╔═════ ∘◦ ☽ ﾐ ◦∘ ══════╗
𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧
𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝔀𝓸:
"𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 . . .
𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎."
╚═════ ∘◦ ミ ☾ ◦∘ ══════╝
IT WAS VIRTUALLY the same routine everyday for Mackenzie. Wake up, get dressed, get driven to school by Nancy and Mike, go to cheer practice after school if they had it, go home, eat dinner, go cheer at a game if there was one, and go to sleep. And a main part of her routine was taking a very long time to get to the cafeteria for lunch.
Lunch time at Hawkins High was everyone's favorite part of the day. They could finally sit with their friends and eat, taking a break from all the learning they were doing. However, that's not exactly the reason why Mackenzie liked lunch time. Her favorite part was that the hallways were quiet.
After a while of being in loud classrooms surrounded by people, she often found herself needing some alone time by herself. So after her last class before lunch, she would take the long way to her locker, and after retrieving her things, she would take the long way to the cafeteria.
She liked her routine. However, today it just had to be ruined.
Mackenzie was at her locker like normal. She had just switched out her books from her morning classes to her afternoon classes in her backpack and was just putting her lunch in when she heard the sound of running footsteps mad her turn her head. Her eyes instantly widened upon noticing that it was Mike and Dustin. They seemed dead straight on going to her.
"What the hell are you doing?" Mackenzie demanded, her eyebrows knit in confusion as they skidded to a stop in front of her, breathing heavily. "I was literally about to go to the lunch room—"
"That's false, you would've been there in, like, five minutes because you take a lap around school," Mike stated, still trying to catch his breath. "We need your help, Kenz."
"With what?"
"Eddie told us that we couldn't move the Hellfire Club for Lucas' game, which means that we have to find someone to replace him," Dustin explained, wheezing slightly.
Mackenzie's eyes flickered between the two of them. "And I have to do this, because . . ."
"Well, we were going to ask you to play, but then we remembered—"
"One, I don't play D&D, and two, I wouldn't be able to anyways?" Mackenzie guessed.
Mike straightened up and pointed at her. "Exactly. Plus, you're our best friend." He smirked slightly at her. "Come on, do it for Will. You know how much he loves D&D."
Mackenzie's eyes narrowed. She knew that Mike used that because she wouldn't be able to say no.
"Yeah, sure, whatever, I'll help you," Mackenzie agreed, and Mike and Dustin high-fived. "Who are we asking?"
Mike said nothing but reached forwards, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the hall with him. "Come on, you're with me. We'll meet you outside later, Dustin!"
Mackenzie rolled her eyes as she continued to get dragged. "Can you at least let me go? I'm not a puppy, I'm perfectly capable of following you without being on a leash."
Mike let her go. He continued to speed-walk down the hallway, but since his legs were a lot longer than Mackenzie's, she kept having to jog to keep up. Finally, they made it to where the school paper was made by the student journalists. Mike slammed the door open.
"Nancy!" Mike exclaimed.
Mackenzie and Mike entered, standing there awkwardly as the door shut behind them. Every head turned to face them. Mackenzie looked around the room, playing with the sleeve on her white cheer sweater. She caught eye of Nancy in the middle of the room, who were just staring at the two.
"Hi, Nance," Mackenzie greeted. "Mike and I came to ask if you wanted to join Hellfire tonight because they're short one."
Nancy said nothing but stare at them in anger. It was safe to say that the answer was no from her, so they moved on.
Mackenzie followed Mike to the wrestling gym, where they approached the only wrestler not practicing. She started to feel very uncomfortable in a gym with only boys in her cheer uniform. Mackenzie hid slightly behind Mike, whose arms were wrapped around his back to hold onto her forearms, reassuring her that it was okay. She shifted on her feet back and forth, looking around the room. Mackenzie could just feel the stares on her.
"So you fight with dice?" the boy asked after Mike had explained D&D to him.
"Yes, but these aren't your normal nice," Mike answered. "They have up to twenty sides."
That was also a no, and Mackenzie was just glad that she was out of that stupid gym. They then went to the chemistry lab. Mackenzie and Mike approached one of the students, where he asked the boy if he wanted to join.
"My mom says the game promotes Satanism and animal cruelty," the boy replied while pouring one substance into another.
Mackenzie almost laughed a that. Because Will Byers, the one who arguably liked D&D the most, a Satanist? That boy was the sweetest soul on the planet, and him getting into something that dark was damn near impossible.
"That's just bullshit media propaganda," Mike voiced.
The boy shrugged. "60 Minutes begs to differ."
Whatever he was mixing then sparked, creating a tall flame before it lowered. Mackenzie shook her head. They were getting nowhere.
After multiple people saying no to them, Mackenzie and Mike met up with Dustin outside, like Mike had said. The three friends sat down on a bench of bricks, breathing heavily from all the running around. Well, not Mackenzie so much. She had pulled her pretzels out of her lunch and was munching on them, completely fine.
"I hate high school," Mike commented.
Mackenzie shrugged. "It's all right. You ever tried cheer, Mike?"
"I would rather die, Kenzie."
