Chapter Text
It’s Friday night and Chrissy Cunningham is exactly where she is supposed to be.
Jason’s parents are away for the weekend leaving the house open for yet another party. The basketball team is coming off a win that is sending them to the final championship game and anyone who matters is there celebrating. Chrissy is in the middle of it all, Jason’s arm heavy around her shoulders.
“Chris,” he slurs. His breath smells like cheap beer and is hot against the side of her face as he leans in, “we’re going to be champions, babe, and then we’re going to win prom and, fuck, we’re going to like, get married. S’me an’ you forever, babe.”
This is all something she might have swooned over a few months ago, but now she just feels a churning sense of dread at the words.
Nearby, Tina from the cheer squad aws at them with an amused smile.
“Ugh, you guys are too cute. Chrissy, you’re so lucky you found your soulmate in middle school.”
Jason is leaning heavily on her now, still muttering under his breath. Something about the game, the future, her short skirt. Something stupid and unimportant that she ignores because he’s drunk and she hasn’t had a drop of alcohol, entirely too sober to not be a little irritated.
She’s silent for a moment that lasts too long before she remembers herself, meeting Tina’s waning smile with one of her own. Chrissy worries it looks too forced, too artificial.
Nobody notices.
“Yeah. Really lucky,” she replies, turning her head to allow Jason to plant a sloppy kiss on the corner of her mouth.
It’s Friday night and Chrissy Cunningham realizes that this may be exactly where she is expected to be, but maybe it might not be where she wants to be.
Saturday morning she wakes up at seven on the dot, as she always does, and lays in bed another hour contemplating the ways she can get out of meeting with Jason later.
It’s not that she doesn’t want to see him, of course not, they’re in love and it's so sweet that he wants to spend time with her. He’s taking her to the good diner a city over that he likes, then they’ll meet up with a few guys on the team and a few girls from the squad and she’ll sit prettily by his side, smiling and agreeing at all the right times well into the night while he holds court with the it-crowd of Hawkins High School. Then on Sunday he’ll pick her up for church, and then for school on Monday and every day after that and then they’ll graduate and get married and every day will be Jason Jason Jason because that’s what everyone expects and that’s what she should want.
So why doesn’t she?
Her chest suddenly feels constricted and she struggles to take in shallow, rapid breaths. Her blanket feels too hot and restrictive so she rips it off, stumbling out of bed and to her window. Her hands are almost shaking too much to get it open but she’s desperate for air. She pulls it open, and grips the windowsill as she gasps for lungfuls of fresh oxygen.
When she finally calms down she crawls back into bed and curls into herself, exhausted. She’s drifting off when her mother barges into her room.
“Chrissy, for goodness sake, get out of bed. What have I told you about being lazy?”
Chrissy sits up in bed, eyes downcast, “Sorry, mom. I’m just not feeling too well this morning.”
“You’re not looking too well this morning either. For the love of God, Christine, take some pride in your appearance. I don’t spend all this money on makeup for you not to use it.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I’ll get ready.”
“You better. You’re young and pretty now, but it’s better you stay in the habit of getting fixed up instead of just letting yourself go,” she smiles condescendingly, patting her daughter’s hand, “Jason won’t want a frumpy wife.”
Thankfully she has no other words of wisdom and leaves the room. Chrissy takes a deep breath and moves to slump in front of the mirror of her vanity. She stares at herself for a long, long time until her vision becomes unfocused and she doesn’t recognize the girl reflected back at her anymore.
She distantly hears the phone ring and shakes her head to snap out of it and focus.
“Chrissy!” her mom calls up the stairs, “that was Jason, he’ll be here in 30. You better be ready!”
Chrissy wants nothing more than to climb back into bed and sleep the day away, not worrying about looking pretty enough to be by Jason Carver’s side. But what Chrissy wants and what Chrissy has to do don’t often line up. So she meticulously applies her makeup and puts on a dress her mother picked out in a color Jason likes and smiles dutifully when he arrives to pick her up.
On Sunday she manages to get out of after church socializing by faking a headache. She pretends not to see Jason leaning in for a kiss when he drops her back off at home, scurrying out of his car and into the house before he could comment. She gets a ride to school from her dad on Monday and Tuesday, and it’s not until after school on Tuesday afternoon that Chrissy Cunningham decides to do something she wants to do for once in her life.
She had managed to limit her interaction with Jason that morning, citing feeling a little off and ‘just not myself today’ when looked at her suspiciously.
Come lunchtime she’s seated across from Jason at the ‘popular’ table with the other cheerleaders and jocks and he’s droning on and on, and she realizes that he’s always talking at her and never to her. It’s like she’s been following a script without knowing, mindlessly replying with what he wants to hear, what she’s expected to say.
She turns her attention to her lunch, estimating calories and hearing her mother’s voice in the back of her head telling her she better watch how much she eats or else she’ll get fat. She has conditioning later, so she can eat most of it without worry. She’ll just watch the carbs.
“Chrissy are you even listening to me?” Jason startles her out of her musings.
“Huh? Yeah, of course, you were talking about…the game?” she guesses.
She must’ve guessed correctly (as if he’s talked about anything else lately), because he just nods and keeps talking about players and strategy and has he always been this dull? When was the last time he asked her anything about herself?
The bell rings ending lunch and she makes a quick getaway to her next class.
