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caitlinclark · 5 years ago

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Nahikari García: “With Vero I saw that it was possible to reach the top.”

The forward born in Urnieta, top scorer of Real Sociedad in recent years, has also found in medicine a great calling.

"Did you come to Donosti just for the interview?" Asks Nahikari García, forward and one of Real Sociedad’s captains, when the over than 40 minutes of talk conclude. That humility surprises. That tone of surprise. On the other side of the window of the Harrobi de Zubieta cafeteria, it doesn’t stop raining heavily. It is inevitable to comment on the typical - and topical - weather of the Basque Country. “Last week we played against Atlético de Madrid and the National Team teammates always ask me that if it is very bad, that if it is this, that if it is the other ... And they came and it was very sunny! A great weekend!” She says smiling.

While I collect the pages full of questions, Núria - who has been taking photos the entire time - is interested in the forward’s musical taste and readings. “I really like reading. I read Dime quién soy and I really liked it. About music, I like Leiva, ” says Nahikari. From there, a small tour around the facilities of the Ciudad Deportiva begins, with the aim of concluding the photoshoot. We talked about her injury, how could it be otherwise, and one of the physiotherapists makes an appearance. "I doubt you take it well," she says jokingly while Nahikari remains facing the camera.

But the fact that we are there, not only responds to Nahikari being the top scorer of Real in recent years. Nor to have debuted with the absolute selection. The young attacker born in Urnieta, beyond a rival’s goal, has a medicine career in her eyes. Forging in this profession with the aim of exercising when she stops scoring goals. And that is why, 45 minutes before, I decided to start the talk with that topic.

Is it hard to combine football and studies considering that you’re studying Medicine?Well, I don’t know if it’s because I study Medicine but it’s true that lately it has been. When I started the career I was already at Real, but the demand has been bigger in the past few years. Also because women’s football has changed so much this past few seasons and it demands more hours to train, more requirements. Being with the National Team, it also takes away your free time. It gets harder to combine but I’m not in a hurry either.

And it’s 6 or 7 years... And then the MIR... All that if you’re up to date... You see...

And then, when you finish your career, what do you have in mind? Well, I’m not thinking about that yet because I know that it’s something that’s gonna take some time. Besides, I still see myself playing football for years. If everything goes well, I have more seasons to play. Now my goal is to finish my career and then when it’s time for the MIR, I’ll prepare for that. It’s true that life goes around but I would like to carry out my specialty and do that in the future.

So, that specialty is sports medicine? Yes. I like that because it’s what I know and what I see here. I think that we’ll see later on. Once you get into that world, you see and work in different specialties... However, in my head there are a lot of projects that I would like to try. Of course I would like to be connected to the sport because I love it, but I don’t know. Maybe I could be in a club, in a hospital or also at an ONG around the world.

Man, that last one... That would be really good!

With the growth there is in women’s football, have you thought about putting your studies in hold? Putting it on hold, no. Taking it more slowly, yes. For example, I don’t take every class every year. But I wouldn’t like to put it on hold. Although sometimes I can only take one class, I don’t want to leave it because once you do that, you disengage and it’s like you ignore it. So even if it’s little by little, I would like to always do something.

In most interviews, you talk about helping and learing. Are those the main reasons why you chose Medicine? Yes! To learn, no doubt. I like knowing new things and learning. And they say doctors don’t have much relationship with the patient, but I do like that part more human. Being close, lending a hand... At the end, it comes from home. My mom is a nurse and I’ve seen it since I was a kid. It’s something that always caught my attention. It’s a calling. No doubt.

The growth in women’s football and your studies have led you to make a lot of sacrifices, according to what you’ve said in other interviews. I’m not asking about what’s been the boggest sacrifice, but which one has hurt you the most? I don’t think they’re sacrifices as such. At the end, I do this because I like it. I see more as a bet. My luck is to be at home. I’ve played at Real my entire life but evidently, you miss out on important moments like family meetings or with friends... In my case, I couldn’t be at my grandfather’s funeral because I was at the World Cup in Costa Rica. Evidently, you think: “fuck”. Football gives me a lot, but it also takes a lot. I’m very happy to be where I am and to choose what I’ve chosen. And I don’t see neither my friends nor my family as often as I would like. Or my little cousins. - She laughs - My cousin always says: “Fuck, everyone tells me how cool it is that Nahikari is my cousin but I don’t like it because she’s training every day and I can’t see her.”

