The Hero
Miss Magillicuddy
Chapter 8
It had been decided by Beth and John that Chrissy could continue to do Hellfire Club, since Robin was still allowed to do band practices. Friday's were the one bright spot in Chrissy's boring life at that moment. She didn't know how she was going to handle being grounded for the whole month. The chores weren't bad, but not being able to watch TV or talk to Eddie for hours on end on the phone was absolute torture. She actually loved going to school because it got her out of the house for 8 hours a day. She loved it even more when she had a shift at the video store after work, because then she got to hang out with either Eddie or Steve. She didn't count her shifts with Robin as hanging out, since they were in the same boat.
Steve had been bummed when he was told that both of them were grounded, since it meant that they would miss the Halloween party at his house the following week. He had asked if they were willing to sneak out to come to the party, but Robin and Chrissy were too nervous about getting caught and having extra time added to their sentences for bad behavior. He tried not to bring it up in front of them, as he knew they both really wanted to go. Instead, he talked to Robin about Vicki and how she definitely loved boobies, or he talked to Chrissy about her favorite subject, Eddie. Eddie still planned to go to the party, and tried not to mention it too much either. For the freshman, it was all they could talk about. Their first party in high school. To say they were excited was an understatement. It was something that came up with them in conversation every day at lunch.
"Do you think Steve is going to let us drink," Lucas had asked on Friday at lunch.
"Maybe," Mike had stated as he took a bite of the school pizza. "do you actually want to drink?"
"I think it would be fun," he stated, "Max said that she has snuck some of her mom's wine coolers and that they're pretty good."
"I highly doubt Steve is going to purchase wine coolers," Dustin chimed in with a grin on his face, "Steve seems more like a beer or hard liquor kind of guy."
"Well, do you think he'll let us have a beer," Lucas asked, "Or maybe a mixed drink of some type."
"Maybe," Dustin said noncommittally, "I don't know if I'd drink anything. Suzie would be very disappointed in me."
"You can't always do what your girlfriend wants you to do," Mike told him, as he rolled his eyes.
"Like you don't always do what El wants you to do," Will said, smirking at him. "You'd probably jump off the quarry if she asked you to."
"Been there, done that," Mike said, wincing in memory of when El had saved him a few years previously.
"I still can't believe you did that," Dustin added, "it was badass, but stupid. If El hadn't been there you would have been killed."
"I'm sorry," Chrissy cut into the boys conversation, "How did your girlfriend save you? A fall like that would kill anyone."
"It's not important," Mike stated, shifting awkwardly in his seat, "Speaking of El, do you think Steve will care that I want to bring her to the party?"
"Nah, she's one of his kids," Dustin said, shaking his head and turning to look at Lucas, "is Max coming?"
"She plans to. Her mom is working that night, so she'll never know she's gone," Lucas responded as he took a bite of the peach cobbler the school had supplied for desert. "You're coming, right Eddie?"
"Yeah," Eddie finally joined in on the conversation, giving Chrissy a sad look, "someone has to keep an eye on you little sheep."
"You really don't," Will said with a laugh, "We'll be fine."
"Yeah, I'm going to make sure of it," Eddie promised, sending a smile at his freshmen friends. He felt like it was his duty to protect them, for some reason.
"I really wish I could go," Chriss said dejectedly, "I really want to officially meet your girlfriends. I'll bet they're little sweethearts."
"Definitely never say that to Max's face," Lucas snorted, "she would be likely to rip your head off. She's a feisty one."
"Yeah, she likes to flip me off when I blare my music in the mornings," Eddie stated as he took a drink from his water bottle. "I don't know why."
"Um, probably because you're blaring your music in the morning," Dustin sassed, "you know, when normal people like to sleep in?"
"Shut up, Henderson," Eddie told him, slightly rolling his eyes at the other boy and beaming a pretzel at him. "What do you know?"
"More than you, apparently," Dustin said back sarcastically as he threw the pretzel back at Eddie, hitting him with it in the forehead which caused both of them to break out into laughter.
"Now, now, boys," Chrissy teased, "lets not fight at the lunch table."
"Sorry, mom," Dustin joked back, "Are you excited for Hellfire Club tonight?"
"So fucking excited," Chrissy gushed, "I've only been grounded for a few days and I feel like I'm going crazy."
"What did you do, anyways," Will asked as he gave her a sad look. "Didn't you just get ungrounded recently for the fight with Jason?"
"Yeah, I was ungrounded for less than a fucking week," Chrissy griped, "Robin and I got caught coming home from Eddie's last show drunk and high."
"You smoke weed," Mike asked surprised, "I didn't peg that one."
"You know who my boyfriend is, right," Chrissy joked, sharing a look with Eddie as he grinned at her dopily. "Of course we smoke weed together."
"Jonathan has been smoking a lot of weed lately," Will added in, "He made friends with that new kid, Argyle, and the two of them have been high most of the time. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's annoying. I can't tell if Mom and Hop know and are choosing to ignore it, or if they're just completely oblivious."
"There's a new kid named Argyle," Eddie asked with a hint of a smirk that grew into a chuckle, "what an unfortunate name for someone. Besides, you know I'm not selling anymore. Now I just get to be a loyal customer of good ol' Reefer Rick."
"Whereas Eddie has that touch of elegance that a name could only dream of having," Dustin joked, rolling his eyes. Eddie flipped him off and chucked another pretzel at him for the remark.
"Does Hopper spend much time at your house," Chrissy asked Will as she took a bite of her banana.
"Oh, he and El moved in last month," Will told her, grinning, "Jonathan and I have to share a room now, since El took mine, but that's okay. Jonathan and I have always been really close. It's really nice having them there. El has basically become my sister, and I'm closer to Hop than I ever was with my biological father."
