How many of you forget that Brandy's little sister Eileen exists? She's fourteen, in eighth grade, and Brandy and Eddie would have never gotten away with all the sneaking around they did without her. She lied and cheated for her older sister's happiness throughout the whole book, and it's time to let all of that out. So I'm here to dedicate a special chapter to all of Eileen's inside job's that were never acknowledged.
Chapter six:
At the end of chapter six and beginning of chapter seven, Eddie sneaks in through Brandy's window for the first time. The Hunt's house has two rooms right next to each other on the second floor. Brandy and Eileen's. The tree Eddie climbed up to get onto the roof outside Brandy and Eileen's windows was closer to Eileen's window (which would come in handy for the MANY boys that wanted to greet Eileen at night in her later years).
So obviously, when Eddie climbed up the window, Eileen saw him. She had heard of the kid. Eddie Kaspbrak. She saw him and his sister talking outside the house only seconds before. Brandy knew he was coming up, and so Eileen supported it.
She was a good little sister, and greatly respected her older sister. She loved Brandy, and Brandy loved her. They had always been fairly close.
Eileen heard Brandy's door close. And she also heard her mother's footsteps coming up the stairs. She took it upon herself to stall her mother.
She ran out of her room just as Mrs. Hunt reaches Brandy's room.
"Wait!" Eileen called to her mother.
"Yes sweetheart?"
Eileen hadn't thought that far ahead. She improved, batting her long eyelashes.
"I-I got my period," she lied skillfully. She was in eighth grade. Of course she had already gotten her period. But she hadn't told her mother. Eileen told Brandy way back in sixth grade when she got her period, and had been feeding off of her tampon stash for almost two years.
Mrs. Hunt smiled sadly, "c'mon. Let's go buy some supplies."
So Eileen sat in the front seat of her mother's car uncomfortably, as Mrs. Hunt explained that getting her period was natural. She walked through the pad isle with her mother as she got supplies.
When they got back home, Eileen checked Brandy's room. Her and Eddie were still at that party. Good. She slumped down on her bed, trying to forget the walk to the cash register with her mother. Oh how Brandy owed her.
Chapter twenty three:
"Hey Leeny?" Mrs. Hunt asked her.
"Yeah?"
"Have you noticed that Brandy seems a little detached?"
Eileen shook her head at her mother. It was late, and Brandy still wasn't home. Her mother didn't know that, though. She nervously tapped her finger on the book she was reading, holding eye contact with her mother. She was a fairly good actress. Nobody could read her. She was a total badass in the making, and only in the eighth grade.
Mrs. Hunt stood up, "I'm going to ask her what's going on."
"No!" Eileen commanded. Her mother looked stunned by her sudden intensity on the matter.
She cleared her throat, "I-I mean, I'll ask her. You don't need to worry yourself with this! You have a good book to read. I'm heading up to bed, anyways. It's late, mom. Goodnight."
Eileen stood up coolly and kissed her mother on the forehead, walking into Brandy's room. Eileen heard Brandy walk through the front door, and have a conversation with Freddie.
Freddie was so stupid. Brandy told him about Eddie, and he didn't think anything was going on between them. What an airhead.
Brandy walked into her room, stunned to see Eileen there.
Crap! Eileen hadn't thought of what she'd talk to Brandy about. There had to be something she could talk about. Eileen would tell her mother that nothing was wrong with Brandy the next morning. That she promised her and Brandy talked it over and nothing happened.
Of course, Eileen wouldn't actually talk to Brandy about Eddie. She'd known about him since day one. She'd been holding her tongue about him for weeks.
She made up a quick lie about her best friend, Kayla, and a boy in her grade. She whined about the fake issue with her older sister, and left her room. She told her mother that Brandy was all right and headed to bed, more lies piled on top of her. More secrets to keeps. More doors to keep locked.
Other things?
-when Eddie spent the night after his mother was horrible to him, Eileen kept everyone out of Brandy's room the next morning.
-when the Fourth of July happened, Eileen told her parents Brandy stayed the night at Bev's, even though she knew her and Eddie were naked and asleep him her room.
-kept Freddie oblivious to Eddie and Brandy for an extra two months
-has always been her dad's favorite (mostly because she was the most willing to do stuff with him of the three kids) and assured him Brandy was perfectly fine, along with doing the same for her mother
-Eddie never *bonded* with her, though. She always supported him and Brandy, but from a distance. She was NEVER as intense as Freddie about it
-auditioned for a show in the early nineties
-got the part by a LONG SHOT
-became a national sweetheart, and one of the first motivations for intersectional feminism in the late nineties.
-never settled down and got married
-she never wanted to get married. A man wouldn't make her happy
-gave up her fame when her mom got sick in the early two thousands to take care of her
-when Brandy and Eddie went back to fight pennywise, she was in her late twenties, and took care of their two children: a little boy and an even littler girl
Okay that's all thanks for listening. Just Eileen is aMazing and under appreciated.
Let's just say that if she didn't exist, Brandy and Eddie wouldn't have ended up together. Her parents would have found out that first day, and Eddie would have been too scared to ever go back to her house. So. Let's all thank Eileen.
