The Freak and the Cheerleader

Chapter Four: The Bribe

The sun was just beginning its slow descent as Beth crept through the woods near Lover's Lake. She had parked her car in a relatively hidden spot about a mile away from where the boathouse was located. She peeked around the hood of her grey sweatshirt from time to time, looking for signs that she was being followed, and hiked her backpack up every time she felt the weight of it dragging too hard. It was filled with bribes.

As she neared the boathouse, she wondered if Steve's gang had come back after all. If they were there, it would make things easier. She'd relay the message that the basketball team was also looking for Eddie and simply go home. Let them take care of Eddie. However, they seemed to be more concerned with the mysterious Vecna, an entity that had now killed two people from the looks of it. Beth obviously hadn't gotten a look at the corpse under the coroner's sheet, but it seemed misshapen enough to mimic Chrissy's mangled body. Beth shivered at the memory.

There was no sign of Steve's car at the boathouse. Beth hesitated for a moment. Don't wimp out now, she thought to herself. Just get through this. She crouched as she approached the window, and slowly peered in. Eddie's face appeared on the other side of the glass just as hers did.

"Shhhh," Beth hissed as he yelped and swore. "People are going to hear you if you keep screaming like that!" Nevermind that she'd screamed a bit, too.

"What the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be proving I didn't kidnap you, remember?!"

"Yeah, I did that already," Beth said. "Let me in."

"Why should I?"

"Come on, don't be like this," Beth said. "I brought stuff for you."

"I don't need you to bring me stuff. Just go away."

Beth expected this. "Ooookay…" She set her backpack down and rifled through it. When she stood back up, she held a can of beer. As Eddie watched through the window, she cracked it open and took a sip.

"Beth, what are you doing?" Eddie had his arms crossed across his chest, looking annoyed, but intrigued.

"Oh, nothing," Beth said. "Just enjoying the beer I brought over. I'd share, but I'm not allowed in." Eddie flared his nostrils. "It suuure feels good after the day I've had." His tongue peeked out the corner of his mouth. She had him on the ropes. "You know, I was just thinking about how you almost shanked Steve Harrington last night, and he still came back and gave you cereal and Yoo-Hoo. Wasn't that nice of him?" Beth grinned.

Eddie stared at her for a few moments, and then disappeared from the window. A moment later, the door swung open. As Beth grabbed her backpack and strode in triumphantly, Eddie muttered, "You're the one who handed me the broken bottle."

Once inside, Beth handed him a beer. "I also brought some other things," she said, dumping her pack out onto the table. "Beef jerky. Couple bottles of water. Deodorant," she said, waving the stick at Eddie's face. "Like no offense, but this might be the most important thing you've ever gotten."

"Are you capable of doing anything nice without throwing an insult in?" Still, he grabbed the deodorant from her hand and shrugged off his jacket, pulling his arms in through his sleeves and hiking the raglan up to apply. Beth noticed tattoos on his chest and arms, all of them menacing. She quickly realized she was staring, and turned away.

"Um, I also bring news," she continued, arranging the supplies on the table. "The cops aren't the only ones looking for you. Jason is, too."

"Faaantastic," Eddie said. "Let me guess, his whole gang of jocks are out for my blood."

"Look, he's grieving Chrissy. It's just as likely that he'll get super blasted tonight and spend the rest of spring break crying and puking," Beth said. "We don't know that he's actually going to hunt you down."

"I would if it was my girlfriend who got killed." The observation surprised Beth—here Eddie was just informed that some asshole was trying to kill him, and he empathized with the guy.

"At any rate, I took steps," Beth said. "I left an anonymous tip at the precinct that I thought Jason Carver was going to hurt innocent people because he's insane with grief. With any luck, the police will intervene before Jason causes any damage."

"Well, thanks. You can go now."

Beth shook her head. "It's not a good idea for you to be here alone. You need backup if the cops or Jason find you—"

"Beth, why can't you just leave me alone?" Eddie crushed his now-empty beer can and tossed it angrily. "We obviously can't stand each other, and yet here you are."

"I—" Beth faltered. She had expected this question, but still hadn't really formed an adequate answer. "You…you're the only other person who saw what happened to Chrissy. Everyone else…they have no idea. And I can't…I don't know how to be around them. I don't know how to just sit there and pretend that any of this normal. And I know murder isn't normal anyway, but…" She trailed off.

