Chapter Text
You were the girl Eddie Munson had been dreaming of ever since he was a little boy. You were Hawkins High's “it girl.” Everyone either wanted you or wanted to be you. You were the star cheerleader along with your best friend, Chrissy Cunningham. He never really knew why you two had been friends. Chrissy was the school's sweetheart and even talked to him occasionally despite her social status. You, on the other hand, were the school's mean girl. You didn’t say anything directly mean, but you would make jokes and give an attitude to people with a lower social status. Eddie watched you from the bleachers as you were launched into the air and easily caught. You were a flyer and a damn good one at that.
“Eddie!”
Turning, he saw Dustin, Mike, Lucas Jeff, and Gareth push through the crowd and sit next to him. Dustin gave him a surprised look, “I thought you didn’t come to pep rally’s?”
Eddie was about to open his mouth and explain himself until Gareth interrupted him.
“Eddie is here for Y/N. He’s liked her since middle school.” He explained to the freshmen.
Mike, Lucas, and Dustin burst out laughing at him. “She’s a cheerleader, dude. You have no chance.” Mike snorted.
Eddie glared at the two, “I’m not here for Y/N. I’m just here to make fun of the jocks and preps.” He turned back to you as you shook your Pom poms.
Once the pep rally had ended, you and Chrissy went to the locker room to get changed.
“I thought you didn’t like bars?” Chrissy questioned you as you fixed your already flawless hair. She honestly thought you didn’t need to be retouching your makeup and hair all the time. You were already so pretty in everyone’s eyes.
You glanced at her through the mirror of your locker, “Yeah, but these guys have been opening for The Cure. They can be my ticket to meeting them.”
Chrissy looked at you uncertain, “You said bars were full of losers and middle-aged pedophiles.”
You finished grooming yourself and closed your locker, turning to her, “If you don’t wanna go, you don’t have to.” You meant it sincerely. You didn’t want to pressure Chrissy.
“I-I didn’t say I didn’t want to go Y/N. It’s just that it’s dangerous, and if Jason knew I’d be there, he’d be worried.” Chrissy stressed.
You sighed, “Okay, well, we will only be there a couple of minutes. I just want to talk to these guys and see if they’re buddy buddy with them. After that, we’ll leave.” You smiled at her.
Chrissy gave it some thought and decided to go against her better judgment. “Okay, I think I can do that.”
You smiled at her, “I’ll pick you up at 7. Wear something cute.”
You couldn’t focus in O'Donnell's class. The only thing on your mind was your plans tonight. If all went well, you would meet the cure, and everything else would fall into place.
“I want everyone to switch papers, and we’ll grade them from there.”
You sighed as you had to switch papers with no other than Eddie Munson. You knew he had a ragging crush on you since middle school. He would constantly stare at you in class or on days when your skirt was a little too short or when your blouse was a little too low. You had liked him too, despite him not fitting into the type you were supposed to be attracted to. He was all metal and shit with his tattoos. You could never act on your feelings because it would destroy your social status. You could, however, flirt with him until he got flustered.
You turned to him and handed him your paper. Leaning over just far enough to show your breast to him. He quickly glanced at them and flickered his eyes back to you as he grabbed the paper from your hand. He had to summon all his willpower to not sneak a peak at them again. He swallowed thickly, “Here’s mine.” He passed his paper to you.
You slowly took it from him and faced forward again. Eddie didn’t know what to think of the interaction. You were constantly playing mind games with him. Some days you would ignore him completely; others, you were flirting with him. His brain tried to decipher what you were up to, if it was a way to make fun of him or if you were actually into him. He always came to the conclusion you didn’t. Maybe you liked to fuck with his mind. Perhaps you liked the way he would want you but never have you. It seemed like a cruel thing you would love to do.
Eddie tore his eyes away from you and looked over your answers. He knew you were insanely smart, and judging by what answers he circled; he knew he got them all wrong. The school year had just begun, and he was already set on failing and embarrassing himself in front of Hawkins's hottest girl.
