Eventually after my friends finished asking every question they could imagine about Eddie, we got back to proofreading our papers and intermittent gossip. I told them how I was grounded until fall semester ended for not coming home after the dance, sparing them the details of my dad lashing out. Grace didn't bring up her parents, so I wasn't sure if the other girls were aware of everything that's going on. And Claire and Eve told us all about their horrible dates that they had ditched by the end of the night.

After we finished editing each other's English papers, they all left and I spent the rest of the night trying to distract myself with my favorite book and some old vinyl records. My mom tried to come talk to me again, and as politely as I could I made it very clear I wasn't interested in her placating apologies. My dad didn't even bother, and I refused to join them for dinner. I read much later into the night than I intended, attempting to shut off my overactive brain.

The next morning I was wide awake before my first alarm went off. Usually it took hitting the snooze button at least twice for me to even mentally prepare for getting out of bed on a Monday morning. But considering I was on house arrest, walking on eggshells around my mother and refusing to speak with my father, I was more than happy to be leaving the house. I dressed quickly in a comfy sweater and jeans and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. I did a light face of makeup and ran out the door.

Most days I would borrow my moms car to drive to school unless she needed it for something. But grounding meant no car privileges, so I had to leave the house earlier than usual to catch the bus. It was mostly freshmen and sophomores who rode the bus and couldn't drive, so I didn't really have anyone to sit with. It took much longer to get to school with all the stops, but I didn't mind keeping to myself near the back of the bus and not having to think for a while.

When the bus dropped us off, the front of the school was buzzing like normal. Students hanging by their cars, catching up about their weekends, lingering and delaying going to their lockers or homeroom classes. It was getting colder each morning as the fall weather came rolling in, but like typical Midwesterner's, the kids in Hawkins would take advantage of any daylight to spend outside before the weather really started getting frigid.

As I was getting off the bus, I saw that Grace was being dropped off by her mom. I waited for her on the sidewalk so we could walk in together.

"So how'd the rest of your night go," she asked as she approached me, referring to the 12 hours in between when we had last seen each other.

"Oh, it was fine. I avoided my parents and stayed up late reading." I replied.

"Let me guess, Gatsby?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, It's my comfort book," I argued. Ever since we had read The Great Gatsby sophomore year, I had reread it probably 10 times. It was poetically tragic and I was a sucker for doomed love and self induced suffering, apparently. "What about you?"

"Mom tried a new vegetable lasagne recipe, which was somehow a wet and burnt disaster all at once. Not her best work," Grace shrugged. Bless Mrs T., but she was no cook. She once fed our whole group undercooked salmon that knocked us all out from school the next day. I still had to be cautious any time I stayed over for dinner.

We walked side by side up to the entrance of the school until we spotted a few members of the Hellfire club hanging around the picnic tables. Eddie was sitting on top of the table, hunching forward with his elbows on his knees. He was back to wearing his usual garb. A Black Sabbath t shirt with his vest and leather jacket thrown over, ripped jeans, and his classic Reeboks. Multiple rings adorned his fingers, and his guitar pick necklace was dangling from his neck. I have to admit, suit and tie Eddie was nice, but there was charm to his signature look. Something about how it was casually curated over time as he came into his identity, but also so effortlessly cool.

I wasn't sure if I should stop and say hi or keep going in with Grace, but I didn't have to make that choice. It seems as though Eddie was waiting for me, because at first sight he jumped off the table and ditched his friends with a clap on their backs faster than I could blink.

"I'll leave you two…" Grace said with a smile and suggestive tone as she kept walking forward.

"See you at lunch," I called back, knowing we didn't have any classes together until this afternoon.

I stepped off the sidewalk to get out of other students' way as Eddie approached me. I flashed a smile as I immediately began taunting him.

"Wow Munson, this has gotta be the earliest I've ever seen you at school. I have to say, I'm impressed," I said. We didn't even share the same homeroom class, but I knew from friends that he was usually running late or skipped homeroom completely most days.

"You know, I was thinking about ditching, but something was telling me today would be a special one. However, Principal Higgins caught me as soon I pulled into the parking lot. I do, in fact, have after school detention the whole week."

"Bummer. I'd say that's a fair price to pay for humbling Jason Carver in front of the whole school, though."

"I can't complain, I've done longer sentences for lesser crimes," he said with a smile. We began walking in unison into the school.

"So how'd it go on Saturday with Grace and your parents? I'm glad to see you're still alive, so that's a plus. I was worried for a minute you were a goner," Eddie said as he pulled the front door open and held it for me to pass through.

"Oh I'm totally a dead girl walking, can't you tell? It did not go well." I said plainly.

"With Grace or your parents?" He asked.

