Richie feel happy. Not a lot of adults talked to him with that kind of voice, not even when he had been younger. To his father, he had always been just another bill to pay. His mother hardly even knew he was there lately. In fact, he wasn't even sure she was there.

"Well.. I have this.. friend. I care about him very much." Richie blushed a little bit under Jake's knowing gaze. He was too wise for Richie's own good. "His mom kind of kicked him out for personal reasons... She used to make him take these medications every single day, even though he wasn't sick, and I mean every day for almost eighteen years of his life, Mr. Epping. But when she kicked him out, he couldn't get them anymore." Richie swallowed thickly, tears turning in his head as he tried to word what he wanted to say properly.

"What I'm saying is, he's been having really bad side effects since he stopped taking them, and he thinks it's because they were real medication, but I think it's something else. I don't think any of his medicine was real, Mr. Epping, and if you knew Sonia Kaspbrak then you'd believe me." Richie averted his eyes, looking instead up at the clock in the wall as it ticked ever so slowly. "I think it's some sort of anxiety-induced thing. Panic attacks when he thinks too hard about it. But.. He isn't eighteen until September."

"So you're worried that if you try to get something diagnosed then they'll say no until his mother is there to agree to it?" Jake asked. Richie hesitated, then nodded a little.

"Yeah, something along those lines. We got into a bit of an... accident, I guess you could call it, about a month ago, and his anxiety has been through the roof ever since. The only reason my friends and I were able to get him out of the hospital was because his mother is his only emergency contact and she refused to come get him. Don't you need parental consent to get medication for anxiety unless you're a legalized adult?"

Jake nodded slowly, and when Richie looked at him he could tell he was thinking really hard.

"Here's what I think. I don't know this boy. If his medications really were placebos and he had been taking them for that long, then there is a very good chance that you're right, because all those years of taking them must have built up a pretty strong sense of dependency. That's how placebos work. The human mind is amazing, isn't it? We can trick ourselves into believing almost anything." Jake smiled a little bit, leaning back in his chair and scrolling through his phone. "Then again, I'm not really a medical expert, am I?"

"I guess not... I just hate seeing him so helpless, you know? It can get really bad." Richie frowned, picking up his bag and hauling it over his shoulders. The period was nearly over. Jake just smiled grimly.

"I think, Mr. Tozier, that the best thing you can do for him is exactly what you're doing. As of right now, you are his anxiety medicine. Only a few more months until September, right? Just try to keep yourselves in check until then." Jake picked up his hat and put it on his head, standing up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm on lunch break." Richie laughed, standing up as well.

"You're really cool, Mr. Epping. I'm going to miss you." He waved, and walked to the door, pausing to glance over his shoulder once more.

"You're not so bad yourself, Tozier. Not so bad at all."