The Hero
Miss Magillicuddy
Chapter 2
The following morning dawned bright and early, with the sounds of birds chirping. Chrissy wasn't sure what had actually woken her up, whether it was the sunlight filtering in through the gap in the curtains, or maybe it was the sound of the birds. All she knew was that she had gotten the best night of sleep she had had in months. She was still huddled up on Eddie's chest, and his arm was still over her shoulder. The only difference from the night before was that their legs were tangled up together. She took a few moments to just look at her sleeping companion.
His face was relaxed in sleep, and it seemed to make him appear younger. His hair was in disarray all over the pillows that his head rested upon. The cut on his lip had scabbed over, and he had one hell of a shiner. She glanced down at his right hand and saw that the knuckles were bruised and had small cuts on them that had also scabbed over. In hindsight, she probably should have made him ice his hand and eye when they had gotten to his home, but they had other things in mind. I hope he's able to use his hand okay. Her thoughts were interrupted by a shout coming from the living room.
"Edward Anthony Munson," a male voice shouted out, "Get your ass out here this instant!"
Eddie's eyes instantly popped open, taking in his surroundings with a bleary eyed look. It seemed to take his brain a minute to catch up to the fact that he had been called into the living room. He shared a look with her before slowly detangling their legs and separating from her. She felt sad to have his warmth taken away.
"Stay here," he told her, "I'll go see what's going on. Uncle Wayne doesn't usually sound angry with me, so it must be something."
He stepped out of his room, not closing his door completely behind him and slowly made his way into the living room, where his uncle stood with Jim Hopper. His uncle's eyes roamed over his features, taking in the split lip, black eye and swollen knuckles. This wasn't the first time that he had spoken with the chief of police, but it was the first time he wasn't exactly sure why he was speaking with the man. He brushed his nervousness of the situation aside and greeted the man with an awkward half smile.
"Chief Hopper," Eddie said casually, "what can I do for you?"
"I think you can probably guess why I'm here," the man told him with a grim look, "Jason Carver came in to the station this morning to press charges against you for attacking him. He claims he was minding his own business and snuggling with his girlfriend when you came out of nowhere and started beating him up. I was coming by to ask you some questions about the event in question. I can clearly see that you've been in a fight, would you like to tell me your side of the story?"
"Jason's pressing charges against him," Chrissy asked from the short hallway as she made her way out of Eddie's room. "That's bullshit. Eddie was protecting me from Jason."
"Who on earth are you," Wayne asked, looking between the pretty girl and his nephew with a raised eyebrow, before focusing his gaze completely on Eddie, "you know you're not allowed to have girls in your room with the door closed. We don't need any little feet running around this trailer."
"Uncle Wayne," Eddie said blushing furiously and shifting awkwardly, "it wasn't like that. We literally just slept next to each other."
"My name is Chrissy, and Jason is my ex-boyfriend," Chrissy said, answering Wayne's unanswered question about who she was. "Jason was sexually assaulting me last night, and Eddie stopped him. If he's pressing charges against Eddie, then I'm pressing charges against him."
"He sexually assaulted you," Hopper asked, looking at her with a sadness in his own eyes as he imagined something like that happening to his own daughter, "Can you tell me what exactly happened last night?"
"We were at the homecoming dance, and Jason had snuck in a flask of vodka," Chrissy told him, as a haunted look passed over her eyes, causing Eddie to shift to stand next to her and lay a supporting hand on her shoulder, "The more he drank the more handsy he became. At one point he was shoving his hands down the top of my dress, so I pushed him away and took off. I was going to walk home, but he followed me out of the gym and forced me against the wall. He smacked me in the face and shoved his hand up my dress, which actually ended up ripping it, so I started screaming for him to stop and for help. That's when Eddie came rushing over and got him away from me."
"How did you get him off of her," Hopper asked, looking at Eddie with respect in his eyes.
"Okay, so I may have punched him, but he was trying to rape a girl right in front of me," Eddie said solemnly. "That would have been the end of it, but Jason started running his mouth and ended up sucker punching me which led to a fist fight that we both participated in."
"Is there anyone else who can corroborate the two of your stories, or do you have any sort of evidence," Hopper asked them, "It would be really helpful if you had something."
"Sorry, I forgot my video camera," Eddie told him sarcastically. "It all kind of happened so fast, I don't know what kind of evidence we could possibly have."
"I have my ripped dress," Chrissy cut in, "and we have 6 other witnesses that would say the same thing as us."
"Do you have the names of the witnesses," Hopper asked, as he pulled out a small notebook to take down the names.
"Dustin Henderson, Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair and… well, I didn't really get anyone else's names," Chrissy said as she listed them off on her fingers before looking at Eddie, "but they're in his dungeons and dragons group, so I would imagine he knows them."
"Gareth Dwyer, Jeff Johnson and Justin Thompson," Eddie added in quickly. "They were all there and saw the whole thing."
"Mike was there," Hopper asked, looking up at them with a smile, "should be easy enough to talk to him. He's at my house nearly every day."
"Why," Eddie asked cluelessly, "That seems kind of strange for a 14 year old to be hanging out with the police chief. No offense."
"He's not hanging out with me," Hopper said with exasperation. "I have a 14 year old daughter, El, that he happens to be dating."
"Oh," Eddie said stumped, "I didn't realize he had a girlfriend. Wow… what's that say about me that a freshman is dating someone and I'm still single?"
"I'm sure you'll find someone," Chrissy said, sending a beautiful smile towards him that caused his stomach to flip.
"Chrissy, what is your last name for my notes," Hopper asked as he realized he hadn't gotten that information from her yet.
"Cunningham," She answered, "Chrissy Cunningham is my name."
"Cunningham," Hopper said with his tone of voice changing dramatically, "did you know that your parents have listed you as a missing person this morning? Guess I can call of the search. We take missing people pretty seriously since Will Byers went missing a few years back."
