Richie Tozier, a 15 year old freshman in Derry High School has faced a lot of scary things. But the scariest thing so far is definetly his sexuality and the hidden feelings he has developed for his hypochondriac, asthmatic best friend; Eddie Kaspbra...
I knock on Steph's door and wait. I hear her walk around, and she opens it.
"Is this fine?" I ask, gesturing down at my clothes.
She smiles, "Perfect," You got the flower?" She asks.
"It's in my room, but yeah," I tell her.
''Great, I'm almost ready. Just three more minutes." She tells me, shutting the door. I put my foot in the door, stopping it.
"Are you sure this is gonna work?" I ask.
"Rich," She says, lowering her voice," you said you two almost kissed yesterday. And I've seen you two together. There's not just friendship there." Steph reassures me.
All I can do is nod, adjusting my shirt. I'm wearing a yellow polo and khakis, but I refuse to wear anything but my sneakers. I even combed my hair and put on cologne. The nice cologne. I head back to my room, grabbing the flower. I catch myself in the mirror and study by myself for a moment. I look nice I guess. But will it even matter to Eddie?
"Richie, ready?" Steph calls from the hallway.
"Yeah," I call back. I grab my jean jacket and start to head out.
***
Steph parks in front of the stadium. The suns starting to go down, and the sky is a deep hue of red, pink, purple, blue and black. Butterflies move around in my stomach, and I tap my foot rapidly.
"Rich," She says," your gonna do just fine. Just remember to breath, smile, and don't make any mom jokes."
I nod.
"That's a bit hard. Ha, just like how I was last night with Mrs-"
She shoots me a glare and I shut my mouth.
"Sorry. Yeah, no mom jokes," I repeat back.
"Go get'em, tiger," Steph tells me, patting my shoulder.
We get out of the car and walk into the stadium. The team plays on the field, and people sit around in the stands, talking and cheering. Students and parents walk around, and the cheerleaders are doing their stunts down in front, pumping the crowd up. I walk over to the stands, avoiding a group of playing children. I duck down underneath them as popcorn falls down a foot from me. I spot Eddie over on the other side of the stands, standing with his arms crossed, looking off into space.
I start singing Eddie My Love as I get closer. He turns and sees me, smiling at the song. I stop a foot from him, getting to the chorus. I raise my voice, singing off pitch, but looking at him the whole time, swinging my hips around.
"Shut up, Richie." He groans.
I offer him the flower and he takes it, raising an eyebrow at me.
"What's this for?" He questions.
"I was wanting to ask you something..." I tell him, scooting closer. He doesn't move but seems to lean towards me.
"And that was?" He questions.
"About homecoming...."I say, my eyes falling down to his lips. I want to kiss him. I have for years, but this time could be different. I could actually kiss him.
"Homecoming..." Eddie mutters.
"If you would..." I trail off again, my hands finding his in the darkness.
"If I would..." Eddie almost whispers.
"Be my date..."My hands fall down to his waist, pressing myself against him.
And then I almost fall forward when he steps away quickly. I regain my balance and whip my head around to see Eddie, a terrified look on his face.
"Richie!" He exclaims, dropping the flower to the ground. I stare at him, my insides shattering.
"Stop joking around. It's not funny anymore. Betty doesn't like it when you do this." Eddie complains, trying to look annoyed.
I force a laugh, choking on a sob, "Aw, you reject me, Edwardo?" I joke.
Eddie glares at me, his arms crossed again.
"I'm gonna go back up to watch the game, you can come with if you want." He tells me, making his way back to the side entrance.
"Nah, I'm gonna go get popcorn." I lie, rocking back and forth on my feet.
I wait till he's out of sight before walking out the way I came. I feel like everything's crumbled into a million pieces. Like my heart was a little fly on a wall and Eddie's fly swatter called Betty came and put me out of my misery. I hold back tears and I search frantically for Steph. I spot her at a table with a few of her friends. I shuffle over, and she looks up at me.
"Steph, can we leave now please?" I ask.
"We just got here Rich and-" A loud firework goes off, signaling a touchdown.
"Steph, Evan just scored!" Someone shouts.
Steph rushes off, cheering with the crowd, running towards the fence looking for her boyfriend. I turn around and start to make my way out of the stadium, pushing past people, wiping the hot tears off my chin. I walk through the parking lot, practically blind now. I find myself at the bus barn and fall to the ground, letting myself go. I sob, the cheers of the people in the stands overlapping my screams of agony.
"I told you it was the four-eyed faggot." An all too familiar voice sounds from a few feet away. I look up, wiping my tears away to see Bower's old gang. Gordon in the lead, Sadler, and Jagermeyer behind him.
"Leave me alone, you fucking bone head!" I shout at him, forcing myself to stand. I wipe my nose on my sleeve, getting ready to fight these idiots.
"Get'em."
I'm wiped off my feet immediately. Even though I've grown plenty of height over the years I haven't grown much stronger. I fall hard to the gravel ground, tasting the rocks in my mouth. I spit, trying to get up as a foot comes and hits me in the ribs. I fall to the ground again, pain shooting through my body like electricity. And more feet come down on me, pounding on my back and bashing my sides. My whole body aches, inside and out. I can taste metal in my mouth, and the tears start to flow again. I can already see the bruises.
"Alright, alright," Gordon says. The kicking stops, and I gasp in a struggled breath. I lay motionless on the ground, too sore and scared to move.
Gravel crunches as Gordon walks over to me. He flips me over with his foot and grabs me by my shirt.
"Get out of our town, you queer!" He growls.
And his fist comes down. A flash of pain. And then darkness.
