We were at a crossroads, stuck between hormone driven urges and a desire to wreak havoc at the Homecoming Dance. The loose plan was to sneak into the dance, which Eddie had been banned from due to his poor grades and detention record. Once inside, we were to spike the punch, the simplest way to have the largest effect on the most number of people. Reefer Rick was able to assist with getting us some liquor which we had planned to sneak in with a couple of flasks. Eddie had a few joints he wanted to give to some freshmen to "start them young," and lastly he was going to pants someone on the Homecoming Court in front of the school. This last bit was the riskiest, because at that point in the night there's really no way he's not going to be seen. The goal was to drop them and run, and hopefully he'd get out before being physically restrained. And of course, bonus points if he was able to take one of the girls on the the homecoming court home with him.
I was in the passenger seat of the car, Eddie's hands embracing my face and his tongue exploring my mouth. Call me easily distracted, but I wasn't eager to go into the dance if this was my other option. I tried to lean forward over the center console, but I was met with resistance from the seatbelt. Without breaking the kiss, he reached down and unbuckled the seatbelt, releasing me. His hand reached down towards the hem of my dress and began lifting the fabric up until he came in contact with my leg. His warm hand began quickly trailing up my thigh, and suddenly I was aware of how close he was getting to my panties. I jolted a little and pulled away slightly, breaking the kiss. I don't know why I was so averse to him getting close to my groin, but I stopped him nonetheless.
"Eddie, we should really get going if we still want to do this," I said. His hand stopped just at the top of my thigh.
"I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty happy with what we're doing right now," he said, squeezing my leg slightly.
"I'll make you a deal," I said, leaning forward and catching a piece of his hair in between my fingers and twirling it. "The quicker we get this done, the sooner we can get back to this."
"Deal," he said, a grin growing across his face. Without an ounce of shame, he reached down to readjust himself in his pants as I watched. "You sure you don't want to take advantage of this?" He asked.
"You're too much," I teased, moving to open the passenger door.
"Hey wait, stay there," Eddie said. He opened the driver side door and quickly moved around the front of the car to reach my door. He opened the passenger door and extended a hand to me. "I never said I wasn't a gentleman." I took his hand and stepped out the door with a small laugh. "And besides, if I'm going to be your fake date, I might as well act like it. That dress is too nice to not be fully appreciated," Eddie said, stepping backward in a gesture of admiration.
"You're a dork," I replied, but pleased at the least that he appreciated the dress.
We headed around to the trunk of the car and he opened the trunk to pull out a baggie with two joints, which he tucked into his breast pocket of the jacket, and also grabbed two flasks, putting one in his pants pocket.
"What's the poison of choice?" I asked. I knew he wanted to spike the punch, but I left it up to him to flesh out the details.
"Just vodka. Clear liquid, won't be noticeable right away, but just enough to spice things up, get the kids loose." He flicked opened up the top of the flask he was holding and took a quick swig.
"Want some?" He asked, holding it out to me. I had drank before at a few parties, but that was just shitty cheap beer or whatever the kids could sneak from their parents. I had never really had a reason to drink hard liquor. I took it gingerly and took a small sip. To me, it tasted like fiery battery acid.
"So what's the plan?" I asked, handing him back the flask and trying to not show how unpleasant I found the drink.
"There's a door near the guidance counselor's office that's got a notorious faulty latch, it's pretty easy to jiggle open. We can get in through there and sneak through the back door of the gym by the bleachers. Then it's game time," he said, as he returned the cap to the flask and tucked it away.
"It concerns me that you know that. How many times have you had to sneak into the school?" I asked.
"Miss Kelly confiscated my Walkman last semester and I wanted it back," he shrugged like it was no big deal.
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me. You know, I said I would help you get in. The rest might be up to you. I can't really afford to get a detention, if anyone sees me tonight I will absolutely pretend I don't know you, " I said. I had a mostly clean record but I planned to keep it that way before graduating.
"Don't worry," Eddie said, slinging his arm around my shoulder as we began walking towards the school. "I wouldn't want to jeopardize your perfect reputation with one detention on your record. Just follow my lead and if anything goes wrong, I'll get by on my own. I always do."
"My reputation isn't perfect, and I've had detention before. And you saw my dad. Staying out of trouble is definitely in my best interest," I argued back.
