CHAPTER 14
⌗ 𓂃 𖥔༌ ᰷ ﹅polaroids and runs﹅ ᰷ 𖥔༌ 𓂃⌗
it was friday after school and the weather was starting to warm up as the friend group, vance and I sat in one of the back fields of the playing fields on the edge of town. courtesy of arlo, we passed around a few beer bottles, vance and I sharing one between us. music crackled from carter's small stereo as he adjusted the knobs to try and get a clear sound. he turned it to another station when cheyenne hurriedly stopped him, claiming she loved the song playing. I listened out for the song.
"you are the dancing queen..."
"oh my god!! cheyenne, dance with me!" I exclaimed, everyone laughing as I pulled cheyenne from her sitting position to jump around with me. we giggled as we stumbled a little, but continued to dance crappily nonetheless.
"are you two ready for the track meet on thursday? kate has not stopped going on about it," vance asked imani and I.
"yeah, it should go well. y/n is gonna ace her sprint," imani winked up at me dancing with cheyenne.
"thank you, imani. you'll do amazing on the 1K, babes, I know it," I smiled.
"guys. guys, watch me do a flip." arlo slurred. he'd had four beers and was stumbling a little, one more and he'd be legally intoxicated.
"great, arlo!" I called to him. "hide the rest of the beers from the lightweight."
carter nodded as everyone else chuckled and quickly stuffed the remaining three beers under his jacket.
"I said watch!"
"looking great, dude!" cameron replied. before we could stop him, arlo jumped backwards and landed on his back with a thud.
"oooooh!" we all cringed.
"I'm ok! the sky looks pretty..." arlo stuck up a thumb to us before dropping it back to his side.
vance watched me as I cautiously eyed up arlo. he knew what I was thinking, I get understandably uncomfortable around drunk people after everything with dad. the song ended and cheyenne and I sat back down. I seated myself beside vance and rested my head on his shoulder. he wrapped him arm around me and brought me closer to lean my head on his chest. he rubbed my arm comfortingly.
"you ok?" he whispered, placing a kiss on my head. I nodded silently in response. "arlo won't do anything, babe. I won't let him."
I giggled at his statement. I heard a loud click and from my peripheral saw a big flash of light. I lifted my head to see cheyenne, bruce and imani all huddled around a polaroid camera in cheyenne's hands, waiting for the picture to release. cheyenne eagerly grabbed the picture with a smile and waved it about to develop the image.
"what's it of?" I asked. she looked at me with a broad smile.
"you'll see," she said as imani 'awww'ed loudly at the developed picture.
"cam, why can't we be like that!" she called to him as he lay on the grass with arlo.
"come cuddle with me then!" the two kept bickering as cheyenne turned the picture to me.
the picture was slightly blurred with a green hue to it and was of vance and I. I took in the way I was so comfortably leaning on him and the smile on my face. vance's hand on my arm looked so natural, and so did the matching, daydream smile on his face. I took the picture from her hands with a faint smile. I held the photo so delicately as I brought it over to vance and we looked over it together. he pointed at little features in the photo that made me smile even more.
"keep it," cheyenne said and I smiled gratefully to her in reply. I offered it to vance who insisted I kept it. I grabbed my purse and tucked it into one of the pockets.
***
walking back hand-in-hand from the playing fields, vance and I carried light conversation back to my house. it was around 7:30pm and dark, in average march fashion, and vance made sure we stuck to open streets with bright street lamps and people still awake.
"I don't want you getting hurt!" he had justified his paranoid behaviour with.
"hey, how are things with your stepdad?" I asked, changing our subject of conversation.
"mom broke up with him. he moved out. 'm not seeing him ever again." he said shortly.
"oh! you didn't tell me," I said.
"yeah, it was around when we first fell out. mom found out about the abuse." he replied.
"she didn't know?"
"she just thought I was getting into loads of fights." he sighed, scuffing his shoe along the ground.
"well, neither of us have crappy dads anymore," I laughed.
"my mom's been seeing my dad again." he blurted out.
"is that good?"
"...yeah. I think so. they were good together. but they divorced because dad came back from war all fucked in the head and mom couldn't take it. but he's better now. and they've both sat us all down and explained what's happening. it'll be good," vance nodded to himself and looked down to me with a smile.
I smiled back up at him. he stopped us where we were passing under the street lamp and took my face in his hands. he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. my hands moved from my sides to his shirt as I gently took it between my fingertips and kissed him back. he took a few shuffles closer to me and I gripped his shirt a little more as we kissed beneath the bright glow of the yellow street lamp. a light flicked on from a house behind us and an angry yell came from it.
"you kids better fucking get home or I'm calling the cops for public indecency!"
"up your's, fuckwad!" vance yelled and I laughed.
