MATILDA, eddie munson.

034.

MARCH 21ST, 1986
📍hawkins high school
08:37 AM

tillie strolled into the hall and scanned the bleachers for a seat, catching eddie's eye. she was confused as to what he was doing here, as pep rallies were most definitely not for him, but smiled nonetheless. she was only here because of chrissy anyways.

he gestured to the bench in front of him, where there was a spare space available for her to sit. she nodded, signaling that she understood what he meant and began making her way over there.

beside him sat two members of his hellfire club, the names of whom she did not know, and a redhead girl whose name was max. her and max had spoken a few times, mainly complimenting each other's clothes or hair whilst in the girl's bathroom.

once eight forty am hit, hawkins cheer squad began their routine, with chrissy taking the lead, front and center. tillie was surprised at how much energy her sister had, considering it wasn't even nine am and the fact that she hadn't been sleeping properly these past few days, but still cheered her on as she always did.

once they were done, there was a large round of applause, before the basketball team came running out, receiving even more love from the stands. jason, the captain of the team, made his was to the front middle, where a microphone was already prepared for him.

"good morning, hawkins high!" he hollered enthusiastically, earning a cheer in response.

tillie, a blank and bored expression on her face turned around, noticing eddie was mirroring her look. "is it too late to leave?" he whispered, making her smile. jason began speaking again, which redirected her attention back to the front.

"first off.. hey. first off, i'd like to thank each and every one of you. without your support, we wouldn't be here. give yourselves a big hand!"

matilda sighed as the room erupted in claps. loud noises like this in the morning we're not her cup of tea. in fact, there was nothing in the morning she particularly liked.

"and of course, of course, i have to give a special shout-out to the best and the prettiest fans of all time, the tiger cheer squad!" jason exclaimed, before his voice became more soft. "chrissy. chrissy, i love you babe."

the crowd awed as tillie's twin blew her boyfriend a kiss. tillie clapped with them, but turned around to look at eddie with a disgusted look on her face, and once again, he reciprocated her uncomfortableness.

the basketball captain took a few steps back, looking at his feet glumly. "you know, i think i can speak for all of us when i say it's been a tough year for hawkins. so much loss. and sometimes i wonder, 'how much loss can one community take?'" he paused, taking a moment for dramatic effect.

tillie felt herself scoff on the inside. she doubted he actually cared about all the innocents lost over the past few years. she could remember him making countless jokes about barbara holland's disappearance and death.

"in dark days like this, we need something to believe in," he continued. "so, last night, when we were down by ten points at half to christian academy, i looked at my team, and i said 'think of jack. think of melissa. think of heather. think of billy. think about our heroic police chief, jim hopper. think about each and every one of our friends who perished in that fire. what did they die for? for us to lose to some.. some crap school. no! for us to return home with our heads hung low in defeat? no! no. let's win this game. let's win this game for them!' and that's exactly what we did."

the stands burst into cheer again at jason's words, and matilda clapped along slowly. only for heather though. she and her were quite good childhood friends prior to her early death.

"we embarrassed those candy-asses in their own house, and now tonight, tonight," the blonde boy hollered. "we're going to bring home the championship trophy!"

— 📻🪐🏹 —

MARCH 21ST, 1986
📍hawkins high school
12:36 PM

matilda sat alone in the lunch hall, sipping on a carton of orange juice and finishing her english homework. she was originally sat with chrissy, but jason pulled her away for a makeout session in the bathroom.

eddie was sat at his usual table with his hellfire club, and when tillie looked over, he seemed to be reading some article from a magazine. she guessed it was the same one he'd ranted to her about the previous day.

she smiled, averting her attention back to her book in front of her, continuing her essay. that was until thirty seconds later, when a large thud was heard and she turned to see eddie stood on a table.

"but as long as you're into band, or science, or parties," he started, slowly increasing in volume. "or you're one of the assholes that likes to toss balls into laundry baskets.." he added, looking down and winking at tillie.

"you want something, freak?" myles hissed at him, obviously offended by his comment.

eddie shrugged before pulling a face, sticking his tongue out and using his fingers as makeshift devil horns, which his friends found highly amusing.

eventually, the excitement died down and matilda turned back to her work, hearing the muffled sound of eddie talking to his friends to her left, but paid no attention to it as she needed this essay finished by the following period.

".. and i'm gonna look principal higgins dead in the eye. i'm gonna flip him the bird, i'm gonna snatch that diploma, and i'm gonna run like hell outta here," eddie spoke enthusiastically.

"didn't you say that last year?" gareth reminded him.

"and the year before that?" jeff added.

"yeah, yeah, and i was full of shit," eddie nodded. "this year's different. this year is my year," he said, focusing his view on tillie. "i can feel it. eighty six, baby."

"you weren't this positive last year," bert told him.

"because he didn't have her last year," jeff replied, gesturing towards the blonde a few tables away. "he wants to graduate with her."

"yeah, because he's basically in love with her," gareth added, watching eddie's annoyed face in amusement.

the long haired boy slapped them across the back of their heads. "shut up, idiots. she's sat right there."

— 📻🪐🏹 —

here we go..

also, some of your comments and messages are literally the sweetest i can't even—
thank u so much for all the support <33

WORD COUNT — 1106.