Y/N x Eddie Munson

Chapter 1 - First Day Jitters

Starting at a new school is always a daunting experience. This will be my fourth high school in as many years and my second junior year. So not only am I the new kid, I'm also a year older than most of my classmates. I stare in my bathroom mirror willing myself to find the motivation to start junior year all over again, hoping that my dad doesn't choose to move us yet again after a couple of months. I swear the man is single handedly ruining my social life, not that I had much of one anyway to start with.

"Y/N are you ready yet? We need to leave. You can't be late on your first day!" Dad calls up to me, his voice tinged with urgency.

"Just a sec!" I reply. Taking one last look in the mirror before shouldering my rucksack and heading for the door. I'm not one to conform to the high school notion of what girls should wear. Instead of pleated skirts, sweater vests and high pony tails, I opt for the more comfortable and battle ready ripped jeans, army boots and band tees. My dad looks at me disapprovingly, but shakes his head and lets it go, knowing he won't win the fight on what I should or shouldn't wear as I walk past him out the door to his car.

I can already drive but don't yet own a car. So on school days, he drops me off and then I bus back. Dad works late so I'm your stereotypical 80s latch key kid, free range if you will. Trusted by my father to fend for myself while he works to provide for us. My mum died when I was young, so it's been just the two of us for as long as I can remember. I think we've both grown accustomed to being ships in the night, not really seeing each other apart from our drives to school.

~

We soon arrive outside of Hawkins High School a tight knot pulls at my insides, making me feel uneasy and anxious about this new place. I know when I get out the car all eyes will be on the new girl, another freak for them to point and laugh at before she's gone again in a few months. Maybe I should just keep my head down, it's not like we're going to stay here long term I think to myself as I say my goodbyes to my dad and hop out the car.

Making my way to the school office my skin itches with the feeling of curious eyes surveying me. Mercifully, it's not a long walk and I escape into the small administrative office to collect my school timetable.

"New girl huh?" an understanding voice asks from the bulletin board. I look over to see a tall-ish girl with a dirty blonde bob smiling at me from across the room.

"Hi, I'm Robin" she says ducking slightly with her hands up as she approaches, indicating she comes in peace. "What's your name? I can show you around if you'd like? This place can be a bit of a maze..."she starts to ramble off on a tangent so I interject.

"Hey, I'm Y/N" I say slightly taken aback by the genuine welcome. I was not expecting people to be so nice here. "Yeah, actually that would be great. I barely found the office." I awkwardly laugh trying to shrug off the statement like it's nothing.

"Great! Hey, I don't suppose you play any instruments, do you?" Robin asks, cocking her head as she looks at me before glancing back at the bulletin board.

"Umm, I do actually" I reply smiling slightly, amused at how animated Robin is in conversation, "I play piano, drums and occasionally sing, but mostly I stick to guitar. Why'd you ask?". Growing up music had been one of my only constants. Moving around so much, friends came and went, surroundings changed, but I always had music and so I took every opportunity to learn instruments in my free time.

A light bulb might as well have gone off right above Robin's head with the wattage her smile was blasting me with, she grabs my arm towing me to the bulletin board; "Well you HAVE to try out for band then! We could do with a drummer, and the best part? Especially if you're as uncoordinated as me, you get out of gym most of the time for practice!" Any excuse to get out of running track is a yes from me, I scrawl my name on her sign up sheet before we exit the office, Robin eager to show me around.

~

It's fast approaching lunch time as Robin meets me outside of my math class. Turns out we are both Juniors and I have a couple of classes with her as well as her friends Steve and Nancy. From what I gather, Nancy doesn't do breaks and spends her lunch times working on the school newspaper. Steve follows her around like a puppy dog. Robin said they used to go out but she dumped him for this guy called Johnathon, I haven't met him yet.

"Oh shoot, I'm sorry Y/N you're on your own for lunch today. I'm a total dingus and forgot I have a band meeting" She slaps her forehead with an open palm, before dashing off, turning back to yell "See you tomorrow for try outs! Don't forget, auditorium after school!" She gives me a big wave and a cheesy grin as she sprints off down the hall leaving me alone once more.

The feeling of anxiety creeps back up in me at the thought of sitting in the cafeteria on my own. No friends new girl. I was hoping I'd have at least one person to sit with on my first day. I try to shake off the nervousness and push through entering the busy hall, following the crowd to get in the queue for food.

I sit in a free space in the corner of the room looking out into the dangerous waters of high school. There were all the usual cliché groups; cheerleaders and jocks took up the main two tables all dressed in green, white and gold, the school colours. A few tables over I see the band kids, I'm assuming these are Robin's crowd but don't dare approach on my own. They look friendly enough, quieter than the jocks but still smiling and chatting with each other. I don't think I want to face them without the safety net of Robin's ever-chatty brain to fill in any awkward silences I cause.

I'm playing with a celery stick still assessing the room and where I might fit in it when my eyes land on a group a couple tables down from me. Metal heads maybe, although I'm not sure they all fit that profile. As soon as my eyes land on the table several of their heads quickly turn away from me. Were they watching me? I allow my eyes to sweep over the group trying to work them out. One in particular caught my eye, a guy with shoulder length shaggy brown hair and a red plaid shirt under a battle jacket, definitely a metal head. He was sat to the right of the guy at the head of the table who seemed to be the leader of this little high school sub culture.

I found myself staring at him as he contemplated the food on his tray, he was rolling something in between his fingers, I couldn't quite work out what it was, a dice maybe, or a guitar pick?

Then he looks up catching me gawking. I felt a red heat flow up my face as I blushed at the embarrassment of being caught staring at a complete stranger. I scrambled to collect my things as a smirk appears on his face. Fleeing the cafeteria before any of them could say anything to me.

~ I hope you guys liked my first attempt, I'm hoping this one will be a slow burner, looking forward to hearing any feed back you guys might have. ~

~Thank you for reading ~