"𝘈𝘯𝘥... 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭?"
"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭."
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Good girl Valerie Henderson has had her heart set on basketball player Steve Harrington for as long as she could remember. After years of building her reputation to...
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𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘕𝘪𝘯𝘦: 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟱
It had been three years since the prank on Eddie 'the freak' Munson had occurred at the Halloween party of '82. Valerie and Eddie, much like at the start of the school year in '82, were now complete strangers. Because of the lack of her tutoring sessions and support within the school, the two strangers were forced to endure the presence of one another for at least another year – since Eddie had to repeat senior year again. For another year, Valerie was going to be forced to put up with the glares and the mumbled insults coming from Eddie as they pass each other in the hallways. But this was not a part of Valerie's plan.
In 1982, the morning after the Halloween party, she sat by the phone in the kitchen and waited patiently for Eddie to call. She would eat her breakfast, lunch, and her dinner at that chair beside the phone, hoping that he would call her, and everything would be back to normal again. But that never happened. The phone never rang, at least not for her, and everything was not okay. She would return to school the following week, with her eyes scanning the hallways in hopes of finding Eddie – and she did, she did find him, but his eyes were still filled with rage when they locked with her own. She would shyly wave at him, and in response, he would slam his locker door shut and walk away.
It was such a small action, but it was enough for her heart to sink into her chest and anger to grow in her own body. It was then she decided, standing in the middle of the hallway before the school bell rang, that she was not going to wait around pining after him, waiting for him to come back to her and realise that she was never involved in the stupid prank. So, she made a promise to herself that she was going to treat him the same way he had been treating her. She would glare at him in the hallways as she walked with the cheerleading team she had just become apart of, only, she would not insult him. She could never do such a thing. But perhaps being apart of the popular group was insulting enough for him, anyway.
As the years went on, amidst all the frightening sudden deaths and missing children cases in their small town, Valerie and Eddie continued to remain as rivals. Of course, he was far more into it than she was, since she found herself far more concerned with her younger brother than some metal-head at school. Since Will Byers went missing, and died, and then suddenly was not dead, she could not help but want to mimic her mother's 'helicopter-mom' behaviours. Her lips always remained sealed when Eddie would stand on the cafeteria tables, spilling insults about the popular kids and the sports teams, always hinting at 'Vain Valerie'. She would let the basketball team say whatever they wanted about Eddie, since they were often kind enough to stick up for her, partly because she did not 'care' anymore.
The main point is – the Eddie she knew in her freshman year, was no longer the same Eddie she knew now, the summer before her senior year.
"I can't believe he's followed you here." Connie shook her head in disbelief, bringing Valerie back from her many flashbacks of herself and Eddie throughout the last few years. "He's obsessed with you."