To dedicate to Medicine, you have to be cold blooded, precision on the diagnosis and treatment, not making mistakes... Is that very similar to playing as a forward? I was just about to say that! The comparison is good. Maybe, yeah. If you miss, the focus is on you, and on the other hand, if you got it right, you’re the best. And in that, with medicine there’s a lot of similarities. In both cases you have to know how to deal with the pressure and with those critical moments. One thing will help me with the other! I’ll nbecome an expert on this.

With a lot of people, and independently if you're successful or not, you start playing at parks and at school. But where does your passion for footbal begin? Well, it comes from home. My dad is a very big football fan. And so is my brother, even if he denies it! So that passion began at home. We had a park near and we met up with my brother’s friends there. We spent the entire day kicking the ball. Plus I would tell my dad: “Aita, I wanna go train. Let’s go train”. And he was there. Football is very vocational, You either like it or not. You live it or you don’t live it and me, for one thing or another, well it’s been my calling since I was a kid.

You started playing at Añorga when you were 9. Always as a forward? Yes, always. I was the smallest... Small and fast! So I think they put me as a forward to run.

In Añorga’s first team you’re from 14 to 16. In fact, you made your debut when you were 14... How was the debut? Well, we were in the Second Division and that was a great year where we won the league and we played the play-off for the promotion to First Division... It was very progressive because they really wanted to take care of me. Besides, I was also starting with the National Team. Euskadi’s as well as Spain’s. It was a lot of jogging and the coach I had back then, Juanjo, handled it very well. I was playing only halves at the beginning until there was a point where I said “fuck”. I was training, I was doing it very well... In the second round I started playing more and in the play-off I was in the starting lineup.

You talked in an interview that you never have to lose focus so you can stay on track. Where is Nahikari’s focus now? On continuing to grow and, above all, not losing that ambition to want to achieve important challenges. I don’t know how, when or where. But I do want to keep feeling that I’m moving forward and growing. I have goals and dreams to fight for. I think it’s always important having something worth fighting for, not getting comfortable and get carried away. I have that in mind and I know I have a long way to go, a lot to grow and a lot to still do in football. I work for that.

You also mention that you have to choose your role models very well, in case you lose focus. Who are yours? Well, beyond the people around you in the locker room, I’m very lucky to coincide in the National Team with people who have a lot of experience. For example, Vero (Boquete). I think they’re people who are doing very well in women’s football and so I look at that. That they’re very humble and hard-working people who have paved their path and, from there, they’re growing.

There’s a story in another interview that I really liked. Your mom came home with a newspaper with Vero in double page and that gave you strength to keep going... Yeah. It’s true. It made me realize that it was possible to reach the top. Nowadays we’re much more accesible and it’s easier to see that you can make it. But back then, I didn’t have many role models that were women players and professionals that were living from this. Seeing it there made me see that there were people who had made it and they pulled forward. It gave me hope. To say: “Nahikari... Go ahead with your drea, because it’s possible”.

You’re a Real fan... A Real fan...

A very big Real fan... Yes, yes!

That, in a game, does it help or is it worse? I mean, beyond the concentration itself, there’s an emotional component. Yes! Definitely. I have very strong feelings towards the club but also a very important one towards the team. We’ve managed to create a feeling of union and companionship that makes you fight for it. You’re not only fighting for the badge but also for a common goal that we set up. You say “Fuck... I run for me, but also for the one next to me. This is for all of us.” But obviously, that feeling is worse because you suffer so much more. When you win, everything is great; but when you lose, it hurts you so much more. And it’s, precisely, for that feeling of commitment and for everything that surrounds you. It’s important to manage it and revitalize it on several occasions.

The great knock that it is to win the Copa de la Reina. After doing that, did you feel like from that moment onwards people were going to expect so much more from you all? Yes. Definitely. Especially people from the outside. At the end, a lot of people have known us for years but others know us because they saw us winning the Copa. So, it seems like the demand is to win the league or to be in the Champions League, That’s why I think it’s important that we keep our feet on the ground and be aware of where we come from, what we’ve achieved and the path that we want to continue. All of this, of course we’re talked about and worked with our coach. I think we have to grow from having our feet on the ground and having clear goals. We want to be at the top but without driving ourselves crazy. Obviously, we’re the first ones that want to win every weekend and continue to grow. And we’re the first ones that would love to win the league but we have to be aware of where we are and where we come from. But, definitely, the ambition is intact.

