baby, don't cut. [IT 2017]

THREE :: the truth.

"good morning," eddie said to richie, who sat up and took a deep breath.

"you gotta go home, eds," richie breathed out.

"i know. i'll see ya in an hour!"

"see youu," richie sang dully. eddie left richie's room by the window, and the black-haired boy sighed. he removed his sweatshirt and clutched onto his wrists.

he moved from his bed to his closet, finding a different sweatshirt, the last one. swallowing hard, he threw it on and put on some deodorant, proceeding to do his normal morning routine while dreading every second.

——

seventh period sucked ass. he had mike in there with him, but it was still miserable. people still made fun of him for everything to the extent that him moving barely made everyone laugh and comment.

mike hated watching it. as much as he tried to stand up for his friend, though, no body gave a fuck what mike said. richie appreciated the effort, however.

"what's the matter? cat got your tongue, tozier?" one of the boys taunted, causing the group behind richie to laugh.

"just shut up.." richie whispered, cupping his face. mike rubbed his shoulder sympathetically, drowning out how disgustingly much the f-slur was being thrown around and hitting directly at richie.

the bell rang and richie ran out of the class, being chased by some idiot who threatened to 'beat his ass', mike following angrily and yelled for the boy to stop.

the dumb kid eventually gave up, and mike was relieved. richie had already made it to his next class, so he couldn't catch up to him, but he was glad he wasn't physically hurt.

a tear rolled down richie's face as he walked into his last class, the room filling with silent snickering and whispers. richie's friends looked up at the boy, and he sniffed, dropped his bag, and left the classroom to go to the restroom.

"sir, you need a pass! get back here!" the teacher yelped, but richie was gone.

"was he crying??" stanley panicked slightly.

"oh fuck.." eddie whispered.

"he's getting worse and worse, i wo-w-wonder if he's doing alright.." bill added.

"should we go check on him?" stanley asked.

"give him some space for now," eddie instructed. bill and stan exchanged worried looks and focused back on their work.

richie sat in the bathroom stall for a total of twenty-six minutes, silently bawling his eyes out. he felt exhausted, he didn't want to keep going. he just wanted the pain to be over.

eventually, he made his way back to class, ignoring the whispers and giggles. he sat down in his seat and latched around eddie, who jumped a bit.

bill and stanley looked up, concerned. "richie?" stanley spoke.

"what happened, rich?" eddie mumbled, hugging him back.

"i'm so done," richie breathed.

"calm down, baby.. breathe."

richie took in a shaky breath, burying his head into eddie's shoulder.

"i need this to end, eddie, i do," he whimpered quietly.

"i know you do, take a deep breath. i'm here."

after a good moment of silence, bill spoke up. "richie? y-you alright?"

"yeah," richie breathed, pulling out of the hug and swiping at his eyes.

"what happened?" asked bill, leaning in closer from across the boy.