As I hurried my way through the crowds in the hallway, I heard a familiar voice calling my name from behind me. I should have known he would follow me. After a stunt like that, I too would want to know what was up.

I slowed down to let him catch up, but I didn't stop walking. Good thing I was practically a social pariah at this point, because the students in the hall were more than happy to give me a wide berth.

"Annie, wait up," I heard again from behind. This time I turned around and let Eddie catch up to me. He waited until he was in better earshot before speaking. People nearby were definitely paying attention, hoping to have first access into the next chapter of the drama that is my life.

"While I'm not opposed to what happened back there, I'm inclined to ask if you're feeling alright," Eddie said, his eyes scanning my face for any sign of how I was feeling.

"I think I'm in shock," I said truthfully. I wasn't used to being paid much attention, and now the whole school knew my name and was throwing it around without caution.

"Do you wanna ditch 5th period and talk about it?" Eddie offered nonchalantly.

"Absolutely," I agreed. The adrenaline was wearing off and I was a little shaken. I didn't know where I was headed or what to do with myself. He placed a hand on my back and guided me down the hallway and out onto the courtyard. The weather had warmed up considerably since the morning and it wasn't so frigid outside anymore. We didn't speak as we walked side by side, the echo of our footsteps accompanied the silence.

I wasn't sure where we were headed until we reached the line of the woods behind the school. Eddie continued towards a makeshift path, still encouraging me to follow along. The leaves were turning amber and ochre at the turn of the season and peppered the pathway, leaving the ground below us slick. We walked through the trees until I could see a clearing with a single adandoned picnic table. The wood was old and half covered in moss. We were just far enough away from the school that no one would find us.

"This isn't the beginning of some Friday the 13th episode where Jason Vorhees finds us alone in the woods, is it?" I asked, stepping gingerly around fallen leaves and branches to make it into the clearing.

"No, that Jason only preys on horny teens," Eddie said casually.

"Well in that case, you're his next victim. Your clock is ticking, Munson," I said, shaking my head as I made my way toward the bench.

"Then I'm totally taking you down with me," he said, moving quickly to grab me from behind before I could get away and pulling me back into his chest.

"Hey!" I said, struggling against his grasp. "I'm too young to die!"

"She's right here Jason!" He shouted into the woods and laughed as I continued to try and squirm away.

"Not fair, the girl always dies first." I said, resigned that if it was a battle of strengths, this was one I was going to lose. I stopped struggling and shifted so I could face him while his arms remained around me.

"I'll write a beautiful eulogy," he said with a smile. He had a way of lightening the mood at all times, I almost forgot why we had come out here in the first place.

"You better," I said, returning the smile. I wanted so badly to kiss him but I wasn't sure if that was wise given what had just gone down. Instead, I slowly released myself from his grasp to settle myself down at the picnic table. Eddie sat down on the bench next to me. I rested my hand on my chin and took a deep breath.

"So… do you want to tell me what's inspired that little performance in the cafeteria?" Eddie began, like he didn't already know.

"Oh geez… I'm sorry for whoring you out in front of the whole cafeteria. Although apparently it's very on brand for me now…" I said, a hint of anger and sarcasm in still my voice.

"Don't apologize, I appreciate being on the receiving end of your pent up rage," he said. I knew there was some truth to that because he hadn't faught my overeager advances once he realized what was happening.

"I can't believe I'm the subject of quite possibly the stupidest, and least believable school scandal this semester." I complained, turning to look at him. I brought my legs up to sit cross legged on the bench. "I feel like I don't even know the half of what is being said. Did you hear anything in particular?"

"Yeah I'm not the kind of guy people usually speak openly to, but I noticed something was up when kids who would normally avoid me were making eye contact and whispering. At first I thought it was because of Jason, but I kept hearing your name in passing. Henderson was starting to tell me what he heard when you interrupted us in the cafeteria," he said. It sounded like he was trying to keep himself calm, but a bit of anger also colored his tone of voice.

"What did you hear," I demanded, afraid there was more going around than just the details that Claire had told me in the hallway.

"Like I said, Henderson hadn't gotten very far when you showed up…" he said, leaning his elbows on the table and making a steeple with his fingers. I could tell he was being careful with his words, trying to shield me from the truth of what he knew.

"I don't believe you," I replied after a brief pause. He closed his eyes while taking a deep breath. Then he continued.

"I know Annie, but if I repeat what I heard there is a very real chance I'm going to go back there and seriously hurt someone, so I'm trying to stay distracted."

Woah. I hadn't realized how much all of this was affecting him. I reached out and put a hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry. You must deal with this crap and people talking behind your back all the time." I did feel bad for him, as I had learned through exposure that most of his bad reputation was over exaggerated and undeserved. And here I was crashing into his life and bringing him into my scandal, causing more chaos.

