𝙢𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙, richie tozier

iii. ( the barrens )

.⃗ . ༉‧₊˚✧ MURDERED!

"HEY GUYS!" STELLA greeted the group of boys who she now saw as her friends. of course, they only started talking again yesterday but they did invite her to the barrens with them.

"hey, stella." stan greeted back as they all were nearing closer to the sewers. "hey," eddie says. "h-hey ella." bill smiles and she returned the favor. the ginger didn't see richie anywhere which confused her. he was usually always with them.

"where's richie?" stella asks, looking around again. then he suddenly pops up right behind her, scaring the girl. "jesus— richie!" stella shouts, angrily glaring at him. he just innocently smiles, satisfied with her reaction.

"hey babe, how are you doing?" her eyebrows furrow at the nickname. since when did he think he could call her babe? "don't call me that."

"my bad, babe."

"THAT'S POISON IVY, that's poison ivy... oh and that's poison ivy," stan started to point out what he liked to call poison ivy, scaring eddie.

"calm down, they're just regular old plants." stella rolled her eyes, walking beside eddie. "yeah, not every plant is fucking poison ivy." richie says, agreeing with stella.

"well i'm starting to get itchy now and—"eddie began, only for richie to throw his sentence off. "do you use the same bathroom as your mother?" richie asked, and stella already knew where this was going.

"richie shut up."

"uh, yeah sometimes. why?" eddie answers, ignoring stella. "then you probably have crabs." he told the boy casually. eddie looked upset and got defensive. "that is so not funny,"

stella glared at richie unamusingly. she's always been annoyed by richie's nonstop talking, even if it wasn't directed toward her. richie followed bill into the tunnel, walking in all of the sewer water.

bill began to go further in while richie turned around and noticed the three still standing there. "aren't you guys gonna come in?" richie questioned.

"no way in hell am i going in there. i don't care about getting my hands dirty but this is just nasty." stella remarked, staring at the filthy water in disgust.

"exactly, and that's grey water," eddie added with the same look of disgust, just a bit more worried about germs or something similar. "what the hell is grey water?" richie asked, not knowing what it was.

"it's basically... piss and shit! so i'm just telling ya," eddie explains in terms richie would understand. "oh yeah, no. i'm not about to walk around in millions of gallons of derry pee." the ginger stepped back.

richie picked up a stick, confusing the three who would like to remain somewhat sanitary. "wha— what are you doing?" eddie asked.

richie sniffed the stick, causing eddie to cringe in pure disgust and stella's eyes widen. "what the hell?" stella gagged, not believing what was happening in front of her.

"doesn't smell like caca to me señor," richie says in a terrible spanish accent. "are you crazy?" stella began to ramble. "that is so fucking nasty, richard. you have some kind of mental disability, i swear—"

"i can literally smell it from here." eddie joined in on her ranting. "that's just your breath wafting back into your face," richie retorted. "have you ever heard of a staph infection?" eddie motioned his hands in a chopping manner.

"oh, i'll show you a staph infection!" richie says as he picked something up out of the water with the stick and flinging it at the germaphobe.

"richie!" stella shouted. "you could have given me a disease! what are you—" eddie was cut off.

"guys!" bill called, quieting the group down. the stuttering boy was holding a shoe that he supposedly found in the sewer water while they were arguing and going back in forth.

"don't tell me that's..." stan started, trailing off. of course, the redheaded girl knew about georgie going missing but that was literally all she knew. they never really told her much about bills brother, which she doesn't mind at all.

it's his business and he should be able to decide whether or not to open up to her. "g-g-georgie wore galoshes," bill assured the group, dismissing the idea of it being a trace of his little brother.

stella still didn't exactly know what was going on. she had no idea why they were even in the sewer or what they were supposed to be looking for. she had assumed that he randomly went missing one day but she never knew how.

"i'm sorry for asking but... why are we here again?" stella sheepishly asked. the group just stared at her for a second before deciding to just not answer the question and move on.

"whose is it then?" stan asked. her eyebrows furrow. they completely ignored her, and she couldn't help but feel a little excluded. "betty ripsoms," richie informed after reading the initials written in sharpie on it.

"no way, i don't like this at all," eddie complained. "imagine how betty feels," richie starts. "walking around the sewers with only one friggin' shoe." he hopped around with one leg, but nobody laughed at his joke.

"guys—" stella nervously began. "what if she's still down here?" stan quietly asks. "w-well then let's go f-f-find her," bill says as he turned around to start walking deeper into the tunnel.

"guys!" stella repeats, louder this time. everybody turns to her. "i'm really lost right now, can somebody just tell me what we're even doing?"

richie was the only one to speak. "can you not? just leave if you're so lost." everyone remained silent, and nobody even stood up for stella. she swallowed the lump in her throat as she realized what friends she really had.

"fine, i guess you don't want me here then." the freckle-faced girl turned and began her walk home. she didn't mean to offend them or anything, and she still wasn't sure what got them so mad.

she only wanted to know what was going on, it was a harmless question in her perspective. "wait, stella!" eddie called out to her, only to be dismissed from her thoughts. eddie wanting her to stop was the last thing on her mind.

"no, i see how it is. you guys just don't want me here so i'm leaving!" stella angrily shouted. she wasn't actually all too mad, she'd seen this coming from a mile away.

she just liked being dramatic and decided to make a scene for her own entertainment purposes.

"stella, just—"

she stopped and turned around, revealing her hurt expression painted onto her skin. she just shook her head before resuming her walk but picking up her pace. guess her summer was going to be sitting alone in her room again.

sounds exciting, right?

🍒, maybankz—
n/a

WRITTEN. unknown
EDITED. june 5, 2020