Their Year (Eddie Munson)

Chapter Two

"Are you sure she even likes dnd?" Dustin asked, "Would she even want to play?"

"Says the one," Eddie answered, "Who suggested Steve. If you can suggest Steve, I can suggest the new girl. I am pretty sure she has more of a chance of wanting to play and liking dnd than Steve would. Think about it Dustin. Who seems more likely to play dnd with us? Steve or the new girl?" The Hellfire club members looked around at each other. To a degree, there was truth to what Eddie was saying. The new girl was more likely to say yes than Steve. But, at the same time, they knew nothing about her. What if she said no? They would still be a player short.

"Well," Eddie said, "Let me tell you something, the answer is the new girl. Now, if you don't mind me, I am going to talk to the new girl and the rest of you can talk amongst yourself until I come back." He got up from his seat and began to make his way to the new girl. Seeing her sitting alone reminded him of the time Dustin and Mike sat alone before they joined Hellfire. Maybe it could be a similar situation for the new girl. Once he reached the table, he sat directly in front of her. That was all it took for her to look up at who was near her.

"Hey," he said, "My name is Eddie. What's your name?" She looked at him for a moment, a little shocked that someone had started talking to her.

"Marley," she responded.

"Well, Marley," he replied, "It's nice to meet you." As much as he wanted to ask straight away, he knew it was better to slowly ease it into the conversation and not freak her out. Not when she had just started at the school. And his little antic earlier probably wouldn't make talking about it easier if doing it straight away.

"Well," he continued, "Welcome to this hellhole of a school, where for some reason, cliques' matter and are more important than anything else. Why do they matter? No one knows. What are you doing, sitting alone? I thought someone like you would have made friends in this hellhole." The look on her face was one that Eddie had not expected. One of slight sadness.

"Because," Marley said, "I'm an outcast. I don't really belong anywhere. None of the cliques here or at any other school I've been to want me in their cliques." That sounded all too familiar to Eddie. He was too much of a freak to belong anywhere else. Nowhere else wanted him, that was the reason the Hellfire club was started in the first place. A safe space for the people who didn't fit in anywhere else and had the base interest in dungeons and dragons.

"I know," he replied, "Of one group that will be happy to accept you into the group. But I do have one question to ask you before you join the group, if you want to join in the first place. Do you like and play Dungeons and Dragons?" The first time she had been asked that question in a genuine manner. All the previous times, it had been a disgusted tone and with expressions of the same disgust. But there was no sign on that when Eddie asked. He seemed to be genuinely asking.

"Yeah," Marley said, "I like Dungeons and Dragons, and yes I do play it. Why do you ask?"

"Because," Eddie responded, "I'm doing a campaign tonight and I just found out that I will be one player short. We are trying to find someone on short notice and everyone else that we have thought of wouldn't be a good match for who we need to fill in for. Would you like to fill in that free spot we have? And also, how good are you playing the game?"

"I'm fairly good at it," she replied, "And yeah, sure. I can fill in that spot for you."

"Great," he exclaimed, with the biggest smile on his face, "Come and meet the people of the Hellfire Club." Hellfire Club? Why was it called the Hellfire Club? There was no time to ask as before she knew it, Eddie had already gotten up from his seat and headed in the direction of this supposed Hellfire Club. Marley got up from her seat and followed the male where he had been sitting beforehand. The brief walk from the table she sat at to the Hellfire Club table made Marley feel like the rest of the students in the cafeteria were staring at her. To Eddie, he seemed unaffected by everything that was going on. She wished she was as unaffected by it like he was.

"Well, guys," Eddie said, when they had reached the table, "I have found the perfect candidate for our Cult of Vecna campaign. This is Marley and she has played dungeons and dragons before. From what she had just told me, she is fairly good at it as well." He looked over at Dustin as he spoke the last two sentences, as if he was trying to prove something to Dustin. Something that Marley wouldn't know the context of and probably didn't want to know.

"She's going to be," Eddie continued, "Filling in for Lucas tonight while he's at the championship game. Marley, this is Dustin, Gareth, Jeff and Mike. Whether or not you meet Lucas is not up to us, but you might end up meeting him at some point. If you end up loving our dungeons and dragons campaigns and just the overall fun times of Hellfire, you are more than welcome to join us all the time and you can get a Hellfire shirt as well. If you wanted one that is."

"I'll have a think about it," Marley said, taking a seat next to Gareth. Sitting amongst the Hellfire club members, she blended in quite well. She didn't stick out too much like a sore thumb. Still outcasted from the rest of the school, but at least she had somewhere she could fit into. A place that was happy to welcome in. Though originally just to fill in a spot for someone else. But at least she wasn't sitting alone anymore. At least she was finally getting the opportunity to prove that she could fit in somewhere. She was just waiting for the bullying to start at some point. It was inevitable. It would always start up again at some point. It happened at every other school she went to, so this school wouldn't be any different. Would being in the Hellfire Club make it start sooner, considering what happened not even a moment ago? Maybe. But for now, she wanted to just enjoy being a part of something and finally making friends to some degree.

Eddie sat down in his seat once again, the same smile he had on from earlier. Not only had he found someone to fill in for Lucas, but he found someone who genuinely liked dungeons and dragons. Someone who already knew how to play the game and what to do when it came to campaigns. And he got to prove it to Dustin that the new girl wanted to play the game compared to someone like Steve. Marley looked around at the Hellfire Club, watching them as they interacted with each other. Considering how new she was to the club; she didn't talk much to them. Maybe the more she hung around them, the more comfortable she would be talking to them. For now, she was happy to observe them. Laughing, smiling, having a genuine good time. Maybe the more time she spent with them, she would be, at some point, laughing, smiling and having a genuine good time.

That was all Marley could hope for.