"I know that feeling," Chrissy said, thinking of her parents and Robin who was sat with the other band members that day. There was a football game going on that night, and the band tended to sit together on gameday so they could discuss their upcoming performance. "It's a nice feeling, huh?"
"It really is," Will agreed, sending her another beaming smile, "I think Hop is going to ask mom to marry him, soon. He asked Jonathan, El and I if we would be okay with that if he did. We all agreed immediately, of course. El loves having a mother figure to dote on her, and them getting married would make it more official. I wouldn't be surprised if mom adopted her."
"What happened to El's biological mother," Chrissy asked sadly, "Hopefully she wasn't as terrible as mine."
"Well," Mike said, shifting awkwardly again, "its kind of a long, confusing story. I won't go too much into it, but her mom is barely functioning. She can't have conversations with anyone. She just stares blankly ahead and mutters the same sentences over and over."
"That's really sad," Chrissy replied, "did she have some sort of mental breakdown?"
"Something like that," Mike agreed, trying to shift the attention to another topic, "so, what do you think is going to be the first thing you do when you get ungrounded?"
"Oh, Eddie for sure," Chrissy said, smirking at the freshman who blushed bright red. The rest of the table laughed along with Chrissy. Eddie was giving her a lusty look.
"God, I can't wait for you to be ungrounded," he told her as he grabbed her hand and squeezed lightly.
"Gross," Mike said from across the table. Eddie chucked a pretzel at him for good measure.
"You won't think it's gross when it's you doing it," Eddie stated, rolling his eyes, "trust me."
"Just be careful when you do," Chrissy added, smirking as an afterthought, "your girlfriend's dad is the chief of police. He can probably think of hundreds of ways to dispose of a body."
Mike had turned a vibrant shade of red and started avoiding looking at the rest of the table, as everyone began chuckling at him.
"I hate you all," he mumbled as the bell rang. The group of them stood up and made their way to the trash bin or to the tray return window and walked out of the lunchroom, splitting up as they went to their separate classes. They failed to notice the basketball teams eyes following them in narrowed determination.
The rest of the school day passed by in a blur, with Eddie and Chrissy meeting up at their usual table in the library during sixth period and working on some of their assignments. They had their presentation due the following week in history and were putting the final touches on their report. Eddie thought that they had written a pretty decent report, and hoped that they would wind up getting an A. They still had to work on their posterboard, but had planned for Eddie to come over Saturday and spend the day working on it.
After school, Eddie and Chrissy drove to Chrissy's house to work on the rest of their homework under Beth's watchful gaze. Eddie had been mortified the first time he had gone over there to study after they had found out about the two of them. Beth hadn't torn into him or anything, but she had talked with him frankly about the fact that he was now sleeping with her daughter, and how it was expected that they would use protection every time, no matter the circumstances. She had also, embarrassingly enough, contacted his uncle and told him that the two of them were sexually active. Eddie had been read the riot act by his uncle when he got home from Chrissy's that first day he had heard about it. His uncle had wanted to know if they had broken his rule and slept together in the trailer, and Eddie had been unable to lie to his uncle. He had gotten grounded for a week for breaking that rule, but thankfully his Uncle was still letting him go to Chrissy's to study and do Hellfire. He had stated since Chrissy's parents were still allowing her to do Hellfire, he would honor the same agreement.
Since they had Hellfire that night, Chrissy's parents let him stay longer than when they finished up their homework for the night and invited him to stay for dinner. He had eagerly agreed since he loved Beth's cooking. Everyone loved Beth's cooking and that night she had made homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans and served everyone up a heaping plate. She had even made a brownies with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Chrissy cringed as she thought about what her biological mother would have thought of the meal. She probably wouldn't have even been allowed to smell it at her old house.
After dinner she and Eddie made their way to his van to head to the school for Hellfire. Eddie groaning in annoyance as he saw the limited parking available due to the football game going on that night. Even though the team always lost, a lot of people in town showed up for the games. They found parking out in the boonies of the parking lot and the two of them had to heft in their bags for Dungeons and Dragons from almost the edge of the parking lot. On top of her D&D bag, she was carrying in a tray of extra brownies that Beth had made for the group. It wasn't the first time Beth had sent her to Hellfire with baked goods, and the group always appreciated it when she did. She and Eddie still managed to set the table up in record time, and rather than taking her seat next to him, she sat down sideways on his lap.
"Hey, you," she said, bopping his nose before leaning in and pressing a kiss to his lips.
"Hey, Princess," he answered, booping her nose back before returning her kiss. He nibbled lightly at her lips until they parted, allowing his tongue to enter her mouth as the two of them battled for dominance. Today he let her win as she took control of the kiss, grabbing his face and leaning into him as they kissed fiercely. The two of them were so into each other that they didn't hear the door open behind them.
"God," Dustin interrupted, "don't you two ever come up for air?"
Chrissy pulled back and turned to look at him, sending him a light glare, eyes widening slightly as she realized that a most of the rest of the group was behind Dustin. Gareth was waggling his eyebrows at them and started making kissy faces. Chrissy flipped him off, kissed Eddie one last time and removed herself from his lap, taking the seat directly to his right.
"Fuck you, Henderson," Eddie groused, flipping him off.
"No thanks," Dustin challenged, "I just don't see you that way, Eddie. It's not meant to be."
"Damn," Eddie joked, "there went my plans to break up with Chrissy to get with a 14 year old boy… wait, no, that never would happen. I'm not into pedophilia."
