Fall 1985

"Can I put on some music?"

"Not yet. Let me get used to driving Dad's car for a few minutes." Chrissy had always been a cautious-bordering-on-nervous driver. She passed her test without a problem, but, not having a car of her own, she didn't get a lot of practice. Chrissy breathed in slowly through her nose as she checked all three mirrors and eased her foot off the pedal to keep right at the speed limit. Cody fidgeted a little in the passenger's seat, but kept quiet as she drove into town. It was just the two of them today.

Yesterday she had pretended to be disappointed when she explained to her girlfriends and Jason that her parents were going to Indianapolis on Saturday and she had to babysit her brother all day.

"He's old enough to stay home alone," Jason said with a crease between his eyes when she told him.

"Yeah, but he has his heart set on going into town and my parents won't let him bike anywhere alone, not since the thing with the Byers kid, you know. So I have to drive him around."

"Do you have to," he asked, leaning over her and running his hand down the back of her arm.

"I promised him, Jason." She ended the conversation by lightly kissing his cheek and saying "sorry," in what the hoped was a convincing tone.

In reality, she was relieved to have the day to herself and Cody. It was easier being with him than with anyone else. Even when she had to babysit or he asked her for a favor, like driving into town to pick up books and movies, she never felt like he needed or wanted anything from her other than to just be there.

"We should get movies first," Cody said as they drove past the store fronts. "That place gets busy on Saturdays."

"Family Video it is," Chrissy replied, and eased the sedan into a parking spot. Cody sprang out of the car as soon as she turned off the engine. "Cody," she grunted as she stretched across to lock the passenger's door from the inside, "how many times?" He grinned sheepishly at her through the car window. He never locked the door before he got out, and she always did it for him. "Someday I'm going to dislocate my shoulder doing that and it will be your fault," she said as she stepped out of the car, clutching the keys in one hand and locking her own door with the other.

"It's not my fault you're short," Cody said, still grinning, then jumped back as Chrissy swiped at him, trying to grab his nose. "Still too short," he laughed.

"I'll get you one of these days, squirt," she said as she followed him through the doors of the store. "You can pick two," she called as he rushed into the aisles. Sweeping her gaze through the store, she paused when her eyes landed on the shape of a boy hunched behind the computer monitor. She braced herself, but when he straightened up and greeted her, she smiled in relief.

"Hey, Chrissy."

"Hi, Steve." A familiar, excited little zip tingled up the back of her spine. Every girl in her class had gone through at least one phase of desperately pining for Steve Harrington, and she was no exception. Even though it had been a short-lived crush that she had gotten over years ago, she still felt a thrill every time he remembered her name. "Robin, hi," she added as the girl in matching vest loped over, raising a hand in greeting. "Just the two of you in today?"

"Uh, yeah." Steve furrowed his brow and looked around, apparently confused. "Why?"

Chrissy opened her mouth, but couldn't decide on what to say. Robin saved her from having to explain herself.

"Don't worry. Keith isn't in today."

"Oh," Chrissy said, trying to keep her tone neutral.

"'Don't worry'?" Steve echoed.

"Yeah," Robin chuckled. Chrissy blushed as Robin went on. "Last time she was in here when Keith was working the counter, he literally drooled on the cover of the tape she borrowed. Literal. Drool. On the tape."

"Ugh," Steve winced.

"I know," Robin wrinkled her nose "It was gross. Anyway, I think he's working over at the bookstore today."

"Thanks," Chrissy nodded, hoping that her blush had subsided.

"So," Steve leaned one elbow on the counter. "How's Jason? I mean, assuming you're still together. Ouch!"

"Oh, sorry," said Robin. "Did I accidentally kick you?"

"He's good," Chrissy answered, politely ignoring the interruption. Robin had always been clumsy. Chrissy once saw her take down half the brass section of marching band with a badly-timed turn. "He's team captain now, you know. And he's excited about tryouts. The guys really miss you, though." And the girls do, too, she added in her head. Before she could embarrass herself by laughing at her own silent joke, Cody appeared at her side.

"Did you find something?"

"Yeah," he put two boxes into her hands. "Lawrence of Arabia and And The Muppets Take Manhattan."

