FEBRUARY 1ST, 1986
📍 hawkins high school
12:32 PM
once 12:30 hit, students began flooding out of classrooms to head to lunch, and matilda had to put her crying session on hold.
thankfully, no one had come down the pe corridor and seen or heard her sat on the floor crying her eyes out. if they had, and she had to explain what was going on, and it would have likely made her feel worse.
pulling herself up off of the floor, tillie wiped her eyes. she hadn't put on any makeup today, so at least she didn't have the worry of having mascara running down her face. she took a deep breath to prepare herself before turning the corner to enter the crowds of teenagers.
keeping her head down, she managed to weave her way through and reach her locker to be able to put some textbooks inside and take some out. she also had a mirror in there, but didn't care to look in it.
meanwhile, eddie munson was roaming the hallways, eyes furiously scanning through the groups of students in order to find her.
he couldn't explain it, but since the first conversation in the bathroom the other week, he'd had this strong urge to protect her, to make sure she was okay. he often found himself wondering about her when they were apart. what was she doing? was she okay? was she happy at that given moment or consumed by the negativity that seemed to surround her?
many people didn't like her, or found her weird, especially in comparison to her younger sister. but he'd always found her intriguing. how she was perfectly comfortable in her own company, happily in her twin's shadow, with her walkman and her notepad as her only real friends.
at first he found it weird — how could someone enjoy being alone? but as he was beginning to discover more about her and her life it made perfect sense as to why she never wanted to be around others.
he saw a flash of short blonde hair, turn the corner, and began pushing through the crowd. getting a clearer look, he realized it was her.
hustling through the crowd he began to follow her out onto the sports field where she was heading.
— 📻🪐🏹 —
whilst he chased after her, chrissy sat at her usual lunch table, her boyfriend by her side as she sipped on a bottle of water.
"hey, chrissy!" the blonde looked up and saw her friend clara heading towards them.
"hey, clara. everything okay?" she asked.
"well," she took a seat opposite her fellow cheerleader. "i was just in physics and tillie was acting weird. like really weird. even weirder than usual."
chrissy's eyebrows scrunched. "what do you mean?"
"she was just like, i don't know. she was zoned out, distracted. and then she just stood up and stormed out,"
clara explained, chrissy listening closely.
"where is she now?" chrissy queried, standing up from the table.
"chrissy, come on, babe," jason whined, pulling his girlfriend back down. "she's probably just crying in the toilet or something."
"whatever she's doing, i'm going to go make sure she's okay," chrissy hissed in response, pushing her boyfriend away. she turned her attention back to clara. "did you see where she went?"
the brunette shook her head. "no, sorry. she just kinda vanished."
"okay, well thanks," chrissy smiled, before leaving the lunch hall in search of her twin sister.
— 📻🪐🏹 —
sitting under the bleachers, headphones on and face tucked into her knees, tillie sat, struggling to not fall asleep.
she saw a figure approaching her, and noticed from his hair and clothing choice who it was immediately. quickly standing up, she grabbed her bag and began rushing away from him in hopes he hadn't spotted her, but he already had.
"mattie?" he shouted at her, following the blonde as she led him to a more private space. "hey! hey! mattie!"
finally turning around, matilda saw eddie's face practically dripping with concern. "stop it."
now his brows furrowed. "stop what?"
"stop looking at me like that," she ordered him.
"like what?"
"like you care about me, or something," matilda hissed in response.
"i do care about you," he told her, voice full of sincerity. "i care a lot about you."
tillie closed her eyes briefly and shook her head firmly. "no. no. you.. you just feel pity for me because i mistakenly told you about some of the messed up shit in my life!" she hollered. "you just didn't want to seem like a bad guy by letting me tell you that sort of shit and then ditching me the next day."
eddie took a step closer to her, trying to speak softly. "mattie, that's—"
"please, stop calling me that," the girl said. "i'm not your little mattie. i'm not your best buddy or whatever the fuck you like to call me."
"matti- matilda," eddie said. "you're just having a bad day, okay? i can tell you're not feeling great. you just need to go home and-"
"don't tell me how i'm feeling," matilda spat. "yeah, okay, i told you my little sob story. that doesn't mean you know me. okay, you- you're not special. i mean, you're twenty years old and still haven't graduated goddamn high school! instead, you.. you just sit in the toilets smoking pot and playing some.. some shitty board game with freshmen!" she yelled, salty tears beginning to leak from her eyes and roll down her cheeks in frustration. "you know, maybe i'm not doing great, but at least i'm not a total failure like you."
eddie's mouth opened slightly in shock. swallowing, his gaze fell to the ground as he tried to figure out what to say.
he knew she didn't mean any of this. he could tell from how she'd acted that morning that she wasn't herself. and, from the way she stuttered and cried as she spoke, he knew she was struggling to find something that would actually hurt him. hell, she could hardly say the word failure.
she didn't want to hurt him, she just wanted to push him away. and he'd be damned if he let that happen.
"mattie.."
pulling jason's bomber jacket closer to her body, chrissy arrived at the scene, brows furrowing upon seeing her sister mid argument with the supposed freak of the school, eddie munson. she quickly hid behind a nearby wall, listening in on the quarrel secretly.
"i've told you to stop calling me that!" matilda spoke, her voice cracking mid sentence.
eddie took a step forwards towards her. "let me take you home."
taking a deep breath, tillie adjusted her bag on her shoulder. she looked up at eddie, the height distance meaning he towered over her. and, god, did she want to crumble down in front of him.
to breakdown in his arms, secure in his touch and the privacy of their location. to let him comfort her, like he so desperately wanted. to take him up on his offer to take her home, making sure she got in okay and had the long, much needed rest she craved.
but she didn't.
"we need to stop this. whatever this is. it's better for the both of us," she said, trying to ignore how his face dropped. "you need to stop talking to me. you need to stop caring about me. from now on, i'm just chrissy cunningham's weird older sister. i'm just the quiet girl who sits in the back of your classes and doodles, okay? believe me, this is better for the both of us."
and with that, she walked away, ignoring every part of her that wanted to go back to him, leaving both the boy and her twin in utter shock.
— 📻🪐🏹 —
hehe i am evil
also i got a haircut yesterday and it literally looks so shit i can't—
i've tried so many different styles and it just doesn't look good 😫
tysm for 1k reads!! ily all mwah mwah
WORD COUNT — 1337.