"I didn't realize I was listed as missing," Chrissy said, shifting awkwardly. "After what happened last night I really didn't want to go home to hear my mom complaining about me leaving Jason, so I asked Eddie if I could stay over with him."
"I'm sure your mom would be on your side," Hopper said, giving her a confused look. "Parents usually take the side of their children. I know I would."
"All due respect, sir," Chrissy stated, "you don't know my mother. I'm 99 percent certain she loves Jason more than me."
"I don't know about that, but you should be getting home," Hopper told her, giving her a pointed look. "I can swing you by there, if you wanted on my way over to talk to the witnesses about last night's attack."
"I can take her home," Eddie cut in quickly. "I know I wouldn't want to show up here in the back of a police car… unless I'm under arrest for punching Jason."
"No," Hopper told him with a shake of his head, "since it was in defense of someone else, I think I can let it slide this time. Just make sure it doesn't happen again, or if a fight is going to happen, let him start it. That way you would just be defending yourself."
"Understood, sir," Eddie said, nodding respectfully. "Chrissy, are you about ready to go? I should probably get you home before you get in anymore trouble."
"Yeah," She responded, eyes flashing briefly with worry. "just let me grab that dress to give to Chief Hopper."
She hurried from the room, returning less than a minute later carrying the pink monstrosity she had worn the night before. She shifted awkwardly before holding it out to Hopper, who reached out his hands and took it between his palms, eyes narrowing and darkening in anger as they caught sight of the torn seam. He let out a huff of annoyance, before saying his parting words and heading out the door.
"We can talk more when you get home," Wayne told Eddie as the younger boy ushered Chrissy towards the door with an arm over her shoulder. "Drive safe."
"I will," Eddie responded, "and I'll be back soon."
Eddie once again opened her door for her and gave her a hand up as she got into his van. The ride to her house was spent in companiable silence, as neither of them really knew what to say about the morning they had had so far. Most of what was said between them was her giving him directions to her place. Chrissy was also worried about what would happen when she got home, and felt a pit of dread forming in her stomach. Finally she reached her breaking point, and tears started welling up in her eyes.
"Eddie," She practically whispered, "I'm so scared to go home. I don't know what's going to happen, and it has me panicking."
"It'll be okay," Eddie replied, reaching out with his right hand to grab her left and give it a squeeze. "and if it isn't okay… if things get too bad, call me and I will come to get you. Missing persons posters be damned. I forgot Will had ever gone missing. I'll have to tease him about it on Monday when I see him at school, assuming he's gotten over whatever bug he has by then."
"You know him," She asked, grateful for the distraction of this conversation.
"Yeah," Eddie told her, giving her hand another squeeze to comfort her nerves. "he's in Hellfire. He wasn't able to join last night because he was sick or something. He's a nice kid, but he's kind of quiet. A lot quieter than his other little friends."
"I think his brother is in our year," She replied, "he's pretty quiet, too."
"Yeah, I know him," Eddie told her with a smile, "He's a bit of a freak like me."
"Eddie, you're not a freak," Chrissy told him with a sigh. "I think a lot of people would like you if they actually tried getting to know you. I wish I had known you sooner. I think you'll be a positive force in my life from now on."
"I'm glad you think so," Eddie said, a smile turning up the corners of his lips, "I think you'll be a positive force in mine, too. Are you still on to be my study buddy? It would be awesome if I actually graduated this year."
"You're going to graduate," She replied with conviction, "I'm going to make sure of it. This is my house up on the right."
Eddie pulled up to the curb and slowed to a stop, giving her a long look before his eyes lit up in remembrance. He reached past her and started digging through the glove compartment, pulling out a small scrap of paper and a pen. He hastily scrawled his name and wrote down his phone number.
"Remember," he said, "If things get too bad, give me a call and I'll come get you… or you can call if you just want to talk to me or something."
"I'll call you as soon as I can," she promised him, "though, I kind of doubt I'll be able to call today. I have a feeling I'm about to become very grounded. If I do get grounded, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school. Unless something happens before then that causes me to bail on my house. Actually, now that I think about it. I usually get a ride to school with Jason. If I'm not able to call you today, would you be able to pick me up in the morning?"
"Abso-fuckin-lutely," He said back to her. "What time do you want picked up?"
"Can you be here by 7:15," she asked, staring into his chocolate depths. She watched as he nodded his head, and sent a smile her way that sent butterflies through her stomach.
She leaned across the space and pulled him into a tight embrace. His arms instantly lifted to wrap around her and return her hug. Her hair smelled like some sort of fruit that he couldn't quite put his finger on, but caused him to get slightly light headed as another swoop made its way through his gut. After a minute, she finally pulled slightly back and turned her head to press a kiss against his cheek.
"Thank you for everything, Eddie Munson," she whispered into his ear, failing to see how his face had instantly turned red at the press of her lips "nothing I could do will ever repay the kindness you showered me with last night. I'll talk to you later."
"It was nothing," He replied as he tried to get his beating heart back under control.
"The sign of a true hero," she stated, as she lifted her hand to the door and slowly opened it. "I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Okay," he responded quietly, watching as she slowly got out of his vehicle and gently closed the door. She offered him a final wave before she headed up to the front door of her house. Eddie stayed in park until he saw her go in, then left to head back home to have his discussion with his uncle.
The door had no sooner clicked closed behind her when rushing footsteps came rushing down the stairs. Chrissy hurriedly turned around and saw her mother stampeding down the stairs toward her with a furious look across her face. Chrissy had expected that she would stop close by, but the woman kept coming right up into her face, and pinched an ear between her fingers.
"Chrissy Elizabeth Cunningham," her mother sneered at her in fury, "Where in the hell have you been, and what in God's name are you wearing. Where is your dress that you left home in?"
"Ow, let go of me," Chrissy cried out, trying in vain to pull away from the grip her mother had on her ear.