Once grading was done, he handed you back your paper. You hummed in delight as you saw the big 96 circled at the top of your paper. You turned to Eddie and gave him a flirtatious smirk, handing him his paper back. “You did good.” You cooed to him and faced the front of the classroom. Eddie felt his brain short-circuiting as you praised him. He had to catch his breath and slowly turn his head away from you to keep his cool. He looked down at his work and scrunched his face in confusion. Every question he circled had been erased and replaced with the correct answer. On top of the paper was a 100 circled in red ink.
He glanced at you again, not believing his luck, but you didn’t meet his gaze. You were too busy placing lip gloss on your lips for the next period.
The school day had flown by, and you had found yourself and Chrissy inside the bar. As soon as you got there, you took notice of some of the burnouts at your school. It seemed pretty packed, especially since these guys had opened for The Cure. Maybe other people knew them too. You continued scanning the crowd as you looked for more familiar faces when Chrissy spoke up, “Look, it’s Eddie!” She waved over to him, and his eyes met yours. You sighed and turned to your friend. You honestly hated that Chrissy and him would talk; solely because you liked him. “Stop waving to the freak.” You whispered at her.
“He’s not a freak Y/N. Besides, I have a feeling you like him.” She smirked at you playfully. She had begun to catch on to you as your gaze became more directed to him these days. She would see how you stole glances at him in the halls and how you had a faint blush on your cheeks whenever he spoke to you. She knew your mean girl front was a way to shoo him away.”
You blushed, “Shut up. He’s coming.” You giggled.
“Hey Chrissy, hey Y/N. I didn’t think this was your type of crowd.” He gestured around him. He was bewildered why two cheerleaders were there in the first place. You turned to him and smirked, “How do you know my crowd. Maybe I’m into all this shit.”
Eddie grinned as he soon caught you flirting with him again. You were always hot and cold towards him; today, you seemed hot. “Thanks for changing my answers on the test today.” He blushed.
Chrissy looked between the two of you and smirked as she saw her best friend flirt with Eddie. You never told her directly that you had a crush on him, but she always teased you about it, and you never denied or confirmed it.
“No problem, so what are you doing here?” You asked him.
“Uh, I'm thinking about having my band perform here.” He admitted awkwardly. This had to have been the longest conversation the two of them held.
“Corroded Coffin?” You questioned.
Eddie was taken a bit back that you had remembered. “Yeah yeah! You remember!”
You gave him that look again that made his stomach twist and his dick twitch. “How could I forget?” You reached out and ran a hand down his chest.
Eddie felt himself tense up at the unexpected contact. He swore his heart felt as if it were about to explode. The mere touch of your hand against his chest made him nervous. “Uh- I- uh,” he stuttered as he watched your hand retract from him.
His eyes met yours again, but you didn’t meet his gaze. Something behind you caught your eye.
“They’re coming out,” you gasped and grabbed Chrissy’s hand, pushing past him. He watched as you maneuvered into the crowd and saw you beeline towards the band. Maybe he read you wrong because suddenly you were chatting it up with the guitarist.
He sighed and knew it was stupid for him to have even thought you liked him. It was another mind game to you.
“Hi. Um, we really wanted to meet you. I’m Y/N Y/L/N, and this is Chrissy Cunningham.” You gestured to Chrissy.
“I’m Nikolai wolf, and this is my band.” The guitarist smiled down at you both. Suddenly as if Chrissy had food poisoning, her stomach began to twist in knots. This man was bad news. She didn’t like how he smiled at Y/N, nor did she like the vibe he gave off.
“Yeah, Low Shoulder, right?! I heard you guys are super good at playing your instruments.” You blushed nervously.
“I hope we can live up to such high praise.”
Chrissy eyed him suspiciously, “Hey if you don’t mind me asking, why’d you want to play all the way out here? You open for the cure, right?” She found it odd that a band who opened for The Cure would come all the way out here and play in small town Hawkins.
“I think it’s so important to connect to our fans in the rural areas. Plus, the audience in small towns really appreciates us.” He grinned at Chrissy.
