Chapter Forty-Five: A Place In This World

The next morning, Max was riding the school bus so Annie could get to school super early. Steve groaned and grumbled the entire time, but didn't really mean it.

A couple minutes into the ride, he was completely over it. "You excited for this? It's pretty cool, you know," Steve said.

He hadn't had much of a chance to talk to her yet about her being a cheerleader, since every time tired their mom would barge in about her own years as cheer captain.

Annie nodded. "Yeah! I mean, it's been kind of nerve-wracking because I'm a freshman so I'm an easy target, but I'm also a Harrington so there's always an occasional girl on the squad asking if you're single which weirds me out, and Chrissy is super nice so that helps out as well, and-"

Steve's laughing cut her off. When he noticed the pause, he cleared his throat and shook his head. "Sorry, sorry, it's just... you seem to enjoy it and also seem to be kind of nervous."

Annie just rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. I am really enjoying it. I thought, and this is going to be dumb... but I thought I might try to find a place to fit in high school. Not just for better things to put on my college application, but..."

The way she trailed off had Steve worried. Her whole face seemed to drop and an aura of sadness surrounded her. Rather than trying to pry it out of her, he stayed quiet and let her talk in her own time.

And it came a few seconds later. "I've felt off without having Holly and Meghan." This was the first time she'd brought them up since the funeral, so Steve was stunned into a complete silence. "It was nice having multiple girls to talk to in middle school. And I know I'll always have the Party and my amazing girlfriend."

"Well, don't forget me, Nancy, and Robin. We're all here for you, too," he said, getting some words back.

A nod. "Yeah, that's true, but not for forever. I mean, the other two will graduate in June and I just want some girls around my age and grade to hang out with in high school. I just miss the community of having a close group of girl friends."

Steve let the words sit for a second before asking, "Have you talked to Max about this?" It came out quiet, as to not start anything. But he was right- Annie needed to talk to Max about all of this, too.

Just as he suspected, Annie shook her head. "No, I just don't want to accidentally offend her. I don't want her to think she's not enough, because she's more than enough! But there's something about having other girls to talk to." A beat. "I miss El. I wish she didn't leave."

Another thing that hadn't really been brought up a lot since the move happened.

"I know you do," Steve said, moving his hand to Annie's shoulder to try and comfort her. It was hard while driving a car. "And I promise I'm going to work really hard to convince mom and dad to let us and Max go to California for a couple weeks in the summer."

Annie smiled. "Yeah, Max and I talked about that a little yesterday morning... maybe, if it were to ever happen, we could fly in and out of Lenora, and then drive around California a bit? See where Max used to live."

Steve smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, that would be awesome. It'll take some groveling, but I think we can get them to agree, don't you think?"

Annie nodded, and Steve realized he was successful in getting her back in the groove for the pep rally just in time as the school came into view. He parked by the entrance closest to the gym and looked at his baby sister.

"You got this."

"I got this."

"You're gonna kick ass- er, cheer good, I guess?"

Annie snorted. "I'll kick some ass, Steve. That sounds better." She grabbed her things and hurried out of the car, but not without turning around to give Steve one last wave before going into the school.

Inside, it was only Chrissy and a few other girls. Unsurprisingly, Chrissy was the one to notice Annie first. "Hey! You're early!" She stopped her stretch and walked over to Annie. "I was hoping to ask you something?"

Nodding almost immediately, Annie allowed Chrissy to lead her to a corner of the gym. Away from the other cheerleaders. "What question requires this much secrecy?" Annie half-joked. The smile on Chrissy's face was more of a smirk now, so she was getting a bit more worried.

"Are you and Max dating?" Wow, not going in slow, she just jumped right in.

Annie felt like her eyes were bugging out of her head and wanted to turn and hope Steve was close enough to take her back home. If not, she'd run the whole way there.

Her lack of a response (other than the bug-eyed look and growing blush on her cheeks) answered Chrissy's question. Her smirk went away and her usual smile came back up. She let out a squeal and started to jump up and down. "I knew it!"

Annie felt her jaw drop. "Huh?" she asked. This was not the response she expected. Chrissy was nice and all, but Annie figured everybody would be grossed out about the whole thing.

"Aww, you guys are so cute together, the way she waits for you at practice and how you can't shut up about her! It's so sweet and reminds me of Jason and I," Chrissy gushed. Now Annie's face was burning red.

