Brave Like You (Steve Harrington)

One.

*Halloween, 1984*

I hadn't heard Eddie get up yet. He knew I had to be at school early today, we talked about it last night. I wish my brother was more responsible. But it seemed like he needed someone to look after him at all times. It was insane.

I opened the door to his bedroom, and I saw him dead asleep laying on his stomach. His dark, long, frizzy curls were covering his face. The sound of light snores escaped him. I approached his bed full of anger.

"Eddie," I said, as I shook his arm, trying to get him to wake up. "Eddie, we have to go. I'm going to be late. Come on!" I shook him again, he didn't move. I am getting angry now. "Eddie!" I shouted and I smacked his bare skin in between his shoulders. That did it, that woke him up.

He rolled over onto his back looking up at me with groggy, confused eyes. "What the hell was that for?" He asks, his voice as confused as the look on his face.

"I'm going to be late," I said, not hiding my anger, "Get your ass out of bed."

"Shit," he mumbled and he covered his eyes with his hand, "Sorry. Give me 10 minutes."

"You have 5," I said, speaking through my teeth and I left his messy room. I went back into my room to check my pony tail one last time. I heard Eddie shuffling around in his room, at least he was out of bed now. I heard him brushing his teeth in the bathroom as I sprayed down some flyways.

I listened to his footsteps as he went back into his room. About 3 minutes later, he emerged holding the keys to his van and he stood in my doorway. "You ready?" He asked, as he jangled his keys, to show me he was holding them.

"Yes," I said, and I grabbed my backpack. I studied his outfit and I walked past him asking, "Do you seriously need all of those layers?"

"What do you mean?" He asks, and I know he's just looking down at his leather jacket with the denim vest over it.

"It's a bit much," I said, as I reached the front door and opened it.

"It's not enough," He countered and we stood at his van. He smiled and he unlocked his van, I climbed into the passenger seat. Eddie drove like crazy as he took us to school. Usually I complain about his driving, but I was running late, so this time I let it slide.

Eddie is actually my older brother by two years, but since he can't seem to make the grades to graduate, he's a Super Senior this year since he couldn't make the grades to graduate last year. He was supposed to graduate last year.

Yes, that means he's 19 years old and still in high school. I don't mind having him at school with me, I hardly even know he's here. We're in a lot of the same classes, but at different time periods so we don't really interact. At lunch I sit with my cheer friends and he sits with his friends that call themselves the Hellfire Club. They're a bunch of nerds who play Dungeons and Dragons.

"Your humble servant has brought you to the castle, fair Princess," He said in an overly dramatic fake English accent as we pulled up to the school.

"Thanks," I said and I got out of his van. I saw another car pulling up to the school as I shut the door to the van. I knew that car, that car belonged to my best friend's dad, Robin Buckley. I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who was running late.

I held the door to the school open for her and we headed to the gym together. This is my second year as a cheerleader, but Robin has always been in the school band. So she was no stranger to pep rallies like this one. When we entered the gymnasium, Robin let out a groan. "It's not even Basketball season yet. What is he doing here?"