Chapter Text
Eddie watched as Jonathan walked back to his desk. Kinda hunched over and quiet.
That kid always walks around like he's guilty of something. Probably for merely existing. He'd be great to have around when we're in a major battle, the other players wouldn't even remember to attack him until he popped up as the guy who still has all his hit points.
He looks over at the floor where Steve had been lying, then walks back to his table. He sees where all of his D&D books and journals were left, a splayed out mess.
Maybe I should get the geometry homework out instead.
Nah. This is more important.
He sits down, starts writing a few notes in the margin, ideas on how to create a time traveling loop inside a cave. However.... His mind keeps wandering....
It was weird that he was lying there of all places, and eating at this hour, it's only like, ten AM.
I come to the library all the time. I've never once seen him in here... Which means he usually has somewhere else to be.
He taps his pencil up and down, unable to get his mind back to working on his campaign.
If the kid is right, and we end up doing nothing, what happens next?
I've seen Harrington acting similar, close to this same time, last year. Thinking back to it, he was dropped off from what could have been his old man's car. It was fancy looking enough, anyway. At the very least, his father does seem to bring out the worst attitude in him the second he's outta sight.
Maybe the old man is really controlling and Harrington hates that, being told what to do all of the time.
Then again, he does all those sports, and they're always bossing you around in those... My own, personal number one reason to avoid the damn things.
Suddenly, Eddie stands up and packs all of this belongings into his bag. As he leaves, he passes Jonathan, and gives him a goodbye salute.
He watches as Jonathan pretends to ignore him and gets back to his studies.
Okay, I guess we're doing that again.
The thing is.... If he's right about it, even an ounce, then I should do something about it.
After he leaves the library, he heads on over to the building where the gym is located. He's never actually been to the swimming pool area, but it's got to be somewhere around here.
Doesn't matter. He sees Steve in the locker room before he even starts looking for it.
He watches him from afar. He's not supposed to be in here, intruder alert beeping on high inside of his head.
What on earth... Is...this...guy...doing.....
He's just...standing there. With that bigass puffy coat still on him.
Now he's talking to himself? I can't make out what he's saying, but he's definitely mumbling something.
Maybe someone is behind the locker? It's too far away and I can't tell.... but now, he's agreeing, with a lot of "yeahs" and "uh-huhs".... Okay then...
Ugh, I'm so far away and whatever this thing next to me is, it absolutely reeks. Burned rubber or some shit like it.
Uh-oh.
As Eddie pulls his hip away from the wire caught in his jeans, it rattles and opens up a latch. Basketballs start to roll and bounce all over the locker room.
Oh, fuck, I fucking hate everything! In this damn building!
"Hello? Is someone else there?" he can hear Steve yell, as he turns and makes a run for the closest open door.
Steve walks right by the door, but doesn't see him crouched down in the darkened room. Some kind of janitor's supply closet, by the smell of it. Eddie watches as he inspects the wire basket while looking around the locker room.
"Whoever pulled this prank, you better yuck it up now, 'cause when I find you, you're banned from the next three swim meets!"
He watches as Steve struggles to collect all of the balls and put them away one-handed, he then struggled to secure the latch. He looks tired and a little bit sweaty, but still hasn't removed his coat.
What on earth will it take for this guy to take that thing off, anyway?
Eddie waits for a few minutes after Steve leaves the locker room, just in case. When he sees that the coast is clear, he heads on out to the courtyard.
He doesn't know Steve's schedule, he has no idea what his next class is, after this period is over. He'll have to figure it out by following him. Or worse, asking someone.
As he mulls it over, he makes a big dramatic sigh and turns around to go back towards the library. He sits down on the bench outside, and lights up a cigarette. He might get caught, right here in the middle of the school's lawn, but he justifies it; Top Priority for this Operation. He's gonna need one if he has to talk with this Johnathan kid again.
When he hears the bell ring, he stomps it out, then makes his way to wait for him by the doors.
Jonathan takes one look at him, and ignores him. Like they didn't just meet each other twenty minutes ago....
"Hey kid, wait a minute, I need to talk to you."
"Look, I gotta get to gym class, like right now. If I'm late, I'll have to run laps and I really hate running. So...." he ushers him away with his head and looks back down towards the ground as he rushes off.
Eddie narrows his eyes at him and groans.
Yeah. This kid is a real pain in the ass to deal with.
"Hold on! It's important, and you're the one who brought it up in the first place, man!" he yells at him across the courtyard. He watches as Jonathan freezes and shrinks further into the massive pile of books in his arms.
Uh-huh, that's what I thought. He may be the precise definition of an energy-sucking-vampire, but he still doesn't like the spotlight shining right on him.
