Claustrophobic (Teddy Duchamp)

13

"Hi, is Gordie home?... No? Alright. Thanks." Sigh. "Hello, Mrs. Tessio? Is Vern home right now? Oh... Okay. Thank you."

Teddy didn't even try to call Chris's house because he knew he was probably with Gordie and that his folks wouldn't know, or care for that matter.

Someone had let a bunch of mice from the science department loose in the school, so in order to properly rid of them, the students, only in the junio/senior high school, had been released from school early.

So Teddy was bored and alone. He decided to take a walk around town.

He made sure he had some pocket money and then headed out.
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"I can't believe how immature people can be," Agatha stated, shaking her head.

"I feel bad for those mice, a little," Cecelia mused. "Who knows what they're gonna do with them now."

"Oh they'll probably just put then back in their cages."

Cecelia sighed. "I couldn't deal with being put in a cage."

Agatha just rolled her eyes and let out an amused breath. "Oh come on."

Since they both had to wait for the elementary school to get out, they decided to shop for a little while.

The first store they went into had some nice things, so each girl tried on a thing or two before buying some skirts and blouses.

"I'm in the mood for milkshake," Aggie stated once they had left the store. "Let's go over to the Dairy Queen."

Cecelia agreed, so they chatted as they walked down the street to Dairy Queen.
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Teddy sat in his corner booth alone, eating his sundae. He thought about his friends, if he could even call them that anymore.

Since Chris and Gordie got into those college courses, they hadn't been around much. Teddy still saw them, but it wasn't like before, back before they ever found that kid Ray Brower's body.

Vern was pretty much the only one out of the group that was ever there for Teddy, but it just wasn't the same.

Teddy snapped out of his thoughts when he subconsciously heard his own name. He looked around until he saw a couple of girls from school, both looking his direction.

Cecelia Jamison and Agatha Blake were alright, not nearly as bad as most girls in their grade, or at the school for that matter.

To his surprise, the girls slid into the bench across the table from him, each with a milkshake in hand.
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"Hi Teddy," Cecelia chirped. She wasn't sure why she had wanted to sit with him so badly, but he looked lonely.

He looked at Cecelia and Agatha in confusion and some skepticism. "Hi..." he said slowly.

"Gosh, no need to seem so excited to see us," Agatha added, taking a sip of her milkshake.

"Um, why did you sit here?" Teddy questioned.

Both girls looked at each other and shrugged. "Dunno," Cecelia replied.

Agatha leaned forward and whispered, quite loudly, "Because Celia loves you, and she wants you." She began laughing.

Cecelia almost choked on her milkshake and hit Agatha on the arm. "Shut up." She straightened her posture. "I do not."

Teddy smirked. "I don't know, Celia. I've seen the way you look at me in homeroom." He set his chin in the palm of his hand and sighed all girly, mocking a lovesick girl.

She just glared at Teddy and Agatha as they laughed, but she could feel heat rising up to her cheeks. "Oh shut up. Aggie, what if I happened to mention your humongous crush on Mr. Evans?"

Agatha stopped laughing abruptly and narrowed her eyes at Cecelia. "You bitch."

"Mr. Evans? The high school football coach?" Teddy questioned in disbelief. He started cackling again at the two girls, both red and rather ruffled.

Cecelia and Agatha loosened their expressions at each other into looks of agreement. They both turned back to Teddy.

"So, Teddy, who do you like?" Agatha asked, taking another sip from her milkshake.

Teddy gave her a bored expression. "And why would I tell you that?"

Cecelia was suddenly very curious as to who he liked. "Yeah, Teddy, who do you like? You can trust me. Her," she pointed to Agatha with her thumb, "not so much."

Teddy leaned forward, like he was going to whisper in her ear. "Not telling you, dipshit." He plopped back down in the bench, smiling innocently.

"Fuck you then," Cecelia replied, irritatedly.

"Would you please? Just tell me when and where," Teddy shot back, a smirk all across his face.

"Oh yeah. Like I'd do that," she said, rolling her eyes.

Agatha giggled. "Oh come on, (Eileen) Cecelia, I bet you two would be so cute together. Plus, your babies would be adorable."

This time, Teddy and Cecelia glared at Agatha, who just shrugged and finished her milkshake.

They trio soon disbanded, the girls going to the elementary school to pick up their younger siblings and Teddy continuing his walk around town.
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Cecelia kept dwelling on the idea of who Teddy might like. She knew she shouldn't be so interested. Psh, it's not she liked him. She had known him most of her life, like most people in this town had known each other.

She couldn't just now be developing feelings for him, could she?
_____

Teddy didn't even pay attention to where he walked as all he could think about was how red Cecelia had gotten any time she was accused of liking him.

That didn't mean she liked him, per say, but what if? Teddy wasn't sure why there was a little part of him that really, really wanted her to actually like him.

I hope y'all like this chapter. I feel like it's longer than most of the others... Idk. I would've had it up earlier but I needed to make sure it was going where I wanted it to. M'kay.

~Mariah