Ava and Steve drove back to school after changing at home. Steve wearing a light grey polo shirt with jeans, and Ava in her cheerleader uniform. Steve brought one of the girls he was talking to, making Ava awkwardly sit in the backseat.

The cheerleaders were cheering and moving their pompoms around. "Let's go Tigers!" The cheerleaders cheered, as well as Ava. They continued repeating that for what seemed like forever.

"Everyone now please rise for our national anthem." The principal said in the microphone, making everyone in the stands stand up. "Singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest. All the way from Nashville, our very own Tammy Thompson!" The principal says, earning cheers from the audience.

"O say, can you see~." Tammy sings, the microphone ringing slightly, "By the dawn's early light." She continues, making Ava hold back a chuckle. Ava looks over and sees Robin and Vickie actually talking for once, making her eyes widen towards Robin, who was too distracted to even look her way.

"Ramparts we watched~." Tammy continued, the microphone ringing more than necessary. "And the rocket's red glare~." She harmonizes, Ava looking up at Steve in the stands, they both make eye contact and Steve mouths, "Someone needs to get her out of here before my ears burst.", making Ava slightly chuckle.

"The bombs bursting in air~. Gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there~." She continued, making Ava wish she was dead right then and there.

Ava glanced over at Lucas, and saw he was looking for Mike and Dustin to be in the stands. The two make eye contact and Ava frowns and gives him an apologetic look.

Finally the game starts, Lucas on the bench as usual while the game was playing. Jason makes a shot, earning cheers from the crowd, as well as the cheerleaders.

Hawkins High was losing by 2 points, everyone shouting defense in the crowd. They make more shots, winning by 1, until Hawkins was winning again.

It kept on going from losing to winning, until Jason called a timeout for something. They were all talking to their coaches, figuring out team plans and strategies, the cheerleaders distracting the audience by cheering and dancing.

Lucas taken off of the bench, making both Ava and Lucas have huge grins on their faces. It was almost time for the game to end. Jason shot the ball, it all felt like it was in slow motion. He ended up missing the shot, but Lucas luckily got the ball before the opposite team.

He ran back further, turning his feet perfectly, and attempted the shot. Lucas made the shot, right before the timer ended, causing the audience, his teammates, and the cheerleaders to cheer and shout in amusement.

Lucas was picked up by his teammates, the audience still shouting. The cheerleaders made their way towards them, jumping and raising their pompoms up and down. Once they let go of Lucas, Ava immediately ran to him and hugged him.

"Holy shit Lucas!" Ava shouts with a wide smile, Lucas having the same. "I'm not gonna be benched anymore after that!" Lucas says happily, the smile not leaving his face once. "Definitely not, you're amazing!" Ava responds.

"Well, at least one person thinks that." Lucas says, the smile leaving his face after he said it. "Just one?" Ava scoffs, "The whole school thinks you're amazing now!" Ava says, trying to cheer him up, but then he saw Mike, Dustin, and all the other DND club members walk out of the building.

Ava turns to see Lucas's face, it was full of sadness. "Come on, Lucas. I'll go hang out with Jason and stuff with you." Ava says sadly, rubbing Lucas's back. "Yeah, thanks Ava." Lucas responds with a weak smile. "You did great today, im sure you know that." Ava says with a smile, leaving her hand on his back.