"what did you say?!" we heard a shotgun become loaded and vance yelled for us to run.
hand-in-hand once again, we raced down the streets back to my house as we laughed and hollered the whole way. we finally reached my porch and slowed down.
"god, you're incredible." with a breathless grin, vance held my waist and pulled me closer once again for a kiss. my hands went to his hair and I kissed him back with a smile. we heard the door open next to us and jumped away from each other as we felt the presence of my dad.
"well, have good night, y/n." vance said with an awkward wave.
"you too, vance." despite the awkward encounter of my father walking in on us kissing, I struggled to contain my smile.
"goodnight, mr blake."
"goodnight, vance," while vance's voice was strained with embarrassment, dad's voice was airily amused at the situation. "try not to go too far."
"I'm sorry??" vance cleared his throat awkwardly.
"don't go too far! as in don't stray from the house, you're always welcome," dad smiled an innocent smile, but I knew what he was playing at.
"right. of course. goodnight," dad and I bid vance goodnight as he hopped the steps and hurriedly walked down the path and back in the direction of his house.
"did you have to say that?" I sighed with a smile.
"say what?" dad walked back in the house, still playing dumb.
"you know exactly what!"
as soon as I got to my room, I tipped my purse upside down on my bed and emptied it's contents. from within the pile, I carefully picked out the polaroid of vance and I. I grabbed some sticky tack and knelt on my bed, close to the headboard. I carefully arranged the photo next to the curling lined piece of paper littered with the drawings and doodles that vance and I did in that very first chemistry lesson, my blue-haired angel surrounded by a halo of red biro hearts.
***
my feet slapped on the floor heavily as I ran. they echoed in my ears along with the rumbling thunder of my laboured breaths. the cheers of the audience were muffled as I sprinted for the finish line.
kate was a few runners behind me, but I couldn't worry about that. before I was within a few paces of the finish line, my legs slowed down. it was as if the time around me had slowed or the track under my feet had become too sticky, I couldn't move my legs. it was like moving through quicksand. I watched all the other runners pass me with taunting smirks and maniacal laughter. my legs eventually gave out and I fell to the floor on my front. as each one passed the finish line... it was as if they had forgotten about me.
nobody anywhere made any move to help. dad, finney and gwen left the stands; vance hugged his sister joyfully, congratulating her for her win; coach russo took the large, golden, gleaming trophy from our principle; the other players sulked off; and all of the on-hands rushed around preparing medals, certificates and snacks for the runners.
everybody had forgotten me. no matter how many times I called out, I was ignored.
I awoke from my dream with a start. I pushed myself up in bed and checked my surroundings. it was still my dark room, on saturday morning at 5:30am.
I sighed. I was so nervous about this track meet that it was haunting my nightmares now. I rolled out of bed and changed my pyjamas to some running gear and trainers. I left a note for dad sticky tacked to the microwave about where I was and to let me in when I was back. tying my hair up, I headed out of the door.
the sun was starting to rise, casting a pleasant orange and pink glow on the ground below my feet. around me, the world was still quiet, save for the occasional car going past me towards their work. subconsciously, with the change in my pocket, I ran the long way towards the grab'n'go.
it was about six in the morning by the time I reached the store and the shutters had just opened. not even vance was there yet for his sacred pinball machine and the cashier gave me a sleepy smile.
I recognised her instantly. her features stood out compared to her siblings, the jet black hair complete with a thick fringe, the forest green eyes, the petite ski-slope nose. all which she had inherited from her father, unlike her siblings. maddyson hopper was the complete opposite, looks-wise, to her siblings. she was ten months younger than vance but in kate's year, but had the temper of the brother. the two eldest siblings shared a temper — her's less intense than vance's — and a love for arcade games and coke-a-cola. she often said hi to me in the halls with a smile, knowing of me through seeing me with vance and katy. I'd only spoken to her a handful of times and she was lovely.
"hey," she smiled as she began to ring me up.
"hey," I replied as I fished for the change in my pocket.
"it's way too early for vance to be here if you're looking for him," she teasingly smirked.
"ha, ha. I'm on a run, practicing for the meet on wednesday," I fake laughed.
"katy will not stop talking about it!"
"neither will vance!" we both laughed. "will you be there?"
"we're all gonna be there. mom and dad keep saying it's the 'big chance to meet you'," I laughed at her statement.
"they both sound lovely," I smiled.
"they're ok,"
"well, i've gotta go. i'll see you around," I waved bye to her.
"see you, y/n!"
***
-KRYSTEN RITTER AS MADDYSON HOPPER
-WILLOW SHEILDS AS KATY HOPPER
JUST A LITTLE SETUP FOR WHAT'S TO COME 🤭🤭
this is shit, I apologise.