Rolling Around The Smoke

three

By the time Sunday came around, they had been living in their new house for three days now. Eddie hadn't gone past the end of their street, Sonia being overly-cautious about the new town. He hadn't really interacted with anyone, aside from his conversation with Richie Tozier, just occasional hellos and thank yous to their new neighbors who great them with some cakes they say are homemade, but they definitely picked them up at their local grocery store. The welcome gifts are appreciated nonetheless.

He starts at the local high school tomorrow. He's nervous. Will he fit in? Will everyone hate him? He's excited too, he gets to make new friends, and he gets to do more lessons. The lessons in Derry were strictly Mathematics, English language and English literature and the sciences. He's been able to choose what lessons he does which is exciting. The school has an amazing track team, they win at every competition they go to. There are tryouts tomorrow, on his first day. He was the best runner at his old school, they didn't do many competitions only once a year, but he was still the best. That's one of the few things in his life he is actually proud of.

Does Richie go to that school? Is he on the track team? No, he smokes, that would be contradictory. Why am I thinking about Richie? He thinks to himself.

He clears his mind and does his six-step nighttime skincare routine, and finishes it off with an aromatherapy mask to help him sleep. He dozes off thinking about everything that could happen at his new school.

The sound of his alarm wakes him up at six in the morning and heads downstairs for a cup of tea. Green tea. He prefers coffee but his mother refuses to buy it, says its bad for his health, so he settles for green tea and many of its health benefits. He debates on having breakfast and in the end settle for avocado toast with a poached egg. He gets into the shower and stands under the warm water for a few minutes, planning his day in his head and he starts to wash.

When he's out of the shower the time is around seven am now, two hours before school starts, an hour and a half before he gets there, an hour before he sets off to school. He decides on wearing high-waisted black skinny jeans, a black belt and a pastel shirt with some of it tucked into his pants. He chooses some classic Doc Martens to go with his look. He does his six-step morning skincare routine.

He now has half an hour left before he leaves for school. He double-checks that he has all the equipment that he needs for school and a thin, long sleeve top, a pair of shorts, and his running shoes, for the track team tryouts. He writes a quick note for his mother saying that he has already left and he sets off to his new school.

"Hey, new kid!" A familiar voice calls out. Its Richie Tozier. Dressed in black jeans and another old band t-shirt and that leather jacket, he had another cigarette resting between his fingers. The taller man jogs over to Eddie. "First day?" Eddie nods in response. "Its a good school, I got there, maybe we have classes together."

"That would be unfortunate" Eddie retorts. "Smokings bad for you, you know?" Richie smiles at him and he took a drag from his cigarette.

"Yeah, hard to stop, I do try to smoke less, but it helps. You excited for your first day?" Richie questions.

"Not if I have to spend it with you." Eddie chimed. Richie laugh. He has a nice laugh, he should do it more.

"If you have no friends by lunch you can sit with us." Richie states. Eddie asks who the others are. "Ben, Mike, Beverly, Stan, and Bill. Ben and Bev are together and Mike and Bill are pining after each other." Eddie gives a quick laugh as Richie exhales more smoke.

"Are you on the track team?" Eddie questions.

"Me? Fuck no, the only time I run is when a new star wars film comes out." Eddie laughs in response. "Are you trying out? Mike and Ben are on it, Mike is the captain."

"Yeah, I was on the team back home." They carry on talking and joking as if they had known each other all their lives. It was nice having a friend, Eddie decided. They had reached the school and Richie shown him where the principles office is, so he could get his schedule. He had History first, that was good, he enjoyed it. He decided that his day was pretty decent especially being on second lunch, that's always something to look forward too. He was looking forward to starting new, starting fresh.