ghosts & skeletons

richie tozier gets a job.

[RICHIE]

september 3, 1991

richie woke up dripping wet because someone had decided to throw a glass of water at him.

"stanley, I will murder you"

"you can't, I'm already dead"

"is this how every morning will go?"

"yes, now get out of your bed, lazy fuck"

"I hate you so much now" richie muttered under his breath but stanley heard him and laughed.

•

when richie arrived at his lunch table, he saw bill sitting with the rest of the losers. needless to say, he wasn't surprised because eddie could convince anyone to do anything.

"well hello there billiam," richie said as he sat down between him and eddie. "it's been quite a while, even I was worried"

"n-nice to s-see you mi-missed me, r-richie. I d-didn't miss the n-nicknames th-though"

"come on, billiam is absolutely wonderful, it suits you perfectly, right eds?"

"don't you dare call me that, richie" eddie said with a menacing glare that scared absolutely no one.

"eds, eds, eds."

"motherfucker"

"see, I agree with that, your mom last ni-"

"shut the fuck up, richie"

"sure, eddie spaghetti"

"oh that's even worse"

beverly snickered. "it's like watching an old married couple"

"no it's not!" both of them said defensively at the same time.

"see, you even talk at the same time"

richie threw a spoonful of mashed potatoes at beverly.

"christ richie, I'll get you back for that one"

"yeah, I'd like to see you try bev"

"you'll regret this richie" she said and left their lunch table.

•

it was math again and richie couldn't concentrate when eddie was sitting right there next to him, he never could. math had always been fairly easy for him which was an awesome thing since he was also great at not listening to their math teacher. how could anyone so boring turn into a math teacher? it's like they choose the dullest people for the job, so they can bore the students to death.

but that day, richie was prepared. he wasn't going to listen to dullman drone about equations all fucking day. no, he was going to listen to music. he had brought his walkman and he just started to play master of puppets by metallica a million times. it's not like dullman would even notice him, as he was sat in the far corner of the classroom.

at one point, eddie told richie to lower the volume since he could hear kirk hammett's loud guitar from his seat and richie just flipped him off and turned the volume up. yes, at this rate he was going to be deaf before graduation but he didn't care, as long as he could annoy eddie.

when the bell rang, richie didn't hear it so eddie hit his head lightly so could notice that everyone was leaving.

"thanks, eds"

"don't call me that"

"whatever you say eds"

•

today was richie's first day at his new job which he thought was extremely boring. he was going to work four days a week after school at the grocery store close to eddie's house because that was the only job he had bothered to look for the day before. yes, it was extremely stupid, since it wasn't near his home but he could bike to it easily. he definitely didn't do it so he could see eddie as much as possible.

by the time it was five, richie was already dying of boredom. hardly anyone came in since it was a small town and people usually do their shopping in the morning. he had nearly dozed off when he heard some voices that were vaguely familiar.

"come on eddie, it'll be fun, I promise, and it'll look great on you"

richie recognized beverly's voice instantly and started to listen because what could she be up to now? he could hear their voices but they were too low, they had probably gone to an aisle that was far away from the cash register. richie was about to die of curiosity when they suddenly appeared in front of him, probably suprised to see him there.

"richie, what are you doing here?"

"nothing, just working. this is the new job I managed to get yesterday"

"interesting, I never thought you'd get a job, you're such a lazy slob. now, we'd like to make a purchase" beverly said, setting a bottle of white nail polish on the counter.

"that would be eight dollars," richie said, waiting to be paid but none of them gave him the money. "come on, which of you is going to pay"

"I don't have any money" eddie shrugged and beverly did the same.

"wait, you're telling me that you came to buy stuff but none of you brought any money?" beverly nodded again upon hearing richie's words and eddie just had a sorry expression on his face. "fine, I'll pay it for you, now go away before I regret this"

"thanks 'chee," eddie said, kissing richie's forehead (while the boy was trying not to blush profusely) and grabbing the white bottle before leaving with beverly.

richie sighed, thinking it was definetley worth losing eight dollars for that. richie was absolutely in love with eddie but he wasn't ready to admit that to himself yet.

richie desperately looked at the clock. it was 5:15, meaning that he still had 45 minutes left of absolute torture. he reminded himself that the reason that he was putting up with this was to be able to buy an electric guitar. richie had chosen the one he wanted, it was a black fender that cost exactly 312 dollars at the pawnshop in derry.

richie had calculated everything carefully. he was working 12 hours a week at a minimum wage which was 4.25 per hour. that meant he gained 51 dollars a week and in two months he would finally have enough money to buy the guitar. that is, if he stopped playing street fighter.

richie ran out of money halfway through the summer so he began stealing some from his father. he couldn't risk to keep on doing it because his father might be an idiot but everyone notices when 100 dollars disappear out of thin air.

guitar funds: -8.00