#popular! reader

You're well aware of the fact you dont know Dustin very well. You know of him, but you don't know him. In a way, you teel you should be more ashamed about all this, especially because of that fact. All your defending him from the other popular kids, trying to defend his honor and respect for his late friend, Eddie, it could be seen as... almost nuanced, but nearly ignorant at the same time.

You disnt know much about the Eddie situation yourself. You only found information through rumors, you'll be honest. It was too much a touchy subject to ask your lab partner, Dustin himself, about. To you, it'd be beyond inappropriate, plus, you didn't even know Dustin or his friends, like, at all. If anything, it seemed they all kinda hated you. I mean, they hated your friends, which was valid. You hated them, too. You were only popular because you were a chronic people pleaser, let's be for real.

Anyways.

Apparently he, Eddie, Mike, Lucas, and the rest of the Hellfire Club (Will, Max, and El weren't a part of their group, loyal to the Party, their shared D&D group) were out in the woods one night over spring break during freshman year. The story gets fuzzy around the edges, but Eddie had drugs, I mean, why wouldn't he? It seemed like a drug deal gone wrong, Gareth led the freshmen away, and the other Hellfire members tried helping, but it... it didn't go great. His girlfriend / not really his girlfriend but a situationship at least, Chrissy, practically ran away the second she graduated. Dustin mentioned her a few times here and there, leading you to suspect they may still have contact with one another.

So, it truly was odd when you found yourself in this odd situation. Single, alone, pressured by your peers and parents to find a date to your senior prom... and your pick, Dustin fucking Henderson. Y'know, that kid who keeps getting beat up after his druggie friend got murdered? The kid you literally don't know? The kid you've only had classes with maybe three times in the past four years?

Yeah, that Dustin.

You decided that even though you knew this wouldn't go well, you'd put some big kid pants on and ask him to prom anyway. Just for the thrill and notion that you attempted. And that way, your shitty friends would stop bothering you about it and bother you about the fact you got brutally rejected by a 'loser freak of a nerd'. Yeah, actual quote from Andy before he graduated.

So, that's how you ended up here. With Dustin. In the hallway after eighth period. With his friends behind him.

God, this is embarrassing with a capital e.

"Hey, so, like..." you nervously smile, scratching your nape, "Sorry for doing this all of a sudden straight after class, but uh, I was wondering..."

Dustin raises an eyebrow, perplexed at what you of all people would want to ask him. He glances back at Mike, Will, and Lucas waiting for him behind you, leaning against the pillars that lead to the library. He notices Max approaching with El, both carrying pieces of some history project they put together for class. Lucas greets Max by slinging an arm around her shoulder while Will hugs El before helping her carry some of her things. Mike smiles and waves at her, both he and Will asking how their project presentation went.

Needless to say, with the amount of time it takes Dustin to see all of this unfold, you'd noticed he wasn't paying attention to you. God, this was a horrible idea. You don't even want to ask him now. You feel your blood run cold down your arms and legs. You feel your knees grow weak.

But, you know the embarrassment of just up and walking away would probably be the death of you, far worse than any rejection. When he regains his composure, he's just staring at you with those curious doe eyes. Under all that anger, that hate, and the grungey eyeliner, he's still wondering what you wanted to tell him.

"Uhm," you clear your throat, feeling your face grow warm, "I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go to, uh, prom? With me? Maybe?"

Dustin's face seems to soften.

And then he shows you this dorky, lopsided smile. He glances back at his friends, silently watching a few yards away, unable to hear either of you.

"I hate the idea of prom," he answers, separating his thoughts into two that nearly gives you a heart attack, "but I would like to hang out with you. Like, in a romantic way. If that's what you meant."

You feel your heart drop to your toes.

"Actually?"

"Yeah," he giggles, raising his hat to run a hand through his hair, just to fix his long curls, "Are you a fan of the arcade, Mx. Popular?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah, I am."

"Cool. Oh, uh, are you busy tonight?" he asks.

You shake your head. In all honesty, you are, but you can ditch your shitty friends to go to the arcade with Dustin.

"Cool. See you at six?"

"Yeah!"

With that, you spin on your heels, and with a smile, walk away. Dustin's shoulders lower, a bright smile radiating from him. He returns to his friends, oddly happy. They are not used to that.

"I just got asked to prom!" he exclaims.

Mike raises an eyebrow, "I thought you hated prom?"

Will lightly smacks his forearm. Max glares at him.

"Be nice! Dustin got asked out!" the redhead pokes.

