Chapter Text
Hawkins, Indi-fucking-ana. The town you wished you were living in as a little girl, now the town that you despised more than anything.
After your parents nasty divorce ten years ago, they split child custody and you were forced to move to California with your father while your twin sister, Chrissy, got to stay with mum in Hawkins.
However, now that your father was out of the picture, you returned home to Hawkins hoping for a better life.
Except, Hawkins wasn't the loving home that you remembered. You were stuck living with a mother who didn't want you around and a sister who hated you for reasons you couldn't understand.
You wished you never came back. You wished a lot of a actually.
"I have already enrolled you at Hawkins High." Your mother said, breaking the silence at the dinner table.
"What? I don't want to go back to school. I only had half a semester left anyway." You responded between mouthfuls of food.
"No child of mine is dropping out of school. Spring break is now over and your first day is tomorrow. You're driving your sister there too since you have your fathers shitty car." She said, muttering the last part angrily.
Great, Hawkins High was going to suck.
"No, it's okay. A friend is picking me up tomorrow." Chrissy quickly said, joining the conversation.
"What friend?"
"Jason. He's from the basketball team, you've seen him before-"
"No. Remember the rules? No hanging around with boys until you're 18."
Until she was 18? Last you checked, you and Chrissy still shared the same birthday which meant that you were both already 18. Did she seriously not know how old her daughters were?
Chrissy sighed, "I am 18 though."
Your mother paused, "okay. Well, new rule. No hanging out or dating boys until your sister does."
Oh, you did not see that coming and by the pissed off look on your sisters face, neither did she.
"What? That's totally unfair! Look at her, no boy will want to date her. I'm going to be alone forever."
"No dating until your sister does." She repeated sternly causing Chrissy to pout and shove her barely touch plate of food away.
Dating was not something you were interested in doing. You didn't have time for stupid boys, you just needed to graduate, get a job until you had enough money saved up and get the hell out of Hawkins. That was the plan. Dating was not in that plan, sorry Chrissy.
"Are you sure you need that second serving?" Your mother suddenly asked, when you placed another scoop of casserole onto your plate.
"Huh?" You asked, looking over at her.
"I don't think you need to eat that."
You glanced down at your plate before looking over at Chrissy who had barely eaten any of her own food.
"But, I haven't eaten anything all day." You said, glancing back at your mother.
"Mmm, that would do you some good. Put that piece back, we will eat the rest tomorrow night."
You could only watch in disbelief as she stood up and collected yours and Chrissy plates from the table without further word before grabbing the casserole dish and taking it all back to the kitchen.
Chrissy was staring down at the empty table in front of her with her arms folded across her chest. Slowly dots started to connect in your brain and you did not like it. Sure, dad was a piece of shit, but he never made you feel bad for eating.
"I got some snacks in the glove compartment of my car if you want some." You whispered, so mum couldn't hear from the kitchen.
Chrissy shook her head, still staring at the table before finally speaking. "Why did you leave?"
"What?"
"With dad. Why did you leave with dad without saying goodbye?"
You blinked a few times at the question before shaking your head. She thought you had left voluntarily? Did she seriously think you wanted to leave with that asshole and move across the country?
"It wasn't my choice. Dad just grabbed me in the middle of the night and took me away. I didn't choose to go-" You tried to explain before Chrissy cut you off.
"You could've fought. You could've told dad that you didn't want to go."
"You think I didn't try that? I was nine. What was I meant to do? He was bigger, stronger than me, I couldn't fight him over it."
"You could have tried." Chrissy whispered, her eyes swimming with unshed tears. "You have no idea how hard the last ten years have been for me, stuck in this house with her. You were living a great life in sunny California while I was stuck here."
"You don't know what I've been through. The last 10 years weren't all sunshine and rainbows like you think they were."
"You were with dad. He is so much better than mum." Chrissy responded, staring at you like you were insane for saying that.
Chrissy only remembered the happy, smiley, ice-cream buying father from before the divorce. She didn't know the angry, alcoholic, abusive man that he became during the years after the divorce. She had no idea, but you did not want to tell her that, so you remained silent.
Chrissy huffed out a sigh and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I always dreamt of you coming home, I missed my sister. But since you've been home, mum has been a thousand times worse and it's all because of you!"
Your sister stood up from the kitchen table and stormed out the room before you had a chance to say anything, leaving at the table sitting completely alone.
