𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐍 , eddie munson. ✓

2 || THE CHAMPIONSHIP

CARRY ON
"No."
—

"I DON'T GE THE BIG DEAL. Just talk to Eddie." After the assembly had finished, Riley, Dustin and Mike had all made their way over to the now popular boy and reminded him about the campaign. Obviously, trying to convince him to not go to the basketball game was not working.

"Just talk to Eddie? Have you met Eddie?" Riley asked sarcastically in disbelief as the four made their way through the school.

"Yeah, why can't you get him to move Hellfire to another night?" Lucas asked the older boy making Riley look at him dumbfounded.

"Are you hearing yourself right now?" The curly-headed brunette laughed as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Why don't you just talk to your coach and get him to move the game?" Mike asked making Lucas scoff. "I think it's a great idea, Mike." Dustin nodded his head towards the boy.

"Yeah, it's so easy to just move it, isn't it Lucas?" Riley spat sarcastically towards the boy making him roll his eyes.

"This is the championship game." The Sinclair boy exclaimed. "And this is the end of Eddie's campaign." Dustin told his best friend.

"A semester of adventuring has led to this moment, and we need you." Dustin tried to convince Lucas to ditch basketball and play D&D with them.

"Yeah, and the Tigers don't. You've been on the bench all year." Mike sassed to the boy as they now entered the school.

"Exactly, please tell me how you're apparently so fucking helpful by sitting on a goddamn bench." Riley exclaimed loudly this time, making some people turn to look at the boy.

"That's not the point." Lucas told his three friends making Dustin scoff. "Please, arrive at the point."

"If I get in good with these guys, I'll be in the popular crowd, and then you guys will be too." Lucas told his friends as they continued down the crowded hallway.

"Right, because they will totally think that an eighteen-year-old senior who hangs around with freshmen and plays a fantasy game is cool." The Blood boy sarcastically told his friend with a roll of his eyes.

"Has it ever occurred to you that we don't want to be popular?" Mike asked as they came to a stop outside Lucas's classroom.

"So, you want to be stuck with the nerds and freaks for the rest of your school life?" Lucas bitterly questioned making Dustin's eyes widen. "We are nerds and freaks!"

"But maybe we don't have to be. Look, I'm tired of being bullied. I'm tired of girls laughing at us. I'm tired of feeling like a loser." Lucas now spoke quietly to them making Riley's eyebrows rise.

"We came to high school wanting things to be difficult. Right?" The dark-skinned boy asked as Mike and Dustin began slightly nodding their heads in agreement.

"So now we have that chance. Even you, Riley. I skip tonight and it's all out the window. So I'm asking you guys, as a friend, just talk to Eddie. Get him to move Hellfire. Come to my game. Please." The boy pleaded his three friends.

Riley sniffed and wiped his nose with his sleeve before rolling his eyes. "No."

And with that, the boy had walked away not even waiting for a response.

—

Lunchtime had rolled around, and right now, Riley was listening to the leader of the little club read out some bullshit off a magazine.

"The Devil has come to America." Eddie Munson read aloud to his friends in a deep voice. "Dungeons and Dragons, at first regarded as a harmless game of make-believe, now has both parents and psychologists concerned."