"So, how was it?"

Chrissy had hardly gotten her bearings before Cheryl was pouncing on her. Metaphorically of course; everyone else practically parted ways for her like she was Moses. She supposed that breaking her arm again would be the absolute worst.

At first, Chrissy frowned in confusion, until Cheryl gave a double-wink. Chrissy sent her hard jab to her side, and looked around, hoping no one else saw that. Luckily, the cheer squad was preoccupied with other things, and Midge looked up with a frown.

"Did you just ask her how recovering from near-death was?" Tina asked Cheryl.

"N…yes." Cheryl said, changing her answer at Chrissy's iron stare-down, "I'm sure by the first week in she was feeling better, right?"

"It was really boring," Chrissy said flatly, "I'm happy to be back."

"Aww, Chris!" Tina gave her an awkward side hug, "We can't wait to have you back. Jessica's taken over the squad in your absences, and she-,"

Chrissy felt frustration ride over like a wave, "Jess? Seriously?" She bemoaned. With that airhead in charge, she'd have to spend weeks restructuring them.

"I mean, it's not like you're going to be doing much cheering," Tina huffed, "What with that arm."

Chrissy looked down and sucked in her cheeks. Tina, though rude, was right.

"I still know how to instruct you," Chrissy responded with a narrowed stare, "I'll talk with Jessica."

Tina shrugged, "Whatever. Good luck with that."

As the first bell rang, Chrissy couldn't help but feel a swarm of emotions; anticipation to get back, a deep desire and hope to see Eddie, relief Jason was not around but also concern he wasn't around. Jason was like a sticker on a book from the bookstore you just couldn't quite get all the way off. For him to miss her first class was very out of character for him

Chrissy knew it was far too much to hope he'd seen the error of his ways.

"Let me walk you," Cheryl said, seeming to pick up on Chrissy's confusion, "I'm sure the boy wonder is off somewhere, flexing for the town newspaper and blabbering on about how awesome he is."

Chrissy let out a squeak of laughter, glaring half-jokingly at Cheryl.

"But really," Cheryl continued as they walked through the halls, Cheryl carrying her bookbag, "How did it go with…Mr. Mystery?" She asked.

"How do you know I didn't chicken? I've been known to do that. Or just go find Jason?" Chrissy replied. She wasn't sure she would have agreed to Cheryl's offer if she knew Cheryl would be insufferable about it.

"Because we hate Jason. And more specifically…" Cheryl picked at the fabric jacket she was wearing, and leaned in real close to Chrissy's ear to whisper, "We both know this isn't anything Jason owns."

Chrissy felt her cheeks flush. It was true. She had hoped Eddie would say something as she was going out the door, wearing something of his, but he hadn't.

Was it dumb to up the ante, wearing it on her first day? Yes. Did she do it anyway, under the guise of having to see him to return it? Also yes.

She wasn't totally stupid. She'd found something in the far back of his closet. Because all his clothes were in one pile, it still smelled like him. But it was something that she, to the best of her knowledge, couldn't recall him wearing recently at school. Senior-Year Eddie seemed to have a standard; pair of jeans, a band or Hellfire shirt, a sleeveless denim jacket. Though it had been tempting to put Eddie's jacket on her, that would have for sure raised some questions.

"It went well," Chrissy finally answered, and Cheryl gave a tiny fist bump.

"That's all I needed to hear! I'm so happy for you," Cheryl shoved her shoulder a bit, dancing between her feet, "And I am going to figure it out. Who it is, you know. I read a lot of murder mystery books and I can always guess the killer...usually."

"Please," Chrissy groaned, but also laughed.

"I am an excellent detective, you know this. But I am also a superb secret-keeper." She plopped Chrissy's books on her seat in her first-hour class, Biology. She waved to the teacher before leaving for her own first hour.

Chrissy sort of relaxed into class. After answering all the obligatory questions, class just…went on.

And then Jason arrived, late.

He had never been late.

