Ghost of You // Vance Hopper

VII

Saturday 1978, North Denver.

IGNORE THE BAD WRITING ONCE AGAIN, im so fucking tired I'm half asleep finishing this chapter LMFAOO
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    It must've been around 10am by the time the baseball game started. Everyone on the field looked exhausted, Finney especially. He looked on edge, like he was scared he was gonna mess up at any moment and make his team lose. But you'd been to some of his games in the past with Robin, and that kid was good. One of the best baseball players you knew, aside from the the player he would be pitching to soon. That guy, that guy that was standing in line to bat was Bruce Yamada. You've also seen him around school many times, even had math class with him. So many girls swooned over him, giving that half the bleachers were filled with girls from school and the neighborhood nearby. They all rooted for him, but you and Robin were there to cheer for Finney instead.

    "Go, Finn! You got this!" The first kid up looked even more anxious than Finney, and missed the first pitch because of it.

    "Strike one!" A man announced loudly as the blonde shot a quick glance to check if you and Robin had seen him pitch. You waved an excited hand and your best friend did the same, as well as giving him a thumbs up.
    "Finney! Yeah, Finney!" You shouted at your new friend while sneaking your hand down to your side to snatch the unopened candy the girl next to you placed down. It was placed into your pocket cautiously before you carried on to cheer for the pitcher. Farther down the bleachers, Gwen sat with some girls from school. She was holding the popcorn you offered to steal for her, but Robin hit you upside the head and ended up buying it with his money— which you had stolen from some girl named Alysa just days ago. It was her fault for leaving it unattended on the lunch room table when she went to talk to someone!

"Fuck. Oh, shit." You cursed when accidentally spilling the candy that was just in your pocket. It was some sort of taffy and it melted into your jeans from the humidity. There goes the pants you took from Robin! Hopefully he wouldn't be too angry upon finding out you just ruined a pair of his jeans by accident.
"I'll be right back, tell me what happens!" You hopped up and made your way behind the stands to get to the bathroom. Oddly enough, no one was near there— except for the one person you were hoping not to run into. Nope, not the time. Deciding you didn't want to talk to Vance Hopper for the 4th time in one week, you started to speed off the other way. You'd deal with the mess after the game.

Well, Vance had other plans. A strong hand landed on your shoulder and gripped it tight, grabbing ahold of your shirt. You were dragged away farther from the bleachers and pressed up against the brick wall behind the stands.
"Calm it down! Back up, too. Someone hasn't brushed their teeth today." You were pushed further against the wall and Vance's hands were on either of your shoulders.
"What the fuck did you do?" He asked with absolutely no context whatsoever.

"..What?" You were genuinely confused as to what he was referring to and shrugged.
"You know what I'm talking about." His tone of voice scared you, made you more anxious than when he actually grabbed you by the shoulder. That tone of voice reminded you of when he threatened to beat up Moose for showing him your pictures.
"No, I don't. Enlighten me." You rolled your eyes at his antics and tried to play it off cool to show you weren't scared. Yeah, you were gonna piss your pants any second now.
"I swear, you're a fucking weirdo. You did some of that— that witchcraft shit on me. Or maybe you were trying to talk to me becau—" Whoa. What?

"Pause. Okay, what? I went back yesterday to apologize to you, but you decided to make that shitty comment about Moose and what he did. You're a real asshole, you know that? Not everyone you cross has a crush on you." This dude had to have the biggest ego you've ever seen. Did he actually think you liked him because you went back and apologized? Did people just not apologize to him ever?
    "Yeah. Whatever. Stay the fuck away from me, I didn't know who you even were until I asked you for a quarter on Wednesday, and now you're appearing everywhere! You gotta be doing something to my brain."  Where was he even getting this from? You were absolutely astounded at his wild accusations that you had to refrain from laughing.

    "You're... You're crazy." You couldn't hold it in longer, and burst into laughter at the boy's stupidity. First he thought you had a crush on him, now he thought you were mind controlling him somehow?
    "You're also the stupidest guy I've ever met. And I need to get back to Finney's game, if you'll excuse me." You weren't afraid of him any longer, and it wasn't like he was gonna hit you.
    "Whatever, drop it. Just stay the fuck outta my way. Got it?" You nodded eagerly and pried his clammy hands off of your shoulders.

    The boy watched with an unreadable expression as you walked away to greet Robin, and he pretended to makeout with himself, rubbing his hands all over his back and wiggling around. Vance saw you hit his head hard, but then immediately apologize and kiss it afterward.

    He had to admit, something about you intrigued him. Maybe it was that you just wouldn't give up, how you were oddly calm when running into him every single time. You had fire in your eyes, you were determined. Vance didn't know how he hadn't met you before. Being completely honest, he didn't believe the rumor that Moose made up about you being afraid of him. You, the school thief that wasn't even afraid to attempt to steal a projector from a classroom, afraid of Vance Hopper? Even better, you were best friends with Robin Arellano, the other tough kid. Apparently you didn't know how to fight, so he did it for you while you did the shittalking.

    You sure did a good job at that part. 'All Bark No Bite', people called you. They were right though, even though Vance hadn't seen you crumble under pressure yet.

    "What was that about? I thought you guys kissed with how close he got to your face." Robin snickered at your reaction, you scowling at him.
    "No. He accused me of doing witch-craft on him for talking to him about his home life, which, he spoke of voluntarily. I didn't even ask him to, he just told me about it after around 5 minutes of just pure silence!" You exclaimed while cheering for Finney, who just needed to pitch to Bruce Yamada one more time before he would be out. Two strikes already, and you hoped dearly that your friend's team would win.
    "Finn! One more time, you got this!" Bruce adjusted the grip on his bat and kicked at the sand and dirt under him, kicking some of it up slightly.

    It was visibly evident that he was nervous he wouldn't hit the last pitch. His friends shouted his name, determined for him to hit it.

    And hit the ball he did. It soared into the sky, too high for anyone to catch in the outfield standing still, so one boy went sprinting for the ball. He made it all the way to the fence and held out his glove, only for the ball to land beyond it, farther ahead.
    "Aw, man." Bruce Yamada hit a home run, and everyone watched in admiration when he ran all the bases and made it back to his teammates, they congratulated the boy tremendously and Finney stood there in the same place. He was looking over at the one person he wanted to be at his game the most— Donna. She was waking away with her friends and hadn't acknowledged Finney, but he was grateful she even showed up.

    You then split up with Finney and his sister, bringing Robin to your house to sleepover with you, but you also offered for the other boy to join. He accepted, and said he'd stop by later, so Robin dragged you along down the road.
    "The hell's going on with you and Pinball Vance? How do you guys keep mysteriously showing up in the same places at the same time? You guys are like, soulmates or something." You have Robin a weird look, and he shook his head.

    "No, no. I am. Sorry, forgot, Cariño. You guys would still make a cute couple, though. Maybe if he was less aggressive, I'd let you date him." Robin was worse than your mom with dating, he practically took her place as the parent of relationships. Though, yes, you hadn't dated anyone before, he made sure your crushes were nice to you.

    There was no doubt he would act the same with Vance.