tulip [S. Harrington]

{ 16. } No Losers Allowed

C h a p t e r 16
NO LOSERS ALLOWED

"IS IT A bad time to tell you I don't like small spaces?" Tulip called fearfully from above the entrance to the hub.

Everyone was currently in the opened earth, Steve waiting patiently for Tulip to jump down to join them. They had been trying to get Tulip to climb down for over ten minutes now and to say the kids were annoyed was an understatement.

"Yeah, actually, it might be," Steve called from below her.

"Well, uh, I—I don't like small spaces. Especially the crowded kind," Tulip emphasized, earning an amused look from Steve.

He wasn't as annoyed with Tulip as the kids were, in fact, he was enjoying watching Tulip rant. She looked cute and it also gave everyone more time to stall to avoid dying.

"Tulip! Hurry the hell up!" Mike hissed. "You're wasting our time acting like chicken shit!"

Steve looked behind him to give Mike a sharp glare, "Hey, cool it, asshat. She's coming, alright?"

Mike rolled his eyes in annoyance and Tulip groaned, "I'm sorry, okay? I'm having second thoughts!" She worried. "What if— what if the ground just, like, collapses on us?"

"We'll then we're dead," Max told her from below. "I think you're brother would call that a mission failed."

Dustin nodded almost immediately, "Unfortunately you don't move back a few spaces, you're just dead."

Tulip's nausea came back in waves as Steve hushed the two, "Oh, right... yeah, no biggie."

"Tulip, come on," Steve called to her. "You can do this, I'll be right here to catch you."

"Yeah, but can you catch the ground when it collapses on us?" Tulip huffed.

"Tulip..."