"Of course," Steve said. "Two things that make perfect sense together."

Chrissy placed the tapes on the counter, fished her wallet out of her bag, and handed over a few bills and their punch card.

"Excellent choices, young sir." Robin smiled as she tapped on the computer keyboard. Chrissy watched with interest, and moved closer to the monitor. As Steve started talking about muppets with Cody, Chrissy leaned towards Robin.

"Hey, um, is that difficult?"

"What?"

"The computer. Is it hard to learn how to use it?"

"Oh. Uh, well I guess it depends on what you want to do with it. For stuff like this, no, it's not hard. It's a little confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's actually kind of fun."

"Cool," Chrissy nodded.

"Yeah." After a pause, Robin went on. "You know, they have extra-curricular computer classes at school."

"Oh, yeah, I know. I just thought they were for the science students or something."

"Not really, they're for everyone. You should take one, if you're interested."

"Maybe," Chrissy shrugged as her heart sank a little. She knew how the conversation would go with her parents if they saw computer classes on her schedule for next semester. "But, why," they would ask. "Honey, why? You don't need that." She felt Robin's eyes on her face, and avoided her gaze by turning to Cody.

"All set?"

He nodded, showing her the videos and the new punch in the card in his hands, and then pressed lightly against her side. He always knew when she wanted comfort, sometimes before she knew it herself. A cowlick had sprung up at the center of his head. She automatically ran her fingers over his hair to press it down. Pulling out a bright smile, she thanked Robin and Steve, waved, and left the store with Cody in tow.

They could have walked to the bookstore, but Chrissy drove them there instead. She parked directly in front of the entrance, then turned in her seat and made sure her brother was looking at her before she started talking.

"Cody, would you be okay going into the store alone?"

"Yeah, of course. You don't want to go in?"

"I'd rather not today, but you go in and get what you want." She fished her wallet out of her bag again and counted out some money for him. "I'm just going to wait right here. If you need anything or feel weird even for a second you come outside or wave to me from the window and I'll be right in, okay?"

"Okay," he said, looking a little nervous and excited.

"Go on," she nodded at the door. "Take your time. I'll be waiting right here."

Cody stuffed the money into his pocket and got out of the car, smiled at her through the window, and disappeared into the bookstore.

She settled back in the seat, both reassuring herself and hoping that he would be fine. Cody knew not to go anywhere with strangers, and even if someone did manage to get him out the back door, Chrissy would still be able to see them. It was broad daylight, after all, and if Chrissy could do one thing, it was shout. She really didn't think that anything bad was likely to happen, though, and by going in alone, Cody would be able to enjoy himself and take his time. If she went in there too, he might feel pressured to rush if he felt that Chrissy wanted to leave in order to avoid Keith. It wasn't that she was scared of Keith or even intimidated by him. It would just be better for everyone if they didn't cross paths again.

Chrissy had told Jason about the incident at Family Video over the phone the evening after it happened. She intended it to be a funny story, but instead of laughing together about how gross it was, Jason and Chrissy ended up in their first and only full-blown fight. Jason said he would kick Keith's ass, Chrissy told him he'd better not and shouldn't even think about it, which upset Jason even more. Chrissy was confused and annoyed at how he was turning something stupid into a big deal and why he wouldn't calm down. Jason couldn't understand why she didn't think it was a big deal or why she wanted him to calm down about it. The argument ended when Chrissy loudly burst into tears of frustration and Jason quickly apologized for upsetting her before she hung up on him. The next day, Jason apologized again and brought her flowers. She hugged him tightly and told him that she never wanted to fight again. He promised that they wouldn't, and they hadn't. Still, Chrissy wasn't about to take any chances, for her her own sake as well as Keith's.

Chrissy listened to the sound of her breath in the otherwise silent car. It was nice, being alone in the quiet. Every day at school or with her friends was loud and busy, and every day at home was… Chrissy's stomach clenched. She didn't want to think about home. Her mind scrambled away, searching for something else to grab onto. Computer classes. If they didn't interfere with cheerleading, she could probably sign up for some without her parents knowing. This was Chrissy's last year of high school, and she needed to think about her future. She knew that no one expected her to have a big career, that wasn't even something she dreamed of, but she should be able to do something useful, something to earn a living. But no one even expected that from her. It was something she had picked up on before, but it was made clear a couple weeks ago when Chrissy requested that her parents take her to the college fair.

