Jude's jaw fell when the end of his bat hit the ball, it went flying through the air.

"Run, Jude!" Dustin yelled from the crowd. His shock wore off, dropping his bat as he ran to first base. When he got there, he looked out to see they had still been running to get the ball in the out field, making him take his chances by running to second base.

"Keep going!" coach yelled for him, Jude looked back to see they tossed the ball as he ran to third. They missed, causing the boy to run toward third. He knew he should have stayed, coach wanted him to stay. But, he ran, ran to home. The crowd was yelling, his friends were yelling, his dad was yelling, maybe even he was yelling. Jude saw the ball coming, taking his chances in sliding through the dirt.

His right foot hit base before the ball could.

"Yes! Yes!" Corey yelled from the crowd as everyone stood and cheered. Jude smiled, yanking his helmet off as he paid no mind to the dirt across his face.

"Yeah!" Jude yelled, pumping his fist into the air.

"With the final home run from number Twelve, Jude Mackenzie, his first game of the season, Hawkins High wins." the announcer spoke over the speaker as the team hugged and congratulated Jude, making him smile and look out into the crowd, searching for a face.

"Hey." the voice rung, making him turn to see Mike leaning on the fence. "That was pretty cool."

Jude's face lit up, getting patted on the back from the team as he escaped from the fence, walking around the meet Mike. "I didn't know you were here."

"I was hiding out over there." he pointed to the side of the bleachers. "Not nearly as discreet as Dustin and Corey."

Jude laughed. "Yeah, they're "Go, Jude" sign was real subtle."

"That's what I said." Mike agreed with a half grin. "So, are you going to the pep rally?"

"Yeah, for Lucas." he nodded, hesitating. "We can walk together if you can give me, like, fifteen minutes."

"I'll be-" Mike began, pointing back to his spot near the bleachers. "-hiding over there."

"Okay." Jude flushed slightly, turning around with a cheeky grin on his face, walking away.

"Judith!" Dustin jumped off the bleachers. "Are you kidding me? You are so cool."

"About time you noticed." he hugged him back. "I do happen to have a little bit more then my good looks."

"Just a little." Dustin agreed.

"That ball went flying!" Corey laughed as he hugged him next. "When you fell, I thought you actually fell, and then you were just sliding!"

"Still trying to explain baseball to him." Dustin nodded, holding up the sign. "We couldn't make shirts in time."

"Next game." Jude smiled, taking the poster. "I love it. Gonna look at it everyday."

"Oh, your bag." Corey passed it to Jude. "I flipped through Little Woman, the title is a lie."

"A lie?" Jude frowned his eyebrows as he pulled it up on his shoulder.

"There was no little people." he gapped, tossing his hands up slightly. "Especially not woman."

Jude and Dustin shared a grin, he nodded. "I have to shower but i'll see you in the gym."

"Come on, Corey. Let's go try to change your F to a C minus." Dustin pulled him along toward Mike.

"You make me proud, son." Randle high fived Jude. "Free burgers tonight at the diner to celebrate."

"We get free burgers every night." he laughed.

"Yeah, but now there's a meaning behind it." he shrugged his shoulders. "And a milkshake."

"Sold." he nodded his head.

"Hey, Jude." a girl wave as him and Mike walked into the gym together.

"Hey, Bethany." he waved back at her.

"Bethany?" Mike looked over.

"We have algebra together." he nodded, meeting his eye to see Mikes face. "Oh my god, just letter-numbers."

"I didn't say anything." Mike held his hands up.

"You were thinking it." he argued, letting him go up the bleachers first as he followed close after.

"How do you know what i'm thinking?" Mike argued with an eye roll. "You think because you won your game you can read minds now?"

"My good looks aren't the only thing I have, Michael." he pushed past him to stand between him and Corey.

"Beg to differ." Mike rolled his eyes.

"Beg to differ." Jude mocked him.

"Look." Corey held his paper up. "C-"

"C-!" Jude tossed his hands up, leaning in to hug him. "How'd that happen."

"Dustin's genius girlfriend." he hummed.

"Why didn't you change it to an A?" Mike leaned past Jude to asked, frowning his eyebrows together.

"Had to make it believable." Corey gapped at him. Jude laughed, his pinkie untop of Mikes as their legs hid their hands.

The band rung loudly, the cheerleaders flipping and waving the pompoms. Jude bopped his head slightly, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes. "Let's hear it for your Tigers!"

