─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
march 21st
hawkins high school
tilly scurried into the school hall, she had already given her crinkled-up ticket to the teacher outside meaning she was free to enter.
"matilda jo!" nancy wheeler smiled at the younger girl.
"hey nance." tilly waved at her.
"you up for taking some pictures?" nancy gave her a hopeful look. "from a different angle than mine."
tilly sighed, "yeah of course. i'll get the pictures developed from the pep rally and give them to you, if you want."
"that would be great." nancy nodded, "thank you!"
"no problem." tilly grinned as she made her way over to the bleachers. she saw steve in the section closest to the marching band and karl stood in front of him. this was perfect.
the girl made her way past multiple people as she walked over to the space.
"let's go, tigers!"
"hey karl." tilly greeted him.
"hi matilda, i didn't know you'd be here." karl furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"i'm here for lucas." tilly explained, making him nod. "what about you?"
"my sensei said we all have to be here, said it's only right that all the sports teams in this school support eachother." karl told her.
"barf." tilly cringed, "that is so sappy."
"rich coming from you, davis." steve grumbled.
tilly had an enormous smile on her face when she heard his voice, glad he had noticed her presence. the girl slowly turned around to face him, "steve 'the hair' harrington? king of hawkins high?"
"shut-"
"what are you doing here." tilly gasped, acting as if she was a big fan of the boy.
"here for the same reason you are." steve glared at her.
tilly shifted her gaze to the girl steve had brought, brenda tisdale. she had frizzy blonde hair and smelt like cheap perfume. she was a very pretty girl which confused tilly on why she would want to be caught dead with steve.
"tiffany?"
the girl shook her head.
"linda?"
"no..."
"i'm so sorry. it's heidi, isn't it?" tilly smiled.
"okay!" steve placed his hand over her mouth, smothering her, "enough of that."
"do i know you?" brenda asked, genuinely.
tilly quickly licked the boy's hand, making him recoil in utter disgust. "i'm steve's sister."
"barely." he scoffed.
"you're matilda?" brenda beamed.
tilly gasped in surprise, "steve talks about me?"
"sometimes." brenda nodded, "you and some others."
"games about to start." steve interrupted their conversation.
the band stopped and their principal higgins made his way to the microphone. "everyone now please rise for our national anthem." he ordered.
everyone in the hall stood to their feet, out of respect.
"singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest." the principal told them, "all the way from nashville, our very own tammy thompson!"
they all began to cheer as the girl with a bright smile walked into the centre. she was glowing as she waved to everyone.
"go, tammy!"
"we love you, tammy!"
"♪ say, can you see ♪" the girl began to sing. she was extremely off key and her microphone had loud feedback.
tilly looked around it confusion, wondering if anyone was hearing the same voice she was. surpringky, almost everyone had a smile on their faces as if this girl had mesmerised them.
"♪ by the dawn's early light ♪"
"told you." she heard steve's voice whisper, "muppet."
as she continued to sing, tilly decided to tune her out. instead, she pulled the camera from around her neck and turned to karl.
"do you know how to use a camera?" she asked the boy, her hand still over her chest.
"kinda." he nodded, "why?"
"can you take some pictures of this game? not the girl singing... but when they actually come on the court." tilly explained.
karl chuckled with a nod, "yeah, of course." he gently took the camera from his hands and wrapped the strip around his neck. "how come you're not?"
"i imagine myself falling asleep during this." tilly shrugged, "no offence, lucas."
"i don't think he can particularly hear you." karl whisperered.
"honestly, i was talking to his spirit." tilly stated as she glanced over at him.
at that same moment, lucas turned back to check if any of his friends had come. just as he was about to frown, he caught karl and tilly whispering at each other. the sinclair boy sighed in relief and smile at the fact that at least someone came to support him.
"wow, she sounds amazing, doesn't she?" brenda asked steve.
steve nodded in such way it looked like he was being held at gun-point. once brenda looked away, steve gave her a look.
"♪ and the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air. gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. o say, does that star-spangled ♪"
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"i wonder what eddie's gonna say when he sees you." slater uttered.
he, dustin, erica sinclair and mike were currently walking over to the room where they held their campaigns. after being rejected by literally everyone, the three boys decided to go to the middle school.
erica was more than happy to join their campaign. she had the america flag around her shoulders like cape and was holding a pink folder in her hands.
"he better not say anything but 'thank you for saving my sad campaign'." erica scoffed.
"here we are." dustin announced as he pushed open the room door.
when the four arrived, eddie was sat in a throne and the other three boys were stood around him. it was completely silent when the four walked in, no one had expected they would bring such a young player,
"absolutely not." eddie stated, a smile on his face.
"you asked for a sub." dustin reminded him.
"we delivered." slater finished, gesturing to erica.
"this is hellfire club." eddie reminded them, "not babysitting club."
"i'm eleven, you long-haired freak." erica shot back.
slater chuckled and the two did a quick low five.
"my, my, the child speaks." eddie retorted, making his minions giggle. the munson boy shot out of his seat and approached the girl. "so, what's your name, child?"
"erica sinclair."
eddie chuckled, "so this is sinclair's infamous sister."
"he's sharp." erica rolled her eyes.
garreth and jeff laughed to each other but when eddie turned back at them, they stopped.
