𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 || 𝐄𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧

𝟎𝟎𝟏 : 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐛

"I swear (Y/n)! Hurry up, Steve's outside!" Robin banged on my door three times exactly and I rushed as I swiftly made my way down the stairs. Quickly grabbing my backpack, one check at the mirror, a rushed hug to Robin's mother, and a slight shove at Robin for waking me up late. She closed the door behind us as Steve followed our sight to his car, "Your hair is still messed up." She pointed out the few stray hairs that came out of the contraption of a ponytail I had secured on my head, but that ended up with a frustrated sigh and me releasing my (y/h/t) hair down against my shoulders.

      "Does Steve need to be here so early?" I rushed to walk beside her. She smiled but pushed me forward to eventually meet the car door. "He's the only ride we got." Robin Buckley, my best friend, was the best of the best when it came to not being a good driver, so I thank God that Steve was already my friend and had become friends with her. I don't know if I would've been able to suffer throughout these months with my mom's love of The Police and having multiple days where I mainly crash at Robin's, had its advantages.

      She grasped onto the door handle and quickly climbed in. I looked over to Steve and shared a smile. It seemed as if he was the most energized person in the morning, but the slight darkened area of under eye bags begged to differ. "Took you long enough, Henderson." I swung my bag onto the seat beside me and reached over to pull a lock of Steve's hair. "Start the car or we're actually going to be late." Steve's aggressive jerk of the shift knob made me shift back in my seat. I pushed away my annoyed expression and noticed that Robin was facing forward looking toward the road.

      I shifted through my bag to see if I had everything I needed, Robin's rushing wasn't much help, but then I soon realized I was out of a conversation. "Then there's Heidi tomorrow night, but the problem with Heidi is that she's going out of state for college." Another Harrington relationship problem was being shared and I saw how Robin already had a response. She always did with his problems.

      Robin and I had been best friends since the beginning of time and with the high school friendship both our mothers had with each other, we had eventually become who we are today. It was only the small restriction that her job had this past summer that we rarely hung out, but I could fully understand her circumstance as well as she understood mine. But still, she was restrictive on the things she shares about what happened. Maybe I'm overthinking it, she could've just randomly hooked up with another girl from the mall. Dustin was always there to see Steve, but I just never ask him anything either. "Do I wanna start another relationship that has no point other than sex? I mean, I don't know. Does that make sense to you?" Steve's voice interludes everyone's thoughts, well except for Robin's as she was applying mascara on her lower lashes. A smile is on my face as Steve complains.

      "Robin, are you listening?" He looks over to her then to me through the car mirror. "What about you (Y/n)? Are you listening?"

      I nod my head even though I'm lying, "Yeah something about Heidi." He smiles and gives me a nod, "Thank you! At least I know our friendship is secured."

      "I thought he was saying something about sex with Linda." I'm silent in the back as Steve is getting aggravated, this is humor to me but unfortunately to my beautiful male friend, it is not. "No, I'm talking about Heidi!" He throws his hands up as they go back down to smack the steering wheel. They're both yelling back and forth. "Cut me some slack, please. Your love life is one of labyrinthine complexity." He rubs his forehead in disbelief as she continues. "It is 7:00 in the morning, we have the stupid pep rally, and I woke up looking like a corpse."

      "How about we all calm down." I pat Steve's shoulder from my seat, "You, my friend, need to relax, Heidi isn't worth your time and Robin you do look like a corpse, but no one will even care." She attacks me from the passenger seat, swatting her hands at me. "Look I'm just trying to lighten the mood."

      "You're worried about a pep rally? Expect me to believe that?" Steve's still on this conversation. I sigh as my failed attempt at peace was disregarded. "Yeah? So?" I see Robin look down towards her bag. "So, we both know what this is about. Not buying that. This is about Vickie."

      She looks towards me and then to Steve, "Absolutely not."

      "Robin, I think it is. I mean you've had the biggest crush on her—" I wasn't finished talking, but Steve cuts me off. "You know what else?" He looks toward the road as Robin tries to speak but also gets cut off by him. "You gotta stop pretending to be someone else when you're around her. You just gotta be yourself."

      "Robin said that to you a couple weeks ago when you needed help with a different girl." I interrupted. "You're literally quoting me to me." Robin and I both looked at Steve.

      "You know what? I'm just gonna drive." He settles back into his seat and looks at me through the rearview mirror, "Also Henderson, you can't say anything when you're wearing the same shirt as your brother." He joked and Robin laughed as she looked back at me.

      "Yeah yeah, very funny Steve, but the last time I remember you're the one who babysits a bunch of fifteen-year-old kids." He snapped his head back and smiled, "At least I'm not a part of the same club as my own brother."

      I looked over to Robin, leaning over the division between the passenger and driver's seat, and ruffled her hair. "Well at least we know why Steve can never keep a girlfriend, he always thinks he's right." Robin and I look at each other with small smiles as Steve is annoyed, but all it does is make Steve argue again and claim that the word "boobies" is not uncomfortable to say.

+

      "Without your support, we wouldn't be here. Give yourselves a big hand."

      I'd rather die than be in this pep rally. It's weird to hear Jason Carver stand there and use people's passing as motivation for a basketball game. A game where they toss a ball around, run, and shoot into a small rim as big as a toilet bowl. His stupidity was laced with selfishness and seeing Lucas be involved with it was a bit disappointing, but not surprising. Dustin had told me that things had been off lately with Sinclair and the only reason was because of basketball and the players on that team.

      I shuffled my way out of the gym and made it off with a small wave toward Robin and Steve. Robin looked like she was sweating just standing next to Vicky, while Steve looked completely out of it. But I, on the other hand, was making my way out to the fastest exit I could find. Quickly pulling down my Hellfire t-shirt and fixing my loose jeans, I made it out the door. I was walking normally, tracking my feet on the ground, and making small screeches every now and then. Eventually, my black high-top converse stopped making a noise and when I noticed, I looked down to see one of them untied.

      I was in the middle of an empty hallway, Hawkins High wasn't so big, but I was fully aware of how scary it felt to be alone and quiet in this place. I knelt quickly, my hands struggled against the laces, and I didn't realize someone was there until I felt a slight tap at my shoe. "(Y/n), I thought you'd be in the pep rally. I can sense the team spirit from a mile away." Pure sarcasm, but it makes me smile.

      I looked up, but knew exactly who it was just by his voice. Hellfire Club's leader and one of the oldest students at Hawkins High. That long haired jerk looked down at me and I made my way up to meet his gaze comfortably, "Not in a million years Eddie Munson."