"Well, that's good to know," Will snorted, "I'd hate to be associated with a pedophile."
"All right," Eddie changed the subject, "everyone come in and take your seats. We have a lot to do tonight."
The following three hours passed by in a blur of role playing, combat, laughs, snacks and Mountain Dew. Chrissy was always reminded that she could have been missing out on this if she hadn't become friends with the group. They had never made her feel out of place, and that was something that she was very thankful for. As the evening drew to an end, she found herself sad that it had to. She felt like she could have kept playing for another three hours with no problems. Unfortunately they only had the theater room available until 9.
When they left the school the football game must have just ended, because there were a lot of people milling about. She and Eddie made their way back to his van, carrying their bags. It was as they were heading back to say goodnight to the other members of Hellfire that they ran into Steve, literally in Eddie's case.
"Sorry, man," Eddie said, as he grabbed Steve's elbow to make sure he didn't fall on his ass. "I didn't see you there. What brings you to the old alma mater?"
"I was on a date, that didn't go very well, might I add, and saw the two of you and figured I'd come say hey," Steve stated as the three of them started walking back towards the school. "Why are you two heading back to the school?"
"We're going to say goodnight to the kids," Chrissy stated as she walked between them. "Maybe offer the younger ones a ride home so they don't have to ride their bikes."
"That's nice of you," Steve stated as they got closer and closer to the school.
It was then that they realized something was wrong. They could all hear muffled yells coming from ahead and started hurrying forward. Eddie breaking into a run as he caught on to what was happening in front of his eyes. Steve muttered a curse as he caught on as well and began hurrying after him.
A few minutes earlier, Dustin had been minding his own business, hanging out with Lucas, Mike and Will when they realized that a small group of boys was heading their way, being led by Jason Carver. Dustin recognized the other two as Patrick McKinney and Andy Thompson. His fight or flight instinct was telling him they should probably run, but his feet remained planted.
"Well, well, well," Jason sneered as he neared them, "look what we have here. The three little liars who got me suspended."
"You got yourself suspended by being a dick," Dustin challenged, "it's not my fault you went out of your way to attack my friends."
"It's your fault you lied to the principal and told him that bitch wasn't making up lies about me," Jason sneered, getting up in Dustin's face.
"I'm sure she wasn't lying," Dustin laughed back, "I know Chrissy. She was definitely telling the truth about that."
"I don't have a small dick," Jason screamed out, shoving Dustin back against the wall and pinning him to it. "You take that back."
"For someone who claims not to have a small dick," Dustin stated, "you sure seem sensitive about it. It must be real small."
"This one's mine," Jason said, looking over his shoulder at Patrick and Andy, "You two take the other two little liars."
That said, Jason turned back to face Dustin and pulled back his fist, slamming it into the freshman boy's mouth. He pulled back a second time and punched him in the chin. Jason was fuming as he grabbed Dustin by the shirt and slammed his head back into the wall, Dustin grunted in pain before falling to the ground, holding his head as he cried out in pain. Patrick and Andy had split up and started attacking Mike and Lucas. Mike was taller than Andy, and was struggling against him, trying to keep his footing so he didn't end up on the floor like Dustin. Unfortunately, Patrick had a few inches and a lot more muscle than Lucas and was able to subdue him to the ground and started punching him all over his body. Will had run over and was trying in vain to get Andy off of Mike, but he wasn't having any luck with that. It was Dustin who needed the most help. Now that he was laying on the ground Jason took the opportunity to start kicking him in the stomach. Dustin curled in on himself, trying to protect his vital organs as he grunted in pain with every shocking kick to his abdomen.
Dustin couldn't really remember what happened, one minute he was being kicked over and over in the ribs, the next Jason was being pulled away from him. He glanced up with tears in his eyes and saw Eddie standing fiercely between him and Jason. The basketball player lunged forward and punched Eddie square in the jaw, causing him to stumble back a few paces before Eddie lunged forward himself, tackling the other boy to the ground as the two of them began pummeling each other. Chrissy ran forward and placed a protective arm over Dustin's shoulders as the boy gingerly sat up, groaning in pain. A glance to his right saw Steve on the ground brawling with Patrick, a glance to his left saw that Mike was still struggling against Andy, getting hit in the face multiple times. Will was still unsuccessful in getting the other boy off of Mike. Dustin tried getting to his feet to help Will, but he gasped in pain as he felt something in his torso shift. Dustin bent over in pain trying to catch his breath through his blood filled mouth. When he was punched, his braces must have caused a pretty bad cut on the inside of his lip because as he would spit out a mouthful of blood, more would immediately replace it.
Andy was finally successful in getting Mike to the ground, even with Will pounding at his back. Andy whipped around and punched Will across the face, causing him to stumble back and land on his bottom, as one of the other basketball players grabbed Will and tugged his hands behind his back. The boy began struggling against him, but was unable to get loose. Andy quickly turned back and started attacking Mike again. Glancing back at the other two sets of fighting boys, Dustin saw that both Eddie and Steve had now gotten the upper hand on their opponents.
"You don't fuck with my kids," Steve shouted in Patrick's face as he landed a harsh blow to the other boy's cheek.
Eddie was distracted by the shout, which gave Jason the chance to try getting back the upper hand. The jock had grabbed Eddie by the throat and twisted his body so that Eddie was under him and began to choke him.
"Eddie," Chrissy screamed, running forward and grabbing at Jason's jacket to try and pull him off of her boyfriend. Jason snarled and swung his elbow back, catching her in the nose which immediately started to gush blood. Eddie saw red and brought a knee up, kneeing Jason in the groin. The other boy gasped in pain and rolled off of Eddie clutching himself in pain. Eddie got up and stumbled his way over to Chrissy to check on her. The former cheerleader was clutching at her bleeding nose, trying to stop the bleeding.
