Jason sat across from Tommy. Beside him, there was an empty space that Addie often found herself staring at, where Heather had once sat. It was perhaps tactical of Adelade; she spent so many days staring at her bestfriend from their seats at the table she'd forgotten how to look anywhere else. Even now, with the seat empty, she looked at it with a fondness she showed to nobody but her sister. She listened to the same Walkman as she watched the table fill up with basketball boys and cheerleaders around them, until every seat but the one directly in front of her was taken.
Even though Jason had a new girlfriend, it only seemed fair that Heather's seat was left for a little bit longer.
"You did really well Tammy." Emma congratulated Addie's sister kindly, breaking the girl from her trance.
"Give it a couple years and we'll be taking a trip to Nashville with ya for your first big show."
Despite Penelope's snicker, Emma's smile never wavered.
"Yeah Tam Tam, you'll be on TV for sure."
If she wasn't largely engrossed in her own little world, Addie would've reached past her boyfriend to strike Penelope in her calf. But in all ways but physical, she was far away from her lunch table; the morning had given her nothing but worry as she considered exactly the effect of her backlash. What didn't help, was the band kids table being entirely visible from Heather's old seat.
"Look guys. Somebody set the freak off." Jason interrupted Tammy's praise between bites of his lunch, pointing his fork towards another lunch table.
None of the girl's ate beside Tammy and Emma. For different reasons of course, but it meant they had nothing to do but watch as everyone else devoured their food. Their lunchtime entertainment for the day was Eddie Munson, who'd mounted a cafeteria table as he continued to ramble on to his Hellfire Club. The group was just a little too far away to be heard, but both Jason and Emma noticed immediately when Eddie gestured towards their party with disgust.
Emma glanced at her hands each time Eddie looked their way; Adelade seemed to be the only one who noted the slight distane in her reaction to the perpetual high school senior. In her defence, the girl very commonly did that since the two began to share classes.
"What a weirdo." Penelope sneered about the man with unmaintainable hair.
"I'm so lucky you have a class with him Em, 'cause I would rather die than talk to him for our weed."
Addie had never brought up how uncomfortable Emma looked when she went off with the man into the woods beside the football field. She always assumed it was his reputation that brought the girl down, but now, she wondered that exactly the two talked about in their little exchanges that made any contact so painfully awkward. Sure, she could see no appeal to the man, but that wasn't exactly uncommon. Adelade saw no appeal to most men in Hawkins.
"Speaking of weed." Penelope started conversation up again. She was always one to avoid silence, or any kind of boredom.
"I think Addie could do with some after this morning. I heard you went ape shit on those two girls from band."
Although Penelope was smiling at Addie, it wasn't entirely friendly. The girl wanted nothing more than to embarass her former Queen in an attempt to plummet her ranking even further - Adelade could sense the smugness without ever returning her half baked kindness.
"They've stopped, have they not?"
Addie defended herself rather harshly. Nowadays she was often far too harsh, as if any challange was going to chuck her over the same cliff she'd dived from that summer.
"Wait, you did what Addie?"
"Nothing Tammy. Just put some assholes in their place, is all."
She glanced around the table, trying her best to remember what made her popular in the first place.
"The two were total dweebs. One barely spoke to me besides like ten apologies, and the other-"
"-I bet she creamed her pants when she talked to you." Tommy interrupted his girlfriend.
"I know I would, and there's a rumour some of the band kids are raging lesbos."
"Ew, I dont need to know about your fantasies Tommy." Chrissy's disgust for Tommy's humour was the perfect introduction to the conversation.
The small framed girl squeezed in between Emma and Jason, who put his arm around the girl almost as soon as she found her seat. Her button nose scrunched up as she thought about the comment some more; the movement caused her fringe and ponytail to gently shake.
"Whatever happened, I think it's worth talking to the freak for a little.. light relief." Penelope suggested, turning her attention to Emma rather quickly.
"Sure, I'll talk to him after school."
While the others began to talk amongst themselves — Addie preferring to stick her headphones in for the remainder of her lunch period — Chrissy turned to Emma rather nervously. She often acted like a child around the group, so when she put her hand up to cover her lips and whisper in Emma's ear, it was greatly ignored. Even her boyfriend wasn't entirely bothered as he began to discuss the upcoming championship game with his teammates.
"Hey, you think you could talk to Eddie for me?" Chrissy whispered.
Luckily for the two girls, they were being largely ignored by their friends. Otherwise somebody would've caught Emma's eyebrows as they quirked up in confusion. Chrissy was a sweet girl - so sweet nobody, including Addie, was angry when she took the top spot in Hawkin's popularity contest. She wasn't the type to take drugs, or drink, or anything of the sort; much like Emma herself.
Then again, she also wasn't the type to visit the school councillor every other week.
Emma's blonde hair covered most of her face as she looked down at her best friend, who had become so small over the last week. The two had talked on and off about nightmares, but Emma hadn't quite known the girl long enough to get to the root of the problem. She's only joined Addie and her friends a couple years prior; most of the group had been close friends since the start of middle school. In comparison, Chrissy was a new addition to the fold right as they entered High School, and felt uncomfortable with burdening anybody else with her problems too often.
It was only a month or so ago that Emma learnt of her bathroom trips, and the not so innocent reason behind them.
So Emma nodded, with a smile that was as fake as Penelope's hair. After all, if she wanted some drugs, who was Emma to tell her no? Eddie Munson was a bit of a freak, but him and his little business was nothing if not harmless. And if the girl was to get caught, Emma wouldn't be the one who took the fall for it.
It would only be Chrissy's funeral.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
