History Must Repeat Itself

Chapter 11

End of June 1985

          I eyed teenagers wandering in and out of the bookstore, making a complete mess of the shelves. The Starcourt Mall opened just in time for the summer rush. My manager had confidently decided to open mall location and I jumped at the chance to work here. On top of the significantly better air conditioning, I saw more people throughout my day.

My work days got better when I found out Robin was working at the mall's ice cream shop with Steve Harrington. We both had shifts on the mall's opening day and had planned to get lunch at the sparkling new food court. Wandering into Scoops Ahoy, my feet stopped moving. My jaw dropped and I almost fell to the ground, laughing. Steve 'The Hair' Harrington leaned against the counter, talking to Robin. His head snapped at the sound of my laugh, tears welled in my eyes. Robin began giggling at my reaction, but Steve's face turned red. Neither had informed me they'd have a uniform. The tears were from the sailor's hat sitting on Steve's head. The ascot and the 'AHOY' written on the hat were the cherry on top.

At that moment, Steve banned me from entering Scoops Ahoy ever again. Especially because I didn't have to wear any sort of uniform.

         A quiet girl walked up to the counter with an arm full of books. We began making small talk, as she was a regular customer. After a moment, I glanced up, seeing a line had formed and I held back a sigh. Days like these, where it was busy, made working alone crappy.

"Look at all these beautiful words!"

Everyone's heads turned to the door, surprised by the loud voice. I looked too, though I knew who it was. Eddie Munson, adorn in his leather jacket, held his arms in the air. The man looked like he was constantly at a rock concert. Eddie turned, making eye contact with me before pointing my way.

"And there's the beautiful word keeper!"

I shook my head, a smile making its way across my face by itself. I quietly apologized to the girl as I handed her the receipt. As I cashed out the customers, I watched Eddie run his fingers along the books' spines aimlessly. He seemed to be intently reading titles. I rolled my eyes, taking money from the next customer. Eddie wasn't here to get a new release. He owned five books and I think they were all Tolkien. 

Eddie joyfully slammed his hands against the counter once the customers disappeared.

"So," Eddie rested his chin on his hands, "what book are we discussing today."

I reached under the counter, grabbing the notebook and pen I'd brought for him. Turning to a clean page, I looked at Eddie, a smile on his face. His brown eyes looked at me with genuine glint.

"I know you hated Shakespeare," Eddie's face twisted in disgust, "so, I figured we'd do a fun one. 'Salem's Lot' by Stephen King."

Eddie shot me with finger guns before running off into the store. This coming school year would be Eddie's third time at senior year. And since it was my senior year, I was going to make sure he graduated. I couldn't leave Hawkins High in good conscience with my best friend still eating lunch in that cafeteria. I knew I wouldn't be able to do all of his homework for him. Over the summer, I was going to make him analyze books and write about them enough that he could do it during the school year. It wouldn't be perfect, but I'd be able to help him make it good enough for a passing grade. If worse came to worst, I would steal Steve's homework and change it up a little. Eddie Munson was graduating in 1986.

"Where's my sister and Max?" I asked as Eddie dropped a copy of the book onto the counter.

Eddie shrugged, "girls ran off as soon as they got out of the van. They know to come here when they're done though. I made them repeat it out loud five times."