G O O D G I R L S [BILLY]

C H A P T E R F I V E

Go Tigers!
Hawkins, Indiana
1984

The reflective, amber rays of the morning sun beat down in an oppressive heat onto the Hawkins High Tigers cheer squad as they stretched and practiced before school. The air was considerably warm for October, a collective fever infecting the girls, and Penelope Christensen swiped her arm across her forehead, glistening sweat smearing against her skin. She turned on her heels to continue a routine, the glaring sun blinding her as she twirled. Blinking the light out of her eyes, her head snapped to look beside her, where her smile was met by Dana D'Amico's grinning face.

Echoes of the mindless, robotic chanting spun across campus, a melody for the football team to practice along to on the opposite side of the field. A soreness coated Penelope's throat thickly as she cried out the Tigers' fight song in unison with the other girls, her lungs ready to give out. But she pushed forward, almost overly happy to fall into routine with such a band of giddy teenage girls. Across the team that morning there was an elated sense of delirium. A suspenseful tension lingered in the air. It was a watchful anticipation; it was the calm before the storm. It was the morning of the most epic party of the year, and a certain chatter tangled its way onto the field, an anxious excitability motivating the teenage girls to hop and run and toss each other up. It was Halloween morning, and the knowledge that later on that day that each and every one of the students bouncing across the turf would be shit-faced and sodden fueled them to perform with an accelerated animation.

"Let's go! T-I-G-E-R-S! Let's go and beat the other team!" Dana shouted proudly, voice loud and booming over the imitating chorus that stood behind her. She led the team into the end of their final routine, a dwindling energy overcoming the song, and punched her closing pose, a position that every girl on the team simultaneously pulled. A soft flutter of cheers echoed over the field, and the girls began to spread out.

Penelope slumped onto the grass, neck bent forward as she massaged her muscles. The feeling of her fingers untying the intrusive knots that riddled her aching body brought a satisfied hum to her lips, and she let the morning sun beat against her face, a relaxing cool down that only basking beneath the warmth of Indiana could give. Sweat was trickling down her back and she wanted nothing more than to pour cold water on her feverish skin, but something about the whistling of the wind and the rustling of the leaves, the sun shining persistently through the branches, gave her an energy she felt that nothing could beat.

"Looks like it's time for Molly-Mols to hit the showers," Molly Murphy exclaimed, plopping down beside Penelope and lying flat on her back. Her arms stretched above her head, a loud, rattling sigh blowing past her lips as she turned her head to look at Penelope. She used her hand as a visor to block the sun and looked at her friend through squinted eyes. "Looks like it's time for Nellie-Nels to hit the showers too," she blew out in a laugh, poking at the blonde teasingly.