Chapter Two
Murder Cat

MONDAY 2nd JUNE, SUMMER 1985 — FLASHBACK

June 2nd had been a bad day for Betty.

Like most mornings, she'd woken up to chaos. That wasn't unusual for the Angel family; two working parents and three kids hurrying to get out the door before eight? A recipe for disaster.

But when Betty stepped into the hall to find her younger sister frantically turning her bedroom upside down, her mom hurrying across the landing with a toothbrush hanging from her mouth, and her dad not at the breakfast table reading an newspaper, Betty realised something was up.

Bonnie had accidentally left her hamster cage open overnight. The rodent was somewhere loose in the house and nobody could find it. Betty had helped looking for a while. Sort of. But she'd decided to prioritise getting ready for school instead, assuming the animal would just turn up.

Boy, did she regret that.

Because, whilst Betty was minding her own business eating Frosties at the dining table, her cat Ringo had traipsed into the room and proudly dropped a ball of bloodied fur at her feet.

Betty was horrified. It was a callous, cold blooded murder; one that Betty and her father had to swiftly cover up.

The incident had caused Betty and her siblings to be late for school. Bran was sat silently stewing in the passenger side because he wasn't at gym. Bonnie was in the backseat, stressed about her chemistry test and 'missing' hamster. Betty wasn't really bothered. She only had math first period.

With her Blondie cassette playing on the stereo, Betty rhythmically tapped her pink painted fingernails against the wheel. Considering the stressful morning, she was actually feeling remarkably chilled.

Until Billy Hargrove pulled out in front of her.

Betty slammed hard on the breaks, then hit the horn. The force sent her lurching forwards, seatbelt digging into her neck. Bran almost face planted the dashboard, causing him to drop his Coke bottle. The liquid spilled down his light blue jeans, leaving a wet patch that looked remarkably like a urine stain. And who did he blame for it? Her.

"Bran, that was literally not my fault!"

"You should've looked where you were going!"

"I did!"

Betty was fuming. Billy had continued speeding down the road and out of sight, but she was planning to confront him when they got to school...

...Or ask Marnie to.

When they pulled into the parking lot, Betty's morning got even worse. All the easy spaces had been taken up. And Betty was notoriously bad at parking.

Her siblings didn't hang around to watch. They flung open the doors, neither of them muttering so much as a thank you, and hurried into the school building.

It took Betty twenty minutes to successfully park.

The moment she set foot inside Hawkins High, the bell for second period rang. Betty only had half her timetable memorised, but she knew she had gym on a Monday, so headed straight for the girls changing rooms, where she found her friends crowded at the back.

"Where the fuck have you been?"

"Family disaster," Betty responded vaguely. She hadn't planned to inform anyone about her murderous cat. "Hey, can you beat up Billy Hargrove for me?"

Marnie had simply shrugged, pulling a white sports t-shirt over her head. "Sure."

Gym was terrible. Lydia Wu had accidentally hit Betty on the back of the head with a volleyball. She'd felt awful about it (and that her best friend Robin couldn't stop laughing) but, thankfully, the only damage had been to Betty's dignity.

During break, Betty went to her locker to switch folders. Of course, Billy Hargrove was blocking the way, muscled arm leaned against the lockers as he flirted shamelessly with Kath.

To this day, Betty still has no idea what possessed her to shout "Hargrove!" and storm towards him with such audacity and bravery. Everyone in the vicinity stopped and stared, but Billy paid Betty no mind. "Hey, dick bag! I'm talking to you!"

He removed his arm and turned to face her with a look of exasperation. "What?" She stopped in front of him. He'd straightened up, tall and broad figure towering over her. Betty gulped, craning her neck. She tightened her grip around the folder huddled close to her chest. "Problem?"

Let it be known that Betty had several regrets at this point, but she was too far into the situation to back down. So, she sucked in a very deep breath and raised her chin indignantly. "Yeah, I do actually. You cut me up on the road this morning."