"Steve Harrington knows the truth. Why not go hang out with him?"

"He didn't see it, Eddie. He doesn't know like we do." Beth crossed her arms. "I still stand by what I said about you needing backup, by the way. It's not like Steve and his little buddies are here right now to protect you."

"And you will? I have to rely on the girl who exacted petty revenge on me for one little comment I made about her friend?"

Beth closed her eyes. Now for the hard part. "Eddie…there's something you should know. About what happened back then." She took a deep breath and sat on the floor against the boat. "It wasn't exactly…purely revenge. And I'm not saying this makes anything better or that you shouldn't be mad at me, because believe it or not, I get that it was shitty. But…I had reasons. If you're willing to hear them." She held out a second beer for Eddie.

Eddie considered for a moment, then took the beer from her hand and sat facing her on the floor. "Go ahead."

Beth took another deep breath. "So…when you asked me to the Snow Ball, Chrissy was the first person I told. Like, right after it happened. Not that I was like, super into you or anything," she said quickly, "it was just that you were the first boy to ever ask me out, and that was cool, or whatever. So anyway, I told Chrissy, and that's when she said you called her fat. And don't get me wrong, I was pissed that you said that about her…but my original plan was to just make you apologize. At the dance." Beth was staring at a point on the floor to avoid Eddie's face. "Chrissy flipped out. She said she couldn't believe I was still going to the dance with you. And she said our friendship was over. The rest of the weekend, she wouldn't talk to me. Wouldn't answer the phone when I called, wouldn't come to the door when I went to her house…nothing. I tried and tried to tell her I wouldn't go if she didn't want me to, but she wouldn't listen. So…I made a choice. I decided that if she wouldn't hear what I had to say directly, I'd make sure she heard it…indirectly." Beth finally ventured the courage to look up at Eddie's face.

Eddie's face was unreadable. "So, that's why you made it so public."

Beth nodded. "To make sure Chrissy heard about it. Look, we were twelve," she said. "Everyone's a dumbass when they're twelve. And I wasn't thinking about whether or not you got hurt because I had already hurt the most important person in the world to me. I just wanted my best friend back. And I know that it was still a selfish move but…it was you or her. And I chose her."

They sat in silence for a moment, Beth lightly tapping her fingernails against her beer can. Finally, Eddie sighed. "Well, you're right. It was still a pretty damn selfish move…but," he conceded, "luckily for you, I respect loyalty." He gave her a half smile. She returned it slowly. "I shouldn't have called Chrissy fat."

"No, you shouldn't have. She wasn't fat. She's just always had those big chipmunk cheeks when she smiled."

Eddie snorted. "Chipmunk cheeks? And you don't consider that insulting?"

"They were adorable!" Beth insisted. "She just had an adorable little face!" She was giggling now, remembering Chrissy's smile.

"She had an eating disorder," Beth confessed suddenly. "Not because of you," she quickly added when Eddie's eyes went wide. "Her mom was always picking on her. I thought it only really started freshman year, but I guess Chrissy always felt sensitive about her body. Which is crazy, because there was never anything wrong with her. She was perfect." Beth sighed. "Sometimes I feel like I let her down. All the time, actually."

"When I first met up with Chrissy, for the weed, your name came up," Eddie said quietly. "I admittedly said some disparaging things about you. And Chrissy told me that you were her biggest protector. I don't think she ever felt like you let her down."

Relief filled Beth's heart. She held out her beer can. "To Chrissy?"

Eddie returned the gesture, knocking his beer gently against hers. "To Chrissy." They sipped their beer in silence for a moment.

"So have you heard from the gang?" Beth asked. "When we left, we ran into what looked like another attack…"

"Yeah, Dustin radioed me before. Some kid from the school newspaper." Beth nodded. Made some sort of sense that Nancy Wheeler was there; she was the editor. She considered something.

"So, you don't know who the kid was?"

Eddie frowned. "I know Dustin mentioned a name, but—"

"But you don't know him?" Beth pressed. "If someone died the same way Chrissy died, and they can't connect it to you, maybe they'll move on from suspecting you in Chrissy's murder. This might have a silver lining."

