change of pace

longing

chapter one

The same feeling. Every. Single. Fucking. Day. Longing for something missing, something I don't know.

Every morning starts out the same. I lay looking up at my ceiling dreading to continue the same routine every day. It's been two weeks into senior year year, and I'm already anticipating feeling the longing every single day.

Groaning as I turned over to roll out of bed, I realized the time on my clock seeing I'm going to be late. Again. I stumbled to my closet pulling out whatever clean clothes I had thrown to the floor in rebel of putting them away. Semi-clean high waisted jeans, a black tank top, and an old button up were the only things that I could remember not being worn this week. My muddy sneakers would have to do until I could afford to get new ones.

Sure, what they say about Hawkins may be true. There's an emptiness from the once joy that filled this town that was stripped away in the massacre we witnessed. More and more people seem to die every year, whether by some unexplained accident or the pain from it all. Yet still my dad insists we stay in this fucked up town. I love him to death, but fuck does he make bad decisions.

My filthy mirror revealed the bed head I had obtained from tossing and turning all night with difficulty of falling asleep. I tied it back in a high ponytail, makes me look more awake. I examined the picture on my vanity of my mother. Beautiful and smiling as she held me when I was a child. I smirked, but quickly put it away and rushed to grab my backpack and get on my way to school.

Walking to school wasn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I get to observe everything around me before it has a chance to start the day. The house was just a little far of a walk. Arriving to school was always a test of your reflexes with kids racing their way into the parking lot or almost eating shit from tripping over the uneven concrete with their boards, bikes, or just their legs.

I quickly got to my locker to put away my books so I didn't have to lug them around wherever I went. They said senior year was supposed to be a breezy year, so why do I have to fall behind carrying a required notebook for every class and their 400 pages of useless information?

Everyone gathers with their friends in the halls around each other's lockers. I never really had the chance to make friends after what happened only a few months ago. To be honest, I didn't want to. I was scared to lose someone again. After my mother, everything felt like it shattered. I used to have friends, be decently popular, but then I just fell into this feeling that seems to never want to go away. Longing.

Classes seemed to go by quick today, that is until I got to English. The class is fine, it's just boring. It also doesn't help that I have a classmate who is taking this class for a third time. You'd think reading a few pages and writing some assignments wouldn't be that hard. But not for this kid. I don't know much about him, other then the fact that everyone has called him a freak for the last now four years of me being here. He's disruptive and likes to put on a show. I respect his confidence, but sometimes I'd like class to not feel longer than it should be.

I walked to the back of the classroom and opened my notebook once seating. My seat was right next to the window, so I got to watch the foggy view of Hawkins start to fade away around fourth period English. I continued back to my notebook and started doodling little creatures stretching down the pages of Shakespearean notes. My art piece was disrupted by the howling coming from the doorway. I knew who it was instantly.

"Thank you, Edward, for your performance I hope to be the last of many." Mr. Traleck announced from his desk.
"Ohhhh, and that's where you're wrong, sir! I know how much they please you." Eddie, our super senior, takes a bow towards him.

Eddie skips to his seat, making a face at the kids sitting near his desk. They scatter quickly from the seat in the row next to me one ahead. He throws his bag on the ground before looking towards me. He glances down at my notebook and I glare before shutting it. Eddie gives a glare back before sitting down and staring ahead at the board.

My first real interaction with Eddie the Freak.