Chapter Text
“Finally,” Eddie sighed loudly, dramatically rolling his head back as the monitor dismissed him from detention. Eddie had yet again been served an after school prison sentence after he missed a few too many assignments. You’d think he would’ve got the hang of these classes by his third try but hey, it’s not his fault he had a broken brain! Plus, he was, like, basically passing…most of his classes, so a few missing homeworks really wasn’t that big a deal.
He was the lone student in detention that day, which he preferred for two reasons. One, most people in the school hated him and he hated them back so he’d rather not be stuck in a room with them for an hour and a half after school. Two, he could tell the monitor hated that he too was stuck staying after school, one kid short of getting to leave an hour and a half earlier, and he thought that was funny.
Entering the hall, he began making his way towards the entrance of the school. It was the end of the day and any after-school activities were letting out by now so the high school was absent of life and his footsteps made an eerie but familiar echo, bouncing around the desolate hallways. The hallways he’d gotten to know too well over the past six years.
Just then, he heard something that startled him. He paused momentarily, listening to see if whatever made that sound would make it again, but his impatience got the better of him. Deciding to just keep walking, he continued on but, before he could make it very far, there it was again. It sounded like…vomiting, and it seemed to be coming from the girl’s bathroom…
Oh.
“Geez…Welp, that’s what you get when you force girls to look like Barbie dolls,” Eddie thought. Cynical, dark and perhaps a bit insensitive, but true. He didn’t have to be good at math to know the chances this was a case of a stomach bug were slim.
Eddie slowly approached the doorway, keeping a distance so it wouldn’t look like he was trying to creep on girls in the bathroom. No one was around but he didn’t wanna freak the girl out when she left the stall. He contemplated whether he should stick around to see if whoever it was was okay(I mean, who knows, maybe this girl did have the stomach bug) but it’s not like whoever she was would accept help from The Freak anyway…
Suddenly, the toilet flushed and before Eddie could get out of the way, a short redhead came careening out and around the corner, running straight into him.
“AH!” Eddie and the girl screamed in unison, her pompoms and what looked to be a package of gum springing from her hands in the surprise of the collision.
“Oh, it's her,” Eddie recalled now that he got a look at her face. Chrissy Cunningham, queen of Hawkins High.
“Eddie?!” Chrissy stared dumbfounded at the floor. The pompoms landed with a soft crunch safely at her feet, but the gum wasn’t so lucky. The little white cubes were now scattered allll across the hallway.
He watched Chrissy who, with a huff, had begun begrudgingly plucking the little cubes from off the ground. After a moment, he squatted down next to her
“You should really wash your hands after you go, you know.”
Chrissy gave him a stink eye, saying nothing as she let the handful she’d collected tumble back into the box. Printed on the shiny cardboard in big red letters were the words ‘Slim-Mint’ along with several women’s silhouettes.
Eddie sighed. “I wasn’t trying to spy on you, Chrissy. I heard someone throwing up and I was concerned.”
Chrissy looked up at him again. Her expression was still angry but not quite so firm; almost a little confused. Quickly, she focused her gaze elsewhere and collected her pompoms.
“I’m fine, Eddie,” she said, turning to walk away.
“You sure about that?”
She paused, looking over her shoulder, before turning back with a hint of hesitation.
“Yes.”
Eddie watched as she briskly tread down the hall towards the school’s entrance and after some hesitation of his own, sprinted to catch up with her. Chrissy abstained from acknowledging his presence.
“You know, I get it,” he said. “I’ve got some demons of my own.”
“Oh, really?” she said finally.
“Yeah, I’m, like, best friends with Satan,” Eddie snarked. “No, I’m talking mental demons, Chrissy. Come on,” he said, tapping at his head with his pointer finger. “I’m trying to have a heart-to-heart, work with me here!”
“I appreciate that Eddie, but really, I’m fine,” she smiled politely as she pushed open the doors.
“Really leaving me to carry the conversation, huh? Alright, be that way,” he shrugged. “Freshman year, both my parents ODed.”
“ODed?” Chrissy interrupted.
