Chapter Seventy-Two: Definitely Not Nothing

I tried my best to focus on the game, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the Chrissy Cunningham,or shift my thoughts from my dream and the possible implications of it.

It wasn't long before Steve started to notice that I was distracted.

"Ok, what's the deal?" He asked, his eyes shifting between me and the game.

"What deal?" I asked, pushing my hair out of my face as I finally tore my eyes away from the cheerleaders to glance at the players on the court. 

"What deal? Gee, I don't know Riley, maybe the deal where you asked me about Chrissy Cunningham and then you haven't stopped staring at her since? Or maybe its the fact that these bleachers are incredibly close together and I can actually physically feel how tense you are?" I shook my head.

"I don't really want to get into it right now." I said, pretending to be focused on the game. Steve put a hand on my shoulder, turning me so that I had to look at him. 

"Is this because of what we talked about earlier? About you dumping all your problems on me?" He asked. "I thought I made it clear that-"

"No, no, its not about that," I said, looking over at Chrissy again, "I just...it very well could be nothing, and I don't really want to talk about it just in case it is." 

"You really think its nothing?" He asked. "And before you answer that, need I remind you that you checked your bag earlier today, which you only do when you get Upside-Down related feelings."

"Yeah, but I get those all the time. I'm traumatized, certain things trigger me, so I've been wrong about those feelings before." He shot me a skeptical look. I sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm getting all wrapped up in this, and this is supposed to be date night. I'll try to calm down, so let's just forget about it and have a good time, ok?"

"Ok..." He said, putting a hand on my back and rubbing circles between my shoulder blades, "But I don't like the fact that you're avoiding this. If you're worried about something, I want to know about it." I nodded.

"I will keep that in mind." I pulled his hand off of my back, grabbing it and intertwining our fingers. I took a deep breath, trying to actually focus on the game instead of Chrissy. 

~~~

Once I put my mind to it, I surprised myself by actually being able to relax. I was actually invested in the game. It was close, with us being behind by six points and one of our starters getting injured right at the start of the fourth quarter.

That is, until we put Lucas in, and the scores began to steadily rise on either side of the court. We had ten seconds left in the game and we needed a three-pointer to win. 

Jason, the captain of the team took the shot, but the ball bounced out of the basket, and with time running out, it was beginning to look like we were going to lose. That is...until Lucas got the rebound.

"Come on, Lucas, shoot it!" I screamed, grabbing a handful of Steve's shirt as I bounced up and down excitedly. He lined up his shot, tossing the ball up just as the final buzzer rang out across the gym. The ball bounced off of the rim and into the backboard, positioning it perfectly to fall through the net and get Hawkins the 3-points that they needed to take the championship for the first time in twenty-two years.

Steve and I cheered, hugging each other excitedly as the players and cheerleaders alike surrounded Lucas, lifting him up into the air and chanting his name.

~~~

"Oh, that was beautiful! Beautiful game!" Steve exclaimed, his arm wrapped around my shoulders as we headed out to my truck. I laughed, nodding in agreement when I saw a flash of green in the corner of my eye. I glanced over at it to see, who else, but Chrissy Cunningham walking across the parking lot, a Hawkins cardigan now covering her cheer uniform. It was the same cardigan she had been wearing in my dream. 

The mere sight of her had any sense of calm that I had acheived in the past hour drifting away, being replaced with a feeling of dread and unease. The somewhat daunted look on her face didn't really help.

"Hey, Chrissy!" I called, ducking from under Steve's arm and running over to her.

"Ri-What are you doing?" He called as the girl turned around to look at me. She furrowed he eyebrows, not having a clue who I was.

"Uh...hi?" She greeted.

"You're Chrissy Cunningham, right?" I asked. She nodded. "Hi. I know you don't know me, I'm Riley Hopper."

"The police cheif's daughter?" She asked, hiking her bag up on her shoulder. I nodded. "I'm sorry about what happened to your Dad." I nodded.

"Yeah...thanks," I said, "I um...are you ok?" 

The question looked like it terrified her, like maybe she wasn't, in fact, ok and I had just reminded her of it. 

"Yeah, of course. I mean, my boyfriend just won the championship. Why wouldn't I be ok?" She asked. I shook my head.

"Just...call it a hunch." I said. "Nothing weird going on...no scary altercations in school bathrooms..."

Her eyes widened.

"Ok, I don't know who you are, but stay away from me unless you want a restraining order." She said, turning around and stalking away from me. I winced as Steve stepped up beside me.

"What the heck was that, Riley?!" He asked, glancing after the cheerleader as she stalked hurriedly away from me with scared glances over her shoulder. I shook my head. 

"She knew exactly what I was talking about. I mean, you saw her face, right? She was terrified when I brought up the bathroom." I said, wrapping my arms around myself.

"Wh-what are you talking about? What is going on with her?" I tore my eyes away from Chrissy's retreating form, turning to face Steve. 

"Remember that thing that I said is probably nothing?" I asked. He nodded. "Yeah, its definitely not nothing."

"You think something is going down?" He asked. "Well...what do you think it is?"

"No idea," I said, leading the way towards my truck again, "which naturally, of course, scares me to death.

~~~

As soon as we got home, I filled Steve in on the entirety of my dream. Like me, he didn't really know what to make of it either. 

"You're sure it isn't just a coincidence?" He asked, as we both stood in the bathroom, brushing our teeth before bed. 

"That's exactly what I thought," I said, pausing to spit out toothpaste, "But the idea that I ran into the exact girl, who I have no prior knowledge of, and she's wearing the exact same outfit? Plus, you didn't see her face when I brought up the bathroom, she was terrified."

"Ok, then...what should we be more concerned about?" He asked. I furrrowed my eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" I replied, putting my toothbrush back in my mouth.

"I mean," He stopped to spit out his own toothpaste, "What is more worrying, what happened to Chrissy, or the fact that you had a dream about it?"

"See, I don't know, because for me, dreams about Upside Down stuff aren't really uncommon," I spit again, "But they're usually about things that have happened to me, not other people that I couldn't possibly have been there to witness." 

"I mean...maybe you should just go back to sleep and see if you have another dream." He suggested. "Maybe it will reveal more about what's going on." 

I nodded, rinsing off my toothbrush and putting it back in the cup.

"My thoughts exactly." I turned, walking out of the bathroom and into our bedroom, where I climbed into bed, quickly followed by Steve. We both turned onto our sides so that we were facing each other. 

"Are you scared to go back to sleep? I mean, what you saw, no wonder Chrissy was terrified. It sounds terrifying." I nodded.

"Well yeah, but...if something Upside Down related is happening to her, and I have to ability to figure it out, shouldn't I at least try?" He nodded.

"Yeah, I guess, its just...are you sure you want to do this?" I blew out a nervous breath.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I decided, "Besides, its only a dream. You'll be here the entire time, its...its gonna be fine."

'You don't sound super confident about that."

I didn't respond to that, but instead scooted closer to him. He laid on his back, pulling me so that his arm was around my waist and my head was on his chest. I bit my lip, folding my arm on top of his chest. He pressed his lips against my forehead.

"I'm right here, Barbie. If things get too scary, I'll wake you up, ok?" I nodded.

"Ok."

That was the last thing we said to each other. After that we simply laid there in silence, listening to the sound of each other's breathing as we waited for sleep to come to us. Steve's fingers traced shapes along my back, and I closed my eyes and let the sound of his heartbeat lull me into a deep sleep.

If only I had anticipated, then what I would find on the other side.