Billy spared an amused glance to the side. "I cut you up?" He chuckled mockingly.

"Yeah and you could've killed me," Betty reprimanded. "My brother and sister were in the car and–"

Billy rolled his eyes, turning back to Kath with his trademark smirk. "I'll try harder next time then."

Betty saw red. She lunged for him, smacking him across the arm with her folder. When she realised what she'd done, her eyes widened. She took a step back.

Billy went rigid.

Betty was done for.

"Woah, woah, easy tiger," Steve Harrington stepped in. That idiot. He placed himself between the pair, staring up at Billy, who looked seconds away from exploding. Betty backed up a few more steps. If Steve wanted to put himself in the firing line, that was completely fine with her. "How about we just...let this one go..."

"How about you," Billy interjected, inching closer until there was hardly any space between them. Steve's posture tensed. Their eyes met, faces level. "Get out my damn way, Harrington."

Roughly, Billy shoved Steve's arm. He barged past, approaching Betty, who shrank back. Billy's features had hardened, eyes darkened. He jabbed a finger at her. "You little bitch–"

But, as he started to stomp towards her, Lydia Wu sneakily stuck out her foot from where she stood beside the lockers. It tripped him up, causing laughter to ring out around them. Betty failed to hide her smile. Lydia winked. A silent apology for hitting her with the volleyball.

Billy immediately whirled around, features contorted furiously. Robin moved closer to Lydia's side. Both girls stared up at him without a flicker of fear. Badass.

"Hey asshole!"

That was Marnie.

Betty remembered actively thinking 'oh no, it's Marnie' as her best friend stormed down the corridor. The crowd automatically parted to let her through. Betty was aware she probably should've stopped her, but, whatever.

In the end, it was a little disappointing. Nothing came of it. Well, nothing much. There was some shouting, a lot of swearing, and a harsh push. But Jason and Patrick managed to drag Marnie back pretty swiftly. Which obviously then put them in the firing line.

Jason took the punch pretty well, but Betty suspected that was because there was an audience. Including Chrissy – who Betty reckoned fell for him in that moment because, like, why the fuck else?

Alpha male tension (as Marnie put it) had been brewing between Billy and Jason for some time, so Betty supposed she had just...helped it along.

The downside was that they all landed themselves in detention – Betty, Marnie, Jason, and Billy. And so did Harrington, which was even funnier, especially when he desperately tried to plead his case.

Betty had stewed on the confrontation all throughout her next class. She knew her parents would be mad. In fact, not just mad, disappointed. And that was much worse.

She could tell Marnie was riled up too, though more about the fact she didn't actually get a punch in. The girls decided to ditch their next period and snuck off to the woods to get high.

They laid beside one another on the grass, which Betty recalled thinking felt like a bed of marshmallows. Scattered sunlight filtered through the trees, causing them both to squint. Betty's eyelids fluttered shut as she breathed in deeply.

"The earth smells nice."

"Yeah."

When lunch rolled around, the duo were starving. They headed back to the school cafeteria, where Betty devoured a portion of curly fries and two chocolate bars.

"How's your head?" Chrissy asked her.

Betty shrugged. "Had no complaints."

Marnie almost spat out her water. "She meant about the volleyball."

"Oh."

Lunch went by too quickly. They had English with Mrs O'Donnell last period. Marnie was already coming down from the high, but Betty still felt great. Relaxed, even. Like nothing could faze her ever again.

"Summer projects," Mrs O'Donnell announced, slamming her folder down on the desk.

Betty felt nauseous.

"I've paired you up." The whole class groaned. Mrs O'Donnell's eyes scanned over their dismayed reactions, lips pressing into a thin line. Betty definitely thought teachers took pleasure in their suffering. "There will be no swapping." Kath immediately raised her hand, opening her mouth to speak. Mrs O'Donnell held out a finger to silence her. "There will be no arguing either."

Defeatedly, Kath lowered her arm.