"It's not myself I'm worried about," Eddie said, turning back to me. "It doesn't matter what they say about me. I'm sorry I didn't come find you sooner or put an end to this. Seriously, are you okay? What can I do?"

"Actually, going back and hurting Kurt in particular wouldn't be the worst thing. I should have punched him when I had the chance," I said bluntly. He laughed at my tenacity.

"He's honestly lucky I didn't find out sooner because I would not have been able to stop myself. The only thing that stopped me from going after him was your little act in the cafeteria. And while I absolutely don't mind being your play thing, I'm having a hard time understanding why you did it. Just this morning you were being much more cautious about displaying your affections," Eddie said. He wasn't wrong.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I wanted to kiss you this morning, but I started to let what people would say get to my head. And as soon as you left I realized how silly and uptight I was being. I never want to make you feel like I don't want to be seen with you, but I was scared. This is all so new. But I guess the entire school thinking I was hooking up with Kurt brought things into perspective. And if everyone was going to continue talking about who I was sleeping with, I wanted to make sure they had an accurate understanding of where my allegiance lies."

"I'd say you got your point across," Eddie said as a playful jab.

"You think?" I laughed. "I'm so sorry for practically mauling you, but I was so mad anyone would even think I'd give Kurt the time of day. I had to do something to get my point across,"

"Please stop apologizing for making out with me in public. It was hot." Eddie laughed.

"Really? I would think you'd hate PDA," I said truthfully.

"Normally I would, but when a beautiful girl sits on your lap and wants to have her way with you, you don't complain." He laughed again.

"Shut up," I said, a little embarrassed that he called me beautiful. He gave me a look that said stop denying the truth.

"I do have to admit, I felt powerful doing it. Maybe it wasn't the most sane decision, but at least for a brief moment I was in control of my narrative."

"I don't know where this version of you came from, but I like it," he said with a grin.

"What can I say, you inspire me," I said, rolling my eyes.

"You know, I do feel a bit responsible," he said. "Like this all wouldn't have happened to you if you weren't involved with me."

"Don't do that," I said, shaking my head. He was teetering on the edge of ruining a good thing by taking responsibility where it wasn't owned.

"Do what?" He said with a confused tone.

"You aren't responsible for this. You're the one thing about this whole mess that makes sense. Don't sow doubt into that." He was taken aback for a moment from my honesty.

"I'm not trying to. It just feels fair to warn you that hanging around with a guy like me usually illicits a different response from our peers. After this weekend you're already grounded for life, secured a week of detention, and the whole school is now talking about your love life. Are you sure you can handle all of the implications of being with a guy like me?" I could tell he had already been thinking about this, and I was worried he would be inclined to step away from the whole thing if it meant protecting me. And that scared me more than being grounded and being the topic of a school scandal did.

"Eddie, A couple of weeks ago hardly anyone in school had a strong opinion of me. I was on track to graduate in the middle of the road, and in about 5 years, my classmates would have had a hard time recalling my last name. And maybe that wouldn't have been so bad, but it would have also meant I spent all of high school being who someone else wanted me to be. And in the time I have gotten to know you, I've learned more about myself than I did in 4 years coasting through high school. So don't go thinking you're going to be the thing that ruins me for good. I feel like I'm finally starting to figure out who I am, and I'm allowed to enjoy that person. I'm going to make mistakes, but at least I'm learning. I feel like that never would have happened if you hadn't pushed me in the right direction. And maybe that's entirely too honest, but if today taught me anything it's that I shouldn't let what others think about me stop me from going after what I really want." I was practically out of breath when I was done, and didn't know what else to say, but I hope that I was able to articulate my intentions.

"Did you hear what you just said?" Eddie asked after a beat.

"Yeah…" I said, confused about what he was getting at.

"Now take all of that, and apply it to how you approach your parents." He urged.

"That's different," I began to argue. Why was he talking about my parents at a time like this?

"Is it, though? Yeah, it's a bit more complicated because they birthed you and raised you and all that. But you owe them nothing by simply existing, which you had no say in."

"Yeah, but…"

"No but. You're stronger than you think. You don't give yourself enough credit, and you're giving me far too much. I'm not the one who punched Kurt," he said teasingly, and I let out a little chuckle.

"Seriously, I think your parents deserve to be challenged a little bit. You're not going to be with them forever, and they need to respect that or they'll lose you," Eddie said. If anyone understood complicated relationships with parents, it was him.

"I don't want to talk about my parents," I said decisively, shying away from the issue. I hadn't shared the details of how my parents reacted on Saturday morning, and I wasn't sure I was ready to. I needed to deal with the at hand crisis before I could focus on the one at home.