"Honey, why?" Mom laughed lightly. "You don't want to go to college."

"But, I have good grades," Chrissy forced the words through her tightening throat. "And most of the girls in my class are planning to go to college."

"Well, you're not most girls, are you, sweetie? You're special." Mom tapped a perfectly manicured finger under Chrissy's chin. "God didn't give you that pretty face for nothing. Just you wait. Something better than college will come your way. I'll make sure of it."

That night, without really considering why she was doing it, Chrissy counted and recounted the stack of cash she had secreted into a slit in her mattress. It was most of her allowance money and what she had earned from babysitting over the last few years. It wasn't much, it did give her a little comfort. It made her feel like she might be able to buy herself some options down the road. In case of an emergency. But she didn't like to think about what that might mean.

Computer classes, though, seemed like something she might be able to do, something useful. More useful than cheerleading, anyway, though probably not as fun. Chrissy spun the window crank, lowering it all the way down so she could lean her elbow out of the car and rest her head in her hand. The morning air was chilly, but the sun was warm. Her mind wandered as she tried to imagine what her life would be like after cheerleading and after high school. What did she want to do? Chrissy let herself wonder.

...

Eddie ran his finger across the line of book spines and tried to concentrate on the printed titles while Henderson, who was supposed to be helping him find a copy of Greyhawk, continued his unending monologue about Susie. Even though Wheeler and Sinclair had assured him that she was real, Eddie was still not completely convinced that this girl existed. His new recruits were an odd bunch, odder even than Eddie's usual crew, and it wouldn't have been the first time Eddie heard talk of a "long-distance" girlfriend over a D&D board. But, the freshman were surprisingly consistent and confident about the existence of Susie, though they didn't say much about her. They came as a pack with their own language and plenty of secrets, and even though Eddie was curious, he didn't pry. Much. He liked Henderson and didn't want the kid wasting his time on a delusion. But, if Susie was real…who was he to interfere with the course of true love?

Sighing, Eddie kept trying to focus his attention on the task at hand. Concentrating on anything was hard enough without a freshman jabbering in his ear, and an ache was beginning behind Eddie's eyes from the effort.

"Hey," he finally interrupted, turning to the kid hovering his left elbow, "can you try for one second to- oh, wait" Eddie spluttered, because the kid at his left elbow wasn't Dustin. "What the hell," he spun until he saw Henderson leaning against the bookshelf on the opposite side of the aisle, behind Eddie's back. "Dude," Eddie gestured at Dustin's slouched posture, "Are you even looking? You're the one who said that you needed more lore to fully appreciate the campaign."

"Sorry," Dustin lisped as he straightened, looking shamefaced enough to twinge Eddie's conscience.

"Honestly," he put on an fake stuffy voice to turn the whole thing into a joke. "The lack of motivation in today's youth," Eddie gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes and looked down at the mystery kid at his elbow. "Tragic. Don't you agree?"

"Indubitably." The sandy-haired boy nodded seriously.

"That's exactly what I say," Eddie replied, the corners of his mouth twitching into an amused smile. He paused before turning away. The boy looked familiar, but Eddie couldn't think why. He squinted, trying to place him. The boy shifted his weight back and forth between his feet and tilted his head backward. Eddie followed his upward gaze to a high shelf, then looked back down at the kid. The skin between his eyes was puckered, and his mouth twisted into a knot. "You okay, there," Eddie asked.

"Hmm," the boy scanned his eyes over Eddie and Dustin before speaking. "I think it's time for me to read Lord of the Rings."

Even without looking, Eddie felt Dustin perk up. "Well," he tilted his head to the side, "if you think it's time for you to embark on a fantasy adventure of epic proportions, then that sounds right to me."

"You should read The Hobbit first, though," Dustin chimed in, leaning around Eddie to address the kid directly.

The boy nodded earnestly, also leaning around Eddie to reply to Dustin. "But there's a conundrum."