"I don't think I will, young lady," Her mom countered, squeezing tighter onto her ear and leading her into the living room where her dad was sat in his chair, ignoring his wife while he focused on the Sunday paper. "Phillip, look what the cat dragged home this morning. We were all worried sick. Jason has been calling all morning trying to get a hold of you. Apparently you ditched him at the dance after some small, silly argument."
"Get the fuck off of me," Chrissy shouted, shoving furiously at her mothers arm, who let go in shock. "and it wasn't some small, silly argument with Jason. He tried to force himself on me, and I broke up with him for it."
"Don't you ever speak to me that way," Laura shouted back, "You do not use such filthy language. You were raised better than that, and to make up such horrible lies about your boyfriend. I don't know what has gotten into you."
"Well, I was raised by you," Chrissy clapped back, "but I sure as hell wasn't raised well. You have been a horrible mother. I'm not lying about Jason either. He is a disgusting pig that tried to rape me last night! What's gotten into me is that I finally grew a backbone and am not going to let you or Jason or anyone else walk all over me anymore, mother."
"You watch your tone, Chrissy," Phillip said as he finally lowered his paper, "You do not speak to anyone the way you just spoke to your mother."
"Of course you're going to take her side," Chrissy screamed at him, pulling at her hair in frustration. "You never care what she does to me. You just sit idly by while she verbally abuses me and starves me."
"I do no such thing," Laura called out in shock, "who is putting these ideas in your head?"
"So calling me an ugly, fat pig isn't being verbally abusive," Chrissy asked her sarcastically, "forcing me to skip meals and vomit if I do eat something isn't starving me?"
"I use those words as encouragement to make you better," Laura cried out as her face turned red in repressed anger. "you would weigh 400 pounds if I didn't control what you ate."
"Yeah, well maybe I'd be happy to be 400 pounds," Chrissy responded angrily. "My size doesn't define me, mother. My actions do, and your actions define you. You go on and on about all this Christian bullshit, but I know in my heart you will burn in hell for what you've done to me. Why don't you just go fuck yourself?"
Laura sputtered indignantly as Chrissy stormed past her on her way to her room. Phillip sat in his recliner with his jaw practically on the ground as she raced out past him. Chrissy could hear her mother yelling after her as she stomped up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door behind her and locking it so she could have some privacy. The door instantly started to rattle and bang as her mother tried to follow her into the room. Chrissy released a scream so loud that the banging stopped momentarily.
"Chrissy, you will open this door right now so we can continue this discussion," Laura shouted from the other side of the door. "let me in this instant."
"Go away," She shouted angrily, "I'm done with this conversation!"
"Chrissy," her father's voice came from the other side of the door now, too. "Open the door. You are acting like a spoiled little brat. You're in enough trouble, and if you don't open this door right now, you're going to be in even more trouble."
Chrissy ignored her parents as she made her way over to her radio, turning it on and searching through the stations until she found the one she knew Eddie had been listening to in his car on the way home. She turned the volume up to the max and threw herself onto her bed, screaming as loud as she could into the pillow while tears leaked out of her eyes. Honestly, screaming actually felt like a relief at that point. I miss Eddie, already. She could hear faint bangs on the door as her mother or father attempted to get it open, and knew it was only a matter of time before they busted through.
On the other side of town, a completely different conversation was taking place between Eddie and Wayne. Eddie had slowly made his way back to his trailer after dropping Chrissy off at her home, and to say he was worried about what was currently going on with her was an understatement. I hope she's okay. He found himself preoccupied with thoughts of her the whole way back home and he blushed every time he thought of the brief press of her lips against his cheek. He sat in the van for a couple of minutes after he pulled up just trying to compose himself before he headed back into the trailer.
"I'm back, Uncle Wayne," He chimed out as he walked through the door, unsurprised to see his uncle in the kitchen nursing a cup of steaming, black coffee from one of his many mugs. Wayne gave him a considering look as he motioned to the chairs in the living room, already making his way over to one of them.
"Let's talk," his uncle stated, as he set his coffee down on the end table between the two chairs. Eddie reluctantly sat in the other chair, already figuring what this conversation was going to be about. "First off, I have to say that I'm proud of you for standing up for your classmate. That took a lot of guts and bravery, and it makes me happy to know that I've raised you well."
"Thanks Uncle Wayne," Eddie said, shifting awkwardly and rubbing his hands on his sweatpants to get rid of the slightly sweaty palms he had had since Chrissy had left his van. "After growing up seeing my dad hurting my mom, I couldn't just let that jackass jock hurt her like that."
"I understand that, son," Wayne stated, as he took another sip of his coffee. "What I actually wanted to talk to you about, though, is the rule you broke last night."
"I'm 19 years old, I don't feel like I should have restrictions anymore," Eddie said, nervously tugging at a loose string in his Metallica shirt.
"You may be 19," Wayne started, looking at him with a semi-stern look, "but you are also living under my roof and are a high school student. You need to follow my rules. You know you aren't allowed to have girls in your room when I'm gone. Even when I'm here, the door is to be open at all times. We really can't afford to have another set of feet running through here. Especially small feet. I really don't want to have to babyproof the trailer."
"We really did just sleep," Eddie promised, as he felt his face turning beat red. "she had a really bad night and didn't want to sleep alone. That's all, I promise. She doesn't like me like that. We're just friends."
"Oh please," Wayne snorted into his coffee as he took another slow sip. "I saw the way you two were looking at each other. If she doesn't like you like that I'll eat my damn hat. She was looking at you with stars in her eyes… and you weren't looking at her any differently."
"I didn't say I didn't like her like that," Eddie mumbled, blushing as he stared down at his feet. "I just find it highly unlikely that she would ever like me. Not like I'm much to look at, and I'm the loser who flunked senior year… twice."
"Hey," Wayne stated firmly, "you stop talking bad about my nephew. I happen to think that you're a good looking young man, and just because you failed your senior year doesn't make you any less of an amazing person. I didn't graduate high school, do you think I'm a loser?"
