Eddie Munson laid his head against the window of his family's sedan. They were driving through the countryside, greenery zooming by. He had been staring out of the window for a least an hour by now, and all he had seen was forests, dotted with farms every few miles.

He had spent his entire childhood moving around the Midwest, following his dad's job wherever it took them. Whenever they moved to a new city, he knew not to get attached to any friends from school. He had made that mistake all too often when he was younger, just to get his friends ripped away in two years' time.

Instead of continuing to stare out at the now dizzying scenery, Eddie focused his eyes on the interior of the car. He was sitting in the backseat, with bags and boxes mounted up to the car roof in the space next to him. His dad was silently driving as his mother dozed off, the only sound being the radio and her faint snores. Choosing to follow what his mom was doing, he closed his eyes, neglecting the novel that he had brought with him. Reading wasn't really his thing anyways. He just brought the book so that his parents would quit nagging him about how he doesn't perform well at school.

"Welcome to St. Francisville," Eddie's dad read off of a sign as they passed by it. "Population 3,000. Smallest town yet?"

Although they passed what would be presumed as the entrance of the town, signs of life became barely more common. They had passed a church with a few buildings surrounding it, which seemed to be the 'downtown', if you could even call it that.

Eventually Eddie felt the car come to a stop as his dad pulled into a dirt driveway. He peeked his head in between the two gray seats, looking through the windshield to see a two story, white house. He'd always had a two story house, no matter where they lived, even though he was an only child.

Eddie had gotten out of the car, fighting with his bags as he carried them up the steps and dropped them off by the door.

"Eddie, sweetie. Go say hi to the boy next door while we finish unloading the stuff?"

He just nodded. His mom was always worried about him 'making friends' whenever they moved to a new place – she didn't want him to just sit at home and wallow, or at least that's what she always assumed he did when he sat locked in his room. But really, he was probably just smoking weed or coming up with some revolutionary chord progression on his guitar.

Looking across the fenceline, there was another house, separated by just some grass and trees. This house had a barn, and leaned against the barn wall was a boy. He was wearing a white shirt and tucked into some old-looking blue jeans.

"Hi," he called out across the shrubbery, his voice carrying a slightly southern accent, but sounding mostly normal. Will made his way over to the boy. As Eddie got closer, the boy lowered his voice to a normal tone. He could now make out his features; he had messy brown hair, dark eyes, and was pretty tall. His jeans had a belt which secured them against his waist, a large buckle in the middle. He had a hand resting on the buckle.

"I heard you just moved in."

"Uhh….yeah. My parents move around a lot, I'm used to it. My name's Eddie Munson."

"Ah, I get it. I'm Steve. Steve Harrington. I've lived here my whole life, I don't know anywhere other than Francisville. How old are you?"

"I'm a senior. You?"

"Oh, same. If we're the same age, that means we gotta be best buddies, right?"

Goddamn, this boy was the definition of white and southern.

"There's a bus that takes us to school, and I just got hired to drive that route. So we'll see each other a lot." He pushed off of the barn wall with his foot, moving towards Eddie. He clapped a hand on his shoulder, causing Eddie to flinch a bit.

"Good meeting you." He stuck his hand out.

"Yeah…for sure." Eddie shook it back, looking into his eyes. They were surprisingly soft for a boy who looked so hard.

Steve left two small taps on Eddie's back with his hand. "I'll be expecting to see you around," he said with a wink, walking past his barn and towards his house.

"Eddie, dear, the bus is leaving soon!"

He didn't want to go to school. He hated having to sit in a class for eight hours every day, just to come home and have more homework. If he had his way, schools wouldn't give out homework anymore. One day, he would start a band and sell enough records that would never have to complete another assignment again. Or do any other work for that matter. He knew that his dreams were irrational.

He threw on some clothes, not even attempting to tame his frizzy hairdo.

"Eddie," his mom said as he rushed down the stairs, his bag in his hand. "Have a good first day, okay? Make sure you talk to the boy next door at school, his mom said you two are the same age. What was his name again?"

"Steve. Will do."

Yeah, right.

Eddie could see the bus parked under the shade on the main road, right by his house.

He glanced up at the bus driver, shooting his eyes off into the distance when he saw who it was.

"Howdy, Eddie. Reckon you're riled up for the first day already?"

"That's not exactly the wording that I would use…" Eddie said, as he walked up the stairs and peered down the bus aisle. The seats in the back of the bus were filled, leaving just a few rows open in the front.

Steve looked up in the rearview mirror, watching Eddie deliberate.

"Sit up front." He nodded his head directly behind him. "Keep me company. All the other scums on here stay at the back as if they're scared of me."

Once Eddie sat down, Steve set off down the road, glancing into the rearview mirror and occasionally making eye contact with Eddie.

Eddie didn't know why Steve was so friendly to him — they had just met yesterday. He was probably just putting too much thought into it. Southern hospitality, right?

Eddie looked up from the blue plastic tray of cafeteria food. None of it looked particularly appetizing, but he was going to eat it anyway. He would rather eat something that didn't taste the best instead of going hungry until he got home. Plus, it's not like his parents' cooking was much better.

The sound of laughter caused him to look up from his tray. There were three boys pushing each other around as they were walking to a table, laughing the whole time. At the back of the three boys was Steve. Eddie kept looking, staring at this point - at Steve - but Steve didn't notice. The other two boys were wearing t-shirts and shorts, contrasting with Steve's usual plaid button-up shirt which was tucked into blue jeans. Stereotypical farmer outfit. At this point, Eddie had given up on hoping that Steve would look at him, so instead he focused on comparing the three boys.