“Can I buy you a drink?” You asked nervously, “They have these really cool 4th of July shooters that are red, white, and blue, but you have to drink them really fast, or they turn brownish.” You gushed.
Nikolia grimaced but nodded, “Guess we'll have to drink them fast.”
Chrissy saw you scurry off to the bar. She moved away from the stage, not wanting to continue this conversation with them further. She moved to a corner in the bar and began eyeing the juice box taking note of all the 1970s songs.
“Dirk, what about her?” She heard Nikolai speak up.
“Which one?”
“The hot one. The one who just walked away to get us drinks. She’s it, man. She’s exactly what we're looking for.” He stressed.
Chrissy grew concerned and continued to listen to their conversation about Y/N.
“You sure she’s..” He trailed off.
“She’s a kid. We’re in God’s country, man. Everyone out here is a bible banger. Of course, she’s a virgin.”
“Dirk, we didn’t haul our asses to this shit hole for nothing.”
Chrissy became alarmed at how the band spoke of you and rushed towards the bar. You were balancing the two 4th of July shooters in your hands as you made your way to the stage. “Y/N wait. I think we should go.” She pleaded with you.
You watched her concerned face and glanced back at them, “I don’t know. I think the guitarist likes me. Maybe I can go on tour with them or meet The Cure.” You giggled.
“They think you're a virgin. I heard them talking Y/N. It was bad.”
You snorted at her, “Yeah, right! I lost it two years ago.”
Chrissy seemed perplexed, “I thought you were! Why didn’t you tell me?” She giggled a bit.
“Because it’s embarrassing!” You sighed and looked over at the corner in Eddie’s direction. He seemed to have been talking to the bar owner about having his band play here.
Chrissy followed your line of sight, “you wish it were Eddie?” She questioned.
You flickered your gaze to her, “Yeah, sure.” You rolled your eyes.
Chrissy sighed, “Stop acting like you don’t like him.” She teased.
You both giggled, and soon, you heard the mic screech signaling the band was about to play. You quickly set the drinks down and pulled Chirsssy to the front. Once the band began to play, no one heard or saw the short circuit of the wire catch a drape on fire; only Chrissy did. She watched in horror as it caught the roof on fire, causing a piece of board to fall on the floor. Chrissy pulled you towards the bathroom, and the two of you climbed out of the window.
You ran a few feet away from the bar and were still in shock. Everything happened so fast. Where was Eddie? Suddenly everything became blurry as you began to hyperventilate. Chrissy saw your glazed-over eyes and heaving chest. “Where’s Eddie?” You began to sob a bit.
Chrissy looked around her, trying to find him but to no avail. “It’s so hot, Chrissy. I think I’m on fire.” You panicked more as your eyes looked around frantically. Chrissy kneeled before you and cupped your face, “Y/N, it’s okay. You got burned worse when you wore that bikini with no sunscreen.”
Suddenly a hand clamped onto your shoulder, causing the both of you to jump. It was the lead guitarist, Nikolai, his forehead was creased in fake concern, “Are you girls alright?”
Chrissy glared up at him as his hand were still placed on your shoulder. “We’re fine maybe you should find your band?”
“Those guys?” He raised his eyebrows, “They were the first ones out. Ran out to the van like crazy. “
Chrissy continued to glare up at him and turned her attention back to you. You both heard the screams of people burning inside. You covered your ears as sweat rolled off your forehead. She needed to get you out of here. She slowly helped you stand up as you held on to her for support. She could hear you begin to cry now.
“Oh, she’s in shock let's get her to my van. I can drive her to a hospital.” He urged and grabbed you from Chrissy’s arms. “No, she's not going with you!” Chrissy shouted, making a scene. You struggled against him but were soon restrained and dragged to the van. You began crying and pleading to be let go. You heard Chrissy fall to the ground as another band member shoved her, keeping her from following you. You were thrown inside, and as the van door slid closed, you could see Chrissy struggle and yell for you. That was the last thing you remember.