MATILDA, eddie munson.

027.

completely bored out of her mind, tillie doodled on her graph paper instead of drawing the graphs like she was instructed to do. majority of the class weren't listening to miss lahey, and were conversing in their own chats or throwing notes across the classroom.

chrissy was passing love notes back and forth between her and jason, and tillie was considering doing the same with eddie. however, based on their settings it probably wouldn't go unnoticed.

she was adding eyelashes to her doodle of an eye, when a large paper ball landed on her desk. she opened it curiously, assuming it was from eddie, but that wasn't the case.

matilda froze in her seat for a moment, her heart beating loudly at the words on the note. she heard the obnoxious chuckles of myles and his friends who had obviously been watching her read it, and a large wave of anxiety consumed her. reaching down to the floor, she picked up her backpack and stood up from her seat, beginning to leave the classroom.

miss lahey turned around from the blackboard. "miss cunningham? miss cunningham!" she yelled, but the blonde had already left the room.

chrissy began to stand up to go after her, but another got the chance before she could.

grabbing his own bag, eddie swiftly followed the girl out, ignoring all the confused faces watching him.

"mr munson! mr munson, get back here!"

dismissing the older woman, eddie scoped out the empty corridors trying to find her. she couldn't have gone far, he thought. he heard the sound of heavy breathing around the corner, realizing it must be her.

he turned the corner, and saw her sat down leaning against the wall, her body trembling and a few tears rolling down her cheeks.

"hey, hey," he spoke softly, hurrying to kneel down in front of her. he cupped her face gently in his hands. "hey, shh, shh, it's okay."

"i feel like i can't breathe," tillie panted, holding her hands over her chest. "i—"

"it's okay, it's okay," eddie told her. "you're having a panic attack, okay? just focus, focus on my voice, yeah?"

tillie nodded, closing her eyes and trying to concentrate solely on eddie's voice like he asked.

"that's good, okay. listen to me. you're safe. you're safe, mattie. i'm not going to let anything happen to you," he cooed, gently stroking her face with his thumbs. "i'm not letting a single thing happen to you, okay? you are safe, princess."

her breathing slowly began to pace, and her heart beat started to regulate, as she exhaled slowly.

"good, that's good," eddie told her. "you're okay."

cautiously, tillie opened her eyes again, seeing eddie looking down at her with concern written all over his face.

"how did you know how to do that?" she whispered.

"i used to get panic attacks a lot when i was younger," he told her, removing his hands from her face and shuffling to sit beside her. "my uncle used to help me deal with them. people get panic attacks when they're in a state of panic, right? so you just need to reassure them that they're safe."

tillie wiped her eyes, before moving to lean her head on his shoulder. he was surprised, as usually he was the one who initiated physical contact, but didn't shrug her off. instead, he adjusted his shoulder to allow her to feel more comfortable, before resting his own head against the top of hers.

"what happened, mattie?" he questioned.

she pulled the crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to the boy.

"i am going to kill him," eddie seethed.

"you want to use my hammer to hit him?" the girl joked, trying to bring some light to the situation.

eddie let out a small huff of amusement, rubbing his face against the top of her head. "you can't stay at home tonight. it's not safe."

"i'm sure he was probably just joking. trying to taunt me. he likes to do that," tillie replied.

"i don't care," he stated. "i'm not risking it."

"okay, well where else am i supposed to stay?" matilda wondered.

"my place, duh," eddie said, as though it was obvious.

"your place?" the blonde repeated. "what about your uncle?"

"he works night shifts, remember. he won't mind," eddie told her.

"okay, but, either way, i'm still going to have to go home and get a change of clothes," she commented. "and come up with an excuse to tell chrissy and my mother."

"you can do that," eddie responded. "i'll just wait outside like your own personal security guard."

"okay, okay, hold up," tillie started, still confused. "explain to me your plan."

"as soon as school finishes," he looked at the watch on his wrist, "which is in about five minutes, i'll drive you to your house. i'll park up the street of course, and i'll wait for you to get your stuff. then when you've got everything, i'll drive back to my trailer and yeah, simple as that."

"hold up, what about my car?"

"it can stay here," eddie told her. "i'll drive us both to school in the morning. and then you can drive yourself home after school tomorrow."

"okay.." the girl nodded. "are you sure, though? i don't think he'll actually—"

"mattie," eddie interrupted. "if you want to stay at home tonight that's fine, but you best believe i'll be parked outside on watch all night. i meant it when i said i'm not letting anything happen to you."

tillie broke out into a grin. "that's kind of creepy, you know."

"shut up, i'm trying to be cute," eddie laughed.

tillie let out a small laugh herself, before agreeing to his plan. "okay then, creep. sleepover at your trailer."

— 📻🪐🏹 —

personally i think eddie should've used a lydia martin method to help with mattie's panic attack but that's just me 🙄

ALSO BYE I SAW A THEORY THAT HENRY CREEL IS ELEVEN'S DAD 😭 tbf though they made some valid points 😳

we're getting so close to the s4 plotline!! probably around six more chapters omg

tysm for almost 35k reads!!

WORD COUNT — 1482.