"No, sir," Eddie whispered respectively, "I just sometimes feel like I'm letting you down. I don't know why I struggle so hard in school."
"Edward Anthony Munson," Wayne said firmly, "you look at me, young man. You are not letting me down. Like I said a few minutes ago, I'm proud to be your Uncle. You struggle in school because of your ADHD, and that's something that we've always known. I'll never put you down for needing more time to graduate."
"I wish you had been my biological father," Eddie practically whispered. "I would have been so much better off."
"I'm as good as your father," Wayne told him, "I wish I had been able to get custody of you earlier in your life. You deserved so much more than my piece of shit brother. Come here."
Wayne stood, motioning him closer to him and pulled him into a firm hug. Eddie's mind instantly flashed back to the lingering hug that Chrissy had given him in the van, and he found himself hoping that maybe Uncle Wayne was right, and the girl of his dreams may actually like him back.
"You really think she may like me," he murmured into his uncle's embrace. Wayne laughed heartily.
"Like I said, kid. I'll eat my damn hat if she doesn't," Wayne stated, as he pulled back from the hug and put his hands on Eddie's shoulders. "but I'm serious. If I come home and find the two of you locked behind your door, you're going to be in trouble. I may even ground you."
"I'm 19," Eddie said flatly, with an exasperated roll of his eyes.
"You may be 19," Wayne stated warmly, "but you'll always be my kid… no matter how old you get."
Monday morning found Eddie Munson making his way back to Chrissy Cunningham's house. She hadn't been able to contact him the previous day, so he figured she was probably grounded. He wasn't a religious person at all, but he found himself praying that she was okay and that her parents hadn't been too horrible to her. He had his answer soon enough, as she came sprinting out of her house with her cheer bag over one shoulder and backpack slung over the other. She slid the back door of his van open and basically threw them in there before climbing into the front seat with him.
"I fucking hate my life," she groaned as she pulled the seatbelt down to buckle up.
"That bad, huh," Eddie asked with compassion lacing through his voice. "What happened?"
"I'm grounded for the foreseeable future," Chrissy told him, rolling her eyes, "they also took my fucking bedroom door, my radio and my phone out of my room. I haven't eaten anything since our pizza on Saturday night because withholding food is apparently a proper punishment for me. I hate to think what she's going to do when she finds out I'm quitting the cheer squad."
"You're quitting cheer," He asked in surprise. Though, he didn't know why he was surprised. She said she was forced to join. She never mentioned that she actually liked doing it.
"Yeah," she muttered, looking at him briefly before blushing and looking down at her lap. "I thought a lot about all the stuff we discussed on Saturday night and came to the realization that I don't want to do anything for her anymore. I'm going to focus on doing things that make me happy, like hanging out with my new best friend and hero, Eddie Munson."
"Sounds like an amazing plan to me," Eddie replied with a laugh. "I like hanging out with you, too."
"I know we only started hanging out Saturday," she stated, trailing off for a second before continuing, "but for some reason it feels like we've been friends forever. I've never had a friendship click into place as quickly as ours has."
"I haven't ever had a friendship come on that quickly either," he replied, sending a flash of a smile to her while he was stopped at a stop sign. "Most people don't want to give me a chance. They just see my long hair and clothes and think I'm a freak with nothing to offer. I guess I've kind of played into that a bit because it makes it hurt less that people don't like me."
"People who don't like you are idiots," Chrissy stated emphatically, "if they would just give you a chance they would find out how awesome you are. You literally went out of your way to protect me this weekend, and now you're going out of your way to give me a ride to school. At least all the people in your club look up to you. They get to know the real you, and that makes me happy."
"Yeah, I think Henderson has a bit of hero worship going on," He told her with a chuckle, "but he's a good kid and a better friend."
Chrissy wanted to tell him that Dustin wasn't the only one with hero worship going on, but wasn't sure how he would take that. She didn't want to scare him off.
"How did your talk with your uncle go," she asked, suddenly remembering that the man had wanted to talk to Eddie when he got home. "He wasn't too angry at you, I hope."
"It went well," Eddie told her as a flush made its way from his face and down his neck. "he was more upset about me having a girl in my room when he was gone than he was about the fight. He seems really worried that I'm going to make him a young grandpa. I told him we literally just slept and he seemed okay, but has made it clear that in the future if he catches us having a sleep over with the door closed I'll be joining you in grounded land."
"but you're 19," Chrissy said in confusion, even while she turned tomato red herself. She and Eddie avoided looking at each other while they each fought down their blushes.
"I tried explaining that to him," Eddie told her with a chuckle, "but he said no matter how old I get I'll always be his kid, and since I'm still in high school and live under his roof, his rules apply. It's not like me having a girl over is something he's ever had to worry about before."
"You've never had a girl over before," Chrissy asked in surprise, "why not?"
"In case you hadn't noticed," Eddie joked back, "I'm not exactly on the list of most eligible bachelors at school."
"You never met anyone at any of your shows at The Hideout," She asked, curiosity coloring her voice. Asking as a completely disinterested party… pfft, yeah right.
"uh, no," Eddie said with a blush, "the five drunks that we loyally play for are all middle-aged men. The few times there have been women there, they have been well into their forties. Not exactly my type."
"so… are you a virgin, then," She asked before her eyes widened as she realized what she had just asked him. Oh god. Why do I do this to myself. She could see him instantly turn red and knew before he answered what his response was going to be.
"Uh yeah," he stuttered out, face still bright red, "I don't exactly get offers for stuff like that. Since you asked me, turnabout is fair play. Are you a virgin?"
"Unfortunately not," Chrissy said with a sad sigh. "Jason pressured me into it a few months ago. Its been pretty awful, to be fair. I really hope sex gets better than whatever the hell he was doing with me. Otherwise I don't get why people do it."
