12:07 pm. Eddie had his Walkman playing, headphones on, strolling through the near-empty halls, skipping class hoping to kill enough time for the lunch bell to ring. He almost heard something over KISS's Dynasty album blasting, probably other students talking amongst themselves.

Until a hand was on his shoulder and he jumped, his heart lurched in his chest before he turned around and saw Cynthia laughing and motioning for him to take off the headphones.

"I am so sorry. I thought you heard me."

Pausing his music, he leaned back against the lockers, "Yeah, I wouldn't have ignored you."

"Again, sorry. But anyways, I came to say good luck on your test. Please don't skip on it." She apologized and pressed her shoulder against the lockers beside him.

He played with the ends of his hair, remembering how on edge he actually was for this test, "What makes you think I'd do that, Moose?"

Cynthia let out a sarcastic laugh "Munson, this isn't the first class we've had together believe it or not. Besides, I'm not gonna be here to drag you there myself."

Eddie nodded slowly, the bell ringing signaling the end of class and the start of lunch. "See you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, um, actually I was wondering if maybe—" she stumbled over her words, tearing her eyes away from Eddie's "I know you might have Hellfire or something, but I was hoping we could hangout tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow night?" He asked.

"Yeah, I finally got dibs on The Thing and Terror Train." She met his eyes again while fiddling with her hands, "thought you might be interested."

"Of course, I've been meaning to check out Terror Train, what time?"

Cynthia smiled, a weight almost being lifted from her shoulders, "seven thirty, eight. Whichever works better for you."

"Seven thirty it is."

Eddie showed up, admittedly, pretty early. 6:45 pm. He couldn't wait around at Rick's or his own trailer any longer, he hated that he was nervous, it wasn't even his first time dropping by her house, it's been a regular thing for the past couple weeks. This time seemed different though. She was clearly nervous asking him to hang out; it was just a couple of movies and some drinks, right?

He wrung his hands out, fiddling with the silver rings as he got out of the van and walked up to the door, he was definitely too early. Not like she'd care, it wasn't going to be weird or anything. Letting out a slow breath, he lifted his hand and knocked on the door.

There was a quick shuffling from, presumably, the living room then the door swung open but he wasn't met with Cynthia. It was her younger sister, Beth.

"Fuck." She muttered before calling out into the house, "it's just Munson."

Cynthia came into view from around the corner, "Christ, Bethany. I thought you left." She turned her attention to Eddie who was waiting awkwardly in the doorway after Beth rolled her eyes and walked back to the living room throwing her hair over her shoulder, "come on in. Ignore her."

Beth stuck her middle finger up at her sister as she led her friend to her room, Cynthia responded in kind.

They arrived at her open bedroom door and Eddie was surprised but also not very much. It was almost a contradiction, looking at her room. Pink, flowery bedding and accessories but the walls were as if the box in the living room that held her movie collection had exploded all over.

"You wait here, I'll make sure she doesn't need a ride anywhere." Cynthia told him, then turned and shut the door before he could say anything.

Eddie took slow steps around the room, checking out the posters before stopping in front of a wall full of photographs. There was school photos, some of her family and friends, but the one that stuck out to him was one that had Cynthia at the center in a cheer uniform with Heather Holloway and Chrissy Cunningham. "Oh shit." The door swung open and Eddie jumped, feeling like just got caught snooping.

Cynthia waltzed in holding two cans of coke, setting them on a table next to the door, "What'cha looking at?" She stood next to him and tapped the photo of her with Chrissy and Heather, "I did cheer for four years, I think. Almost four. I brought you a coke, Beth won't be gone for a bit."

Eddie ignored the coke as Cynthia plopped down onto the edge of her bed, one leg hanging off, and cracked open the can. "Are you fucking with me?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're a senior right now." He stated. She nodded. "Four years you did cheer?"

"You know simple math right? Your one-two-three's?" A shit-eating grin on her face as he rambled on.

"I'm serious, are you still doing cheer?"

"No. I quit when school started."

