-march 21st 1986-
-reader's pov-
assembly had just finished and the students of hawkins high were heading to their first lessons of the day, I walked in a line with mike, dustin and lucas.
"I don't get the big deal," lucas began, "just talk to eddie. get him to move hellfire to another night."
"just talk to eddie?!" dustin retorted, gobsmacked.
"why don't you just talk to your coach and get him to move the game?" mike inquired.
"-I think that's a great idea, mike." dustin beamed as I nodded in agreement.
"-thank you, dustin, y/n." mike replied.
"this is the championship game!" lucas cried out.
"-and this is the end of eddie's campaign!" dustin remarked, "a semester of adventuring has led up to this moment, and we need you."
"-yeah, and the tigers don't." mike added, as we now turned a corner, "you've been on the bench all year."
"-that's not the point." lucas seethed.
"please arrive at the point." dustin said, almost exasperatedly.
"if I get in good with these guys, I'll be in the popular crowd." lucas explained, "and then you guys will be too."
"has it ever occurred to you that we don't want to be popular?" mike replied with large hand gestures.
"-so you wanna be stuck with the nerds and freaks for three more years?" lucas responded, now stood outside his class.
"-we are nerds and freaks!" dustin exclaimed, "I mean, look at us!"
"yeah, but maybe we don't have to be!" lucas replied.
"-but maybe we wanna be, lucas." I joined in, "I'm happy as I am, being popular.. I dunno, it's just not for me."
"just, whatever.." lucas mumbled, "I'm tired of being bullied, I'm tired of everyone laughing at us, I'm tired of feeling like a loser. we came to high school wanting things to be different, right?"
none of us replied, we just meekly nodded our heads a little.
"so now we have that chance." lucas continued, "I skip tonight, that's all out the window. so I'm asking you guys, as a friend, just talk to eddie. get him to move hellfire, come to my game, please."
yet again, none of us spoke a word, until the school bell rang, signalling the beginning of first period. and with that, lucas entered the classroom, leaving just the guys and I.
"shit." dustin groaned before we all turned around and walked to class, still processing what lucas had said.
————————
dustin, mike and I stood, holding our lunch trays in the school canteen. we were watching eddie, talk to the others about some magazine, he seemed hyped up. and more than he usually was, so that's saying something.
"oh god, he seems really revved up today." dustin announced.
"he's always revved up." mike assured, "we'll just.. act casual."
"-casual." dustin and I repeated in unison.
"-casual." mike confirmed before we slowly trailed over to the table and took our seats.
"society has to blame something." gareth stated whilst mike, dustin and I dropped our lunch trays onto the table with a clatter, "-and we're an easy target."
"exactly. we're the freaks because we like to play a fantasy game." eddie typically shook his head, "but-" he then clambered up onto the table and raised his voice a considerable amount, "as long as you're into band." he began to stalk across the table, gaining the whole room's attention, "or science.. or parties." he sneered, "or a game where you toss balls into laundry baskets!"
"-you want something, freak?" jason rose up from his seat with the other jocks.
eddie made a spluttering, 'monster-like' noise whilst holding his hands up to his head as if he had horns. jason and eddie shared a shuddering
eye-contact before jason muttered a swear and they both returned to their seats.
"it's forced conforming," eddie announced whilst walking back across the table, "that's what's.." he then increased his pace and shouted, "killing the kids!" before jumping off the table and scaring the living shit out of some random girl. the group chuckled, but I just laughed weakly whilst prodding at my food with my fork.
"that's the real monster." eddie concluded before finally taking his seat.
"so, uh, speaking of monsters," dustin piped up, "lucas has to do his.. um, balls-in-laundry-baskets game. so," dustin let out a fake chuckle, "he's not gonna be able to make it to hellfire tonight.. and, I know there's no way we can beat your sadistic campaign without him. so, me, mike and y/n, we were talking.." dustin turned to face us whilst gesturing with his hands, "shooting the shit." he faced an unimpressed eddie again, "and we we're thinking that m-maybe we might.."
"-postpone." mike abruptly interrupted.
"postpone?!" the group retaliated badly, they grew pissed very quickly and began to kick off.
"-shut up!" eddie snapped, making a silence loom over the group again, "you saying sinclair's been taken in by the dark side?"
"-uh, something like that." mike shrugged.
"yeah.." dustin and I muttered quietly.
"-something like that?" eddie threw a piece of food at us, and we all flinched.
"jesus christ." dustin breathed.
"and rather than find a sub for him," eddie started, "you want, you want to postpone, 'the cult of vecna'?"
"I- I don't want to postpone it.. we don't want to postpone it.." mike stammered, "y'know, it's just that.." mike's voice grew quieter and quieter as eddie got up from his seat, "y'know, most of the subs will be at the championship game.."
"oh, it's the championship game?" eddie asked whilst turning around.
"yeah?" I nodded unsurely.
"can I level with you guys?" he began, "jeff graduates this year, gareth's got what? a year and a half? me, I am army-crawling my way towards a D in ms o'donnell's, if I don't blow her final. I'm gonna walk that stage next month," eddie began to sway around the cafeteria table, "I'm gonna look principal higgins dead in the eye.. I'm gonna flip him the bird," eddie then put his middle finger up, "I'm gonna snatch that diploma, and run the hell outta here."
"-didn't you say that last year?" gareth quizzed.
"-and the year before that?"
jeff added.
"yeah, yeah, and I was full of shit." eddie told us, "this year's different, this year is my year. I can feel it, '86 baby." eddie then grinned wildly, "you know what that means?" dustin, mike and I shook our heads unknowingly.
"it means you guys, are the future of hellfire." eddie now stood behind us, his arms around our shoulders. but because I was positioned in between the two boys, I had both of eddie's hands upon my shoulders. "I knew it the moment I saw you, you sat on that table right over there, looking like.. like three little lost sheep." eddie turned to dustin, "you were wearing a weird al t-shirt, which I thought was brave."
"thank you." dustin said quietly.
"and you mike, you were wearing whatever shit your mummy bought you from the goddam gap." eddie recalled, earning a giggle from everyone in the group before eddie turned down to me, "and you y/n, fuck knows what you were wearing. you looked half as if you had been on a shopping spree with some crazy shopping fanatics and half like you'd just woke up in the middle of some forest. but I'll always remember that little red scrunchie on your wrist, in fact, you're still wearing it till this day."
I opened my mouth to speak but eddie suddenly pulled us all up by our shoulders and led us to the centre of the canteen.
"and we showed you that school didn't have to be the worst years of your lives, right?" eddie asked.
"-no, no, no." we all fearfully shook our heads.
"well, I'm here to tell you that there are other little lost sheepies out there who need help." eddie informed, menacingly whispering into our ears, "who need you." he then swung us around to face him, "and all you guys gotta do is get your bo-peeps on and go find one." he then shoved us to the floor, but we thankfully caught our footing before we tumbled to the ground.
(longer chapter than usual because it's chapter 69 💪💪)