The final bell rings and Chrissy lingers in the hallway, not eager to make her way to her locker around the corner where Jason often meets her after school. She’d skip the stop altogether, but she needs her cheer duffle and figures she can just lie and say she had to be at practice early.
As she turns down the hall, she comes upon Jason and his basketball friends harassing a freshman. He has the boy's backpack turned upside down, spilling the contents on the dirty linoleum while one of his teammates is holding the kid back.
“What’s this, freak?” Jason sneers, holding up a paperback book, “a rulebook for your little cult?”
“Leave me alone,” the kid struggles, sounding on the verge of tears.
“Or else what? You’re going to call all your little nerd friends? Huh?” Jason taunts, poking a finger into the boy's chest roughly.
He pushes the boy into the lockers and turns his attention back to the book.
“This shit,” he sermonizes, waving the book in the kid’s face “and freakshows like you are what's wrong with this town.” Jason begins tearing out pages of the book, throwing them in crumbled balls onto the floor.
Chrissy had always known on some level that Jason was a jerk to people who he considered outsiders, people who were different from him. She’d heard him say a snide comment here and there, reprimanding him for his cruelty when she could, but she’d never ever seen him bully someone like this. This is who she was dating? This is the highschool sweetheart everyone expected her to marry?
Chrissy felt as if she had been sleepwalking and suddenly jolted awake.
“Hey!” she yelled across the hall, walking with purposeful steps until she pushed her way between Jason and his cronies and the freshman.
Jason froze, wide-eyed, “Chrissy, you don’t understand…”
“What don’t I understand, Jason? That you’re ganging up on a kid for no reason? Go ahead, explain that to me.” She crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow.
Jason’s two accomplices-Josh and Patrick-exchange glances, unnerved by Chrissy’s sudden backbone.
“Babe, it’s not like that, they’re satanists . They’re total freaks!”
The boy peeks from behind her and hisses, “No we’re not! It’s just a game and you’re pathetic if you think a group of people playing a fantasy game is some sort of threat!”
Jason snarls and lunges forward only to be stopped by Chrissy’s open palm on his chest, shoving him back.
She's had it, s he's had it . She’s seen every side to Jason Carver and found them all lacking, but this? The side of him that he’s carefully kept her from seeing, or perhaps she was just too blind to see? She hates him, hates herself for wasting years on this bully.
“I want to break up.”
This shocks everyone, herself included. She hadn’t even finished the thought of breaking up with him before she blurted the words out. But she meant it, and god is that weight off her shoulders just heavenly.
“ What ? Because of this? Chrissy, you can’t be serious.”
Jason looks confused and, yes, a little heartbroken, she notes with a fraction of sympathy. But he’s questioning her decision and she finds that she really hates that so she squashes down any tender feelings and lets herself just be mad for once.
“I am serious. You’re a self-centered jerk and I’m sick of it. I’m not happy. I’m done. We’re done.”
“Holy shit,” she hears the kid behind her mutter.
Holy shit , she agrees.
Jason is stammering and stuttering but Chrissy doesn’t want to hear it. She’s been brave enough for one day and needs to get away now. With hands shaking from adrenaline, she gathers the kid’s belongings and shoves it into his backpack haphazardly. She hauls it over her shoulder and grabs him by his jacket sleeve and pulls him with her as she speed walks away from Jason and out of the school. She keeps walking until they’re around a corner and out of sight before she realizes she has kidnapped this poor kid.
“Oh, god, I’m sorry I just needed to get us out of there. Are you ok?”
“Am I ok?!” he laughs, “you, Chrissy Cunningham, just stood up for me and dumped your asshole boyfriend in the same breath and you’re asking if I’m ok? I’m fine, thanks, but are you ok?”
Her eyes are wide and she lets out a breathless laugh. She wonders if she looks as manic as she feels.
“Yeah. Wow, yeah . I can’t believe I actually did that! I’m so sorry he did all that. Pushed you and ripped up your book.”
“Eh, that’s fine. I mean it’s not, but, yeah. That was just a players handbook, everyone in the Hellfire Club has one. I don’t really need it.”
“The Hellfire Club?” she inquires. There's no way there's an official school club with that name.
He immediately brightens up, “Yeah! It’s what we call our Dungeons & Dragons party!” At her confused look he continues, “you know? Dungeons & Dragons? It’s like a fantasy role playing game. You make a character and you have skills and abilities and you work together to get through a, uh, storyline. It’s more fun than I’m explaining it, I promise.”
She’s still confused, but this seems important to him so she’ll humor him.
“I guess I’d have to see it to understand.”
He offers her a wide grin at that, “Oh my god, yes, definitely! You should come sit in for a session. We’re meeting this Friday after school in the drama room. The guys would lose their minds if you came. Uh, in a good way. They’re cool.”
Well, it's not like she has anywhere to be this Friday, there's no games to cheer at until the championship in three weeks and this kid seems sweet and earnest. What's the harm in expanding her horizons?
“Yeah. Sounds fun, I’ll be there,” she smiles.
“I promise you won't regret it. I’m Dustin, by the way. Dustin Henderson.” He sticks out his hand, and when she shakes it she finds she doesn’t have to force a smile.
“It's a pleasure to meet you, Dustin Henderson. I can’t wait for Friday,” and she surprises herself again when she realizes she means every word.