"I never pegged you as a delusional optimist," Eddie said. Beth rolled her eyes. "I mean, come on Beth. You can't be naïve enough to think this is all gonna magically go away for me."

"I don't believe in being defeatist," Beth stated with a shrug. Eddie looked away, the sadness in his eyes clearly indicating he was not prepared to fight for himself. "There's no point in just giving up hope. What, do you want to just go downtown now and turn yourself in? 'Hey, I can't prove I didn't do it, so might as well go to prison.'"

"You just don't get it," Eddie said. "I'm sorry, but you don't. Your dad isn't in prison. You didn't grow up in a trailer park. Your biggest struggle? Not going to those cheer championships."

"But that shouldn't matter—"

"But. It. Does."

Eddie's words hung there for a minute. For once Beth couldn't come up with a rebuttal. She could barely come up with a struggle she'd had that she didn't conquer without breaking a sweat. "What if...What if I told the cops you were with me? When Chrissy died?" Before Eddie could protest, Beth continued, "It technically wouldn't even be a lie! You need a witness, Eddie, and I'm the perfect witness!"

"That wouldn't explain why she was found in my trailer, though."

"But—"

"Beth…I appreciate what you're trying to do. But if anything, they'll just decide you got roped into helping me kill Chrissy, and I…I can't let you do that. Not on my account." Eddie gave her a placating smile. Beth took another swig of her beer. She resisted arguing the point further; as infuriating as it was that Eddie seemed resigned to a fate of false imprisonment, the fact was she needed a better plan.

"Anyway, it looks like Nancy Wheeler's part of the Vecna-busting team now," Eddie said.

"Oh, thank God. Someone competent." Eddie burst out into laughter. "Oh, come on," Beth said. "Were you really confident in the original team lineup of two freshmen, a band geek, and Steve Harrington?"

"I thought all you chicks loooved Steve Harrington," Eddie countered.

Beth rolled his eyes. "Okay. Does he have good hair? Sure. Is he fun to make out with? Absolutely. But do I trust him to defeat an invisible force of evil?" She made a skeptical face. "He got beat up by Jonathan Byers. And granted, Nancy Wheeler doesn't have infallible judgment either, considering she hooked up with Jonathan when she had Steve, and she's so annoyingly self-righteous it makes me want to vomit, but at least she gets shit done."

"You made out with Steve Harrington?"

Beth raised her eyebrows. "You know, I said a lot of other stuff after that."

"Well, Dustin's actually really smart," Eddie said, shifting uncomfortably as he quickly changed the subject. "Annoying sometimes, but smart."

"Dustin hates me now," Beth said. "He thinks I broke your heart."

"You wish," Eddie smirked. "I only asked you to the dance because you have the same name as a KISS song."

"I knew it," Beth replied, kicking at his foot with hers. "I'll never forgive Gene Simmons for that song."

"It was actually the drummer who wrote that song. And the record producer's the one who changed it from 'Beck' to 'Beth.'"

"I can't believe you know that."

"I can't believe you could name a KISS band member."

"Always important to know who to put on your shit list," Beth shrugged, finishing her can and reaching for another.

Eddie cackled. "How many pages is that again?" Beth flipped him off, but she was laughing too. "Christ, I don't know what's weirder. The fact that there's an evil wizard loose in Hawkins, or that I'm currently drinking beer and laughing with Queen Beth."

There was something about how Eddie dragged out her name when he said it that made Beth's stomach flip. "It's probably just the beer," she murmured to herself, then realized he was still looking at her. "Making you laugh, I mean. You pounded that first one pretty hard."

"Hey, I'm a man on the lam. Cut me some slack." He took another loud slurp for dramatic effect.

"You know, you can lay off the Queen Beth shit," Beth said. "As long as we're drinking buddies now."

"Because I'm inner sanctum now?"

"No, because you clearly mean it as an insult every time."

"Not every time," Eddie said under his breath, glancing away. He cleared his throat. "You know, I actually have a throne."

Beth nearly spat out her beer. "Excuse me?"

