Eddie & Chrissy: What Could Have Been

Chapter Five: The Tipping Point

Chrissy barely slept that night. The nightmares, the guilt over what she said to Eddie, and the stress from breaking it off with Jason, it was all too much. She got herself ready for the day and headed out the front door toward school.

There it stood, like a prison, she took a deep breath before she pushed open the doors to Hawkins High. "Here we go," she thought to herself. She walked through the halls clutching her pink backpack straps on her shoulders. Her palms were sweating. She was hoping not to see Jason on her way to first period. There was one more turn to make through the halls before she hit homeroom. "Almost there," she said under her breath. She took a step in the classroom, she made it.

As Chrissy sat down, she caught Andy out of the corner of her eye looking her up and down with disgust. "Great, Jason must have already told his friends," she thought to herself. She heard whispering and turned to her right where she saw a couple of the girls from her cheer squad staring at her and smirking to cover up the fact that they had just been talking about her. Chrissy looked down at her desk and heard a loud, "bong". It wasn't the bell, it sounded like a clock. It was a deep bong like what you would hear from a grandfather clock. She closed her eyes and felt her heart drop. She then heard ticking and began to panic.

"Chrissy! Pay attention!" Mrs. Wright called out to her as she was taking attendance. Everyone turned around in their seats to look at Chrissy. She gasped and snapped out whatever had a hold of her.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Wright. Here," she said anxiously. The announcements began over the loudspeakers and Chrissy laid her head on her desk, "this is going to be a long day."

    Eddie was roaming the halls on his way to English when he suddenly tripped. He turned around quickly and it was Jason. "Piece of shit," he shoved Jason hard enough that his back slammed against the lockers.

One of Jason's friends pushed Eddie back and Jason walked toward him, "Listen freak, I don't know what you said to Chrissy but you better stay away from her if you know what's good for you." Jason's eyes were gleaming and he was inches away from Eddie's face, poking at his chest. Eddie slowly started to walk backwards and flipped Jason the double bird. He smirked and skipped down the hall. "You're dead Munson! Do you hear me!? Dead!" Jason called out down the hall and slammed his fist into a locker. Eddie didn't care.

    Eddie made his grand entrance into English class, "You're late again, Mr. Munson," Ms. O'Donnell said, peering at him over her eyeglasses.

"My apologies, Ms. O'Donnell. I had some, uh, business to take care of." He winked at her and walked towards the back of the classroom, fell into his seat, and smiled widely at her while batting his eyelashes and resting his head on his fists. She continued to glare at him, unamused, and then turned back to the blackboard to continue on with her lesson. This was his third time taking this class with Ms. O'Donnell. They despised one another equally. "Third times a charm," he thought to himself and kicked his feet up on top of his desk. A girl obnoxiously chewing gum looked over at him in disgust, he returned the favor by making devil horns with his two index fingers and sticking out his tongue. She gasped and looked away offended. He flung his head back to look at the ceiling and exhaled. "Same shit, different day," he thought.

    Chrissy didn't talk to anyone the entire day. She ate her lunch in the bathroom and walked the halls without looking up once. She felt that all eyes were on her and the whispers were overwhelming. It was a relief when the 2:30 bell rang. She scurried out the gymnasium doors where no one would see her and closed her eyes as the sun hit her face. She took a deep breath of fresh air and quickly walked in the direction of home. She felt paranoid. Between her lack of sleep, the stress at school, and the situation with Eddie and Jason, she couldn't stop her mind from racing. Scanning the parking lot, she noticed that Eddie's van was no longer there. A wave of disappointment washed over her body. He was the only person that she wanted to talk to. In fact, she ached for it.