𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 || 𝐦𝐚𝐱 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝

18. The Pep Rally

"Sydney! You're going to be late for school again." Her father shouted up the stairs.

"I know! i'm coming now" Sydney said running down the stairs.

"Come on Steves waiting outside" Her father hurried.

"Yes i know! Bye i'll see you after school" She hugged him than ran out the door.

"Jesus what took you so long Syd" Steve said as Sydney climbed in the back of his car.

"Sorry, sorry. i was finishing something. hey robin"

"Hey Syd, how are ya doing?" Robin asked the girl

"Im good, could be better but hey"

"Okay i need your advice on something since Robin doesn't seem to listen to me anymore" Steve yelled and starting explaining how he can't find a good match for him. Sydney told him to just go with the flow and stop worrying so much. Steve and Syd then had to convince Robin that Vickie was into her.

"Listen i don't know this vickie girl other than seeing her in the halls but basing off the way she dresses and acts, she can't be completely straight" Sydney said

"Thank you" steve threw his hands up.

"Hey sort out your own love life first Harrington, then you can advise others." Sydney looked at the boy.

"and yours is so amazing?" Steve raised an eye brow at her.

"Touché Harrington. Touché..." Sydney trailed off. She zoned out and starting thinking of max again.

⋙✿⋘

Sydney hopped out of the car and handed robin her musical instrument. Mrs. Kelley was leading everyone into the gym for the pep rally. through the whole crowd Sydneys eyes still found max. Sydney didn't look anyway from the red head who was getting of the bus.

"HEY! Watch it!" Someone said as Sydney walked right into them. She recognized the boy as Jason, captain of the basket ball team.

"Sorry" she said and kept on walking.

She found Dustin and Mike in amongst the caos.

"Hey syd, how are you?" Dustin smiled

"I'm fine why does everyone keep asking me that?" She laughed taking a drink.

Dustin just shrugged his shoulder. "Hey I have a present for will, could you give it to him Mike?" Sydney handed Mike a little box

"Sure" Mike said looking a bit confused but taking the present.

Mike and Dustin were arguing once again about who's girlfriend is better when max walked up.

"Hey" she said at the group

"Hey" Dustin said. Mike nodded.

Sydney said nothing. Mike and Dustin looked at each other and sighed. Sydney focused on the music and the team. When Lucas came into the hall, Sydney and the others smiled and clapped a little loader.

"Good morning Hawkins high!" Jason shouted into the mic. Everyone cheered. "First off I'd like to thank each and everyone of you. Without your support we wouldn't be here. Give yourself a big hand!"

Sydney rolled her eyes. To be honest she hated these kind off things. They were too loud and crowded and her anxiety went crazy. 

"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. Chrissy... Chrissy I love you babe" Jason patted his chest.

Sydney and Dustin rolled their eyes at each other. "Why are we here again?" She rolled her eyes

"Lucas wants us to be here remember. Plus it's kind of mandatory. Goes with the whole high school thing" Dustin waved his hands in the air

"I think I can speak for all of us when I say it's been a tough year for Hawkins. So much loss. And sometimes I wonder, how much loss can one community take? In 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." It seemed like everyone looked at max. Even Sydney looked at the corner of her eye, max was looking down at her shoes trying to ignore the stairs. "Think about her heroic police chief Jim hopper." Sydney felt a pang of sadness. "Think about everyone of our friends who perished in that fire. What did they die for? For us to lose to some...some crap school?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Sydney scoffed. "I have to get out of here" she told Dustin and walked out of the hall as quietly as possible.

She walked to the bathroom and wet some tissue and  cleaned her face. She started thinking of everything Jason had said, everything that had happened last year, everything that happened with max. She started breathing heavily.

"Just breath" she said to herself.

That didn't help. It made it worse. She slid down the wall till she was sitting in the floor. It was getting harder and harder to breath till the point she was gasping for air.

The door opened.

"Oh my god rose" Sydney automatically knew it was max. "What's wrong? Can you breath?"

Somehow having max beside her still made her calm down but angry at the same time. She got her breathing back to half normal. She looked up at the red head who was kneeling down beside her.

"What happened?" Max asked.

"It doesn't matter!" Sydney stood up

"Syd-"

"Im fine okay" Sydney starting walking towards the door.

"Let me explain please!" Max pleaded

Sydney turned around. "No I think you did enough explaining in that letter you gave me which told me that we were over!"

A group of girls walked into the bathroom and Sydney used it as a chance to get away. She slipped out the door and made her way over to her locker

⋙✿⋘

The rest of the school day was normal. She eat lunch with the kids from her art class and then talked to Dustin and Mike after Eddie was done with his speech of the day. The teachers were all in a good mood so syd had barely any homework other than art, English, and maths which she got done as soon as she was home.

Her dad rented out the shinning and made popcorn. The two curled up on their sofa and watched the movie. Her dad once again got more scared at it than her. After the movie she went to bed and had an early night.