❝how to be a disappointment 101.❞

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The two teenagers sat on the floor of the boat house, neither knew what to say. It was expected to be awkward after June literally ignored Eddie for two months.

He was pissed, obviously, he thought they had something good going on and then she avoids him. Though, he couldn't help liking her more after getting to know that good side of her.

Eddie looked at the girl, she had her eyes closed as she leant her head back against the wall. Her knees were up to her chest, her oversized hoodie pulled over her legs with her arms wrapped around them.

"How'd you know?" he asked out of the blue.

"Hmm?" she kept her eyes closed.

Eddie got a little closer, "Chrissy." he mentioned, "I know you knew already, how?"

She opened her eyes to glance back at him, "Powell. He came by.." she swallowed a lump in her throat, "Asked me questions about you and Chris."

"That's it?" Eddie asked, not believing it was the whole story, "That's everything?"

June lied, "Yes." she knew lying was bad, but it was better for the boy not to know the entire story, she wanted to change the subject, "So do we really have to sit in the boat under the tarp?"

Eddie chuckled softly, "Think we do."

She sighed, looking at the small boat. She stood up to get the tarp off, Eddie came to stand next to her. He extended his arm for her to take his hand, "Ladies first."

"Always a gentleman." June teased, taking his hand and getting into the boat, it wasn't too uncomfortable, but it was a very small space. Eddie stepped in after her, sitting down on the other side of the boat.

Their legs touched, but neither of them could move, because there wasn't any space left. If June was honest, she didn't mind that much.

"Ready?" Eddie asked, taking the tarp in his hands, he waited for the girl to nod and threw it over them. They sat in the dark like that for hours, not being able to see each other, but knowing they're there by the feeling of the other's leg against theirs.

The Munson boy shook up when he heard cars approaching, he took the tarp off and jumped out of the boat, June looked after him confused. She got out a little later than him, following him as he ran to the window.

"Shit. Oh, shit." he murmured, he thought he had been found by either the cops or the basketball team, the door opened with a loud bang, "Jesus!" he grabbed June's hand unconsciously, but dropped it again when he saw Steve, Robin, Max and Dustin with bags in their hands.

"Delivery service." Dustin gushed, holding the bags up for the two brunets to see.

They put the bags down and took out a box of cereal, Eddie happily took it and stuffed his face with it. Robin offered June a bag of raspberries, but she declined. When she noticed Robin's confused look, she explained, "I can't eat when I'm on edge."

"Sorry." she excused, making a face. June shrugged.

"So we got, uh, some good news and some bad news." Dustin started, "How do you prefer it?"

"Bad news first, always." Eddie replied without even having to think about his answer.

Dustin sat down on a stool next to the boat Eddie sat in, "We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."

"Like 100% kind of convinced." Max detailed.

The mention of Chrissy's name still hurt June, but she had to try and not think about it, "What about the good news?" she asked.

"Your name hasn't gone public yet." Robin countered, "But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do and once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

"Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie added.

"My guess is they're already doing so." June ventured, she looked around, seeing the shocked faces of the surrounding teenagers, "If chief Powell stopped by Jason and Ace too - which I'm pretty sure he did - they know. At least if they saw the same as me."

Eddie looked down, "Shit."

Steve put his hand in front of him as a stopping gesture, "Wait, sorry, saw? What did you see than?"

She looked up , realizing she had been caught, "Nothing." she lied, everyone's voices started overlapping each other in disagreement. None of them believed
it, "Everything!" she yelled over the voices, "I saw everything."

Eddie looked up from his honey loops, eyes wide while he munched on the crunchy sweets, "Everything?"

"The pictures," she sighed, closing her eyes and crossing her arms, "of your trailer. I saw them."

"So, before that happens, we find Vecna, kill him and prove your innocence." Dustin tried to stay positive.

The brunet wasn't as positive, "That's all, Dustin? That's all?"

"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it." Dustin replied, not noticing Eddie's sarcasm.

June narrowed her eyes at him before looking at the others, "You all are being too easy with this."

