FEBRUARY 7TH, 1986
📍 hawkins high school
8:31 AM
walking down the corridor to her locker, tillie's mind tried to focus on her music and not the back of the boy she could see. a few meters in front of her, stood eddie at his locker.
she arrived at the locker and put in her code, opening it up to grab her english and history book, which she needed for her lessons that morning. she could feel someone's stare on her, and knew it was belonged to a certain long, brown haired boy.
suddenly, she felt someone grab her ass, and she froze. "hey, gorgeous," he whispered, squeezing her ass once again, this time harder.
quickly turning around, she slammed her fist into his nose, making him stumble back as blood rushed from the injury.
shocked gasps echoed down the corridor, as matilda's jaw widened herself. she looked down at her hand, still closed up into a tight fist, and back up at the boy, in disbelief at what she just did.
"you bitch," myles grunted, holding his hand over his broken nose to suppress the bleeding.
murmurs began between students, as tillie's eyes searched the crowd for one person.
"what is going on here?" the principal's voice echoed, pushing his way through the group of teenagers. "let me through!" his eyes landed on myles' bleeding nose, before he discovered tillie's hand balled into a fist. "mr layton, get to the nurse. miss cunningham, come with me please," he sighed. "the rest of you, get to first period!"
slamming her locker door shut, tillie adjusted her bag on her shoulders, and followed the man, massaging her hand to relive some of the pain.
she tried to pay no attention to the whispers or the stares, but when she felt herself nearing eddie, she couldn't help but look up from her feet. they met gazes, and tillie took note of the proud expression he wore, a small smile present. she let her eyes linger on him for a moment, before looking down and following the teacher to his office.
— 📻🪐🏹 —
FEBRUARY 7TH, 1986
📍 hawkins high school
11:01 AM
arriving at her history class, tillie was confused at the classroom rearrangement. tables had been moved around the room and pushed together, so they were now sat in pairs instead of singles.
"okay, settle down, i know it looks different," mr dorton announced as his pupils entered the classroom. "just go stand in a line at the back, please."
once everyone, including eddie, had arrived and was stood against the back wall, the teacher began speaking again.
"we're going to be doing something a little different over these next few weeks. i'm going to be trying to do more partner based activities, if it doesn't work out then we'll go back to usual, okay?" mr dorton said to the class.
"now, over the course of the next few weeks, there will be an assignment you and your partner must complete outside of school. before any of you complain or start choosing your own partner, i picked the pairs myself. completely randomly."
many girls in the class sighed dramatically, huffing at the low likelihood they would be paired with their friends. tillie was just praying, to god, that she wouldn't end up with eddie.
mr dorton began wondering around the room, pointing at the desks and assigning a pair to sit at them. "okay, amber and charles here please, and i want andrew and david here.. maria and claudia at that back table.."
two by two, students began to take their seats, meaning the line at the back got shorter and shorter. now, there were only four people still standing — matilda, richard, isaac and eddie.
"and at this front table, can i have isaac and richard, please," mr dorton said, smiling at the two remaining students. "leaving eddie and matilda sat behind them."
with a small sigh, matilda made her way over to her seat, avoiding all sort of contact with eddie. however, the boy had a slight smirk on his face.
mr dorton watched the two suspected lovers take a sit, noticing how distant they were. his brows furrowed slightly, wondering what had changed in their relationship. last lesson, they didn't communicate either (unless you count eddie staring at her the entire hour whilst matilda kept her head down, that is).
he hoped something good would come out of this. after all, he'd changed a lot of his lesson plans in order to fit this assignment in, just so he could get them partnered up.
clearing his throat, the teacher began speaking again. "so, as you know, since coming back after winter break we've been learning about medicine throughout time. whilst we learn about medicine in world war one and two, i would like you and your partner to make a presentation on all the medical advancements throughout history," he explained. "this can take any format you'd like, but it must be done equally by both you and your partner. you will have a month to complete the assignment."
— 📻🪐🏹 —
FEBRUARY 7TH, 1986
📍 hawkins high school
11:32 AM
"yes, claudia?" mr dorton asked the girl.
"sir, i don't understand the question," claudia said, gesturing for him to come over to her.
they were doing a simple activity; answering questions about different sources.
mr dorton sighed, getting up from his desk to go help the girl. whilst he was distracted, matilda whispered, "i can just do it, you know. the assignment. i don't mind."
eddie turned to her. "mr dorton said we both need to equally put effort into it. i can't let you do it all by yourself, i'm afraid," he said, feigning empathy for the girl. "it goes against the rules."
matilda rolled her eyes, though part of her was secretly thrilled he wanted them to work together on the project.
they fell back into the awkward silence they were in prior, until eddie spoke up a few moments later.
"i thought it was awesome what you did, by the way," he told her. "though the asshole deserves a lot more then that."
nodding, matilda tried to not to fall back into bad habits. the bad habit being eddie. if she started talking to him again like they were before, there was no way she could ever push him away again.
"i'm guessing you got a detention for it, though?" eddie continued, waiting for the girl to answer.
she didn't verbally give him a response, but the look on her face was more than enough to confirm his theory.
he thought for a moment, before a bad idea appeared his head. he stood up hastily, and pushed the table forwards, making everyone in the room jump at the bang and look at him.
"mr munson!" the teacher hollered. "wha- why?"
"fuck this, and fuck you," eddie spat, making mr dorton's face grow with anger. a sudden wave of realization took over tillie, as she understood his plan.
"detention, mr munson!" mr dorton told him sternly. "tonight, after school. miss hayfield's classroom. now get out of my sight."
eddie smiled, leaning down to grab his rucksack from the floor. "gladly," he mused, before walking out the class, taking one final glance at matilda.
surprisingly, he had a streak of almost three months without a detention. but it was worth breaking his record it if it meant getting her back.
— 📻🪐🏹 —
stan mr dorton 👏
also stan my girl tillie for punching myles
mrs cunningham ain't gonna be happy though 😬
tysm for everyone who is interacting with this story! it's thanks to you that i haven't given up yet like i have with all my other stories (i literally have like over 50 drafts with only a chapter or two written of each lmaoo)
<33
also please comment more i love reading and replying to your guys comments!!
WORD COUNT — 1315.