Shine *Richie X OC*

C.4

The next morning, Bev came to get me, and I sat on the front of her bike as she rode us to the quarry.

"Which pair did you choose?" She asked as we were almost there.

"Black bra, black thong, black boxers." I grinned back at her.

"Ooh, trying to impress someone?" She asked.

"No." I scoffed. "Are you?"

"Nope. Another question. Richie got me curious. How far have you gone with a guy?" She asked.

"I'll tell you, but you better not tell anyone else," I said and she nodded as we walked up the hill, being too steep to ride.

"While making out, I let my last boyfriend feel my boobs," I said.

"Over your shirt?" She asked and I shook my head and her jaw dropped. "Under?!"

"It wasn't that bad. Wasn't good, either. He seemed more nervous about it than I did." I rolled my eyes and she laughed.

We soon saw the guys standing in their underwear, and Bev dropped her bike, making them look at us. I set my bag down by it as we kicked our shoes off.

"What'd we miss?" I asked as Bev took her dress off, and ran, jumping off the edge. With my shorts and shirt off, I went to look over the edge with the guys just as she broke the surface.

"Holy shit. Bev, you alive?" I called.

"Looking good, hot stuff. That all for me?" Richie asked.

"I'm good!" Bev called as I stared at the smirking boy, then I pushed him back and over the edge.

Not my lucky day, because he grabbed my wrist and pulled me with him, and I screamed as we fell down. We broke water, and my mouth and nose filled, and I struggled a bit to get to the surface.

Once I did, everyone was in and looking at me coughing. "Are you alright?" Stan asked.

"She can't swim well," Bev said and Richie came over and lifted me up to carry me, and I blushed a bit now that my tits were at his eyebrows.

"You're welcome." He grinned at me and I kicked him a little to drop me back in the water.

"I think I'd rather drown," I said and began swimming as best I could. The others laughed at him being rejected, and he just gave me a playful look before splashing me.

And that's how a splash war broke out among us. We played a few games and moved to shallower water, which was easier for me to swim in now that my feet could touch the bottom.

"You doing better?" Richie came up to ask and I looked over. "Just asking." He said and I believed him.

"It's shallower, so I'm not having that much trouble treading water," I said. "Swimming has just never been my strong suit."

"Did no one ever teach you?" He asked.

"My mom did when I was a toddler, I was just never any good at it." I hummed.

"Why don't you have a bike?" He asked.

"I never learned how to ride one." I shrugged again and he looked at me in surprise.

"You never- that's it. I'm teaching you how to swim and how to ride a bike this summer. How the fuck-" He sighed and I laughed a bit.

We all got out to dry off and rest by the shore, and while I was looking away, Richie found my bag and pulled my notebook out without me noticing.

"What's this?" He asked and opened it. "Why is everything so heavy? You say that I'm paranoid, but I'm pretty sure the world is out to get me. It's not like I made the choice to let my mind stay so fucking messy..." he read and I shot up, grabbing it from him and smacking him over the head with it.

"That's private," I said and placed it back in my bag to not get it wet.

"What is it? Your diary?" He asked.

"It's just a notebook, Jesus," I said and he grabbed it again, and I got up to take it, but he stood up as well and held me an arm's length away as he read through my shit.

"There are things we can do, but from the things that work there are only two, and from the two that we choose to do, peace will win and fear will lose. There's faith, and there's sleep. We need to pick one please because faith is to be awake, and to be awake is for us to think, and for us to think is to be alive, and I will try with every rhyme to come across like I am dying to let you know you need to try to think. I have these thoughts so often I ought to replace that slot with what I once bought, cos somebody stole my car radio, and now I just sit in silence." He read out and the air seemed still as everyone was quiet to listen, and I just sorta fumed.

Richie stopped and looked at me, and I took the notebook, closed it, and hugged it to me.

"That was actually... beautiful. Kind of." He said and I looked away.

"Thanks. But it's still private, so keep your grubby hands off." I snapped and went to sit on the towel next to Bev again.

Richie sat down and took Ben's bag next. "What are you doing?" Ben asked.

"Briar won't let me look through her shit, so now I have to look through yours." He said and pulled folders and papers out. "You do realize it's summer, right? School's over."

"It's just something I'm looking into." Ben shrugged and Bev and I came over. She sat next to Bill and I took a seat next to Stan cos that was the only open space.

"Aw, look at them. They're so in love." I whispered and he looked up and we grinned and Bill looking at Bev, and her blushing back at him with a smile.

"I know someone else who's in love." He said and I looked up.

"Who?" I asked, and he looked over at Richie giving a paper a confused look.

"No. With who?" I asked and Stan looked back at me, and I got the message. "No, no way. He's just flirting." I shook my head.

"Sorry, last time I checked, Richie doesn't stop messing with people and then say something is beautiful." He hissed in my ear and I blushed a little at the thought.

"He was talking about my writing, dumbass." I hissed back.

"So, Briar, you wearing anything under those boxers?" Richie spoke up and we both looked at him.

"Yeah, wanna show us, Bri?" Bev grinned. "I helped her pick out what to wear yesterday. I know what's under there."

"Bev! I thought you were on my side!" I said in horror as she laughed.

"Come on, I'm sure Richie would love to see it." She said and I let out a huff, trying not to scream.

"I'm going to go drown myself. Goodbye." I said, standing and walking to the water.

"No, no, no, no, no, no! Bri, I'm sorry. Sorry, I was joking. You know I'd never." She caught my arm and dragged me back.

"Nope, I've made up my mind. I'm going to go kill myself." I said, trying to go back to the water as she kept pulling me back to shore.