"I know everything Dustin is saying sounds delusional, but we've actually been through this before." Robin explained, "I mean, they have a.. a few times and.. and I have once. Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel like we got this."

"We usually rely on this girl who has super powers. But, uh, those went bye-bye, so.." Steve added, crossing his arms while leaning against a pillar.

Robin took over, "So we're technically in more of the.."

"Kinda.." Steve wondered.

"Brainstorming phase." Max concluded. Steve snapped his fingers at her, agreeing with her.

Dustin spoke up, his voice higher than usual, "There's nothing to worry about."

Eddie and June's eyes had been widened the entire time, unconsciously thinking the exact same thing. They're screwed, or more, Eddie's screwed.

Sirens started wailing behind the house, "Tarp. Tarp, tarp." Robin reminded Eddie. He hid in the boat while the others ran to the windows, the sirens increasing in volume. Police wagons drove by on the road outside, followed by a fire truck.

"We're good!" June yelled at Eddie in the back, who was more than happy to come out from under the tarp.

Robin looked around the room, "We should check it out."

The rest agreed with her, they wasted no time in grabbing their stuff, saying goodbye to Juniper and Eddie and left.

The two were left in an awkward silence again, Eddie wanted to ask about the avoiding or if any of it was even real in the first place. Had she just been playing with his feelings, to mock him?

It was like June had read his mind, "I'm sorry." she apologized genuinely.

"For what part?" the brunet wanted to know, "The ignoring or associating with me?"

"Don't be ridiculous." she chided, "You know what I mean." her eyes softened as she stepped closer to him, "You may not take this from me now, but I really am sorry."

Eddie wanted to stay pissed, but how could he? She was the only one there for him and in the past 24 hours they've had worse things to endure, it made him think that it wasn't such a big deal with the rest in mind.

"I guess we have bigger things on our mind." he spoke up after some time of silence. He watched how June's eyes lit up and her smile brightened, "But you gotta stop lying to me. You keep acting like nothing happened and later I find out a whole lot of shit happened."

Her smile dropped as she started fidgeting with her rings, "I can't promise that." she mumbled, "There's things that are none of your business."

Eddie accepted it after a little struggle and the two continued like they'd known each other for months. For both, the other was like a medicine, one that cured them from the dark and sinister thoughts they had from previous events.

➼➼➼

Max, Dustin, Steve and Robin drove away from the boathouse to follow the police cars. The only voice heard was the one singing on the radio.

That was until Robin spoke up, "Did you see the way Juniper cared for Eddie? Did you know they were friends?" Steve opened his mouth to say something, but Robin continued talking, "I mean, if someone were to care for me like that, I'd reconsider asking them out. Especially if that person is known to be mean, you know?"

"Maybe they just clung onto each other more because of Chrissy?" Max guessed, "You know, because she was Juniper's friend?"

Robin shook her head, completely believing her own theory, "I think it's more than that. I can't be the only one who sees it, right?"

"Eddie likes her, yes, but she ignored him for two months after spending a day together." Dustin informed, remembering how confused and low-key heartbroken Eddie was when he told them, "But, to be honest, a guy liking Juniper isn't uncommon. She's, like, the most wanted girl in school, if not Hawkins."

Steve looked through the mirror to look back at his younger friend and then to his right to his other friend, "Look, Juniper McKennan would never go out with a dude like Eddie Munson. Speaking from personal experience, she's a tough nut to crack in relationships."

Back in 7th grade when he was in 8th grade, June was Steve's first crush. He asked her out once in front of all her friends, but she declined him immensely, saying she was too busy. Her friends laughed at him, it was actually the reason why he strived to be so popular and to upgrade his hair.

What he didn't and couldn't have known was that June hated saying those words, she just knew they'd fit her character.

Afterwards, Steve always kept up with the news about her relationships with others. He always heard people gossip about people asking her out, but never that she accepted them. She'd always say no, no matter who it was.

