Chapter 18

“Then there’s Heidi tomorrow night, but the problem with Heidi is that she’s going out of state for college,” Steve said, catching them up on his latest women, “So, it’s like, do I really wanna start another relationship that has no point other than sex? I mean, I don’t know. Does that make sense to you?”

Robin wasn’t listening, she was putting on her mascara. Claudia, on the other hand, was listening, but honestly didn’t care. “Shut up, Steve,” she said.

“Robin, are you listening?” Steve asked.

“Uh, yes!” Robin lied.

“What did I just say?”

“Something about sex with… with Linda!”

“No! I’m talking about Heidi!”

“Cut me some slack, please! Your love life is one of labyrinthine complexity and it is seven in the morning, we have to go to this stupid pep rally, and I woke up looking like a total corpse.”

“I think you look nice Robin,” Claudia said.

“You have to think that, you’re my girlfriend!”

“Wait, when did you guys make it official?”

“Literally, like, forever ago, Steve. We told you. Like a week after we started working at family video Robin was all like ‘Be my girlfriend!’ and I was all like ‘Okay!’ and then we-“

“He doesn’t need all the details, Dia,” Robin said.

“My bad.”

Claudia zoned out, blocking out Steve’s rant about ‘boobies’. She couldn’t care less what he was talking about. It was Steve, after all. Pretty much everything that came out of his mouth was boobies.

They pulled up to the school, and Robin jumped out, following her band friends. They were the people to Claudia had made friends with recently.

Popularity wise, it was a downgrade from her old friends, but she definitely felt better being surrounded by a bunch of ‘losers’ than a bunch of egotistical bullies.

“I never knew someone could make playing the trumpet hot,” Claudia whispered to Steve.

“Is that even a trumpet?” Steve asked.

“I don’t know. Probably.”

The basketball team then came out, and Claudia cheered for Lucas. None of the others, they were annoying.

Jason Carver stepped forward to do a speech. Claudia didn’t mind Jason, but he was a bit of an ass sometimes. “First off… Hey. First off, I’d like to thank each and every one of you. Without your support, we wouldn’t be here. Give yourselves a big hand! And of course, of course I have to give a special shoutout to the best and the prettiest fans of all time, the Tiger Cheer Squad. Chrissy. Chrissy, I love you babe.” Claudia smiled. She wished she could do that. Express her love for her girlfriend in front of everyone. It was unfortunate. She’d probably get jumped. “You know. I think I can speak for all of us when I say it’s been a tough year for Hawkins. So much loss. And sometimes I wonder, how much loss can one community take? In dark days like this, we need something to believe in. 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. Think about our heroic police chief, Jim Hopper. Think about each and every one of our friends who perished in that fire. What did they die for? For us to lose to some… some crap school? No. For us to return home with our head hung low in defeat? No! No. Let’s win this game. Let’s win this game for them. And that’s exactly what we did! We embarrassed those candy-asses in their own house and now tonight, tonight, we’re gonna bring home the championship trophy! Let’s go!”

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The air horn blew as the basketball team all ran out, cheered on by the crowd and the cheerleaders. Claudia sat sat in an isle seat alone, behind Steve and his new lady friend, Brenda. She felt kinda weird sat alone, and she wasn’t gonna come at all, but Steve practically begged her to sit close to him in case something embarrassing happened.

The band stopped, and the principal came to the mic. “Everyone now please rise for our national anthem,” everyone stood up, “Singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest. All the way from Nashville, our very own Tammy Thompson!”

Steve, Robin and Claudia all exchanged looks. Tammy was in Mrs Click’s history class, and couldn’t carry a tune to save her life. Having Tammy sing the national anthem was, like, a disgrace to America. At least she looked cute.

“Told you,” Steve whispered to Robin, “Muppet.”

“Okay, she does sound like a muppet,” Robin whispered back. Claudia noticed the other girl next to Robin, Vickie, began talking to her. She squinted to get a closer look at her, seeing a smile on both of their faces.

She tapped Steve’s shoulder. “Does that look weird to you?” She asked him, pointing to the two band girls.

“No. Why? Oh my God,” Steve said, Claudia covered his mouth. Brenda looked at the two, giving them a confused look. Claudia flashed a nervous smiled and let go of Steve, spinning him back around to face Tammy.

The basketball team played the game, but it wasn’t looking like a win so far. One of the teammates got injured, meaning Lucas was finally off the bench.

With Lucas on the team, it was finally looking up. The two teams were tying, neck and neck, and the finally score was in the hands of Jason.

Claudia bit her knuckles as the ball bounced around the net, falling out. Lucas grabbed the ball, running away from the net to make his shot. With one second on the timer, Lucas threw the ball, and it hit every edge of the net, before finally going through.

The crowd roared, jumping up from their seats. Steve tan up the one step separating him and Claudia, choosing to hug her rather than the date he’d brought.

The basketball team lifted Lucas into the air, cheering for him. Unfortunately, that was the last time they’d be cheering for Lucas, before their perspective on him soon changed.