"Don't worry about me," She stated as the blood poured down her face. "Help Mike."
He didn't get the chance to help Mike because Jason was back up for round two. The blond boy tackled Eddie to the ground from behind and started trying to punch him in the face as Eddie rolled them over and once again got the upper hand. There was so much chaos going on around them that not one of them noticed running footsteps approaching.
"Mike," a girl's voice called out, followed by a piercing scream as the girl lifted her hand. Eddie's attention was caught by the scream, and watched in awe as Andy went flying from Mike and rolled across the parking lot in a way that looked painful. Eddie was glad for that. No one hurt his freshmen.
"El," Mike whimpered, as blood oozed from his split lip and eyebrow "you got your powers back."
"Everyone freeze," came a commanding voice from the side where El was standing. The two fights that were still going on did not freeze. Jason reached up and punched Eddie in the face again, catching him by surprise as he had still been staring at El in shock. "I said FREEZE."
That finally caught everyone's attention, and all the gazes went careening over to Chief Hopper who was standing there glaring down at everyone in anger.
"What in the hell is going on over here," Hopper enunciated, sounding furious. "It's supposed to be my night off."
"Hop, what's going on," a female voice asked as she came hurrying over, Jonathan, Nancy and a boy with long black hair following behind her. Her eyes took in the situation, noticing that Will was being restrained by one of the basketball players. "Get your hands off my son this instant."
The boy immediately let go of Will as the rest of the fighters finally pulled away from each other. Joyce hurried over to Will and wrapped her arms around him. Eddie immediately made his way over to Chrissy to check on her. Her nose was still gushing blood, and had in fact, gotten blood all over her Hellfire Club shirt. She muttered that she would be okay, but thought that Dustin may have been having a hard time breathing. Eddie squeezed her shoulder and went and knelt next to Dustin, tilting his chin up to look into his face.
"Are you okay," Eddie asked him with worry shining in his brown eyes.
"It hurts to breathe," Dustin cried out as a few tears leaked from his eyes. He was still spitting up blood every few seconds, too.
"Can you call an ambulance," Eddie cried out to Hopper, as he turned to look at the police officer. "I think Carver may have broken one of Dustin's ribs."
"Shit," Hopper mumbled and went hurrying to his car to grab his walkie talkie to call for backup and an ambulance. When he came back, the fight was still subdued. "What. The. Hell. Happened?"
"I'm not sure what happened before I got here," Eddie stated, "but when I arrived Carver had knocked Dustin to the ground and was kicking him in the ribs. I pulled him off and he started attacking me, instead. Steve went to help Lucas, because McKinney was beating the crap out of him, and Will was trying to get Andy off of Mike."
"What happened before they got here," Hopper asked the rest of the group.
"Jason came over upset because he was suspended for trying to grab Chrissy in the lunch room the other day and for telling her he was going to kill her," Dustin stated, "he was mad because I stood up for Chrissy when he tried to get her in trouble with him. He and I traded some words and he sucker punched me and slammed me against the wall before I fell down and he started kicking me in the ribs."
"He's lying through his teeth," Jason growled out from where he stood. "He's the one who sucker punched me, and Munson started the fight with me, not the other way around."
"You're full of shit," Will shouted from the side. "You told Patrick and Andy that Dustin was yours before you hit him and sent them off after Lucas and Mike. Eddie is telling the truth about when he got here. All he did was pull you off of Dustin and stand between the two of you. You attacked him!"
"Shut up, you little faggot," Jason snarled at him, causing Will to flinch. "That's right, everyone knows you're a little fairy boy."
"Don't you call my son a faggot," Joyce snapped stepping up to Jason and glaring in his face, "or I'll beat the shit out of you, myself."
"I can't help it that he is what he is," Jason sneered, "he's a lying little faggot."
Will gasped out a slight cry as the words flew through his mind and Joyce tightened her grip on him in comfort.
"You'd do well to stop calling one of my kids names," Hopper growled out, "I know all of these kids pretty well, and I know when they're lying to me. They're not lying. You are."
Sirens were heard getting closer and closer as both an ambulance and patrol car pulled onto the scene. Officer Powell and Officer Callahan were climbing from the cruiser as the EMT's rushed their way over to Dustin after Hopper pointed him out. In a matter of minutes, they had Dustin loaded onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. One of the EMT's also stopped to examine Chrissy's nose, telling her they thought probably wasn't broken but that she should go to the ER to get it checked out. After talking to Chrissy the EMT got into the ambulance and Dustin was carted off to the hospital. The rest of the group was talking to the officers on the scene. Callahan and Powell had split up to talk to the different groups. Once there were police involved, Patrick and Andy turned on Jason, spilling the beans about what had gone on that night, which ended up with Jason, Patrick and Andy in handcuffs in the back of the police cruiser.
After they finished talking to police, Eddie took Chrissy to his van and helped load her into his car. Her nose was still bleeding quite a bit, so he headed directly to the ER. When he helped to check her in, the front desk person told him that the gash on his forehead looked like it probably would need stitches, so he also was waiting to be called back into an exam room. Before he walked to the waiting area, he asked to use the phone and dialed her number. The phone picked up on the first ring.
"Chrissy," Beth's worried voice came over the line.
"Hi Mrs. Buckley, it's Eddie," he stated in a subdued tone of voice, "I wanted to let you know that Chrissy and I are at the ER."
"What," Beth gasped on the other side of the line. "What happened?"
