Authors note: the next 15 chapters or so are a little shorter and less advanced as they are currently under revision. Please don't mind the shorter sentences or paragraphs! They were my first draft and I'm working on fixing them. It gets better after that point! :)
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Whatever affection had fueled the fire inside of Elle continued to stir, providing warmth to Eddie's defrosting soul. Every day that he'd sit across from his friend, for once, the sun would begin to creep its way out from behind the clouds again.
Infinite hues of bright white light fractured the space in between the ruffling clouds, deepening the consistent hue of sapphire in the sky. There was something so beautiful and alluring about possessing something that you never thought you'd want. And for Eddie, that was friendship.
His presence had swallowed her so whole that she barely felt the cutting of Beverly's eyes against her every time she'd walk into the same vicinity. Sharp glares made up for the words that she didn't say. Richie wasn't any better, consistently disregarding her presence so that he wouldn't have to be dejectedly reminded of how stupid he was for ever thinking that someone actually cared.
Rain followed him in a cloud that was brutally darker than the angelic one that seemed to be hovering around the pair of friends that he had been informally excluded from.
He tossed a quick glance towards the table that inhabited Elle and Eddie, twisting his mouth into a downward crease. Bill and Stan were too afraid to ask if something was wrong, not wanting to relive that day on the sidewalk while they were walking home. So, they persisted with their regular conversations.
"Wh-What are the plans for this weekend?" Bill asked, tearing his sandwich in half again.
Despite how oblivious Richie seemed to be regarding the ongoing world around him, Bill was still well aware that he needed to eat. He didn't care if he would get a snarky remark back, what mattered was that he didn't have to watch Richie perish like a paper doll.
Richie stared into the open room as Bill's voice flowed through like static noise. The amount of times he had to collide his shoe with the side of his ankle was beginning to leave a small band of red across his skin, a bruise that hasn't quite risen to the occasion yet. Stammers carried into his ears only to whither away again repeatedly. If he wasn't so weighed down with gloom, he would've been... floating, it seems. Numbness consumed every cell -- he was the static noise.
He rested on Elle one more time, analyzing the way she had been so welcoming towards Eddie. A heart that had single handedly built the bridge between the kid's aversion and his internal wish. Richie bit through his tongue secretively, wondering why he had to be so fucked up that he burned his own bridge with the obnoxious fire inside of him.
"I was thinking the quarry. Summer is coming to a close soon. We better put the rest of the warm weather to good use," Stan suggested. Richie heard this part, though, because his attention had been grasped again once Bill passed over his portion of lunch.
Bill sat with fewer items than he had given to Richie, but again, the only thing that mattered to him was ascending the boy's calorie intake. He might not have a little brother to care for anymore, but that instinct doesn't just carry away. His element was rooted purely in nurturing. "I-I agree. Wh-What about y-you, Rich?"
Richie shrugged flatly, dipping his head towards his lap. "Sure."
He kicked himself again once he realized how bland he was being and how little he had said. "I mean of course. Sounds like fun. Maybe even better than fucking your sister," he remarked, trying to give a fake smile to convince Stan and Bill that he was alright.
The pair looked at him suspiciously, but nonetheless turned back towards each other and continued making their plans for the upcoming weekend as fog embraced Richie again.
Despite the fact that Richie and Beverly hadn't been paying any mind to Elle, Eddie occupied the void that the sudden loss had given to her. The words he spoke were flowery and soft, growing gardens of adoration. He was so cute. A puppy sort of cute. He was feisty, too, like a Chihuahua. Elle thought of this analogy and smiled faintly to herself, leaving him wondering what was so funny. He didn't mind, though. He thought she was cute too.
As Eddie was about to retreat to his classroom once lunch had ended, Elowynn made it a point to hook onto him before he could go far, "Be careful walking down these halls by yourself, okay? Bowers is... always around. He's like a prowess on the hunt. And he's also-"
"Fucking crazy," Eddie finished, a snarky grin pulling on the ends of his mouth. "Of course. You be safe, too. I know he's not really after girls, but some guys think with their dicks. So just be careful."
Cough syrup and cherry chapstick intertwine from the smaller boy, giving off a scent that is so perfectly synonymous with who he is. His eyes lifted to meet hers, innocent flecks of honey braided into his eyes.
Hurt him and I'll fucking kill you, Bowers. I swear to God.
Elle only nodded in polite departure, "See you tomorrow, kid. If he comes around, float like a butterfly and sting like a bee."
Eddie pulled his backpack further into his straightened spine, smiling proudly. Someone actually had faith in him. She believed that he could fight back, for once, instead of only fighting against. "I'll see you too, Lively," he turned away gracefully.
The end of every lunch break was met with Elle sorting out various notebooks inside the confinement of her locker. This pattern did not falter; every day, every week of every month, she could be seen with her poised posture blocking whatever it was she was organizing. Once she stabilized the objects, there would almost always be someone waiting behind her.
As of recently, it was Richie waiting for a touch up on his lip, and before then, it was Beverly focusing in on the girl's many idiosyncrasies. After the events that had unfolded during the days proceeding this, there was no Bev waiting patiently. There was no Richie, either.
But there was a certain stutterer.
"Eh-Elle, is it?" Bill struggled to ask, approaching her slowly. His tone was low and careful, distant in a way that almost seemed too close. Talking to 'strangers' wasn't something that he considered to be one of his best qualities, so he was sure to be reluctant in the way he presented himself.
The words came from behind her in all of their fragile glory. Despite how cautious the question was, it still caused her shoulders to tense up, not backing down until she turned to meet his gentle features with her tan ones.
"Bill," she noted, sounding more like a question than an observation. The more she continued to pull in the creation of his face, the more comfortable she became. A smile faded into her lips. "Hey, what's up?"
Now equally as relaxed, Bill straightened up from where he had previously been curling away. "SSS-Sorry to interrupt. I-I just wanted to thank you for what you did for Rih-Richie last week. It really helped him out. Nobody's ever d-done something like that for h-him before, apart from Stan and I-I."
He wasted no time in pausing, afraid he'd stop speaking all together if he did. "W-We wanted to know if you wanted to j-join us at the quarry this weekend. T-to pay you back."
The gratitude captured Elle's heart and ran with it. She helped Richie. Richie helped her. They had a good thing going, she thinks, if it weren't for his sudden turn of emotions. "Of course. I was happy to help. I wouldn't want him to like, go to jail for theft or something at the age of 17. Seems like a waste of his life," she lied.
Why she had really done it echoed in her mind. Richie; cradling his only hope of survival in his narrow arms. Worry washing over his eyes in currents that swept her in. Every word caught in the back of his throat, being painfully pulled back by the trauma stirring in the darkness. That's why she did it. For Richie, not for his future.
"You don't need to pay me back," she insisted, unable to help the expansion of her smile. "It's fine. Really."
"S-So, you don't want to come?" Bill reassured, slightly disappointed that his attempts to form some kind of alliance had been shot down. "St-Stan and I were talking about it and we both uh-agreed..."
Her head shot up quickly, disregarding all else. "What about Richie?"
Bill shook his head. "D-Didn't run it by him. But I f-figured he'd be fine with it, since y-you've been talking and all."
She tried casting her face as dead-panned and unbothered as possible, but ultimately failed when her lips insisted they needed to upturn in a smirk. "I'll be there, Bill. Thanks."
If you want to run from me you're going to need to go faster than that, Tozier.