at school, richie chased stanley down in the hallway, who seemed to be walking faster to avoid him. he seemed to be fresh out of the office, holding a paper in his hands.
"stanley, are you okay?" richie rushed up from behind him and stanley nearly jumped. stanley's eyes were bloodshot red again. if richie didn't know better, he would have asked him if he was high.
stanley shook his head violently. he looked around in a panic. "i can't talk to you. she'll know. i'm sorry. please don't talk to me. i'm so sorry, rich. this has to be over. whatever this is." stanley said, watching as richie's eyes flickered down to the sheet of paper. it was a timetable.
richie didn't recognize any of the classes on the sheet, "but-"
"please." the look in stanley's eyes could have left richie crumpled on the ground.
instead, richie stood still and watched as stanley rushed away from him.
"hey, move, asshole," a random kid bumped into richie, moving him to the side of the hallway rather aggressively.
when richie found his class, he was unfortunately not surprised to find a lack of stanley. instead, he saw beverly and he immediately moved to her, wrapping his arms around her.
"hi rich, good morning," she mumbled, flipping through her work for the class. richie let go of her and sat down at his desk. he stared towards the board for a moment.
"'morning bev," richie put his head down on the desk, unsure of what to do. beverly looked over with a tinge of concern.
"are you okay?" beverly asked, richie nodding. he pulled out a pack of gum out of the side of his bag. he popped one in his mouth and chewed to give his mind something to focus on. this was going to suck.
"yeah, i just have a stomach ache." richie said, putting his head back in his arms like he had to go to sleep. it wasn't entirely a lie, because his stomach did not feel good, but it wasn't poor digestion, or anything.
"oh, okay."
-
"hey, rich, is stan not at school today?" eddie asked, barely looking up from his lunch. he ate a slice of apple. richie felt sick again and pushed away the food in front of him.
"i don't know." he said.
"really?" eddie's voice had an air of disbelief, and richie wanted to punch a hole through the cafeteria table. this wasn't fair.
richie scoffed, "what does that mean?" he sounded offended, and truthfully, he was a little.
"no, it's just normally you and stan tell each other everything. i figured you'd know." eddie said, richie rolling his eyes. they didn't know anything about him and stan. they didn't get to have opinions on him and stan.
"fuck off."
richie knew he was being bitter, but he didn't care. he had to deal with this on his own because no one else could know. they knew richie was gay, but richie couldn't out stanley.
the table was dead silent, richie's words still hanging in the air.
"i'm sorry. you're right. he is at school, i dunno." richie said, hoping he was edging close enough to the truth to be believable. he bit his tongue.
this is all my fault. stanley, i'm sorry. this is all my fault.
"what? why isn't he in class?" ben asked, eddie staying silent.
richie shrugged, "i just said i don't know. sorry."
-
it became increasingly apparent over the next couple days that they were not allowed to speak to stanley at all. every time one of them saw stanley in the hallway, he seemed to disappear. and no one ever seemed to see him outside of school. the glimpses they caught of him worried them even more, and they soon found it was easier to not look at him a all.
one day, about a month later, stanley had been standing at the teachers desk when richie walked in the door. the teacher was talking to stanley, but he didn't seem to be responding.
"i'm not sure what's happened stanley, but none of your homework has been finished or handed in, and you don't participate."
stanley nodded. richie sat down at his desk.
"i'll let you get to your next class, but if you don't hand some things in, i'm not sure you'll be able to pass this class."
stanley nodded again. he turned around to leave the class, and richie noticed that stanley's eyes were hardly open, and extremely swollen. stanley's eyes landed on richie.
richie gave him a pathetic attempt at a sympathetic smile. stanley inhaled sharply and gave him one back. it looked painful.
