Don't Stand So Close To Me

10 - Poison Arrow

Lyra sits in Algebra, waiting for the last bell to ring. She was looking forward to spending time with Clara and Eddie but did have concerns about the mall.

It was a place out of her comfort zone. It was unpredictably loud, busy and overwhelming in many other ways. She hadn't been back since everything went down at her last school. Even then, she didn't go that often due to the anxious fear her parents had drilled into her about kids going missing and how they or Phil could get things for her, or they knew a much nicer place to take her shopping.

They didn't understand that though it was just a giant structure full of consumerism, it was, in some ways, a modern right of passage. It was just something you would do with your friends, often and mix with other people your age. Shop at stores geared explicitly to your demographic and not just a shop that sells the kind of thing you'd wear in a family portrait.

Maybe this time, they thought the friends she was hanging out with would be a bit more streetwise, so she'd be safer? Or would Phil be keeping track of her from afar?

Either way, she'd be out of this torture device of an undergarment as soon as she had something new to wear.

The bell rings, and she gathers up her arm full of things and totters out of class. Some people even let her go ahead of them, which was a courtesy she wasn't accustomed to at Hawkins High School, that's for sure.

As she walks through the door, Eddie falls into step beside her, a little out of breath, "Hey! Sorry, I thought you had Chemistry and was in the wrong place."

Lyra notes that it's the first time today Eddie hasn't reached for her hand or arm as they walk. It wasn't a bad thing. She should feel relieved, really, shouldn't she?

"Oh, was the schedule hard to read? Sometimes my cursive can be a bit scrawly," she smiles.

"No, nothing like that. Liam, who I was in my last class with, said you two had chemistry together..." Eddie trails off, looking like he's just realised something important, "Son of a..."

"The British guy?" Lyra, a little confused, notes the annoyance on Eddie's face, "Everything alright?"

"Oh yeah, I'll have a word with him tomorrow about it." Then Eddie falls silent, which is unusual for him. He was humming, singing, or fiddling with something even when he wasn't talking.

When they eventually get to Lyra's locker and pause, she asks again, "Are you sure you're feeling ok? We can do this another time, you know?" Lyra reaches out the back of her hand to feel his forehead, and Eddie, much to her surprise, steps backwards away from her. She'd say he flinched away if she didn't know any better.

"Oh no, we need to find you something new to wear for tomorrow. Like as soon as possible, really," Eddie says, looking over her outfit until he meets her gaze again, and quickly turns to the side and starts examining the locker next to his head, "You know, because you said you were uncomfortable, right? And we don't want that, right??!" He says with a weak laugh.

Lyra feels more than a bit concerned about Eddie's behaviour right now. She was sure something was troubling him, but it didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it. Maybe she'd ask in a more private setting. "I couldn't agree more. It is deeply uncomfortable now," She says, opening her locker with the key and this time, when she hits her locker with a thump, it makes that satisfying pop sound. She looks around at Eddie in excitement, but his thoughts seem elsewhere.

There are a few more notes in the locker, so Lyra scoops them onto a book and tosses them in the trash.

"You aren't gonna read any of those?" Eddie asks, his voice gentle and calm. His eyes were soft and maybe a little sad. Nothing like the awkward tone moments ago when he couldn't face her.