Bruised 🎈Eddie Kaspbrak Fanfiction 🎈

°🎈5🎈°

🎈 CHAPTER 5🎈

*•°Eddie's POV°•*

"Nessa is late!" Richie announced, his voice dripping with manufactured annoyance. He was already bouncing on the balls of his feet, impatient for the day to start.

"She's probably getting dolled up," Stanley stated, a knowing smirk playing on his lips.

"For who?" Richie asked. And for some reason, as if on some secret signal, all of them turned to look at me. Their smirks were a silent, teasing chorus.

"What?" I asked, my voice coming out a little too high. I genuinely didn't understand the weight of their stares, but my cheeks began to burn anyway.

"You're both so oblivious, it's sad to watch," Stanley said, rolling his eyes as he turned back to the quarry's edge.

We lined up, a row of boys looking down at the glittering water below, the unofficial start to our summer ritual. We cleared our throats, preparing for the sacred, disgusting spit competition. Each of us took a turn, launching our respective loogies into the abyss.

"Lay it out," I said, the self-appointed judge.

With each spit, Richie had a commentary.

"Oh my, God." "So easy." "Poor tree." "So easy!"

My turn came last. I hawked one up with all the force I could muster, but it just dropped pathetically in front of my feet, swallowed by the dirt.

"Oh my god, that was terrible. I win," Richie declared, puffing out his chest.

"You won?" I asked, a flare of irritation cutting through my usual calm. He was such a cheater.

"Yeah."

"Did you see my loogie?" I pointed at the sad, damp spot. "That went the furthest. It's by distance."

"Mass," Richie countered, pushing his glasses up his nose. "It's always been mass."

"What is mass?" Ben asked, looking genuinely confused.

"Who cares how far it goes?" I argued, my voice rising. "It matters how cool it looks. Like, it's green, or it's white, or juicy and fat." I knew I was right. I also knew, with a sudden, aching certainty, that if Vanessa were here, she'd be on my side. She always understood the rules.

My internal argument was cut short by a sound that made my heart stutter.

"We'll go!"

Her voice. It rang through the quiet of the quarry like a song, instantly commandeering all my attention. We all turned as one.

Vanessa and Beverly were there, shucking off their summer dresses to reveal bathing suits underneath. Before any of us could process it, they were running past us, a blur of laughter and flying hair.

"Sissies!" Beverly yelled over her shoulder.

They leaped off the edge, two graceful arcs against the blue sky, and sliced into the water below with barely a splash.

"What the fuck!" Richie yelled, his jaw practically on the ground. He turned to us, eyes wide behind his thick lenses. "Oh, holy shit, we just got showed up by two girls."

"Do we have to do that now?" Stanley asked weakly, gesturing to the spot where the girls had jumped. They were treading water now, looking up at us with challenge in their eyes.

"Come on!" Beverly yelled, beckoning us.

"Oh, shit," Stanley muttered.

I looked at Ben, who was already waving down at them with a goofy, smitten grin. One by one, we jumped. The cold water was a shock, but my focus was singular: stay close to Vanessa. I didn't trust Richie not to get some stupid idea, like dunking her or starting a splash war that would inevitably overwhelm her.

And of course, a splash war began. Vanessa, shrieking with real, unguarded laughter, kept darting behind me, using me as a human shield against Richie's aquatic onslaught.

"Vanessa, you can't hide behind Eddie forever!" Richie taunted.

But I hoped she would. I loved the feeling of her hands briefly gripping my shoulders for balance, the sound of her laughter so close to my ear. For once, a true, bright smile stayed on her face for more than a few seconds, and I felt a ridiculous surge of pride, as if I were somehow responsible for it.

Then Stanley swam over and dragged her away to a quieter spot, his hand on her arm. A hot, sharp spike of something ugly—jealousy?—jabbed me in the chest. I glared at his back before forcing myself to look away, pretending to be engrossed in Bill and Ben’s attempt to play chicken.

I was so afraid to tell her how I felt. The words always got stuck in my throat, tangled up with fear of her rejection, and worse, the terrifying specter of my mother's wrath. But in that moment, watching her smile at Stan, I realized I hated seeing her smile at someone else like that almost as much as I feared telling her.

A sudden splash of water hit me square in the face, snapping me out of my spiraling thoughts. I sputtered, blinking away the water. It was Vanessa. She’d swum back over, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Payback," she said, grinning.

We fell into an easy, laughing splash fight, and for a few perfect minutes, it was just us. The world narrowed to the cool water, the summer sun, and her face, alive with joy.

"Ah, what the fuck was that?!" Vanessa yelped suddenly, recoiling and looking down into the murky water. "Something just touched my foot!"

"Right here!" Stanley said, pointing to a spot near them. "Something's down there."

Instinctively, I put my head under, squinting to see. The need to identify the potential threat—to protect her—overrode everything else.

"That work?" Bill asked, surfacing.

"Where are we looking?"

"Right here, right here!" I said, pointing toward where Vanessa and Stanley were standing.

Bill dove under again and came up a second later, a relieved smile on his face. "It's a turtle!"

The tension broke. We all took turns ducking under to get a glimpse of the harmless creature, our heads bumping together under the water. When I came up for air, Vanessa was right next to me, her shoulder brushing against mine. She smiled at me, a small, private thing amidst the group's excitement, and for a second, I forgot how to breathe. Maybe the feeling wasn't as one-sided as I feared. The hope was terrifying, and it was everything.

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