"That just makes me want to punch him again," he stated in irritation, "you shouldn't have had to be pressured into that if you weren't ready."
"Its over with now," she said, sending a flirty smirk his way that he missed because his eyes were on the road. "Hopefully the next person I'm with will do it right… and hopefully we'll do it when we're both ready."
"If someone else starts pressuring you, I'll snap them in half," Eddie threatened as his hands tightened minutely on the steering wheel. "you deserve so much better than that."
Chrissy was surprised when instead of turning towards the school at the next stoplight, Eddie went the opposite direction. She looked at him in confusion, wondering where he was taking her and raised her eyebrows when she saw him turn on his blinker to wait to turn into the McDonalds parking lot.
"What would you like to eat," He asked her as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket. "I don't like the idea of you waiting until lunch to eat when you haven't eaten since Saturday night."
"I don't know," she answered, "I've actually never been allowed to have McDonalds for breakfast, and I've only had it like twice in my life for any other meal."
"I hate your mom so much," He told her before continuing on, "well, do you prefer bacon, ham or sausage, and what would you want to drink?"
"I guess bacon and I'll have a coke," she replied watching as he pulled up to the drive thru and ordered a Bacon, egg and cheese biscuit meal with a coke for her and a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit meal with a coke for himself. After he paid and the food was given to them, they made their way back to the school and pulled into the parking lot before divvying the food up between them. They still had plenty of time before their first class of the day started, so they sat in companiable silence while eating their meals.
"I don't know if it's just because I was starving," she told him in between dainty bites of her sandwich, "but I think this may be the best breakfast I've ever had."
"It's probably because you were starving," he joked with a laugh, "I don't think anything at McDonalds is the best anything anyone's ever had. McDonalds is pretty mediocre... unless you're high. Then it's pretty decent. Sometime, when you're no longer grounded, I'll have to take you out for a real breakfast."
"That would be nice," She responded, sending a large beautiful smile back his way that made his heart skip a beat. She took the final bite of her sandwich, washing it down with a big gulp of coke and smiled at him again, "Once again, you're my hero."
"Hush, you," He said as a blush blossomed on his cheeks. "getting you breakfast isn't heroic."
"I get to decide what's heroic to me," she stated, "and I decided that getting me breakfast today made you my hero. Anyway, what period do you have study hall?"
"Sixth," he answered, looking at her curiously, "with Mrs. O'Donall. She spends most of the period glaring at me from her desk."
"I have study hall sixth period with Mr. Harrison. You should see if Mrs. O'Donall will let you come to the library so that we can start our study buddy group."
"I'm not sure if she'll let me leave," he told her, "but its worth a shot. She'll probably think I'm lying and trying to cut out early."
"Maybe tell her you have a tutor that you're supposed to be meeting in the library and that she can call the librarian to check that you actually went there if she wants," Chrissy replied thoughtfully.
"I'll try that," he promised her, "Are you ready to head in? The first bell is going to be ringing soon."
"May as well," she sighed, "want to walk with me to the gym so I can turn in my cheer outfit to Ms. Blanche? Then we can walk to first period together."
Eddie quickly agreed and the two of them stepped out of the car into the warm sunny day that awaited them. Eddie made his way around the car and grabbed her bookbag so she didn't have to carry both bags. She sent him a grateful smile in response. The two of them slowly meandered their way into the school where he waited at the gym door while she continued on to Ms. Blanche's office. She knocked lightly on the door, and saw the woman look up at her with a smile.
"Chrissy! What brings you here so early this morning," the teacher asked, as her eyes shifted to confusion upon seeing Eddie waiting out by the main doors.
"I wanted to let you know that I'm dropping cheerleading. I wanted to come and drop off my stuff," Chrissy told her as she set the bag of cheer items down at her feet.
"What, why," the teacher asked as she looked at her with worry, "You aren't pregnant, are you?"
"What? No, of course not," Chrissy said, thoroughly embarrassed. "Cheer is something that my mom made me do, and I really didn't enjoy doing it. I decided that I want to do what is going to make me happy and I know dropping cheer will help with that. School is overwhelming enough without having to add in hours of cheer practice every week."
"Are you sure you want to do this," Ms. Blanche asked, looking slightly annoyed, "Why don't you just step down as captain, but remain on the squad?"
"Because I hate doing cheer," Chrissy told her honestly, "I guess I just don't have enough pep in my step. I quit, Ms. Blanche."
"What does your mom think of your quitting," The teacher asked her in exasperation, "Now we're going to have to put in one of the alternates, and they aren't as good as you."
"Honestly, I don't care what my mom thinks," Chrissy tells her, starting to get irritated herself, "and finding a suitable alternate isn't really my problem anymore."
"Don't you think you're being a bit selfish," Ms. Blanch asked her, "have you thought about the other girls on the team?"
"I don't care if it's selfish," Chrissy reiterated, "I'm done with the squad. Have a nice day."
Chrissy turned and left, leaving the teacher gasping behind her. The strawberry blond girl made her way back over to Eddie, grabbing her backpack from him and slinging it over her shoulders, which now felt like a weight had been lifted from them. She linked her arm through his and practically started skipping to class. She noticed students staring at them in shock as they passed by and scowled at them. It's none of your business who I'm hanging out with.
"Chris! What the hell are you doing with that freak," a male voice shouted behind her and the two of them froze and slowly turned around to face the Jason who had shouted at them. "you didn't return any of my calls this weekend and now I find you buddying up with the class freak?"
"Why would I ever call you," she asked him, talking to him like he was dumb… which he was, "I dumped your ass on Friday after you sexually assaulted me, or were you too drunk to remember that part?"
"You're not seriously leaving me for that small mistake, are you," he asked incredulously. "I was drunk, babe and you never tell me no."
"I told you no that time," Chrissy told him leaning into Eddie for support. His arm came up to wrap around her waist which helped calm her nerves. "We are done, Jason. I want nothing to do with you. You need to leave me the hell alone."
