slut [ eddie munson ]

002

Talia and Nancy Wheeler had always had an odd dynamic. The two girls had about as much in common as fire and water, yet they had a bond that went unmatched. At least, that was until the duo started high school.

From freshman year to the summer before senior year, Talia and Nancy only had talked on several occasions—almost all of them being on family events where they were forced to socialize. With Talia's sudden rise to popularity and Nancy's somewhat undesirable reputation of 'good girl', Talia had withdrawn from her cousin out of fear of her own social standing. But, when Billy Hargrove perished in a seemingly freak accident at Starcourt Mall, Nancy Wheeler took it upon herself to force her way back into her cousins life.

Talia had, admittedly, found this to be very annoying. All she had wanted to do was lock herself in her room and suffer in silence, but Nancy was constantly dragging the girl from bed and forcing her to tag along on odd little adventures. Talia supposed that she was somewhat grateful for her cousin's annoying persistence, since it really did help her move on from Billy's death—well, at least move past the way she was dealing with it.

Talia had gone from a deep depressive episode that was so bad she didn't shower for a month and somedays could barely leave her bed to go to the bathroom, to getting absolutely shitfaced at parties and sleeping with the first person she could get her hands on every weekend. Nancy, who hadn't actually witnessed Talia at any of these parties, just assumed that her little adventures had majorly helped her cousin. It made Nancy feel less guilty knowing that even though she had to lie to her cousin about how her boyfriend died, she had still been able to help Talia move on from it.

Once the school year started back up, the two cousins went back to their usual ways and mostly ignored the other. The only difference was that the pair still occasionally hung out, which is how the ended up at a little dinner after school two days before spring break started.

The pair sat in a little booth that was tucked into the back right corner of the diner, Nancy's back to the wall and Talia's back to the door. The girls had just finished ordering, Talia taking a sip of her coke before breaking the silence that had settled over them.

"So," Talia started off slowly, "what's the deal with Byers?" A false look of confusion settled on Nancy's face.

"What do you mean? Everything is fine with him." Nancy could tell by the look on her cousin's face that she did not believe her at all.

"Last time we hung out all you could talk about was how excited you were to see him over spring break, yet you haven't mentioned him once," Talia said, a knowing look on her face, "Plus, your mom told my mom that he canceled on you last minute."

Nancy huffed quietly, rolling her eyes. "Of course she did. I swear she couldn't keep a secret even if her life depended on it," she said, not wanting to burden Talia with the details of her potentially declining relationship, "He just couldn't make it anymore, it's no big deal-I swear, Lia."

Nancy was lying and Talia would tell, but she was cut off before she could call her cousin out on her lie. The door to the diner swung open, the little bell ringing overhead as a group of loud teenage boys entered. Both girls attention shifted to the group, Talia turning in her seat to see who was making such a ruckus in the previously quiet diner.

Talia's eyes immediately locked onto none-other than her current fuck buddy, narrowing slightly before taking in the rest of his group of freaks. They were all part of his Hellfire club, most of them nameless nobodies to Talia. She wasn't surprised to see her younger cousin, Mike Wheeler, and his friend, Dustin Henderson.

The two boys, and another one of their friends, had completely disregarded the biggest piece of advice Talia gave them before the start of their freshman year. She had warned the boys that joining Hellfire would be social suicide, and she almost had hope for them. She lost that hope when Eddie Munson had practically hand picked the trio at lunch one day and recruited them into his cult of friends.

"Ugh, the freak and his cult are here," Talia complained, turning back to her cousin. Nancy couldn't help but laugh at her, having grown used to her dislike of the group.

"They aren't that bad, Lia. Mike, like, adores them which has to count for something, right? He hates almost everyone usually." Nancy's eyes flickered behind Talia, widening ever-so slightly, "oh, you are not going to like this," she muttered.

Confused, Talia went to look behind her again, but was cut off when Eddie Munson suddenly appeared at the side of their table. Talia clenched her jaw and looked up to the boy who towered over them, her eyes briefly flickering to Nancy in disbelief.

What Nancy didn't know what that the disbelief in Talia's eyes was due to the fact that Eddie and her had an unspoken agreement—neither of them would ever approach the other when they were with people they knew. Pissed that Eddie had approached her so openly, Talia couldn't help the sneer on her lips as she glared at him and waited for him to speak.

"Talia Wheeler, almost didn't recognize you without you're little posse," Eddie said, looking way to smug for Talia's liking.

"Funny," she said dryly, flattening her lips.

Not letting her clear apprehension deter him, Eddie kept going. "I needed to talk to you, in private. You know, about that little project we got assigned." His eyes flickered from the Wheeler girl to the door and back again, his eyebrows raised slightly.

Talia warily glanced at her cousin, who gave her an encouraging nod. "I'm good here for a second," Nancy further pushed.

Groaning, Talia pulled herself from her seat and pushed past Eddie, muttering under her breath, "This better be quick, Munson."