cherry bomb ➵ Richie Tozier

fourteen

I didn't know what I was going to do with Richie. I hadn't talked to him for a solid week. I felt his eyes on my back in all of our classes, but when I turned to face him, he just turned away.

I didn't realize our drunken kiss would affect him this much. If I would have known, I would have smacked some sense into me that night. Of course I didn't mean it, but he was taking it really seriously.

Breathing out heavily, I tapped my pencil.

"What the fuck did I even do? He knows we were both drunk! I don't under-fucking-stand why he's overreacting like this. It was just a kiss! It's not like we fucked or anything!" Anger pulsed through my blood. Who the fuck did that fucking whore think he was? Make me feel weak? I think the fuck not.

I pushed the thoughts of Richie out of my head, desperate to think of anything that wasn't him.

"Well," Allie began calmly, "he was probably really shell shocked when he woke up, realized he had actual feelings for you, and has been avoiding you since because he doesn't want to fuck everything up."

"Why the fuck would he ignore me if he liked me? That makes no sense!" I responded, shutting down the idea.

Allie swept her long straight dark hair over her shoulder, shaking her head. She stood up from her lunchroom seat.

"You two are so stubborn," she murmured as she huffed away from me.

"Allie where the fuck do you think you're going?" I hissed after her.

She whirled around, "to fix your stupid shit."

Grabbing her slim wrist, I swirled her around. She winced at the amount of force I was applying into holding her.

"Don't."

My hazel eyes were cold as I stared my best friend down. Allie sighed, nodding. She took her seat again next to me.

"I think you're better without him, anyway."

Anger boiled inside of me. How dare he make me look weak. I was not weak. My gaze drifted towards Richie. I clinched my fists, averting my gaze from him.

"You're right. I don't know what got in my head that made me befriend him in the first place. You're the only bad bitch I need."

It had been hard to avoid Richie after he stopped talking to me. Mainly because I had almost every class with him. I had to walk on the other side of the hallways just to make sure we never bumped into each other, and he seemed to be fine with the arrangement. I had tried my best to not think about him. I had tried my best to not look at him, either, but that was a lot harder than it seemed. Stopping myself from looking at Richie had become my number one pastime. It filled me to the brim with rage, and all I wanted to do was smack him.

How dare he.

♦︎

The last school bell finally rang, and I gladly left class as soon as it chimed. I walked towards the science classroom, which was Allie's last period. Her straight dark hair swept behind her shoulder as she whipped her head around, searching for her friend. When her eyes met mine she cracked a wide smile. "Ready?"

I grinned back at her, linking our arms together.

"Yep. I have to pee first, though." Allie nodded and unhooked our arms as I walked towards the girls restroom. She decided to wait outside of the school for me.

A warm hand twisted around my wrist, twirling me around to face a wild haired boy. He looked down at me, defeat and hurt in his eyes. It was a Friday, and we hadn't talked in almost three weeks.