"Yeah, by a popular kid," Mike presses, "What happened to your morals, dude?"

Lucas rolls his eyes on Dustin's behalf before scooping him into a side hug, "My boy's all grown up!"

"They're so pretty/handsome, Dustin!" El smiles, "Good job."

Mike, being his typical hater self, speaks again. "You're not actually going to prom, are you? Don't tell me you're going to prom with a popular kid. Dustin. Please."

Will turns his head, "I would like to mention... don't get ahead of yourself, man."

"No!" Dustin defends, "We're just going to the arcade tonight. No prom, ever."

Mike narrows his eyes, glaring amongst the others. He's silently wondering if everyone else is actually hearing what he is. "Guys. Dustin got asked out. What the fuck?"

Max smacks him across the shoulder, "Be nice, dipshit!"

Lucas shrugs, turning to Dustin, "Just be careful. And be smart. Please, dude. No one trusts them or their bitchy friends, so don't be surprised if shit goes wrong."

Dustin nods with a little salute, "Yessir, General Sinclair."

"It's not my place to judge," Will sighs, "I just hope you'll end up happy, Dust."

"See? At least Will and Lucas are supportive of me!"

Dustin smiles before his face softens, then reignites again, "Y/n asked me out! A hot popular kid asked me out! Holy shit!"

Lucas giggles, "Yeah, they did."

Max and Mike share glares.

"What in the hell is happening to him?"

"He's manufacturer restarting. Leave him be."

"Shut up, already!" you exclaim. "Good God. It takes nothing to just be nice, Farkus. There's people dying outside this garage, and your main focus is insulting Eli?"

Ash smirks from the corner, standing near CJ. They're silent, though, knowing they can't blow their little cover. Eli gives you a kind smile, silently thanking you for standing up to Farkus for him.

Farkus gives you an odd look. "What, standing up for your boyfriend, or something?"

"No." you reply. "There's other shit to worry about other than Eli and Danny existing in the same plane as you, you egotistical freak! If you didn't notice, three of your friends got killed by live artificial intelligence!"

He blinks, looking over at Ash, who looks away. Laura snickers at this.

You quickly lunge for Eli, pulling him away from the door. You just felt something in your gut. You had to act.

Your gut seemed to be right, as a large machine with power tools had broken through the wooden door and attacked Danny. He's bleeding from his chest, using Eli as a crutch to lean against the opposite wall.

CJ and Ash knocked over some bookshelves after the monster had ruptured the water heater, trying to block off the door any way they could. Ash quickly grabs a skateboard, deciding to use it as either a weapon or transportation, whatever needed to be done.

You stand behind Eli, your ears ringing as he speaks his final words to Danny. As the bleeding boy closes his eyes, you pull Eli away from him as tears pour down his cheeks.

Laura opens the garage door, leading you all outside. Eli is distraught, frantically wiping tears away from his eyes. His hands are stuck in yours.

You can tell he just wants to crumble and cry into the crook of your neck, but he can't. All he wanted was to enjoy this party with you and Danny. Now, Danny is dead and yours and his lives are in danger. He can only imagine how you feel trying to secretly protect him and Ash.

"Hey, halfpipe!" Farkus giggles, skating up to a knocked over basketball hoop to grind off of it.

He fails, cracking his head open on the pavement.

Ash gasps, rushing to Farkus. They shove at him, shaking him, trying to get him to wake up. Even with the growing pool of blood under his head, they're just hoping this is some dumb prank.

But it's not.

You look to Eli, who nods, silently stating he'll be alright if you go comfort Ash. He hangs back with Laura, who's using the 5-1 method to try and help him calm down. He's practically hyperventilating at this point, poor boy.

You rush to Ash, pulling them up with comforting hands running down their upper arms. They sniffle, standing up, looking to you with tears in their eyes.

You somberly smile, adjusting their beloved Limp Bizkit hat.

"We have to go. Okay?"

Ash nods, looking back down at Farkus, their camera clutched in their hands. They look back at Eli, the two sharing looks over your shoulder.

"Yeah, let's go." they nod.

CJ and Laura share looks, watching Eli wait for you to hop on the back of his bike with him. You stand on the back cassettes, hunched over to wrap your arms around his upper torso. Ash follows at your side on their new skateboard, glancing over to check that you're still hanging on alright.

Laura is just behind Ash, drifting through town on rollerskates like a typical 80s movie teenager. CJ is on your left, trailing with a skateboard as well. He's tugging his dumb little bucket hat over his head every three seconds, the air pushing it up over and over again.