"Mr. Carver, take a seat," Ms. Bello said sharply, using a tone with him Chrissy doubted he'd ever heard.

"I just-,"

"No excuses, young man. Seat!" Bello pointed her chalk to his seat beside Chrissy with a 'don't you dare talk back' sort of tone.

Jason slumped into his chair, practically oozing off it. From the way his jaw was locked and his feet kept tapping, never stopping, Chrissy knew he was furious about something. He didn't even attempt to open his notebook the entire rest of the period.

As the first bell rang, Chrissy tried to slip away by herself, but with her broken arm, someone needed to carry her books. She asked one of her cheerleading teammates, but all it took was Jason's figure to cast over the timid girl for Chrissy to be stuck with him.

"Babe," He said, though his tone was devoid of any emotion, "You trying to run away from me?" It was meant as a joke but came off in a different pitch than he intended, giving it a ghastly shiver.

"No, I just, you seem…distracted," Chrissy lied. As he scratched his chin, she saw his knuckles split open. Fear clutched her heart right away; it only took one guess, and heck, it was a pretty good guess.

"What happened?" She tried to drag it out of him as they moved to French class.

"Do you know Nancy Wheeler well?" Jason ignored her completely, asking a question. Chrissy's heart thumped. Oh no, he knew something. And this was a trap, wasn't it? Had someone seen her going to Nancy's house? How long would it take for him to connect the dots, and then-

"Of course, you wouldn't know her, sorry. Stupid question," Jason said, scoffing at the idea of it, "What would you two even talk about? You're so…kind and she's…"

"She's what?" Chrissy frowned.

"A fucking cunt."

Chrissy stumbled and almost ate it on the linoleum floors of the hallway.

"Silly me, untied shoe!" Chrissy forced a fake giggle as people stopped to help. She steadied herself against the lockers to give herself a moment to catch her breath and looked up to Jason with questions in her eyes.

"Look, if you knew her as I did, you'd agree," Jason said, his mood dark and stormy.

"I don't think so," Chrissy said with a frown, "That's pretty…strong language. About anyone."

"She thinks she's so clever. It's like a poison."

Chrisy shook her head, "What…what's like a poison?"

Jason turned, "Eddie's influence. He's poisoning people's minds, causing them to act unholy. And once it's started, it's too late. He's clearly gotten to Nancy." Jason said, half in his own mind.

"Whoa, wait a second!" Chrissy stood in front of him, refusing to move. Of course, he could just go around her, but he almost ran into her, startled she would even try something like this, "I get why you hate Eddie. But are we just declaring war on anyone now?"

"Only those that deserve it," Jason said, serious and not a hint of second thoughts present. It's like he'd switched an invisible switch in his mind that said that Nancy was on his shit-list. She wanted to know, so badly, what had caused Jason to be late, but alas, he wasn't going to say. She even thought she could guess why; no need to worry her lovely little mind with such ghastly things, right?

"What's gunna happen to her?" Chrissy was afraid to ask, but she had to know. The only good thing about remaining with Jason was she could be The Party's fox in the hen-house. He thought her so slow and pretty. He would never suspect she was worming information out of him every time he talked.

"Haven't decided. But Eddie is a weed. Weeds spread. And you can't let weeds remain, not if you want everything else to grow as it should. So, anyone with him is dead to me too."

"Sounds a bit extreme." If Chrissy couldn't break up with him, she wasn't going to just agree with his psychotic plans on now throwing two kids in jail? It was foggy what his plan was, but she didn't like it.

"Eddie started it," Jason argued, and she knew she was never going to change his mind, "He started the battle, but I'm gunna win the war." He patted her cheek, "Don't worry, sweetie. Girls have no place on the battlefield. I'll take care of all of it. Just relax and don't worry about me at all."

Chrissy tried to keep her smile from seeming gleeful or passive-aggressive, "I won't worry about you at all."