Eddie grins as he walks over towards him. He knows that he has one shot to get the information he needs, so he cuts his usual chatty banter down to the bare bones.
"You said that you've seen Harrington react to the threat of punishment before. When exactly was that? Was he with his father at the time?" he was asking with a lowered voice, not that it mattered much as the courtyard was now filled with an onslaught of voices and laughter.
Jonathan takes a few moments to recollect the memory, then he leans in closer to Eddie.
"No, he was with his especially awful friend, that guy - Hagan." he says as he points him out with a nod of his head.
"In fact, it was Hagan that had started the whole thing. Tried to gang up on me, start a fight, y'know how it goes." he looks up to meet Eddie's eyes for a second, then continues.
"But then, Harrington was the one to stop it, said his dad would kill him if he got caught up in a fight. His buddies seemed pretty understanding of it all, honestly.... Anyway, if that's it, I gotta get going."
Eddie was paying close attention to every word. He gave a nod of understanding and watched as Jonathan fled towards the gym.
He was then thinking about how easy it would be to get to the top of the food chain, with Hagan's muscle and lack of fear. The guy is always ready to start something, take someone down in one form or another. He's always seen Steve hanging around with him and his girlfriends since middle school. As a group, they're insufferable try-hards that latch onto him for some semblance of stability - a jock with charm gets them what they want; Power. And he leans into it, sure, but solo.... He seems different. More quiet, lost in thought, and oddly enough, he even seems caring. It kind of shook Eddie's world the first time he noticed that.
So, it looks like I'm skipping fourth period to go off and find Hagan. Let's hope the asshole doesn't try to kick my ass for simply being in the same zip code.
As he made his way through the school hallways, he had an idea where to find him. He'd sold him enough weed at this point to know exactly where he would shuffle off to each time.
- - - - -- - - - - -- - - - -
It took him most of fourth period to find him, but there he was, out behind the bleachers. He was talking with a couple of his other buddies bullies.
This is a bad idea. Oooh. This is a. Bad. Idea.
Maybe, just possibly, I can lure him out with the prospect of drugs.
Eddie plonks his bag down and rifles through it at warp speed. Thankfully, he always has something hiding in the false bottom he sewed in. Gotta be prepared anytime-anywhere, and after-all.
He carries it close against his jean jacket, then we he gets close enough to Hagan, he makes eye contact and points at it. He then makes the universal hand signal for "this stuff, it's primo, man" and.... Holy shit, it worked. He's telling his buddies that he's got something to do. Let's hope killing me isn't it.
Eddie waits, as nonchalant as a lying sack like him can, as he leans back on the wall near the bleachers.
"Alright, what have you got this time, Munson?"
"The usual, but with a little extra spark, if you know what I mean..." he says as he hands him the bag.
He watches as Tommy inspects it. Now or never, I suppose.
"And, while we're here, you uh, wouldn't happen to know where Harrington is at, would ya?"
Tommy stares at him with a baffled look.
"How in the hell would I know?" A gruff reply. We're already getting heated, I see.
Eddie shrugs and plays it cool.
"Just thought he'd like some of this, too."
"Yeah, well, I haven't seen him all day, probably stayed home sick. Or cuttin' class to get in some girl's pants." he says with a smirk.
He's definitely not doing that.
"Hmm, I saw him this morning... He looked like he was hurting. Maybe when you two played basketball, you were a little too rough." Eddie says this carefully, treading on the edge of accusatory.
"...the fuck are you on about, Munson? I just told you I haven't see him today, since Friday afternoon, actually, not that it's any of your business. Now, are you done obsessing about your next sale or can we get this over with already?"
Yeah, I definitely want to get the fuck away from you, too, Hagan.
-- --- -- --- -- --- -- ---
Eddie's next stop would be the cafeteria. Fifth period is his lunch, so at least it'll be a lot easier to socialize here. He's early today, and with all of the class cutting he's done in the past two hours, he needs to avoid a lot of teachers. This is a bad place to be right now, with how empty it is.
He decides to hang back in the courtyard overlooking the B building, as Gareth should be one of the first people out of their geometry class. He can count on it. The fucker is so good at math he's jealous of it, but proud of him at the same time. It's a weird place to be.
It's probably not even three seconds after the bell goes off, and his friend is already propping the back door to the class open and bolting out. He sees Eddie, standing there, and rushes over with a grin on his face.
"Eddie! Dude! You skipped on the best day ever! Vanessa had like, some major life crisis right there in the middle of class and broke down yelling about numbers and crying over a simple cuboid formula, of all things. Mr. Harris was freaking out because he couldn't calm her down. You missed out, man!" Gareth looked over and shook Eddie's shoulder to get him to respond.
He was trying his best not laugh. It did sound like a riot, but he has more important things to think about at the moment than Vanessa's downfall.