The class mumbled in disapproval. Betty's ears started ringing. She leaned across to Marnie. "I think I have that timytus thing," she whispered.

"You mean tinnitus."

"Betty," Mrs O'Donnell stated, so ferociously that Betty actually jumped. "You'll be working with Mr Munson, if he decides to turn up."

Betty's eyes widened. If she hadn't already been sat down, she might have collapsed. Work with Eddie?

Marnie snorted. "Good luck with that."

The problem back then was that Betty and Eddie had been sworn enemies ever since their childhood friendship disintegrated in middle school. Whilst she became pretty and popular, Eddie was further ostracised. She was one of Hawkins High's best cheerleaders, always surrounded by a flock of friends and invited to every party. Meanwhile, Eddie was the weirdo drug dealer who ran a nerdy game club and was only invited into parties to deal to the rich kids.

Society had basically demanded for them to hate each other. Betty had always found him annoying, sure. And yeah, she often put on more of an act around it with her friends, but Betty and Eddie used to be close once upon a time. But he couldn't even stand breathing the same air as her at that point. So the project wasn't just going to be a small issue, it was going to be absolutely fucking catastrophic.

"Marnie Bryant," Mrs O'Donnell called, squinting down at her sheet of paper. "And Jason Carver."

"Dammit."

Betty would've laughed had she not been consumed by her own despair.

Eddie eventually strolled in, late and high. The class had been forced to move to desks with their project partners. Betty spent the first ten minutes with an empty seat beside her. She'd desperately hoped that he wouldn't turn up. Maybe it would give her chance to convince Mrs O'Donnell switch partners. But the trajectory of Betty's day had suggested otherwise.

"Mr Munson," Mrs O'Donnell addressed tiredly. His brows furrowed in confusion as his eyes flickered around the class. "Please take a seat beside Betty. She'll be your partner for the summer project."

Mrs O'Donnell picked up the sheets of instruction paper everybody else had received and placed them into his hand. Eddie stared down, then blinked back up at her in bewilderment.

After the initial fuss of getting his chair legs caught in the straps of Betty's handbag, Eddie flopped down beside her. He smelt of weed. She distinctly remembered thinking he could've at least attempted to cover the stench up with some aftershave.

Mrs O'Donnell had tasked the class to come up with titles and detailed plans for their projects. The classroom soon filled chatter. Eddie swivelled around and cleared his throat. "Um, what the fuck are we supposed to be doing?"

Betty had met his confused stare and not bothered disguising a heavy sigh, knowing she would have to deal with two months of him.

"Romeo and Juliet."

"Right." Eddie nodded. "Have you read it?"

"We've been studying it all year."

Class dragged on excruciatingly slowly. When it ended, Betty and Eddie had to make plans to meet up weekly and complete their project.

"When are you free?" He'd asked her.

Betty was packing stationary into her bag. "What about tomorrow?"

"My band plays at The Hideout on Tuesdays."

Betty had peered over at him, half-expecting him to be joking. But Eddie was entirely serious. "Wednesday?"

"Practicing for next weeks gig."

Assuming he was purposely being difficult, Betty huffed, placing her hands on her hips.

"Listen here, Munson, you might have...smoked your way through school the last few years," she began, gesturing eccentrically with her hands. He raised his eyebrows. "But I am a decent student who needs a good fucking grade, so you will not screw this up for me. And most importantly," she took a step closer. "I'm not gonna do all the work whilst you sit around getting high, or whatever the fuck else you waste your time doing, okay?"

They stared intently at one another, their eyes battling. And then Eddie said, "You're quite bossy, aren't you, Angel?" Betty turned away in distaste, shoving the rest of her things into her bag. A crooked smile rested on Eddie's lips as he watched her. "I'm free on Thursday."

Betty faced him, sliding her bag strap over her shoulder. "My place, six o'clock sharp," she told him. "Quiche?"

Eddie's eyebrows furrowed. "Quiche?"

"You know, the saying," Betty prompted. "Like, 'do you understand?'"