"Home sweet home" You mumbled to yourself.
-
Eddie hated high school with a passion.
This was his second... no third? He had honestly lost count, but this wasn't his first senior year and the way his grades were going, it probably wasn't going to be his last either.
He just needed to keep scraping though his classes and not flunk any more tests. If he did that, in a few months he will get his diploma and he'll never have to come back... well that was the plan anyway.
"Eddie." Gareth's voice called out.
He stopped a few metres from the front door of school and turned to find his friend walking towards him with a bright smile.
"Hey, man." Eddie greeted.
"Did you do the English homework?"
Eddie froze, wracking his brain for what possible homework Gareth could be talking about because he did not do any homework last night. Shit, what homework was it? Was it something easy? Did he have time to quickly do it before class? He couldn't afford another D in Ms. O'Donnell's class.
"Just messing with you. We didn't have any homework." Gareth admitted, patting his shoulder with a laugh. "You should have seen your face, dude."
Eddie glared at him, opening his mouth to say something sarcastic back was cut off by the roar of a loud car engine. The two of them turned around, expecting it to be Billy Hargrove with his stupid Camaro, but were shocked to find a black '73 Dodge Challenger turning off the main road into the school carpark.
Eddie frowned in confusion not recognising the car. Nobody in Hawkins had a car like that. He would've known about it, he would have seen it before.
The two of them watched the Challenger pull up, the familiar sound of Metallica's Fade to Black blasting out the open windows. He had to do a double take when he realised it was a girl driving. Her Y/H/C hair blowing in the breeze as she pulled the Challenger into the only free parking spot left which just so happened to be right beside his van.
The passenger door opened the second the car stopped and Chrissy Cunningham climbed out. She slammed the door closed behind her, shouting something at the girl driving before marching she towards the school.
"Chrissy doesn't seem happy." Gareth commented.
Eddie nodded in agreement before the driver door opened and a girl he had never seen before stepped out.
Stunning.
That was the first word he could think of as he stared at her. Absolutely stunning.
The car. The denim jeans. The AC/DC shirt under her unbuttoned flannel. She was just stunning and not what any girl in this school would ever wear, but she was pulling it off flawlessly.
"Who the hell is that?" He asked, watching her walk towards the building.
"That would be Chrissy Cunningham's twin sister." Gareth answered.
Eddie's head snapped back to his friend in disbelief. Since when did the Queen of Hawkins High have a sister? And how did he not know about it?
"I'm not bullshitting." Gareth quickly said, reading his mind. "Overhead Jason complaining about Chrissys sister being back in town, he didn't seem too happy."
"Wait, so you're telling me that chick is Chrissy's sister? That badass girl driving the Challenger and listening to Metallica is her sister? They look nothing alike." Eddie pointed out, unable to believe it.
"Yeah, no shit. I got eyes man, I saw her."
"Where has she been all these years?"
"Divorced parents. She was living with her dad or something. I don't know, what's with all the questions?" Gareth asked, looking over at him.
"No reason." He answered, shaking his head. "Let's go to class before we're late."
He was in fact late to class.
A senior had stopped him in the corridors wanting to buy some weed and well, Eddie needed the money and couldn't afford to say no to a paying customer. So by the time he went via his locker to grab his spare stash and do the exchange, he was well and truly late for first period.
He paused outside the door to Ms. O'Donnell's classroom, preparing himself for the awaiting lecture about time management before he pushed the door open to find the class in a full heated debate. But, the second he stepped inside the class fell silent and their heads all snapped in his direction.
"Uh, what have I missed?" He asked awkwardly, not liking everyone's eyes on him.
"The oppressive patriarchal values that dictate our education." A voice he didn't recognise responded.
He glanced across the room to find the girl from earlier sitting at one of the desks. She wasn't looking at him though, too busy with her head down as she drew something in her notebook that he couldn't see.
"Good." He simply said, turning on his heels about to walk back out before Ms. O'Donnell called out to him.
"Mr. Munson, sit down."
For a second, he debated whether to just walk out. This class was his least favourite and even the new girl seemed to hate it, but he couldn't afford to piss this teacher off anymore if he wanted to pass and actually graduate this year.
With a sigh, he plopped down in his usual seat in the backrow and dumped his backpack by his feet.
The teacher nodded approvingly before looking at the rest of the students, "now, where were we?"