"Now let's go hang out with your friends and eat banana fudge sundaes." Ava says, licking her lips by even saying the word, making Lucas chuckle and nod.

~~~

Ava was in her bed, sleeping soundly after the night she had. She was tired from cheering, and even got drunk while hanging out with Lucas and his jock friends.

But she was woken up by Dustin shouting in her radio. "Ava! Get to my house ASAP." He says before cutting off the mic. "Fuck you Dustin, i'm staying in bed." Ava mumbles, turning off her radio. "It's an emergency!" Dustin shouts.

Ava groans and gets out of bed, looking at herself in the mirror. "Fuck." Ava says, noticing that she forgot to take off her mascara last night before bed. She takes a quick shower, and puts on clothes, as well as more mascara.

She rides her skateboard to Dustin's house, and when she arrives she knocks on the door, it being opened by Dustin's mother. "Ava! Welcome dear." She says, gesturing for Ava to come inside.

"Hello, Ms. Henderson." Ava says with a slight smile, "Dustin's in his room with one of his friends. Her name is Max i believe." She says, sitting back down on the couch. Ava freezes and turns to Dustin's mom, "Max. Did you say Max?" Ava asks quietly.

"Yes, she has red hair, wearing headphones around her neck." Ms. Henderson describes her, making Ava nod and get angry, "Thank you." She says before storming into Dustin's room.

"Dustin." Ava mumbles, glaring at the boy before looking over to Max. "What the hell is she doing here?!" Both Max and Ava say in unison. "Ava, listen, i just need your help understanding this shit." Dustin says.

"Why couldn't you call Mike? This is my ex and you called me over here?" Ava scoffs, getting ready to leave. "Wait." Max speaks up weakly, looking at the floor. "It is.. Somewhat important, and we could ask you a few questions." Max says, still looking at the floor.

Ava rolls her eyes and shuts Dustin's door behind her, walking into his room. "What is it?" Ava says, leaning against Dustin's closet door. "Repeat everything you told me, Max." Dustin says, making Max nod.

"So, i saw Chrissy Cunningham go into Eddie's trailer last night." Max says, glancing up at Ava. "So?" Ava says, knowing why Chrissy was there. "Well, would you know why Chrissy went there?" Max asks, not getting to the point yet. "No." Ava lies, but remembers Max can tell when she's lying. "I don't." Ava adds, hoping it helped.

"Ava, this is serious." Max sighs, sitting down on Dustin's bed. "Why is it so serious?" Ava asks, glancing over at Max. "Because.. Didn't you see the news?" Max asks, "No, i don't watch the news." Ava responds.

"Chrissy.. Died in Eddie's trailer last night." Max says, making Ava's eyes widen. "I'm sorry?" Ava says, coughing in shock. "Eddie is not a murderer." Ava scoffs, "And how would you know? It's not like you talk to him." Max says, making Ava gulp slightly.

"Wait, do you talk to Eddie?" Dustin asks, making Max stare at Ava, obviously having many questions. "Well.. Not necessarily talk." Ava says, smiling nervously, "More like buy." Ava mumbles.

"Holy shit, you buy drugs off of Eddie?!" Dustin asks, making Max look at Ava with wide eyes. "What?!" Max says, staring at Ava, who was too nervous to look at anyone.

"Sometimes.." Ava mumbles, sitting on Dustin's desk. "Why do you buy that shit?!" Max asks, raising her voice and stepping closer to Ava. "I-I don't know, it just helps with stuff." Ava responds in a low voice.

"Well yeah everyone deals with shit but doing drugs isn't right!" Max says, "People deal with things differently." Ava mumbles, making Max scoff. "Do you know how many people care about you, Ava?" Max says, getting closer to the other girl.

Ava doesn't respond. "Do you know how much i care about you?" Max says quietly, making Ava frown. "It's not anything that can kill me, calm down." Ava mumbles, "It's just weed." She finishes. "We'll discuss this later." Max glares at the girl before continuing.

"But yeah, Eddie isn't a murderer." Dustin speaks up after awkwardly watching the two. "Well, we can't rule it out." Max says, "Yes, we can." Dustin responds, scoffing.

"Dustin!" Max says, "You don't know him like i do, Max." He says. "When we got to high school, Lucas and Ava made all their sporty and hot cheerleader friends, Mike and me?" Dustin scoffs. "I mean, no one was nice to us." He says, making Ava frown.

"No one except Eddie." He finishes. "Okay, well, they said the same shit about Ted Bundy. Yeah, he's a super nice guy, but then he's murdering women on the weekend." Max scoffs, "So you're saying Eddie is like Ted Bundy?" Dustin says annoyingly.

"No, im not saying- im saying that we can't presume anything, okay?" Max says, "But it doesn't look good for Eddie." She says, making Dustin toss his hands up in the air.

"You know, she's kinda right." Ava speaks up, making Dustin turn to her. "You just said Eddie isn't a murderer!" Dustin scoffs, "Well, it doesn't seem like he is, but that doesn't mean he isn't one." Ava says quietly.

"See? I'm not accusing him, i'm only saying that there's a slight possibility it was him." Max says, making Dustin scoff. "Did you see the body?" Ava asks, making the redhead turn to her and nod slightly. "It was.. Disfigured, like every bone in her body was broken." Max describes it, making Ava wince.

Ava frowned at thinking about Chrissy and how she's gone now, i mean, they were friends. But then Ava remembers Chrissy talking about her nightmares and the gross looking creature in them. Eddie didn't do this to Chrissy, he wouldn't. There's no way a nightmare could kill you.. Right?

Ava starts thinking, ignoring Max and Dustin talking. 'Nightmares cant kill..' Ava thinks, 'Unless it was more than a nightmare.' She says, breathing heavily and snapping back into reality.

"Why haven't you told the cops this?" Dustin sighs, "I-I don't know." Max stammers, crossing her arms. "You don't know?" Dustin scoffs. "After i saw Eddie and Chrissy go into the trailer.. Something else happened." Max says.

"While i was in my trailer, i was just watching TV.. but then my lights started flickering, and.. I heard Eddie scream after, and then he ran out of his trailer and drove off." Max explains weakly, "Nothing that weird or anything. I mean, Eddie always drives like a maniac." The redhead continues, "And the power goes off at my place all the time. It's a piece of shit, but.." Max says, Ava already knowing where she's going with this.

"This morning, i started to think back.. I don't know.." Max says weakly, "The look on his face." She says, "He was scared." She says. "Really scared." She finishes, "And i don't know, maybe he was scared because.. You know, he killed someone, or.." Max goes on weakly.

"Maybe um.." She says, "Maybe b-because.." She stutters. "I don't- i don't know, maybe.." She continues to stutter, "Something else killed her." Ava blurts out, making Max look at her and nod hesitantly. "But that's impossible.. Right?" Max asks.

"I don't know." Dustin responds, "It should be. Only one person knows what actually happened." Dustin says, making Max turn towards him. "Eddie." Ava and Max say in unison.

"Great, another adventure." Ava mumbles.

But this time, it isn't going to end how it always did. This time, it ends badly.

{1934 word count}

Aah this chapter sucked so bad but i'll make up for it next chapter. Also, don't mind the foreshadowing in the end 😉. Thank you for readinggg, i love you guys so much!!<3 Oh yeah i also wanted to thank you guys for 10k reads!! thank you guys!!<3