⇢ ˗ˏˋ ✰🎨 🎸 ࿐ྂ

"𝐛-𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲?"
➶-͙˚ ༘✶ ˗ˏˋ ✰꒰ 📎 🍒 ꒱✰ ˎˊ- ➶ °*ೃ
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"ABSOLUTELY NOT," WAS ALL Eddie Munson roared the second Cerise asked him the question he dreaded to hear. Sure, if it were anyone else, he would oblige without question, but the overwhelming sense of protectiveness and worry he had for her, caused him to burst. Cerise's hopeful expression fell, an incredulous look contorting in every crevice of her face.

Did I do something wrong? Did I say something to upset him?

Many thoughts were wandering the young Harrington's head and she was starting to feel self-conscious, the air around her growing more attenuated by the second.

"Wait, why not? Don't you sell to everyone?" Cerise's eyebrows were furrowing in annoyance, the only known drug dealer was denying her request.

"I sell the 'stuff' to only help people. If I sell this to you, I would only be leading you to your grave." Cerise was bemused, not understanding what he was saying, but then it hit her. Cerise, Dustin, and Mike weren't necessarily the quietest when they were having their conversation back in the cafeteria.

"You heard the conversation, didn't you," Cerise muttered and Eddie softly nodded his head. The disappointment that was burrowed deep in her brown irises created a twinge of sharp pain in Eddie's chest. He hated seeing her disappointed, but he knew it was for her own good. He couldn't bear the possibility that if he did sell to her, he would be the cause of something cataclysmic .

Eddie desperately fished in his head to change the subject, not wanting to leave off on a bad note with the girl he was starting to enjoy the presence of. He pondered for several seconds and he was able to conjure up a more light-hearted subject to transition to.

"Have you ever been to The Hideout? My band plays there sometimes."

Cerise knew what he was doing. He was devising a way to change the subject, but with the fatigue that was plaguing Cerise's body, she begrudgingly accepted the change in subject.

"I have. I went there once with Bil—um...an old friend about a year ago." Here comes the malicious thoughts again. Eddie saw the way her expression faltered but dismissed it. "I saw your band once. Your music is pretty amazing honestly."

That's it. That's all it took for Eddie's eyes to light up with a sense of joy he has never felt before. He was internally hitting himself for not noticing Cerise earlier and at this point, he is regretting every single second he wasn't spending with her. Not only was she pretty, but she had great taste in music, cared about her friends, and did not give a single damn about people telling her what to do.

Cerise is Eddie's dream girl.

"Really?" Eddie's voice raised to a higher pitch, nearly sounding like a squeak, his excitement getting the best of him. "You must have good taste then."

"I'd like to think I do."

Eddie grinned, his two charming dimples becoming prominent. There was a comfortable silence between the two, a venerating look in one another's eyes, however, that silence was interrupted by the familiar hubristic voice that blared into their ears.

"Cerise, where have you been? We've been waiting for you." He glanced from Cerise to Eddie, Jason's voice stiffening once he saw the boy he despised next to his girlfriend's friend. The concerned look writhed into a furious and malicious one.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be there in a second, Jason. It's not like I'm flying away any time soon," she grumbled, her voice dripping with pure sarcasm. Cerise rolled her eyes discreetly, earning a small smirk from Eddie who seemed to silently praise the girl for her snarky attitude.

"What are you doing with this freak?" Jason sneered, glaring intently at Eddie, who seemed to reciprocate the same hatred towards the basketball player.

"Say that again to me one more time," Eddie rasped in a low and intimidating voice. Cerise would be lying if she said her heart skipped a beat at his different tone of voice, but before things could escalate, she stood between the boys, cutting off the evident toxic masculinity.

"Jason, go back. I'll be there in a second, okay?" Jason's eyes were still burning into Eddie's, both of the boys not daring to let go first. When Cerise became frustrated, she clenched her fists, aggression, and frustration saturating her. Just before she could strike back at Jason, she felt a hand enclose hers. Turning around, she felt that Eddie was standing right behind her, his chest practically touching her back.

"She doesn't have to go anywhere with you if she doesn't want to." Eddie's demeanor was oddly calm, yet, terrifying as his facade screamed 'scary.' Cerise saw the way Jason looked intimidated, but still help up his tough behavior.

For Cerise's luck, the lunch bell rang, indicating that they had to go to their next class. She exhaled in relief, not wanting to be in the sandwich of a painful stupid situation like this.

"I'll see you later, Eddie," Cerise smiled softly, turning around and shooting Jason a small glare. She took long strides to her next class, feeling the familiar pair of brown eyes singeing into her skull.