"what's your class and level?" eddie leaned down to her, "level one dwarf?"
the three older boys burst out laughing, as if eddie was a professional comedian. slater and dustin shared a look, hoping everything would go smoothly.
"my name is lady applejack. and i'm a chaotic good half-elf rogue, level 14." erica informed him. "and i will sneak behind any monster you throw my way and stab them in the back with my poison-soaked kukri. and i'll smile as i watch them die a slow, agonizing death."
they were all stunned to silence.
"so, we gonna do this, or we gonna keep chitchatting like this is your mommy's book club?" erica challenged.
eddie slowly smiled, putting his hand out for her to shake, "welcome to hellfire."
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"the hooded cultists chant, "hail lord vecna. hail lord vecna." eddie spoke to the group in a low tone. "they turn to you, remove their hoods. you recognise most of them from makbar. but there is one you do not recognize, his skin shriveled, desiccated. and something else."
they all leaned in over the table, clearly intrigued by his storytelling.
"he is not only missing his left arm, but his left eye!" eddie stood up, demonstrating his words.
they all began clamouring and yelling in complain,
"no! no!"
"vecna's dead."
"he was killed by kas."
"so it was thought, my friends. so it was thought. but vecna lives." he slammed the figure onto the mini throne.
"we're so screwed."
"you are scared. you're tired. you are injured. do you flee vecna and his cultists?" eddie questioned, "or stand your ground and fight?"
the group sat there, clearly doing some deep thinking.
"come on." eddie urged them.
slater was the first to speak up, "fight."
"i agree, we fight." dustin nodded, "to the death."
"to the death." erica nodded.
"to the death."
"to the death, to the death!" they all began to chant as they slammed their palms onto the table.
"to the death! to the death! to the death!"
the rest of the campaign was pure chaos. there were wins and mostly losses - they ended up with only two players left.
"time-out." chris begged, "time-out! time-out!"
everyone but eddie stood up. they moved to the side of the room where they huddled around each other.
"guys, i hate to say this, but we've got to flee." gareth confessed.
"i concur." chris agreed.
"didn't we just agree to the death?" erica reminded them.
"that wasn't literal." gareth shook his head.
"vecna just decimated us." jeff spike up, "we can't kill him with two players."
"you too?" dustin gave him a look, "he only has fifteen hit points left. don't be pussies."
"pussies?" gareth questioned, "really? cause we're not delusional?"
"delusional?" slater repeated.
"how about not cowards?" erica exclaimed.
"hey!" eddie called out, "if i may interject, gentlemen, lady applejack."
the members of the club turned out of this gather to listen to eddie.
"whilst i respect the passion, you'd be wise to take gareth the great's concern to heart." eddie advised them, "there is no shame in running. don't try to be heroes. not today, 'kay?
"one sec." dustin said before the group shifted back into their huddle.
"what do you think, mike?" slater questioned the boy who hadn't given much input.
mike glanced up at dustin, "how many hit points do you and applejack have left?"
"twelve." they both said in unison.
"it's risky as hell." mike voiced, "but you're the ones on the battlefield. so it's your call."
"good point." slater agreed.
"what do you say, lady applejack?" dustin turned to the younger girl.
"you really gotta ask?"
"screw it." dustin muttered before pivoting around, "let's kill the son of a bitch."
"the chances of success are twenty to one." jeff reminded him.
dustin put his finger up to silence him, "never tell me the odds. give me the d20."
eddie had a large smirk on his face as he threw the dice over to dustin.
"you can do this." slater reassured him.
dustin took a deep breath before hurling the dice down the board. they all watched in anticipation as it rolled around.
"that's a miss." eddie shouted, bobbing his head around in excitement.
"no!"
"or not." slater mumbled.
"shit, shit!"
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back at the basketball match, tilly was sitting in her seat, her head on her lap as she nodded off.
"matilda, lucas has the ball!" karl announced.
her head instantly shot up like she hadn't been asleep at all. tilly stood to her feet, rubbing her tired eyes for a clearer view. she was just in time because lucas was currently dribbling the ball.
the score was sixty-nine to the guests and sixty-eight to hawkins high.
as lucas tossed the ball into the air, the timer buzzed, meaning it was the end of the game. however, hawkins high could still acquire points if lucas' ball went through. everyone stood to their feet, their eyes glued onto the ball.
the colourful orange ball stirred around the basket as everyone watched in uncertainty. finally, it dropped down the hoop. the crowd roared and tilly yelled out so loud, her voice was audibly straining. she jumped up and down in excitement and pride as her friend beside her took a couple of photographs.
tilly turned around to see steve just as enthusiastic as she was. the two spontaneously embraced, buzzing with delight before going back to clapping. the whole team and the cheerleaders had assembled around lucas as they screamed in joy.
"lucas! lucas! lucas!" tilly began to chant her best friend's name. a few people around her joined and eventually, the whole school was cheering out his name.
"lucas! lucas! lucas! lucas!"
⎯ ❃ neens speaks!
NOT EDITED
this chapter is SO boring it literally pained me to write it
anyways i know i don't shut up about my steve book but i just restarted it and i'd appreciate all the support i can get!!
thank you so much, love u all <3