Chapter Two: A Boy Named Eddie

Technically, Eddie should have graduated years ago. He just didn't feel like conforming to the school system or to the people around him. He had always been an outcast, a freak. It didn't bother him. It never had. He embraced the taunts and the words spat at him.

Having grown up in Hawkins, Eddie was among those shocked with the disappearance of Will Byers and Clara Cunningham. Things like that didn't happen in their small town and he was one of the few to notice the drastic changes in Clara when she was found. He was also probably the only one who considered Chrissy and Jason's relationship to be utter shit. He had been around when Jason had been cooing over his relationship with Clara one day and then the next, he was dating the other Cunningham twin.

Then everything changed again. Clara was suddenly dating that asshole Billy Hargrove, who actually seemed like a decent guy when Clara was around. But the metalhead wasn't oblivious to the fingermark bruises around Clara's wrists.

When Billy died, once more, Clara changed. Eddie was certain he was the only one to notice it. She withdrew even further into herself, only opening up with a select few… he didn't have the privilege to be in that group.

Yet.

Sooner or later Clara would see that he wasn't as awful was everyone said. Yes, he didn't like conforming to the structure around him. Yes, he was failing his senior year for a third time. Yes, he was often very, very high, but he was a nice guy. The people around him just didn't see that. She didn't see that.

Standing in the middle of the cafeteria, the left corner of Eddie's mouth twisted up in a half smirk seeing Clara sitting all alone. He strutted over to her.
"Mind if I join you, beautiful?" She looked up at him, heading tilting to the side.
"Depends. How many times are you going to mention that game you play today?"
"As many times as I can, sweetheart," he answered. She rolled her eyes at him, focusing on her homework in front of her.
"Sit down and shut up, Munson."

He did as she said. He knew from the way she glanced up at him, it had surprised her that he hadn't argued. She caught him looking and flushed, looking away. Good to know that he could get that type of reaction from her.

A few of his group Jeff, Gareth, and Marcus, wandered over, sitting down beside him, on the opposite side of Clara. Eddie saw her shoulders go up defensively. Even after weeks of this routine, she obviously couldn't get used to Eddie's group sitting with her. She was becoming known more and more of part of their group of "freaks".
"Did you get the paper today?" Jeff asked. "There's was an expo on DnD I wanted to read."
"Oh, you mean the one where parents are finally starting to realize how cursed it is?" Clara muttered lowly.

Her words made Eddie sit up straighter. She never spoke up when they joined her, other than their earlier conversation. Maybe there was hope for this one after all.
"Do you, have it?" Eddie asked. She looked up at him, brushing a brown curl from her forehead.
"Why would I bring the paper to school?"
"Because you're weird," Gareth mumbled.

He ducked at the glare Eddie sent him.
"You probably read it once and memorized it," Jeff said. "What did it say?"
She shook her head, "I don't memorize stuff like that. I memorize stuff that matters. Like verbs and conjunctions."

With a roll of his eyes, Eddie ignored the poke at his failing English grade… well, he mostly ignored it. For some reason it hurt more when she taunted him then when anyone else did it.
"If someone would tutor me, maybe I would know what you're talking about," he shot back at her.
"I didn't bring the paper because it wasn't in the paper. It was Newsweekly." Shuffling through her backpack, she pulled out the newspaper and held it out to them.

Snatching it from her hand, Eddie flipped to the back pages and began reading off the expo with dramatic flair.
The Devil has come to America. "Dungeons and Dragons, at first regarded as a harmless game of make-believe, now has both parents and psychologists concerned. Studies have linked violent behavior to the game, saying it promotes satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, sodomy, suicide, and even… MURDER!"

He started laughing along with the other boys as Dustin Henderson and Mike Wheeler sat down next to Clara. Eddie had befriended the two freshmen near the beginning of the school year, and he never let them forget it.
"Society has to blame something," Marcus said. "We're an easy target."
"Exactly," Eddie agreed, arms crossing at his chest. "We're the freaks because we like to play a fantasy game. But…"

Slamming his hands onto the table, Eddie stood, pushing his chair back. He climbed onto the table, walking across it.
"… as long as you're into band. Or science… or parties." He sneered at that table, a guy flipping him off, much to Clara's amusement. She cracked a smile, one he caught momentarily before looking to the basketball team. "Or a game where you toss BALLS INTO LAUNDRY BASKETS!"

There came boos and Jason got up from his seat. He glared at Eddie.
"You want something freak?" Eddie stuck his tongue out, hands going to his head like horns. The table laughed, all but Clara, as the two had a brief stare down. Eddie broke eye-contact with a smirk, walking across the table back to his chair.
"It's forced conforming. That's what's… KILLING THE KIDS!"

