Chapter Text
Richie Tozier hauled a large cardboard box up the foreign stairs of his new home and walked to the empty room at the end of the hall. It was a nice room, he couldn’t deny that. It had a window that led out to the roof, it had a decent sized closet that he could use, and it even had carpet. His old house was smaller, his room was on the main floor and very plain compared to his new one.
Richie set the final box down on the floor and looked around at the furniture that was messily placed. He planned on reorganizing everything before the end of the day, but he was exhausted. The moving people had just set everything down somewhere, just as his father had asked them to. Richie wasn’t sure if he was able to move his bed on his own, but he figured he’d find that out eventually.
“Hey,” His Mother said. Richie turned around to face her, “We’re just gonna order pizza for dinner, you want pepperoni?”
Richie nodded, “I always do.”
Maggie Tozier smiled warmly at him and walked into his room, “You’ll be starting school tomorrow, they want you to come in a bit early and discuss everything with the counselor. He’ll give you your schedule and tell you everything you need to know.”
Richie groaned, “Do I have to start so soon?”
Maggie ruffled his hair and frowned, “I know it’s a lot all at once, but it’s better to get into a routine as soon as we can. Your father and I are gonna try our best to get things back to normal around here.”
Richie understood, but he hated the idea of starting fresh at a new school. “What if I wake up barfing my brains out?”
She giggled as she held the back of her hand against his forehead, “I think you’ll be fine tomorrow,” she stood up and gazed at the stacked boxes, “You should start unpacking, I’m gonna set up your sister’s room.”
Richie frowned, “Does she really need a room? She doesn’t even live here anymore.”
“She’s only away at college, she needs somewhere to stay during the holidays.”
“I know, but why are you setting her room up first?” He asked.
Maggie shrugged, “I just miss her, that’s all. Now start unpacking, okay? Put all the empty boxes downstairs when you’re done.”
Richie nodded as his mother smiled and left his room, her heels clicking down the hallway. He looked over at the many boxes and groaned, it was too much stuff.
He stood up and walked over to the boxes, opening the first one. It was full of posters and pictures from his old town. He was born and raised in New York, he had always loved it there. Then things happened and his family had to move, so now they lived in a small town no one even knew existed. He wasn’t exactly thrilled, to say the least.
He sighed as he started hanging up the posters on his wall, they were now bent up and folded awkwardly, but he didn’t mind. His father had wanted him to roll them up instead of fold, but he liked to do whatever people told him not to do, even if that meant his many band posters were almost ruined.
He finished unpacking the boxes and ran downstairs to the kitchen, his father stood by the cabinets as he placed their plates and cups into them.
“Need any help?” Richie offered, Wentworth looked over at him and shook his head.
“I can manage on my own. Your mother had your prescription moved to the pharmacy downtown, if you need something to do, you could go and pick that up.” Wentworth offered Richie a small smile as he set a stack of plates into the cabinet above him. “When you get home we can eat dinner and watch a movie, If you’re up for it.”
Richie nodded as he grabbed his car keys and headed to his truck that sat in front of his new home. He remembered passing by the pharmacy earlier, so he knew where it was at.
His parents were good people, but they didn’t understand him. Richie was fine with that, they were kind to him and that was all he could need. Sure, Wentworth didn’t take the time out of his day to spend time with his son, but he tried his best. Maggie loved Richie dearly, but she loved her daughter just a bit more, but Richie knew it was only because Maggie couldn’t understand Richie because he was a boy. He was fine with his family, even if it wasn’t exactly perfect.
He started his truck and drove down the street, his mind trying to remember where he saw the pharmacy. It had been a rather boring town from what he saw, which he supposed was the point. His parents wanted a fresh start, something different than the hectic New York cities. He passed by a theater that also had an arcade, he would’ve loved that when he was thirteen. He was sixteen now, it didn’t excite him as much.
Richie finally spotted the pharmacy and parked his truck in a parking spot. Small town parking lots were small, just one row in front of the small store. He hopped out of his truck and locked it as he headed into the building. Inside there were a few other people, such as a pair of teens who seemed to be his age. Richie looked around at the items they sold, which were just usual items one would see in a store. He finally headed up to the counter where a middle-aged man stood. He had glasses that were similar to the ones Jeffery Dahmer wore, Richie almost wanted to point that out, but he supposed he didn’t want to get on the bad side of his pharmacist.
“Hey, I’m here to pick up a prescription,” Richie spoke as soon as the man looked up at him.
“Are you new to town? Haven’t seen you here before,” he commented, “Could you tell me your name?”
“Uhh, yeah. Richard Tozier.” He hated using his full first name, but the name in the system was his full name, so he had no choice.
The man typed away at his computer and nodded, “Alright, let me go grab your prescription.” he walked over to the shelf where he stored the prescriptions and he filed through the names until he stopped at one and brought it to the counter. “You’re all set then. Hope to see you around, Richard.”
“Call me Richie,” he mumbled as he grabbed the bag and turned around to head to the door. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t looking where he was going and bumped into a short boy.
“Shit,” the boy hissed as he rubbed his forehead, “Watch where you’re going.”
Richie nodded, “Oops, my bad. Didn’t see ya there.”
The boy rolled his eyes, “I noticed,” he looked over at his friend, a girl with short curly red hair. She stood there with a smirk on her face as she stared at them. “Let’s just pay and get back to the others before they eat everything else in Bill’s house.”
She nodded as she took a quick glance at Richie once more, and then looked at the boy and started walking towards the register.
Richie took that as his cue to leave, and so he headed out the door. Oh, he was off to such a good start, now wasn’t he?
He sighed as he entered his truck, he really didn’t want to start at a new school.