INSOMNIA

Part one - expelled

July 14th, 1986

"Ava, you are late again," the teacher says lowly to me before gesturing for me to sit down. I turn to face her and give her a sickly sweet smile. "No shit," I say loud enough for the whole class to hear and sure enough, they did. Everyone gasped, everyone. Including the teacher, oh shit. "Principles office, NOW," she demands. I mean, fair play I would too. I turn towards the door I just came through and open it while yelling "Tarrah!" to the teacher and walking out and towards the head office. I'm pretty sure I have like four more strikes before I'm kicked out so I'm good for now, I think.

"WHAT? I THOUGHT I HAD A FEW MORE STRIKES. Ugh, mom's gonna kill me, Dad" I say into my palms that are holding my face. "Well, you shouldn't be so... grumpy? It's offending the teachers," he responds. "Well, I'm sorry I only get like half an hour of sleep!" I yell back to him. He's annoyed now, he gets very loud when he's annoyed. "YOUNG LADY? DON'T YOU DARE YELL AT ME. YOU ARE EXPELLED NOW GET OU-." I cover my ears and run out right before he can finish. I run and run and run until I get to where I want to go, my bedroom. I run up the stairs before my mom can come out of the kitchen to see me, my room is messy but nice and I love it. I lock the door then turn around to flop on my bed and cry; It's quiet in here, lovely and new as well. We've only recently moved to Derry and our house isn't big but isn't small either, I live next to a boy with a stutter, Ben or Bill. Barney? Just a B name or something and although I hate loud noises, I love singing and playing the electric guitar. Speaking of, I want to play jailhouse rock so I grab my cables, guitar and amp and set it up.

"The prison threw a party in the county jail
The prison band was there and they began to wail
The band was jumping and the joint began to swing
You should've heard them knocked-out jailbirds sing
Let's rock
Everybody lets rock
Everybody in the whole cell block was dancing to the jailhouse rock"

I grab the guitar and play along with the music playing on my boombox while singing, dancing and jumping around my room until I get interrupted by a knock at my door. I unlock it and open it to find my mother telling me that someone is at the door for me "Fine, I'll be down in a second," I say annoyed. Downstairs, I open the front door to see a small group of boys glaring at me. "Yes?" I ask. "Shut it. You just moved in like a week ago," "So?" I sigh shaking my head when a boy with thick, square glasses speaks up, "Either stop being so loud or at least pick a good song and close your window," "A good song huh? Ok," I flip them off and slam the door in their faces before walking up the stairs, turning up my radio and amp and playing as loud as I can. I give the boys (who are glaring at me through the boys window) an innocent smile and stick up my middle finger. I hear a knock a my bedroom door and stop playing, it's probably my mum coming to nag me about something again so I turn off my radio and fling the door open to see someone I hoped to never see again. My stepdad, if I can even call him that. He stalks slowly towards me, smelling of alcohol and cigarettes. I back against the window and look to see if the four boys are still there, three of them were. I shoot them pleading looks for help and they turn away, confused as shit. Shit, I'm on my own.  My dad grabs me and pushes me down despite my screaming and thrashing. He climbs on top, hovers over me and grabs my left leg while holding both hands above my head so I can't hit him and I know at this point that I'm so so fucked but I'm still struggling to get away in the hopes it might just work. I hear someone knock on the front door but my dad doesn't hear it so I scream to let them know somethings wrong and to just come in and help but they've apparently already beat me to it. The curly dark dark-haired boy runs in with a glass picture frame and slams it down on my dad's head, knocking him out. "I never thought he looked photogenic," I said quietly and we both laughed before I let out all of the sobs that were threatening to fall as the boy came over and held me while I cried.

~Very long two-year time skip brought to you by the mullet-wearing asshole~

1988

"BEST FEELING EVER!" stan yells as the boys dump the contents of their bags into the bin. "Really? Try tickling your pickle for the first time." Richie replies and I snort. "Anything you wanna add, hot stuff?" "Nope, I'm good. Other than the fact that you can't 'tickle your pickle' quote unquote." I say, crossing my arms. Richie copies me. "Huh. And why not, may I ask, hot stuff?" I put on a completely straight face "because you have a vagina. TAG YOU'RE IT!" I punch him on the arm before running a few feet away, he holds the part of his arm that I hit before attempting to try and chase me. Unluckily for him, he gets pulled down by his backpack by Henry fucking Bowers. I help Richie up and he runs to the losers club and Henry's goons follow, "H. Don't, please. It's been a hard day and-" I notice that his eyes are sunken and sad meaning he has to talk so I grab his wrist and drag him to a small alley by the side of the school to hug him and ask what's on his mind. He tells me all about his stepdad (the chief of police) and how scared he is and I just feel so bad. Once we're done, I wipe my tears and walk out to see the losers picking up their stuff and getting ready to go, Richie is already good to go but is only waiting for me so he can take us home. I always ride with Richie and it's always fun, he hums as we go home and it's soft and like my own little radio.

~short time skip brought to you by Eddie's fanny pack ~

Richie's POV:

"Alright hot stuff time to hop off  THIS DI- oh," I cut myself off as I turn around to look at a now barely conscious but still sat up- slumped- but still sat up Ava. I must've woken her up. "Hey hot stuff," I crouch down and chuckle in a soft and quiet tone because when she's sleepy or just woken up, she hears things 'ten times louder' as she describes it. "You wanna get up" she shakes her head and yawns. How can I say no to that. I sigh. "Ok, I'm gonna need you to put your arms on my neck and get on my back so I can take you inside, can you do that?" I ask and she nods groggily but happing and sticks her arms out lazily at me. I chuckle again and pick her up on my back as she falls asleep once again. Cute. Once she's safely tucked into bed and I'm about to leave the room, I hear her stirring and calling for me quietly. "Yep hot stuff I'm right here. Are you feeling okay? Do you need anything?" I walk over sit, on the edge of her bed and talk to her quietly. "Can you stay, please? I don't want to be alone right now, still kinda sad" she says and I nod, getting under the covers next to her and playing with her hair before we both fall asleep. This was nice.

A/N
1, awww I like this chapter ahhskajdkansbdb!! 2, some of these mental illnesses/disorders I don't have so I'm so sorry if I get any of them wrong, please don't hate. Have a lovely day you beautiful people

Word count - 1425