Imagines [Book Four]

Stranger Things [Eddie Munson]

When your best friend ignores you for his girlfriend of the month one too many times, you open yourself up to a new friendship that eventually evolves into something more.

. .

. .

  High school wasn't as terrible as you had feared, but you are so ready for your senior year to be done and over with after only a week of it.

One would think that you were over your senior year because of the onslaught of work or because of bullies, but nope. You were over it because out of every possible scenario, it was your best friend who made you feel a bit awkward and ready to move on.

Sitting atop the table of a concrete bench just outside of the school, you're talking through your English assignment with Robin when someone knocks into your knees. Your smile falters as you look up and your best friend grins, turning so his back is towards you and wiggling between your knees to rest. Your jaw clenches as you lean back, refusing to wrap your arms around his shoulders like you would have had it been last year. Robin arches an eyebrow at you, but you chuckle softly and shake your head at her, so she knows to drop it.

As more and more of your friend group show up, Robin takes her leave to get ready for her first period band class and you find yourself leaning forward. Your left hand ends up on your best friend's shoulder, fingers tapping rhythmically against his neck.

With less than five minutes to the first bell, a dual-tone colored van screeches into the student parking lot. Everyone watches as the driver and passenger doors open, followed by the side door being slid open. Several familiar looking freshmen scramble out of the van, but it's the driver who draws your attention.

You can hear your friends wondering about the newcomer, but you're not adding much to the conversation other than a hum here and there. Instead, you're solely focused on the shaggy-haired individual who the freshmen are looking up at with adoration in their eyes. The denim vest and leather jacket combo pique your interest and your breath lightly hitches when brown doe eyes meet yours as they approach the entrance doors.

A smile blossoms across the newcomer's face which makes his eyes crinkle at the corners and dimples appear, and you mentally swoon. Oh no. He's cute!

Letting your lips twitch into a faint grin, you nod in greeting, but then pressure around your thigh draws your attention to your best friend who's staring up at you with an unimpressed expression. "Are you done eye-fucking the new dude?"

His tone makes your friends laugh and you grit your teeth, but you paste on a smile. "Nope. Still have all day." The bell finally rings, and you push at your friend until he gets up so you can walk off to your first class of the day.

You seriously couldn't wait for graduation.

◈◈◈

Lunchtime rolls around and Eddie Munson is surrounded by his people.

Well, mostly.

There's Jeff, Gareth, and Tommy- three juniors who happen to have the same taste in music and style as him, and then a handful of freshmen he'd picked up that morning when one of their bikes had a flat tire and he decided to be a good guy and drive them to school. The one thing they all had in common, however, was that they were all fans of Dungeons and Dragons, and he couldn't wait to start planning their first campaign since he clued them in to the fact that he was a fantastic dungeon master.

As he nibbles on the soggy fries the school has to offer, Eddie's gaze travels over the different cliques at Hawkins High. This school was nothing like the school he attended before where all cliques were set in stone. There were the usual jocks, the stoners, the band geeks, and the art nerds, but the thing that threw him for a loop was the fact that there were two different cliques of metalheads.