𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐞 ; 𝘉𝘺𝘭𝘦𝘳 ✓

𝟗.

Hawkins High | Fri 3:45 PM
El Hopper

El tried her best not to look down as she lifted her leg up and balanced herself on the top of the cheer pyramid. She always got picked to be on the top since she weighed the least out of almost everybody.

"Stop wobbling El! Your gonna fall, get a concussion, and then we won't have anyone else to go at the top!" Heather yelled from the bottom.

El tried her best to tune her out, thinking her constant yells were very annoying and distracting. Most of the other girls felt the same, but everyone was too afraid to say anything, everyone except El that is.

"Shut up Heather! No one wants to hear you complain all day!"

Quiet gasps filled the room as Heather glared at El from afar. El ignored her glares and continued to focus on her form. She tried to act like she was very confident in what she said, but she feared that Heather would kick her off the team for good this time.

Heather took her whistle off of the table and blew into it, nearly blowing out everyone's eardrums. "Practice over!" She yelled before grabbing her towel and clipboard and walking over to the locker room.

The girls disbanded from the pyramid and walked over to the locker room as well, some casting glares El's way. El was confused as to why everyone was so mad at her, they were all thinking the same thing.

"Thank you so much for saying that, if she kept talking my head was gonna explode." someone from behind her said.

El turned around to face the girl and her mood completely changed when she saw the wide smile of Blaineley Jack.

"No problem Blaine! At least one person around here isn't fake." El said, saying that last part a little louder.

The two walked side by side into the room, and then went their separate ways to their lockers. El got dressed while simultaneously checking some of the other girls out, thinking to herself, who else would I like if not Max?

Once she was finished, she headed outside so that she could catch her bus on time. She was excited to see Max since they barely got to see each other in school.

El stood by the bus stop and watched the bus as it drove down the street and towards her. Once the bus got there, the doors flung open and the bus driver began to speak.

"Your going to Starcourt right?" he asked.

"Yes sir." El said politely.

"Ok welcome aboard!"

She handed him the ticket and boarded the bus, sitting down near the front.

***

El browsed through the blue dresses as she talked to Max about who she could go to the dance with, even though they both knew that El wanted to go with her.

"Maybe you could go with James, or Troy, or even better, Mike!" Max says.

At this point, El is genuinely convinced that Max thinks she likes Mike. First it was a joke, but now she just keeps bringing him up.

"Yeah, I'll probably go with Mike." El said, hoping it would make Max somewhat jealous, but she seemed mostly happy.

El was angry, angry that Max couldn't tell she was lying or that she'd even suggest El go with a boy to the dance. El needed to get away from her and go home to calm down, but how would should do that without making it so obvious that she's upset?

"Do you know where the phone booth is? My dad told me to call him after practice." El lied while walking out of the boutique.

"I think there's one over there." Max said while pointing in the direction.

"Ok I'll be quick." El said while walking away.

El went into the booth and quickly dialed Hopper's work number.

"Dad? - oh yeah I'm fine, I was just calling to see if you could pick me up. - yeah I'm at starcourt. - Max had a...a family emergency and had to go. - ok, see you when you get here."

El left the booth and walked back over to her red-headed friend who was still looking at dresses. "He said I have to come home, sorry." El told her.

They hugged and then El left as quickly as she could. She basically flew off of the escalator and ran out of the automatic doors. When she got outside, she saw that Hopper was already there in his car.

"That was fast." She said as she got in the passengers seat. Hopper turned the radio back up and swayed his head back and forth as they drove out of the parking lot and to their cabin in the woods. He dropped her off and then went back to the sheriffs office to finish doing his job while his daughter did homework and ate up all their food.

To be continued...
[6/14/20 | 833 words]