"The D&D setup we have for Hellfire. Look," he said, pulling something out of his back pocket and scooting over to sit next to her against the boat. He pulled a folded-up photograph out of the billfold of his wallet. "May I present, my club of little lost sheep." It was a candid shot someone had taken, possibly for the high school yearbook, of six boys sitting on opposite sides of a table, dice and papers scattered on a game board. Eddie sat at the head of the table, and sure enough…

"Holy shit. You legitimately have a throne. I should've been calling you King Eddie this whole time," Beth laughed softly. Her eyes wandered over the photo, and she was surprised to notice something. "Freshman benchwarmer," she said, tapping a boy sitting next to Dustin. "I didn't know he was in Hellfire."

"Lucas Sinclair?" Eddie said. "Yeah, Dustin and Mike Wheeler brought him into the club. Though I'm not sure he really qualifies as one of the lost sheep I usually bring in."

"Because he plays basketball?"

"He's chasing popularity with the Jasons of the world," Eddie said. "It's pathetic-"

"You know he won the game for us, right?" Beth said. "He's actually a really skilled athlete."

"Well, while he was winning your game, Sinclair's sister filled in and won ours, and frankly, I'm prepared to give Erica his spot permanently."

Eddie yelped as Beth backhanded him on the arm. "You're a hypocrite! You call them your little lost sheep like you're protecting them but you'll boot them out the fold if they like anything besides D&D. Are you seriously telling me you didn't even show up for Sinclair at the basketball game?"

Eddie's eyes held the slightest flicker of shame as he theatrically rubbed his arm. "Jesus, Beth, I didn't think you cared that much about a kid you referred to as 'freshman benchwarmer' two seconds ago."

"Kids want the people they care about to show up for them!" Beth said. "Like basketball games or talent shows or literally anything. My parents literally show up for nothing. They always have something else to do. Every big school production, it was everyone else's mom and dad, plus whoever my nanny was at the time. Odds are they won't even show for my graduation." Beth had never said any of this out loud before. She thought she'd made peace with this years ago, but she kept rambling. "They don't even know my best friend is dead right now. And honestly, I don't even feel like putting in the effort to tell them. Don't," she said, as she saw the sympathy in Eddie's eyes. "It's not…it's not that bad. I got total teenage freedom out of the deal. I basically won the high school lottery. All it took was being a complete disappointment to them."

"Why would they think that?"

"This may be shocking to hear," Beth said with a wry smile, "but I was a difficult child. They thought a daughter should be sweet and quiet while wearing her pretty dresses, and I was…never that. And rather than deal with me, they just shoved me at the nanny and went on with their lives. Sometimes I feel like after a while, they forgot they even had a kid. I was just this strange thing that wandered through their house with her opinions blasting at top volume. I was too much. I am too much."

"You're not too much."

"That's a lie and you know it," Beth said. "I vividly remember you implying guys have to be super high to date me."

"Okay-"

"And you said I should be muzzled-"

"Okay, so I'm a dick when I'm insulted. I admit it," Eddie said. "But…maybe at home it was different, but at school, you were always fearless. A force of nature. Nobody messed with you. Nobody told you what to do. Even after the whole Snow Ball debacle, I... begrudgingly admired you." Eddie's smirk told Beth he'd just sacrificed a portion of his pride to confess this.

"You always act like you don't care what other people think, either," Beth said. "You're the one who's always saying everything at school is bullshit."

"Yeah, but I've never made the bullshit work for me. You did. You're…you're like a devastating storm. And as long as you stay out of the direct pathway, it's beautiful to watch."

Now it wasn't just Beth's stomach flipping. She willed her heart to resume its regular rhythm. "I think I like being called a storm," she said softly.

"Hurricane Beth," Eddie said in his slow, almost musical way.

"I'll just ignore the part where you're saying I destroy everything around me."

Eddie's body went limp in feigned dismay, hand over his heart, as Beth laughed. "Come on, I thought that was good! It was goddamn poetic!"

"I hope you didn't write the lyrics for Corroded Coffin, that's all I'm saying."

Eddie smiled. "You remembered."

"Well, I meant it when I said you were good," Beth said. "For a seventh-grade band."

"Do you remember…what you asked me, back then? About my band?" he asked, sitting up again. She shook her head. "You asked if we knew any Go-Gos songs."

Beth laughed. "Right! That was a definite no from you. I do love them, though."

"Yeah, well," Eddie said, chewing his lip as he smiled. "After you said you'd go to the dance with me, I went to the store and committed my first crime: shoplifting a Go-Gos tape."

Beth couldn't suppress her gasp. "Stop it."

