-march 21st 1986-
-reader's pov-
steve applied the brakes to his car and neatly rolled it up into a parking space. the parking lot was bustling with hawkins high students, all of them excited for spring break tomorrow, and the basketball game later today. robin and steve turned around to face me after robin and I had unbuckled our seatbelts.
"so am I gonna be picking you up later?" steve inquired, unsure.
"nope, I've got hellfire." I reminded him whilst picking up my backpack.
"okay, and you're off to california tomorrow?" asked robin and I nodded in response.
"alright, well, have a safe flight, y/n." steve smiled lightly, "and say hi to the byers for me."
"I will." I replied before robin and I exited the car.
robin ruffled my hair playfully with a wide grin, "have fun, n/n. see you soon."
"bye robin!" I called out with a small wave as she jogged off, after her fellow band-members.
"see ya, n/n." steve said as he switched the car engine on and drove his car out of the school grounds. with me waving at him as he drove further and further away.
"to the gym, everyone! to the gym!" ms kelly announced as she pointed all students in the correct direction, "go support your tigers! go, tigers!"
as I headed over to the gym, I noticed max leaving the school bus. so I slowed my pace until she managed to catch up with me.
"hey max, you good?" I asked as we walked, side-by-side.
"mmm." she grumbled in response, meaning that she was fine.
"good, good." I replied with a slight nod but then ms kelly shouting her name caused us both to pause and spin around.
"max! max!" ms kelly called out, max and I shared a look before I told her, "I'll see you later in the gym." max nodded before walking over to ms kelly and slipping her headphones off.
——————
the loud sound of the marching band playing their drums echoed through the crowded gym as the cheerleaders put on a performance. the audience cheered and waved their signs and motivational banners that were mainly the colours of orange and green, in the air. the cheerleaders swooshed their large pom-poms as they danced along to the band's tune. the school's tiger mascot happily bounded around, wooing the performance along.
"look, I'm not saying that my girlfriend is better than you guys' boyfriends and girlfriends, it's just that suzie's like a certified genius." dustin's voice boomed over the music.
"you do realise el saved the world twice, right?" I asked with raised eyebrows.
"-and will helped, like a lot." mike added.
"-and yet both of you still have C's in spanish." dustin teasingly reminded.
"just shut up dustin, we all know that suzie helped you cheat." I sighed, "we're not that dumb."
dustin pulled a shocked face, but it was so fake that I almost burst out laughing. "dingus." I muttered playfully.
the cheerleader's show then ended on the last toot of the trumpets, the whole school erupted into applause before the cheerleaders settled down and we all awaited the basketball players.
"and let's hear it for your tigers!" the announcement speaker boomed. the captain of the basketball team, jason carver, came jogging through the paper-thin hawkins tigers banner with a cheesy smile painted across his face. everyone cheered as mike, dustin, max and I looked for lucas, who should be appearing any time now.
and of course, lucas proudly came, wearing his number 8 jersey, with a huge smile tugged at his lips.
"good morning, hawkins high!" jason shouted into the microphone, causing everyone's cheers to increase, "first off.. hey, first off, I'd like to thank each and every one of you. without your support, we wouldn't be here." the crowd finally settled down as jason began his speech, "give yourself a big hand!" but then, of course, the whole school began to scream again.
"and, obviously, I have to give a special shout-out to the best and prettiest fans of all time," jason continued, smirking slightly, "the tiger cheer squad!" everyone then began to loudly cheer again, "chrissy," jason patted his heart, "chrissy, I love you babe."
the crowd then 'awwed' but mike and I shared a disgusted look with a gag.
"you know.." jason started up again, this time sounding more serious, "I think I can speak for all of us when I say it's been a tough year for hawkins, so much loss." the crowd finally went properly silent for the first time since everyone entered, "and sometimes I wonder, 'how much loss can one community take?' in dark days like this, we need something to believe in." he began to pace the hall, "so, last night, when we were down by ten points at half to christian academy, I looked at my team and I said, 'think of jack, think of melissa, think of heather, think of billy."
I noticed how max shifted uncomfortably at the mention of billy, she looked down to the bleachers with a sulking face even more.
"think of our heroic police chief, jim hopper." jason announced, I bit my lip at this name, I knew that hopper had deeply cared for me, for all of us, "think about each and every one of our friends that perished in that fire. what did they die for? for us to lose against some crap school? no."
the crowd all shouted out no, except from mike, dustin, max and I, who just stood there with faces of disbelief. how could this jock be comparing the tragic deaths of these people to a sports game?!
"for us to return home with our heads hung low in defeat? no!" jason blindly continued, "no! let's win this game! let's win this game for them, and that's exactly what we did!"
the crowd were now screaming in applause as mike uttered, "dumbass prick." he also rolled his eyes. dustin and I nodded with a huff in agreement.
"we embarrassed those candy-asses in their own house!" jason roared, "and now tonight, tonight, we're gonna bring home the championship trophy!" the school now cheered louder than ever, all except from the guys, max and I, of course.
"tonight?!" mike remarked.
"-how is that even possible?!" dustin cried out.
"-they call it a tournament." max said, "you win one game, you go and play every other until there's only one team left."
"well great, eddie's gonna go batshit." I sighed with an exasperated look, along with the boys.