Jason, an idiot (but a dangerous idiot, she reminded herself), took it as that she trusted him and knew he'd win, "Perfect, babe. See? Life is so much easier when you don't have to concern yourself with things better left to your boyfriend."

XX

Chrissy didn't see Eddie at all.

Which was more worrying to her. She was sure that he'd be in classes, right? But he was glaringly absent. She heard through the whispers that Eddie knew she was coming back, so since he knew 'what was good for him', he'd decided to scram.

Of course, she couldn't confront any of the Party either. Jason would lose his head if she was seen talking to any of Eddie's friends. She tried to get Robin's attention in a subtle way, but from the wide-eyed stare, the ginger knew less than Chrissy did about where Eddie possibly was.

It seemed he hadn't shown up to his first-hour class. The teachers were holding back not-so-obvious sighs of relief, probably relieved that they would not have to be the referees of whatever drama would follow with Chrissy back, and assured Chrissy (again) that he wouldn't be hurting her.

It wasn't until 4th period, her first class without Jason (though not for lack of trying on his part) that she was able to slip away. Mathematics always bored her to tears but at least the teacher was nice and generally understanding. All it took was Chrissy going up during work time and claiming that she was getting a little overwhelmed, starting to say that perhaps she over-did it her first day, and then pretending to backtrack her idea and meekly walk away.

That last bit there? That was key.

Chrissy had spent loads of time watching students get out of class, analyzing it. She never thought she'd have occasion to use it, but if she wasn't going to have a loud voice, she was going to take in as much as she could.

So she'd figured out that you wanted it to be the teacher's idea to leave, not your own. Right on the money, as soon as Chrissy began to backtrack her statement, her math teacher swooped in with sympathetic hushes.

"No, darling, I'm so proud you've made it this far," She said, "Why don't you go down to the nurse's office, mmkay? If you come back, you do, but I think perhaps you should go home." She said, "Right?" She said, as though this idea was entirely hers. Chrissy managed a great performance of her unsure, weak, and scared little self, gathering her things and going down to the nurse's office.

She did lie down for a bit; she lied down and weighed her options.

She could leave school today. She had been excited to return, but things sucked here.

Okay, so she says she needs to leave. She thinks the office would let her. But there seemed to be two equally as terrible paths that are most likely to be taken.

One; her parents are called and then she's watched like a hawk, and probably wouldn't return to school for the rest of the week. Four more days at home.

Two: (worse) they call Jason out of class to bring her home, let him skip, and her parents still find out, and now she's stuck at home with Jason fretting over her.

Both of those were a very firm 'hell no'.

So, she goes back to class?

But she still wants to find Eddie, as the longer she lies here, the better of an idea she has of where he is.

So, she waits until the next bell, when Jason is in gym class (a class he would never be disturbed or pulled out of), to tell the nurse she's feeling a bit better, but she'd really like to go out and get some air. She makes this long rambling bout how education is important to her, and she's lost so much already, but she just thinks that maybe she'd be ready for the rest of the day if she could spend the next hour outside in the sun.

And they offer to get Jason, but Chrissy reminds them about how gym is really important to him, and he's a hero, to let him be. She can manage the school parking lot.

She knows by the time it's pulled off she has about half an hour. That's how she finds herself in the sun of an early April day, excused from class for the next period and let out the back door that's usually locked.

As soon as the nurse has gone back to other things (thank you, random freshman, who stapled their hand) Chrissy skirts around the edge of the building.

Once she's out of sight, she makes a run for it. She throws herself through the branches, tramples the underbrush, and wacks twigs out of the way with her cast.

"I knew you'd be here."

She is wholly unprepared for how Eddie's face looks when he turns on the picnic bench.

"You…what…are you…playing hookey?" Eddie asks, pressing what looks like a bag of peas to his face.

Chrissy can't help but go to him, her feet stumbling over herself until she's sitting on the picnic table across from him. It seems like entire lifetimes ago her first attempted drug deal happened here. So much has changed since then.