He jumped off the table and turned to his group with a slight bow as they laughed at him.
"That's the real monster," he finished. He grinned at Clara, taking a bite of his lunch. She shook her head at him, a tiny smile playing on her lips. Eddie would do anything to keep that smile, but it disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared when Henderson started talking. For the first time since he met the kid, Eddie wanted to strangle him.
"So, uh, speaking of monsters, uh, Lucas has to do his, uh, balls-in-laundry-baskets game. So…"

The teenager chuckled awkwardly, much to Eddie's annoyance. Could the kid move any slower to the point? Sure, he liked the kid, but this was getting tedious. What did he mean by Lucas had a basketball game? Had the other guy been turned to the dark side?
"… he's not going to be able to make it to Hellfire tonight."

That wasn't going to cut it. What the hell did Henderson mean? Not make it to Hellfire, that was outrageous. Jeff spared a cautious glanced at him, one Eddie purposely ignored as Henderson continued.
"And I know there's no way we can beat your sadistic campaign without him."

A strained grin appeared on Eddie's face.
"Me and Mike, we were talking, shooting the shit, and we were thinking, that maybe we might…"
"Postpone," Wheeler cut in. Clearly someone else was getting annoyed at Henderson's talking.

Immediately, outrage was in the group. They all started shouting, saying that they weren't going to postpone the campaign. Over their dead bodies. Clara tensed again, especially when Eddie shouted over them.
"Shut up!"

He watched her startle but didn't try to comfort her as he stared at Henderson and Wheeler. "Are you saying Sinclair's been taken in by the dark side." "Uh, something like that," Wheeler nodded.
"Something like that?" Eddie snapped. He flicked a pretzel at Henderson, the kid jumping slightly.
"Jesus Christ."
"And rather than find a sub for him, you want… you want to postpone? "The Cult of Vecna"?"
"I-I don't' want to postpone it," Wheeler stuttered. "We don't want to postpone it. It's just that, you know, most of the subs will be at the championship game."

Eddie pushed his chair back in anger, standing up and taking a few steps away from him. At the mention of the championship game, he spun back around.
"Oh, it's the championship game?"
"Yeah?" Wheeler said slowly.
"Can I level with you?" Eddie asked.

He started pointing to people in the club.
"Jeff graduates this year. Gareth's got, what? A year and a half? Me, I am army-crawling my way towards a D in Ms. O'Donnell's class. If I don't blow her final."

Grunting, he waged a finger, eyes glossing over slightly. His whole body shook with crazed energy.
"I'm gonna walk that stage next month. I'm gonna look Principal Higgins dead in the eye, I'm gonna flip him the bird, I'm gonna snatch that diploma. I'm gonna run like hell outta here." He punctuated every subject with a hand motion or body movement.

As he spun in an energized circle, Henderson laughed.
"Did you say that last year?" Gareth asked.
"And the year before?" Jeff added.
"Yeah, yeah, and I was full of shit," Eddie admitted. "This year's different." He strutted back to them. "This year is my year. I can feel it. '86, baby!"

The boys chuckled as Clara rolled her eyes. He rolled his eyes back at her before focusing on Henderson and Wheeler.
"You know what that means?" Wheeler shook his head. "It means…"

Walking behind them, Eddie put his hands on the two freshmen's shoulders.
"… you boys are the future of Hellfire. I knew it the moment I saw you. You sat at that table, right over there, looking like…" He struggled to find a good comparison. "… looking like two little lost sheep." He looked over at Henderson. "You were wearing a Weird Al T-shirt, which I thought was brave."
"Thank you," Henderson nodded. Eddie turned to Wheeler.
"Mike, you were wearing whatever shit your mommy bought you from goddam Gap!"

Once more, the boys laughed as Eddie grinned. He let them have their fun, just for a moment before tightening his grip on their shoulders and forcing them to stand.
"And we showed you that school didn't have to be the worst years of your lives, right?"
"No," Wheeler said.

Walking them around, Eddie made them face the school crowd.
"Okay, no, no. Well, I'm here to tell you that there are other little lost sheepies out there who need help, who need you." He spun them around to face him. "All you guys gotta do is get your Bo-Peeps on and go and find one." He shoved them away from him and they stumbled into the cafeteria crowd.

Smirking, Eddie sauntered back to his chair. He sat down, picking at his pretzels as Henderson shuffled back over to the table. The teen looked down at Clara and barely opened his mouth before she shook her head.
"Of course not, Dustin. Don't try again." Now that was interesting… So was the cheerleader walking towards the woods. He excused himself from the table, giving Clara his signature "I'll be back" smirk before heading off.