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"You really shouldn't keep hanging out with him," Ben told Eddie firmly as they strolled through the halls. Eddie rolled his eyes, waving Ben away as a small smirk crossed his face and he ran a few paces ahead to tap on Richie's shoulder. Richie turned one way and Eddie ducked around the other, falling into step beside him with a chuckle. Richie finally turned the right way and his eyes lit up.

"My Spaghetti!" Richie greeted him warmly, throwing an arm around Eddie's neck and ruffling his hair until it stuck out in all directions. Eddie smacked his hand away, but couldn't keep the smile off of his face, even when the memory of his father calling him the same thing on Mike's birthday crossed his mind. The forgetting had become a lot easier whenever he was around Richie.

"Don't call me that," Eddie stated firmly, only because he knew Richie would ignore him. The bespectacled boy smirked as they strolled into the lunch room and got into line together, grabbing trays and standing side by side.

"So..." Eddie drawled, grabbing a milk carton for himself and placing a water on Richie's tray for him. "Mine or yours tonight?" It had become a sort of unspoken thing that Richie would get into Eddie's car after school. There had been a few long days after the first get together where everything just felt confusing. Two boys who hardly knew each other woke up hazy and dazed and tangled in sheets on opposite sides of a bed, both smelling strongly of weed and the alcohol Richie had pulled out some time after ten.

"Hmm, how would you feel about the quarry?" Richie asked. Eddie jutted out his lower lip in a pout, but thought it over. Richie shrugged, holding out his tray for the lunch lady. "It wouldn't be just us, a few people from my lunch table would go. Bev, Greta Bowie, Sally Mueller..."

"Henry Bowers?" Eddie interrupted with a sour expression. Richie hesitated, an exasperated look donning his face. Eddie sighed heavily. Henry had become one of Eddie's most hated acquaintances. He did the hardcore drugs, the ones that went beyond the gateway of weed. He had been caught with needles in his arms, powder on his tables if he had any, and pills in his pockets. He'd been caught smoking, snorting, drinking, shooting up, selling, swallowing, and just about every other alternative thing you could be caught doing with an illegal substance. He had been to rehab and back countless times, and he was the school baddie, the 20 year old who had been held back two years and still hung around 18 year olds. If you wanted your fix, he was the one to go to.

The problem was, he was also the world's biggest bully. Eddie had decided a few days previously that if anyone in the world was likely of A, killing Georgie and leaving him in the lot, or B, overdosing him whether it was by accident or not and leaving him in the lot, it was Henry, but he had gotten off scott-free with the police when a bunch of girls who wanted to get into his pants claimed they had been with him all night. Richie sympathized with his opinion, but he didn't sympathize with his attitude, claiming that he needed to get his weed somewhere, and if that meant kissing up to an asshole then that was what he was going to do.

"Yes, Bowers will be there. But you don't have to talk to him. You can just stick with me and Bev," he reasoned, raising his eyebrows. Eddie shook his head, frowning, and Richie's shoulders slumped. Eddie paid for both of their lunches just to feel a little good about himself, and they stood together for a moment longer while Eddie decided.

"You and Bev are going to talk to him, which means I might get caught in the crossfire," Eddie pointed out reluctantly. "Look, Rich, I really want to spend some time with you, I do, but I just don't know. Are you busy tomorrow?"