"Hey, you remember what I said last year, right? We're Zombie Boy and Ghost Boy. I'm not ever gonna leave you."
"Promise?"
"One hundred percent."
***
In which Alistair fights the monster that possessed his friend alongside his friends, while trying...
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Chapter Forty-Two: Pep Rallies Are The Worst
(The Hellfire Club, Pt. 2)
***
Pep rallies sucked.
Alistair's face felt fixed in a permanent grimace as he stared out at the cheerleaders performing a routine, Chrissy front and centre of the pyramid behind her. Around him, the roar of the crowd threatened to deafen Alistair, and doing little to help his headache like he suspected—and nearly drowning out the conversation happening right beside him. And the basketball team hadn't even arrived, so Alistair could guess in how the noise would increase.
Yeah, pep rallies were the worst.
"Look, I'm not saying that my girlfriend is better than yours. It's just that Suzie's, like, a certified genius," Dustin all but shouted over the din, reminding Alistair what the conversation he could barely hear was about—Mike and Dustin arguing over whether Suzie or El were better.
"You do realise El has saved the world twice, right?" Mike fired back.
Alistair glanced over to Cami as they rolled their eyes in unison. To be fair, Alistair agreed that El had saved the world twice over, but the argument was a little ridiculous—and maybe he felt a little bitter he couldn't argue that Will was better, but it wasn't as if anyone should know that.
As he looked at Cami, Alistair noticed Max had arrived. He gave a quick look to Max as Cami smiled and waved at her, Max glancing at them and nodding before she looked forward—right as Dustin exposed, "And yet you still have a C in Spanish."
Mike fired a look at Dustin as Cami pitched in pointedly, "Despite me tutoring you, Mike. Countless times."
Now Mike fired the look at Cami as she returned it with a glare, before adding, "Technically ex, but I think Al was a pretty great boyfriend. And an even greater friend."
She now smiled at Alistair, and he tried to return it but it fell flat as he mumbled, "Yeah."
But the conversation soon ended when he noticed that the cheer routine had ended and the principal yelled, "And let's hear it for your Tigers!"
A new round of noise roared up and Alistair, Mike, Dustin and Cami clapped—though Cami's was more enthusiastic—as the Tigers basketball team finally arrived via running through a banner. At the front was Jason Carver, grinning in a way that had Alistair resist the urge to roll his eyes, choosing to look away from the rest of the jocks and on the newcomer to the team—Lucas Sinclair.
Alistair still couldn't believe that Lucas had actually made the team, even though he'd just been the benchwarmer. Or really understand why he wanted to be part of a team so full of the assholes that made the lives of those deemed freaks hell—if his sister was to be believed, Jason Carver was one of the biggest assholes ever under his golden boy facade. Alistair tried to be supportive of his friend, especially when he looked happy to be on the team, but it was hard when those teammates of Lucas' were utter douchebags.