“Overdosed,” Eddie said, raising his eyebrows and widening his eyes theatrically.
“Oh, wow, I…I’m sorry.”
“It is what it is. Wasn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows before then either,” Eddie shrugged, quickly brushing past the subject. It wasn’t something he was comfortable talking about in detail for real but he did enjoy how it would freak people out when he said it. “But yeah, I mean, surely you know ‘The Freak’s a druggie.”
“Right…”
“I’ve never done what you do, but I understand why you do it. We all have demons and we all have our ways of dealing with them.”
“Are there…” Chrissy said after a moment. Gradually, she came to a stop, staring at her feat. Eddie furrowed his brow. “Are there ways to…stop the demons without drugs?”
Eddie blinked. Listen, he had hoped he could impart some of his sage wisdom, do a little good deed, but he was not expecting her to actually open up, no less…
“Okay, of all things, I was not expecting that to be the question.”
“I dunno, I mean, you said things weren’t always sunshine and rainbows, and it’s not like you've always used drugs…Have you?”
“I-- no, I haven't.”
“So what did you do before that?”
“...I think you’d rather do drugs, Chrissy.”
“I don’t wanna do drugs!” she said defensively, looking around before continuing towards the parking lot.
“I’m not saying you wanna, I’m saying compared to the other thing, you’d be better off given your whole deal.”
“What ‘whole deal’?”
“I mean, you’re a cheerleader,” he said. “Trust me, this isn’t something you could do.”
Chrissy raised an eyebrow. “You know, women can do anything men can do.”
“...Okay, I think some wires got crossed...You really wanna know?”
“...Yes?”
“You don’t sound so sure.”
“Just tell me.”
“I don’t want you getting any ideas.”
“Tell me,” Chrissy demanded, her aggressive yet pleading tone making Eddie jump.
“...Geez, fine, sorry I have your best wellbeing in mind.” He sighed. “How do I say this…So, to give you the clean version, what I do is when I feel bad, I…” Eddie didn’t finish his sentence but he didn’t need to for Chrissy to finally get the message, her eyes widening as she watched the gesture he made across his wrist.
“...Oh,” she said, rattled by the sheer thought of that. “I…But you don’t have any scars.”
“Here’s a little medical lesson for you: scars fade. Or, well, it depends on how deep you go.”
Chrissy cringed, looking squeamish.
“I warned you!” he said, slapping the side of his van before heading around to the drivers seat, sure that was the end of that conversation. “Feel free to tell all your friends. Jason especially, I’m sure he would get a real kick out of it,” he said with a passive aggressive smile, opening the door to the van.
“Is there anything else?”
Eddie paused and turned, his head tilted strangely and brow furrowed.
“What do you mean ‘anything else’.”
“Anything else I can do. To make the…mind stuff…go away.”
Eddie snorted. “You’re asking the wrong guy, Chrissy,” he joked but seeing her anxious expression, he reeled it in. “Look, I really wish I could help but really, I know as much as you do. I could tell you some bullshit motivational quotes but it’s not like that does anything, not with this fuckin’ two-faced society we got. I just thought letting you know I deal with stuff too would be, I dunno, a nice thing to do.”
Chrissy nodded. “Well…thanks. I appreciate that.”
“No prob.”
They stood there for a moment, awkward silence filling the air.
“…I’m not gonna tell anyone about…how you…”
Eddie’s expression softened. Huh. “Oh…Well, uh. Thanks. I won’t tell anyone about your thing either.”
“Thanks,” Chrissy half heartedly smiled.
“You take care of yourself, though, okay?” Eddie said, getting into his car. “Easier said than done but no one should feel like they have to throw up and chew diet gum to not get rejected by society.”
Chrissy looked down, nodding. Closing the door, Eddie put the key in the ignition and the van revved to life. Just as he was about to put it in reverse, he heard a knock at his window. It was Chrissy.
“Long time no see,” Eddie said as he rolled down his window.
“Hey, Eddie, sorry, I know you’re trying to leave but…You sell drugs, right?”