The Freak and the Cheerleader
Chapter Three: The Grudge
"We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and…they're definitely looking for you, Eddie," Dustin said. "Also, they're pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."
"Like, a hundred percent convinced," added Max.
As promised, Steve Harrington and his ragtag team had showed up at the boathouse bearing bad news and food. They surrounded the boat where Eddie and Beth sat. After Beth peppered them with more questions about this supposed alternate dimension in Hawkins and what exactly they planned on doing about it (aside from wishing that an alleged superhero girl would get her powers back), they broke the news that Eddie was an official suspect. Eddie stopped shoveling the Honey Comb cereal into his mouth as the reality of his situation set in. Beth shook her head. "How can they think any human did what Vecna did to Chrissy?"
"What's the good news?" Eddie asked.
"The good news is your name hasn't been released yet," Robin said. "But if we found out about you, it's only a matter of time before others find out, and then everyone and their shallow-minded mother will be gunning for you."
"Hunt the Freak, right?" Eddie said defeatedly. There was a sad moment of silence.
"There's also…" Steve glanced at Dustin. "Medium news?" Dustin shrugged in apparent agreement.
"What does 'medium news' mean?" Beth asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, it's about you. People have noticed that you aren't around," Steve said. "And there's some people who said you were supposed to drive Chrissy home from the game."
The lie Chrissy told when she was going to buy the Special K. Beth's heart dropped. "Do they think I might have killed her?"
"Well…they actually think Eddie might have kidnapped you."
"Also one hundred percent convinced of that," Max muttered apologetically to Eddie.
"What?! How is that medium news, Steve?" Beth yelled. "That's bullshit news! I haven't been kidnapped!"
"Well when a cheerleader gets killed and her best friend goes missing, the police tend to think the two are related," Steve shot back.
"Of course they do." The boat lurched as Eddie stood and stomped out, hands curled into fists. "Of course they think I kidnapped Beth. You couldn't have just stayed out of it," he said, his face scrunched with frustration. "You shoved your way into this and now I have two bullshit counts against me instead of just one."
"Are you seriously blaming this all on me?" Beth said.
"All I know is whenever you're involved in my life, you ruin it!"
And here it is. Beth closed her eyes."Eddie. Do not go there."
"Go where?" Max asked.
"You ruined it in the seventh grade, and you're ruining it now," Eddie spat.
"I cannot believe you're bringing this up. It was a million years ago."
"Oh god wait, is this what I think it is?" Beth looked over at Steve, silently willing him to shut up. "Man, you have bigger problems now."
"Ohh, no," Robin whispered. "Now I remember."
"No, you don't," Beth hissed. She felt the tiniest bit of gratification that Robin actually looked scared of her for a minute.
"Remember what?" Max asked.
Dustin looked concerned. "Eddie, what did she do to you?"
"Noth-thing that mat-ters," Beth enunciated through gritted teeth. "God, Eddie, you can't possibly still be mad about this."
"Oh, you mean being publicly humiliated?"
"Eddie, man, just calm down," Steve said, reaching out to clap a hand to his shoulder, but Eddie shook him off.
"Can somebody please tell me what happened?" Dustin yelled.
"Seventh grade, right after the talent show," Eddie recounted, pacing around the boathouse. "Beth told me she thought my band was cool, and I was feeling great, so I took a chance, and I asked her to the Snow Ball dance. And she said yes."
"Wait, really?" Max asked. Beth buried her face in her hands. Please don't do this, Eddie…
"That was on a Friday," Eddie continued. "Come Monday, this bitch comes up to me in the cafeteria, and yells in front of everybody, that she would never go to a dance with a freak like me."
"Holy shit," Dustin said. "How could you do that?"
"I always felt so bad for him," Robin whispered to Max.
"YOU CALLED CHRISSY FAT."
There was a hush in the boathouse. Beth was now standing in the boat, huffing with anger. You take me down, I take you down with me. Eddie looked genuinely shocked. "I don't even remember—"
"Are you calling Chrissy a liar?" Beth interrupted. "She heard you tell one of your dumb bandmates you thought she was fat, and she told me, and I made you pay for it!" She climbed out of boat and marched up to Eddie, green eyes flashing with anger. "Don't blame me for your shitty life. The way I see it, you got what you deserved."
