I Know The End ✸ Steve Harrington

iii. basketball drama

chapter three . . . basketball drama

      JOSIE HAD STAYED TO HERSELF FOR MOST of the school day. Reluctantly, she dragged herself out of bed that morning despite the unbearable hangover she had. During free period, she was hoping to have some time to herself in the library to complete last minute homework that was due, but quickly found herself getting bored and ended up staring at the pages in front of her.

Josie now roamed the hallways in boredom, Sisters of the Moon by Fleetwood Mac bleeding in her ears from her walkman, as she found herself walking to the school gym to watch Steve's basketball practice — which he had invited her too earlier that day.

Pushing open the gym doors with a loud squeak, she cut across the bleachers giving people a small smile as they past her on her way in, choosing a spot in the middle of the bleachers. Bringing her attention to the current basketball game, she saw Steve already looking at her with a smile, noticing that she had actually shown up.

Making his way towards her, he looked at her in amusement, "I thought Josephine Henderson hated basketball?" He teased.

She scoffed, "Don't call me that, only my mother calls me that. And it's better than studying. Let's just hope you don't get your ass kicked, Harrington."

Steve jokingly flipped her off, walking back to the middle of the gym to rejoin his practice. With a class full of boys, you could already tell the amount of testosterone practically bouncing off the walls so it wasn't long until they started making the game more competitive, wanting to show off their skills to boost their egos.

Josie watched as Billy tried his hardest to get under Steve's skin by trying to knock him down and kept egging him on to get the ball. "Harrington, right?" Billy kept shoving into Steve's back to get on his nerves. "I heard you use to run this school. That true? King Steve, they used to call you, huh? Then you turned bitch." He taunted.

"Hey, maybe you should just shut up and just play the game." Unfortunately, Billy had managed to snatch the ball away from him, causing Steve to fall backwards and onto the floor as the blonde ran, throwing the ball into the hoop, hollering in celebration.

"Steve!" Nancy Wheeler's voice was sharp when she had entered the gym, calling out to speak with the boy. Steve threw the ball to one of his teammates, giving Josie a glance for a split second before following his ex-girlfriend out of the gym.

Listening to David Bowie through her headphones, Josie was soon interrupted by a figure sitting next to her. Pausing her music, she turned to a sweaty and shirtless Billy. "Can I help you?" She hesitantly met his eyes.