Pure • Stanley Uris

7

Would y'all be mad if I made Reddie a thing in this book...?

"I think I sprained my finger."

"You didn't sprain your fucking finger. Shut up."

"Why don't you shut up?"

Richie and Eddie had been arguing back and forth for what seemed like hours. In reality, it'd been five minutes.

"Why don't you both just shut up?!" I said loudly. Eddie rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "He started it." Richie scoffed. "Did I? Did I start it, Eddie spaghetti? You're the one complaining about your stupid finger, moaning like a fucking pornstar about it." He said.
"Okay, but like, how do you even know what a pornstar sounds like? Cause whenever I'm at your house and I ask if you have porn you change the subject!" Eddie countered, a suspicious look crossing his face.

"Jesus Christ! Shut up!" I screamed. "Why are you both being so obnoxious?" I asked. "Because— um... I dunno." Richie said with a shrug. "I don't even remember why we came to your house." Eddie mumbled. "Yeah... me neither." I said under my breath. "Okay— I was having a good day and you two just waltz in here—"

"Oh now I remember!" Richie said with a snap of his fingers. "Beverly said to come to her house." He said. "How could you just forget—?" Eddie asked. "You forgot too!" Richie yelled.

"What the fuck is going on?" My brother called from the other room. "Shit! Hide—" I heard his feet as he practically stomped down the hall. I opened the closet and shoved them inside. I sat down on the couch and pretended to watch tv. A stupid sitcom was on. Perfect.

"Whatd'ya mean?" I asked, looking up from the couch. "I heard talking in here." He frowned. "It was probably the tv." I said, staring at him like he was stupid. "Yeah— okay." He picked up the remote and turned the volume down. "Just be quiet. I'm tryna do something." He mumbled walking off. "I'll be leaving soon anyway." He stopped dead in his tracks. "Where you going?" He asked. "I- I wanted to get snacks for tonight. I thought we could watch a movie." He stared at me. "I thought we had snacks. Dad just went shopping." I felt like if he stared any harder his eyes would burn right through me. "I want chips and we don't have any. Plus I wanna go to the arcade and see if I left my jacket there." I lied. "Hmm... you know I worry about you, Iris. No friends except that Marsh girl." He said, seemingly dropping the subject. "I just like to be alone sometimes. Mila was like that too." He shook his head and walked off again, but not before saying, "That's why I worry."

Once he was gone, I opened the closet door and let out the two boys. "Alright lets go." Richie shuddered. "No offense, but your brother creeps me out." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. I guess psycho runs in the family."

"Bye Donny!" I yelled. He didn't respond but I assumed he heard me.

"What's even going on at Beverly's anyway?" Eddie asked as we were walking down the street. "Dunno... I think Bill said something about Georgie."

"Beverly kidnapped Georgie?!" Eddie joked, his eyes going wide. Richie cackled. "Shut the hell up." He said. I rolled my eyes, trying not to laugh at the dark joke. "Does he really expect to find his brother?" I asked quietly. "Don't you want to find your sister?" Eddie asked me. "Well..." No, not really. "We have to be practical. I don't wanna spend my whole summer chasing something that's not there. I've got shit to do."

That was a lie. Really I only had summer school, which I never went to anyhow. I tried to go at least once a week— or whenever Henry Bowers showed up at my doorstep offering to drive me. My parents thought he was a saint. He probably only did it cause my brother was sucking him off— oops. I wasn't supposed to know about that.