Eddie stared blankly until the realisation hit him. "You mean capeesh?"

Betty frowned. "I don't speak Spanish."

"No, the word," Eddie elaborated. "It's capeesh, not quiche. That's a food."

"Whatever, Munson," Betty dismissed, brushing past him. "Just don't be late." She pointed at him. "Capeesh?"

"Capeesh."

—

SPRING 1986 — PRESENT

"You are actual living, breathing proof of intelligence being genetically passed on," Marnie stated as they filed out of Mrs O'Donnell's class.

Betty was still reeling from her whole embarrassing "feminist interpretation" moment. But, most of all, she couldn't stop thinking about Eddie. The fact that he was sat right there beside her for a whole hour...it was the closest the pair had been in months. Not to mention she would be going to his home later that night. Alone.

Oh god. What was she going to wear?

Betty hoped the drug deal would be a fast exchange. Maybe Eddie wouldn't even let her set foot in the door. At least it would prevent her from from opening her stupid mouth and saying literally anything at all.

"I mean, you were raised by two of the smartest people I've ever met, right?" Marnie continued. "And yet your feminist reading of Romeo and Juliet was 'I definitely wouldn't kill myself over a man.'"

"So my adoptive parents are smart but my birth parents are dumb as fuck?" Betty questioned.

"Well your birth parents gave you up, so yeah, they are," Marnie replied. Chrissy elbowed her in the ribs. "Ow?"

"Okay, well, that's a backhanded compliment if I've ever heard one," Betty remarked. "And I'd actually say my reading was pretty smart."

Marnie scoffed. "You must be losing brain cells sitting next to Munson." Chrissy nudged her again. "Ow! Jesus Chrissy, your elbows are like tiny little knives."

"You know what? I think you were onto something, Betty," Robin spoke up. She was a few paces behind them, walking alongside Lydia. "Like, why would you kill yourself for a man?"

"I don't know, I'd kill myself for a shot with Michael Hutchence," Lydia sighed dreamily.

Chrissy giggled. "I would for Mark Hamill," she admitted.

Robin's eyes almost bugged out her head. "You watch Star Wars?"

"I mean, I've watched the first one," Chrissy said bashfully.

"Wow," Robin breathed out. "You really learn something new every day."

Marnie slowed to reach her locker, prompting Betty and Chrissy to follow.

Robin and Lydia carried on walking past them. "Oh, good luck at the pep rally tomorrow," Lydia said as they parted ways.

Betty smiled appreciatively. She remembered when Lydia tried out for the cheerleading squad. It did not go well. "Thanks."

"And good luck with band!" Chrissy called out to Robin.

"Oh, uh, t-thanks," Robin stammered, face flushing pink.

Marnie aggressively slammed her folders into the locker. When the girls were far enough away, Betty turned to face her friend with a frown, leaning an arm against the wall. "Hey, Marns, I'm still not sure why we're supposed to hate them."

"They're just...annoying," Marnie replied vaguely.

Betty spared a glance at Chrissy, but the blonde kept her head down. "I just– I get the whole mean girl brand we have going on," Betty acknowledged. "But I thought we were being feminist with it now. Like, submerging stereotypes."

"Subverting."

"Yeah," Betty said. "I'm just confused. Lydia and Robin haven't even done anything to us...at least that I know of."

"Jesus, do I need a specific reason to dislike someone now?" Marnie asked, shutting her locker with a bang.

"No, I just–"

"You hate plenty of people," Marnie countered.

"Name one."

"Mrs O'Donnell."

Betty paused. Nevermind. "Name two."

"Eddie."

"If I hated Eddie that much, I wouldn't be going to his trailer tonight to get the good stuff for our party, would I?"

Marnie's intense gaze studied her. "He actually agreed?"

"Eventually."

"When are you going?" She asked. The trio started walking down the hall.

"Six."

"Do you want me to come? You know, as backup."

Betty bit back a laugh. "Backup?"

"You know what they say about him, right?" Marnie warned. "Him and his cult."

