Hawkins Sweethearts: An Eddie Munson Epic (Revised Edition)

The Defender

"Come get some, Freak!!" Jason shouted across the cafeteria at Eddie.

"I will, if you don't shut your fucking mouth!" Eddie snapped,

"I can say whatever the hell I want, you prick! Why do you care about some little Junior, anyway? You already fucking her?" Jason yelled.

Eddie leaped off the table and went straight for Jason.

Charlie turned around to see that Eddie was now on top of the basketball captain, pinning him down to the ground and yelling into his ear.

Those two were always going back and forth overt something. It use to embarrass Charlie and Anthony, but at this point, it just became comical.

"You're gonna take that back! Every word, Carver! Or so help me..." Eddie was furious.

There was a look in his eye that Charlie had never seen before. He was filled with rage.

This was different than their usual banter. This was way different. She wondered what in the world Jason could have said to piss off Eddie this badly.

Eddie's Hellfire Club friends ran to pull him off of Jason, before things had a chance to go too far.

The jocks ran over to pick up Jason off the floor.

Each group pulling their leader off of one another.

Anthony pulled at Eddie's arm and was trying to talk some sense into him. Dustin had Eddie's other arm and was freaking out over the situation. Gareth and Jeff kept a safe distance, as Anthony and Dustin were doing all they could do at the moment. The last thing Eddie needed was detention on the first day of school.

Patrick grabbed Jason and pulled him up to his feet. Eddie and Jason just stared at each other in silence as their perspective groups tried to get control of the situation. Charlie ran over at the last minute and watched as Eddie stormed out of the cafeteria.

Jason cowered back over to his table and kept to himself the rest of the day.
...

The final bell rang and Charlie couldn't have been happier. She was worried about the situation in the cafeteria, earlier. She couldn't wait to find Eddie to see what the fuss was all about.

As Charlie headed out the main door, she scanned to the spot where Eddie usually took a smoke break, but he wasn't there.

She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and she squinted to see Eddie heading across the field and into the woods behind the school property. That's where he did deals and smoked the not-so-legal stuff. And that's where he went when he needed to think.

Anthony came out right behind Charlie and was chatting up with Nancy and Jonathan, giving them the run-down about the fight. Steve joined them and mentioned a party he wanted to throw next weekend, when his parents were conveniently going out of town.

Charlie began to drown out their conversation as she watched Eddie slip out of view. She interrupted Anthony and told him she would walk home, and he could go on without her.

...

She made her way to the woods where Eddie had seemed to have slipped off to, but to her surprise, he wasn't there.

She assumed he headed this way to smoke a joint but apparently she was wrong, as he was nowhere to be found. She sat on the wooden picnic table where they would sit, often times. She reminisced about the time Anthony and Eddie smoked a joint for the first time about two years ago. No matter how much she begged them, the boys wouldn't let her smoke.

Charlie remembered that there was a path in the woods that lead toward the trailer park. She followed along the path hoping to catch up with him.

She took in the beautiful sounds of nature as she walked along the worn dirt path. She followed the stream that lead to the railroad tracks. At some point she'd need to make a left to head toward Forest Hills Trailer Park.

She stopped in her tracks as she saw something moving in the distance. It freaked her out and her heart started pounding in her chest. Her eyebrows twitched and she smiled when she smelled the unmistakable smell of marijuana wafting in the distance.

The movement she saw was Eddie cutting through another path in the woods.

"Eddie!" She shouted excitedly.

"What are you doing out here Coleman?" He asked with concern in his tone. "Are you out here alone? Are you insane?" He asked as they began to walk toward each other.

"Yeah. I'm alone, but I saw you headed toward the woods earlier and I wanted to come and find you to make sure you were okay." She replied in a soft tone. "Eddie, what happened?"

"I'm fine." He chuckled. "I'm just going for a little walk to try and clear my head. I could've killed Jason Caver today." He sighed and looked down at the dirt path.

"What was that all about?" Charlie asked.

"Well. He was talking to his laundry basket buddies about what he would do to you if you were invited to Steve's party. It pissed me off. Your brother didn't do anything about it, so I did." He said.

"Oh?" Charlie said, flustered. "What did he say about me?"

Eddie cupped his hands around the cigarette he was lighting, "I'm not really comfortable telling you the details, but it was x-rated and disgusting. He deserved to get his face bashed in. The more I think about it though, he couldn't shoot balls through laundry baskets with a broken wrist now, could he?" He said with a serious side glance.

"Eddie it's okay." She said, trying to calm him down. "He's not going to hurt me. I'm fine."

"For now." He said. "I don't trust him around you anymore. Not after hearing those things he said about you. Promise me you will come to me if he ever tries anything on you or God forbid, hurts you. Promise me?" He begged.

"Of course I will." Charlotte replied.

"What are you doing out here, so far into the woods? Didn't you drive?" She asked.

"Well, I tried to. But, see, my van wouldn't start this morning, so my uncle dropped me off. I told him I would walk home after school. Looks like I'm walking you home, too." He said with a smile.

"Walk me home and I'll ask Anthony to give you a ride home. Do you think it's the battery? Because he could probably jump your van for you."

"I'm not entirely sure." Eddie replied. "My uncle is gonna help me take a look at it, later. But, if you could talk Anthony into giving me a ride back, that would be helpful."

"I will." She offered him a sweet little smile. "Anything for you, Eddie Bear."

Eddie grinned at her comment as he tossed his cigarette butt down and stomped it out. He wrapped his arm around Charlie's neck as they headed toward her house, continuing to talk about their last four weeks apart.