it was finally the day fight. the day before, during detention, richie and Henry didn't speak again after they decided they were going to have a fight, which was actually ridiculous.
richie and eddie didn't speak to each other either, even though eddie was extremely concerned about richie's safety. henry bowers was nearly 8 inches higher than richie and everyone could notice the high difference.
also Henry was way stronger than him.
now they were on neibolt street, standing in front of the scary house and waiting for richie to show up.
"of course he's not going to show up, richie's a pussy." somebody said on the background.
apparently all high school students heard the rumor of a fight between bowers and trashmouth. they were all there to see richie get beat up.
eddie was standing on his own in front of the crowd when a teenage boy walked next to him.
"hey eddie." he said waving at him.
eddie turned around and looked at him.
"oh, hey ben. i didn't think you would come."
"are you kidding?" he said showing him a bag full of popcorn. "everybody's here to watch the scene."
eddie sighed.
"i just hope richie doesn't get hurt..." he said with soft voice.
"oh no. he's definitely going to die." eddie glared at him when ben said that. "popcorn?" he said offering his bag.
eddie gave him a disgusting face and looked at the empty pitch again. there he was: Henry bowers waiting for his adversary.
"i can't believe richie accepted that." a girl said next to eddie not so far away.
"yeah. why would he do that?" another boy asked her.
"i h-heard he was try-trying to protect som-meone but i-i never got to know w-who."
eddie recognized that stutter: it was bill denbrough. so he quickly knew who he was with: beverly marsh and stanley uris.
"richie's a fucking trashmouth, that's the problem." Stanley said.
eddie still couldn't see them but he knew they weren't far away.
"stop insulting him, okay?" bev demanded with an annoyed tone. "he takes bad decisions but you don't have to go hard on him."
it was then when eddie knew he liked beverly.
the three teenagers kept talking and eddie was there listening their conversation when all the crowd went suddenly silence.
richie had arrived.
eddie stared at him without hesitation; he wasn't wearing a hawaiian shirt for once: he was dressed all in black with ripped jeans. eddie thought he looked badass.
Henry started to laugh at him as soon as richie stopped in front of Henry.
"wow. you think you're going to win wearing some dark shit clothes like you're an emo?"
"i fucked your mom." was the only think richie said.
Henry's face became red with anger.
"you take that back!"
"make me, trashcan." he provoked him.
Henry thew himself on top of richie and started punching him everywhere. Richie was trying to fight back but Henry was already on top of him.
eddie felt a horrible pain on his chest while seeing his crush getting beat up. 'he has to have a plan. this can not be it.' eddie told himself.
but the seconds passed by and the scene didn't change.
it wasn't until someone spoke up when he could finally breathe.
"hey! get away from him!" Beverly stood up.
Henry looked away from richie and glazed at the beautiful girl.
"or what?"
then, somebody threw a pebble at him. Henry screamed madly and looked for his offender.
"who the fuck-"
"i-it was me." bill said walking in front of the crowd.
bill looked at the richie's fucked up face and then gulped. beverly also copied him and stood next to him. so did Stanley.
"look at the losers club over there." Henry scoffed. "are you going to help your faggot friend because he's to weak he can't defend himself?"
the losers looked at each other clueless on what to do now when another voice spoke up.
"did i tell you i fucked your mom?" richie said softly and spitting blood of his mouth.
Henry was going to punch him again when another pebble hit him. and another... and another...
"stop it!" Henry said angrily. "this isn't fair."
"it's not my fault you don't have any friends, bowers!" Stan yelled.
and he was kinda right. neither victor, belch, patrick or Mike showed up to the fight.
"fuck you!" Henry said running away from the rock fight. "fuck all of you!"
when he was finally gone, all the audience started whispering to each other and in less than ten minutes they were all gone.
richie was still on the floor when bev, stan and bill ran towards him and tried to help him.
eddie just stared there, on the distance, next to ben eating popcorn, and watching the scene wishing he could be next to richie to help him.
"shit richie. are you dumb?" bev told him while cleaning his face with a tissue.
"oh, so you can call him dumb but i can't?" stan objected.
richie smiled shyly but suddenly regret it because the action hurt so much.
"he needs me-medical help and we d-d-don't have the su-supplies for that." bill said.
they all sighed and looked away when suddenly noticed eddie and ben staring there.
"hey guys." bev said caressing richie's dirty hair. "can you help us?"
eddie gulped. and so did ben, who instantly threw his popcorn away.
"p-please..." bill insisted.
eddie knew he could help. one hour before the fight he put most of his medical supplies inside a fanny pack in case richie would need help. and now it was his moment to shine.
so he nodded and walked towards them.
"he's hurt badly..." eddie noticed once he kneeled next to him.
"we know." stan said. "do you have any-"
"believe me when i say I've got everything." eddie said unzipping his fanny pack. "i'm kind of a germ phobic so yes."
eddie looked down at richie's hurt face and took out a bandage from his fanny pack.
he started cure him when richie spoke.
"glad i got to meet you before i died." he joked.
eddie giggled and kept spilling alcohol on his bruises. once his face was clean, eddie noticed he had a split lip and a black eye.
"can you go get me something?" eddie asked.
"jesus! what do you need?" ben said, worried.
"go get my bifocals." eddie answered, still focused on richie.
ben looked around.
"i hid 'em in my second fanny pack." eddie talked again.
"why do you have two fanny packs?" stan joined, curious.
"i need to focus right now and it's a long story."
ben got them and handed to eddie.
//
15 minutes later
richie was still hurt but he was feeling better after eddie helped him.
the losers were all gone now, including ben, and eddie was walking richie home. even though richie told him a lot of times he was feeling okay now, he still staggered when walking so eddie wasn't so sure.
"i didn't know we were practically neighbors." richie said, breaking the ice.
the streets were incredibly silence.
"well, i technically live a few streets away but-"
"that's my house." richie informed stopping in front of a modest house.
eddie did the same.
"oh, well then-"
"wanna come in?"
eddie was paralyzed.
"i-i actually need to be home by 9 p.m. so-"
richie walked to his house and opened the front door widely.
"that's in a half an hour." he told him turning around at him. "your house can't be more than 5 minutes away from here."
eddie looked at his coffee eyes and sighed.
"you're right. but my mom-"
"please. just ten minutes." richie begged. "you literally saved my life. i just want to thank you."
the teenagers stared at each other until eddie gave up.
"fine." he said slowly walking to his house. "ten minutes."
"whatever you say, eds."
eddie rolled his eyes at the nickname but the secretly loved it.
maybe his feelings weren't as one-sided as he thought.