"I wanted to learn at least one song for you. And I did."

"Nooo," Beth lamented, now her turn to dramatically collapse against the boat. "If you're trying to make me feel worse, you're succeeding."

"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty, I promise."

"Shit, Eddie." Beth propped her head up on her hand, elbow against the boat. "No one's ever done that for me. Before or since." Eddie shrugged, smiling down at the floor. "I really did break your heart, didn't I?"

Eddie lifted his head to look Beth in the eyes, a half-smile on his face. He leaned his arm against the boat next to hers, his face angled towards Beth's. "Maybe. Nothing I couldn't recover from."

Their heads were close together. "I think I broke my own heart that day, too," Beth whispered. Her eyes flicked down to his lips. Her heart raced.

"Eddie? Do you copy?"

They both took a deep breath as they leaned away from each other, the moment interrupted by the scratching dispatch from the walkie-talkie. Eddie scrambled over to where the radio lay on the floor. "What, Dustin?" Beth privately smiled at the snarl that came through in Eddie's voice.

"Uh, we have news. A bunch. First, we think Beth did her job, but we can't tell since she kind of just left after she talked to the cops. For all we know, she's involved in news bulletin two-"

Beth grabbed the walkie-talkie. "If you're about to say I riled up the jocks to hunt Eddie down, I'll kick your little freshman ass."

There was a satisfying silence for a moment, Beth clearly having shocked Dustin. Finally, he came back. "Okay, so yes, Jason was bulletin number two. We finally got ahold of Lucas, and he told us the basketball team is actively searching for you, Eddie." Beth could have sworn she heard Steve's indistinct yelling in the background, no doubt wondering why Beth ended up back at the boathouse.

"News bulletin three-" Beth and Eddie rolled their eyes at each other at Dustin's methodical countdown "—Nancy and Robin have reason to believe Vecna's first attack actually happened in '59, and we have a lead. It actually came from your uncle, Eddie. A man named Victor Creel."

"Right, those murders happened when Uncle Wayne was a kid," Eddie told Beth. "He told me about them."

"But what would that have to do with Chrissy?" Beth asked. "There's almost three decades between the murders."

"Bulletin number four is…kind of the biggest deal. We think we know who Vecna's next victim will be."

Beth and Eddie looked at each other fearfully. "Who?"

"Max."

Beth and Eddie sat in silence after Dustin finished explaining what they now knew about Vecna's method for stalking his prey. Past trauma. Headaches. Waking nightmares.

"Chrissy must have been so scared," Beth whispered, hugging her knees to her chest.

"No wonder she wanted the Special K," Eddie said. "She was being terrorized in her own mind."

"And she didn't think anyone would believe her." Beth sighed. "I want to think that I'd believe her, but…"

"There's nothing you could have done, Beth."

"How do you know?" Her voice came out small. Eddie didn't have an answer. Beth stared at the floor. She thought knowing more about Vecna's attacks would help, but the truth somehow made it all worse. Vecna attacked Chrissy because she was already vulnerable from her self-esteem issues? The cruelty of it was a knife in her heart.

She cleared her throat. "So, we should talk about sleep shifts."

"Huh?"

"Lucas just confirmed that Jason is hunting you, so one of us should always be awake. So if he comes here, we're not surprise-attacked. And, for the record," Beth added, "You clearly underestimated Lucas's loyalty to Hellfire. And to you."

Eddie grumbled a concession. "So, you want to sleep first?"

Beth shook her head. "You first. I don't think I'll sleep much anyway. Not after finding out what this sadistic monster was doing to Chrissy this whole time." She got up and grabbed the flashlight Eddie had found in the boathouse along with the oar. She preferred it to the bottle shiv: better reach.

"Just…" Beth looked over at Eddie, who was settling in the boat, the tarp half over him. "Promise me you're not going to blame yourself."

Beth chewed her lip. "I'll wake you up in three hours."

"Beth. Promise me."

"Okay, I promise," Beth said, rolling her eyes. She checked the time on her watch and settled in for her shift as sentry, holding the flashlight in her lap. It wasn't a lie that sleep seemed unlikely. Between the full, devastating truth about Chrissy, the impending doom for one of the Scooby-Doo gang, and the plain fact that not that long ago, Beth truly almost kissed Eddie Munson, there was a lot on her mind.