He went on to explain the whole situation, leaving no details out. She was in mama bear mode and was absolutely furious at the story she was being told. Eddie could hear her repeating the information to someone next to her, who he figured was probably John. In the end, she decided they were going to go down there for emotional support.
"Okay," Eddie stated, "We'll still be here, I'm sure."
After he hung up with her he walked back to the waiting area. Chrissy was sitting there with her head tilted back and a bunch of Kleenex pressed against her nose. She had taken the box that was offered to her by the front desk lady and had gone through numerous tissues already. Eddie sat next to her and threw an arm over her shoulder, grabbing a tissue with his free hand and pressing it to the gash in his forehead. While they were waiting a redheaded, middle aged woman came rushing in, careening to the front desk and demanding to see her Dusty.
"Are you Dustin Henderson's mom," Eddie asked from behind her. She whipped around and saw him sitting there, holding the tissue up to his head.
"Yes," she whimpered, "do you know what happened? They didn't really tell me anything on the phone except that he was here getting xrays. Was he in a car accident?"
"No ma'am," Eddie responded respectfully, "a douchebag jock named Jason Carver beat the crap out of him."
"What," Mrs. Henderson shouted in shock as her face paled, "Oh my poor little Dusty."
"I think he probably broke a rib or something, because Dustin was saying that it hurt to breath," Chrissy mumbled through her bloody nose. "He looked so small sitting there. I want to kill Jason Carver."
"Are you two friends of Dusty's," Mrs. Henderson asked them.
"He's one of my best friends," Eddie stated truthfully, Chrissy nodded along in agreement. "I kind of think of him as a kid brother."
"Did this Jason boy hurt you, too," she asked them.
"One and the same," Eddie stated and started telling her the story while she waited for the ER doctor to come get her. He was still retelling the story when John and Beth came running into the ER. The two of them made a beeline for Chrissy and were immediately pulling her into a hug, which was awkward considering the fact that the strawberry blond girl was still holding tissues up to her leaking nose. It was obvious from Beth's puffy, red eyes that she had been crying.
"Oh, my poor babies," she had said, looking between him and Chrissy. "What happened with Jason?"
"Him and the other two people involved in the fight got arrested," Chrissy told her mom who still had her arms wrapped around her waist. "They tried to blame it on Dustin and Eddie originally, but once they were questioned separately the truth came out. They did it for revenge for Jason getting suspended on Tuesday."
"I hope they don't let him get away with this," John growled crossly. "This isn't the first time he has started an altercation with you."
"Oh I'll be pressing charges, for sure," Mrs. Henderson said from next to them. "That little toe rag hurt my baby. He's in getting x rays."
"Who is your son," Beth asked, giving her a sad look.
"Dustin Henderson," Eddie stated for her, as the woman looked close to tears again.
"Oh," Beth said, eyes lightening in recognition, "I've heard a lot about him from these two. They love him to bits."
Eventually first Chrissy, then Eddie were called back into the exam rooms. It was determined that Chrissy's nose was not broken and they were able to cauterize the bleeding so she was finally able to remove the tissues from her face. While she was getting her nose cauterized, Eddie was in with a doctor who was stitching up his forehead. The doctor noticed the bruises on his neck and commented that it looked like someone had tried to choke him. Eddie told them that that was, in fact, what had happened, causing the man to go and get a polaroid camera to take pictures of his wounds that he could give to the police as evidence.
By the time they left it was nearing 1:00 in the morning. By that point, Dustin's mom had come out of his exam room and let them know that Dustin had 3 broken ribs, one of which had been close to piercing his lung, which is why it had hurt him so badly to breathe. He also had a concussion from his head being banged against the wall and 7 stitches on the inside of his mouth from where his braces had punctured his lip when Jason punched him. They had decided to keep him overnight for observation to make sure that his concussion wasn't too bad. Mrs. Henderson stayed in the hospital with him overnight, fretting over him and worried out of her mind. John and Beth took Chrissy home, averting their eyes as she and Eddie kissed goodnight.
"I'll see you tomorrow to work on our project," He asked her as a reminder.
"Yep," she agreed, pressing another brief kiss against his lips, and leaning up to whisper in his ear. "It always makes me so hot when you get protective of me and our friends. I wish I could go home with you tonight."
"Chrissy," he breathed out in lust, before leaning back in to whisper into her ear, "you can't do that to me in front of your parents. What would they think of me if I started ripping off your clothes while they were in the same room?"
"Goodnight, Eddie," She stated out loud after a soft giggle, so her parents could hear they were about ready to go. "I love you."
"Love you, too, Princess," he told her, pressing one more chaste kiss to her lips before pulling back.
"Thank you for always being the hero with our Chrissy girl and your other friends," Beth stated, pulling him into a tight hug, "We'll see you tomorrow."
John patted him on the shoulder as the family left the hospital. Eddie followed them out to the parking lot, where he climbed into his van. He waved goodbye to them again as they got in their car and headed home. He was surprised to see his uncle already home for the day when he pulled in. When he walked in his living room, the man in question was sitting in one of the recliners watching a late night infomercial.
"Uncle Wayne," Eddie stated as he walked in, "What are you doing home so early?"
"There was an accident at the plant, so they shut down for the rest of the night," Wayne told him, "what the hell happened to your face?"
"Jason Fucking Carver happened," Eddie stated as he walked to the fridge and grabbed a water. "He attacked my friend Dustin tonight and when I pulled him off of him, decided to attack me, too."
"What the fuck is wrong with that boy," Wayne asked as he took a long pull from the bottle of beer he had been holding.