"Cheerleaders don't hang out with freaks and losers like Munson," He snapped at her, "Cheerleaders hang out with basketball players."
"Then I guess it's a good thing I dropped out of cheerleading this morning," She snapped back, "now I can hang out with whoever I want to, and who I want to hang out with is Eddie."
"Get your hands off my girl, you freak," Jason suddenly shouted, coming forward and shoving Eddie which made him stumble back, losing his grip on Chrissy's waist. Chrissy saw red. She didn't know what came over her but she was suddenly standing between Eddie and Jason and her hand was flying to smack him across the face. He was staring at her in complete shock. She had never stood up for herself against him.
"Don't you fucking touch my friends," she snapped at him. "Eddie isn't a freak, and he is twice the man you are."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean," he asked as he raised his hand to rub at his stinging cheek.
"You can take that however you want," she answered him, sending a death glare back at him. "Leave me and my friends alone."
"I'm going to tell your mom that you hit me and that you're hanging out with a devil worshipper," Jason said, moving in menacingly.
"Go ahead and do that," she told him with a smirk, "I really don't care what my mom has to say anymore, either. She can jump off a bridge, for all I care."
"You shouldn't joke about stuff like that," Jason told her trying to grab onto her hand. Chrissy hurriedly took a step back, looping her arm back in with Eddie's before turning her back on Jason.
"Who said I was joking," she asked, as she lead Eddie toward their first period class. "I mean it Jason. Leave my friends and I alone."
"Chrissy Cunningham," Eddie said from beside her, sounding extremely impressed, "I think you just became my hero, too. That was so badass. You're not taking shit from anyone anymore. I love it!"
"Hush, you," She replied, repeating his words from earlier back to him. "Lets go see if we can be lab partners in Mr. Clarks class."
It turned out that the two of them could be partners. Mr. Clark actually seemed excited about it. Eddie was glad that the man had transferred from the Junior High that year, as he had always treated him with respect and had even given him more time on tests after Wayne had explained to him that Eddie had ADHD and suffered from test anxiety.
By the time lunch rolled around, it was all over the school that Chrissy Cunningham had dumped Jason and was hanging around with the freaks and losers of the school. Even though it had gone around, there were still whispers all around her as she sat at the Hellfire Club table at lunch with Eddie and the rest of his club. There were still more whispers going around about how she had just up and quit cheerleading. She was actually receiving quite a few dirty looks from her old teammates. Good riddance!
"Hi Chrissy," Dustin said as she sat down in the seat next to Eddie who had immediately given her half of his sandwich and pretzels. "how are you doing?"
"I'm much better, now," she responded, sending a smile to the smaller freshman. "Thanks for all the help on Saturday."
"It was nothing," Dustin replied, "Eddie did most of the heavy lifting there. He was so badass."
"That he was," she agreed, looking back at Eddie with doe eyes as she took a bite of the sandwich he had given her, she smirked internally as the dark haired boy blushed and kept his eyes on his pretzels.
"Oh look here, Jenna," a sneering voice interrupted, "It looks like Chrissy is going to be puking in the bathroom later."
"Oh my god," Jenna crooned, laughing loudly, "that's so funny. Good one, Allie. She better purge if she doesn't want that peanut butter to go straight to her thighs."
"Yeah, that's not funny," Eddie said, glaring up at the two cheerleaders who had stopped by the table.
"We weren't talking to you, freak," Jenna sneered, with a look of disgust at him. "so don't talk to us."
"Stop talking shit about my friend, and I'll stop talking to you," he said as he continued to glare at them. "Joking about someone's weight isn't cool, and it isn't funny to joke about bulimia, either. Why don't the two of you 'purge' yourselves out of our sight?"
"Whatever, freak," Allie said with a snort before grabbing Jenna's arm and dragging her away towards the jock table.
"Fake bitches," Chrissy mumbled as she took another bite of the delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich in front of her. "I always knew they weren't really my friends. You don't have to worry about me purging food anymore, by the way. I'm done with that bullshit, just like I'm done with my parents, and Jason and cheerleading."
"I'm glad to hear that, Princess," Eddie said, placing his hand on one of hers. "You don't need to lose weight. I think you'd be beautiful even if you did gain weight."
"Thanks Eddie," she said sincerely, smiling back at him. She noticed that Dustin was elbowing a boy with a horrible bowl cut in the ribs and looking back and forth between her and Eddie.
"I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Chrissy Cunningham," She told him and held a hand out, which he shyly took with an awkward grin.
"My name's Will Byers," he responded, "I heard about what happened Saturday night. I'm sorry you had to go through that."
"Thanks Will," she said graciously, "You're Jonathan's brother, right? We had a couple of classes together last year. He's really quiet."
"Yeah, he's not as quiet when he's at home," Will laughed, "him and Hopper like to argue about music a lot."
"How does everyone here seem to know Hopper so well," Eddie asked in confusion. "I already know that Mike is dating his daughter, but I didn't realize all of you knew him."
"How did you know I was dating his daughter," Mike asked, looking at Eddie in curiosity.
"He mentioned it on Sunday when he came to my place to ask about the fight with Jason on Saturday night."
"Hopper is dating my mom," Will said with a smile, "They got together after a near death experience in that mall fire over the summer. He's actually been pretty great. He certainly treats her better than my father ever did."
The conversation was flowing around her and for once in her high school life, Chrissy actually felt like she belonged in the group of people she was hanging out with. It seemed crazy to her how much her life could change in one weekend. She went from being starved, literally for food, and figuratively for attention to having a full stomach and heart, and she owed it all to the boy sitting next to her. She felt her stomach flutter every time he caught her eye or sent a smile her way. She knew she had it for him bad. She was hardly focusing on the conversation around her at that point, too focused on thinking of Eddie. She was pulled back into the conversation, though, when Dustin asked her a question.
