— 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 —

I WALK into the lunchroom and towards my familiar spot, a table in the corner of the room that nobody sits at. I start to walk over to my table, but out of the corner of my eye I notice Eddie sitting at the end of a lunch table. I look back and forth between my table and his. I take a deep breath and decide to make my way towards his table.

I walk to the end of the table and Eddie looks up at me and smiles.

"Is this seat taken?" I ask pointing to the end of the table.

Eddie quickly stands up.

"Yes, actually, it is." He says with a smirk, "So, I think its better if you sit over here."

He points to the seat next to his where someone was already sitting. The boy in the chair looks up at Eddie with confusion.

"Huh? This is my seat." The boy says.

Eddie leans down in the boys face.

"We have a guest. We want to make sure our guest is welcome, don't we? We don't want her to sit at the end of the table and feel excluded like we all have before, right?" He says.

The boy slowly nods his head and Eddie stands up out of his face. The boy grabs his bag and stands out of the chair, making his way to the end of the table. I give him an apologetic smile as I make my way to the chair next to Eddie. Eddie reaches his hand out and grabs my bag from my shoulder, then pulls the chair out for me. I take a seat and he pushes me in, hangs my bag on my chair and takes his seat again.

He grabs a magazine and pulls it in front of his face, beginning to read off of it.

"The Devil has come to America. Dungeons and Dragons, at first regarded as a harmless game of make-believe, now has both parents and psychologists concerned. Studies have linked violent behavior to the game, saying it promotes satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, sodomy, suicide, and even..." Eddie slams the magazine on the table, "...murder."

They all laugh and I look at him with an eyebrow cocked. Suddenly, I hear someone drop their lunch trays on the table next to me and look over to see Dustin and Mike.

"Hey Dusty." I say.

"Yeah, hey Dusty." One of the boys at the table says.

Dustin looks at me with a confused look on his face.

"(Y/N)? What are you doing here?" Dustin asks.

"Sir, please show our guest some respect." Eddie says, "I invited her to join us today. Will that be an issue?"

Dustin quickly shakes his head.

"No, no. Not an issue at all." He says.

Eddie shakes his head and the table starts to talk about something.

"Where's Lucas?" I whisper to Dustin and Mike.

"With the jocks." Mike whispers back, "We have to tell Eddie about the championship game."

Suddenly, a bang is heard on the table and I look up to see Eddie standing on it.

"But as long as you're into band or science..." He says, walking across the table, "...or parties or a game where you toss balls into laundry baskets!"

"You want something, freak?" Jason yells.

Eddie raises his hands to his head and sticks his tongue out, mocking Jason. I smiled at Jason's disturbed face and Dustin chuckles. Eddie begins to walk back down the table to his seat.

"It's forced conforming. That's what's... killing the kids!" He shouts, "That's the real monster."

He sits back down in his chair and winks at me. I brush it off and look over at Dustin.

"So, uh, speaking of monsters, uh, Lucas has to do his, uh, balls-in-laundry-baskets game. So... he's not gonna be able to make it to Hellfire tonight." Dustin says, nervously chuckling, "And I know there's no way we can beat your sadistic campaign without him. So, me and Mike, we were talking, shooting the shit, and we were thinking that maybe we might..."

"Postpone." Mike finishes.

The table quickly erupts into protest.

"Shut up!" Eddie yells to the table.

One of the boys groans and they all quiet down.

"You saying Sinclair's been taken in by the dark side?" Eddie asks.

"Uh, something like that." Mike says.

"Something like that?" Eddie questions, throwing the shell of a nut at Dustin and Mike.

"Jesus Christ." Dustin exclaims.

"And rather than find a sub for him, you want... you want to postpone 'The Cult of Vecna'?" Eddie asks, seeming irritated.

"I... I don't want to postpone it. We don't want to postpone it." Mike says, "It's just that, you know, most of the subs will be at the championship game."

Eddie stands up from his seat.

"Oh, it's the championship game?" He asks.

"Yeah?" Mike says.

"Can I level with you?" Eddie asks, "Jeff graduates this year. Gareth's got, what? A year and a half? Me, I am army-crawling my way toward a D in Ms. O'Donnell's. If I don't blow her final, I'm gonna walk that stage next month, I'm gonna look Principal Higgins dead in the eye, I'm gonna flip him the bird, I'm gonna snatch that diploma and I'm gonna run like hell outta here."

"Didn't you say that last year?" Gareth asks.

"And the year before that?" Jeff asks.

"Yeah, yeah, and I was full of shit. This year's different. This year is my year. I can feel it. '86, baby." Eddie says.

I smile at him and he smiles back.

"You know what that means?" Eddie asks.

Dustin and Mike shake their heads and Eddie makes his way over to behind their chairs.

"It means you boys are the future of Hellfire." He leans down and puts his arms around bot of their shoulders, "I knew it the moment I saw you. You sat on that table right over there, looking like... looking like two little lost sheep."

Dustin chuckles and Eddie looks at him.

"You were wearing a Weird Al T-shirt, which I thought was brave." Eddie says.

"Thank you." Dustin replies.

"Mike, you were wearing whatever shit your mommy bought you from the goddamn Gap."

The boys laugh, then Eddie rips them up from their seats by the backs of their necks.

"And we showed you that school didn't have to be the worst years of your lives, right?"

That's all I can hear Eddie say as he walks the pair away from the table. After a minute, he pushes Dustin and Mike into the crowd and they walk off, looking around the cafeteria. Eddie walks back to the table and takes his seat again.

"Those shit-birds are something else, aren't they?" Eddie says.

"Yeah, definitely something." I say with a smile.

The day dragged on a bit, but the last bell finally rang. I took a while putting my books back in my locker because I was contemplating whether I wanted to stay and watch the game with Steve.

