"Whatever you say, Beauty Queen."
She was bubblegum pop music, pink sparkles, and a perfect, warm sunny day. He was heavy metal, black leather jackets, and a rumbling thunderstorm. But somehow they made sense, balanced each other out.
Stranger Thing...
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The championship game had just ended and the Tiger's had risen victorious all thanks to Lucas Sinclair. Val was incredibly proud of her favorite bench warmer and his game winning shot. When Lucas had first made varsity as a freshman he had been excited, but super freaked out about being the youngest on the team.
"Can you just talk to them?" he had asked her. "I just don't want to feel like the freshman loser."
Val had agreed to have a few choice words with the team, reminding all of them that they hadn't made it on to varsity as freshman so they should leave Lucas alone.
The two blonde cheerleaders walked to the parking lot, waiting for Eddie.
Surrounded by a group of whooping basketball players, Jason detached himself from his friends and jogged over to the girls. "Hey, we're heading to Bennie's. Do you guys wanna come? I can give you a ride home if you need it."
Val excused her self from the conversation, giving the couple some space while she went to go find Patrick and Lucas. She smiled when she spotted the two boys whooping and hollering.
"Oh my god! Did you see that, Val!" Lucas exclaimed. "I was like, whoosh, and then swoosh, and then swish! Nothing but net!"
She laughed at his reenactment of his moment of glory. "Trust me, I saw it. You were amazing out there, Lucas!" She pulled the freshman into a tight hug, remembering when he had been a short, scrawny middle schooler; now he was taller than her.
"Boys are going to Bennie's tonight, Lucas, you should be there," Patrick said.
"Yeah, yeah, sounds cool," Lucas nodded, trying not to look too excited about being excepted into the popular crowd.
"Val, you should come too," Patrick smiled at her. "I don't think Jason would mind if you and Chrissy celebrated with us."
She cringed knowing how disgusting and out of hand things got at Bennie's. "Pass. Besides, Chrissy and I have plans with the rest of the cheer team."
"Lucas! There's our man!" a group of the basketball boys came and shepherded Lucas away leaving just Patrick and Valerie.
"Hey," she gently grabbed Patrick's shoulder before he could follow his friends. "Just make sure he's okay tonight, alright? I don't think he's ever drank before so just watch out for him, please?"
"Anything for you, Val," he winked teasingly. "Now how about a kiss for the conference champ, hum?"
She jokingly shoved him away. "Yeah, right, McKinney. If I wanted to kiss the champ, I'd kiss Lucas."
"Guy can dream, right?" Patrick's grin was still teasing.
"Whatever, ass hole," she called over her shoulder as she started to walk away.
"Tease!"
"Moron!"
Patrick and Valerie had always had that flirty banter. They had tried dating a few years back, but they were better off as just friends.
