TWO
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"just forget about it."

"I KNOW IT'S A LONG SHOT," Dustin gulped as he stood in front of Tabitha with Mike nervously at his side, "But would you consider subbing for Lucas at Hellfire Club tonight? Please, Tabby, please? He's gotta play and—,"

Tabitha sighed, "You know I've got to be at the game too, boys. Besides, I doubt your precious leader would want a prissy popular princess playing."

Mike and Dustin looked confused, but their pouty, begging faces returned immediately, "We'll tell him you know how to play. You're amazing at it, please? Can't you skip one game? The... cheerleading can go on without you. This campaign can't."

"I'm sorry, boys. I would if I could but... I can't," Tabitha frowned, waving to Chrissy who was walking over to her, "I have to go to practise, but I hope you find someone. I'll take you guys home after the game, if you want? Where do you do your whole Hellfire Club thing?"

The two boys looked dejected, stalking off silently after expressing their disappointment but accepting her offer of a ride home, of course.

Tabitha missed the days when she'd play D&D with them and Will.

It did make her upset that the boys had joined a D&D club now that Will wasn't around, despite always being reluctant to play with him.

But now life was too chaotic, and she didn't want to spend all of her time with the kids — they needed their own lives without her.

"Hey, Chrissy," she greeted her friend, a grin on her face even though Chrissy looked troubled, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," Tabitha didn't believe her for a second, but didn't question her, "Let's, um, get to practice."

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Tabitha flashed the brightest of smiles as the squad cheered the team on, watching them dart around the court.

She turned and sent a wink in Robin and Steve's direction, waving her pom-poms at them for a moment as they giggled and jokingly cheered her on instead of the team.

And then she flashed a smile in Lucas' direction too, watching him perched on the bench nervously.

She was incredibly proud of the young boy; He deserved that spot on the team even if he'd been benched, and he deserved the distraction after all that he'd been through with the group, Tabitha included.

She had never felt she fitted in with the cheerleaders and the jocks, but the damn "Queen of Hawkins" title seemed to hang heavy enough on her that she'd slotted herself into the group naturally anyway.

She was just lucky that they never questioned her friendship with the 'freaks' as they so often called them — at the end of the day, after all that had happened to her, they just let her get on with things.

The basketball game panned out stressfully, to say the least.

But Tabitha exploded with pride when in the last few minutes Lucas was brought onto the court, and in the very last second he won the game for Hawkins High, sending the whole room into a frenzy.

She sprung towards him, pushing past even his teammates to envelope him in the tightest of hugs.

"Lucas! Lucas! Lucas!"

Tabitha couldn't have been more proud, but she backed away to let him celebrate with his friends — though not before telling him just how proud she was.

She'd distanced herself from the kids far more than she'd have liked since last year, and it seemed that now she was realising just how much she missed them.

She waved him goodbye, telling her teammates that she was going to head off early and tightly hugging Chrissy before she dashed out towards where she knew the boys would be.

She couldn't help feeling nervous knowing that Eddie would be there, particularly as she was clad in just her little cheer uniform for him to judge her in.

Maybe today, with the energy from the game coursing through her veins, she could stand up to him.

She stood outside the classroom biting her nails, leaning against the wall beside the door as she heard the group finishing up.

"I know I'm no Tabitha," she heard Erica say, "But I think I just helped you guys kick ass, huh?"

Nosey as she heard her name, Tabitha peeked up ever so slightly through the window on the classroom door, trying to avoid being seen whilst seeing what was going on.

She hated that her eyes fell immediately on Eddie. He looked hot, though. Could she be blamed?

"Tabitha? Tabitha Matthews?"

Eddie.

"Yeah, dude. She used to play with us," Mike had replied, and her heart swelled a little at how highly they all still held her even when she didn't feel she deserved it, "She kicks ass. But she couldn't come today, she had to cheer for the game."

"She finished early enough to eavesdrop on us though, hey princess?"

His eyes had snapped up to her and she shrunk away embarrassed as he lit up with a smirk, quickly trying to hide as his arms flew up to point to where she'd been stood watching.

Dustin opened the door before she could escape, however, and he tugged her into the room as she blushed crimson.

"I was just quickly seeing if I'd come to the right room," she mumbled, "I'm here to take them home."

Eddie chuckled, smirking at her as his eyes trailed her figure from head to toe, "Well it seems you have."

She heaved in a deep breath, "Are you guys ready to go?"

Eddie took a step towards her, smirking at the fact she was avoiding talking to him at all costs, "Leaving so soon?"

"Why is there so much weird tension between them?"

"Erica!"

"I didn't even know they knew each other!"

"Erica!"

"We don't know each other," Tabitha huffed, "He just has some preconceived idea of me."

"Should we leave them to it?" Erica whispered to the boys, still curious about why they were acting the way they were when nobody had seen them interacting before.

"We'll go and uh, wait outside?"

The rest of the Hellfire Club exited the room, but of course didn't go far — they had to eavesdrop.

Tabitha looked at Eddie for a moment before turning on her heel to leave as well, but his hand clasped around her wrist and spun her back towards him.

"I'm sorry about yesterday, Tabs," he sighed, and she fought back the butterflies as he called her that for the first time in years, "I know I was being an asshole. I shouldn't have called you that, I know you've been through a lot."

Tabitha avoided his intense gaze, "I don't want an apology, Eddie. Just forget about it."

But Eddie shook his head, "No, I don't want you thinking I'm a dick. I play up to the 'Freak' role for enough people, I don't want you to—," he looked frustrated for a moment, "Ah, whatever. I'll see you around."

He let Tabitha's arm go with a frown, defeatedly choosing not to bother trying as he knew what she probably thought of him.

He might not have been the buzzcutted middle schooler she used to adore, but he still cared about her to some degree.

He just doubted she would even remotely feel that way, now that she was popular and 'cool' and never even looked in his direction.

Tabitha was confused by his change in demeanour, but she really did have to go.

So she turned on her heel, pulling open the classroom door with a gulp.

"Eddie," she barely whispered as she briefly turned back to the boy.

He nodded a little to tell her to go on, confused as to what she would have to say as she eyed him with a nervous smile.

"You're not a freak."

And with that, she was gone.

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authors note:
thanks again for reading guys!
this is so much fun to write,
sorry it's a little slow at the
moment but of course things
will pick up... hope you enjoy
this chapter please let me know
what you think!
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