"What?" Eddie exhaled, basically crumpling onto the bed next to her, confused. "I- never mind about it. I have something to show you."

He dug in the breast pocket on his jean vest and pulled out a folded up packet, he just got it back from Ms. O'Donnell before he left the school late in the afternoon. For the last couple of hours he was too anxious to open it up.

Cynthia held out her hand, their fingers brushed as Eddie handed it over to her, "Let's check it out." She leaned back against her headboard, and looked through the test, bopping her head side to side with the rhythm of the cassette playing on the other side of the room: Autoamerican by Blondie.

Eddie stood up, grabbing his pop and paced around the room, trying to take his mind off of the test.

"I flunked by the way. Junior year." Cynthia informed, folding the test back up and holding it out. "Your test looks good. Keep it up and you'll make a miracle happen."

He shuffled over and took the test, giving her a smile before flipping the paper over and looking at the grade and a note from Ms. O'Donnell: C+, Keep up the great work!

"Y'know, Moose," Eddie nudged her on the shoulder as she looked lost in thought after handing the paper over, "this is all because of you."

Cynthia rolled her eyes as Eddie sat back down in front of her, "Not at all. You're pretty smart, Munson. You just need to apply yourself."

Shrugging, he replied, "I'm not- it's-"

"Stop." She sat up, "You are not stupid or dumb. I am going to make it my mission- We." She rested a hand on his shoulder which prompted to look over at her. "We are going to make it our mission to make sure you graduate this year. I am sick- if Beth sees you in the halls next year, I will smack the hell out of you."

"You promise? That's a little extreme."

"I mean it, you are not going to be a fourth year senior. We can do it."

Eddie sighed and turned to face Cynthia, "Are you sure?"

"We have, what, six months until graduation? four or five until the final. We got this." She held out a pinky finger for dramatic effect, "I pinky swear."

"Are we nine? Should we do a spit-shake too?" He deadpanned, before locking pinkies with her.

The killer had fell off the train and his body was being washed away in the river as Cynthia sat there dumbfounded and the empty beer can slowly slipped out of her hand, "What the fuck did we just watch?" She asked as the can clanged onto the floor.

Eddie wiped his eyes before checking his watch, 11:17 pm. "I didn't think it was that bad."

Cynthia groaned, stretching to turn on the lamp beside her, "This just proves I need to stop being such a sucker for Jamie Lee. I mean, first Prom Night now this?"

"You didn't like Prom Night?" He yawned as he reached for his own can of beer. Eddie didn't really care for the movie itself either, his tired brain just wanted to make conversation.

"No! It was like Carrie mixed with Halloween but not great." She ranted before standing up and stretching again. "Want another beer?" Eddie nodded so she pointed out the pile of movies, "turn on The Thing."

Almost an hour later, Cynthia rest her head against the back of the couch, trying and failing to keep her mind on the movie, she watched as Eddie chewed on his nail idly as the events of The Thing played out in front of him.

"Eddie?"

He barely took his eyes off of the TV screen, "yeah?"

"Never mind." She waved off, tearing her eyes away from the boy on her left.

Eddie, growing concerned, turned his attention fully to Cynthia and looked over at her, eventually meeting her eyes as she gave up trying to ignore her intrusion. "You alright?"

Cynthia met Eddie's dark brown eyes and almost melted before whispering, "it's fine."

It was as if she was on autopilot, barely feeling the minute movements as she leaned in slowly, their lips meeting. Her hand moved up with a slight shudder, caressing Eddie's face.

She was broken out of her trance-like state when Eddie's hands came up and rubbed against her back. Pulling away, she had a wide-eyed look before apologizing profusely, "I'm so sorry," Cynthia's hand left his cheek, "I didn't— it was—"

Eddie shushed her, grabbing her retreating hand and simply said, "it's alright. I was hoping you would."

Cynthia smiled, meeting his eyes once again before he initiated another kiss. Their lips moved in sync as her hand went back to the side of Eddie's face and tangled into the hair behind his ear.