"He's a deranged psychopath," Eddie snarled as he took the other recliner. "My friend that he attacked is only 14 years old, and he left him with three broken ribs, a really bad cut in his mouth and a concussion. He also tried to choke me to death."
"What the fuck," His uncle asked in horror, "will your friend be okay?"
"Yeah," Eddie replied, "they're keeping him in the hospital overnight for observation. He's a strong kid, he'll get through it. It never should have happened, though. I hope Carver actually ends up doing time for this. I know Henderson's mom is talking about pressing charges. I think I probably will, too. He also elbowed Chrissy in the face, so that pisses me off even more than him hurting me."
"Jesus," Wayne stated in shock, "Is she okay?"
"I'm sure she'll bruise up pretty badly," Eddie replied sadly, hating to think of her beautiful face bruised, "but thankfully nothing is broken. We had to take her to the ER to get her nose to stop bleeding, though. As you can probably tell, I had to go get stitches."
"Yeah, that looks pretty gnarly," Wayne stated, motioning to his forehead.
"It's pretty painful," Eddie agreed, "Well, I'm going to bed. I have a long day of working on my History project to look forward to tomorrow."
"Oh please," Wayne snorted, "you're pleased as punch because that means you get to spend the day with your girl when you both should be grounded."
"Yeah, I guess that's true," Eddie laughed, "Well, goodnight, Uncle Wayne."
"Night, kiddo," Wayne waved him off to bed and went back to watching his infomercial.
The following morning around 10 o'clock Eddie headed for the Buckley residence. He had a bag with all of his art stuff tucked into the passenger seat and as he drove he jammed out to Dio. He pulled to a stop in front of their house and got out of his van, grabbing his art bag as he went. The door opened pretty much as soon as he pulled his hand away from the bell, being answered by Beth.
"Sweet boy," she started, moving to the side to allow him to pass her. He immediately stepped out of his shoes as she continued speaking. "how many times do I have to tell you you can just walk in?"
"At least once more, Beth," He stated, sending a quick smile her way. She sighed good naturedly and grabbed him into a hug. Reaching her hand up and brushing it over the stitched cut on his forehead.
"You all look worse today than you did last night," Beth stated, as she looked sadly into his eyes, one of which was half swollen shut. "half of poor Chrissy's face is swollen from where she got elbowed. I would kill that Carver boy if I thought I could get away with it. Hurting my kiddos."
"We'll be okay," Eddie assured her, "We're tough cookies."
"I know you are," Beth agreed, "but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Now the important question… did you have breakfast yet?"
"I scarfed down some strawberry pop tarts on the car ride over," he told her, grinning.
"Well, that's hardly breakfast," Beth stated scandalized and led him into the kitchen where John, Chrissy and Robin were already seated around the table. She led him over and sat him down in the chair next to Chrissy before walking over to the cabinets and pulling down a plate to make him a serving of her family favorite, biscuits and gravy. She hummed as she walked back over, placing the plate in front of him and pressing a brief kiss to the top of his head. "I hope you enjoy that, now."
Eddie took one bite and dug in with gusto as Beth smiled at him warmly. If he weren't in love with Chrissy, and she wasn't already married to John, he would marry that woman for her cooking alone. Everyone at the table laughed and Eddie realized in horror that he had spoken out loud. He looked up blushing and made eye contact with John who was smiling at him with humor in his eyes. The man in question put his arm around his wife's shoulders and sent a wink to Eddie.
"Sorry, son," He joked, "this one's taken."
"You'll just have to deal with me being your mother-in-law someday," she teased, sending a wink his way. "I'll cook for all of the major holidays."
"I wish my mom had been like you growing up," Eddie mused sadly, "You never would have left me with an abusive father."
"You're still growing," Beth told him, "and I'll proudly step in as a second mother to you. John and I were devastated when we found out I couldn't give Robin any siblings. I knew as soon as I met you that you were special… one of a kind, really. I'm really proud of the progress you have made so far this year."
"Thanks, Ma," Eddie whispered, feeling his eyes moisten slightly at the kind woman's words. "you're a one of a kind person, too. All of you are."
Beth smiled and reached across the table to squeeze the top of his hand, while Chrissy squeezed his knee below the table, sending him a beaming smile above table. She loved that he got along so well with her family. It made him ten times more attractive in her eyes. After he finished his plate of food, Beth saw him eyeing the stove and giggled, getting up to make him a second helping.
After his second plate of biscuits and gravy, the table was eventually cleared off and he and Chrissy spread the posterboard out over it. Chrissy chatted his ear off while he started sketching a portrait of President Lincoln in the dead center of the posterboard. The rest of the family came in periodically to check in on their progress, Beth exclaiming over how good of an artist Eddie was. He flushed under the praise and sent a large, dimpled smile her way.
"You really are a fantastic artist," Chrissy stated as she watched him draw the 16th president with his tongue sticking out slightly between his parted lips as his eyes swiveled back and forth from the picture of President Lincoln that he was referencing and his sketch. "You should do something with that in the future. Maybe go to art school or be a tattoo artist, or something."
"Tattooing is one of the careers I've thought about pursuing," He told her, "do you really think I'm a good enough artist to do that?"
"Abso-fucking-lutely," Chrissy chimed loudly, causing John to pop around the corner and warn her about her language with a pointed glare. "You're seriously amazing. If you do become a tattoo artist, I want you to do all my work. You can design me an awesome sleeve and I can be like a walking billboard for you."
"You really want that many tattoos," He asked her in surprise. "I know you had wanted to get at least one, but didn't figure that you would want a full sleeve."
"I've come to find tattoos very sexy," she told him, running her hand up his arm to trace the bats on it. "and I think they would make me feel sexy, too."