✰*ੈ✩➶༄✰

When Cerise heard that Lucas was going to be on the basketball court instead of the bench, she was ecstatic, feeling like a proud mother who was cheering on her son. The noticeable increase of adrenaline was starting to rise in Cerise's body, her still cheering on the rest of the basketball players, but her focus was mainly on Lucas.

The loud thumping of the basketball, followed by the high-pitched screams of students cheering, created a  sharp piercing tinnitus in her ears. With one excruciating second left on the scoreboard, everything seemed to go into slow motion. Lucas Sinclair had a firm grasp on the orange ball, his pivoting feet firmly placed on the three-point line. Cerise's heart was incessantly beating out of her chest, this one crucial second likely to change in her friend's hands.

And alas, the ball sinks into the milky white nylon net, cheers from Hawkins High students becoming louder by the decibel. Hawkins High finally won a basketball game.

Cerise screamed in pure glory, seeing that Lucas was the reason for winning. Running over to the boy, Lucas turned around and saw his older sister figure running toward him. He instantly embraced Cerise in a hug, the two of them being drenched in sweat from anxiousness and victory.

"You were amazing out there, Lucas. I'm so proud of you!" Cerise's smile did not go away, even though a shot of pain pierced her brain, causing her to topple over slightly, and Lucas was able to sense it right away.

"Woah, Cici, are you okay?"

She didn't respond right away, the pain momentarily becoming nearly unbearable, but she mustered enough strength to hopefully reassure the boy in front of her.

"Mhmm, just a bad headache from all the screaming," Cerise lied. She has been getting these headaches for three weeks and they seemed to not dissipate one bit. Silently excusing herself, she ran past Lucas and straight into the abandoned halls of the school, the dark dim-lit fluorescent lighting illuminating her skin.

She was striding towards her locker, the pain becoming more agonizing by the second. It was horrendously tortuous, Cerise plummeted onto the ground, her knees and palms wasting no time in hitting the cold white tiles of the floors.

Her hands reached the side of her temples, nothing seeming to soothe the pain. Her forehead was plunging onto the floor, Cerise nearly wanting to scream from her misery. Tears were freely slipping down her cheeks, the shrieking screams soon escaping her parched throat.

How was no one hearing this? Cerise's mind was filled with numerous questions, but before any coherent thoughts could seep into her head, she felt the soft touch of someone caressing her hand. Looking up, the young Harrington girl gasped in horror, a mixture of confusion and fear laced onto her face.

"B-Billy? How are you h-here?" Cerise couldn't believe her eyes. There was no way that he was here, but a piece of her wondered if this was true.

His calloused hands gently caressed hers, Billy helping Cerise stand onto her feet. He smiled down at the girl, brushing his thumbs against her face to wipe away any stray tears.

"Don't cry, honey. I'm here." That's when Cerise let out a sob. Her mind was utterly frozen with disparaging emotions, she didn't realize his lips leaning in closer to hers.

Her body went completely frigid, and Billy's frosty chapped lips touching her warm ones, surged the tears once again. Billy's body radiated warmth, yet it was cool to the touch, so when Cerise pressed her hands against his chest, she gasped at the odd feel of not a human body, no, this was different.

Opening her bitterly shut eyes, Cerise gasped in trepidation to see that Billy wasn't standing in front of her anymore. It was a seven-foot monster, a desiccated corpse with lighting striking burns scattered across his face. A thin layer of fog was filming over his cerulean eyes and Cerise cried in terror.

"Cerise," the monster started, his deep echoing voice blaring into her ears. "I have significantly important plans for you." He brushed his long slender finger under her chin, a shuddering Cerise shaking to desperately get away from this monster.

Then he was gone.

Cerise was back, in reality with the hallways dark and she was sliding down her locker. Tears were uncontrollably falling and her throat tightened, desperately attempting to gasp for air. The monster was severely seared into Cerise's head, she didn't even realize that Eddie was sprinting to her side, the scampering sounds of his footsteps advancing towards her by the second.

"Oh my god, Cerise, what happened!? Did someone do this to you?" Eddie seethed urgently, wondering who he had to kill. His hands hovered over her body, not wanting to touch her without her permission.

Cerise wanted to speak, she did, but when she attempted to conjure up words from her throat, her heart dropped. No words were coming out and her throat felt entirely constricted, the air tightly running down like a thin straw.

She was having an asthma attack.

Cerise used to get asthma attacks back when she was younger, but she never had them as a teenager, up until right now. To say Eddie was freaking out was an understatement. His worry for her increased by the second as he saw she couldn't breathe.

"Oh my god, okay, holy shit what do I do, what do I do?!" Eddie screamed at himself. He paused for a second before turning back towards Cerise. "Do I have consent to touch you?"

