Dr. Pepper Girl

Chapter 8 The Dance

It is Monday morning and y/n is in homeroom with Ashley and Mary.
The intercom crackles and screeches for a few seconds. It is as unpleasant as nails on a chalkboard.

"Good morning students and faculty! Just a friendly reminder that this Friday at six o'clock we will be having a dance in the gymnasium. Get your dancing shoes on and get ready for a fun night!"

Y/n used to love to go to dances at her previous school. She enjoyed dancing with her friends to their favorite songs. However, she never had anybody to partner up with during the slow songs. Usually she sat on the sidelines or pretended to use the bathroom.

Y/n decides she is going to ask Gareth to the dance when she gets to Trigonometry class. She will get to finally have somebody to slow dance with.

During lunch while she was sitting with her friends she noticed that Gareth didn't turn around to wave to her like he normally does. Him and his Hellfire friends seemed to be in deep conversation.

Once lunch is over she walks to Trigonometry and notices Gareth is already sitting at his desk. The last couple of weeks they would walk to class together.

Once you sit down you stare at him until he notices you.

"Hey y/n, sorry I didn't walk with you. I wanted to write out a couple things for our big campaign coming up while it's fresh in my mind."

"That's cool. Hey Gareth, I heard during homeroom there is a dance coming up. Would you like to go with me?"

Gareth whips his head up to look at you.

"Definitely! When is it?"

"Friday."

He starts to stammer "I can't. I have Hellfire on Fridays. It's also a really big campaign. I'm sorry y/n."

Mr. Davies walks in and immediately starts his lesson.

Gareth offers to drop you off after school which you accept.

The drive home was quiet except the radio playing on low volume. "Take Me Home Tonight" by Eddie Money is playing softly through the speakers.

"Take me home tonight
I don't want to let you go 'til you see the light
Take me home tonight
Listen honey, just like Ronnie sang, "Be my little baby"

"Are you mad at me y/n?"

"No. Not at all."

"I swear I would have gone to the dance with you if it was any other day of the week. But Fridays are always for Hellfire."

You nod while looking straight ahead.

"Actually Gareth, don't worry about it. I'll go with Ashley and Mary. We will make it a girls night and have a sleepover afterwards."

"That sounds great. I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun."

Once you arrive to your house you thank Gareth for the ride. You tell him you have to hurry and get ready for work. You smile at him then exit the car.

You put your work shirt on and start putting your hair in a ponytail. Left alone with your thoughts you start to tear up. You understand that it is nothing personal. He already made plans. But you still get that feeling shameful feeling of rejection.

You call Ashley and ask her if she wants to go to the dance on Friday and have a sleepover. She says that she already made plans with her new boyfriend. They were going to some house party a town over.

Then you call Mary and ask if she would like to go to the dance and have a sleepover. She says that she'll be busy babysitting her nephew so her sister and brother in-law can have a night out. She invites you to come over while she babysits. You are not in the mood to hang out with a toddler that requires constant supervision. You decline but made sure you sounded casual about it.

Without warning tears start to fall from your face and onto your work shirt. You feel like everyone is too busy for you. You still miss your old friends from your last school and think about how this wouldn't have happened with them.

As much as you like Ashley and Mary, you didn't get to grow up with them. Sometimes you felt like a third wheel. The majority of people who attend Hawkins knew each other since elementary school.

You wash your face and reapply your makeup since you caused it to smear from crying before heading off to work.

Tuesday night approaches and Gareth is playing with his band Corroded Coffin at The Hideout.

Before they could play the songs they wanted to perform, they play a few songs the crowd wants first as per the owners request.

They begin by playing American Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

"O yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl"

The crowd of five drunks cheer as usual, one of them being Mark.

Next song they play is "Hurts So Good" by John Mellencamp

"Hurts so good
Come on baby, make it hurt so good
Sometimes love don't feel like it should
You make it hurt so good"

Gareth and the other guys take a break.

Mark comes up to him and hands him a beer.

"Thank you for tutoring y/n. I know she works hard in school but I'm afraid if I take it easy on her she'll start to slack. She's a good girl. It's a shame how her father wants nothing to do with her. He doesn't call her, send her a birthday card in the mail, nothing. I try to be the dad she never had. You know Gareth, you seem like a good guy. I can tell. In fact, all of you guys in this band are good. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise."

For somebody who is drunk his words were surprisingly profound.

Gareth nodded politely. He liked how Mark was transparent. Y/n never mentioned anything about her father. Now he knows why. It also felt good being told that he was a good guy. Mark praised him more than his own father did. His father either ignored him or told him to grow up and to stop playing fantasy games.

"Hey everyone. We are Corroded Coffin. Who is ready for some heavy metal?"

The patrons sighed and kept drinking.

Corroded Coffin starts to play "Holy Diver" by Dio

"Holy Diver
You've been down too long in the midnight sea
Oh, what's becoming of me?
Ride the tiger
You can see his stripes, but you know he's clean
Oh, don't you see what I mean?
Gotta get away
Holy Diver, yeah"