"Oh?" Dustin adjusted his "Thinking Cap." Whether the gesture was intentional or not, Eddie wasn't sure.

"I can't reach them," the boy pointed at the group of Tolkien books in a row on the top shelf, then moved his finger to indicate the ladder at the end of the aisle. "There's a note on the ladder saying that only members of staff can climb on it, but I don't want to talk to the member staff more than I have to, and I definitely don't want to ask him for a favor."

"Member of staff?" Eddie craned his neck around, peering through the empty spaces between the shelves to see the guy standing behind the counter. "You mean Keith?"

"Ah," Dustin grimaced, apparently in commiseration. "You must have a sister."

The boy nodded. When Eddie blinked in confusion, Dustin leaned back to bring him into the conversation. "Keith has a history of trying to trade favors for dates with sisters."

"Seriously?" Eddie wrinkled his nose.

"He hasn't tried it yet," The boy shrugged, "but he did drool on her once, so I don't want to risk it."

Dustin giggled maniacally in what sounded like equal parts disgust and amusement.

"Oh, for f-Pete's sake," Eddie groaned. He made his way to the end of the aisle and returned wheeling the ladder along its rail. He only had to climb on to the first step in order to reach the shelf, but he heard the boy gasp.

"You're breaking the rules," came an awed whisper.

"I like to live dangerously." Eddie grinned despite himself as he collected the four books. Just to give the boys a thrill, he jumped down with a flourish. Handing them over to the kid, Eddie studied his smiling face. Where the hell had he seen him before? He couldn't figure it out.

"Those are my favorite books," Dustin interrupted Eddie's thoughts.

"Yeah," Eddie added, "mine too."

"Cool," the boy said, tracing his finger over the illustration on the cover of The Hobbit. "Thank you."

"Sure," Eddie replied. "You all set?"

The boy nodded and turned. As he brought his books to the counter, Eddie followed at a distance and lurked nearby, just in case, but Keith didn't make any weird requests as he rang up the purchases. The kid bounced out of the store without a backward glance just as Henderson appeared.

"They don't have it here."

"It was a long shot. I lent mine to Gareth last year, he should have read it by now. I'll ask him to hand it over to you."

"Okay," Dustin beamed. "I'm going to go to Family Video, wanna come with?"

"I don't have a VCR, man," Eddie chuckled.

"Well you can come say hi to Steve and Robin."

"Who and who?"

"Oh come on. Steve Harrington-"

"Steve Harrington? You want to go say hi to Steve Harrington?"

"He's a cool guy! I think you'd like him."

"I think you're delusional." Eddie pushed open the door and held it as Dustin walked through, laughing.

"You've just got to get to know him," Dustin smiled as he rolled his bike out of the stand.

"Pass" Eddie said over his shoulder, walking to his van.

"You'll see!" Dustin shouted as he pedaled away.

"Yeah," Eddie muttered. "I'll see pigs fly."

...

The door to the bookstore opened and Chrissy snapped out of her reverie. Cody was there, arms full of books, perfectly healthy and happy. Smiling, Chrissy leaned over to open the door for him. He plopped into the seat with the books on his lap.

"I see you found something to tide you over," she said, and waited for Cody to maneuver the seatbelt across his body without knocking over the book stack before she turned the key in the ignition.

"I have decided," he said in a solemn voice, "that it is time for me to read Lord of the Rings."

"Alright then," she replied. "Sounds serious."

"I have been told that it is a fantasy adventure of epic proportions."

"Who told you that?"

"The guy who got them down from the shelf for me. "When Chrissy furrowed her eyebrows, Cody went on. "They were up too high for me to reach and there was a note saying that only staff were allowed to stand on the ladder, but I didn't want to ask that weird guy who works there for help, but there was someone else there and he saw me looking at the books and just went up on the ladder to get them anyway even though he wasn't supposed to and he said they were his favorite books."

"Oh," Chrissy said, not sure if she should worry about that story.

"Dio," Cody nearly shouted.

"What?"

"That's him, the guy from the bookstore." Cody pointed at a tall, long haired boy standing in the doorway with his back turned towards the street.

"His name is Dio?"

"No," Cody answered, "that's the name on his jacket. I don't know his name."