Cerise was confused, but the pain in her body was overbearing so she weakly nodded her head. Eddie didn't waste a second to respectively grab her waist and prop her up into and more comfortable sitting position. He then rubbed small circles on her back, the other hand comfortably caressing her right one.

But nothing was working.

Eddie was starting to panic, seeing how Cerise's face was turning into a faint shade of pale blue.

"Fuck! No, Cerise, sweetheart—stay with me." If Cerise wasn't in a disastrous action like this, she would have smiled at the nickname, however, she was literally dying.

The loud sounds of clanging metal doors bursting open caught Eddie's attention and to his luck, it was Steve Harrington who had a panicked look on his face, presumably, searching for his sister.

Steve's vision trailed back and forth so quickly, that he nearly gave himself a whiplash. It was evident that he was worried and once he saw that Eddie Munson nearly looked like he was on top of his sister, Steve lost it.

Striding toward the long-haired boy, Steve's expression formed from fear to anger. "What the hell did you do to her!?" Steve was about to throw himself at Eddie until he saw the sight of his sister. "Oh my god."

Steve was at Cerise's side at an instant. He kneeled beside her, desperately fumbling for something in the pockets of his jacket. There laid in his hand—an inhaler.

He pressed it against Cerise's mouth, puffing the nozzle twice to see that the girl was finally gaining some color back. She gasped for air, her labored coughs filling the empty hallway.

"Jesus, Ressie, what the fuck happened?" Cerise knew Steve was in 'overprotective brother mode' as she saw him shoot the sharpest daggers toward Eddie, so she instantly assured him that Eddie tried to help her.

"Eddie didn't do anything. He was trying to help me," Cerise assured in a hoarse voice. Steve didn't seem convinced but knew he had bigger problems to deal with. However, a question popped up in Cerise's mind and she desperately wanted to know the answer.

"Wait, Steve, I haven't had an asthma attack ever since I was nine...why did you have an inhaler with you? In your jacket?"

"I always kept it with me, even if you stopped having them. I've never stopped carrying them." Steve said softly, but his 'mom mode' was starting to kick in once again. "But what the hell, Cerise, you should always keep one too. For a situation just like this."

"Whatever, I just want to go home. I need sleep." Cerise waved him off, steadily shifting onto her feet. When she looked up, Cerise saw that Eddie was standing a comfortable length away from the sibling duo and she smiled softly at the sight of how worried and vulnerable the Munson boy looked.

Without hesitance, Cerise stood up on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around Eddie's neck. He was shocked at first, but after several seconds, he hugged back, his tatted arms slithering across her waist, his cold rings brushing against her rising cheer top.

"I appreciate you being here, Eddie," Cerise whispered, her hot breath hitting his neck. This seemed to make Eddie embrace her even closer if it were possible, however before he could respond, two strong arms practically ripped away the pair. It was Steve.

"C'mon, let's go home," Steve muttered sweetly to his sister, but still holding the antagonizing glare towards Eddie. Cerise nodded her head and was walking towards the corridors of the school, leaving Steve and Eddie in a stand-offish demeanor. Steve stepped closer to Eddie, their faces nearly inches away from each other, both of them holding a detesting look.

"Stay the hell away from her, freak," Steve spat, not daring to move an inch as Eddie stepped closer, the aggressive masculinity expanding. This only angered Eddie. Nobody was going to tell him who he can or can't hang out with. Especially if that person was Cerise.

"You know that will never happen, jackass." Before Steve could even think of taking a swing toward Eddie, Cerise cleared her throat loudly, interrupting the boys from their 'moment.'

"Are you guys going to kiss, or can I go home and get sleep? I'm pretty exhausted, you know—from almost dying." Cerise's voice was dripping with sarcasm, attempting to thin out the viscous tension.

Steve sent Eddie one last piercing glare before walking towards Cerise, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulder. The Harrington siblings were about to walk out the door, until Cerise stopped in her place, turning around towards Eddie, whose angered face instantly softened once he met eyes with her.

"Goodnight Eddie. Thank you again for everything."

"Of course, sweetheart. Goodnight." Sweetheart. Cerise hoped Steve didn't notice the way her heart was racing at the nickname.

Steve and Cerise made their way back to his BMW, the two of them sitting in silence from the very eventful moment that just occurred. Steve was the first to speak up, every emotion possible, present on his face.

"So are you going to tell me what the fuck just happened back there?"

sooo...that just happened.

how are you liking the book so far?

also please read compendiumofspirits eddie book!! it's amazing <33

i'm sorry if the writing in this chapter is bad. i was lowkey having a breakdown in the middle of writing this fhsfjs, but I'm okay now.

anyway, i hope you all enjoyed this chapter <333