Chapter Text
It was the beginning of November of 1985 when Eddie Munson, third time senior at Hawkins High School, finally faced pressure to graduate.
"My friend. You’re already nearly halfway through the year. You have to just try to pass your classes and graduate!”
Dustin Henderson, a freshman at the hellhole that was Hawkins High, shoved Eddie’s stack of neglected textbooks over the lunch table.
Eddie rolled his eyes. "Kid," he said dramatically. "What are you nerds gonna do here without me? How will you all function?"
"You can still be the leader of Hellfire Club!" Mike Wheeler, another freshman, insisted. "But Dustin's right, man, do you wanna be stuck here for another entire year? You say it all the time, it's awful here!"
"And I stay here as a noble sacrifice to all of my young padawans," Eddie returned, turning to look at a young man sitting next to him. "Except you, Jeff. You've failed both freshman and sophomore year, you're on a worse track than I am."
Jeff huffed and shoved a handful of tater tots into his mouth. "I'm dyslexic, you asshole," he said over a mouthful of potatoes.
"Yeah, and I'm simply unable to be bothered with Mr. Jones' pro-capitalist, pro-war lectures. Wait a minute…” he turned a sharp eye at the guys at the table. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Jeff, and Gareth, all his precious lost sheep, were sitting a little more seriously than normal. No one was drawing or arguing or cramming in last minute homework. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously back at Henderson. “Is this some kind of intervention?”
Dustin shrugged in his smug fashion. Out of all the Hellfire members, Eddie wasn’t afraid to say that this kid was his favorite, if not the most irritating. Eddie tried to repress his annoyance at dustin’s over-confidence. “I got nothin to worry about. Henderson, doesn't your girlfriend hack the system from, what, Idaho? Hook a pal up, would you?"
"Utah," Dustin snapped, blushing a little. "And don't say that so loud! It was hard enough to convince Suzie to do that for me. She told me she had to pray all night for an entire week before she stopped feeling guilty over it."
Mike and Lucas snickered at Dustin's bashfulness, but he ignored them. "Look, Eddie, if you don't try and graduate this year, they could just kick you out for good! You know they're already looking for an excuse to do that!"
"What, are they gonna raid my bag and find the weed I'm selling to Madeline Fitz the sophomore after seventh period?" Eddie widened his eyes as he caught the judgmental eyes of the school librarian as she scurried past their table. Lucas and Mike laughed again, but Dustin just looked exasperated. "What are you so worried about, Henderson? So what if I get kicked out? Good riddance, honestly."
Dustin suddenly stood up from his seat and stared him down, standing tall and serious. "Eddie the Conquerer," he said loudly. "Dost thou not wish to conquer this hellscape? Dost thou not wish to laugh in the faces of thy enemies, completing the quest thought by all to be hopeless? Lead thy loyal comrades in this noble fight against... uh, high school."
All eyes at the table, along with half the cafeteria, stared at Dustin as he stood unwavering, pointing his hand straight at Eddie. Damn kid, he thought, but couldn't help but take Dustin's words to heart. He nodded slowly. "You know what, you little freak," he said with a small smile. "You're right. None of these assholes here think I'm capable of shit. Why not prove 'em wrong just for the hell of it?"
Dustin grinned widely and clapped him on the shoulder. "That's our fearless leader!" He shouted.
Eddie slapped his hand on the essentially untouched textbook. "Only problem is," he said, “I'm scrapin' a 20 percent in like, everything. Which one of you nerds is gonna help me get to a 65?"
All of their faces started to fall a little. Jeff cleared his throat awkwardly, picking up more tater tots, and Mike and Dustin looked at each other with a bit of shame. "Don't look at us," Lucas Sinclair, another freshman, said glumly. "I've gotta focus on basketball, and Dustin's only got a 4.0 thanks to his hacker girlfriend."
All the eyes that were staring at him a moment ago were suddenly avoiding his gaze as they picked at their food and awkwardly tried to look busy, except for Dustin. “You guys really aren’t gonna try and help?” He exclaimed.
“Well, we’re here for support,” Gareth said meekly. “You know, accountability and moral support and all that.”
“Yeah, well, let’s hope you’re a better support in real life than you were in last week’s campaign,” Eddie muttered, thinking about how Gareth’s wizard had always been particularly unlucky in regards to buffs and heals. And, of course, how he was the first to die by a long shot.
Dustin continued to nag the rest of the group, but Eddie tuned them out, drumming his fingers absentmindedly on the textbook in front of him. Graduating wouldn’t be that bad, he thought. He’d get to stand up on the stage with all the other nerds, flip off the crowd one last time, snatch his diploma and do whatever the hell life wanted to throw him next. It would finally give him more time to focus on the band, or his campaigns, or whatever he felt like. He would be the first in his family to complete high school if he did it, and the thought hadn’t really occurred to him for a long time. Not since he somehow miraculously made it into twelfth grade for the first time, but quickly lost motivation as he grew hellfire club for lost, out of place dweebs like he himself once was. The pressure would be intimidating, but Eddie Munson was stubborn enough to make up for the lack of care he had for these god forsaken classes. Just suck it up for one year, he told himself, chest swelling a little at the thought of how Dustin and Gareth and Uncle Wayne and the small handful of people he cared about would look at him for a moment with pride in their eyes.