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Share: part or portion of a larger amount which is divided among a number of people, or to which a number of people contribute.
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Richie tapped his fingers on the dining table restlessly as he looked at his gold watch. Eddie, Bill and Stan were coming round today so they could all work on their project together. Alongside them, Beverley and Ben also decided to tag along just for the company.

Although initially nervous to introduce them to his temporary home (or home, which he should really get used to saying), Richie was looking forward to spending some more time with them all, in reality he'd really only known them under a week.

Eleanor walked in with a tray with some biscuits and drinks on it and placed it in front of Richie, "Listen honey, I need to talk to you about something." She told him as she sat down on the wooden table chair.

He looked up in curiosity, "Of course," He replied. "I'm listening." He responded, turning to face her straight showing she had his undivided attention.

She sighed, "I was just on the phone with your parents-"

"My parents?" Richie cut her off. "Can I speak to them? I miss them terribly." He asked her politely. It was true, he didn't miss his big castle or servants doing his every wish, he missed his mothers warm embraces and his fathers proud glances.

Eleanor sighed again, "You can but - just listen for now okay? I was on the phone with them, and they told me to tell you that if anything happens, they want you back straight away."

Richie slumped back in his chair, his heart starting to beat louder with anxiety, "What do you mean?" He questioned.

"Say you are bullied, or you're failing a class, or even if you just don't like one of the teachers, they want you to come straight home." She explained, running her fingers through her hair nervously.

"That's not so bad," Richie shrugged. "That works for me actually." He said, giving her a bright smile.

Eleanor nodded, "That's the good part, yes. But then they said that when you come home..." She paused, looking down at the floor at her ratted slippers.

"Eleanor?" Richie asked her, placing a hand on her arm. "Please tell me, I won't be mad."

Eleanor looked him in the eyes and tenderly grabbed his hand, "If you go home, you can't come back here. Not ever, ever again. It's for your safety apparently."

Richie exhaled out heavily a breath he didn't even notice he was holding, "Never? What if I accidentally break my arm or something? I go home, and then never come back? What about my friends?"

Eleanor shuffled her chair forwards and pulled him into a hug, "I know it's hard honey, but they're only doing it because they love you."

Richie nodded, "I know, and I appreciate it, I really do," He admitted. "I just wish I was free to go anywhere and not have to worry."

Suddenly the door bell rang, causing Eleanor and Richie to pull away from their hug, "It must be one of your friends!" Eleanor exclaimed. "And you have to point out that boy you were talking about!"

Richie stood up and opened the door, "Hello!" He chirped when he saw all his friends stood on his patio. "How are you all?"

A mix of 'goods', and 'greats' echoed around. Richie smiled, immediately forgetting the bad news he'd been told only seconds before.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" Eleanor said from behind him. The four of them stepped inside and took off their shoes, and then Richie started to introduce them.

"This is Eleanor, my auntie," he stated, pointing to her. "Eleanor, these are my friends," he started to point them out. "Bill, Stan, Beverly, Ben and Eddie."  He added pressure on Eddie's name, hoping Eleanor would pick up on instantly. She did.

"Oh it's lovely to meet you all! I've heard such nice things about you all." She said, smiling at them, but at Eddie in particular.

Eddie stepped forward slightly, tousling his brown curly locks that had been blown around from the wind, "It's nice to meet you too, you have such a lovely home!" He told her. Eleanor sent Richie a look of approval, making Richie quietly chuckle.

She smiled, "Thank you Eddie."

"Head on upstairs," Richie told them. "I'll be up in a moment. My bedrooms the first door on the left."

They all ran up the stairs one by one, giggling over something Ben had muttered, and Richie turned to Eleanor.

"Eddie, huh?" She winked. "I like him, you have my approval. Don't do anything dirty, go have fun."

Richie just shook his head and laughed, before running upstairs after his friends who were all stood around in his bedroom.

"Let's get this boll rolling, yeah?" Bill says cheerfully  once he sees Richie.

Stan turned towards him, "We aren't doing the lottery." He laughs slightly, making Bill turn red. Richie just smirks, remembering what he saw at his last English lesson.

"We're here to help, obviously," Beverley chimed in. "We did our project last month."

Richie nodded, "why do classes do the presentations at separate times?"

"You have to present them," she replied, now scanning around his neat room, obviously taking notice of the lack of decoration. "Too many teenage hormones in one room, clearly."

Eddie cleared his throat and began, "I think we should show how in all of Shakespeare's works, he always portrayed something about love, I think. Like in Macbeth for example, it all started because he killed the King to make his wife happy." He told them. They nodded in agreement.

"That's love, in a creepy, messed up way." Ben remarked, taking a careful seat on the edge of Richie's bed.

Stan sat down on Richie's bed next to Ben, "Maybe we should mention all of the plays he's written about love."

Bill hummed in agreement, "we could look it up online to see if he actually had a girlfriend or anything?" He suggested, earning a nods all around.

"Good plan." Richie spoke up, feeling insecure about not having had contributed yet. He was slowly getting used to the notion of having friends who actually wanted to see him.

"How about we split up?" Beverley proposed. "Bill and Stan, you both look up about the plays to do with love, and me and Ben will look up about his history with girlfriends and Richie and Eddie you start planning how you'll present?"

"Perfect, Bev!"

"They don't day I'm a leader for nothing." she joked, her voice spilling with sarcasm.

Richie rubbed his hands together, "Good thing we're an even number." He commented.

Bill shook his head, "actually, we're not. Our friend Mike dropped out of school to help his dad with farming. We still see him sometimes, not all the time but, he's still part of the group."

Ben leaned forward on the bed, "I do miss him. We haven't seen him in ages. We should really ask him to hang out sometime."

Before Richie could comment on this new information, and think about the fact he could have possibly another new friend, Stan had interrupted him, "come on let's crack on. This project won't do itself."

Richie sat next to Eddie on his floor, while Bill and Stan slumped together on Richie's beanbag, both sharing a pair of headphones while they worked together. Beverley and Ben watched them fondly from Richie's bed, whispering how cute they were.

"So," Richie started. "Have you finished the Maze Runner yet?"

Eddie sighed, "No, they took it off me. I came back and I only rented it. I take a really long time to read books and they said that I reached my maximum reading time with that book, I was only half way through as well!"

An idea suddenly popped into Richie's head, one that he had thought in the bookshop when they first met too, "Have mine." He told him.

Eddie turned around to look at him, uncertainty flooding through his brown eyes. He was clearly used to being lied to, Richie thought. "Wait, what?"

"Have my Maze Runner book, trust me, I don't want it." He lied. He did want it, but he'd love for Eddie to have it and plus, he could buy another one easily.

A smile crept his way onto Eddie's face, "Are you sure?" He asked him. "Cause it's fine, you don't have to do that!"

Richie stood up and walked over to his bookshelf, gaining the attention of Ben and Beverley who had now focused their attention to them. He picked up the Maze Runner and handed it to Eddie, "I am more than sure. Take it, I insist. It's a really good book, you don't want to miss out on it!"

Eddie smiled even brighter, "Thank you so much! I'll give it back to you as soon as possible!"

"Keep it," Richie told him. Eddie opened his mouth to argue but Richie stopped him before he could. "Trust me. Keep it."

"Thank you so much, Rich. That's so kind of you."

Richie grinned back, sitting next to Eddie again, "Anything for a friend."

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