I watch from across the hallway as another Hawkins High student corners Eddie Munson, both of them quickly whisper lowly to each other before the student darts away in case anyone notices.
As if sensing my eyes on him, Eddie's face raises to meet my gaze, and I quickly avert my eyes as I shut my locker, feeling ready to run. I somehow make it to drama class before the bell rings, ready to have some fun.
"All right, today I want to work on improvisation and working with people you don't usually, so I'm going to put you in pairs and give you some situations. I want you to come up with a story and be ready to perform it before the end of the class." My teacher instructs. My heart races as I look around the room, even though I adore acting, I'm still a little shy offstage.
"Y/N, you're with Eddie, and your situation is you're both trapped, that's all I'm giving you to work with since I know you're both capable actors." The teacher grins as I feel like the floor has fallen.
I nod anyway and walk over to Eddie who looks just as impressed as I feel. We take the corner of the open space and stand awkwardly. Eddie shoves his hands in his pockets and glares at me.
"So, I guess you're stuck with me," He mumbles, before sighing and taking his hands out, he grabs my notebook and plucks a pen from nearby. "Here's what I'm thinking, we're trapped right? But what if it's a metaphor?"
I nod, giving him a small smile. "Yeah, that sounds good, but I think we should act as if our characters have a wall between us, once again metaphorically."
Eddie shrugs and begins to speak, but the teacher suddenly shouts out "Times up, I did say we're going to improvise! Eddie and Y/N, you're up first!"
I gasp and Eddie raises his eyebrows in surprise but takes a deep breath and begins anyway. First he paces from side to side. I try to work out his angle, so I watch him with unease, beginning the story...
"Can you stop avoiding me!" I snap, using our earlier conversation as a reference.
Eddie turns to me and glares. "It's not like you're saying anything, you're quick to judge but you have no idea what it's like."
The way Eddie says the line feels deep, and I have a strange feeling he's not entirely acting, so I use his method to reciprocate.
"I don't know you well, but you're not giving me a reason to think anything positive." I reply, crossing my arms as I look at the audience of the class.
Eddie stalks towards me and places his hands on either side of my arms, he leans down and deeply says "Then let me show you-" He cuts off and presses his forehead to mine, my breath comes short as his brown eyes stare into mine, "my actions may not be good, but they come from good intentions, I don't care what others think, but for some reason your opinion matters to me."
I lick my lips and put my hands on his waist, looking at him with longing I whisper just loud enough "Then give me a reason to trust you."
"Cut!" The teacher shouts, grinning as the class applauds. Eddie clears his throat and backs away from me as I try to get ahold of my breath.
"That felt so raw, you both did amazingly like I knew you would!" The teacher praises, clapping Eddie on the back as I fake smile. Eddie side eyes me suspiciously and goes to sit down.
"Teachers right, you and that Eddie have some serious chemistry." A student mumbles as I walk past.