"No, no," Chrissy thinks to his question, "Well, sorta. I had a plan. It's working. I'm allowed to be out right now," She says.

Eddie clicks his tongue, "Damn, I almost just got really excited there for a second."

"I've never missed class before," She admits, shrugging, "Baby steps."

"At this rate, you'll, oh, play hooky with your last day of college," Eddie says, and she's pleased his wit and humor haven't been taken today. But she can't be so smiley, not when she can't take her eyes off the garish bruises that mar his face.

"Jason did that, didn't he?"

At Eddie's silence and an angry look at the ground, Chrissy decided to go another route.

"Why are you out here?" Chrissy asks, "I…I looked for you today."

"Well…" Eddie looks at her, tilting his head, "I, uh, didn't really see school in the cards for me today, all things considered. And, shit, I also didn't really want to go home and get the fifth degree from my Uncle Wayne about these."

"He'll see them eventually, won't he?" Chrissy frowns.

"I'm gunna crash with Steve for a few days. Tell him we're working on a big project or something. I just don't need him to worry about me. He's done so much for me, this doesn't need to be another," Eddie mumbled.

"Eddie, he probably does it because he loves you."

"What about you? Why are you here?" Eddie abruptly changes the subject, waggling a finger at her.

"I saw Jason's hand. He's really angry about something. I thought he killed you," She whispered brokenly, "I was so afraid."

"I seem to be made of stronger stuff. I would know. This is probably the…fourth? Fifth? Well, not the first time someone's tried something," He said, which was as close to a confirmation as Chrissy assumed she'd get.

"Still, you shouldn't have to be," She sighed, "Why didn't you fight back?" As soon as the words were out, she felt stupid. She knew why. And Eddie knew that she knew.

So, instead, she reached out her fingers, tracing the biggest bruise over his cheekbones. As soon as her palm curved over his cheek, Eddie-either intentionally or not so- pressed his flesh further into hers, reveling in it for a moment.

He let out a long, exhausted sigh.

"Chrissy…"

She wasn't sure if it was a plea or a prayer. The way he said her name was a thousand emotions at once.

"I know," She whispered back, grasping the frozen grocery bag from his hands so gingerly, as though he would vanish into the woods at the slightest movement. She pressed and patted his bruised skin carefully, tenderly, wishing she had a rag to wash the dried blood away.

Eddie finally seemed to drink her in, "Is that…mine?"

With everything going on, she'd almost forgotten that she was wearing his jacket. All she'd wanted was to drive him a little crazy today, get him to say something, but all that had vanished and seemed silly in comparison now.

"Maybe," Chrissy said, continuing to tend to him.

"Jesu-," Eddie made a choking noise, "Woman. You're trying to kill me, aren't you?"

Chrissy shrugged, giggling a bit, "Oh, no, not kill. Drive you to insanity, yes."

"It's working," He said with a smile.

"I'll…find someone to give it back soon," She said, sure that she could hand it off to Nancy or Dustin (and know that they would get ta kick out of it) and they'd give it back to Eddie. But she wanted it for just a bit longer.

"It looks far better on you," He said, "You should keep it."

"It smells like you," Chrissy said, setting the now half-melted peas down, "Of course it would, you know? But it just…" If she inhales sharply now, she'll pick up on a whiff of Eddie's room. It's a tangy, prickling scent.

She looks down, weighing the bag of peas between her hands, "This won't do much good anymore."

"Yeah, about time. Someone from The Party brings me a random bag of frozen veggies every other hour. What they do with the old stuff and where they get the new stuff? I don't know. All things considered, I don't think I do wanna know." Eddie says, "I can be left out of this mystery."

"They're good to you."

"Yeah," Eddie considers it, "I got…lucky. I somehow stumbled into a really, truly loyal group. I mean, my band friends are great and I will always appreciate them, but the Party? It's…" He trailed off with a quiet laugh, Then, he looked up, biting the inside of his cheek, "You know, you're in that group too. One of my loyal friends."