"Woo!" Jude stood up, his pinkie dropping from Mikes as he clapped. "Yeah, Lucas!"

Lucas smiled out at him, coming to his spot as he met Max's eye. Jude sat back down, his hand grazing over Mikes so quickly it could have easily been mistakes for an accident.

"Good morning, Hawkins high!" Jason, caption of the basketball team, adjusting his sweatpants as he waved out to the crowd. "First off...hey. First off, I'd like to thank each and every one of you. Without your support, we wouldn't be here. Give yourselves a big hand!"

Jude clapped with the rest of the stands, no mistake that he was a lot more "pepped" up then any of his friends ever bothered to be.

"Of course I have to give a special shout-out to the best and the prettiest fans of all time, the Tiger Cheer Squad!" the blonde went on, his gaze shifting to the girls in green. "Chrissy...Chrissy, I love you, baby."

"Aw, that's so sweet." Corey smiled.

"It is sweet, isn't it?" Jude nodded his head. "Did you think Jason is better looking then me?"

"What?" Mike asked in disbelief.

"Well, I was going through the year books and he got best looking last year." the dark haired boy nodded his head. "I think i'm better then him, but he might still beat him."

"Hum, let me see." Mike grabbed his chin to examine his face. Jude tried to hold back a grin. "Sorry, I think he's got you beat."

"Not the lady killer." Dustin gasped.

"I'd say, if you and Jason were both in a room with me, i'd rather look at you." Corey nodded his head.

"Ah, thank you." Jude rolled his eyes at Mike. "See? They are supportive."

"I'm supportive!" he defended himself.

"You know... I think I can speak for all of us when I say it's been a rough year for Hawkins." the boys quieted down when Jason began to speak up again. "So much loss. And sometimes I wonder "How much loss can one community take?" 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." "Think of Billy." "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...some crap school? No! For us to return home with our heads hung low in defeat? No! Lets win this game! Let's win this game for them, and that's exactly what we did!"

Jude purposely leaned back to get a look at Max, who pulled away from him pretty badly lately. She use to come to the diner all the time and they'd try to solve the cross word puzzle, but now he did those alone. Even living in the same trailer didn't bring them closer.

"We embarrassed those candy-assess in their own house, and now tonight, tonight, we're gonna bring home the championship trophy!" Jason tossed his hands up to get everyone to cheer.

"Tonight?" Mike asked in shock.

"Oh, no." Jude frowned.

"How is that possible?" Dustin huffed in disbelief.

"They call it a tournament. You win one game, you go on until there's only one team left." Max leaned over to answer their burning questions.

"Just talk to Eddie." Lucas spoke as the boys all exited the gym together.

"Just talk to Eddie." Dustin laughed in disbelief .

"Why don't you just talk to your coach and get him to move the game?" Mike matched his tone from the other side of Jude.

"This is the champion game." Lucas gave a dumb look, not knowing how this was even an argument. "Jude's game was this morning."

"I bet I could convince Eddie." Jude nodded, popping his collar. "I've got that affect on people."

"Oh my god." Mike rolled his eyes, fixing his collar.

"How does a collar affect people?" Corey rose his eyebrows.

"And this is the end of Eddie's campaign." Dustin brought the conversation back to the problem before everyone started to talk about Jude's looks. "A semester of adventuring has led to this moment, and we need you."

"And the Tigard don't. You've been on the beach all year." Mike tilted his head, Jude smacked him in the arm.

"That's not the point." Lucas sighed, knowing he didn't get it.

"Please, arrive at the point." Dustin hummed.

"If I get in good with these guys, i'll be in the popular crowd, and then you guys will be too." Lucas turned to them. "Jude and I have a plan."

"We do, in fact, have a plan." the Mackenzie boy nodded. "The rest of you could be a little more greatful."

"Has it ever occurred to the two of you that we don't want to be popular?" Mike shrugged his shoulders as he met Jude's eye when he leaned on the lockers.

"So you want to be stuck with the nerds and freaks for three more years?" Lucas looked at him like he had four heads.

"We are nerds and freaks." Dustin shrugged dramatically.

"Yeah, that's true." Corey nodded.

"Yeah but maybe we don't have to be." Lucas shook his head. "Look, i'm tired of being bullied. I'm tired of girls laughing at us. I'm tired of feeling like a loser. We came to high school wanting thing to be different. Right? If I skip tonight, that's all out the window. So i'm asking you guys, as a friend, just talk to Eddie. Get him to move Hellfire. Come to my game. Please."