Her hand moved to rub the back of her neck and her other arm wrapped around her stomach. "So... you're not grossed out?" Annie asked, her voice small.

Chrissy shook her head. "Of course not! And I promise not to tell another soul! I just really wanted to ask you cause I'd like to think we're friends and I wanted to know," she said.

There was a smile fighting to come up to Annie's face, so she let it. "Aww, I consider us friends, too!" The older girl pulled the younger into a hug.

"Come on, let's get back out there and start warming up. The band should be getting in here soon, too," Chrissy said, and they moved from their full hug to a side one. Back out in the gym, more girls had showed up and were stretching.

For another hour, they all prepared for the pep rally. The band in fact did come in and get in formation. Annie sent a wave over to Robin, who returned it happily. The groups did a full run through together once before the cheer coach and band director decided they were fine.

"Okay, we're going to cue you guys and then open the doors! Better be ready!" the coach yelled. The cheer team got into formation, Annie's heart thumping loudly. It was dumb, but she was excited!

Chrissy gave her a knowing smile, remembering how nervous she was four years ago. Times have definitely changed.

The cue was given and the routines started. The band's music filled the gym, until all of the students came in. Then their chatter filled the room up and it awkwardly mixed in with the band's music. Annie remained on beat, though, thanks to the underused ability of counting in her head. There were some girls on the team who could use that trick.

Annie's eyes scanned the crowd whenever they could, hoping to find her redhead. When she did spot her, Annie noticed she was standing next to Mike and Dustin. Dustin caught her eye for a quick second, and sent her a small wave.

While she couldn't really return it, she smiled at him and hoped he knew she saw his wave. The routine went on, and when it was all done, Annie was smiling bright. She shared a small look with Chrissy, who looked just as happy, and then they looked back out at the students.

No one really cared, but that didn't matter to Annie. She was just happy to be there and have something of her own.

The girls all hurried off the gym floor, sitting down in their reserved spot. Chrissy made sure to sit next to Annie, and put an arm around her.

"You did amazing!" she said.

Annie smiled brightly at her. "Thank you," she said, and was cut off by someone calling for the basketball team.

There was a paper banner at the far corner of the basketball court, which was soon torn in half by none other than Jason Carver. While Annie mostly knew him as Chrissy's boyfriend, who was actually really sweet, everyone really cared about the fact that he was the basketball team captain.

The crowd of students went nuts, even though the basketball team was okay. They hadn't won a championship in years, and Annie honestly didn't know if tonight would be different.

Jason went right to the mic to give his inspiring speech. Annie found Lucas in the line-up of players and sent him a wave with her pompom. He returned it, and then moved his eyes up to scan the crowd. She knew he was looking for the other Party members, and Annie knew they were way less enthusiastic than those on the floor.

"And of course, I have to give a shoutout to the best and prettiest fans, the Tiger Cheer Squad!" Jason's words had the students roaring with applause, and Annie felt herself smile wide at the call-out.

"Chrissy... Chrissy, I lover you, babe," Jason added, making the crowd 'awe' at his words. She sent him a kiss, and Annie gave her a subtle nudge on the shoulder.

As Annie looked back over at Jason, she noticed him getting a lot more somber. "You know... 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?'"

The entire gym felt depressed all of a sudden, and Annie was worried where he was taking his speech.

Max up in the bleachers, who could barely see the top of Annie's head, tried her best to keep an eye on her girlfriend once she heard the start of Jason's depressing words. If this was going where the redhead thought, it was going to bring up some sadness.

Jason's speech kept on. "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.'"

He looked down, making eye contact with Annie as he said, "'Think of Holly. Think of Meghan.'" His eyes moved away and he kept going in his speech. "'Think about our heroic police chief, Jim Hopper. Think about each and every one of our friends who perished in that fire. What did they die for? For us to lose to some crap school? No!'"

Annie completely tuned the rest of his words out. Flashes of that night sped through her mind. Of Holly and Meghan, drenched in blood, out for murder.

Freak.

"You okay?" Chrissy whispered, snapping Annie from her thoughts.

The brunette perked up, and turned to nod at Chrissy, before she tuned back into what Jason was saying. She shared a quick look with Lucas, who also looked concerned, but she moved on.

Annie, along with the other cheerleaders, shook her pompoms as the players on the court starting hyping each other up.

She just hoped she didn't have to hear Jason give some crap-ass speech like that at the game, otherwise she might hurl.

A/n: I always hated that speech he made. It makes me violent every time I watch that scene