I've never liked waiting.

I knew school was already over but I was still waiting in the woods, waiting for Eddie. Chrissy had left around ten minutes ago, she had plans with her mom which she realised she was late to. So now I waiting alone, leaving me more worried than before.

My worry was only growing worse as time went on, it had been hours since the fight between Jason and Eddie. I left halfway through so I had no idea how the fight ended, no idea who had won, no idea if Eddie was okay.

I had never doubted that Eddie was a good fighter, it just worried me because if Jason lost the fight he'd find some way to make Eddie's life hell. And if Eddie did actually win, Jason could lie, say Eddie beat him up unprovoked, he had the power to get Eddie arrested and he was the type to abuse that power.

They'd obviously both been caught and were probably in the principal's office right now, I hoped Eddie's punishment wouldn't be too severe.

I didn't care what happened to Jason though, part of me hoped Eddie had actually broken Jason's hands, putting him out of his basketball career was more than fitting for everything he'd done.

More minutes passed as I sat there rhythmically tapping my fingers against the picnic bench, the silence was unbearable and I'd been waiting so long I could've sworn I heard a clock ticking in my head.

I stood up instantly once I heard footsteps, a twig snapping, someone was here. I prayed it was Eddie.

Thank god.

"Hey, princess." he smiled.

I think this is the only time I don't hate that nickname.

He looked barely injured, a small cut along the bridge of his nose and some bruising by his lip were the only evidence of a fight I could see on his face, and then I noticed the redness of his knuckles.

"I was worried about you." I frowned, pulling him into a hug, I felt him leaving kisses on the top of my head.

"Told you we should've skipped." he laughs, stepping away from me for a second, "How do I look? Still pretty even with my nose bleeding?"

"Of course, actually..." I paused, tilting my head with a slight smile, "You look pretty hot, Munson."

"We're back on a last name basis? Ouch." he wipes an imaginary tear away before sitting down at the picnic bench.

"Only fair, you called me princess again." I sit down next to him, "Anyway, what happened? Like- after the fight?"

"We all got dragged to the principal's office, Gareth and Jeff are suspended for three days, me and Jason are suspended for five." he shrugs as if it were nothing, I'm surprised the punishment wasn't worse.

Obviously the fact that Eddie was suspended wasn't good, but he didn't seem to care much and it made no difference really because of the amount of time he'd spent skipping school, this was basically just a free excuse to spend more time staying home.

A little trickle of blood fell from the cut on his nose, he looked weirdly pretty like this, his usually perfect face a little roughed up.

"You're bleeding again, hold on." I began to rummage through my bag to look for the box of bandaids I always carried with me.

"The one on my nose hasn't stopped bleeding since the fight, I'm kinda hoping it'll scar so I can come up with a cool story for it... I'll tell people I fought a bear or something." he ponders.

"Way too small to be a bear wound, gotta make it believable at least." I laugh.

"There's not really any small animals that would make me sound badass for getting into a fight with, hm..."

"A bat." I suggest, remembering his bat tattoo, I finally found the box of bandaids and took one out.

"That's perfect, pretty metal too, means I can also tell people I'm actually a vampire." he jokes, "Just like you said last night."

I took the wrapper off the bandaid and gently placed it over the cut on Eddie's nose, looked pretty adorable.

"Speaking of last night," I began, trying my best to conceal my smile, "Trust me, I would love to pick up from where we left off, however..."

I hadn't been able to get last night out of my mind all day, honestly, I don't think I've ever felt the way I did last night and I was still a little pissed that we got interrupted.

And the cause of our interruption? Gareth wanted to go catch fireflies outside.

"I'm kinda grounded, I'm not allowed out except for school and if I get caught skipping again then I'll be grounded for even longer." I sigh.

"I have the perfect solution." Eddie gasps, and for a second I thought he was actually being serious.

"Go on."

"Don't get caught." he smiles, and I can't even be mad at his terrible idea.

"Oh my god, why didn't I think of that?" I ask sarcastically, and Eddie's laughing.

Is it possible to be attracted to someone's laugh? Because I think I am.

"Come over tonight? Please?" he frowns.

"I literally just told you I'm grounded." I remind him.

"I know but Freddy misses you, you're being a terrible co-parent." he tuts, but he has a point, I haven't seen Freddy in a while.

"Don't bring our dog into this, you're evil." I laugh, "My mom emphasised that I have to be home tonight, she's got something important to say during dinner apparently. I'll call you tonight, okay?"

...

"Your father has a business trip and I'm going with him this time, Holly's coming with us too." Mom begins, giving us time to think about it but none of us were really that fazed, it wasn't the first time she'd done with Dad for one of his trips.

"There's been a few break-ins in the neighbourhood recently so I don't particularly want to leave the house empty at any time but obviously you kids are going to be at school, so, Nancy, we'll allow you to have the week off school if you're willing to stay here, you know, keep the place safe." she finalised.

"I'm not missing school, and no offence but if there's break-ins happening I'd rather not stay here overnight without any adults." Nancy shakes her head, almost offended that Mom would even suggest that she would miss school.

We're literally both adults but I get her point, I don't think either of us would be able to defend ourselves if there was truly some random person breaking into houses.

"Can I stay at Will's for the week?" Mike asks.

"Can I too? Obviously not for Will but for Jonathan." Nancy also asks.

And then I'm the only one left, probably the only one willing to stay here anyway.

"I'll stay here." I offer.

It was a perfectly convenient excuse to stay off school while Eddie was suspended. And... it meant I could have Eddie over as much as I wanted without fear of being caught.

"Valerie, I think you've missed enough school sneaking around with Eddie." Mom shakes her head, I'm surprised that she knows, more surprised at the fact she doesn't seem to care much.

"Well, unless you want our house being robbed I'm your only option. Nancy will faint if she has to miss a single day of school and Mike's got the self defence skills of a snail, but me? I am completely fine missing school, and remember how I wanted to be an MMA fighter when I was younger? I still have those skills, if anything, I'm more qualified for housesitting than any of you." I explain.

"That's bull, you're telling me you'd be able to take on a robber? You could punch cardboard and you'd start crying because you hurt your hand." Mike sneers.

"Language, Michael." Dad says sternly.

"I said bull, not bullshit." Mike corrects him.

"Valerie, you can stay here. Maybe this'll be a chance for you to prove you're actually responsible, if I come back and there's any signs of a party..." Mom sighs, and I'm nearly laughing because she thinks I have friends.

Eddie's more than a friend and aside from him, I only have Gareth, Hope and Chrissy. Chrissy is very different from my other friends, but maybe I'll introduce her to Hope and see how things go.

"Mom, I can't throw a party, I have no friends to invite." I laugh.

"I can confirm that's true." Mike says in an attempt to be rude, in reality he just helped my case.

"Okay, the plan is for Valerie to stay here, I'll call your school before I leave tomorrow and tell them the situation, but I want you studying while you're off, okay? This isn't just an excuse to stay home, I want you actually keeping on top of your school work."

"Got it."

"You two are going to have to ask Joyce first, I don't think she'll want you invading her house for a week but you can ask, I suppose. If not, you're both staying here." she tells Mike and Nancy.

If all goes well, I'll have the house to myself for a week, conveniently the same week Eddie is suspended.

This could be interesting.

☆ ☆ ☆

i apologise for the late chapter i've been busy working on that steddie x oc thing

i keep making vampire eddie references i can't help myself i love the kas theory too much