soft hearts. (s.u)

eleven.

"so, class!"
the teacher smiled brightly as she began her lesson,
but the telephone soon interrupted her sentence.
she picked it up,
whispering ever so lightly,
and looked towards me.
i felt my heart leap into my throat.
"richie tozier, they want you in the front office."
"shit. this must be about the writing in the bathroom stall,"
richie groaned while packing his things to be placed in the i.s.s room.
"moving on, for today's assignment, you will be working with your table partner to find the differences between solar and lunar eclipses. stanley, since your partner isn't here, you can work with miss y/l."
our teacher smiled,
pulling up the ven diagram we were expected to draw and fill in.
i slowly rose to my feet,
taking my place in richies chair.
"look. i know you're upset with me and you have every right to be but i-"
"lunar eclipses happen at night."
stanley interrupted,
showing he had no interest in what i had to say.
i sighed,
"stanley. please."
"it's always the same thing with you, isn't it?"
"...tell me what you're thinking."
"i don't know really know what to say, y/n. every time i try to make things right with you, you mess it up. you shove my books out of my hand, you avoid me, you talk bad about me. and for what? to show lucy you're cooler then she'll ever be?"
he scoffed,
twisting the yellow number two pencil in his hand.
"don't you know? lucy's dad is, like, super rich. she literally uses hundred dollar bills as tissue."
i joked,
letting a small smile dance across my lips.
but stanley found no humor in it,
and let his expression remain flat.
"okay, i'm sorry. you're right, though. as usual. it's idiotic and i wish i wouldn't let it consume me like it has. and i'm working on it, but i need you to work with me too...i'll do anything, stanley, if it means you'll give me another chance."
he rose an eyebrow as though to challenge me,
"anything?"
"woah, anything within reason. i don't want to spend fifteen years in prison or anything."
he grinned and let his gaze fall to kimberly,
"tell kim she has free reign of the school, because you're joining the losers."
"stan-"
"aht aht, you said anything."
i rolled my eyes,
"why would i even tell her that? your friends don't want me in the group."
"how do you know? all they do is talk about you,
y/n. you'd know that if you came around more."
his grin was crooked,
and i couldn't help myself from falling victim to it.
"oh, i see, you're just doing this to see me suffer."
"maybe, maybe not."
i slowly got to my feet with shaky hands,
soon standing in front of kimberly.
"kim, you can have the group and everyone in it. i don't want this title anymore."
she rose an eyebrow,
her pencil dragging across the paper.
"uh huh. and why is that?"
i shrugged my shoulders,
stealing a quick, reassuring look at stanley.
"i've found better friends who don't think faux fur is...fox fur."
kimberly gasped in horror,
"faux fur is fox fur! and you know it! it's in the name, y/n!"
i gasped with a light laugh,
"oh my god, kim, i worry about you so much."
and though my heart was racing from the stares,
i felt lighter than i had felt in years.
i was finally free of the burden,
and free to be with stan.
i turned on my feet to find my seat next to the boy,
where he sat with a gaping expression that made me laugh.
"wow...i didn't think you'd do it."
"mhm, no more doubting, stanley. i'm back."