Let’s go to that final then. The end of the game, that’s clear. Everything is euphoric. But at half time, with the game tied 1-1, how was it? Courage, silence... Well... we were silent because we were so tired! I remember half time, sitting in the ground and saying: “My God, we’re suffering so much”. In the first half we suffered a lot and in the second half we were better. The message was that we could win. With 1-1- at the half we had the game where we wanted it. We knew we were gonna get our chance and we had to keep holding on. And we did!

Finals hadn’t treated you very well... No...

Until this one. When you get the ball and you see yourself in that position, do the ghosts from the past come back? I say it because of that fatal mistake in the 2016 Euros... No. No way. I didn’t think in that moment. But it’s that, I had it clear that that ball was going in. I didn’t have any doubts about how I was gonna hit it or that kind of stuff. It was all very natural and super normal. I saw it clear. I knew where the ball was gonna go.

After the goal... were you aware of what you’d done? No! Not at all!

In that moment with all the players during the celebration, what do you say? You just made a comeback! Well, we told each other that we had to hold on! Cold head and keep doing the same. Because we knew we were doing very well and we didn’t have to change anything. Not to park the bus but not going forward too much either. Put pressure when we had to put pressure and hold on when we had to hold on.

From the front, how did you see Sun’s saves? Pf... suffering a lot. But we knew Sun was gonna hold us. She had been doing it all season and you saw her. I told her. That day she was super hyper motivated. She was with a lot of energy and when Sun is like that, you know she’s gonna have a great game.

Is it the best moment in your sports career? I’ve had really good and happy moments but I’d never felt such a feeling. Making my debut with the National Team was amazing. Playing the World Cup was amazing. But being able to culminate that moment with a goal... that was very powerful.

Last year and this year there’s been interest from other teams. First PSG. How real was that interest, considering the classic rumors during the transfers window? Fuck it was real... It’s because we played a tournament here. At the beginning everything looked like a movie. First, who was gonna tell me that PSG was gonna come to play a tournament here at Zubieta. Then, who was gonna tell me that they were gonna notice me and have the interest to sign me. In fact, we joked about it at home: “Can you imagine if a team like this comes here someday?” And when they did, well it was weird. Me, at first, I didn’t believe it, but there were talks between the clubs. At the end, it didn’t work out and I ended up winning the Copa at the end of the season.

And then it was Atlético. Were you close to leaving? You wanted the whole thing to end before the World Cup. Yeah, yeah. Defnitely. When we talked about the goal to grow, I’ve never lied to people from the outside nor to the people from the club. I would like to grow and live other experiences. If Real offers me that, then let’s do it. We’ll stay together and very happy. And as long as I’m here, I’ll give everything for this club. At that point, everything that had happened in the Copa and everything that that generated made me decide to stay. Everything was talked with the club. They’ve told me that when I feel the need to leave, they’ll open the doors. That reassures me. But I don’t know when that will be and if it’ll happen or not, because life changes a lot.

We’re moving to the National Team and it’s inevitable to think about the miss in that final vs France in the 2016 Euros. That has been talked about a lot. I’m interested the next game or games, when you have another clear chance. Did that miss become too much? Well, after that we had vacations and then I went back to Real. I tried to not give it too much importance and keep playing. I didn’t want to think about it again. But at the end, even if you don’t want to, you realize that your confidence isn’t the same. But I worked on it because I was aware of that. And I managed to change the situation! I think that a moment like the one I went through hurts you, yes, but it also helps you grow.

I read that you went to a sports psychologist... Yes, I was working with him.

At what point do you realize that you needed that kind of help? Well, I realized during the season. I was getting sick, injured... Things that I thought: “Fuck. What’s going on, Nahi?” Well, it was the lack of confidence. I knew that my character had taken me, in big part, to everything that I’d achieved and when I saw it diminished I said: “Nahikari. Something is going on with you and we have to fix this”. After that I started working. To be honest, it helped me a lot. Especially to relativize important situations. I grew and learned a lot from those moments.