"Sure, no problem." He said, backing off the topic.

"What time is it?" I asked. "When should we head back?"

"We don't have to head back just yet. We could always do an encore of the cafeteria act…" Eddie said, turning towards me and bringing his leg around to straddle the bench. "Here, I'll even let you sit on my lap," he said as he patted his thighs.

I swung one leg out over the bench and made to stand as though I was going to oblige his request and sit on his lap. I placed either hand on his shoulder and leaned down to his face to whisper, "That's how Jason Vorhees gets us." I straightened up to stand and stepped out from the bench. Eddie let out a frustrated groan.

"Ever the tease, but you're probably right. You just let me know if you ever want to come back here to do more than just talk," he said with a suggestive tone, standing up from the picnic table and holding out a hand to me.

"You wish," I said, taking his hand.

"Get your head out of the gutter, Cooper, I was talking about getting high," Eddie said with a full smile.

"Sure you were…" I said, shaking my head, but leaning into him. He welcomed me into his arms and I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"For what it's worth, I'm not going anywhere." He said after a moment. "Not as long as you want me."

"You better not, I don't think I could handle another crisis," I said dramatically. He leaned down and kissed my forehead and then lead the way back through the woods.

We walked back into the school right as fifth period was ending, still holding hands. I had no qualms about who saw us or what they had to say anymore. Unfortunately we were walking down the science wing right when Kurt was coming out of his chemistry class. Because god forbid I can have one moment of peace before it's followed by another disaster.

As soon as we saw Kurt, Eddie's grip tightened on my hand. "I'm gonna kill him," he muttered under his breath.

"Not yet. Wait here, please." I asked.

"But…"

"Eddie, give me a chance to fight my own battle before you castrate him. If I need you, I'll let you know." He huffed a frustrated sigh but let me go. I was grateful that he was willing to give me a chance to fix things on my own instead of demanding to defend me.

I walked up to Kurt and his buddies who were following him like flies on shit, which was apropos to the way they behaved. Was he never not surrounded by 3 to 4 jackasses?

"Can I talk to you for a second," I asked in a flat tone. His friends snickered. I'm sure Kurt painted a very vivid image of all the things that never actually happened.

"Go ahead," Kurt said. There were zero niceties in his reply.

"Alone?" I urged.

He gave me a tired look and stepped away a couple of paces from his friends.

"I need you to tell everyone we never slept together," I demanded, getting right to the point.

"I don't know where that idea came from," he said with a laugh.

"But you're not denying it either! Everyone is talking about us, if you haven't noticed. Where else did they get the idea"

"What people have to say when I'm not around is none of my business," he shrugged.

"Why are you acting like this? I've been nothing but nice to you, Kurt." I said. Even when he had been painfully oblivious to my disinterest, I had let him down easy each time.

"You assaulted me on the dance floor!" He bit back.

"Okay, assault is a strong word, and you absolutely deserved it for the things you were saying about Eddie, I argued back.

"I don't know why you're still defending that freak, and I don't see why I should have to do anything for a whore," he spat at me. He seemed disinterested in continuing the conversation but I was just getting started.

"I think you're forgetting that I can play dirty too, Kurt… and rumors spread like wildfire around Hawkins." I was ready to fight with fire if that's what it took.

"Hey, I didn't start the rumors" he argued.

"Kurt, if you don't tell your friends that you lied, and tell everyone we never slept together, then I will tell anyone who's willing to listen that you've got just about as much to show in your pants as Jason Carver does." I said boldly.

"You wouldn't," he shot back.

"Try me. You want them to think we slept together, then I'm at will to share the gritty details." I said. "If you want a chance with any other girl in Hawkins, you know what you have to do."

"Oh screw you Annie," he said turning to go. I think he was trying to call my bluff by ending the conversation.

"Tell them or I do!" I said loud enough for him to hear as he walked away. Only time would tell, but I felt like I had won that battle.

"How'd it go?" Eddie asked, as Kurt sauntered away and I headed back to him.

"I can't be certain, but I think the tides will change soon. No girl will get within 5 feet of Kurt if he doesn't listen to me, and he's smart enough not to risk that."

"What did you say?"

"I simply told him if he didn't confess the truth and admit we didn't sleep together, I'd tell the whole school that he and Jason had a lot more in common than just being airhead jocks." I said proudly.

"You are something else," he said, smiling at me as the final bell for the period ran.

"I'll see you in detention?" I asked.

"I'm looking forward to it, which is another first," He said, leaning in for a kiss which I didn't deny him this time. It didn't matter who saw us anymore.