"It's not a cult," Betty dismissed. Honestly, Marnie was smart. She should know better. "Come on, you really believe all that crap? It's only Eddie. I'll be fine."

"Well, Chrissy thinks he's scary," Marnie said. "Don't you?" She teasingly nudged the blonde.

But Chrissy had slowed to a stop, staring up at the ceiling. Betty and Marnie exchanged a look of concern. Both of them had noticed that their friend was acting a little...strange.

It had started at the beginning of the week. Chrissy was a Pisces, therefore a naturally spacey person (Betty often joked that she'd love to live in Chrissy's head of daydreams), but her zoning out had significantly worsened over the past few days.

At first, Marnie had written it off – "she just has a lot on her mind at the moment" — but, this time, Betty caught the flicker of concern in her eyes too.

"Chris?" Marnie prompted tentatively. "Chrissy?" She reached for her shoulder.

The blonde jolted. Marnie's touch seemed to snap her out of whatever trance she was in. Chrissy blinked hard, wide eyes darting between the worried pair.

"Oh, sorry," she said airily. "I was miles away.

Chrissy offered them both a  sweet smile. They saw straight through it. Like Betty had said, weird.

Jason was milling around at the opposite end of the hall, waving a hand at her. Without another word, Chrissy skipped down the corridor to reach him. She moved onto her tiptoes and greeted her boyfriend with a quick kiss.

Betty folded her arms, leaning closer to Marnie. "Something's up with her, right?" She asked quietly. "Like, she's being extra oddball lately."

"Yeah," Marnie agreed, concerned eyes locked on Chrissy. "Something's definitely not right."

Jason wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, leading them through the double doors. Betty briefly wondered if it had something to do with him, but she just couldn't imagine it. Jason was a lot of things, but he adored his girlfriend.

The doors swung shut behind the two blondes. Betty pondered the situation. She knew she'd never be as close to Chrissy as Marnie was (the two of them had practically been best friends since birth) but Betty hoped that Chrissy trusted her enough to open up if something was wrong.

"Ugh, watch it Damien," Marnie suddenly snapped. Betty turned towards the commotion, catching her friend looking Eddie up and down in disgust.

Betty frowned. "You know that's Eddie, right?" She whispered.

"Don't worry, Angel, she's just comparing me to the kid from the Omen," Eddie said dryly. Marnie smiled sarcastically in response. "You know, the Anti-Christ." He put two fingers above his head as pretend devil horns.

Marnie scoffed. "Ugh, get out of here, freak."

Eddie walked backwards with a smirk. Betty tried to express an apology through her eyes, but he raised his middle fingers at them both. He turned around, glanced over his shoulder and then winked. "See you later, Betty."

Her lips parted in disbelief.

What. The. Fuck.

"Did he just wink at you?" Marnie asked, nose scrunching in distaste as she stopped beside her. Betty continued staring open mouthed as he sauntered away. "Gross. What a creep."

"I, uh..." Betty swallowed, attempting to gather her frazzled thoughts. What the fuck just happened? "I think it was just an eye spasm."

Shit. Betty definitely could have done better there. And from the suspicious look Marnie gave her, she certainly thought so too.

A/N

I meannnnn.

Hope you enjoyed some of flashback era Betty and Eddie in the first half. Their past will gradually be more fleshed out going forwards, and the flashbacks will become more centred on them, but it's important to introduce Betty's dynamics with others too.

During flashbacks I'll probably only focus on one POV each time until the story gets going properly. This entire chapter ended up all Betty so I'll defo have an Eddie centric one soon!

I hope the switch between past and present wasn't too confusing? Let me know! For future reference, anything that says summer is the past and spring is the season 4 timeline.

Also, Head Over Heels readers I hope you enjoyed the Lydia cameo. Non Head Over Heels readers I hope u enjoyed it too because that's my girl and you'll be seeing more of her!!

Next chapter will be Betty meeting Eddie at his trailer 👀👀👀