Compared to his two friends, Steve's height was in between the two boys. The taller boy was pretty muscular, as if he played some sport. Eddie could see how his biceps contracted as he set down his backpack on the floor. His hair was buzzed so that all you could see was the dark fuzz on the top of his head. The shorter friend was much lankier, his clothes hanging off of his frame. He had messy black hair, both shorter and darker than Steve's.

He still preferred Steve's hair, though. And his face.

The third-period bell rang. He had English next. While Eddie didn't necessarily appreciate school, he also didn't like walking around in the halls aimlessly. Most likely because he didn't have anyone to walk around with in the first place, but still. He just wanted to get to his next class as fast as possible so that he could sit down and zone out while the teacher talked for the next hour and a half.

When he entered the classroom, while there were a few people sitting down, his eyes immediately focused on Steve. He was staring out of the window, which afternoon light was spilling out of.

Eddie made his way over to the empty desk by him. As he slid into his seat, he heard Steve talk.

"Oh, hey, Eddie. We got English together?"

Eddie turned his head to look at Steve, his eyes grazing over Steve's face. He found his confidence, he knew he wouldn't embarrass himself.

"Yeah, I guess so? Nice to finally have a class with someone I know."

Eddie felt a tinge of nervousness in his stomach, but he felt it dissipate when a small grin spread onto Steve's face.

"Nice to see a new face too."

Steve dropped his voice down to a whisper.

"I'm not gonna lie, most of the kids at this school are either freaks or absolute cunts. I'm glad that you're normal."

"I'm not sure that I'm as normal as you might think-"

"Are you any decent at English? English is one of the damned classes that I could never get. With math, I was always good. Can't say the same for English though."

Eddie wasn't really good at anything at school, but if he had to choose one class to take for the rest of his life, it would probably be English. Reading and writing were the things that seemed to feel the most natural to him, only after playing the guitar. Of course, if there was a guitar class, that would be what he would choose to take for the rest of his life.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good with English, I guess. Funny, though. How you're good at math. I suck at math," Eddie said.

"Well, maybe I could come over after school if you'd like. I just gotta go to church with my mom and pap first. How's tonight? Maybe 8pm?"

"S-" Eddie started, but was cut off by the teacher.

"Good afternoon, class. My name is Mrs. Galligan. I'll be teaching your literature class this school year…"

"Sounds like a plan," Steve whispered, leaning over a little so that Eddie could hear him as he whispered over the teacher. "You help me, I'll help you."

Eddie didn't respond. In his periphery, he could see a small smile once again forming on Steve's face.

"8pm it is," Eddie muttered under his breath.

Great. I have a homework date with the boy next door.

"Good night, Preacher John," Steve's dad said as they each shook the preacher's hand. It was routine after Wednesday evening services they did this. They were passing by the tall ceiling of the church entrance, walking through the stained glass-paned doors past the preacher. The temperature had fallen since the sun had set, providing a cool breeze as Steve stepped outside with his parents.

His girlfriend, Nancy, was standing by his red truck. She was wearing his green bomber coat, leaning against it. "Goodnight mom, pap," Steve said, waving at his parents. "I'm gonna go over to Eddie's house and study with him after I drop off Nancy."

"Nice to see that you're making friends with the boy next door. Make sure you don't stay at his place too late," she said. "I wouldn't want you to keep the Munsons up too late."

"I know, mom. See you around." He nodded at his dad, who tilted his head in approval.

Steve walked over to his girlfriend. She was four inches shorter than Steve, her light brown hair was tucked behind her ears with a clear plastic headband.

"Hey, babe. Ready to go home?"

She nodded, and they both climbed into his truck. As Steve started the car, Nancy put a hand on his jaw, drawing his lips to hers. Every week after church, for the past two years, they would exchange a kiss in Steve's car before he drove her home. It was dark enough so that the churchgoers wouldn't see them, and they would have a moment of time alone where they could just sit with each other. Steve had always cherished how soft her lips were, and how she carefully wound her fingers through his hair as they kissed.

"Have a good first day at school?" Steve whispered, as he pulled away not more than an inch from her face.

"It went fine," she softly replied, keeping her hand steady on the back of Steve's head. "It went just like every other first day. Ain't nothing special that happened. How about yours?"

"Mine was good. I met the new boy next door. He goes by Eddie. He got dark curly hair, down past his shoulders. A little bit strange looking, but he's real nice. I think you would like him. I'm going over to his place to study after I drop you off. First day of school and I already got an English paper."

"That sucks. I know English ain't your favorite. It never was mine either. Hope he can help you good. Must be convenient that he's your neighbor, in this god awful rural town," she said, leaning back in the leather truck seat. He mirrored her action, sitting back into his own seat and putting the car into gear, flipping on the headlights.

She was a good girl, well spoken and pretty.

Steve had met her when they were 15, after he got put next to her in his American history class. While he had dated a ton of girls before her, he never felt happy with any of them. It was always some random girl that was obsessed with him, and he decided to give them a chance. After two weeks - or if they were lucky - a month, they would break up after he either found a new girl or just got tired of the old one.

With Nancy, it was different. She wasn't obsessed with him – in fact, at first she completely ignored him. It seemed like the only thing she focused on was schoolwork. Steve Harrington didn't get ignored by girls. That made him want her so much more. Eventually, she admitted to liking him and he asked her to the winter ball. They kissed at that dance, and ever since then, they had been a couple.

"Yeah," he finally responded. "It's real convenient."