"Oh yeah? What landed sweet, innocent Annie Cooper in detention?" Eddie asked eagerly.
"Do you need to know everything?" I said, exasperated. It wasn't my proudest moment, and it was a bit embarrassing, and the fewer people who knew, the better.
"You can't bring that up and not spill the details," He argued.
"Fine, I'll tell you later," I said, bumping his hip. Privately I was hoping that was enough to get him to drop it and forget about it later, knowing he probably wouldn't.
"I won't forget that," he replied. Great.
We made our way quietly around the front of the school to the side where the administration entrance was. The dance was already in full swing and most of the students were inside, a few lingering by the front entryway, but we were able to slink by undetected. We got to the aforementioned door and Eddie jiggled the handle but it wouldn't budge. He swiftly pulled out a switchblade from his pocket and began working the blade through the door gap. With a little bit of mutual force on the handle, the lock released and the door swung open. "Game time." Eddie whispered.
He entered the dark office and extended a hand out to me to guide the way. Aside from the parking lot lights glowing through the windows, the office was completely dark and silent. My mind was immediately brought back to being in my dark bedroom at the beginning of the night. I took it as an opportunity to tease Eddie yet again.
"Hey, Is it too late to add 'making out in the school guidance office' to the bucket list?" I joked.
"It's never too late, but I hear the sarcasm in your voice Cooper, so I'm just going to have to tuck that idea away for the time being." Eddie replied. I could practically hear his eyes rolling.
"I'm not joking! It could be fun." I said, not moving from my spot, his hand still holding mine but our arms now extended as he was still moving forward. He turned to look at me.
"You know, on second thought," Eddie said, quickly turning around. He advanced on me, moving us back a couple of steps until my back was pressed against the wall. He bent his head down and rested his arm against the door beside my head. I barely gave him an inch and the boy took it and ran. He was leaning down over me, waiting for me to make the next move, when I whispered, "On second thought, we should get going."
"Oh, you are a tease," He whispered. "I'm mad I didn't see that coming."
"You make it easy." I laughed. I wasn't trying to be a tease. I was shocked at how honest I was being about my wants tonight. I grabbed his head softly and pulled it down to mine and gave him a gentle kiss. A frustrated moan escaped his mouth.
"My balls are going to be blue by the end of the night," Eddie bemoaned.
"Don't be dramatic. Lets go!" I pushed on him a little.
We worked our way through the dark office until we got to the hallway door. I went out first to check that the hallway was clear. The music coming from the gym was getting louder as we rounded down the hallway. We could hear some chatter and footsteps around the front hallway as people mingled. I turned the last corner and could see the door we needed to enter. Eddie lingered on the corner while I checked the final hallway before we made our entrance. In one of the darkened classroom entryways, there was a couple engaged in an aggressive makeout session. I was worried they had heard me, but as I continued they showed no signs of stopping or caring who saw.
I motioned to Eddie that it was safe to join me at the door. Once he was there, I gingerly pushed on the door to release the latch and go in.
The dance was proceeding at full force. The lights were dimmed, and twinkle lights and streamers were draped along on poles, creating a canopy over the gym. There were balloons draped over almost every doorway entrance in green and white, the school's colors. The tables had crepe tablecloths, and silver bows adorning the back of every chair. Bless the efforts of the homecoming planning committee, which included my best friend Grace, but no amount of tacky decorations could hide the fact that we were still in the slightly smelly, out of date gymnasium.
There were a few people dancing, but even more lingering in the back near the tables and chairs. Sheesh. Hawkins High sure did know how to throw a rager… it was practically begging for spice. Good thing Eddie and I were here to shake things up a bit.
I could tell his energy had shifted and he was focused on the task at hand. Luckily I think it was dark enough we wouldn't be detected immediately, because even in the suit Eddie stood, but we would have to be careful to blend in with our actions. Quite a few teachers were chaperoning tonight, and plenty of them were not the biggest fans of Eddie.
We tucked in close behind the bleachers where luckily no other students had decided to linger.
"So, where do we start?" I asked, bouncing on my heels with nervous energy. Eddie raised his eyebrows. Somewhere between breaking into the school and making it into the gym, I had changed my tune. I was eager to get going and shake things up, because the droll dance was bumming me out.
"What happened to keeping your perfect record intact?" he asked.
