Your dirty little secret - Reddie

-1-

Richie sat up in his bed, cold sweat ran down his skin. He reached over and patted the night stand by his bed, grabbing his thick glasses and fixing them on his face to adjust to the new lighting. His hands were shaky and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to calm down. He slid off his bed and walked into the hallway, down the stairs and into the kitchen, filling up a glass of water just as the morning sun began to fully shine in through the kitchen window.

Richie's parents had already gone away to work and they had nothing in the house to make for breakfast, so he settled on just getting ready for school and eating something there later. He took a few more sips of his water, then placed it down on the counter and abandoned it to the staircase.

He went back up to his room and changed into his school clothes. A striped button up short sleeve shirt with a white T under, his favorite pare of jeans, and his good white socks; he wore the bad white socks on weekends. He slid on his shoes, then grabbed his school bag, making sure that he had some money and anything that could be important before walking out the door and locking it behind him. He hopped on his bike and kicked off to school.

It was a Monday. The Losers hated Mondays. Monday was Bowers's favorite day to cause problems for them. By the time Richie had gotten on school campuses, Bowers had already begun his torment towards the group.

The losers, Bill, Stanley, Beverly, Ben, Mike, Eddie and Richie were always picked on the most on Mondays. Richie, walking over to his group of friends, picked up a rock and through it at the back of the bully's head. Bowers let go of his grip on the collar of Stanley's shirt, and dropped his fist as he turned to face where the rock had came from. Richie cupped his hands over his mouth, "What's wrong? Get a whittle boo boo? You want your mommy to kiss it better?"

Bowers walked the distance between where he was and where Richie had been standing. Richie looked down as the boy towered over him by about 15 inches. Richie took off his glasses just before Bowers grabbed ahold of his shirt collar and punched him in the eye. Richie took a punch in place of Stan that day, then Bowers took off with his friends.

Beverly ran over and grabbed Richie's face in one hand while examining his eye. She pressed firmly on the area as it began to swell up. She sighed, "You know, Rich, one day you're going to say the wrong thing to the wrong person and get really hurt!" She helped Richie place his glasses back on his face and he adjusted them. Stan patted him once of the back of the shoulder, "Thanx for that, I guess..."

"Yeah whatever!" He rolled his eyes, "I just need to look bad ass when I see Ed's mom later!" Eddie punched Richie's arm. The two bickered back and forth for a few moments then they all walked into the school building. Freshman year, one more week before it's over and schools out for summer the kids thought as they walked down the crowded halls. One more.

~~~

Later at lunch, the losers sat in their same everyday spot on the lawn. Eddie sat to the right of Richie, who was shoving pretzels up his nose pretending to be a walrus, Ben sat to Richie's left, Bev to his left, Bill to her left, Stan to his, and Mike to Stanley's left. Bill made a face that said 'light bulb' and he shock his hands in the air to get the group's attention. He took a deep breath in, "M-My parents are g-going on a t-t-trip this w-weekend, and I-I am going to-to be home alone, s-so-"

"Sleepover at Denbrough's!" Richie shouted then his face fell dead serious, "Wait just to be clear, is Mrs.K invited or...?" Eddie punched Richie's arm again before letting out a loud groan, "What the fuck is wrong with you? I get it, you and my mom, haha, are you done?" Eddie grew frustrated. Richie laughed.

"Never! So, what time should we come over then Big Bill? Friday night? Or Saturday, although I'm not sure if Friday works for me," he paused and glanced at Eddie, then looked back at Bill, "Me and Ed's mom might have plans!" The losers laughed. Eddie struggled to fight the smile playing at the corners of his lips, like it always did when Richie made dumb remarks.