Dustin then looked over at something. "So screw it."
"Screw what?" Mike questioned.
"Screw high school."
Dustin then immediately got up and started jogging away.
Mackenzie immediately got confused and stood up as well, clutching her bag of pretzels. "What do you mean? Dustin, you can't just run off without explaining yourself! I hate it when you do this!"
"Just trust me!" Dustin called back.
"Come on, just talk to us!" Mike insisted. "Tell us things!"
"Wear a helmet!" Dustin scolded to some boy riding a skateboard down the hill.
"You're not making any sense!" Mackenzie responded.
However, as Mackenzie, Mike, and Dustin ran up the hill, she started to notice they were going to a very familiar place. Hawkins Middle School was right next to Hawkins High. And there was only one candidate in there that they knew had some D&D knowledge.
༻✦༺༻✧༺༻✦༺
MACKENZIE DIDN'T KNOW how they managed to do it, but somehow, they got Erica Sinclair, Lucas' little sister and Megan's best friend, to replace Lucas in Hellfire. She had wished the three of them good luck on their game and promised to see them after the basketball game, knowing that they would be right across the way.
So there Mackenzie stood in the basketball gym at Hawkins High that night. She had re-pinned the front pieces of her hair back and applied a little more makeup when she had gone back home. As the Hawkins Tiger mascot and the basketball team ran out to the roaring crowd, Mackenzie raised her pom-poms and shook them while smiling brightly. She cheered for them and slightly jumped up and down.
"Let's go, Tigers!" Mackenzie recited with the rest of the cheerleaders as the Hawkins band started to play and the basketball team started to pass basketballs with each other. "Let's go, Tigers!"
Everything started to settle down when the court cleared and the band stopped. Mackenzie lowered her arms and held her pom-poms together, watching as the announcer walked up to the singular microphone in the middle of the court.
"Everyone now please rise for our national anthem," he announced, and the people on the bleachers all stood up. "Singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest. All the way from Nashville, our very own Tammy Thompson!"
Mackenzie clapped her pom-poms together while the crowd cheered. A blonde girl came out onto the court, waving to the crowd. She approached the microphone, and the crowd died down when she placed her hands on the microphone. Mackenzie reached up and placed her right hand on her heart.
"O say can you see," Tammy sang, and Mackenzie slightly winced at the way the microphone gave feedback. "By the dawn's early light . . ."
If she was being completely honest, Mackenzie kind of tuned Tammy out. She wasn't awful. It was a little pitchy, and the microphone kept giving feedback. Mackenzie just kept her bright smile on her face.
Finally, Tammy stopped and was given applause. She waved to her fans before leaving back through the doors. The other team then came out with applause from their side of the bleachers. Both teams got in position, and with the blow of a whistle and the throw of the basketball up in the air, the game began. Jason grabbed a hold of the ball and started to dribble it down the court.
"Push 'em back, defense!" Mackenzie cheered, performing the arm motions with the other cheerleaders. "Push 'em back!"
He maneuvered around the other player trying to block him and passed it to another player. Jason got close enough to the basket and the other player passed it back to him. He then shot, and he scored. Applause rang through the gym. Jason stopped by the cheerleaders and pointed to Chrissy, grinning at her.
Mackenzie smiled brightly and raised her arms up, shaking her pom-poms in celebration. Call her cliché, but she actually loved being a cheerleader and going to basketball games. It was a lot of fun.
The other team then scored while Jason was distracted. He yelled at one of the other players to stay on them before running back into the game. The game continued on and on, and Mackenzie kept on cheering. Her cheerleading only got happier when something amazing happened.
Well, okay, the teammate getting injured wasn't so amazing. However, she watched as the coach pointed at Lucas, who was on the bench in his track suit. Lucas immediately scrambled up and ripped off his track suit. Mackenzie's eyes widened and she watched him run on the court.
"Let's go, Lucas!" Mackenzie shouted, waving her pom-poms excitedly, her chest swelling with pride.
Hawkins High's score kept going back and forth. Sometimes they were in the lead, but other times they would fall behind. Mackenzie's eyes scanned back and forth on the court, watching as the Hawkins players gave everything they got into the game — after all, it was the championship. Her eyes were honestly glued on Lucas the entire time. He was doing really well at passing and even scored a couple times.
It started getting tiring after a while of cheering for so long. However, the adrenaline rush that Mackenzie got every time Hawkins High scored, especially from Lucas, was enough to keep her going. The smile never really left her face.
The game was starting to get really close. One team would score, and then the other would score, so that they were practically at the same amount of points with only a little time left. The coach had the Hawkins team in a huddle to discuss a new strategy.
Mackenzie took this time to scan the Hawkins bleachers. Max wasn't there — she knew she wouldn't be, but it still kind of upset her. Steve was there with whatever knew girl he was seeing because he had been going on a lot of dates recently. And, of course, Robin Buckley was there in the band with her trumpet, standing next to a girl named Vickie who played the clarinet. Robin was Steve's coworker at Scoops Ahoy in the Starcourt Mall who managed to uncover the secret Russian message and got caught up with the whole issue that happened over the summer. Mackenzie absolutely adored Robin and was glad Steve found such a great friend.