"OKAY, ENOUGH," Steve yelled, pulling Beth back by the arm. "This seventh grade bullshit doesn't matter. There's already one murder, we don't need another!" Beth and Eddie continued glaring at each other as Steve continued. "Here's what we're going to do. Beth, I'm driving you back into town so you can prove you weren't kidnapped."
"Can we even trust her?" Dustin asked, looking at Beth with newly suspicious eyes. Beth flipped him off.
"Look, no matter what, I think we can agree that blaming Eddie for Chrissy's death wouldn't help anything, right?" Robin said. "And at any rate, I think it's a good idea for the two of you to get some distance from each other."
"Fine by me," Eddie barked. "I never wanted you here in the first place."
"Oh, spare me," Beth said, "If you weren't a drug dealer in the first place—"
"Both of you shut the hell up!" Steve said. "Eddie, sit tight. Beth, get in my car." He pulled Beth towards the door until she wrenched her arm out of Steve's grip and stomped out of the boathouse, trailed by Robin, Max, and Dustin, who slipped Eddie a walkie-talkie and told him they'd be in contact.
"Nope. Robin gets shotgun," Steve said as Beth reached for the door on the front passenger side.
"Are you kidding? I'm not sitting in the back with the kids."
"Act like a kid, sit with the kids."
Beth rolled her eyes. "Please, Harrington. You used to pull the same kind of shit back in the day. Just because you want people to think you're Saint Steven now—"
"Or you can walk back," Steve said. "I'm not gonna referee this bullshit when this Vecna creep is on the loose."
Beth begrudgingly ended up in the backseat in between Dustin and Max. She could feel Dustin's disapproving glare. "How could you break Eddie's heart like that?"
"Oh, I did not break his heart," Beth snapped. "If anything I bruised his ego. He lived."
"He insulted her best friend," Max pointed out. "I'd probably do the same thing."
"If anybody mentions the goddamn Snow Ball again they're being left on the side of the road," Steve said angrily.
"How can you say that, Max?" Dustin said incredulously.
"Well, maybe it was a little overkill—"
"Maybe? A little overkill?"
"Dustin, I swear to God…" Steve trailed off as they saw police cars up ahead, along with a coroner's van. Cops were standing around a body draped with a white sheet. They seemed to be interviewing someone. "Holy shit…is that Nancy?"
They pulled over just behind one of the cop cars and got out. Beth watched Nancy Wheeler notice Steve and the rest of them, and give a wary little wave. Something in her eyes made Beth's stomach plummet. This wasn't just a car accident or something normal. Eventually the cops followed Nancy's gaze towards them, and they immediately took notice of Beth. "I guess that's my cue," she muttered to her new companions.
"Remember—" Dustin warned her.
"I'm not going to give up your precious Eddie," Beth cut him off, rolling her eyes. She took a deep breath and walked towards the cops, approaching Chief Powell.
"So. I hear you've been looking for me."
Roughly forty-five minutes later, Beth slammed the door of her car closed and gave the officer who'd driven her back to the high school a little wave. As he pulled away, she exhaled hard before starting the engine and driving home.
Lying to the cops was easier than she expected. Beth's father had always accused the police force in Hawkins of being lackluster, and Beth found she agreed. They asked about Chrissy's interest in drugs (denied), Beth's whereabouts for the last two days (a vague boy two towns over), and why her car was still parked at Hawkins High (boy picked her up, she eventually broke up with boy, she called Steve Harrington for a ride home). When they told her that Jason said she'd been the one to drive Chrissy home, Beth simply asked, "How hungover was Jason when you asked him?" And when they finally brought up the name Eddie Munson, Beth said, "I don't know him. Neither did Chrissy." Powell and his deputy had looked at each other, apparently stumped. What a pair of morons.
When Beth pulled up to her house, two of the other girls on the cheer squad were standing on the front steps, attempting to peer into the window. Tiffany and Amber. Beth looked down at her own cheer uniform, hoping they wouldn't ask why she was still wearing it. The cops hadn't asked, but Beth assumed the cops weren't as meticulous about cheer uniforms as they were.
