CARRY ON

THE BEEPING SOUND OF an alarm had woken up Riley Blood from his deep, not so peaceful, sleep. With a loud groan, he turned to his side and read the numbers on the clock before slamming down his hand causing the alarm to stop its annoying beep.

The boy grouchily got up from his bed and moved to his bathroom before looking at his reflection in the mirror.

His dark and slightly curly hair was messy, his eyebags were very much obvious and he still looked like he was still half asleep. Ignoring what he looked like, he turned on the shower before stripping himself off his clothes and hopping into it.

Riley didn't take long in the shower and began getting dressed into his Hellfire shirt along with his black baggy jeans and converse. He obviously put on his rings which he loved deeply, especially the one which always sat on his index finger.

His brother's ring. Riley took a few seconds to look at the silver metal which sat on his finger before grabbing his back and heading downstairs.

"Morning, sweetie." Aspen, his mother, spoke too cheerfully for Riley's liking. "Morning." The boy mumbled in response as he sat down at the kitchen table.

"How are you feeling?" She asked with a small smile, placing down some cereal in front of the boy who just glared at it. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You don't seem it." The woman gently spoke, setting herself down beside the teen boy. "Yes, mom, I'm fine."

"Alright, if you say so." Aspen awkwardly said before looking down, leaving the two sitting in silence.

Riley loved his mom. He truly did. But when she was constantly worrying about the boy and she only cared for him due to Rory being dead, he found it hard to show it.

"So, um, I want you home immediately tonight, okay?" Aspen instructed the boy making his head shoot up with his mouth wide open. "What? No."

"Yes, Ri, you need to be studying. I didn't want to say anything but you're grades are, well, horrible." The dark-haired woman told her son making him scoff. "Wow, way to be nice about it."

"I didn't mean it like that." The woman immediately said, despite the fact that she kind of did mean it like that. Riley stood up from his chair making it squeak against the ground. "Of course, you fucking meant it like that."

The dark-haired boy grabbed his back from the floor and put it on his back before heading towards the door. "I have somewhere to be tonight."

"Where? That stupid game club?" Aspen asked with a scoff as she now stood up from the chair and began following after her son.

"Yes, mom, that stupid game club with people who actually give a shit." Riley slightly raised his voice unintentionally making Aspen grab her son's shoulder.

"No. You're not going, you need to study." Shaking his shoulder out of his mother's grasp, he grabbed his skateboard which sat beside the door and glared at his mother.

"You only care about my grades because Rory is dead. And you know it. He's always been the favourite." Riley spat before opening the door and slamming it shut. The boy stood outside the door and let out a sigh before placing down his skateboard and skating to school.

—

It only took Riley a few minutes to get to school due to him not living that far away. He watched as everyone moved their way into the gym making him do the same.

Once he made it in, he spotted his three friends in the crowd. Max, Dustin and Mike. Dustin waved the boy over, making Riley wave back and head towards them.

"Hey, Ri!" Dustin greeted the boy who had now joined them on the bleachers. "Yo." Ri responded with a slight nod of his head as the crowd began cheering at the cheerleaders who were currently performing.

"Hey, Max." Riley nodded his head towards the girl who gave him a slight smile. Since Rory had died and Billy had died, the two friends had grown even closer and although they didn't speak that much to each other, they both knew how much they needed one another.

With one last final stunt, the cheerleaders had finished making the crowd go wild. "And let's hear it for your Tigers!" The announcer spoke right as the basketball team arrived at the gym.

The crowd cheered them on and Riley watched as his other friend, Lucas, arrived with them on the gym floor.

"Good morning Hawkins high!" The captain of the team, Jason, yelled into a microphone making the crowd go even wilder.

"First off...Hey." Riley knew a speech was coming and if there was one thing which he absolutely despised, it was speeches. Especially speeches which came from people like him.

"I fucking hate this already." Riley muttered not loud enough for anyone to hear.

"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." Jason told them making the crowd clap and cheer loudly.

"And of course, of course, I have to give a special shout-out to the best and the prettiest fans of all time, the Tiger Cheer Squad." All attention turned to the cheerleaders who sat in front of the crowd.

"Chrissy..." Jason trailed off, "Chrissy, I love you, babe." The whole crowd went wild apart from Riley who faked a gag. "Ugh, gag." The small action made Max turn to look at the boy and slightly laugh.

"You know...I think I can speak for all of us when I say it's been a tough year for Hawkins." Jason nodded which made Riley nod his head in agreement.

"So much loss. And sometimes I wonder, 'How much loss can one community take?' On 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 of Rory.'" The mention of Riley's brother made the boy's heart stop. He hated how he used Rory's name in a situation like this. He couldn't stand it.

"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 heads hung low in defeat? No! Let's win this game. Let's win this game for them.' And that's exactly what we did!" Jason exclaimed making the crowd go wild, once again, minus the group of friends who stood in the crowd.

"We embarrassed those candy-asses in their own house,  and now tonight, tonight, we're going to bring home that championship trophy!" The crowd all yelled and cheered for the team but what Jason had said, had left the three Hellfire members utterly confused.

"Tonight?" Mike yelled over the crowd to his friends who just stared at each other. "How is that possible?" Dustin yelled.

"They call it a tournament." Max yelled over to her friends who turned to look at her. "You win one game, you go on until there's only one team left."

"No. What about the campaign? Eddie's gonna be absolutely fucking pissed." Riley told his friends who just scratched the back of their heads.

—

alex speaks

woo chapter 1 is done!! this chapter is literally awful but i promise these chapters will get better🙏

please vote and comment!!
word count: 1296