The bell rung as he walked in, Jude nodded. "I'm gonna do it."

"You are not." Mike pulled his hands away from his collar. "Just, back me up at lunch."

"Lunch?" Jude turned around with a minor look of panic.

"What? What's that face for?" his eyes widened in panic.

"I'm kinda busy at lunch." he cleared his throat.

"Busy? Busy going what?" he gapped.

"Busy...being busy." Jude argued. "I'll explain later."

"Are you keeping secrets from us?" Dustin looked in shock. "Since when?"

"I'm not keeping secrets." he defended himself.

"Friends don't lie." Corey shook his head.

"Oh my god, i'm not lying." he held his hands up in surrender. "Just, talk to Eddie for Lucas' sake."

"Jude!" Mike called as he went down the hall. "Where are you gonna be at lunch!"

Jude turned, walking backwards as he threw a kiss in his direction, leaving.

"One extra round trip to California?" the woman inside of the station ask when Jude passed the money over. "Last minute change?"

"Needed to add someone to our trip." Jude nodded, exhaling as he watched all the money he saved up since Christmas, after scrapping gum off the desk for the school, traded for one single ticket for Corey to come with them. "Thank you."

"Have a good flight." she smiled at him, Jude pushed the door open as he headed down the street, securing the ticket into his bag.

Jude walked into the school, standing in the hallway. The game had started, he knew he was beyond late. Hellfire wasn't canceled, he wasn't late, but he would have been welcomed regardless. He looked into the gym, the team huddled up after Jason called the time out. Jude hesitated, walking in rather then going down the hallway to his club. "Lucas!"

Lucas smiled when he saw him. "You came."

"Sorry i'm only catching the last five minutes." he shook his head, looking to the clock. "So...we're doing good."

"You have absolutely no clue what's going on, do you?" Lucas laughed as Jude shook his head. "Basically, if we get this last basket before the final buzzer, we can win."

"Well..." Jude trailed off. "Sounds like you need to make that basket."

"I'm actually in the game." he nodded his head. "So, maybe."

"You have to have confidence. If you have confidence, you can do anything." Jude nodded his head at him. "Trust me, okay?"

Lucas let his words sink in. "I'm gonna try."

"Imagine how cool it would be if we both won the game for our teams." Jude smiled. "Hell yeah!"

"Hell yeah!" Lucas agreed, running back on the court, feeling better and more confident with Jude here now. The Mackenzie boy stayed near the sidelines, not wanting to sit down when there was just a few minutes left. Jude watched as Jason threw the ball, missing the basket as it bounced off the rim. He winced, but Lucas had the ball and was running with it, giving him some hope.

As his feet came off the court, the ball flew through the air. Jude watched it, his eyes following the ball through the air as it flew into the basket. Jude smiled, tossing his hands up. "Woo!"

Jude was flipping through the final twenty pages of The Handmaid's Tale, wanting to finish it tonight before the plane in the morning so he could start another one. Winkle was laid by his side, had grown a lo. He meowed when the door opened. Jude peaked from around his book, seeing Mike walk in. "You weren't at Hellfire, I wanted to come check on you."

"I went to Lucas' game." he said in return. "How'd it go?"

"Erica won for us." he said. Jude rose his book as Mike crawled in bed with him, his head pushing through his arms after raising the book. When he laid his head down, Jude lowered his book to press into his shoulder. "What'd you do today?"

Jude laughed. "You're the most nosy person i've ever met."

"I'm just wondering." Mike defended himself.

"I'm not having an affair, if that's what you're worried about." he said in return as Mike knocked him in the side of the head. "I had to get an extra plane ticket."

"For what?" he hummed, turning a little to look at which page Jude was on.

"Corey." he said in return. "I know he misses El and I want him to come."

Mike smiled, he gave a small laugh. "I didn't think you were having an affair."

"Good." Jude smiled, Mike sat up some as Jude's book moved higher in the air. "Zero affairs on my end."

"Not my end either." Mike nodded, getting a little grin before leaning down to meet him in a kiss.

•

kylie speaks

IM SORRY IM A DAY
LATE BUT I WAS GONNA
TAKE A NAP BEFORE
UPDATING THE BABY
AND NEXT THINK I KNOW
ITS TEN IN THE MORNING