"Discussing the novel for our next book report." One of the girls said.
Yep, he should have just left when he had the chance.
"Uh, yes, that is right. Has anyone read this novel before?" The teacher asked, holding up some book that he had no interest in.
"Don't bother. This book is about a guy and his fishing habits. It's not exactly a crucial topic." The new girl mumbled, not even looking up while she continued drawing in the notebook in front of her.
"I'm sorry?" Ms. O'Donnell said, not expecting that comment. "What did you say, Y/N?"
Y/N. That was her name. It was a nice name, suited her.
Eddie glanced back over at Y/N, intrigued with what she was going to say next as she sighed and put the pen down, giving the teacher her full attention.
"I'm just baffled that this school even reads Hemingway. He was an abusive, alcoholic, misogynist who squandered half his life hanging around Picasso trying to nail his leftovers."
Eddie smiled behind his hair at her words. It wasn't even an hour into her first day at Hawkins High, but she wasn't afraid to say what she wanted, not phased with what others thought and he respected that.
"As opposed to a bitchy self-righteous hag who has no friends?" Jason shot back causing his basketball friends to all chuckle in amusement.
"That's enough, Mr. Carver." The teacher warned.
Eddie watched as Y/N spun around in her seat and faced Jason who was sitting in the chair directly behind her, giving him a pointed look.
"I guess in this society, being a male and an asshole makes you worthy of our time."
Eddie couldn't stop himself from snorting softly at that as the others in class all laughed causing Jason to glare at her and fold his arms across his chest, not having a comeback for it.
The rest of the class went by fairly uneventfully, but Eddie found himself actually enjoying English when the new girl was sitting a few rows in front of him. After the little dispute with Jason, she didn't say much else and seemed to zone out the rest of Ms. O'Donnell teaching, not that Eddie blamed her, it was a boring class after all.
The school day went by in a flash and before he knew it, he was walking back to his van, spinning the keys around his finger while watching Y/N open the door to her Dodge Challenger that was still parked beside his van.
As if she could somehow sense him looking, she lifted your head and Eddie didn't have a chance to avert his eyes before her Y/E/C eyes met his. It was only for a brief moment, but Eddie found himself lost in her gaze before a car horn startled the two of you.
Jason had pulled up behind the Challenger in his pickup truck, leaning out the open window with a grin.
"Hey, that little bad-girl, gothic look you got going on is out, Y/N. It's not attractive, find a new look."
Eddie opened his mouth to defend her, but quickly closed it again. Why would he defend her and put himself in Jason's firing line? He barely knew her, she wasn't worth the trouble and it was none of his business.
Instead, he turned back to his car about to unlock it before he heard Y/N's smartass reply.
"Find a new look? Maybe you should find a new car because if you keep riding the clutch like that, you're gonna need one. Learn how to drive, dipshit."
Eddie glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Jason's heated glare aimed Y/N's way before Chrissy opened the passenger side door of his truck and his glare was immediately replaced with a bright smile before he put his foot down and took off out the carpark.
"Don't listen to him. AC/DC is definitely in." He found himself saying before he realised it.
She raised her eyebrows in his direction, glancing down at her AC/DC shirt with a small smirk.
"Thanks, Munson."
His stomach fluttered a little at the use of his last name like a stupid school girl talking to their crush which was ridiculous because he did not have a crush. He was just intrigued by the new girl, that was it. Definitely not a crush.
Shaking his head, he turned back to his car and opened the door just as the Challenger roared to life beside him. He caught a glimpse of the black car driving off out the corner of his eye before he turned the van on and made the drive home.
-
The next day at school felt like Ground Hog Day.
He watched the same shiny black Challenger pull into the parking lot, Metallica blasting through the speakers. It parked beside his van once again and an angry Chrissy Cunningham climbed out followed by the beautiful new girl who had an annoyed look plastered on her face.
He wondered what could have happened to cause such a look, but knew it must have had something to do with Chrissy who seemed equally as annoyed. It was strange seeing Chrissy look like that. She was usually all smiles and cheerful, but clearly the sisters didn't get along.
Y/N didn't seem too phased by it though as she climbed out the car before making her way into school. She was sporting a similar outfit from the day before, but had switched the AC/DC shirt for a Mötley Crüe one.
The girl had a good taste in music, he'd give her that.
He was nearly late for class again, but managed to be seated at his desk mere seconds before Ms. O'Donnell walked through the door, so yay for small victories.
