Angel's End / reddie ghost au

Two - Key Necklace

School. A nightmare in itself.
A whole different ball game from the separate horrors Eddie combated at home.

School hadn't exactly been perfect before stupid Bill Denbrough had spread the story of Eddie's encounter.

In fact, before it had just been painfully uneventful. Eddie had been used to being ignored and worked by the motto that he was there to learn and not particularly make friends.

But now school was way worse. It felt as if every corridor Eddie walked down he was eaten up by hundreds of malicious, hungry eyes.

Now, as Eddie stood at the front gates of Derry High, he clutched tightly onto the straps of his backpack. Taking in a deep breath of crisp Monday morning air and preparing for the knockout of insults and hateful glares.

He stepped forwards.

As always, the halls were crowded with people, and the chaos was so perfect, like in a movie. There was the couple that was always making out on the left side of the hall against the lockers, and about ten feet farther down, the mob of stereotypical popular girls.
Opposite them, the athletes, and between them, the parade of band geeks with their huge decorated instrument cases.
There were the over-achievers who never did anything but early homework and the fashion kids that wheeled mannequins and clothing racks down the halls.
And then there was Eddie, the boy that didn't seem to fit into any of these groups.
... the boy that felt as if he could never belong.

Eddie swallowed dryly and began weaving through the mass of busy teenagers. He kept his eyes on the ground, desperate not to draw any unwanted attention to himself.

He breathed shakily, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other to get him away from the crowds.

"Hey Eddie," someone laughed grimly, lightly bumping into Eddie's shoulder.

Eddie sighed heavily before resentfully looking up.

Patrick Hockstetter.

The boy towered high above Eddie. A malicious vibe radiating from his greasy black hair down to his thunderous combat boots. 

"So Eddie...," Patrick hissed, "I have a number you might want,"

Eddie reluctantly raised his eyebrows. Patrick was bad. But his abuse never exceeded being verbal. Unlike Henry Bowers.
Eddie had had to put up with Patrick's lame names and insults for a while and now nothing he had to say could actually get under Eddie's skin.

"And what number is that?" Eddie asked impatiently, eager to move on and stop drawing attention to himself.

"The ghostbusters," Patrick shouted, trying to restrain himself from laughing at his own joke.

Eddie's face remained deadpan. That was lame.
Eddie sighed, his eyes looking around him momentarily. Several people standing by their lockers were beginning to look over so Eddie knew he had to rap this up quickly. He took and deep breath and puffed out his chest to try and stand his ground.
"Wow that was terrible,"

Patrick glared at him. Eddie was pretty fed up of this, he took another deep breath and locked eyes with Patrick.
"If your going to bully me at least be good at it,"

Patrick cocked his head in confusion as Eddie walked away, slightly surprised by that Eddie actually made a comeback.

Eddie smiled to himself feeling a tiny bit more confident then usual.

"What've you got to smile about ghost boy?"

Nevermind. The confidence vanished. Eddie looked down and continued walking.

He had almost made it. He had almost made it to his first class of the day, chemistry, when he felt a hand lightly grip his shoulder.
Instinctively Eddie's eyes widened frightened as he lunged forwards to escape the persons grip. He quickly turned around expecting to see Henry Bowers standing there. But instead, before him stood a girl. A popular girl.

She had unruly short auburn hair that fell softly in front of her startling sapphire eyes. She smiled gently, looping her fingers through the chain on her key necklace.
Eddie looked at her for a few seconds, not saying anything. The popular girls never spoke to Eddie... unless they wanted a good laugh at him. But this girl didn't have a fake and ugly presence to her like the others. Eddie didn't feel afraid or embarrassed.

She grinned, moving her hand away from her necklace and offering it to Eddie to shake.
"I'm Beverly, Beverly Marsh,"

Eddie stared at her hand momentarily before shaking it.
"Eddie," he smiled nervously,

"Oh I know that," she grinned,

Eddie's heart sank a little. Why was she talking to him? There had to be some kind of punchline.

"Look Eddie," she began, "I know you probably already know the rumours going around school about you, huh?"

Eddie looked at her confused.

"Eddie what I wanted to ask was... are the rumours true?"

"Huh?" Eddie replied startled and slightly embarrassed.

"Is it true your... you know... being haunted?" She asked leaning in and whispering slightly.

Eddie didn't know what to say. He looked at the girl uneasily.

She seemed to be able to read his unsure expression and smiled reassuringly, dimples appearing on her freckled cheeks.
"It's okay Eddie. I'm not here to make fun of you... I- I want to help you, I guess,"

Now Eddie felt even more confused.

"Look...," she continued, "I am really intrigued by these kind of things. The paranormal... I was wondering if we could... I don't know... contact your spirit,"
She smiled fakely, to show she was insecure in her question.

Eddie was slightly taken aback.
"Wha-what how?" Eddie stammered.

Beverly looked down and twiddled her thumbs, now seeming like the nervous one.

"We could use an Ouija board."

Eddie thought for a moment. This is good. He didn't care about contacting the ghost. But this was a chance for Eddie to make a friend. A popular friend. And with a popular girl believing him, maybe the bullying would cool down.

"Okay," Eddie nodded, "Do you- er- do you wanna come over to my house tonight? My mum won't be in."

"Tonight oh sure!" Beverly gushed, her face lighting up, "Yes! That's great, I- I guess I'll see you later then. I'll come over before it gets dark,"

"Perfect," Eddie grinned, feeling warm inside. He was actually bringing someone home with him. A friend?

"I'll see you then Eddie," Beverly said beginning to disappear into the crowd.

"See you later,"

Eddie grinned.
Tonight they were going to try and contact the ghost.

The spirit.