"Both" I said with a chuckle. "Actually, Grace is alright. She wasn't too happy about me showing up and needing help after blowing her off all night, but she came through. I've been a shit friend lately and didn't realize she had a lot going on. She covered for me, and we're working on it," I said. It wasn't my place to share her private business.

As we walked through the school, it felt like students were cautiously jumping out of the way to avoid Eddie. I couldn't tell if this was a recurring symptom from his reputation, or if people were giving him an extra berth after what happened at the dance. I could notice people watching me too as I walked with him. It didn't really bother me, but I wasn't used to being noticed by just walking down the hallways. And the clustered whispers were ever present as we made our way through the hallway.

Eddie continued discussing the fallout from Friday night. "And your ex Army General father, how did he react when you got home?" He asked. We were now rounding the corner down the senior locker hallway.

"Oh he totally freaked. He hates you," I said, as if I was sharing some brand new information.

"That was to be expected. What's the punishment?" Eddie asked. He knew there would be some consequence.

"Grounded until the end of the semester," I confirmed. It wasn't worth going over the gritty details about the altercation with my dad in such a public setting.

"All because you didn't come home for one night? You're a legal adult, that's bullshit," Eddie said. He lived by no rules, not really, so knowing how much I had to obey my parents even after I turned 18 just pissed him off.

"Their house, their rules," I said, mocking my dad as I began unlocking my locker. "Like I said, I hope it was worth it because it'll likely never happen again," I teased. I didn't want to admit that my night with Eddie might've been a one night thing, but with the current consequences I wasn't sure how it would ever happen again, so I wanted to be realistic.

"Was it worth it for you?" Eddie asked, leaning up against the lockers and watching me.

"A lady never reveals her secrets," I said as I rifled through my books, shoving what I needed into my book bag. I couldn't hide the smile on my face, try as I might.

Just then I caught a glimpse of Jason barreling through the hallway. He was hard to miss because he was always wearing his basketball letterman jacket. I'm sure he spotted Eddie right away, he was hard to miss. I didn't have time to warn him before Jason shoved him with full force in the back. Unprepared for the blow, the force of his push shoved Eddie right into me. I was able to catch him, but it was not a graceful crash, and I almost dropped my bag in the commotion.

"You're dead, freak!" Jason shouted for the whole hallway to hear as he kept walking.

I immediately began to check to see if Eddie was okay, but he seemed more concerned about me. "Are you alright?" He asked, giving me a once over and using his arms to steady me.

"Yeah, I'm fine… Asshole!" I yelled over my shoulder while Eddie held up his middle finger in Jason's direction. Snickering began echoing around us but I didn't care who heard me.

"Protective already, are we?" Eddie said with a smug look. He didn't let go of his hold on me.

"No, He just needs to know he can't go around treating people like that and getting away with it," I said vehemently.

"I'm not worried. Like I said, what is he actually gonna do about it? He's just embarrassed everyone knows he has nothing to hide now." He said.

"That's fair… so how did you spend the rest of your weekend?" I asked, fully aware that I was now standing in a very public hallway in a half embrace with Eddie. Neither of us willing to move.

"I didn't do much, we had band practice yesterday afternoon. Other than that I mostly just did a lot of thinking." He said with a look on his face as though he was filing through mental images he had stored in his head. Eddie was the type of person who could be left alone with his imagination and never get bored.

"Oh yeah? About what?" I had my assumptions, but I wanted him to say it.

"Take a wild guess," he said, leaning in and closing out the rest of the world. I was zoned in on just him as the commotion around us faded into the background.

"The upcoming presedential election?" I guessed, fixated on his deep brown eyes.

"Come on, now you know I'm anti-establishment," he laughed.

"You're right, you're right. Tell me what you were thinking about." I said, cocking my head to get a better look at him.

"Hmm, the way you hum in your sleep. The way you taste. But mostly I was thinking about the way you looked on my bed with your legs draped op-" I didn't let him finish, smacking my hand over his mouth.

"It's too early for that, what if someone hears you!" I said in a hushed whisper.

He removed my hand from his mouth but didn't let go.

"No one can hear us, Annie." He said, bringing my hand to his chest and pulling me in closer. I looked around, and saw no one was paying attention to us. This wasn't my usual school time behavior and my pulse quickened from the closeness.

"Still, are you trying to drive me crazy before first period?" I said with a huff.

"Would that be the worst thing?" He smiled. "I've got the van parked just outside-" he said suggestively, which I shut down immediately with an eye roll.

"Admit it, you were thinking about it too." Eddie said.

"Of course I was thinking about it, but I wasn't going to be the first one to bring it up." I said with a huff.

"It's damn near all I've thought about the past two days," Eddie said. He leaned in closer as he played with my hand in his.