"Well, yeah, but there's gotta be someone to crack her, nut," Robin was confused by Steve's choice of words, "maybe that someone is Eddie. You've heard of opposites attract, right? I don't know, I see it. I'm telling you now, I want to bet on it." she rambled.

Max switched her gaze from outside the window to Robin's seat, from where she sat, she could just see her hair and a fraction of her face, "I have to say, I agree with Robin. Even though we should not be discussing this right now."

Steve turned his head at the lesbian, glancing back at the road at times, "ten bucks she rejects him."

"20 bucks she doesn't and they start dating." Robin countered, an eyebrow raised as if she was daring Steve.

"Fine, your loss." Steve shrugged, but Robin wasn't scared or losing her money. She knew for sure she'd win.

➼➼➼

The sky had darkened as the two teens sat on the cold floor of the boat house, asking each other the basic questions to get to know one another.

"Favorite food." June asked her companion with a smile on her face.

He didn't hesitate into answering, "Pretzels. No doubt."

"Pretzels?" she snorted, "Pretzels are your favourite food?"

"Hell yeah!" Eddie beamed, "Favourite book."

She smiled at her response, "Lord of the rings."

She saw Eddie's eyes lit up and smile to himself, that was his favourite book too. He shook his arm so his sleeve would roll up before he checked his watch.

"We should, uh, get some sleep." he changed the subject. If it were for him, they'd never stop the conversation, but they couldn't risk being tired, "It's getting pretty late."

June turned her upper body to look out the window, she hadn't yet noticed night had fallen, "Yeah, maybe you're right."

Eddie stood up and took the tarp from the boat before stepping on it with one foot and hoisting pushing himself off the floor.

"You're not seriously thinking about sleeping in that thing, right?" the brunette gawked, it was okay for a few hours, but to sleep in it for a whole night? Spontaneous back hernia.

"I was, actually." he replied, slightly flustered by the question, "Why, do you have a better idea?"

June didn't give a verbal response, only smirked at the boy before her. She grabbed her bag from next to her and showed him the front zip, exaggerating her movements. She zipped it open and dug her hand inside, getting a key out.

She stood up to walk over to the boat, "Get out of the damn boat, Eddie." he did as told, once he was out, June grabbed his hand to lead him to the house.

When Eddie caught on to what was happening, his jaw dropped, "You are so smart, I could kiss you right now!"

"Please don't." June turned her head and gave the boy a small smile, she turned to the front door. She took the key from the house to open the door, not having noticed she's still holding Eddie's hand. Eddie on the other hand had noticed, and he secretly loved it.

He closed the door behind him when a plan came to his mind. June spun around with a bright smile on her face and her arms stretched out. Eddie ran up to her and planted a firm kiss on her cheek, he laughed, "Hah! Did it anyway!" he then continued to run upstairs to where he knew the bedroom to be.

He left the black girl baffled downstairs, she placed her hand on the place where he had placed his lips. She could still feel the feeling of his mouth on her skin. She wondered what it would feel like what those same soft lips would feel like on hers.

She smiled to herself, attempting to hide her smile in her hair, but her attempt failed. Juniper jogged up the stairs after Eddie, who was long out of sight.

She arrived at the sight of Eddie staring out of the window in the bedroom, looking out onto the lake for as much as he could see. It was dark, so there wasn't much to see, but he liked the water.

"There's only one bed, though." June mentioned, making the brunet spin around, "Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah," he sat down on the bed, "are you?"

She stayed silent for a second, looking out of the window Eddie had previously stood in front of, "Yeah, I think I am."

Eddie wasn't unpleasant at all to her, she'd always heard these stories from her friends of how awful he was, but he was nothing like that. He never judged her for anything or pushed her into doing something, unlike her friends.

Juniper wasn't as bad as Eddie's friends portrayed her either; she was sweet, not mean, smart, not stupid. He just couldn't wrap his finger around why she pretended to be.

note:
if you got the teen wolf
reference, know i'll
love you forever.

than you also know
where i got the inspiration
for their relationship
from ;)