Atomic | Eddie Munson

12*

Buckle up everybody :)

Katherine climbed into Steve's car with a grunt and closed her eyes.

"Good morning sunshine," Steve said, backing out of the driveway. Katherine only grunted in response once more, causing Steve to laugh.

"Somebody's cranky this morning," he said, knowing full well that Katherine was not a morning person. Katherine opened her eyes to glare at Steve.

"Somebody needs to shut the hell up," she shot back.

Robin jumped into the car once they pulled into her driveway. She passed Katherine a coffee in a random mug and a cookie, which Katherine accepted gratefully. Steve looked at the two girls drinking their coffee out of regular mugs in confusion.

"Uh, not even like a travel mug?" Steve asked. Robin shook her head.

"I ran out," she responded.

"Okay. But you also didn't bring me one," he noted. Robin shrugged.

"I only have two hands and Kat looked like she needed it more," Robin said. Katherine broke off a piece of the cookie and fed it to Steve as he drove.

Robin and Katherine said their goodbyes to Steve who would be picking them up for work later. The two walked into the school and went to their lockers that happened to be right next to each other. They put their things away and a hand slammed Katherine's locker shut. She jumped and turned to look at who did it. Eddie was standing there with his signature shit-eating grin on his face. He held her copy of 1984 in his hands.

"For you, m'lady," Eddie said as Katherine took the book from his hands and shoved it into her bag.

"Thank you," Katherine responded with a smile, looking up at him. They looked at each other for a minute, just smiling like idiots until Robin coughed.

"Hey Buckley," Eddie said, shifting his attention to the girl behind Katherine.

"Hey," she said with a wave. She looked between the two teens that leaned against the lockers and stared at each other like the whole hallway was empty. Robin chuckled to herself.

The bell rang and Eddie gave a little bow to the two girls before turning to walk to his first class. Katherine didn't even realize that she was smiling as he walked away. Robin laughed, causing her Katherine to look at her.

"What?" Katherine asked, causing Robin to laugh harder.

"Could you two like each other any more? Like seriously ask him out already," Robin said. Katherine slapped her hand over Robin's mouth.

"Not so loud," Katherine said in a hushed voice, looking around to see if anyone could hear. Nobody was paying attention since they were all walking to class. Robin moved away from Katherine's hand.

"I'm just saying, it would be kinda cute," Robin said. The two girls walked to their first class, splitting down the halls so Robin could go to history and Katherine could go to her music class.

She walked into her music class and took her seat towards the back. Their teacher got up and stood in the front of the room as the last few people walked into the room. It wasn't a popular elective, so it was only the one class. She had never really noticed who was in the class, and only just now realized that Eddie actually sat on the other side of the classroom in the back row. He was doodling in a notebook. There were only two other people who sat in the back, so it was easy to notice him. She wasn't sure how she didn't notice him there before.

"Alright everybody, before we start today, I have a quick announcement. In a few weeks the annual Hawkins talent show. You're not obligated to sign up, but anyone who does and actually preforms will receive extra credit. If your grade is okay in this class, you have permission to use that extra credit for another class. You're allowed and encouraged to work with other students on this. So until then, this class will be used to prepare for the talent show," the teacher said.