Willamina Ch. 1 - Oct. 28th
Oct 28th
Dead leaves crunch under my boots. Barb and I had agreed we would all meet at Nancy’s locker. The patches of uncovered skin under my tights feel frigid thanks to the late fall weather of Hawkins. The Walkman hooked to my belt loop weighing down my waistband, the headphones tickling my upper thigh as we walk. The floors feel slick with rainy footprints.
Glancing over at Barb, I’m not sure how she’s not shivering. The drizzle mixed with the light wind left a chill on the skin, my cheeks definitely wind-brushed pink.
On our way to Nancy’s locker I scan the halls. It’s unlikely Eddie would be around since he almost never came to school on time, and if he did he came through the back entrance across the school. My chest pangs as I search, missing his musky scent and his soft brown eyes. The pang sinks down to a pit in my stomach. Whatever the opposite of butterflies are take up residence, gnawing at my stomach.
“You know if he sees you today he’ll feel like a fool. You look hot.” Barb compliments, likely catching the twist of my mouth from her periphery.
I smile slightly at her kindness, and breathe out once my back hits the cool metal of the lockers.
Nancy beams at us, opening her locker to reveal the many Photo Booth strips and Polaroids of the three of us being each others tether. I admire the oldest one on display from the fifth grade, Nancy and I with nearly matching braces, Barb still gap toothed. Our parents had to stagger our braces and by sheer flip of a coin I got mine first. She got even by getting taller first, and staying three inches taller than me even now. Our eighth grade summer camp photo shines back at me, all of us grinning and sunburnt with matching pale yellow sleep away tshirts. By that summer it was Barb’s turn to have braces. Nance and I both grinned with newly straightened smiles. Nancy was smitten with our counselor that summer, and I had my first kiss with Chris who was 15 during a game of spin the bottle that we snuck out to participate in. Chris wasn’t a great kisser, but I discovered that kissing was fun and spent a lot of time practicing with Chris who was eager to call me his summer girlfriend.
“So, Halloween.” Nancy starts, gazing between the two of us with a grin.
Barb glances at me, noticeably nervous with the slight quiver in her brow. I get it too when I’m nervous.
“Do we really need to all dress up?” Barb asks, now avoiding our eyes.
We hadn’t dressed up in about three years, if not four, and Barb was not looking forward to anything that might draw extra attention to us. Nance shakes her head. She opens her mouth to respond but gets interrupted by Steve Harrington and his friends coming over to our corner of the hallway. Tommy and Carol stay back a few paces while Steve strides over, leaning one shoulder against the locker next to me. Nancy’s focus shifts to him and she smiles.
“Ladies,” he greets, nodding slightly. He glances between us, and I swear his cheeks go pink.
I glance between Barb and Nancy, looking for any semblance of context for why in the world he would come over to talk to us. Nancy is giving me a look like she knows something I don’t, but then looks back at Steve, so I follow her gaze, catching him looking at me. He looks away as soon as I look at him, straightening up and clearing his throat. I catch Tommy and Carol snickering behind him.
“My parents are out of town for about a week, so I’m throwing the class Halloween party this year. Hope you ladies don’t have any other plans, would like to see you there. Costumes are optional, but encouraged.” He winks, turning on his heels and walking back in the direction he came before any of us can respond.
I turn to Nance and Barb.
“What the hell was that?” I ask, Nancy grins.
“I was about to tell you, I heard from Stacey that he wanted to invite us.”
“Are we really gonna go?” Barb grimaces, adjusting the books she’s holding against her chest.
“Well, there’s no way I could run into Eddie, he wouldn’t be caught dead hanging out with Steve Harrington. Plus it would give me somewhere to show off my Madonna costume I’ve been working on.” I counter, thinking about the jewelry sitting neatly in my jewelry box, and the spray on hair dye I got from Melvald’s. “That reminds me, Nance, wanna come with me to get that new lipstick I needed?”
“Definitely,” she grins, closing her locker.
We start making our way down the hallway to homeroom. My lip finds itself between my teeth. The farther back into the building we get, the closer we get to finding Eddie somewhere, and I’d like to avoid him at all costs if I could.
“Do I have to go if you guys go?” Barb continues. I bump her with my shoulder.
I swear I hear Eddie’s laugh echoing down the hall with the slam of lockers. I tense up slightly, my heart pumping adrenaline straight through me, my lungs squeezing, my throat going tight.
“Well you don’t have to, but it would be more fun with you there.” I offer, trying to right my breathing. I think she can see my tense disposition.
“Can I think on it?”
The bell rings and we part ways, Nancy going to her homeroom for her half of the alphabet.
“You can definitely skip if you really want to, but how often do sophomores get invited to parties with upperclassmen?” I try to reason. Barb sighs, ducking over to her seat.
Third period English, I feel like I’m about to puke.
I don’t know what it is today that has me dreading Eddie’s presence at least 15% more than every other day…
October 28th
I see the date written on the board and something deep within my brain clicks, the air evaporates from my lungs. My throat and mouth go dry. I sit down quickly, bracing myself against the desk. My vision fuzzes. I can suddenly feel his hands caressing my arms, holding me. His breath against my cheek as he whispers “you’re so beautiful” his mouth ghosting against my ear. His hair tickling my bare collarbones. My hands reaching under the hem of his shirt, carefully touching the sides of his torso, nearly reaching the band of his underwear. The excitement bubbling up in my belly as he kissed along my neck and slowly pulled the straps of my bra off my shoulders.
“Is this seat taken?” My head snaps to my left.
Steve Harrington.
“Woah, you okay?” He asks, face contorting into concern.
I flush, and relax my grip on the desk as the memory dilutes itself back into the dreaded corners of my mind.
“Uh, yeah. You can sit.”
He sits without saying anything else. The classroom fills up and the teacher starts to write something on the chalkboard. The bell rings and at least ten seconds after, Eddie strides into the room, walking all the way to the other side of the room and to the back. I try to follow his movements in my periphery, careful to not turn my head in his direction. Him and Steve both flunked sophomore English and have to repeat it. I think there’s one more Junior in my class, but they’re the only two I have the pleasure, or displeasure, of knowing. I catch Steve glancing at me a few times throughout class, clearly not absorbing the lesson. I slide my notebook over so he can copy what I’m writing down. He looks between me and the notebook, and smiles. He starts writing. Then, he passes me a note.
Halloween?
I hold in a laugh, and scribble my own note.
Got invited to a party, so I may be busy. Enjoy trick-or-treating - don’t stay out past your bedtime!
When I pass it back, I watch his eyebrows scrunch, and then he smiles, breathing out a whisper of a laugh. He scribbles, passes.
Party @ 7. Costume?
He doesn’t even try to hide him passing it back, and practically turns in his seat to look at me, his brow arching to further punctuate his question. I bite back a laugh, and respond.
Surprise. You?
He barely contains a scoff, and rolls his eyes. I mirror his raised eyebrow. He slides his fingers over his mouth and mimes a key in a lock.
We’ll both be surprised. Don’t forget, 7pm.
