bored

the cut that always bleeds.

tw: sh mentions, knife usage

"i'm leaving!" richie shouted, as if anyone in his house cared. after a quick moment of silence, he clicked his tongue, nodded, and left.

richie biked off to school, jamming out to some random song in his head as he carelessly swerved around. it was worth the risk.

eventually, he made it to school, smiling once he saw his friends.

"hey, rich," beverly greeted.

"hello, lads! how's it goin?" he shouted after locking his bike in a bike rack.

"just another boring day at school," beverly sighed.

"ah, i see i see, i'll make sure it's not so boring in class, bevvie," richie promised. she chuckled.

"no, rich," she chuckled. eddie elbowed him.

"you can't get in trouble again. we have plans this weekend!" he exclaimed, and richie nodded.

"i know i have plans. eddie's mom."

"saw that coming," said stanley.

"then why didn't you shut him up while you could?" eddie huffed.

the bell rang, concluding their conversation. "let's go," stanley said.

"right on time," richie said with a snap.

"wow, that's a first," commented ben with a chuckle.

the group entered the building, separating their own ways for their first periods.

richie sat through first period with stanley bored out of his mind. he felt miserable. his stomach's skin still burned like hell, and it hurt to stretch or move at all from the amount of red lines littering it that he individually placed the night before during a mental breakdown.

furthermore, his stomach itched like hell. itchiest self-harm marks he had ever gone through.

"richie!" stanley yelped, smacking his shoulder. richie jumped at the sudden impact. "it's time to go, dude."

"oh.. yeah- yeah sorry," he stuttered, quickly putting his stuff away and shakily standing. stanley stared at him do so.

"are you okay?"

"yeah?"

"uh-huh," stanley said suspiciously, crossing his arms.

"what??"

"when was the last time you ate?"

"last night for dinner..?"

"why the hell were you holding your stomach all class?" he interrogated.

"mosquito bites. my room is infested with them."

"can i see so i know you're not lying and there's not a reason to be one-hundred percent worried about you?"

richie swallowed hard. "look, stan, i know i'm irresistible-" stanley rolled his eyes, "-but i don't have abs. go ask bill."

"richie-" stanley interrupted as richie walked away from him. stanley immediately rushed after, walking beside him in the hallways. "what are you hiding?"

"me? hiding shit? hah, that's funny. and you know that's funny," richie chuckled.

"richie i seriously need you to answer me. you've been acting strange lately and i'm super worried about you, this just gives me another reason to be."

richie took a deep breath. "stan, my man, you've literally got nothing to be worrying over. i'm literally more fine than ms. k, and that says a whoooole lot! WHOO! damn!"