FEBRUARY 7TH, 1986
📍cunningham house
16:13 PM
stepping out of her car, matilda had to mentally prepare herself for her mother's wrath. principal higgins had called her after the incident that morning, and boy was she in deep shit.
walking up her driveway, she took deep breaths, reminding herself that no matter what her mother's punishment was, punching myles was completely and utterly worth it. eddie's proud face popped into her head, and now she was certain there were no regrets in her mind.
she opened the door and stepped inside the house, slipping of her converse and putting them on the shoe rack. she headed into the kitchen where her mother stood cooking, and her father and chrissy sat at the table, the former reading a newspaper and the latter doing her homework.
"oh, look who's home," her mother exclaimed. "my little shit of a daughter."
matilda looked down at her feet. "mother, you don't understand.."
"don't tell me what i understand!" samantha snapped. "i understand that you are a deranged, selfish brat! you are ruining not only yourself, but this family."
"he groped me!" tillie exclaimed in defense.
with an eye roll, samantha scoffed. "not another one of these silly little stories. there's a reason no one believes you, matilda. you're a liar. you're making all these little tales up!"
"that is not true," matilda replied, her voice breaking slightly.
"oh, don't bring on the tears, matilda. i won't fall for it," the older woman hissed.
"i'm not—" she stopped to swallow the ball in the back of her throat and take a deep breath. "i'm very sorry i'm ruining your reputation, mother. but maybe, if you cared less about that and more about your daughters, then i wouldn't be as fucked up as i am."
her father choked on his sip of coffee, coughing, as chrissy looked up between the two women awkwardly.
"matilda, don't speak to your mother like that," robert said.
"how should i speak to her? with respect? do i have to treat her like that too? because you clearly don't. you're fucking a new woman every week!" she exclaimed. "you know, you can say that i'm the messed up one. the black sheep of the family. but i think we're all fucked up. how did you put it, mother? deranged? and selfish? see, i'm not like that because i was raped, or because i 'lied about it for attention', or because i punched someone at school. it's because i'm a cunningham."
a high pitched slap echoed throughout the house, making chrissy jump as samantha's hand came into contact with tillie's cheek.
tillie let out a harsh breath, turning her head to face her mother, whose face was red with fury. she expected the older woman to say something, yet nothing was spoken.
"what? don't have the guts to call me a liar now, do you?" she taunted, turning on her heels and exiting the kitchen, leaving an unsettling silence behind.
— 📻🪐🏹 —
FEBRUARY 8TH, 1986
📍 cunningham house
8:02 AM
the next morning, a range of emotions were present in the household. anger, shock, disbelief, proudness.
after matilda's outburst the previous night, the rest of the family departed to their bedrooms. no dinner was eaten and no more words were said.
"good morning, matilda," her mother smiled sweetly, a hidden anger in her tone. "sleep well?"
matilda saw the look of determination present on her mother's face, and could tell the woman was desperate to prove what her daughter had said the night prior was not true.
"like a baby," matilda said with a smug grin.
she actually had slept pretty well in comparison to previous nights, but had woken up a few times in paranoia that her mother would slaughter her in her sleep.
"well, i sure hope you did," her mother sneered, teeth gritting together. "breakfast?"
tillie shook her head. "nope, we better get moving. don't want to disappoint the family name more by being late to school, do we?"
chrissy stood up, taking one final sip of her orange juice, before following her sister out of the house.
they arrived at matilda's car and got inside, and chrissy finally spoke up.
"what you did last night was incredible," she stated. "mother is obviously furious, but it was pretty.."
"petty?"
"awesome," chrissy clarified. "it was pretty awesome. i love when you get these bursts of confidence and self-defense, tils."
"thanks, chris."
— 📻🪐🏹 —
FEBRUARY 8TH, 1996
📍hawkins high school
8:27 AM
exiting the girls restroom, matilda made her way to her locker to see if she had any pills in there. she'd started her period, the first she'd gotten in months, which meant cramps.
she saw eddie waiting at her locker and sighed in annoyance. ignoring him, she began putting in her code. she unlocked the door and began searching around for a pill bottle, finding some ibuprofen in the back corner.
"so, when do you want to start working on the history assignment? we only have a month, so.." he asked, trying to make casual conversation, as matilda took the pill. "i was thinking, since you like drawing we could- are you okay?" he eyed the pill bottle in her hands.
"fine," she said blankly, closing her locker. "didn't i tell you to leave me alone?"
"well, yeah.."
"then what?" the blonde hissed. "do you want me to spell it out for you? l e a v.."
"okay, i get it," eddie sighed in defeat.
"good," matilda replied, walking away.
she received a few stares as she walked through the corridors, due to her interaction with eddie 'the freak' munson, but paid no attention to them as she headed to her first class, drowning out the principals voice on the speaker.
"attention, students. a reminder that there is a basketball game this friday, between our own tigers and the bulls from bournemouth academy! i hope to see you all supporting our team.."
— 📻🪐🏹 —
mattie, our stubborn & petty queen 💅
i feel like the star of this book is tillie's locker 😭
i swear it's literally in every chapter lmao
anyways the next few chapters ;))
once matiddie is back, be prepared for the amount of fluff. literally have so many cute scenes planned i'm so excited ahh
no because i didn't even plan on them ever breaking up?? i was literally writing chapter seven and it just kind of happened????
<3
WORD COUNT — 1069.