Then, after that, you go two years without going to the National Team and you had coincided with Jorge Vilda. Did you talk to him about that absence? When the mistake in Slovakia happened, he was there with me and everyone protected me and they gave me their total confidence, a lot of love and we talked. But in those two years that I didn’t get called up, there wasn’t any explanation... He didn’t have to give me one either! Because I knew it was about my performance. When he called me up, it was because he believed I was in a good moment. With Jorge, we’ve always had a close relationship and we’ve talked about many things. I think he trusts me too, but I don’t think he has to explain to me why I wasn’t called up during that time

Either way, you came back in a big way at the Wolrd Cup in France. In fact, you and Lucía (García) coming in against South Africa, changed the course of the game. What does it feel to get to the locker room knowing that you were a big reason for the first win Spain had in a World Cup? Well, it was a rush. Being able to win the first game in a World Cup is very important. It seemed like everyone was counting that we were gonna do it, but the games have to be played. Spain was coming off from not winning any games in the last World Cup. We knew it was a clear goal and I lived it with the same happiness as the rest of my teammates. With the plus that I made my debut in a World Cup.

Against China, you qualified for the knockout stage. Was it bittersweet, that qualification, knowing you had to play the US? Yes... But mostly because of the feeling we had. We had a great feeling against Germany... Of playing football so well...Of competing so well... But China parked the bus, you have chances but you can’t score. Our goal at the World Cup was to make it past the group stage. We were very happy for reaching that goal but then you know that you have to play the US and it’s a hard.

Against the US we lose in a very unfair way. Did it hurt more losing that game than a final that you’ve played? Yes and no. Because at the end, it makes you very angry losing and leaving the World Cup like that. It was a general rage because we have a very competitive locker room. We went to win that game and it didn’t matter who was in front. At the end, we had a feeling of knowing we were getting close because we competed against them. It makes you see that you’re doing things well... But it makes you very angry. Especially after they scored two very unfair penalties. But I don’t know if it’s worse than losing a final!

And frankly, after a few hours or days have gone by, what positive conclusions do you draw for the next Euro? Because I imagine you drew some... Of course... Besides those games give you a lot of growth. We’re a very young National Team that was playing in their second World Cup. Doing it like that is very good and we have to be aware of where we come from and have our feet on the ground. From there, keep going and a lot of ambition. We’re a very ambitious group and we have to do it as best as possible. The World Cup, we take it as experience and now the focus is on qualifying for the Euros.

Well, we leave football, Nahikari. Let’s go with other type of questions. First about your personality... You say you have very bad temper. Yeah... - She laughs -

But that has given you a lot of success. Yes! That too!

And any bad moments? Well, yeah... But because I’m very competitive and I have a lot of character. But you learn from that too, For example, you have to manage how you say things. Sometimes, how I’ve said things hasn’t been in a good way and that has given me more than one conflict that you work out and just leave it at that. But since I got here at 16 years old until now that I’m 22, I’ve always had bad temper. But I think I’ve leanrt to manage it and reduce it!

Beyond fighting, you’ve reiterated a lot that you’re here to learn. What lesson has Nahikari learnt on and off the pitch? Well, I’ve learnt so many things in that way... For example, to believe. My team, last year, taught me to believe. Without a doubt. If you believe in something firmly, you can achieve it. That’s how the Copa de la Reina came. And also, that you always get another chance. And especially as a forward. I stay with that too. There will always be another chance, another game, another moment. You learn many things in football! But this sport has also taught me that it’s the least important thing out of everything that I care about in life. That there’s life after football. You come back home and your family and friends are waiting. You have to give value to all these aspects. I’ve always thought about things too much and I give football a lot of importance... So you have to know to differentiate well and know that you have a life when training or a game ends.

And when you finish training or playing and you leave Zubieta, how is Nahikar’s day when she doesn’t have to go to college either? Well I’m a very calm person. I like being with my family and friends. Go to Donosti and walked around the beach. I also like reading and listening o music. Especially laughing. I like being with people that I love and I love talking! Have interesting conversations and laugh a lot.