"It's going to maintain intact as long as we're careful," I said with a smile. "And besides, this dance is incredibly lame. It needs us."
"Well, we're not too far from the food table," Eddie said. "Go grab some cups and meet me back here. We can empty the flasks into them and head back to the punch bowl."
"On it," I said, as I walked along the length of the back of the gym and rounded out behind the bleachers.
It was more crowded back towards the concessions than I realized, which is good because I could snake into the crowd undetected. I approached the edge of the tables that were lined near the wall and swiftly grabbed two white plastic cups. Turning around and ready to head back, I was face to face with Kurt Douglas and 3 of his buddies.
"Annie COOOOOPER!" He bellowed in his deep voice. Fuck, announce I'm here to everyone why don't you.
Kurt Douglas was a senior linebacker on the football team. He was massive, and about as attractive and intelligent as a mountain troll that hadn't seen the daylight. His sole purpose on this earth was to block skinny high school kids half his size from advancing on the football field, and that was about all he was worth. He had tip toed around asking me to be his date to the dance without ever actually asking at least 3 times. The past couple of weeks he'd corner me in a classroom, or stop me in the hallway and mention the dance. But without actually saying the words, I didn't give him the satisfaction of acknowledging that I was even slightly aware what he was alluding to. And now he and 3 of his buddies were here, dateless, leering at me by the punch bowl.
"Oh, hey Kurt," I said with passive pleasantry, trying to weasel my way around him and escape through the crowd. But he was just so big, and determined to block my way.
"I thought you weren't coming to the dance?" He asked.
"Yeah, I wasn't, but then Grace asked for help setting up. I kinda got roped into it." I said lying, uncomfortably, holding the cups with both hands. Please would you just leave me alone?
"Well now that you're here, you owe me a dance!" He said enthusiastically. I knew then that turning him down in front of his friends would not only be a huge blow to his ego, but a risky move. Kurt wasn't one to take being turned down lightly and I was worried what kind of story he'd spin to make himself look better in the wake of rejection.
"Haha maybe, I don't really dance. Weak ankles," I said, shifting my weight awkwardly.
"Come on. Just one dance!" He said. He would not give up that easily. It was, pathetic, really. Find someone who's actually interested in you to pester.
"Yeah…Look I gotta grab a drink and bring it back to Grace, she keeps forgetting to hydrate, I'm worried she's gonna pass out… have fun, I'll come find you later when it's a song I really like," I said with fake enthusiasm, placating his ego. He was satisfied with that answer as I decisively turned away from him and beelined for the punch. I quickly poured two cups of the red liquid, and then began looking for Grace in the crowd as a cover. I wasn't sure if Kurt was still watching me but I wouldn't turn around to check either.
I scanned the crowd but couldn't find Grace anywhere. I made the executive decision to try to escape in the mass of students as much as possible and take a wide angle around the gym until I could reach the back of the bleachers. I risked a quick peek over my shoulder, and Kurt and his buddies had moved on to teasing some younger members of the football team. Crisis averted for now.
I reached the edge of the bleachers and scurried my way back there. Eddie was leaning against one of the rails and lurking in the shadows.
"What happened out there?! I thought you were a goner!" Eddie exclaimed.
"Yeah, me too. I might have to dance with Kurt Douglas later. Ugh," I said with undisguised disgust.
"That fucking Neanderthal." Eddie responded with spite in his voice.
"Here, drink this" I said, forcing one of the cups of punch into his hand while starting to chug the other.
"I said get the cups, I never said anything about filling them," Eddie argued, as he too began drinking the punch.
"Yeah, well, I had to make up an excuse and take a detour to get out of there. We're lucky I'm not currently wrapped up in Kurt's arms on the dance floor," I said. I finished off my cup of punch and wiped the red liquid residue my lips off with my hand. "Ugh, this stuff is so sweet it's practically begging for vodka."
"Well, luckily, I have just the thing," Eddie said, finishing off his cup too.
He pulled out a flask and handed it to me as he fished out the other from his pocket. We both unscrewed the flasks and began pouring the vodka into the cups. "Officially on to phase one. Bottoms up" he said, as he tapped his cup against mine and took a swig. I followed suit, figuring I could use the liquid courage at this point.
Whatever happened tonight, I was with Eddie Munson. I knew he would protect me and had things under control…I think.