"Yeah, of course, I am," Chrissy said, letting out a long sigh. She was glad he saw her as someone he trusted so.

He gave a tiny snort, "You know, actually, people may start to believe I put a spell on you or something."

"Why?' Chrissy asked, and felt her stomach flip-flop. She knew she'd tried to kiss him and she knew she was terrible at hiding her feelings around him, but did he see that other people in the school were picking up on it? Would it only be a matter of time before Jason stopped grouching about the fight he'd lost today and realized what was going on beneath his nose?

"Yeah, I'm basically making you a deviant. Ruining perfect little Chrissy Cunningham," He said with a dramatic wave of his hands.

"Oh, please," She huffed, but couldn't help but laugh.

"I mean, hell, think about it? Skipping class? Associating with nerds and outcasts? Attempting to buy drugs…trying drugs?" He bit his lip, shaking his head, "Damn, if anyone told me a year ago that I could expect this sort of behavior from Chrissy Cunningham, I would have told them to have their head checked."

"Well," Chrissy crossed her arms, a bit annoyed, "Maybe I wasn't that good, to begin with, and you just never noticed."

Eddie reached across for her fingers, "It wasn't an insult. On the contrary, it was most certainly a compliment. There's something refreshing about being who you are, even if it's the picture of perfection. But it's also good to try new things. Scratch that; good to try bad things."

"Oh."

Chrissy looked at the sky and pouted; she'd have to return soon.

"When will your friends be around to help you?" She asked.

"Soon, I'd think. And well, you know they're your friends too now? Robin doesn't shut up about you. I think she's a bit star-struck, to be honest," Eddie said with a wink, "But you won them over. I think I stumbled accidentally into their favor, but you…you just waltzed in. And it was so easy."

"First time for everything, I guess," Chrissy admitted, "I…I feel like I'm put on a pedestal, but it's actually super-hard for me to make friends. I don't really have many people in my corner. Pretty much everyone just is obsessed with Jason, and by association, I'm there too."

Eddie gave her a weird look, "Uhm, well I can tell you that everyone in the Hellfire Club and the Party hates Jason's guts and the Party would prefer you any day. So that's like…" He counted quickly, "Twenty right there."

Chrissy wasn't sure she believed him, but shrugged, "Better than nothing, I suppose."

"It's not just that. I mean…" Eddie stood up on the table, "For every Jason-lover out there, there's gotta be a kid that hates him on principle. I did before he did anything really shitty. So, like, any outcast probably wants to kick him in the balls. And honestly? If there are any other sports stars not on the basketball team, they gotta sorta hate him too, you figure, right? And there have to be smart kids just staying out of it that look at Jason's antics and just roll their eyes." Chrissy stared up at him, watching him spin and count and theorize, but his expression must have shown her confusion.

"Basically, what I'm saying, is even though they're not vocal…Jason really brings out the worst in people that follow him…I don't think you're as alone as you'd like to think, right? There are loads of people in your corner, you just gotta start watching." He jumped down from the picnic table and tugged her ponytail, "And stop…thinking so low of yourself. You're Chrissy freaking Cunningham! You escaped Vecna!"

"By accident."

"Oh, bullshit! Patrick didn't! Fred didn't! Max only barely did too! I know there's so much under that head of yours that Jason has never seen…I just know it." He licked his lips and Chrissy couldn't help but focus on his face, "Chrissy, I think you're gunna knock the world dead one day."

And by god, she would have kissed him and played hooky all day, had Dustin not stumbled through the brush with an embarrassed laugh, holding a bag of frozen potatoes.

"It seems like I might be interrupting something. I can leave. Go on, go." He said, motioning his fingers as though he didn't just ruin the moment.

It was for the best, though.

Chrissy patted his hatted head as she passed, "Please, keep him from looking like a bad abstract painting."

Dustin snorted, "Pretty sure he already did, but sure, we'll do what we can."