Don't Stand So Close To Me

Devil's Child

Just as Eddie turns the corner that loses the Chrysler in his rearview mirror, the opening riff of Judas Priest's Devil's Child kicks in. He lights up a smoke and sings out loud whilst hitting the steering wheel to the beat.

After nearly six months, he'd finally done it. He'd finally cracked the Lyra code. He wasn't exactly sure how, but he was sure as hell gonna analyse the whole day to figure it out later.

"Feast your eyes on, feast your eyes on, a whole lotta sin", he sings aloud and winks at himself in the mirror in congratulations and laughs heartily.

The thing about Lyra was she was just so god damn intriguing to him, but he couldn't put his finger on why.

Hawkins High had beauties of all varieties, and Eddie wasn't shy about sampling any of them, though, for the most part, it had always been done in secret or a one-off. He didn't care all that much. Generally speaking, he hadn't really gotten to know most of them that well in the first place. That's not to say he hadn't had his heart broken a few times, but often, in hindsight, the adoration between Eddie and the object of his affection had been imbalanced.

Lyra, the first day she walked in, Eddie had obviously clocked her as fresh meat, but as horrible as it sounded, she wasn't anything out of the ordinary. She wasn't exceptionally beautiful, she didn't have a killer figure, her clothes were not alternative, and chances are, if she hadn't been at Eddie's old locker, he might not have noticed her at all. She was almost painfully ordinary.

Maybe from his mother's love of folklore tales or his love of fantasy in general, but Eddie believed in signs, and it had started with the locker. Ok, someone eventually had to get that locker, so he had initially brushed that off.

She had struggled to unlock it the same way he had years before and then, just like Eddie hadn't run for help or to complain, and instead found her own way in.

Eddie had watched her struggle for a while and even thought she might need a bit of help at Hawkins. He should probably invite her to join Hellfire Club because this place could be ruthless.

He saw some cheerleaders walk past and whisper to one another, looking her up and down as they did so, but Lyra seemed utterly oblivious. He looked her over. There was something familiar about her outfit. He couldn't see anything wrong with it. Maybe it was a girl thing? But there was something off about it. He just couldn't place it.

Later in gym was the first time he'd heard the rumours, the names they'd called her, that she'd been expelled, came from a private school and how the jocks had joked amongst themselves about who should "welcome" such easy pickings to Hawkins first.

Eddie was not above listening out for who might be more amenable to advances than others, but he'd never talk about anyone like that.

She'd obviously made a mistake at her old school, but now she wasn't even allowed a clean slate at a new place? That just pushed Eddie's buttons in all the wrong ways.
It was then he decided he'd ask her to join Hellfire the next day. She'd be safe with them. The jocks wouldn't be caught dead sniffing around a member of a D&D club.

As the next day rolled around, she stabbed the side of her locker with a pen and wrestled it into submission. Eddie smiled to himself. He was gonna make her day, Show her how to work that locker and take her under his wing. He looked her over again. What was so familiar about her outfits?

Before he could step across the hallway, he was interrupted by a playful commotion of Clara complaining, trying to grab something from Jeff, who was holding something out of her reach that he and Gareth were giggling at.

Eddie snatches the book from his hand, "What are you plaguing Clara with today, punks?" He says with a laugh, turning the book in his hand. It was just a clothing catalogue. He was pretty sure he had one at home. He flicked through it with his thumb and realised something. He hands the catalogue back to Clara, "Here you go, don't mind these perverts, man. They probably can't turn the pages of their own home copy anymore."