Waiting Room | A Stranger Things Story - Eddie Munson | VOLUME I

So Far Away | Part VII

𝐒𝐨 𝐅𝐚𝐫 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐲 | 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐕𝐈𝐈

𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟔

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞

'𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐎𝐆𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐘 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃' Sarah groaned, her palm resting on her forehead in frustration.

'Elaborate?' I urged, my mouth full of my salami sandwich.

We were back at our table in the cafeteria, I watched on as Sarah flicked frantically through the pages of her Chemistry workbook.

'Do you ever just read over something so much that all of the words stop being words. They're just letters floating around in your brain?'
She asked, staring up at me in desperation.

'You need to take a break before you give yourself brain damage or something' I said, pulling the book away from her slowly.

'No!' She cried out, slamming her palm down on the page to prevent me from moving it any further.

'It's alright for you, you have Mr Wadey for Chemistry. I have been dealt the foul hand of Mrs Delsey who takes zero prisoners. I gotta pass this pop quiz because she's starting to look at me like I'm some kind of wounded animal!' She whined, crossing her arms in front of her and resting her head on them.

'Hey, it's gonna be okay. You're more than capable. Stop stressing about what she thinks of you and do what you can. It's more than good enough.'

'I wish I could live inside your brain, Kathryn.' She said, her speech muffled as her head was still down.

'Uh, why?' I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.

'Because you live in such blissful ignorance. What's it like' she lifted her head up slightly this time. Her eyes peering through her soft yet messy curls.

'Ha, ha' I rolled my eyes, sarcasm dripping from my tone.

I glanced up and across the hall of the cafeteria, Eddie was sat at the head of the table with his friends, a gaggle of laughs erupting from them as they were deep in excitable conversation.

Eddie glanced up at me from his seat, he shot a brief sincere smile at me before he quickly looked away again.

  ***

I twisted the code of my padlock on my locker, watching as it popped open. Opening it, I shoved my rucksack down from my shoulder to my forearm, unzipping it as I began to swap out my books for the remainder of the day.

'Hey!' A familiar voice called out, I turned my head to see Eddie approaching me from across the hall. His long, undulant hair moving swiftly with every stride he took.

'Oh, hey. Are you okay?' I smiled, closing my locker as I zipped my rucksack back up.

'Yeah, can I uh - ask you something? Feel free to say no obviously I just wanted to throw it out there.' He enquired, he seemed nervous.

Frantic almost.

'Shoot.' I nodded.

'So, Hellfire Club. We're playing tonight and I just wondered if you'd want to stop by and, I don't know. Spectate?' He asked, screwing up his nose, almost as if he immediately regretted asking.

'Spectate? I wouldn't even know how'- I started, before Eddie interrupted hastily.

'You can just sit on the sidelines, make sure everyone's playing by the rules you know, no touching the dice after it's rolled, especially if it rolls off the table. Stuff like that. I just thought it might be fun for you to see what we do.'