if you had asked richie if he was nervous, he would've said no. the truth, however, was that his hands felt sweaty and his heart was racing. he wasn't really nervous, and he'd lie until the end about it, but something about a new school always made richie a little bit scared.
richie had always moved around, so a new school was nothing abnormal for him. he was always fine after the first couple of days, settling in nicely and making a friend or two for the short while that he was there. richie never minded moving much, he felt like he made friends easily so it was never really hard for him to be comfortable in a new place.
he'd moved three times his senior year, derry high school being the final one he'd attend. graduation was only a few weeks away, and as much as it sucked to move to a brand new place four weeks before graduation, richie felt like he'd be fine. either way, he was only here for a little while.
richie stared at the piece of paper in his hands, before looking up to check the room number of the door in front of him.
"two-sixteen. two-sixteen, yeah." richie whispered, raising his arm and tapping the metal door with his fist twice before letting his arm drop back to his side.
a woman walked towards him, a smile on her face as she pushed the door open.
"hi," she whispered, stepping aside so that richie could walk into the room. "follow me."
the woman walked towards her desk in the front of the room. it was silent, nothing but the sound of pencils touching paper.
"what's your name?"
"richard. i go by richie, if that's alright." the woman nodded and smiled, grabbing a pen and scribbling richie onto a post-it note.
"alright. so, we're taking a quiz right now. tomorrow should be a normal day, so i'll get you up to speed with everything then. i'm going to put you in that desk over there, you see the red head?"
richie looked up, finding said red head and nodding slightly.
"perfect. you take this textbook, just bring it with you when you come to class. we're reading a book right now, so i'll get you a copy and give it to you tomorrow."
"okay, thank you." richie took the textbook and walked to the back of the room where the seat he was assigned was.
to his left, a girl with bright ginger hair sat. richie noted that she seemed to be finished with her work, as was reading and annotating a copy of little women.
richie slid into his seat silently, but it still caused the girl in the desk next to him to look over at him. she stared blankly for a moment before her eyes found his, and her cheeks went red. she smiled and looked back to her book.
seconds later, a note was on richies desk.
desk neighbors!!! how exciting!! welcome :)
he smiled as he read it before looking back to the girl, who was once again focused on little women.
it wasn't long before the bell rang loudly and everyone began to shift, rushing to get their papers on the table and get out of the door.
"hey! wait up!" richie heard behind him as he walked out of the room. the red headed girl rushed towards him, pulling her backpack up onto her shoulder.
"oh, sorry! hi!" richie said as she caught up with him. she shook her head, and continued walking forwards, signaling for richie to follow.
"no worries! i'm bev! are you new? i haven't seen you around."
"yeah, i just moved here from boston. i'm richie. nice to meet you." bev slowed so that they were walking side and side.
"do you have lunch now?"
"yeah."
"oh, perfect! would you want to sit with me and my friends? we have plenty of room, unless you've already got a place to sit." bev turned to face him as they approached the stairs that led to the first floor of the school.
"yeah, sure. i was just going to go to my car, so, yeah. thank you." richie smiled. he had been offered quite a few tables to sit at for his lunch period. truthfully, richie had been quite popular that day. but something about bev pulled him in. something about her just made him know that she'd be a friend.
the biggest, brightest smile flashed onto bevs face, and she did a little spin, causing her long skirt to bounce around.
"eee! i'm so happy you said yes, i would've been so embarrassed if you said no." bev giggled and linked her arm with richie's, dragging him to the library where her friends were sitting.
"bev, what is with you and picking up strays?" a shorter guy with honey blonde hair says, causing the other boy at the table to look up from the notebook that he's writing in.
"why are you being mean? he's normally not like that, i'm sorry." the other speaks. richie notes that he's got a slight stutter. his eyes are a piercing blue, and his hair is dark brown with a tinge of red.
"ben, darling. don't forget that you were also a stray. wasn't he billy?" bev laughed as she sat down, patting the spot next to her. richie assumed that it meant she wanted him to sit, so he did.
"she's right. he's just trying to be funny, it's a new thing he's been testing recently." the boy with the stutter says.
"oh, it's fine. i like to be funny too, i thought it was a good joke." richie smiled, looking over to ben, as bev called him.
"was it really that bad?" ben said with a faux frown.
"well, it wasn't good." bev laughed again, tapping richies shoulder. "richie, bill and ben. guys, richie. it's his first day."
"nice to meet you guys." richie said, repeating their names a few times in his head so that he didn't forget.
"same here. sorry for calling you a stray." ben laughed softly.
richie shook his head, and listened as the group began to start a conversation. he let his eyes wander around the library, looking at all of the faces and books that occupied it, before his gaze paused at a table.
a boy, who richie vaguely recognized, was sitting alone. his face was buried into a calculus textbook and he scribbled onto a notebook.
"whatcha looking at?" bev asked, following richie gaze.
"just, that guy. he looks familiar." bevs eyes finally landed on the boy.
"oh, eddie? he's in our english class. he sits in the desk in front of yours." bev turned back to bill and ben, expecting richie to do the same- but he didn't.
"eddie." richie whispered, letting his eyes stay fixed to the table eddie sat at.
"eddie is so...odd." ben said, tapping a pencil onto the table and causing richie to be pulled from his thoughts.
"odd?" richie was confused. eddie didn't look odd. sure he was doing calculus, but honestly richie was in pre-calc so it wasn't too odd. at least richie hoped it wasn't.
"yeah, eddie's, well. he's a special case." bill added on.
"what's wrong with him?" richie questioned.
"he's just, he doesn't really like anyone." ben answered.
"okay, wait. if you're going to tell it, at least tell it right. he's just always pissed off, or annoyed, or angry. it doesn't matter what's going on or how new a situation is, there's always one thing that you can count on: eddie's being mean." bev said plainly.
