Math Tutor 🥀 Reddie

Part 15

"Today's the day." Richie thought as he stood in front of the school.

The crickets had kept him up all night, giving him lots of time to think.  After lots and lots of thinking, he came to the conclusion that this was a dumb idea but it was too late to back out and Richie Tozier was not a coward.

So, he walked into the front hallway, cringing every time the crickets made a noise.  Richie took a right into the library and made his way towards the back.  There Eddie stood, leaning up against the books.  He looked nervous, and he was.  Eddie felt like he might throw up.

"Do you have them?" He asked, trying to hide his fear.

"Hell yeah, Edward Spaghedward."

Richie unzipped his backpack and pulled out the Tupperware container he'd been keeping the insects in.

"You decorated their home?" Eddie asked with a small, amused laugh.  He'd noticed the grass, leaves, and carefully placed rocks in the container.

"Of course!  It's the least I can do before I release them into this hellhole.  So what we're gonna do is release these motherfuckers and then then walk out.  But act natural."

"Really?  That's it?"

"Yup."

Before Eddie could say anything else, Richie opened up the container, sending about a dozen crickets hopping throughout the library.  Quickly, he stood up and started to walk out of the room with Eddie trailing close behind him.

The two stood by the library doors, waiting for a reaction and trying to look as nonchalant as possible.  Sure enough, after about thirty seconds, people started to notice.

"Woah!"
"What the hell?"
"Oh my gosh!"
"A cricket!"
"Ewww!"

Richie was trying and failing miserably to stifle his laughter while Eddie just grinned, amused but still anxious.

They heard the noise start to escalate as more people noticed.  They even heard one blood-curdling scream from a blonde girl who was known to be over dramatic.  This sent Richie into hysterics.

He doubled over laughing.  Eddie's eyes widened as he put a finger to his lips, trying to get Richie to shut up.

Richie ended up pulling himself together and the two both made their ways to their first period classes, trying to draw as little attention to themselves as possible.
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In the middle of third period, an announcement came over the loudspeaker.

"Eddie Kaspbrak to the principal's office please."

His heart dropped.

Oh shit.

Eddie stood up and walked out of the class.  His shaky hands fumbled for the zipper of his fanny pack and pulled out his inhaler.  He quickly held the aspirator to his lips and pulled the trigger.

When he finally reached the office, Richie was also there as he had expected.

The principal sat on the other side of the desk, staring at them with disappointment.

"So, what happened this morning?" He asked in an angry tone.

Eddie flinched at the principal raising his voice.

"I'm telling you, it wasn't us!" Richie declared.

"The security camera footage begs to differ."

Immediately, Richie's face turned as red as a tomato.  He knew he'd been caught.

"Detention for both of you.  This weekend all day."

He scribbled some words on two detention slips, handed them to Richie and Eddie, and sent them back to class.