richie and eddie were later reminded by the bell that they needed to leave the nurse's room. they both went their separate ways and suffered through their next periods until lunch.
richie walked with bill to lunch, his limp worse than it was in the morning. he was gonna have eddie help his leg, but they got sidetracked and just talked for thirty minutes.
"hey," richie greeted, falling into the table and sitting.
"your limp is progressively getting worse," stanley pointed out. eddie exchanged looks with richie, who looked down.
"who knows, maybe my ankle's broken," richie shrugged. beverly giggled.
"just have dr. k fix it right up for ya!" she said, pointing behind her to eddie with her thumb. eddie blushed and rolled his eyes.
"after school," eddie uttered.
"do you guys wanna hang out later? i never have anything to do at home," asked ben.
"we should! where?" asked beverly.
"we c-could go to the quarry?" bill suggested.
eddie watched richie's face fill with panic that he was trying to shove down.
"ehh, i'm not really in the mood for any water-related events," eddie said to cover for richie. he knew that richie just didn't want the losers seeing his leg.
"me neither," mike said with a shrug.
"yeah," stanley added.
"we could go to someone's house?" beverly suggested.
"we can't go to mine," stanley said.
"or mine," said bill.
"who's can we go to?" she asked, scanning the people that hadn't said anything.
"we can go to mine? my parents are out of town, so i have the place to myself," richie lied. eddie eyed him.
"alright! bet! we've never been there!" beverly cheered. richie faked a smile.
eddie leaned back, crossing behind beverly to tap on richie. the boy looked at eddie and leaned to him.
"are you sure?" eddie whispered.
"yeah!"
"what if.."
richie swallowed. "i don't think they'll be home. they beat me, then run away for like- a week—"
"who beats you??" beverly asked, turning behind herself to look at richie. luckily, no one heard it. richie looked at beverly, then glanced at eddie.
"no one?" richie tried to lie.
"uh-uh, don't lie. who?" she asked, dragging him back up and making him sit up normally.
"bowers," he shrugged. eddie waited impatiently for beverly to answer, worried for richie.
"oh," she said. "why would he run away? you said 'they', also."
"he's not here today, now is he?" richie asked. beverly paused.
"wait— are you saying he hurt you yesterday? is that why you're limping?!" she exclaimed.
"no, and shh!" richie said, grabbing her arm. he sighed once realizing no one was paying attention. "i fell. remember?"
"right. can i see your ankle?" she asked. richie bit the inside of his mouth.
"i.." he uttered. eddie stared him down, richie looking back at him. beverly watched the two, sighed, and stood.