"Trust me," he stated with a large grin, "you already are, but tattoos would only add to your beauty. Are you sure you want a sleeve, though? I know you want to be a counselor, which means you'd probably have to cover up at all times… even in the blistering heat of the summer."
"I thought about that," Chrissy told him, "Counselor's need to look professional anyway, so I would probably wear a blazer of some sort."
Beth popped her head in at that point telling them to focus on their assignment, as both of them were technically still grounded. The two teens hurried to comply, sending secret smiles to each other every few minutes. The next few hours was spent working on their poster. Eddie was focusing really hard on making sure to get the shading correct on President Lincoln's face while Chrissy worked on the other side of the table coloring in the neat lettering he had written out 'President Abraham Lincoln' in. It was a bit awkward trying to do it with it upside down from her, but she was managing just fine. Even if she was rubbing her foot against his calves under the table. After he finally finished coloring in President Lincoln the two of them started writing random facts about the 16th president around the portrait of the man. The end product ended up looking amazing, as Beth had proclaimed when they showed it to her.
After they finished their posterboard, they took it into the living room and asked if they could practice their speech in front of the family. Everyone quickly agreed and sat down, watching as the two set the posterboard against the tv behind them and took up a stance on either side of the paper. The two of them had their index cards that they were allowed to use during their speech already written out. They had made two copies so that the two of them could follow along with each other during the speech, so there weren't any awkward pauses as they realized that it was a new person's time to speak. As the finished the speech, the family broke into applause, sending praise and smiles their way.
"You're definitely going to get an A," Robin stated earnestly, "I'd be flabbergasted if you didn't."
"I agree," John added in, "that was a really great presentation."
After they had finished giving the speech and getting the feedback from their test audience, Eddie had been sent home, since the girls still had chores they had to do as part of their punishment. Eddie had given brief hugs to Beth and Robin and a handshake to John before Chrissy walked him to the door. She leant into him and held him for a couple of minutes, just breathing in his scent. Eventually he pulled back and placed a hand on her chin, leaning down to press a few gentle kisses against her lips.
"I guess I'll see you on Monday," he stated as he pulled back from her after their last kiss, "Love you."
"Love you, more," She replied, sending a wink his way. He groaned and she giggled.
"No way," he argued, "I love you times infinity."
"I love you times infinity and one," she countered.
"Pretty sure that infinity counts the one," he told her seriously, "so I still win."
She laughed and pressed another happy kiss to his lips before he turned and left through her front door. She missed him already. She couldn't wait for her grounding to be over so she could spend all day with him again, maybe sneak off somewhere so the two of them could get reacquainted carnally. She stood watching him from the door until his car disappeared around the corner. When she turned around, Beth was standing behind her leaning against the wall smiling.
"You two are so sweet together," Beth said, pulling the girl into a hug. "I'm so glad you found each other."
"Me too," Chrissy agreed, she shuddered to think of where she would be without him. If he hadn't come along then Jason probably would have raped her the night of homecoming. Would that have pushed her over the edge and caused her to finally kill herself, like her dark thoughts used to tell her she should, or would she have eventually starved to death under Laura's care? "I would be miserable without him. I'd probably still be living with the Cunningham's if it weren't for him. He gave me the courage to stand up for myself."
"Thank goodness he did," Beth confirmed, pulling her into a hug. "He helped bring you to us. Now that you're here with us, the family finally feels complete. Even if you do get into some trouble. You're very worth it. I love you, kiddo."
"I love you too, Ma," Chrissy replied, tightening the hug around Beth's shoulders. They stood there leaning against each other for a couple of minutes before Beth finally pulled back and told her to get to work on her chores.
The next morning, Eddie picked her and Robin up as usual. Chrissy got in the car and handed him a Tupperware container, that he opened to find eggs, bacon and hashbrowns with ketchup already drizzled over the top of them.
"Ma told me to tell you that pop tarts aren't a real breakfast and asked me to bring that out to you," Chrissy told him as she leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. Eddie laughed in joy and set it on the seat between them as he drove them to school. Once they found a spot in the parking lot her hurriedly ate the supplied breakfast, while Robin thanked him for the ride and took off to her first period class to ask for help regarding a question she had about their assignment.
"Your family is so good to me," Eddie said before pressing a kiss to her temple.
"They'll be your family, too, someday," Chrissy promised, linking their hands together and sending him a knowing look. "
"Yeah, they will," Eddie agreed, "I'm going to marry the crap out of you."
"You better," Chrissy giggled, leaning forward to brush their lips together.
After spending a few minutes in his car just holding each other and pressing gentle kisses to each other's lips the two of them finally made their way into the school. The first few classes of the day flew by and before they knew it fifth period was upon them. The speech went really well, they hardly stumbled over any of their words, even though Eddie was nervous to be speaking in front of the classroom. He wasn't used to actually having a well written speech to give, and grinned as the teacher looked at him in shock. The surprise grew as they were asked how much of the work was done by each of them, and Chrissy's answer had been that she and Eddie each wrote their own parts of the speech and that Eddie had designed the posterboard. After the speech was done, they left their visual aid up front with the teacher, as well as a written copy of their speech.
"We did so good, baby," Chrissy chimed as the two of them headed for the lunchroom after the fifth period bell had rung. "I definitely think we're going to get an A on that."
The two of them were in pretty decent spirits until they got to the lunchroom and saw the state of their party. Lucas had one of his eyes completely swollen shut and a split lip, Mike had multiple bruises and cuts on his face, Will had a large bruise on his cheek from where he had been punched, but Dustin was the worst. Most of his face was black and blue, his left eye was swollen shut, his lip was split and swollen from having the large cut on the inside. He was moving so slowly, afraid of tweaking his broken ribs. It had been explained to him that there wasn't really much that could be done to help with it, except for putting a wrapping around his ribs.
