Collide|| Reddie

Chapter 1

March 5th, 1981.

as the teacher made her way down the row of students next to Richie's desk he sat back in his seat, tapping his beat-up converse against the floor nervously. he raised the end of his pencil to his mouth, mimicking the motion of placing a cigarette between his cracked lips.

"Hey Stan, bet you five bucks I got a better score" Richie smiled, adjusting his glasses, hiding his nervousness.

"you're on Tozier" Stanley gleamed, reaching a hand out for Richie to shake.

the boys shook hands, exchanging grins. both of them knew Stanley scored higher, its not that Richie was dumb, he just couldn't focus as well as everyone else, especially not for tests.

the teacher placed the sheet of paper face down onto Richie's desk, glaring at both the boys before moving onto the next student.

both Richie and Stanley could obviously see the red marker that bled through the paper.

Richie's jaw clenched as he leaned back. his lanky legs moving forward as he slouched. the bell rang, Richie sighed and sat up, grabbing his backpack and opening it just enough to slip the paper inside.

Stanley came up behind, placing a firm hand on Richie's shoulder.

"your not even gonna look?" Stanley asked

Richie shook his head "Nah, doesn't matter"

"We can swap papers again? I'm pretty sure both our names are in pencil, it'll be easy to swap-"

Richie interrupted, turning around so Stanley's hand fell off his shoulder. "Grades come out tomorrow anyways, it'll be obvious I lied." Richie snorted, "thanks anyways Stan," he said in a firm voice, nudging Stanley's shoulder lightly.

the room was quiet,  everyone else gone apart from the two boys, Richie made his way out of the empty room, and down the cold hallway which he'd be glad to not see during the weekend.

the curly-haired boy made his way to the bathroom, taking one final look at the hallway to guarantee there was nobody around. once clear, he closed the door behind him. he set his backpack down and took one deep breath before lunging his fist forward and striking it against the white tile of the boy's room. again, and again, and again, until his knuckles bled and stained the pristine bathroom wall.

"shit" he cursed under his breath, quickly moving to the sink to turn on the hot water. he waited for a few seconds, allowing the water to warm up before placing his sore knuckles under the steaming faucet.

he winced, closing his eyes, his free hand going to take off his glasses since they were fogged up anyway.

three small knocks were placed against the door, so quiet Richie barely heard; but he did.
he quickly shut off the water, running to grab his bag and some paper towels, then again a knock.

"Hello?" a small voice chimed from the other side of the door.

"wait a fucking minute" Richie beamed
"Jesus Christ." he sighed

he opened the door widely, glancing forward and seeing nobody, looking down suddenly he saw a smaller, weaker boy standing, an asthmatic clutched in his tiny chubby hands.

inhale

"sorry" Richie muttered under his breath, stepping forward and colliding with the boy's shoulder as he hastily made his way towards the exit of the school.

Richie walked fast, with his head down as a million thoughts rushed through his head, only one being about his test now.

Richie climbed onto his rusty old bike, and began to pedal away from the school.