MARCH 5TH, 1986
📍cunningham house
7:52 AM
"was there someone in your room last night?" chrissy asked, as the two girls got ready for school in matilda's room.
"what?" tillie replied, feigning confusion. "as if. you know i have no friends right, chrissy? who would be in my room?"
"i don't know," chrissy shrugged, tapping some eyeshadow onto her eyelids delicately. "i thought i heard you talking to someone. it sounded like a guy."
"a guy?" matilda exclaimed, turning to face her twin. "a guy, in my room? chrissy, are you okay? i think you're hearing things."
"guess i must be," chrissy responded, secretly hiding the fact that she was completely aware of who was in her sister's room last night.
— 📻🪐🏹 —
MARCH 5TH, 1986
📍hawkins high school
12:41 PM
matilda sat under the bleachers, waiting for eddie to arrive. she gently sipped on a bottle of water as she doodled in the back of one of her books.
she heard people above her, and realized quickly it was several members of the basketball team sitting down to eat their lunch.
"so, i hooked up with cindy last night," myles told his friends.
"cindy?" one of the other boys, greg, asked. "cindy horne?"
"that's the one," myles confirmed.
the other boys seemed to cheer him on, patting his back in congratulation. "atta boy," greg whistled.
tillie listened in, grimacing at how the boys were talking about the girl. cindy was known as being a 'slut', which, in hawkins high, meant she'd slept with more than one guy.
"was she good?" another boy asked.
"decent," myles nodded. "not as good as a certain someone though."
matilda felt her stomach drop, feeling as though the conversation was heading in her direction.
"you can say her name, mate," greg chuckled.
"matilda cunningham," myles sighed happily. "what a great fuck. best i've had."
tillie looked down towards the ground, unsure of whether to move or stay and wait for eddie to arrive. luckily, she heard him heading towards her, and glanced up to see him heading towards her, a skip in his step.
"hey—"
she quickly shushed the boy, pulling him down beside her. she signaled up to the conversation above them.
"she felt fucking amazing, man," myles told his friends with a light groan. "so good."
"calm it, myles," another boy, thomas said. "you're gonna get a boner thinking about it."
eddie furrowed his brows, whispering, "are they talking about you?"
tillie didn't reply, but her saddened expression and visibly paled face was enough to confirm his thoughts.
"my only regret about fucking her," myles started, "was not drugging her before. it would've made the slut a lot more quiet, that's for sure."
myles and his friends began to chuckle, as eddie stood up from the ground, grabbing tillie's things and putting them in her backpack as he did so. he offered her his hand. "come on, let's go."
swallowing, the girl threaded her fingers through his and allowed him to help her up, as he began to drag her gently towards the woods.
eddie pulled her backpack onto his own shoulders carefully, making sure to not unlink their fingers. "your bag looks so much better on me."
tillie turned to look at him, smiling softly. "it does not."
"oh, it so does," eddie replied, casually strolling through the woods. "just proves the theory that everything looks good on me."
"and i'm guessing you came up with that theory?" matilda said, her head cocked to the side.
"of course," eddie confirmed with a smirk.
tillie let out a sigh of amusement, before looking away from eddie, and instead focusing on her feet as her converse treaded over the forest floor.
they fell back into silence, walking to their spot with their hands still together. eddie glanced over at her, seeing her biting the skin on her bottom lip glumly.
"they're complete assholes," he told her. "you know that, right?"
tillie nodded, "yeah, i know."
"and, they're not worth even thinking about," he added.
"and what should i think about instead?"
eddie broke out into a grin, beginning to swing their conjoined hands forwards and backwards. "think about.. my pretty face or," he started, before using their shared grip to spin her around, making the blonde smile. "..your pretty face."
"my pretty face that's always crying?"
"yes," eddie nodded. "you're pretty when you cry."
"which is like five times a day," matilda added.
"exactly," eddie replied. "ergo, you always look pretty."
tillie looked down, a light blush building on her cheeks. "you use the word pretty a lot."
"only when talking about you," he told her with a soft smile.
she turned her head and they made eye contact for a short while, before matilda glanced away.
eddie cleared his throat quietly. "you could also think about how cute our hands look together," he started, lifting their hands into the air. "with our matching nails and everything."
matilda looked down, admiring the way their hands fit perfectly together, their fingernails painted a matching shade of blue. "yeah, i guess they do look cute together," she agreed with a smile.
they reached their spot, and departed to sit at their usual seats, either side of the table, which meant their hands were separated. tillie felt the warmth leave her side as eddie did, and pulled the sleeve of her sweater down to try and warm herself up again.
"you still look sad," eddie commented, resting his face in his palm. "how can i cheer you up?"
tillie shrugged gently. "i'm fine."
"no, you're not," eddie responded.
"just.. distract me with something," she told him.
"what like?"
"anything," the blonde replied. "literally anything to get my mind off it."
eddie furrowed his brows as he thought of something. suddenly, an idea lit up in his head. "okay, how would you like to hear a limited edition sneak-peek of the corroded coffin's new song?"
"really?" matilda asked, her mood already being uplifted. "but i thought you said you'd never perform in front of me."
"yeah, well that was over a month ago," he replied. "times change."
the girl smiled. "so, what song are you going to perform to me?"
"well, our new one is, erm.. it's still being written. usually, i write with the rest of the guys, but this song i wrote all by myself."
"what's it about?"
eddie laughed awkwardly. "i can't reveal that."
"can you sing a bit for me?" tillie asked.
"i mean, i can't really sing without my microphone and stuff, but the best goes something like this," he said. he began tapping on the table with his fingers in the beat of some drums. "and then i come in with my guitar like du, duh, da do doo, dah dah.." he acted as though he was playing the guitar, strumming the air as he sang the beats.
he began shaking his head around, as though he was actually on stage and matilda watched with a smile, giggling at how enthusiastic he was getting.
eventually he slowed down, dropping his fake guitar and running his hand through his hair to sort it out. "i don't know, it's something like that."
"that sounded great," she told him. "when can i hear the full thing?"
"uh, well," eddie began to think. "our next gig is on the seventh, so.. two days time. i think we're going to perform it then."
"can i come watch?"
eddie scanned her expression for any sort of judgement, but saw absolutely none. "you really want to?"
she shrugged. "why not? do you not want me to..?"
"no, no, that's not it. it's just.. nothing of course you can come," he told her. "just don't laugh at me, okay? i can get a bit passionate on stage sometimes.."
"what like you just did right there?" she teased, making him roll his eyes.
— 📻🪐🏹 —
any guesses as to what eddie's new song is about? 🤨
one week today til st4 vol 2!! i'm so excited but also terrified because of the trailer omg
but there's literally one scene in it where dustin is screaming and it looks like he's saying eddie 😃
i can't deal if eddie dies—
also if anything happens to max or will, i will throw hands.
tysm for 20k!! every morning i wake up and this book has grown so much!! tysm for the support ily all <33
ALSO THESE RANKINGS ARE YOU KIDDING
WORD COUNT — 1409.