"but why?" richie pondered, really just not understanding.
"no one knows, it's just how he is." bill said.
"but he's so cute." richie stared at eddie, blatantly.
"yeah, until you try to have a conversation with him and he tells you that he's going to cut your brakes if you say another word." ben said, following it with a laugh.
"bev and eddie used to be like best friends." bill immediately regretted saying this, because bev kicked his shin under the table.
"we were not best friends." bev explained dryly. "his mom and my aunt were in some church book club thing when we were younger, and we just were around each other a lot."
"did he act like that then?" richie was curious, eddie didn't look like he could hurt a fly.
"he always has. he's just a little bit different. there's nothing wrong with him, he's just kind of an asshole."
richie looked back towards eddie, seeing that two other boys had joined him at the table.
"who are they?"
"oh, that's stanley and mike." bill stuttered.
"so he is capable of making friends."
"well, he only tolerates stan because he's mikes boyfriend. stan told me that himself." bill laughed as ben spoke.
"that's so crazy." bill replied, still laughing.
"okay, wait do i look like his type?" richie said as he looked back towards bill and ben, ignoring every ill word that his newly found friends spoke about eddie.
"i don't think he has a type, richie. he's never going to date." bev rolled her eyes.
"i think i could change his mind. he's so cute."
"i say we let richie go over there and find out for himself." ben suggested.
"you think i should go talk to him?" richie looked back to eddie again. he watched as eddie sat, face still deep in his calculus book while his friends spoke amongst themselves.
"if you this he's cute, richie. go ahead." bev said, growing tired of the conversation and wanting to talk about anything else.
"yeah, alright." richie stood up and turned towards the table eddie sat at. as he walked over, he could hear ben and bill full on laughing.
only when richie got close could he truly see how cute eddie was.
eddie's hair was dirty blonde, and his face was littered with freckles. his eyes were green and his eyelashes moved in slow motion as he blinked towards his textbook. richie was in awe, eddie was just beautiful.
"excuse me?" richie said, confidently. stan and mike cut their conversation to look over to him, but eddie just stayed silent, face in his book.
"hey, eddie? i think it's for you." mike spoke, causing eddie to look up at him, and then over to richie.
"who the fuck are you?" eddie said, his tone bored and distant.
"um, i'm richie. we have english together, it's my first day."
"okay?"
"i just wanted to come over and introduce myself, cutie. i couldn't stop staring and i know that's rude, so i had to come and say hello." richie smiled, trying his best to be smooth.
"i'm sure you just had to."
"yeah, haha. could i get your number maybe? take you to dinner soon or something?" richie continued.
"i don't have a phone." eddie grabbed his phone from the table and threw it into his backpack on the floor.
"i just saw it." richie laughed lightly, loving their dynamic already.
"no, you didn't because i don't have a phone."
"funny and cute. package deal." richie smiled, but eddie was unamused. he looked back down to his textbook without another word.
stan and mike watched the interaction, truly trying their best to hold back their laughter.
"so, about that phone number?" richie questioned, rocking on his feet.
"are you stupid?" eddie said without missing a beat. dropping his pencil with a sigh and slamming his textbook shut.
"if you want me to be."
"what i want is for you to be quiet and go back to whatever hole you crawled out of. you're talking my god-damn ear off."
"yeah, it's a gift." richie smiled sheepishly and shrugged.
"a gift like shit in a box. you're like, actually really annoying." eddie held eye contact, and even though he was saying the meanest things he possibly could, richie loved it. he absolutely ate it up. something about eddie was just so charming.
"i get that a lot, but it feels so good coming from you."
"do you have a humiliation kink?"
"are you into that? i could get behind it if you d-"
"i know that your glasses are already as thick as they come, but i think you might need to get your prescription upped. can you not see that i'm busy and that i don't want to talk to you?"
"you're just so pretty, i can't walk away." and eddie was. he truly was so pretty. richie just couldn't get enough.
"i'm not flirting with you, this isn't flirting. i genuinely want you to fuck off. like, are you dumb?" eddie's face was as serious as his tone, but richie wasn't breaking.
"i like my men feisty." richie shrugged. eddie rolled his eyes, turning completely in his chair to face richie.
"well, i don't like my men annoying, and arrogant, and incapable of shutting the fuck up. so unfortunately for you, you're not on my list." eddie frowned, clearly making fun of richie. but richie just smiled.
"i could change that, you know? i've been told that i'm very convincing." richie leaned over to table, propping his elbows onto it to hold himself up.
"are you sure that you didn't get convincing confused with conceited? you're very full of yourself for someone who has been taking insults for the past ten minutes."
"i'm in it to win it, baby. you're just addictive." richie swore he saw a smile on eddie's face for half of a second, but no one would ever believe him.
"can't say the same about you, you're truly sobering." richie tried to take the insult, but how could he with eddie's big green eyes looking at him like that?
"you have really pretty eyes."
"are you- god, i've never met someone so exasperating."
"so sorry to cut in here, but um, it really just doesn't seem like it's going to end." richie looked over to stan, who was smiling. "eddie is just unsocialized. don't blame him."
"i'm not unsocialized. i just don't like ignorant people." eddie jumped to his own defense.
"well, hold on, edgy, he was trying to be nice." mike spoke up. richie fixated on the nickname, replaying it in his head.
"i don't care what he was trying to do, he did it annoyingly."
"you should listen to your friends, ed's. let me take you to dinner." eddie looked like he was about to implode.
"what did you just call me?"
"ed's?"
"never call me that again."
"so there's going to be another interaction." richie smiled, and it was shit eating. he knew he was annoying eddie to death, but he couldn't help it. eddie just looked so cute when he was angry.
"i'd truly rather die than have one more moment of conversation with you."