𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐈𝐒𝐇// 𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐗𝐎𝐂

𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐯. ✭ 𝐁𝐀𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐓

AUGUST, 1982; EDDIE

Background Music
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-No One Else Like You by Adam Levine-
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"And what will you be performing, young lady?" Mrs. Karr asked, her pen hovering over her clipboard. She looked up from her papers, arching an eyebrow at the girl in front of me. She noticed her.

Which made me shift my gaze onto her, subtly craning my neck to steal a glimpse. Standing behind her with my friends, I could only see the girl's back.

"Um...Cheerleading." She said softly, twisting one of her ankles over the other as she stood at the front of the line. She was wearing white Keds, her tube socks scrunched up.

Hawkins Middle was a fairly big school. Which made it possible for me to not know who this girl was. Even though it was eighth grade, I had never been in a single one of this girl's classes. I would've remembered her. That strawberry blonde hair she had made her stand out, drawing me in.

After she registered for her slot in the talent show, she went to go sit on the bleachers, waiting for her name to be called so that the teachers could check out what she planned to perform.

Corroded Coffin was quickly signed up and with my guitar in hand, I made my way over to the girl. She was fidgeting with the ends of her cheerleading skirt, her head bowing toward her lap.

"Is anyone sitting here?" I asked her, gesturing toward the long empty bleacher. My question allowed me to get a good look at her face. She was alerted by my presence, tilting her head up. "I'm Eddie, by the way."

Her eyes were bluish grey, reminding me of an overcast sky. They weren't brown. Her skin was unblemished. Not a single freckle dotting it. Shamefully, I felt slightly disappointed. I thought that she'd have freckles because of her hair. They were nowhere to be seen.

Yeah, but her hair's still reddish.
No one else's hair is red.
That still counts for something.

"I'm Chrissy." She replied, dodging her eyes around me. "And...the seats not taken." Sweeping my gaze around the busy gym, I settled on sitting beside her. We sat in silence. I had to break it first.

"So you do cheer?" Lifting my arms up, I mimed a goofy impression of a cheerleading routine. "Does it go like this? Like something like this?" Chrissy's face broke into a smile, showing off her perfect teeth. She didn't need braces like I did. Her teeth were shiny and straight like Chance's.

"Something like that." Chrissy giggled shyly, handing me one of the Pom Poms she brought for her talent show audition. They were red and white, the tufts of sparkly streamers flowing as they moved. I shook it around slightly, brushing it against her shoulder playfully. "What are you doing for the talent show?"

"I'm playing guitar with my band." Setting the Pom Pom down, I leered toward her with an over-the-top gravelly voice. "Corroded Coffin!" Her cheeks rounded, turning an apple red. "We're doing our own original song but right now we just can't decide which one we're gonna play."

"You write your own songs?" She looked amazed, completely intrigued with me. "How? I mean I could never- I-" Her voice was chipper, stumbling out her questions. "What songs are you stuck between for the talent show?"