Rainbows |:| Reddie Story

seven

(STILL IN THE FLASHBACK)

We sat on the cold, blue and weirdly spongey chairs outside the Headmaster's office. Henry sat on the other side of the room, his eyes glued at Richie. Richie could sense him looking at him through the corner of his eye, but he knew if he gave Henry eye contact there might be more trouble.

Tick Tock.

God I hate silence. It's just so...so...so...

Silent?

Tick Tock.

I can't believe that Eddie saw me like that, I just can't bring myself to remember the pain on his face.

Tick Tock.

It's not even my fault! It was self defence! Henry deserved every punch that hit his messed up, weird, puberty stricken face.

Tick Tock.

FOR GODS SAKE CAN THAT CLOCK JUST SHUT UP-

"Tozier, Bowers, this way please." The lady from reception opens the door, signalling her hand for us to enter. As we entered, we met the eyes of our Headmaster Mr Burns. He's pretty old, like old old, not like a 40 year old saddo who has lost all of his luck having to work at this school. He must be about 65, maybe older. Because this dude is so ancient, he only talks like, 'back in my day, we would get hit with a cane if we even sneezed wrong!' And its so depressing. Listening to him talk makes me want to jump out that window and do a back flip.

"Take a seat, gentlemen." Mr Burns croaked, adjusting his tie as he looked both of us up and down. I looked over at Henry, his body slouched against these painful wooden chairs. God I hate him. I rolled my eyes when I looked down to his middle finger facing Mr Burns, but hiding it under the desk. "So, did you guys get jumped by a bunch of cats?" he chuckled, his mouth smiling and exposing his manky teeth. I heard Henry mutter under his breath, 'shut the fuck up' as he pushed his hands through his dirty blonde mullet. "Well you guys are quite the chatterboxes aren't you?" He reached for a pen on his desk, pointing it towards each of us.

"Can we go?" Henry sighed, biting the inside of his mouth so much making it likely to bleed.

Yes please, let me out of this hell hole. I need to go and talk to Eddie, I can't wonder what he's thinking about right now.

What if I've really upset him? What is he's embarrassed to talk to my stupid self again? What if our friendship is done for good?!

Calm down, Richie. Take a deep breath in.

Inhale....

Exhale....

Now stop with your stupid predictions about you and Eddie. Focus on getting the fuck out of here.

"Not so fast," he replied, "I want answers about this fight of yours."

No, shut up. I haven't got time for this shit. I have my best friend out there who might hate me like really bad.

Looking to his right, he sees Henry silent with no urge to say anything, so Richie knew he had to say something to get out of here as soon as. "He beat me up, and I beat him up more." Spoke Richie, his words coming out quite blunt. Henry's body is woken up in alert, his face of boredom turning to a face of anger.

"Shut the fuck up Tozier!" Henry hissed, sitting at the edge of his chair, "Look at that fat black eye, who gave you that huh?"

The principal exhales with annoyance, waving his hands in order to control them. "Hey! Calm down now!" slamming his hand on the table, the thud echoed around the room making a wave of silence roll over them. The boys sat still and silent.

"You," pointing at Richie, "Why did you beat him up?"

Duh, because he beat me up first. Oh, and because I enjoyed seeing the pain on his dumb face.

"Because he beat me up first." exhaled Richie, playing with the eraser on the pencil. Mr burns got up, brushing himself off and stood towering over the pair. He paced back and forth, his shoes colliding with the wood creating creaks to be heard with every step he took.

Ugh, this is agony.

Richie decided to look out the window and admire the outside world. Birds sang, while the branches on oak trees danced in the wind. It was funny, though, Richie never took the chance to properly appreciate nature, he kinda just breathed his oxygen and got on with life. It was beautiful, especially when the sun shone its rays down on the dewy grass.

Looking at the nature reminded Richie of some thing. Richie's dad loved nature, he truly thought it was the most extravagant thing in the world. Nobody really knew that about Wentworth as he hid it under his blunt personality. But the sun and the way its rays shone against the green of nature, always made him smile, so Richie grew to smile as well. He felt a smile tug on his lips.

"Something funny?" Mr Burns enquired, breaking Richie's trance.

Richie looked away from the beautiful outdoors and let reality hit him right in the face. He took a deep breath, letting the oxygen enter his lungs. Fresh air, he wanted it. He craved it. This room was stuffy and weird, and also really awkward due to the situation.

"Nope." He let the 'p' pop off his lips, his slouch reflecting on the shitty mood he was now experiencing.

+++

The time read 13:45. They had been sitting in the room for a good hour, talking over the values of the school. 'School is a safe place', 'we are friends with everyone here', and other bullshit that came out of Mr Burns mouth.

Richie isn't normally like this. He isn't a rebel, he isn't someone who goes against the rules to seem cool.

Richie only lives to spend time with his friends, and lives his only life the way he wants it to be.

After hell, he feel into eye contact with Eddie kaspbrak who stood solemn against Richie's locker, his foot tapping with anxiety. A gulp followed Richie as he slowly made his way to Eddie, some sort of stress over ruling his body.

Why did he feel bad? What did Eddie have to do with this?

"Hey spaghetti-"

"What the fuck!" He shrieked, his skinny arms tight by his side. "What possessed you to- to-" he took a sharp inhale, the words refusing to exit his soft lips.

"I'm sorr-" The taller boy went to put a hand on his friends shoulder, but his contact was slapped away harshly. "You're 'sorry'?"

Guilt washed over Richie as he saw his friend breaking down into pieces.

He had hurt his friend.
He created his friend pain.

"You need to sort yourself out, Rich." Eddie spoke quietly, a look of disappointment glistening in his honey brown eyes. And with that, the hypochondriac walked away.

Way to go, Richie.