soulmates // reddie

cuatro.

as students filtered in, richie reconized most of the faces. 

the girl who gave him a pencil with bite marks on the eraser in 7th grade.

yuck.

the girl richie had a crush on in 6th grade. 

he heard her say the n word last year.

greta and a friend popped their bubblegum agressively as they went to the back of the room.

sadly, none of richie's closer friends ever entered the classroom.

however, betty ripson did, and plopped down next to him.

she had gone missing for a while just a few months ago in july.

got found in a wheat field a few miles out of derry a day later with nothing but her underwear on.

she wasn't the same after that.

people speculate it was bowers but betty refuses to speak about it.

"hey!" richie said cheerily.

"hi rich." betty responded, pulling out her notebook. the bags under her eyes were worse.

richie tried to be gentle with her. he had seen greta torment her to the point of tears. she was really a kind person. he felt absolutely horrible for her. 

they had liked each other last year. 

then she got with bowers for a while. 

that ended badly. 

"did you know there was homework?" betty snapped him out of his thoughts, pointing at the whiteboard in the front of the room.

"what?" richie followed her gaze to the big block letters saying

HOMEWORK TURN IN HERE with a large arrow pointing to a basket which a few students had already placed their finished work in.

"homework over the summer?? thats ridiculous. how were we supposed to know??" 

richie was about to spew many cuss words when the soft voice he had heard just a few minutes ago piped up again.

"they must of sent you the homework in the mail." both betty and richie looked at him.

"i-i mean.. thats what they did for me at least." the kid did indeed have a neat paper in front of him. 

"my mailbox got knocked over. my dad backed into it a few weeks ago." betty said, her mouth finally turning up in a smile.

"my mom throws all the mail away,, sometimes even the bills."

the boy quietly snorted, the type where its just a breathy little thing right from your nose, and nowhere else. 

then he got up to turn in the paper.

"who is that?" betty asked, popping her fingers one by one. 

"the hell if i know." 

"he's awfully skinny."

richie looked at him again. he did seem small. now that he thought about it, his shirt hung off his frame and his legs were like sticks. of course, richie was skinny too. but he was tall skinny. like slenderman. the boy in front of him was short skinny. like.. like... he couldn't think of a good character. 

"how are ya holding up?" richie asked betty, who smiled just a bit.

"im okay." then the boy was back.

"so anyways, whats your name again?" richie said to the stick.

"mine?" the stick said.

"no, i was just talking to invisible johnny."

"who??" 

"nobody. whats your name, kid."

"edward. edward kaspbrack."

richie snorted. a real snort, the kind that sounded like a deranged pig.

"edWARD!? thats like an old m-" richie stopped when he saw the look on "edward's" face. he was clearly upset. "aw im sorry kid. i didn't mean it."

"can you please not call me kid? im the same grade as you."

richie nodded, feeling ashamed. he studied the boy across from him, his shoulders were slumped and the bags under his eyes were dark. however, his eyes crinkled as he gave him a smile.

"i mean.. you can call me eddie. if thats any better." he said. richie glanced at betty who was smiling at the boy now known as eddie. he grinned as well, and then the announcements started.

"welcome to the 2019-2020 school year derry highschoolers!! we are so excited to meet all the new faces in the form of our freshmen!"

richie and just about everyone else at the school knew this was bs. nobody was new here.the freshmen knew the sophmores from softball practice, and the juniors and seniors from just living in the tiny town. richie bet the only new kid was the eddie kid. who in their right mind would move here??

"today's lunch is burgers with fries!! and as usual, have an amazing day students!!" 

then class officially began.