"Me too," I said, which was entirely the truth. I had spent the last 48 hours imagining this exact moment, imagining the next time I would feel his hands on my body.

"I wanna kiss you," he said, barely above a whisper. And I wanted that too, except something inside of me halted. I knew Eddie wouldn't take the next step without permission, and the idea of kissing publicly in the hallway was making me hesitate. I looked around again to see who was in the hallway and if anyone was paying attention to us. Nobody was, but I still couldn't bring myself to go in for the kiss.

"Hey, if you're embarrassed we can keep this strictly to an after school special for now." Eddie said with a smile, leaning back a little.

"I'm not embarrassed, I want to," I said, still nervously looking over his shoulder and scanning the entire student body that was lingering in the hallway. I couldn't help but be a little anxious, this was all so new.

"Seriously, I can be patient," he said with total sincerity.

I leaned forward and quickly kissed him on the cheek before pulling back. It was all I could bring myself to do.

"Sorry," I whispered, embarrassed that this was all I could offer him. Nevertheless, he squeezed my hand with a smile. "Let me walk you to homeroom," he said. We headed off and I felt like a complete idiot for not being able to follow through.

—

I got to my homeroom class and bid Eddie a quick goodbye before going inside. I sat down at my desk and nervously rifled through my planner, reviewing the assignments due for the week. After the final bell rang, the morning announcements prattled on, and I zoned them out as I tended to do. It wasn't until I heard my name over the loudspeaker that I was brought to full attention.

"And Annie Cooper, can you please come to Principal Higgins' office before first period."

Fuck. I could only imagine what this would be about. Everyone in class turned to me in slow motion. Yup, hello, it's me that was just called to the principal's office first thing Monday morning in front of the whole school, you can all stop staring now.

I scooted out of my desk and picked up my books as the teacher nodded quietly at me. I heard whispers begin to form but the teacher shushed the students as I left the classroom.

I could only imagine this had to do with the impromptu slap on Friday night. I hadn't been caught by anyone or even remotely associated with Eddie's stunt at the dance save for one person, and that was Kurt, who I had hurt in the process. I guess he couldn't handle another round of rejections. What a coward. He couldn't handle being humbled by a girl so he had to go cry to administration? I didn't regret my actions at all, but I was being faced with consequences left and right from what had been one of the best nights of my life.

As expected, Principal Higgins briefly confronted me about my "physical assault of another Senior at the Homecoming Dance." I tried to explain to him that what happened with Kurt wasn't a physical assault, more of a slap of self defense, but that didn't matter. He reiterated that Hawkins had a zero tolerance policy for physical violence and it was his duty to address it. I wanted to respond that they sure did have tolerance for all the ways kids like Kurt and Jason assert their dominance over the school with physical violence, but it was no use. I was to serve after school detention for the remainder of the week, and he would be calling my parents.

Fucking hell. Well, at least I could tell Eddie soon that I would be joining him after school. What I wasn't looking forward to, however, was dealing with my parents finding out about a week's worth of detention. That was another battle I was entirely unprepared for.

When the secretary dismissed me with my detention slip, I walked down the now empty hallway and headed towards my first period History lesson. I had a whole day ahead of me to prepare how I was going to deal with my parents tonight, and I needed time to think.

—

The morning classes were about as boring and standard as a typical Monday in Senior year. In American History we had just gotten to the Great Depression, which was depressing enough to keep the class quiet and sleepy first thing on a Monday.

When I left my first period class, I noticed more people in the hallway were looking at me more than usual. I saw one pair of Junior girls hide their words behind their hands as they watched me walk by, whispering to each other. Just as I passed, they both let out a loud laugh. I didn't think anything of it until my second period Science class was over and even more students were watching me go and snickering. I know they had all heard my name called on the loudspeaker this morning, but that wasn't uncommon and usually didn't cause this much attention.

It wasn't until I saw Claire running towards me in the hallway with a worried look on her face that I knew something was actually wrong.

"Annie, are you okay?! Everyone's been talking…" she trailed off. I could tell she wasn't sure how to begin.

"Talking about what? What have you heard Claire, why is everyone looking at me?" I scanned the hallway and confirmed that most people were looking in our direction and whispering.

"Everyone heard you get called to the principal's office this morning. It was about you slapping Kurt, right?" She asked. I nodded my head.

"Well I guess he's been talking, and it started some rumors. I don't know how it started, but people are saying Eddie caught you hooking up with Kurt. And that you only agreed to go to the dance with Eddie so he would keep your secret, which is incredibly stupid if you ask me. There is also a rumor going around that you were high at the dance, which made you manic, and when Kurt tried to "rescue you" from Eddie, you slapped him." Claire said. She was out of breath by the end of her rant.