"Jesus Christ, man," Jeff stated in shock as he got his first look at them all, "what the fuck happened to all of you?"
The members of the party who were involved in the fight started telling the story, sparing no details. Gareth, Jeff and Justin were completely stunned as the full story came out, staring at them in shock. The group was giving pitying looks to Dustin, who got it the worst out of everyone.
"I'm sorry we left right away," Justin stated, "we could have maybe helped out some."
"I don't know about that," Eddie stated, "he had half of the basketball team there backing him up. I think they would have joined in and attacked you all, if you had been there."
"What did you mean," Chrissy asked, turning to Mike, "when you said that El got her powers back? What powers?"
"Um, well," Mike said shifting awkwardly, "this story is going to sound hard to believe, but you remember a few years ago when Will went missing? He wasn't just missing, he was in an alternate dimension."
Mike went on to tell them the story of the upside down, El's powers, the Demogorgon and demodogs and most recently, the Mind Flayer. To say that they were shocked is an understatement of the century. Eddie didn't know why, but he believed Mike was telling the truth. His story was interspersed with comments and reflections from Dustin, Lucas and Will who went on to describe what the upside down was like in detail.
"So there wasn't really a fire at the mall over the summer," Chrissy asked in shock as the full story finished coming out. "and your girlfriend is some kind of superhero?"
"That's so fucking awesome," Eddie muttered from beside her.
"You wouldn't say it was awesome if you were face to face with a Demogorgon," Dustin stated wincing as he shifted to quickly and a hand flew to rest against his ribs. "Their whole face opens up to a mouth full of teeth. It could devour you in seconds."
"Jesus Christ," Eddie mutters in shock as he tries to picture what this thing looks like. "Did you guys name all of the creatures after D&D characters?"
"So far, yep," Will responded as he looked down at his plate. "It was the closest thing we could think of to describe them. Dustin usually comes up with their names."
"I wonder if there are things bigger than the demogorgan's," Eddie mused as he picked at his water bottle.
"The Mind Flayer took up most of the space in the center of the mall," Lucas stated, "That fucker was huge."
"Sounds terrifying," Chrissy stated as horror coursed through her. "I can't even imagine going through what you all have been through. I probably would have fainted. I can't believe you survived in the upside down for a week with all of those creatures down there with you."
"It was hard," Will stated as a shudder ran through his body, "I mostly spent the time there hiding from the Demogorgon. If mom and Hopper hadn't come for me, I would have died in there."
"Thankfully, the final gate was closed after Joyce turned off the Russian's machine that was opening the portal," Mike stated as he turned to look at Will briefly, "hopefully nothing like this ever happens again, because I can tell you, it would be catastrophic."
The bell rang signaling the end of lunch and the group dispersed. Eddie grabbed Dustin's books for him and walked him to his class, unwilling to let his injured friends hurt his ribs more with the heavy books. He still managed to make it to study hall in time, and quickly got the library pass to meet Chrissy in the library. While the two of them worked on their homework they quietly whispered about the stuff they had learned in the lunch room.
"It really is crazy," Chrissy whispered to him. "If I hadn't seen El throw Andy with her mind with my own eyes I may not have believed them."
"That was so fucking cool," Eddie whispered back, "what I wouldn't do to have powers like that."
"It was really cool," Chrissy agreed, "but I feel horrible that she spent the first how ever many years of her life being experimented on like a lab rat. Poor thing."
"It sounds like she made it through okay," Eddie replied, "I guess we know how she saved Mike from the fall at the quarry, now. That must have been so intense."
"I would have been pissing my pants" Chrissy laughed, "I can't even imagine."
"Yeah, and being faced with all those demodogs would have made me shit mine," Eddie agreed, "I can't believe Steve Harrington is such a badass that he went after them with just a baseball bat with nails through it. I wouldn't want to go near one with even a damn machine gun in hand."
"I hope they're right that it's finished forever," Chrissy whispered, "because I don't even want to think of what could happen if one of those gates were to reopen."
The two of them kept whispering about alternate dimensions and evil creatures from those dimensions for the rest of the study hall period. They were still whispering about it later that day as they studied in Chrissy and Robin's kitchen. The girl had been shocked to find out they had been told about the upside down and confirmed the kids story about what had happened at the mall the previous summer.
"It was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life," Robin confirmed as she discussed the Mind Flayer. "It was this big, gooey creepy monstrosity with multiple legs and ginormous head with these tentacle things coming from it's mouth. It was also made out of all of the people who 'died' in the fire."
"That's disgusting," Chrissy commented as she tried to picture this monster, but failed miserably. At that point Beth came into the room, glaring at them lightly and telling them to get to work on their homework and reminding them that they're grounded and social hour is not what they're there for.
The three high school students buckled down and started working more on their assignments, Chrissy checking over Eddie's math homework while he pulled out his English assignment and started working on that. They had already gotten their persuasive papers back, and Chrissy had been pleased at the C+ written at the top of his paper. She had given him extra kisses in reward, since she was too grounded to do anything else.
"Positive reinforcement really works on me," Eddie had muttered against her lips.
Their midterm grades were due to come out that Friday, and Eddie was eagerly awaiting to see what his current standings were. He knew the first month of school he hadn't done well on his assignments, but once Chrissy started tutoring him, his grades had started soaring. He truly thought Chrissy was the best thing to ever happen to him in his life. She was like this light that just made everything seem so much brighter and happier. He couldn't imagine his life without her.