After school, Sarah waited for Eddie by his van, watching as the other students were hurrying to their modes of transportation. She didn't feel like fighting off Andy's advances, or Anna's " boys suck" routine again. Sarah just wanted the day to end. She wanted Chrissy to be okay after the incident earlier in the girl's bathroom. Sarah wanted Eddie not to meet with Chrissy, who seemed on edge already. But most of all, she wanted to talk to her dad, and if the day ended soon, that would mean he'd be home. Eddie rushed up and noticed Sarah staring at the school's front lawn with a distant look. He could see that she wasn't seeing the people but was lost deep in her thoughts.
She spoke without turning. "I have a bad feeling about today."
"Everything will be okay. Chrissy won't tell anyone. And once done, we'll come back to school and set the room up. Then I'll drive you home, so please put this all behind you. And stop worrying."
Her eyes met his. "I can't. I mean, something is wrong. She was freaking out earlier and mumbling to herself, and it was as if she already took something."
"Then I'll find out, and I'll make sure whatever it is won't cause problems with whatever she buys from me."
She gave him a half smile. "You must really like her. Why else would you risk so much."
He heaved a sigh, frustration coursing through him. He hated himself when he made Sarah do things she wasn't comfortable with or caused her to doubt him. He knew that he wasn't good enough to be around her, but neither she nor her dad stopped it. They allowed him to make his own choices, and when those choices backfired, they were right there helping him pick up the pieces.
"We better go." She said.
"Yeah." He nodded as he held the passenger side door open.
She hesitated a moment before climbing in. "I'm worried."
"Everything will be okay, I promise. Don't you trust me?" He closed the door before she could respond.
Her heart felt heavy. Something was going to happen, and she knew nothing would ever be the same after the smoke cleared and the dust settled. She watched as Eddie walked around the front of the van, his head bobbing to the music he could only hear. She just prayed that Eddie wouldn't hate himself afterward.
The van seemed to close in on Sarah as they headed down the road to the abandoned picnic area ten miles from the school. She stared out the window as she fidgeted with her cross necklace in worry. She tried to ignore the glances that Eddie kept shooting her every time a mile marker passed. She knew he would say something; it was just a matter of when.
Things were quiet. Eddie didn't like quiet, and Sarah being this quiet around him when the van radio was off wasn't something he cared or looked forward to when it was quiet like this; he would end up doing something crazy for no apparent reason just as long as it got her to talk to him again. Eddie rather have her talking a mile a minute than this strange quietness.
Yeah, there were some days he wanted to kiss her quietly, but he'd ignore the impulse to do so, but those days were better than the alternative, and that was letting her stay quiet. The last time she got quiet like this. He ended up signing his band up for the talent show in middle school, which was okay in the end despite his hair buzzed off. But then there was that time she talked him into dying his hair pink and into wearing a flower crown during her 14th birthday party because he chose dare. In other words, it was terrible for both his ego and hair when she wanted something, and his only clue was her getting quiet right before she dropped the bomb.
He could feel the sweat breaking out on his brow. "Okay, what do you want." He asked as he clenched the steering wheel with dread. "Please, don't let it be a game of truth or dare. Because my hair can't take any more of your crazy dares."
Sarah laughed. "No, no games. I wanted to ask if I could stay with you until my dad gets home."
Eddie let out a sigh of relief. "Why."
"I just don't want to be alone right now."
Everything in him told him something was going on with Sarahbesides her worry over Chrissy. But he knew that she'd clam up if he pushed her into telling him. He knew she would eventually tell him what it was, so it was just a matter of him waiting. She told him in the past that, friends told each other they never kept secrets from each other, even when it was downright embarrassing or strictly for a female friend to know.
For a while, after she joined Hawkins high, he noticed that Sarah changed how she acted around him and wouldn't hang out with him like she usually did. He was afraid she finally woke up and decided their friendship wasn't worth it. But Sarah and her father were shopping in the town next door for the perfect gift for his 16th birthday, and she didn't want to ruin the surprise.
So, in the long run, if anyone said she was hiding something from him, he'd call them a liar because he knew absolutely everything about her. If she ever needed a blood transfusion, he'd be able to tell the doctors what her type was or what she wanted to wear to the prom if anyone asked.
Losing his mother at a young age and then having his dad thrown into jail, he never thought he'd have someone who cared for him or for him to care as he did for Sarah.
He realized where his thoughts were going, and he was annoyed. He was annoyed with himself and the idea of losing Sarah before he was ready. After all, the school wasn't even over; he mentally scowled. He did plan to tell her goodbye when the time came. He had made that promise to her when they were younger, and he would keep it.
