ATTACHED ~ eddie munson

three

"Well, guess who decided to join us!" My fifth period teacher said condescendingly. "Now, Katherine, do you have an explanation for your tardiness?"

I paused and scanned through the smart-ass remarks I could have made. "Nope." was all that came to mind.

"Please, have a seat, Miss Adams." She said sternly. I sat in the back where there was an empty seat, near the freshmen that were in this mixed class.

I actually knew a few of them. Mike, Nancy's younger brother, had a baby sister that was in the same swimming class as my little brother, Carter. Max, well, I think everyone kind of knew Max since her brother was King of Hawkins High before he passed. I'd stop by her locker sometimes to check in on her, her family were the only ones who didn't want a big funeral for Billy. It was odd, but I respected their wishes and decided to give them space. Dustin was actually really funny in this class, I don't know why all the upperclassman gave him so much shit all the time. And Lucas, sitting a little farther away from the other three, was on the basketball team with Chance. They were friends, I think, I've seen Lucas at a few parties, he kind of looked like he didn't belong there, but hey neither did I.

I couple minutes after I sat down I heard Mike and Dustin whispering about something. I only made out the words "...sub...", "...Erica...", and "...Eddie..." I turned around.

They both caught wind of my stare and nervously smiled. "Who's Erica?" I asked quietly. If Chrissy was actually interested in Eddie, I had to make sure he wasn't a playboy. Wait what the hell am I thinking, Eddie? A player?

"Oh, Erica, that's a friend of ours. Real big nerd-" Dustin started. "Yeah! Yeah huge nerd!" Mike added.

"Shut up, nerds" Some kid snapped.

They gulped.

"Don't worry about that guy, I tutor him on weekends." I said.

They started chuckling, and then I realized they were wearing matching shirts, the same one Eddie had on. Hellfire Club. "Hey, what's that?" I asked.

"What? Oh, this? It's..." They looked at each other.

"It's a make-believe game for kids who still live in their mother's basements." Max chimed in. "Could you guys keep it down, you're not exactly quiet."

"It's not like you're even listening." Mike said, motioning at her headphones.

She rolled her eyes and turned up the volume on her Walkman.

I caught Lucas staring at her after that, she soon put her head down and he looked away.

Wow what was going on in the world of freshman drama?

"We were actually looking for a substitute player since Lucas over there has to do his little basketball popularity ritual." Dustin finally spoke.

"Yeah, maybe, if you want, you could be the substitute for the substitute that we found-" Mike said.

"Considering Eddie's strict high school only standards." Dustin finished.

Now, I had no idea what they were going on about, but maybe doing this could get me a discount on the overpriced drugs Eddie was selling me. I get it, you gotta make money somehow. Also, maybe I could distract him from selling to Chrissy. I really didn't want her getting into what I was already wrapped in.

"Sure!" I said a little too loudly. "I mean, yeah, if you need me, I'll probably helping with concessions at the game or something." I wasn't actually planning on watching the championship game, but I needed to at least make an appearance so Chance wouldn't get mad.