I’ve gone through all the questions that I prepared and we’ve talked a little about the injury... Núria. Do you want to ask something? Because it’s raining a lot... We’re not gonna see Donosti much... Did you come to Donosti just for the interview?

#i was gonna translate the whole interview but i can't rn sorry #her interviews are always so interesting #nahikari garcia #football

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forestwater87 · 5 years ago

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A moment to chat about “The Butterfinger Effect” (obv spoilers for S4e17)

Wow, so a lot of people fucking haaaaaated this episode. And since I’m addicted to That Discourse, I had to say something because I think they’re super wrong. (And this isn’t me just being a total Camp Camp fangirl here; like, the pee episode was bad. That was bad tv and bad for all the senses. There have been mediocre and even shitty episodes of this show; this just wasn’t one of them.)

There are a couple different points of criticism aimed at this episode, and while there’s one I’d like to take a deep dive into in particular I might as well take some shots at the others real fast:

The moral was too obvious: god, you guys whine all day and night that you wanna see Max show character growth and whenever he displays it you hate how it’s done. This show has never been one for subtlety. I mean, the climate change ep? This is how the show works; it’s part of its twisted-Saturday-morning-cartoons charm, it’s the most efficient way to get a point across in a short runtime, and it was the set up for the joke at the end of the episode.

It didn’t advance the plot: bitch what plot are you talking about???

Not enough dad//vid: listen I’ve made my thoughts about the fandom’s idea of dad//vid incredibly clear at this point, so let’s just:

The most common argument, though, is that it’s all so very “unrealistic” and “out of character.”

Considering the show’s concept of “realistic” involves squirrel armies (hey, another mediocre episode! See, I can call them when I see them) and a universe-destroying space octopus, I’m not sure how to rebut that without another Bianca del Rio gif. So, the out-of-character accusation.

Listen, characterization is hard as balls. Everyone fucks it up sometimes, and not every characterization in every episode is gonna work for you.

But you know who nailed it this time? Eddy Goddamn Rivas, the writer for this episode, that’s who.

In fact, I’d argue that the entire point of the episode is that it’s not Space/Race Kid’s new interest that caused the majority of the changes, or some sort of mystical “butterfly/finger effect,” but Nurf’s attempt to put things back to “normal.” He caused the thing he was trying to prevent -- which happens to dovetail perfectly with the moral of accepting change and not letting it freak you out.

This episode is brilliant, and plays with the canon characterizations of all our campers while staying true to them, and I’m gonna show you how.

Under a cut, because not everyone has time for that shit. But first, a juicy preview of the sexy discourse to come:

Space Kid

This one is the easiest to defend, because Space Kid is just . . . Race Kid. Aside from maybe having an idea that he’s cooler than he used to believe he was -- which makes sense, because why do people buy fancy sports cars except that they think it makes them look cool? -- we’ve seen his tendency to latch onto an interest and go 110%.

Reasonable, hilarious, and adorable. I actually don’t think anyone has any problem with Race Kid, so this is a quickie.

As for why he dropped it so fast: I mean, hasn’t everyone gotten really into something before deciding it wasn’t as fun as an old hyperfixation? I’ve been coming back to the Camp Camp well since 2016 because it’s just so much fun.

Nurf

Nurf is the one I think people are sleeping on. All the time, always, but especially in this episode. The summary hints that Max is the one unable to handle the idea of change -- something this entire season has been working towards, and I literally just realized change has been a thematic thread throughout several of the episodes and that’s really cool -- but it’s actually Nurf who can’t stand the thought of things being different.

And, in trying to prevent the “butterfinger effect,” he sets it in motion. The irony is delicious, and his head in a fishbowl makes me laugh every goddamn time.

(Also, “A battle of wits is not my strong suit” was just hysterical. Nurf is full of great lines and y��all need to stop ignoring what a comedic goldmine this kid is.)

Preston

Oh, I’m sorry, are we shocked that Preston would jump at the chance to be admired by people, even if it means doing something he doesn’t particularly enjoy?

Were we all in comas during the episode this very season that was literally only about this exact thing?

As to why he’d pick football: he’s a theater kid addicted to the corniest, most cliche tropes. When he got a taste of power by bullying Nurf -- which was also totally in character, because honestly, Preston is not a very nice kid -- of course he went to the thing that in every 80s teen movie meant “cool bully who’s super popular”: the sports jock.

