𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 ; 𝘉𝘺𝘭𝘦𝘳

𝟐𝟐.

Hawkins High | Tue 4:43 PM
El Hopper

El hugged her knees to her chest while the cool October breeze brushed through her dark brown locks. She never got to wear her hair down because of cheer, but, she didn't have to worry about that anymore. She'd finally quit after one last straw: a hot or not list created by the football players about all the cheerleaders. The paper traveled around the school, and almost everyone saw it before El finally stumbled upon it in math class. Having to fake like she was sick so she could go to the nurse's office and not have to go to another class.

The list came with ratings and comments, El getting anywhere between a -1000 and a 3, their reasonings not any better. 'She would be hot if she wasn't a dike', 'I saw her looking at my girl weird', 'She still ugly as fuck even if she didn't like pussy' and so many more hurtful words.

And reading what was said about the other girls just put salt on the wound. Her sudden jealousy making her do something that seemed irrational at first: quitting the cheer team. But after getting over the initial shock of the decision, it seemed like the best for her mental health. At least now she wouldn't have to be voluntarily in Jen's vicinity.

Now she just sat on the bleachers alone while watching the girls below warm up and chat with each other until the captain—Britney—got there. One presence was notably missing from the group. A girl who El didn't notice was standing right next to her until she spoke.

"Hey, El." Blaineley said, bags under her eyes and her blonde hair tied into a messy bun. She held the strap of her cheer bag on her shoulder and exuded a dim aura around her. The thunder cloud practically visible above her head.

El scooted over and gave her room to sit, "Why aren't you practicing with them?"

"Looked like you needed company...you seem down. What's wrong?"

How did she do that? In only a few seconds Blaine was able to make El comfortable enough to confide in her about all her secrets, even though some of what she was keeping to herself was about her.

She handed Blaineley the list, who instantly scoffed at it and rolled her eyes, having already seen it. "That list is so stupid. People find a way to make every little thing drama."

Out of curiosity, El looked at some of the comments people left about the girl next to her, her attitude about it making more sense the more she read. One of them really pissing her off, El recognizing the handwriting as James'.

"6/10. Bitch ugly except for her ass!"

On top of everything else that James Dante was, you could now add misogynist to the list, the boy writing something equally as sexual for El. The thing she didn't like about it though was how quickly he was able to diminish Blaineley's whole identity into one body part. She was beautiful, determined, kind, and one of the few decent human beings at their school, but to James and probably the entire football team, she was just an ass. A rating.

The craziest part of it all was that a lot of girls were proud of their numbers, shaming the ones who weren't rated as high. Some girls went as far as writing more insults just to really make half of the team feel really shitty about themselves. El was almost certain that half of her ratings were from girls.

"Yeah, you're right. Plus, what they said about us isn't true. If that was the case, then you'd have all tens."

She meant it as more of an observation—in her mind, the fact that Blaineley was the prettiest cheerleader was just that, a fact—but Blaine, as humble and as bashful as she was turned bright red. The girl secretly hoping it was because she was flattered by the compliment and not because a girl said it to her.