Atomic | Eddie Munson

1

"Nancy, are you able to drive me home today or do I need to ask Steve?" Katherine asked her twin sister in the hallway.

Nancy would usually drive her home from, but never to school. She always wanted to be there early to make sure the school paper was up to her standards. Most of the time, Katherine would catch a ride with Robin, who would get driven by Steve on his way to work. On days where the three of them worked, Steve would pick up the two girls from school. Katherine, Robin, and Steve had all worked together at Scoops Ahoy in the Starcourt Mall before the Battle of Starcourt, and now all worked at Family Video.

"Not today sorry, I have to make sure Fred is interviewing the right sources for this new article I'm putting in the paper. Can you tell Mike that I can't drive him home?" Nancy asked. Katherine sighed, but nodded.

"Thank you so much. I'll see you at home. Mom is out with friends for the long weekend, and dad is out at a work conference for the week, so you'll need to make sure Holly gets dinner," Nancy called behind her shoulder as she walked down the hall. Katherine grabbed the brown lunch bag from her locker and slammed her head lightly against the cool metal door after shutting it.

Katherine walked into the cafeteria for lunch, plopping down in her usual seat next to Robin. Without saying a word, she took the Dr. Pepper out of the lunch bag and cracked it open. Robin reached over to steal some of her friend's grapes from the bag. The two ate in their comfortable silence, stealing bits of food from each other. Katherine sighed before turning to her friend.

"Can you call Steve and ask him to give me a ride home? Nance flaked on me."

"Of course," Robin replied, popping another grape into her mouth.

Katherine spotted Mike across the cafeteria. Beside him was Dustin, who seemed to be arguing with Lucas who sat next to him. Her favorite three freshmen sat with the Hellfire Club, who just so happened to be run by her dealer, Eddie Munson. It wasn't uncommon for the club to meet at her house, more specifically her basement, if the club didn't have permission to use an empty classroom. The guys mostly stayed out of her way at the house, only occasionally asking for water or where the bathroom was.

Katherine got up from her seat and walked over to the table her brother was sat at. Upon her arrival, she was quickly bombarded by Dustin.

"Perfect! Katherine, which do you think is more likely to win in a fight? A horse sized chicken or two dozen chicken sized horses?" The girl just blinked.

"I'm not even going to bother to try to understand what you just asked me," she replied. Dustin and Lucas just continued their argument.

A voice popped into the conversation that slightly raised the hair on her arms.

"My favorite Wheeler, what brings you to the realm of the Hellfire Club?" Eddie asked. She turned to look at him giving her his signature shit eating grin. She just rolled her eyes and turned to her little brother.

"Nancy can't drive home today, she told me to tell you to get a ride," Katherine said, turning on her heel.

"Wait," she heard Mike call before she could walk away. "How are you getting home?"

"Probably Steve," she shrugged.

"Can't he bring me home too?" Mike asked.

"There's gonna be no room in the car. Robin has her band stuff that takes up like half the back seat. Figure it out," Katherine said.

Katherine walked away from the table, but not before ruffling Dustin's hair to annoy him. They three freshmen called a goodbye to her as she walked back over to Robin, who had already eaten most of her best friend's grapes.

"Did you call Steve yet?" Katherine asked. Robin shook her head.

"Someone was on the payphone, so I'm gonna try again in between periods. I'll let you know what he says during class."

The two girls finished their lunch, making small talk for the rest of the period. As the bell rang, they parted ways, Robin to the payphone, and Katherine to her next class. English with Mrs. O'Donnell. She was fortunate enough to share the class with Nancy and Robin. The only bad part was that she was seated right next to Eddie Munson.

It wouldn't be so bad, except when she first saw the seating chart and saw Wheeler and Buckley seated right next to each other, it was referring to Nancy, not Katherine. Truth be told, she didn't mind Eddie. The two were also partnered together in chemistry, so they had to spend a fair part of their day together. They got along fine, occasionally bickering, but surely didn't hate each other.

Katherine was a smart girl, up there with Nancy, but she didn't apply herself nearly as much anymore. After her encounters with the Upside Down and her messy breakup from Andy Baxter (from the basketball team), she started doing drugs, which is how she met Eddie. It was mostly just weed, but occasionally she dabbled in whatever Eddie happened to be selling that week. The two had smoked together a few times in the past, and when they were partnered in class, it was nice to see a face they knew.

Katherine slid into her seat for English, and pulled out her notebook. She mostly doodled on the pages if she wasn't taking notes, and even when she was taking notes, she had a habit of scribbling in the margins as well. She barely noticed as Eddie slid into his seat next to her.

"So I talked to Steve and I have bad news," Robin said. Katherine lifted her head to look at her friend. "He needs to go straight to the store and said he doesn't have time to drop you at home after picking me up for our shift or else Keith will be on his ass. I'm so sorry Kat."

Katherine groaned and banged her head repeatedly on the desk. "I'm gonna kill him. Tell him he owes me milkshake tomorrow when he goes on his lunch break," she said. Robin nodded and walked over to her seat, a bit in front of Katherine, next to Nancy.

The bell rang once more, signaling the start of class, and Mrs. O'Donnell began her lesson. Katherine rested her chin in her hand and tried to stay awake. They were starting an assignment based on a dystopian book of their choice. Less than five minutes before the end of class, Katherine felt something hit her cheek, startling her slightly. She looked on her desk to see a crinkled piece of paper, obviously torn from the corner of a scrap of paper.

Do you want a ride home?

Katherine turned to look at Eddie who was staring at the front of the room, seeming to pay attention for once. She looked at his notebook to see the corner of the page missing. She scribbled a response and tossed it back to him.

Please.

The bell rang and everyone began to pack up and head to their final class, which happened to be a free period that she usually spent in the library. As she stood to walk out of the classroom, she felt a presence behind her.

"I'll meet you at my van," Eddie whispered in her ear. The hair on the back of her neck rose. Before she could even respond, he was out the door.