"BETH!" Amber screamed as she ran down the steps. Flinging her arms around Beth, she said, "We all thought you were DEAD!"
Amber had never looked this happy to see Beth. Usually she was sniping to anyone who listened about how much of a hardass she was. Beth awkwardly hugged her back, saying, "I'm obviously not dead."
"Did you hear about Chrissy?" Tiffany asked breathlessly.
"Of course I heard. That's why I came back."
"I just can't believe she's gone," Amber said.
Beth looked down. It was strange to suddenly be in the company of people who knew Chrissy as well as she did, but not be able to talk about what really happened. "Yeah. It's…really hard to process."
"Don't worry. Jason's got it handled."
Beth furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"
"That freak, Eddie Munson," Tiffany said. "I hear Jason's trying to find him."
"...Why?" Beth's poker face was evidently going to be getting a lot of exercise today.
"Jason said that's where they found the body!" Amber exclaimed. "The freak's trailer!"
"That doesn't make any sense. Chrissy didn't even know Eddie. Why would she be in his trailer?"
The thing Beth liked the most about herself is the way she could command her squad on social matters. It was clear to her that the trauma of the past two days hadn't damped the effect she had on the girls. Amber and Tiffany shifted uncomfortably as they reconsidered their own beliefs on the matter. "But Jason said…"
"Jason is obviously insane with grief. Chrissy and Eddie didn't know each other," Beth repeated. "Why would Eddie kill Chrissy?"
"Because he's a monster?"
"He's a nobody," Beth insisted. "He's just some loser at school. There's no reason why Chrissy would have anything to do with him."
"Jason said it has to do with that club of his. The Hellfire Club," Tiffany said. "Jason says it's a satanic cult-"
"Jason's an idiot. You don't actually believe a bunch of nerds would go around killing people because of a dumb game, do you?"
"I mean," Amber said, "you always said Eddie Munson was a freak."
Beth bit the inside of her cheek. "Yeah. I did say that…but that doesn't mean he's a murderer. It just means he has bad hair and bad clothes. Get a grip."
"But Jason said—"
"Ugh, I don't care what Jason says!" Beth yelled. "My best friend is dead, I am tired, and I want to take a goddamn shower. I don't want to stand here talking about goddamn Eddie Munson." She pushed them out of her way, saying, "Tell Jason to get a clue. Instead of chasing down nerds, he should be with Chrissy's family if he wants to finally be a good boyfriend." And with that, she stepped into her house and slammed the door shut, locking it behind her.
Beth leaned against the door, listening for the sounds of Amber and Tiffany walking down the steps and away from the house. She turned her attention to the answering machine on the hall table, red light flashing away. She rewound the cassette and played the messages back, starting with a drunk Jason asking where the hell Beth and Chrissy were and why they never showed up at Benny's. Beth could imagine the Good Twin version of the same message on Chrissy's answering machine at her house. It was always Beth's fault when Chrissy didn't live up to Jason's expectations. In a twisted way, Beth appreciated it; at least Jason wasn't hard on Chrissy when she failed to be a picture-perfect cheerleader girlfriend. And Chrissy loved how Jason showed her off. Yet another side effect of her mother's passive aggressive bullying. She fast-forwarded incrementally, through more messages from other friends asking where Beth was, growing more frantic each time. It ended with an ominous message, once again from Jason: "I'm going to make this right. He'll pay."
Eddie. Beth hit the stop button, took the cassette out of the machine, and tossed it in the garbage. How serious was Jason about his plan to make Eddie pay? Beth had long believed that Jason was all bark and no bite, but Chrissy was dead. That changed everything. She dialed Jason's phone number and prayed he would pick up. No luck. Amber and Tiffany's words echoed around in her head. A freak. A monster. A satanic cultist. Beth could still remember how Eddie's shirt smelled as she cried and he held her.
Beth wiped her hand across her face before the tears could fall. She needed to get back to Eddie before Jason did. And convincing Eddie to trust her would be no small feat now that her past screw-ups had erupted in her face. But if Beth Forrester was good at one thing, it was getting her way.