"so, do you think you'd be interested in trying out dungeons and dragons sometime," he had asked, sending her a large grin. When she saw Eddie's head pop up at the question she knew what her answer would be.
"Heck yes, I will," she replied enthusiastically, "it sounds like so much fun."
She knew she had given the right answer when Eddie's eyes filled with joy and a large grin spread across his face. He immediately started talking to her about how he could help her set up her first character. She grinned back at him as he started enthusiastically describing the different races and classes that she could be. He mentioned something too about chaotic good and neutral. She wasn't too sure what he was talking about at that point, but she just loved hearing him talk about something with so much passion. He looked even more handsome when he was excited about something, she had decided.
Before she knew it, the end of lunch bell was ringing and they were heading off to their sixth period classes. She reminded Eddie about trying to meet her in the library during class, and hurried off to her own sixth period study hall. Her teacher was fine with giving her the library pass, and sent her merrily on her way. It was only a few minutes after she arrived at the library that she saw Eddie enter the room and she hurriedly waved him over.
The two of them pulled out their assignments and started comparing what they were assigned. Even though they only had two classes together they still had the same teachers, so the homework was the same. She pulled out her English homework and he did the same and they started working on it quietly together. She would make sure he passed all of his classes this year if it was the last thing she did.
"I wish I could sneak out to see your band tomorrow," she whispered in a small break between questions, "but I think it would be really hard to do that now that I don't have a bedroom door."
"It's okay, you can come watch sometime when you're not grounded," he whispered back, "you little rebel."
"It's too bad they took my door," she said back conversationally, "if they hadn't I may have bought some pot from you. At least it would give me something to do while I'm all alone in my room."
"I would never make you pay, Princess," he told her before taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. "if you want, after school I can take you to the picnic table where I usually deal and get you high before I drop you off at home."
"Hmmm," she whispered back conspiratorially, "I may just have to take you up on that offer. It'll take the edge off before I go back home to hell. I can't fucking wait until I'm 18 and I can leave that shithole behind."
"When do you turn 18," he asked her as he stared back at her.
"Two months," she replied, "I literally may move out the day I turn 18. I have a few thousand dollars saved up from the last few years of summer work, and I always save my money I get for Christmas or birthdays. Maybe I can rent a small apartment or trailer or something."
"I hope that works out for you," He told her sincerely, "I'd say you could move in with us, but I think my uncle may have a conniption."
She giggled in response, tightening her hand around his before going back to her homework. They sat together in silence except when she was helping him with a question he was struggling on. She really was smart, and he hoped that her helping him with studying was going to pay off in a big way.
The sixth period bell rang, and the two of them parted ways amicably. The last class of the day passed by agonizingly slow for Chrissy. She couldn't wait to get out of school so she could meet Eddie again down by the picnic table. When the final bell of the day did ring, Chrissy practically ran out of the class after being dismissed. She met Eddie at his locker and the two of them made their way to his van where he grabbed a different lunch box before they headed down to the picnic table.
Eddie quickly and expertly rolled them a joint and the two of them quickly started passing it back and forth between them.
"Chrissy Cunningham… Have I turned you into a pothead," Eddie asked jokingly as the strawberry blond girl took a long hit from the joint before releasing a large plume of smoke back towards him.
"Maybe, but you've also turned me into someone who stands up for myself, so I can't really complain," she stated as she passed the joint back to him. Every time she got it back from him, it exhilarated her a little to know she was putting her lips where his lips had just been, and she wondered if it was exhilarating for him, too or if he just saw her as a friend. She knew she wanted him, but really didn't know how he felt about her. She thought sometimes that he may have a crush on her, but her insecurities whispered in her mind that he didn't really want her and was just saying things to her to be nice.
"You bout ready to go, Princess," He asked as he finished off the last of their joint and put out the roach on the table.
By the time they made it to Chrissy's house, she was already feeling pretty buzzed. She turned to him and gave him a long, tight hug that once again caused his pulse to race. She turned her head and pressed another kiss to his cheek before pulling back.
"Thanks for the ride home, Eddie," she said with a beaming smile, "I'll see you in the morning?"
"You can count on it," He responded with a large grin. "7:15?"
"Yep," she said smiling back, "see you then."
She got out of the van and grabbed her backpack from the back seat and turned to give him another wave as she made her way back inside her own private hell.
"Chrissy," Her mother's voice called from the living room, and her eyes rolled up into her head. Of fucking course she's noticed me come in. "What on earth are you doing home so early? You have cheer practice after school!"
"Not anymore," Chrissy told her gleefully, "I quit cheer this morning. I didn't want to do something that made me so miserable anymore."
Laura came careening around the corner, her eyes already furious and cold. She expected more of a tirade, but her mom paused in the doorway and sniffed the air suspiciously. Shit. Can she smell the pot on me?
"Chrissy Elizabeth Cunningham," Her mom shouted out, "have you been smoking marijuana? You smell like you were sprayed by a skunk and I know what that means."
"None of your damn business," Chrissy stated and moved to step around her mom, only to be stopped as her mom grabbed tightly onto her arm.
"It absolutely is my business if my daughter is throwing her life away," Laura snapped, "What on earth has gotten into you? First you break up with Jason, the ideal son-in-law, you sneak off and stay out all night, then you drop cheer squad and now you're smoking marijuana?"
"We just call it pot or weed, mom," Chrissy sassed, "or sometimes in the heat of the moment it's the devil's lettuce."
Laura was staring at her daughter in horror, which caused Chrissy to break out into gales of giggles. The horror quickly morphed into anger and she pulled back the arm that wasn't clutching to Chrissy's arm and struck out smacking her daughter across the face as hard as she could. Chrissy's giggles stopped immediately. Ow. What the fuck? That was the first time her mom had ever physically struck her and it made Chrissy angry, so she shoved her mom away from her who bumped into the doorway behind her. Laura straightened up and took another step forward, bringing her arm back and smacking her across the face a second time.