Not-Dio held the door open as another, shorter boy walked through, laughing at something. As the taller boy turned around, a brief sensation of deja vu shivered through her mind along with recognition.

"That's Eddie Munson."

"You know him?"

"I know who he is. I go to school with him."

"He's in your class?"

"He is now. He's been held back." Chrissy's eyes involuntarily followed Eddie as he walked towards a van parked nearby.

"He's cool," Cody said. "I wish he was in my class."

"Well, maybe he'll still be in high school by the time you get there." As the words came out of her mouth, Chrissy regretted them. She felt their meanness twist in her chest, and winced. Why had she said that? Why did she even think that?

"What?" Cody blinked as Chrissy turned to him. Deja vu swept through her again, stronger now, and familiar. She felt this way sometimes when she looked at Cody. It was like looking at a reflection of her younger self. A face almost exactly like hers, but not quite. Another person looking at her with her own eyes.

Chrissy blinked, too. "Nothing. I shouldn't have said that." She turned and braced herself against the passenger's seat to look out the rear window as she backed the car out of the parking spot. She should tell Cody not to talk to Eddie Munson. He was trouble, and Cody shouldn't get into the habit of hanging out with trouble kids.

Chrissy had already started to silently fret about how Cody was going to do in high school. Not about his grades, she suspected that he was already much smarter than she was at his age and Chrissy had always been able to do well in her classes, but about everything else. Cody was good at pretty much anything he tried–baseball, hockey, track–but he never seemed to comfortably fit in with any of the teams he joined for a season. More than anything, he liked being left alone to his own devices, and wanted to read books more than he wanted to talk with people. This didn't seem to bother Cody at all, but it bothered Chrissy because she didn't want him to be alone in high school. He needed a group of friends, a team, because she wouldn't be there to look out for him, to set herself up as a barrier between him and boys like… boys like Jason, the unwelcome voice in her mind whispered.

Cody didn't look or act like trouble, but she suspected that he didn't really care what other people thought about him, and that could get him into trouble fast. And Chrissy cared. She didn't want anyone to call her brother a freak. Or to say mean things about him behind his back for no reason, she chided herself. Boys like Jason and girls like me. We're the ones who pick on people who don't fit in.

She shifted gears and pulled out onto the road, thinking of Eddie Munson's long hair and patched clothes. Aside from generally making her uncomfortable and nervous, Eddie had never actually said or done anything bad to her. Had he ever said anything at all to her? The image of him holding open the door to the bookstore flashed in her mind. It felt connected to some other memory she could't quite grasp. As she tried to bring it into focus, Cody interrupted her thoughts.

"Can I put on some music now? Please?"

"Sure." Whatever she had been reaching for was gone.

Cody clicked on the radio and spun the dial through a string of voices and static until he landed on one of the rock stations. The song sounded vaguely familiar to Chrissy, but Cody clearly recognized it because he instantly started drumming his hands on on the books in his lap and nodding his head along with the singer's voice. Chrissy glanced over at her grinning brother with his hair flopping over his eyes. She smiled too, and turned up the volume.

-was a little more to life somewhere else. After all it was a great big world, with lots of places to run to. Yeah and if she had to die tryin' she had one little promise she was gonna keep. Oh yeah, all right, take it easy baby…

...

Eddie stopped moving the radio needle in his van as he approached the intersection. He usually stuck with metal as a rule, but he'd heard this song before and remembered that there were some gnarly guitar riffs at the end. It didn't rock as hard as the stuff Eddie liked, but the sound was good. A sedan in front of him turned left onto the cross street. Through the window he caught the profiles of the sandy-haired boy in the passenger's seat drumming and bouncing in place next to a smiling girl behind the wheel. The flash of recognition hit him square in the chest, followed by the outward pull of an old longing, as unexpected and sharp as if it were new. Feeling juvenile and embarrassed, he forced his attention back to the road as he rolled up to the stop sign. Letting his foot off the brake, he turned his van in the opposite direction and sped away, dialing up the volume on his radio.

-crept back in her memory. God it's so painful, something that's so close is still so far out of reach. Oh yeah, all right, take it easy baby, make it last all night. She was an American girl…