Chapter Text
Eddie bounced his leg up and down, simultaneously tapping his pencil into his opposite hand. His eyes were glued on the classroom clock, watching the hands tick at an excruciatingly slow pace towards 3:00 PM.
Glancing down at his blank page of notes, Eddie sighed and sat back in his chair, forcing himself to remember what Uncle Wayne always said about a watched pot never boiling.
Plus, he should probably at least concentrate on what Ms. O’Donnell was saying if he wanted to pass her class. He was graduating this year if it killed him.
Eddie tried to pay attention to the teacher droning on about World War II, but his focus kept shifting to the hands of the clock again.
Groaning quietly in frustration, Eddie dug the heels of his hands into his eyes, dropping his pencil onto the still empty notebook.
Oh, what the hell, Eddie thought. Water’s gotta boil sometime, and maybe if Eddie glared the clock to death it would fucking take a hint and speed up.
Forgoing the notes, Eddie did just that, and glared at the clock like it was Jason Carver, until the bell finally rang.
Springing up from his desk, Eddie swept his notebook and pen into his backpack, slinging it onto his arm and racing towards the door, ignoring everyone else who was also trying to squeeze through.
Until he knocked into a strawberry blonde bundle.
Eddie reached out and grabbed her around the waist, practically dipping the girl until he was staring into her blue eyes and smiling face.
At least, that’s what Eddie imagined happening.
Unfortunately, reality sucks, and Eddie’s reflexes weren’t quite as sharp as he wanted them to be, leading to Chrissy Cunningham sprawling on the floor. Her textbook flew out of her hands and all of the papers tucked inside the pages slipped out.
“Shit!” Eddie exclaimed, immediately crouching in the doorway to gather up the papers on the ground. “Sorry, wasn’t paying attention.”
She looked up and tossed him a small smile, although it seemed a little forced. “No, it’s okay, I’m just clumsy.”
Eddie paused his task for a moment to give her an incredulous look. “You’re the cheer captain.”
For some reason her cheeks seemed to turn a darker shade of pink. “How’d you know that?”
Probably because of his unbelievably big crush, he thought to himself trying to find a better excuse.
“I mean, doesn’t everyone, Miss Queen of Hawkins High?” Eddie hoped she’d believe that. It was basically true.
He never found out if she was convinced, since someone shoved him a bit as they walked out of the classroom, interrupting the conversation. “Get out of the way, freak.”
Eddie rolled his eyes but shifted so he wasn’t blocking the door anymore. He didn’t exactly want to get stepped on.
Chrissy stood, having gathered all the papers Eddie wasn’t currently holding, and he popped up next to her.
“Thanks,” she told him, reaching a hand out.
Eddie stared at it, trying to figure out if she was looking for a handshake because maybe that’s how they did things in her high class circles.
He decided he’d probably been staring at her hand for way too long, and just reached out and shook it. “Uh, you’re welcome.”
Suddenly she burst into bubbly giggles, and Eddie found it impossible to not smile along as he dropped her criminally soft hand.
“What?”
Her smile was wide as she tried to stop her laughter. “I was asking for the papers!”
“Oh! Oh my god, right,” Eddie said, trying to force a laugh as he handed the papers over, flustered enough that he almost dropped them.
Still smiling, Chrissy tucked them back into her stack. “Thank you,” she repeated, before wiggling her fingers in a little wave, turning on her heel and walking down the hall.
Eddie stood, in pure shock at what just took place. “Fuck,” he muttered to himself. Why’d he have to be such an idiot? Around her of all people! He was a badass. Scared half the people at school. And he shook her hand.
Not that he wanted to scare her. But he’d rather not look like such a moron. Although, it did make her smile. Bigger than he’d ever seen it, especially around that asshole of a boyfriend she had.
Eddie was torn from his thoughts by Gareth appearing in his line of sight.
“Eddie, hey, what’re you doing? Let’s go man. We got Hellfire.”
“Right, yeah. Just gotta stop at my locker,” Eddie replied shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts of a certain cheerleader.
His obsession had gone on too long, and what fleeting chances they had for a relationship just flew out the window with one fucking handshake.
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Chrissy walked away from the strange interaction, trying to figure out why she was still smiling.
She got knocked over by the school outcaste, and according to his reputation, he should’ve just moved on.
Instead he helped her pick up her papers…and shook her hand.
Put that on the top ten list of things she never thought she’d see in the world.
And why was it so endearing, anyway?
Chrissy found herself at her locker, and put her books inside, before shoving homework in her backpack.
She glanced at the picture of the cheer team taped to the locker door, and felt her cheeks heat up as she remembered Eddie calling her “The Queen” of the school.
Eddie Munson was a self proclaimed hater of all organized sports, and yet he paid enough attention to know she was the captain.
But, like he said, everyone knew that. Chrissy sighed, confused as to why she felt disappointed.
Giving one last look to herself at the top of the cheer pyramid, Chrissy shut the locker with a clang, before gasping and flinching backwards.
“Jason!” She exclaimed, bringing her hand up to her chest, having not expected another human to be standing a foot away from her.
“Jumpy, much?” He asked with a mocking grin as he leaned against the locker next to hers.
“Yeah, sorry, just lost in thought.” She shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts, and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. “What’s up?”
“I just wanted to see if you needed a ride to the party tonight.”
Chrissy bit her lip. “About that. I know I said I’d come, but I can’t anymore.”
Jason furrowed his brows. “Why not?”
“My mom grounded me for the weekend. I can’t go anywhere.”
“What did you do?”
“Uh, nothing really, we just…got into a fight.” Specifically it was over how Chrissy gained a pound in the past week, but she didn’t really want to share that with Jason. It’s not like he’d sympathize. He liked her slim figure.
Jason groaned. “Come on, Chris, how could you make your mom mad at a time like this? We just talked about how we should be together more in public!”
“I know, and I’m sorry. But I can’t do anything about it now.”
He let out a breath, giving her an annoyed look. “Whatever. I guess I’ll see you Monday.” And then he leaned in to give her a quick kiss.
Chrissy forced a smile as he pulled away and walked off, leaving her by the lockers alone in the now empty hallway, mood officially dampened.
She slung her backpack over her shoulder and sighed, letting her eyes flutter shut, trying to prepare herself for a lonely weekend.
Chrissy didn’t really feel like the queen anymore.