"Is this seat taken?"

Eddie looked up, and to both his delight and horror, saw Chloe Murphy pointing at the empty seat next to him. He shook his head numbly and took his bag off the seat to let her sit down.

'Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't-'

"Ijustwantedtoapologiseforearlier." Eddie said in one breath. He always talked fast when he was nervous. And just being within five feet of Chloe Murphy made him nervous, let alone sitting next to her.

Chloe gave him an odd look. "What're you sorry for? I should be apologizing for my idiot brother."

"Well, um, I blabbered on like an idiot. Sorry. You make me nervous."

"I make you nervous?"

"No no, well, yes, but not you in particular, just people in general. I'm not a 'people' person. I have, like, five friends, and I'm only really close to two of them, and one of them only hangs out with me because I'm friends with her boyfriend. Great, now I'm word vomiting. Well, better than actual vomiting, like earlier. Oh gosh, I'm sorry, you didn't need to know that. I really am sorry. Now I'm blabbering on again. See, this is what I mean about people making me nervous and-"

"Eddie, Eddie, calm down. You're not blabbering on; you're expressing your feelings. It's healthy. And you counted wrong. You have six friends."

Eddie did a mental count "No, five. Bill, Richie, Stanley, Ben and Bev."

"And Chloe."

"Wait, you're my friend?"

"I mean, if you want me to be."

"No, I mean yes! Yes! Defiantly. I didn't think you'd want to be friends with me is all."

"Why wouldn't I want to be friends with you?"

"Well, because…because you're you and I'm…me?"

Chloe scoffed. "That's ridiculous, Eddie. Of course I want to be friends with you."

"Okay, well, thanks."

"Give me your phone."

"What?"

"You give me your phone, I put my number into it, you text me later…"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

Eddie pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Chloe. She gave him her phone and he entered his number into it.

"Cool. I'll text you. Maybe we could hang out this weekend?"

"Yeah, that would be great. Um, my friends and I are going to the Quarry on Saturday if you want to come?"

"Sure. Sounds fun."

"Who knows, you may even become an honorary Loser too." Eddie said with a chuckle.

…..…..xx….xx…

"You did what?!"

"I-I invited her to hang out with us on Saturday. I didn't think you guys would mind. I'm sorry, I should have checked first, I'll tell her not to come if you want-"

"Eds, calm down. I didn't mean it like that. Of course she can come. I just still can't believe you talked to Chloe Murphy TWICE in one day AND got her number. You're on a roll, my friend." said Richie, taking a bite of Eddie's sandwich. "Ugh. How many times do I have to tell you to tell your mom I don't like mayo!"

"I told you not to call me 'Eds'." said Eddie, 'and give me that!" he snapped, snatching his sandwich back.

"Oh, you know you love it. So, Romeo, tell me more about how on Earth you got Chloe Murphy to sit next to you."

…..xx…..xx…..

Richie remembered the first time he saw Chloe Murphy. It was the first day of eighth grade, and her locker had been next to his. His first impression of her was that she was beautiful. Her curly, light brown hair reached down past her waist, and she had small but cute freckles painted across her nose and cheeks. That weekend, Eddie had come over to his house for a sleepover. It was that time of night where both boys were ready to unknowingly open up to anything, and Richie had decided to tell Eddie about his crush on Chloe.

"So. Any girls you fancy this year?" said Richie, playing it cool.

"Actually, yeah. There's this one girl in my Social Studies class. Chloe Murphy."

Richie was crushed. 'Pals before gals. Eds likes her. I'll just get over it.'

Getting over it was hard though. Especially when Chloe kept trying to converse with him and invite him to her house. 'As much as I'd like to say yes, my best friend thinks you're hot, so I have to pretend I don't think you're hot, even though it's killing me on the inside.' But he couldn't say that. So, he went to Chloe Murphy's house, ate Chloe Murphy's cookies, patted Chloe Murphy's dog, watched Chloe Murphy's tv, went home, went back to school, switched lockers with Eddie and forgot about Chloe Murphy. Or at least tried to. Whenever Eddie slept over, all he wanted to talk about was Chloe.

"Did you see what she did with her hair?"

"Uh, no?"

"She dyed a few streaks indigo. It looks pretty…cool. Pretty cool."

Richie smirked. "Right."

"Do…do you think she'd ever go out with me?"

"Are you gonna ask her out!?"

"No no no. Just theoretically."

"Why wouldn't she?"

"Um, because she's the most popular girl in the ninth grade and I'm me. I'm awkward, antisocial, annoying, anxious, slightly depressed-"

"You're amazing, Eds. Any girl would be lucky to have you."

"Really?"

"Really."

Over time, Richie found it easier not to stare at Chloe whenever she passed. And eventually, he stopped thinking about her.

….…xx….xx…

"So she juh-just started randomly tah-talking to you?"

"Pretty much. I actually managed to talk back, believe it or not, and only slightly made a fool of myself."

"I beh-better be your best ma-man at your wedding."

"Um, I believe that spot is reserved for me," said Richie, "you can be the maid of honor."

"Chloe Kaspbrak. It has a nice ring to it." Said Eddie.

"Yep. If it weren't for one thing, you guys would be the perfect couple." Said Richie.

"And just what would that one thing be?" questioned Eddie.

"Dylan Murphy."

"Oh yeah. I almost forgot about that douchebag."

"Who's a douchbag?" asked Bev as she and Ben joined the table.

"Dylan Murphy." Replied Eddie. "Oh where do I even begin to describe Dylan Murphy?"

Dylan Murphy was Chloe's older brother. He was in the eleventh grade, and was just about as bad as Henry Bowers had been. He probably smoked pot in the bathrooms during his free periods. Well, at least, he looked like he smoked pot in his free periods. He looked nothing like Chloe. While Chloe was average height with light brown hair, porcelain skin, broad shoulders and thick thighs, Dylan was unnaturally tall, had shoulder length curly black hair that was usually pulled into a ponytail or a bun, sported olive skin and wore chipped, black nail polish on his fingernails. He always had dark circles under his eyes and he had a few scars on his wrists. Overall, it was hard to tell they were even related.

"The world would truly be a better place without that Dylan Murphy." Said Richie. (A/N: I don't actually know anyone called Dylan Murphy, he is based off of Connor Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen.)

They all agreed. After lunch, Eddie sat through Algebra and Social Studies and barely survived PE. He couldn't have been happier to hear the school bell ring.