You lean down to whisper into Eli's ear.

"You alright E?"

He nods with a little sniffle, looking at the blood staining his hands.

You look over to Ash, tilting your head to silently ask if they're okay. They look forward, eyes fixed on the road ahead.

Your poor lovers.

Fuck those stupid apocolypse preppers for being right about Y2K.

You sit with Ash in the little tent, watching as they rewatch the footage from earlier in the night on their camera. Most of it was recorded by them, displaying their band of rejects and losers they called friends, who were now dead. They only smile, leaning against you, fighting back tears.

"Open that mouth, slut!"

You bite the inside of your cheek, listening as Ash chuckles. It's dry and fake, even coming from a now dead person, it still kind of hurt them.

You rub their shoulder, giving them a reassuring little smile. They smile back at you, looking back down at the camera.

You just wanted to give them some comfort and quiet after their little fight with the others over Eli's computer. Obviously, being with both Ash and Eli made this little thing cause a rift with your heart. You stood with both of them, just wanting to live, even if only through the night. But, you knew how Ash was, and you knew Eli wanted the time with Laura to try and hack the machine for their little plan and whatnot.

You also didn't really understand computer and internet stuff like Laura did. You might as well just stay in your lane for now. You're not the same popular as Laura, friends with all the other popular kids, ungodly smart, perfectly attractive. You're more of the get-along-with-everyone type of popular, the popular who fails tests here and there, and has their weaknesses and strengths.

You don't compare yourself to Laura in a low light by any means, but you're not the same kind of popular she is. Ash and Eli will spend all day long defending you and your unique title.

And trust me, they have.

Turns out Danny and Farkus aren't your biggest fans for whatever reason, but who cares. You can't make everyone like you.

Plus, they're both dead.

Who gives a fuck.

You allow Ash to lean up into you, using you like a giant pillow. You pull out a joint from their pocket, offering it to them. They quickly grab it and light it, shutting their camera for the time being.

Ash smokes up the tent while you sit in silence, just kind of thinking. It's not long before your arm is wrapped around them and your legs are all tangled with theirs. The whole area reeks of weed and you're slightly struggling to breathe through it all, but you don't care.

Though, the scent attracts CJ like a dog.

"You're getting high without me?" he asks with a little chuckle.

"Hey," Ash smiles, leaning up to offer CJ a puff. "Smoke with the homies, hm?"

CJ smiles, getting blazed alongside Ash as you sit in a comfortable silence. His eyes linger on your touch with Ash before he looks away. He knows there's a little something-something going on.

It's not even just this that drives him to that thought. You've been kind of touchy with them all night. Maybe you're just really close friends, but something is telling CJ that there's something more to this.

He carefully eyes the way you laugh with Ash, grabbing a hold of their hand and intertwining their fingers with yours. There's something different with how you lean into them, how you act so genuine and raw with them.

Maybe he's just tripping massive balls since he's been smoking all night, and he's overthinking.

"No, no, no, she fell straight on her ass!" Ash laughs, "It was the funniest shit I've ever seen, I swear to God!"

Eli rushes into the tent, coughing a bit due to the second-hand smoke inhalation. You quickly look up, eyeing your boyfriend with a smile.

"Hey, we're leaving." he informs. "C'mon."

You glance over at Ash and CJ before standing up, trailing after Eli. The blazed up two follow after, conversing a bit. You quickly grab Eli's backpack, tossing it to him before he lost it once more.

You jog back to him, grabbing at his wrist lightly. You walk next to him through the woods, holding hands the whole way through.

Eli keeps shooting you nervous looks, silently pondering if you want to be holding his hand right now, in front of CJ. You never catch his looks, though, partially high from Ash and CJ's second-hand smoke. Your clammy hand is clung onto his tightly, and he just listens to you ramble on about some sort of fraction of a plan.

CJ notices this, too.

"They're my friends!"

You blink, looking between your partners and CJ and then to Laura and... whoever the stoner ass video store dude is. Honestly, you've met him six times because of Eli and you still can't remember his name. He steps down from the fallen tree, wielding some wooden stick things like a samurai.

Laura rushes toward your group of misfits, watching as the computer monster turns on the chainsaw it had attached to one of its arm ligaments. You stand in front of Ash and Eli, arms extended to hold them back. It's a small attempt at trying to protect them.

Stoner guy runs forward, and ends up with his arm chopped off.

You cover your mouth, unable to scream.

"Woah, that does not feel goo-"

Then his head is cut off.

His decapitated head rolls to your feet.