The game came back after the huddle. Jason had missed his shot, and the ball bounced back on the rim. Mackenzie's heart slightly sunk. There were only three seconds left in the game, and Hawkins was behind by one. They just had to score one more time and they would win.
Lucas managed to grab the ball from someone on the other team. He ran and spun around. With one second left on the clock, Mackenzie watched as his feet left the floor and he threw the basketball. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. The ball flew through the air, and right as the buzzer sounded, it hit the rim, hit back against the backboard, and landed right through the net.
And in the one second of shocked silence of the gym, Mackenzie was the first one to recover.
She immediately sprinted towards Lucas, the sound of her sneakers hitting against the floor being the loudest thing besides the buzzer. People from the Hawkins High side of the bleachers started to scream shouts of joy when Mackenzie finally reached Lucas. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight, which managed to snap the boy out of his shocked state, because holy shit, he had just done that. Lucas hugged Mackenzie back, his excitement getting the better of him and picking her up off the ground, spinning her around while the basketball team and cheer team ran up to him. Mackenzie let out a loud laugh and held on tight so she wouldn't fall.
"You did it!" Mackenzie yelled. "You did it!"
Lucas set her back down. The two of them shared bright smiles before Lucas was lifted up in the air by Jason and Patrick, another teammate. Mackenzie jumped up and down and waved her pom-poms, nothing but pure joy flowing through her veins. They started to chant his name over and over again.
Once the celebration in the gym had died down some, Mackenzie decided it was time to go home. She did have to get up early to see Mike off and give him the thing she had gotten for Will. Mackenzie pulled on her cheer sweater and put her backpack over her shoulders. She left with Lucas, but Jason and some of the other teammates were around. Mackenzie didn't mind. They were all just excited that Lucas had won the game.
"That's you, baby!" Jason exclaimed. "That's you!"
"Yeah, man!" Lucas replied, throwing an arm around Mackenzie's shoulders and shaking her a bit, making her laugh.
Jason then pointed to a teammate. "Hey, Jed, you coming?"
"Oh, yeah," Jed answered. "Party at Benny's, boys!"
The basketball team cheered and walked off. Every time after a win, the basketball team, the cheer team, and frankly whoever wanted to come had a huge party at an abandoned diner called Benny's Burgers. Mackenzie had never gone. Parties really weren't here scene. She didn't want to be around loud music, alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, making out, and sex, if she was being quite honest. It didn't sound like a good time to her.
However, Jason hung back for a moment. Mackenzie watched in slight confusion, crossing her arms across her chest as she nestled comfortably into Lucas' side.
Jason turned around and pointed straight at her, making Mackenzie raise an eyebrow. "Are you coming tonight, Mackenzie?"
"The answer is always no," Mackenzie voiced. "And don't try to get Chrissy to convince me, either. I hate saying no to her."
"Come on, Mack, it'll be fun."
Mackenzie froze. She hadn't heard somebody utter that nickname in person (not counting all the times Will said it over the phone and Cerebro) since Christmas, the last time Will had visited. And now hearing it again, especially from someone that wasn't him . . . it sort of made her feel like she just got punched in the stomach. A new wave of melancholy shadowed over her even though they had just won a game. Mack. Nobody had ever called her that besides Will.
God, she missed him.
"Kenzie actually prefers it if people don't call her that," Lucas' voice then said, snapping Mackenzie out of her trance.
Mackenzie blinked before placing a small smile on her face. "Yeah, sorry. It's sort of a . . . reserved nickname." She then glanced over, only to see the Hellfire Club leaving Hawkins High, celebrating with each other. Mackenzie's smile widened. "I actually have an excuse this time. My friend has an early flight to California tomorrow and I'm gonna see him off with a present for my boyfriend, so . . ."
Jason shook his head. "Okay, but I better see you at the next one."
"No promises."
Jason grinned at her before walking away to rejoin the others. Mackenzie looked up at Lucas, who removed his arm from her as he watched the Hellfire Club celebrate, a slightly melancholy look on his face.
"I'm really proud of you," Mackenzie told him softly. "You just fucking won us the championship game."
Lucas sighed. "I feel bad for ditching them."
"I know, but they'll understand eventually. Plus, it looks like Erica had a lot of fun, so that's good."
He chuckled. "Thanks, Kenzie."
"Don't mention it, what are friends for?" Mackenzie responded. She then turned to him and pointed at him sternly. "Be careful at this party. Don't drink too much, don't do drugs, don't be stupid, and don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Lucas rolled his eyes. "Yes, mom."
"I'm just looking out for you." She glanced back at the still-celebrating Hellfire Club. "I have to go. See you . . . uh, if you're not hungover, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Have fun!"
He waved at her. "Bye, Kenz."
Mackenzie then walked away to get a ride home from Nancy and Mike, not completely ready to see Mike go off to California without her the next morning. He was going to be able to see Will, while she would be stuck in Hawkins.
How unfair.
☾ ★ ☽
kenzie's friendship with all of them actually makes me cry they're so cute