𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 (𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐙𝐈𝐄𝐑)

vi.

♡

After the school day was over Stan went directly home and did his homework like the square he was. He did it quickly because he had intended to go bird watching since that day seemed like a great day to do so. Stan hung his binoculars around his neck by the strap and placed the bird book in a bag before he ran out and grabbed his bike to ride it to where he usually bird watches.

When he still had a block or two left to go he heard shouting coming from deep within the woods, maybe near the quarry that the losers showed him one day, and stopped riding his bike to try to see if he was just imagining it. Sure enough the shouting was continuing and Stan looked around to see if anyone else could hear this, but of course no one was reacting. He couldn't really tell what the shouting was about, but he could tell it was a guy's voice. Stan bit his lip and contemplated for a moment whether or not going to investigate was a good idea, but eventually he sighed and used the bike kickstand to keep it up before running through the woodsy area toward the sound. The closer he got, the clearer the conversation became.

"Leave him alone!"

"C'mon, you know you wanna get in this!"

Holy shit he recognized those voices....

Finally Stan was close enough to see what what going on. It was the Bowers gang and Richie, but Richie was thrown over the hood of the car seemingly unconscious as Henry held a knife up to the nape of his neck. The guy shouting at them was Victor. Maybe he wasn't like the others after all.

Without thinking Stan ran out and shoved Henry, making him fall to the ground and drop his knife. His knife slid off the cliff down into the water and he looked enraged, but Stan didn't care as he got down and started punching the shit out of Henry until his face was all bloodied up. He almost got up to get Patrick, but at seemed as if he already ran away. Stan looked down at his knuckles and at Henry until he heard Richie groan and he ran over to him, moving some of the hair out of his face. "Hey! Hey, Rich, you okay?" Stan asked in a hushed tone as he continued to pet his hair. He noticed blood on the back of his neck and lifted the hair out of the way, seeing there was already a capital 'h' carved into the nape of his neck.

Suddenly he was pushed out of the way by Victor and Victor threw one of Richie's arms around him so that he could pick him up and put him in the car. "Hey, what the fuck are you doing? That's my friend." Stan asked and he lightly shoved Victor's shoulder. Victor turned his head to look at Stan with an unreadable expression. "Yeah? Well he's my boyfriend, so..." Victor clapped back before opening the car door. Stan watched as Victor placed Richie in the car, then walked around to get into the car himself and eventually drive off.

♡

The next day, Richie showed up to class in sweatpants and a hoodie, which he never does, and plopped down in his seat next to Stan. Stan eyed the boy for a moment, remembering the events that occurred the day before. It was almost as if Richie felt him staring, because he turned to look at him too. Stan noticed the bags under Richie's eyes. "Are you-"

"Mhm, yeah." Richie mumbled in response, his voice cracking a bit mid answer. "So everything is-"

"Uh huh, yeah." Richie cut him off again as he slumped down into his seat. Stan didn't believe it one bit, but he decided to leave it alone for now. Soon a little bell like chime signifying the overhead being used came on so everyone shut up to hear the morning announcements.

"Goooooodmorning, students!" An annoyingly familiar voice emitted through the speaker. Who the hell let Henry give the morning announcements.

"Today for lunch we have chicken fajitas with fruit... again. Exciting right? Losers who play chess have a meeting after school today in the lunchroom. And today is teacher appreciation day so make sure to let your teacher know how much you appreciate them! I sure know Richie Tozier has before. Hey, speaking of Richie, why don't you go ahead and tell the whole school how you really passed chem last year?" Henry said over the speaker making the entire class turn to look at Richie. Even Stan. What the hell does that mean?

"This has been Henry Bowers with your morning announcements. Have a wonderful Wednesday." Henry finished up before a click rung out of the speakers, showing that the overhead was no longer being used anymore. No one turned their attention away from Richie yet. Stan looked at the desk in front of him, seeing little droplets of water that weren't there before. Eventually Richie quickly rose out of his seat and stormed out of the room. Stan was sure he heard a few people call him names before he had left. As soon as the door closed behind him the whole class besides Stan broke out into conversation.

"Alright, students! Alright! That's enough! On with the lesson!" The teacher yelled to get the classes' attention. Stan sat in his seat and crossed his arms as he thought and fairly quickly he finally understood what Henry was talking about.