You scream in sheer terror.

Eli wraps his arms around you and spins you around, shoving you into the portapotty to hide. None of you could hop the fence, considering it was electric and had barbed wire. You couldn't get around the machine. There was no where else to run.

He pushes you in after Laura, making sure you got to safety before he did. Just as he steps foot into the cramped space, he's pulled back and clings at the sides of the doorway. You immediatly grab for him, seeing the computer monster had gotten a hold of his backpack.

"Eli!" you shout, grabbing at his hands to tug him back inside.

"Y/n!" he shouts, squeezing onto your hands as he tries to push forward.

Ash quickly grabs onto your waist, helping pull you back further into the stall. CJ and Laura hold onto Ash's shoulders, pulling back as they're perched on the toilet.

Eli's backpack dramatically rips, falling off his shoulders before he scrambles inside, slamming the door shut before locking it. You slam him into a hug, protecting him like a human shield, your back facing the door. Ash exhales shakily, wrapping you both in a hug of their own.

Before you can speak and collect your thoughts, the portapotty is pushed down, and begins to topple down the hill.

You scream, grabbing onto both Eli and Ash, clinging at their jackets. Your arms wrap around them as you're smacked around the smelly box, trying to minimize any physical damage this could possibly cause them. Mental damage was inevitable tonight. There's not much you could do about that.

Ash hides their face in your chest while Eli wraps his arms around both of you as best he can, clinging onto you for dear life.

Finally, the box of feces hits the bottom of the hill with an abrupt stop. Laura quickly opens the door and climbs out, stumbling toward a little pond. CJ is next, then finally Ash, you, and Eli.

You follow after CJ and Ash, using the pond water to rub the fecal matter from your skin. You wouldn't be able to get it off your clothes, and you smelled like literal shit, but it was better than just dealing with it. Eli joins just after, swallowing his vomit twice.

Ash sits against a tree, thinking silently. Eli tears up again, frustrated and upset.

You pull Eli over toward Ash and sit down with them, holding both of their hands as you make them listen to the crickets singing in the night. You guide them through a little breathing exercise to calm the nerves.

"In and out..." you exhale. "In and out."

Ash closes their eyes as they lean against the tree, squeezing onto your hand. Eli stares down at your shoes, crushing your hand like there's no tomorrow. You press kisses to each of their hands subconsciously.

Laura and CJ blink as they watch from afar, sharing odd looks.

"Yo," CJ calls, catching your attention. "Are you guys gonna actually kiss or something? You've all been looking like you need to like... all night, man."

Laura nods. "The tension is strangling me. Just kiss already."

You look between the two, wide-eyed.

Laura sighs at your dumbfounded look, one you shared with your partners. "You're not that slick. You, Y/n, have been really touchy and protective tonight. I've never seen you act that way with anyone before."

Eli's face is painted a bright red, and Ash looks like they could kill someone.

"It's chill, guys," CJ waves off. "We don't care. But please, get it all out before we get to the school, alright?"

You nod, pulling yourself to your feet. You hold your hands out for Ash and Eli, helping them up as well. Laura and CJ lead the way through the woods.

Laura hums a tune, and CJ jumps in with lyrics, rapping along like the wannabe Eminem he was.

Before you know it, you're all singing along, Ash and Eli at your sides, swinging their hands with yours like little kids.

"He drinks a whiskey drink,

He drinks a vodka drink,

He drinks a lager drink,

He drinks a cider drink,

He sings the songs that remind him of the good times,

He sings the songs that remind him of the better times!

Oh, Danny Boy!

Danny Boy!

it was lit the classic nerd falls for popular kid who'd never look at them

but you were 100% looking at her

she's awkward and anti-social and you're more laid back and (still a bit anti-social) but more social than her

you protect her from bullying like no one's business

"hey, that's my girlfriend. shut up"

you've gotten into a lot of fights for her surprisingly

you'd think they respect her cause she's a ghostbuster but nope

she's so intimidated by your friends but most of them couldn't care less lol

she doesn't understand how u have so many friends but once you explain that you're just fake nice to most of them and have a few real friends she gets it

she will NOT be going to any parties w you

you don't even go cause why would you like... ew

you're both voting to go hunt ghosts wtf

you learn a lot from her and podcast about science, ghosts, and online algorithms

you're kind of polar opposites, so indulging in the others' activity isn't very looked forward too, but done to make the other happy

like those reddit posts of "I indulge in my partners activity to make them happy even though I don't like it, but I like it when I'm with them" yk?

she's actually in love with you