Chrissy was numb with shock. She saw her mom's hand raising again and flinched back before shouldering past her mother up the stairs to her room and jumping onto her bed. Her thoughts were in turmoil. She couldn't believe her mom had finally resorted to physical abuse. She didn't think she would have it in her because she wouldn't want anyone to be able to see how toxic her relationship to her daughter was. After laying in her bed for half in tears, she knew she couldn't stay there that night. She go up to look in her bookbag for Eddie's number that he had given her the day previously and snuck off to her dad's office, praying that he wouldn't be in there so she could use his phone. She dialed his number through bleary tears, and waited with baited breath while the rings started.
"Munson residence," his voice calmed her almost instantly.
"Eddie, it's Chrissy," She said, and he must have been able to tell something was wrong because he immediately asked her what happened.
"My mom hit me a couple of times," she whimpered, "can you come get me? I'm going to sneak out my window."
"I'll be there in five minutes," he sounded furious, and she was glad to know it wasn't her he was furious with. After she hung up with him she hurried back into her room and started shoving clothing into a duffle bag, enough to last her for a few days. She knew she couldn't crash with Eddie forever, but she knew she couldn't stay there that night. She climbed out onto the roof and dropped her duffle bag and backpack to the ground before climbing down the trellis, making sure to rip quite a few of the flowers blooming there out in spite of her mother.
Eddie was true to his word and was pulling up to the curb in minutes. He had barely placed the car in park before she was sliding open his back door and throwing her duffle into his back seat. She climbed unsteadily into the passenger seat and looked at him with sorrow filled eyes. He gently lifted his hand and brushed it across the bruise darkening on the same cheek that was already bruised by Jason.
"I'm so sorry, Princess," he practically whispered before his head whipped around her to the front door of her house. Her mom was marching across the lawn with an angry look on her face. She was feet away from the van when Eddie put it in drive and squealed the tires to get out of there. She could see her mother chasing behind the car in the side mirror until the reached the end of the street and turned off.
They made it to Eddie's trailer in record time, and he grabbed her bag for her while leading her by the hand into the place where she felt the safest. It felt more like home than her own house did in that moment. She turned to look at him and felt tears welling up in her eyes. He stared at her sadly and spread his arms wide for her and she immediately crashed into him in a tight hug, releasing gasping sobs. Eddie's heart was breaking for her. Why did bad things keep happening to such a wonderful person? She eventually sobbed it all out and pulled back from him.
"Sorry, I got your jacket wet," she apologized after noticing the big wet mark on the front of his jean vest.
"Hey, there's nothing to apologise for," he promised her, "are you okay now?"
"I'm much better now that I'm with you," she assured him, leaning back in for another hug. He stood there holding her for several minutes while he rubbed her back.
"What happened," he asked her softly as his large hands traced circles on her back.
"When I got home she started asking me why I wasn't at cheer practice, and I told her I quit so she came storming around the corner to start yelling at me or something, but she must have smelled the pot on me because she went psycho and started screaming at me about how I'm ruining my life by leaving the perfect son-in-law and quitting cheer and doing drugs. Except she called it marijuana and I thought that was funny, so I told her we call it pot, weed or devil's lettuce and she hauled off and smacked me two times. She tried to hit me a third time, but I ran past her up the stairs."
"What about the bruises on your arm, that looks like a handprint to me," Eddie asked her gently as he pulled back from the hug and ran his fingers over the marks on her left arm. She hadn't even noticed them until that point.
"She grabbed my arm when I tried to leave before she hit me," Chrissy stated sadly. "I guess she must have grabbed it harder than I realized."
"I'm so sorry your mom is so horrible," Eddie whispered against her hair as he pulled her back into a tight hug. "I wish there was some way we could get you away from her for good."
"We could kill her and make it look like a suicide," Chrissy joked, letting out a slight snort to show she was kidding.
"Somehow I don't think that would be the best idea," Eddie laughed, "I wonder if you can be emancipated. You're almost 18, maybe that's a possibility. Then you wouldn't have to wait until your 18th birthday to move out. Do you want to sit down?"
"Yeah, sure," Chrissy said and waited to see which recliner he took before sitting down on his lap. "Hope this is okay, I just want to snuggle."
"That's fine with me," he said, as he reached to the side of the chair and pulled the lever to make the feet pop out. The two of them readjusted until she was laying half on him, half in the chair with her head over his heart and his arms were wrapped around her. "do you feel more relaxed, Princess?"
"Yeah," She mumbled and tightened her grip over his chest. "Thank you for always being my knight in shining leather and coming to get me."
"Knight in shining leather," He questioned with a laugh, "I guess that works. For the record, I'll always come and get you."
She giggled too, and looked up at him from her position on his chest, he could feel her gaze and looked down, sending a sad smile her way. She lifted her hand and placed it on his face while staring directly into his eyes. She saw his eyes flicker down to her lips and cheered internally. Maybe he wanted her after all. In that moment she made a decision to test the boundaries and leaned forward to press their lips together. He gasped in surprise before immediately pressing back, but in a really tender way. They spent a few minutes pressing soft kisses to each other's lips before they were interrupted by a large yawn emanating from Chrissy.
"Sorry, I yawned all over you again," she whispered as her eyes closed briefly.
"It's okay, Princess," Eddie whispered back before pressing a final kiss to her lips. "You can yawn all over me anytime. Do you want to take a nap?"
"Mmm, yeah," she mumbled, pressing a kiss to his chest, "I'm gonna sleep right here."
"That's fine," he whispered, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear and pressing a kiss to the top of her head as his eyes slid closed with hers.
AN: Phew, I had planned to have this out at 10pm cst, but I just couldn't stop writing it. I suppose this could have been split into a couple of different chapters, but eh… whatever, sue me. This chapter is over 10000 words. Hopefully someone sat through to read it all. haha