After a barely tolerable English class, he had gym which if you asked him, was almost as bad as English.
It wasn't that he hated gym -which well, yeah, he kinda did- but it was the stupid jocks in class that took it too seriously and showed up the rest of them that he really hated.
This lesson was dodgeball.
He was pretty sure dodgeball was only ever played when the teacher couldn't be fucked teaching a proper lesson, but he wasn't going to complain. So, after playing just enough rounds of dodgeball to keep the teacher happy, he slipped away out the back door without anyone noticing and found Jeff sitting on the bleachers smoking.
"We still on for band practice tonight?" Jeff asked, glancing over at him.
Eddie nodded, "if Gareth's parents are cool with us taking over their garage for a few hours again."
Jeff nodded taking another drag of his cigarette before opening his packet and handing one to Eddie who gladly took it.
He leant forward, letting Jeff light it while keeping an eye on the back door to the gym hoping the teacher would stay supervising the game and not bust them for a couple cigarettes. They got talking about the current D&D Champaign while watching the other gym class out on the oval playing football and Eddie was silently grateful he wasn't in that class. He'd take simple dodgeball over football any day.
"Hey, Freak!" A familiar voice called out.
Jeff gave him a weary look before Eddie sighed and turned to find Jason Carver walking out the gym towards him.
Great, just who he wanted to talk to.
Eddie could count on one hand the amount of times him and Jason had interacted, excluding the insults they tossed frequently at each other in passing. So, whatever the guy wanted, he was certain it wasn't going to be good.
"To what do I owe the displeasure?" Eddie asked, watching the man carefully.
Jason shrugged his shoulders and glanced around, watching the other class on the oval for a minute before turning his attention back to them.
"So this is where you losers hide during gym, uh?" Jason said, leaning against the side of the bleachers beside him.
"There something you want, man? If not, kindly retreat back to the gym so we can smoke in peace."
Jason sighed, looking almost like he was considering it before shaking his head and pointing at the one of the people on the oval.
"You see that girl there?"
Eddie frowned, but followed the guys line of sight to find the new girl standing out in the field, her jeans and band shirt gone, replaced with the schools stupid gym clothes that he hated wearing.
"Yeah."
"That is Y/N Cunningham. I want you to go out with her."
Eddie snapped his head back at Jason so fast, he nearly gave himself whiplash as he stared at the other guy before chuckling.
"Yeah, sure." He scoffed sarcastically causing Jeff to laugh from beside him.
"Look, I can't take out her sister until Y/N starts dating. You see their mother has this stupid rule where the girls-"
"That's a touching story. It really is. Not my problem." Eddie said, cutting him off.
"Would you be willing to make it your problem if I provide generous compensation?"
Eddie started to laugh before he saw the seriousness on the other guys face and realised that he wasn't joking. Jason was seriously asking him this?
"You're going to pay me to take out some chick?" He asked in disbelief.
Jason nodded, "twenty bucks."
He was about to tell the guy to shove the money where the sun doesn't shine, but quickly realised that twenty bucks was something he kind of needed.
Money was tight at the moment in the Munson trailer. Uncle Wayne was pulling double shifts at the plant every night just to stay on top of the bills and the occasional money Eddie made from dealing wasn't much help. Twenty bucks would mean Uncle Wayne didn't have to worry about forking out money for food this week.
Eddie glanced back out at the field just in time to see Y/N tackle the opposition player with the ball causing him to wince knowing that hit must have hurt. The new girl was a tough chick.
Jason grimaced a little watching the tackle before suggesting, "how about thirty?"
"I was thinking 75."
Jason glared at him, "this isn't a negotiation. Take it or leave it, Trailer Park."
"50 bucks and we got a deal, asshole" Eddie shot back and Jason thought about it for a moment before reluctantly nodding and pulling out the cash from his wallet and handing it over. "Pleasure doing business with you."
Jason just glared at him before marching back off into the gym and Eddie turned back to Jeff who simply raised his eyebrows.
"Don't you dare tell the others about this." He said, tucking the money into his pocket.
"Wasn't going to. Was just going to say good luck because she's heading this way."
Eddie quickly looked back at the field to find that their football game was now finished and everyone was heading this way. He sighed, taking a drag from his cigarette before stubbing it out and standing up.
Well, here went nothing. What's the worst that could happen?