Both were pulled from their thoughts when Eddie pulled his van up next to the abandoned campgrounds and parked. Across the way, they could see another car pulling up and Chrissy stepping out after a moment. She looked around, waiting for something to jump out from behind one of the trees and murder her.
Sarah turned and faced Eddie.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Eddie was staring at Chrissy with a light in his eyes, making Sarah's heartache. She knew then that she couldn't ever tell him how she felt. Sarah knew that look; after all, it was the exact look that her father would give to her mother was still alive. It was the look she dreamed of having aimed at her by the same young man sitting next to her.
So with a breaking heart, she watched as the only person who could ever hold her own heart got out and walked towards the person who had his.
He didn't look back once.
Not wanting to watch anymore, Sarah stood from her seat and crawled into the back of the van. As she settled on the van floor, she snatched a pillow from Eddie's nest and hugged it tightly. Burying her head into it, she cried so hard that she ended up drifting off to sleep.
Eddie jogged back to his van with dread. He knew that Sarah wouldn't be happy to hear that Chrissy didn't buy anything from him, and he wasn't carrying anything she wanted. Nor would she be glad to learn that he offered Chrissy a ride to his trailer, where he kept the more potent stuff locked away in his room.
Scanning the woods, he pulled the door open and noticed Sarah wasn't in the passenger seat but sleeping in the back. Knowing he was being a coward, he didn't bother to wake her up as he turned the key, letting the van rumble to life. He hoped she would sleep longer so he could use one of the hellfire members, maybe Dustin, as a buffer when he had to tell her.
Sarah slept soundly, not even noticing when Eddie returned or when he turned the van around and headed back into town. Her dreams were about the days leading to her mother's death and the meeting with the boy who would be everything to her. They started full of childhood laughter as her mother spun around, holding her daughter tightly as she fell back, allowing the grass to cushion them.
Soon the happy laughter turned to tears as she watched her younger self curl up next to her mother after her mom and dad broke the news. That summer, she stayed as close as possible to her mother, and her father stepped down as pastor to spend time with his family. At summer's end, they stood before Julie hill's open grave as another pastor read from his Bible. With each flower thrown into the hole, she felt a little more chip away from her heart.
Some days Sarah could imagine the thin hands of her mother brushing through her hair as her soft voice sang quietly in her ear.
Her next dream was the day she met Eddie. A month after they moved to Hawkins, she and her dad were out buying groceries when she noticed him. She had watched as he weaved his thin body around families and ducked his head whenever the parents caught sight of him. She remembers moving away from her dad, wanting to make the sad boy smile. She knew he was older than her, and she remembered how her older cousins would joke around playing pranks on each other to make the other laugh. So taking a deep breath, she raced forward and snatched the last bottle of chocolate milk from his reach; turning, she stuck her tongue at him.
Before she could finish the dream, she felt the touch of a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently. Lifting her head from the pillow, she moaned as her neck cracked. She stared up at Eddie with a questioning look in her eyes. "Done?"
"Are you hungry?" he asked, ignoring her question.
Nodding, she stepped from the van, stretching as she followed Eddie into McDonald's. She found them a table close to the windows while he went to place their order. When Eddie joined her, He placed Sarah's order before her and slumped down in his seat.
"After we leave here, we have about an hour to get the drama room ready," he said, biting into his hamburger. "Garett said his mom will drop off the drinks and snacks."
Sarah nodded, dipping a fry in ketchup. "I noticed Sinclair sitting with the basketball team today, and I thought you said he and his friends were part of your campaign."
Eddie dropped his burger on the table with a sneer. "Sinclair joined the dark side. And Dustin, the little butt head, asked if we could postpone the game."
"That's right, and tonight's the championship basketball game."
"Yeah, but I told him that he and Mike had to look for a sub or they're out of the club," Eddie said before taking a sip of his soda.
"Did you write the story you wanted to tell?"
Eddie nodded his head. "I didn't want to mess up this game, and it's the last one that I will hopefully host. At Hawkins high."
"Well, if it comes down to it, I could read for you, and you could play."
Eddie smirked. "The last time you read a horror story, you woke your neighbors up screaming bloody murder."
"I was 14, okay!" Sarah stood and started gathering their trash.
Eddie chuckled at her red-tipped ears. He knew that she would be a good stand-in as dungeon master. Eddie had spent a few weekends last year visiting the children's ward with her. It turned out to be fun in the end, even though he had dragged his feet at first. He loved watching her read to the younger kids; they loved all the voices she would give the characters.
"Come on, you bully, or we won't have enough time getting the room ready.
Nodding, he followed her out of the restaurant humming a tune under his breath.