"What the hell! That's so ridiculous, how can anyone believe that actually happened," I said loudly enough that hopefully some people overheard me. My initial reaction was shock, but then I started laughing. That rumor was so far from the truth, and so ill contrived, I had no choice but to laugh about how stupid it was.

"My guess is Kurt started talking, and his buddies ran with the story to inflate his ego. He was probably embarrassed that you rejected him half a dozen times, and then he found you with Eddie that night. And then you slapped him. Rumors spread like wildfire in Hawkins and he had to come up with something that makes him look like the victim." Grace responded. I didn't see how these rumors made him look like anything but an asshole, but small town Indiana tended to favor a man's words.

"But why on earth would half these people believe it. As if I would ever hook up with Kurt in the first place." I said, disgust on my face.

"I don't know, honestly. Asshole students will believe anything." She said. "The people who know you have been trying to deny the rumors but they still keep spreading. I'm so sorry, Annie. I will punch the next person who tries to talk to me about it." I could tell she was just as upset by the bullshit.

"No no, don't assault anyone on my behalf, that's how I got in this mess. I'll find a way to fix this." I replied. But the truth was, I had no idea where to start with stopping the spread of this rumor. The bell rang announcing that we had 3 minutes before the next period started.

"I'll help you any way I can. Hang in there," she said, giving me a little hug. I thanked her and we went our separate ways onto our next class. My primary goal was to just get to lunch where hopefully I could reconvene with my friends and figure something out.

—

By the time fourth period had rolled around, I had grown weary of the eyes that followed me everywhere I went. Before the weekend, I wasn't even sure half of the school even knew who I was. Now the rumors had taken on a life of their own about what I did with Kurt and how I was involved with Eddie. There were also probably rumors going around I wasn't aware of, but the constant stares and whispers were getting on my nerves. If they were going to continue gossiping about me, I wanted to give them something true to talk about.

When the bell rang for lunch, I hung back to ask my French teacher Ms. Lattimer a few questions. I was a favorite student of hers, and I wasn't sure if she had heard anything about me, but she was gracious regardless. I was tired of all eyes being on me in the hallway everywhere I went, and I figured I'd rather linger behind and let the crowd dissipate. As I left, I began forming my plan for taking these rumors into my own hands.

Once I was ready, I made my way to the cafeteria. The room was bustling with hungry students rushing around with their lunch trays, mingling with friends and being boisterous. There were more than enough students here for me to entertain my desired audience. I wanted to make it very clear to the student body exactly where my interests lie, and that was nowhere near Kurt. I knew the second half of Eddie's lunch period overlapped with the beginning of mine, so I knew exactly where to find him.

I spotted Eddie immediately, sitting at his usual table with the Hellfire guys. Poor thing had no idea what was coming, but something told me he wouldn't mind being a part of my ploy. He was sitting at the head of the table, leaning backwards in his chair while it appeared as though Dustin was telling an animated story, flapping his arms wildly.

I approached the table from the side, I was barely upon them when Eddie caught sight of my arrival. I didn't give him any time to process what was happening. I sat myself down firmly on his lap without asking permission.

"Well isn't this a nice surprise-" I didn't let him finish. I wrapped my arms around his neck and began kissing him. It took a few seconds for him to register what was happening, but he began kissing me back. I was holding nothing back, and dove deeper into his mouth, showing him my intentions. I could hear the boys at the table gasp and begin whispering amongst themselves.

I was probably being too aggressive, but I had all this pent up anger inside of me. I had already started the morning disappointed that I didn't have the courage to kiss Eddie in the hallway, no matter how badly I wanted to. And now everyone was talking about my dating and love life and all the things that were being said about me were so far from the truth. I had heard them whispering about me and Kurt, calling me a slut, when I had done nothing to earn that title.

Eddie had nothing to lose by this very public display of affection, and if I was going down as a slut I would prefer to set the record straight about exactly who I was sleeping with. I wouldn't let them associate me with Kurt any longer. Eddie didn't seem to mind that I was using him to prove my point. He planted his hands firmly on my lower back to keep me steady as I went to town.

I didn't stop kissing him until I could hear more of the crowd reacting. At first a couple of students at nearby tables began whispering, then I heard a few cat call whistles. In a moment, the noise from the crowd became harmonious as the word about what I was doing was being spread around. When I could tell that most of the attention was on me, I finally came up for air. Eddie looked entirely pleased with what had just happened.

"New bucket list item: PDA in front of the whole school in the cafeteria. See you in detention," I said with a wink, wiping the sides of his mouth and not giving him a chance to reply. With that, I hopped up and started walking away until I reached the cafeteria doors. The stairs followed me, as well as a few students whooping and applauding my bold move. I was so over it by now, but at least I got my point across. I was Eddie's girl through and through. I didn't care to stay for lunch; I wasn't hungry for anything else.