Delicate || Stranger Things FanFiction

5. the field

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘍𝘪𝘷𝘦: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥

The silence in the library provided her with comfort; something that the rest of the school could not provide her. There were no loud sounds of lockers slamming or laughs erupting from a group of students as they walked passed her, nothing to make her heart pound and her palms to sweat. The lights were dim as she wrote the beginnings of her essay on the war, chewing gently on her bottom lip as she waited for Eddie to inevitably interrupt her. He had sat himself opposite to her, his tongue resting on his upper lip as his dark eyes scanned the paper in front of him. He tapped his rings on the table gently as he did so, and Valerie could not help but smile slightly at the thought of him being nervous for her to read over his assignment.

Despite being adamant that he was going to get the essay done on his own before Friday, Eddie had actually failed to do so from 'band practice' and 'D&D' making him forget about the assignment altogether. He had called the Henderson family's phone at ten o'clock at night, just when Valerie was brushing her teeth to go to bed. He was frustrated, to say the very least, and exclaimed through the phone multiple times how the school was stupid for making him write an essay on an author, rather than a music icon like Metallica, or Ozzy Osbourne. After a few minutes, she somehow managed to calm him down, and she remained on the phone with him until he somewhat understood the point of the assignment. He must spent the rest of the weekend and more writing the assignment, because now it had been finished, and it was a Tuesday.

There was not meant to be a study session today, either – they had organised over the phone a proper schedule. Mondays and Wednesdays after school, and Friday's during their study period. However, because this essay was finished by the end of last week, Eddie practically begged her to have a short session today. On her birthday.

"Okay, uh, yeah, I'm finished." Eddie nodded his head nervously as he slowly slid the essay in front of her, replacing her own essay. He brought his thumb to his lips, where his teeth began to pick at the nail and the skin around it, blinking a little too much. The table they sat at jiggled slightly as his knee bounced repeatedly – Valerie almost found it sweet that he had been this nervous over her reading his work, though she knew that anxious feeling, so it made it all a little less sweet.

Her lips remained sealed as her eyes scanned each word on the paper, and to her surprise, the paper was better than she had expected. Considering his late-night meltdown and his inability to focus on his work without the comfort of Valerie there with him, she expected to have to work on the essay with him a little longer today. However, his essay hit all the requirements, and while there was room for improvement, she knew the paper would help bring up his grade significantly. Her heart felt warm and fuzzy; she was proud of him. Her eyes peered up at him, and he could barely look at her, most likely out of fear that she would reveal that his essay was horribly written – when it was quite the opposite.

"Eddie Munson," She gently pushed the paper back to sit in front of him, and his eyes snapped up at her. "That essay is worth at least a B+. Minimum."