"Gareth, I'm sure it was a great time, but right now, I'm dying for some of those damn powdered donuts. You can tell me all about her tears as we enjoy 'em. C'mon." he said as he made a motion with his arm for him to follow along.
As they made their way towards the cafeteria, he spotted Steve coming out from the other side of the building. Everyone was busy shuffling in and out of the buildings, but he seemed to be taking his time.
"Hey, y'know what, you go ahead, I'll be there in a few, okay?" he said as he started walking away. He turned just in time to see Gareth's scowl.
He knows I'm headed towards something that I don't want him to be a part of. Please just let him ask me about it later.... Oh, thank god, he's listening. I don't want to drag in more people than there are already involved in this little mystery.
Eddie makes a beeline for Steve and tries not to act, how'd he put it earlier, "weird about everything". This brings about a small snicker. As if this guy isn't always his own brand of weird.
"Harrington, you gotta minute? Maybe we could talk about something?" he says low and whispery. He's treating him like a little rabbit in a box again, just like last year. It can't hurt, anyway, to tread carefully.
Steve looks over at him, at first, with a slight look of defiance, but then quickly gives in and walks over his way.
"Yeah? What do you want?" he answers with a sigh.
"Uh, I just thought I'd see how you were doing. You kinda... you know, look like shit at the moment. Worse than you did this morning, in fact." he says this with a sarcastic smile at the end, hoping to keep it lighthearted.
Steve's expression was hard to read. Hmm, he looks like he was both surprised to hear that someone would tell him straight out that he looks bad, and confused that someone could tell.
"I... told you. It's fine. And anyway, why do you insist on following me around? Do you really think I don't notice you, staring and looking at me all of the time."
Uh oh, he's getting defensive. I need to back away from the box for a minute.
Eddie put his hands up and took a few steps back to give him some space. He was about to say something else when-
"Hey, Steve, everything okay, here?"
Tommy Hagan. Shit, just what I need, a power hungry jock.
"We're all good here, man, just talking about nothing in particular." he tries to keep his voice simple. Not a note of passive-aggressive. Right? Judging by the look of his face, though....
That's when Tommy suddenly grabs for him and tries to shove him back against the wall. He manages to slip out of his grip, but his hair is longer now and it keeps getting in the way of his peripheral vision.
That was a close one, I should've been able to dodge that. Maybe Uncle Wayne is right, and I do need a haircut.
This only makes Tommy angrier and he makes a charge for him. Eddie gets barreled into the wall, and his head hits hard against the fire extinguisher. Fuck! That definitely killed some brain cells.
Suddenly, someone else's hands are on him, grabbing him from under his arms, but they're the ones yelling in pain. Shouldn't that be me?
"Hey man, you can't just kill him for no reason at all!"
Steve's yelling and pulling at Eddie and wincing all at the same time. Steve then drops to his knees and clutches at his right shoulder.
The guy is in agony.
"The fuck, Steve? What's wrong with you? This fucking stalker needs to get a clue." Tommy's eyes were filled with hatred, geared towards both of them, by the looks of it.
Eddie got up and reached his hand behind his head to check if it was bleeding.
Nope. We're all good. Just hurts like a bitch, I guess. Now it's my turn.
While Tommy was distracted, being a terrible friend and all, he took the chance to attack. He reached into his bag and pulled out The Weapon of Choice.
He held his D&D dice bag by the cords and swung it as hard as he could, whipping it right into the side of Tommy's head. Take that, you fucking ogre.
Tommy turned around, pissed, but disoriented enough to be rendered speechless.
"There, now that we're all in equal amounts of pain, I'd say we're done with this whole fighting each other bullshit." Eddie says as he swings the bag of dice around in circles.
He then walked over to where Steve was crouched down, still holding his arm, and trying to keep a straight face.
You're not fooling anyone, buddy, you're in pain, but you also love my theatrics - despite all of your protesting.
He could see Tommy staring at him with a pissed off expression as he stormed off towards the cafeteria.
I have got to get out of here before he brings some more of his buddies to finish the job.
Eddie offers Steve a hand. Pulling him up from the ground was a lot harder than he thought, the guy was heavy, almost dead weight in his current state.
"You know, you don't have to explain yourself to me, but if you need to see someone about that arm, I can help ya out."
"I don't think even you have drugs strong enough for this shit, man." Steve answers, with a slight sadness to his voice.
"God, no, I didn't mean it like that, man.... I meant, like, you know, we can see the nurse about it. You can even blame me for it. If you want." He says with a grin.
"Well, if that's the case... Maybe I will. Besides, I'm a little terrified of saying no to you. Knowing you carry around a large bag of rocks to swing into people's heads." Steve says, a little smug.
"Oh, no, no, never. Not ever on you."