I still loved Steve, with everything in my heart and soul, but I couldn't stand watching him have to put up with everything that goes on with me. I just wanted this upside-down business to be solved. I didn't want anymore nightmares or weird mind powers. I just wanted calm. I just wanted Steve.

I walk out of the school and I notice Dustin and Mike sitting on a short wall. They looked tired and stressed, so I decided to make my way over to them.

"Hey, what's wrong with you guys?" I ask them.

They look up at me with their sad faces and I tilt my head.

"Since Lucas isn't coming to Hellfire tonight, Eddie is making us find a sub for him." Mike says.

"I'm guessing no luck?" I ask.

They both sigh in unison and I chuckle a bit at their misfortune. Dustin looks over at me with a dirty look on his face then, within a split second, a smile creeps on his face. He jumps up and grabs the sides of my arms with a big smile plastered on his face. Confused, I jump back a bit and look down at him with my eyebrow cocked.

"(Y/N), you can be Lucas' sub!" Dustin says.

"What? No. No way." I say.

Mike then jumps up from his seat.

"Why not? You know the basics and your rank isn't terrible. You played with us a few times!" He says.

"Yeah, a few times. I have no clue what I'm doing." I say.

"We will be there with you. We can walk you through it all. We just need a body there." Dustin says.

"Okay, one, please take your hands off of me." I say to Dustin.

He mutters and takes his hands off of my arms and steps back a bit.

"And two, who says I even want to go to your Hellfire club? What if I wanted to go to the basketball game?"

Dustin and Mike both look at me with serious faces.

"Okay, fine. I don't want to go to the basketball game." I say.

"So, since you're not doing anything else, you can do this small favor for us." Mike says.

"What's in it for me?" I ask, crossing my arms.

Dustin and Mike look at each other for a few seconds, then look back at me.

"Our gratitude?" Dustin says.

"Do you two know how many times I have almost died for your asses? Do you know how many favors I have already given you? I have basically dedicated my life to protecting you kids and now you want me to join your stupid club for free? You have got to be joking."

Dustin and Mike stare at me in silence.

"Do I need to remind you of when I bashed that Demogorgon's head in?"

"Okay, okay! Shush!" Dustin says, "Okay, what do you want from us?"

"Hmm..." I say, placing my hand on my chin and thinking, "Mike, I want you to be my personal slave for three months."

"Three months?!" Mike exclaims.

"Yes, is that an issue?"

Mike shakes his head and stays quiet.

"And Dustin, I want you to be my personal spy for three months."

"Why am I the slave and he's the spy?" Mike protests.

"Because I said so." I say and Mike stays quiet, "Whenever I need any of your assistance in the next three months, you will assist me. If Mike is unavailable, you will take his role, Dustin. If Dustin is unavailable, you will take his role, Mike. Do we have a deal?"

I stick out both of my hands and cross them over, waiting for them to shake my hands. The boys look at each other and Dustin shrugs his shoulders at Mike. Mike groans and then turns to me, grabbing my hand. Dustin does the same and we shake on it.

"Pleasure doing business with you, boys." I say, walking away.

"Wait, where are you going?" Dustin calls to me.

"I have something to do real quick. Don't worry, I'll be back on time." I say.

He shakes his head and I turn back around, walking towards the gym. I open the gym door and walk inside. I see the band already in the gym, some are tuning their instruments and some are talking amongst each other. I try and look for Robin, but I don't see her anywhere. I decide to just turn around and go back out to Dustin and Mike. As I exit the gym I notice Steve's car. Steve and Robin are standing next to his car and talking. I try to walk back to Dustin and Mike without the pair seeing me, but I'm not that lucky.

"(Y/N)!" Steve calls, waving me over.

I sigh and turn on my heels, walking over to him and Robin.

"Hey." I say to the pair.

"Hey, did you decide to watch the game?" Steve asks with a smile.

"Uh, actually, I promised Dustin and Mike that I would join Hellfire tonight." I say.

"Hellfire?" Steve asks.

"Oh, that's the club that Eddie Munson runs, right?" Robin asks.

"What? Eddie Munson?" Steve asks, "Why are you hanging out with him?"

"Because Dustin and Mike asked me to cover for Lucas." I say, "And Eddie is really sweet. He invited me to sit at his table today."

"Sit at his table? What, is that some kind of slang for something else?" Steve asks, getting noticeably jealous.

"No, Steve, his lunch table. With the rest of the Hellfire Club." I retorted.

"Are you doing drugs?" Steve asks.

"Woah, man." Robin says.

"No I'm not doing drugs! Why would you even think that?" I scoff.

Steve slightly pulls his head back at my words and crosses his arms.

"Well, fine. I'll just ask Brenda to watch the game with me, then, since you can't even bother to spend time with your boyfriend."

"You're ridiculous, Steve, you know that?" I scoff, "And you are not my boyfriend, remember?"

Steve nods his head.

"Oh yeah, I remember. You dumped me for no reason."

"I didn't dump you, Steve, we are on a break." I say.

"Fine, a break. But if you get to hang out with Eddie then I get to hang out with Brenda."

"Fine!" I exclaim.

"Fine!"

I huff at him and then I back up and turn, walking over to Dustin and Mike. I feel my body heat up and that familiar energy feeling in my veins.

"Woah, are you okay?" Mike asks.

"Fine." I groan, "Let's just get this over with."

Dustin and Mike look at me with wide eyes and then start to walk towards the entrance of the school. I follow behind them and before I enter the school doors, I turn around to look at Steve once again. He and Robin were no longer standing by his car. I took this opportunity to focus on his tire and quickly snap my head. The tire makes a loud pop sound and everyone in the parking lot turns to look at it. I raise my sleeve up to my nose and wipe away the warm red liquid that had fallen.