Add to that getting positive recognition from Campbell -- who we’ll get to -- and this swap is totally in-character, and entirely kicked off by the power rush he got from finally getting to be the one who bullies instead of being bullied.

Nurf created his own worst nightmare by being afraid of change. This episode is fucking brilliant.

Harrison

To nobody’s surprise, Harrison is a sadist who thinks he’s hot shit.

He’s emotionally traumatized Neil to win an argument, he’s made Max vomit up, just, like, so many things and shown zero remorse, and got an unflappable sense of self-worth that skates right off the edge into total egotism.

These are the things we love about him. (And yes, obviously his arrogance comes from a deep well of insecurity, but that only exacerbates why he’d absolutely refuse to help Nurf, because it gives him a chance to be better than someone.)

As for why he’d choose to model himself after goth!Max . . .

Honestly, this one doesn’t entirely make sense to me. He’s never shown any particular interest in Max. The only thing I can assume is that . . . well, actually Max was right, and at least in Harrison’s eyes, he is at the top of the social hierarchy. And he got there by giving zero fucks about what anyone thinks of him.

Which is what Harrison did, by refusing to help Nurf. We come full circle!

(WAIT: When Max asks why he’s acting like . . . you know, him, Harrison’s response is, “Why? It’s not making you insecure, is it?” While we could take this as “I’m coming for your shtick,” it could also imply that Max’s general Maxyness makes Harrison feel insecure about who he is. Which explains why, as soon as he’s offered a chance to emulate someone who makes him feel insecure, he chooses Max.)

Ered

Nerris and Ered have established themselves as friends, and she at least has expressed a token interest in playing DnD before. She’s listened to Nerris talk about this stuff enough to repeat it at times -- albeit incorrectly -- and so, when there’s “nothing better to do,” she tries something her friend is super into and finds it really fun and embraces it.

I can attest that DnD totally turns you into a massive, shameless nerd. It’s just that awesome.

Plus, she’s too cool to give a shit if people think she’s being nerdy, so of course she’s not embarrassed about being seen dressed like a Viking; in “Ered Loses Her Cool,” she had that moment of growth where she decided that her coolness comes from her happily choosing to be herself.

Also, she gets to carry an axe around. So like, extra cool points for that.

Nerris

Nerris is gonna grow up to be a band geek, and she’ll especially enjoy the theatricality of marching around in parades while dressed like a Christmas Nutcracker. It’s like being a real-life bard.

This is the only one that really has a “supernatural” level to its change, except maybe the counselors (yes, I’ve come around on Neil; I’ll defend him at the end). While everyone else can be explained by psychological and in-character reasons, I have no idea what caused her to suddenly have this whole getup. I’d chalk it down to her seeing everyone else trying something new and being interested in upping her LARPing game, except she explicitly says she doesn’t know where it came from.

It’s one of the few that doesn’t make perfect sense, but I don’t really mind it because it’s such a top-tier episode otherwise.

Dolph

This is another one with questionable backing in the rest of the canon. However, I think it works less on a characterization basis than on an archetypical one.

Hear me out: how many artists actually make it professionally? And how many of them end up falling back on something solid and lucrative and artistically unfulfilling to pay the bills? Some people are of course lucky enough to land their dream job, and others are lucky enough to find something close enough to that dream job to make money while still doing something creative and adjacent to their interests (becoming an art teacher, for example).

But in Hollywood, at least, the idea is that you’re either a professional artist who Makes It, a starving artist who’s sacrificing for their dream, or a total corporate sellout who abandons their soul for the sake of profit. A child, especially one with a father so unsupportive of his artistic interests, would only have the Hollywood idea of success to fall back on, which means if Dolph was tying to think of a way to “grow up” and stop wasting his time on being an artist, of course he’d jump straight into the most famously corrupt, artistically soulless type of job possible.

The problem here, of course, is that I don’t know what triggered it; like Nerris, I don’t really see a clear line from motivation to new hobby. However, it works really well at poking fun of the “artist to sellout” pipeline portrayed in popular media, so I certainly can’t be mad at it.

Also, look at these credit scores:

David’s score is either astoundingly good -- 825 out of 850 -- or astoundingly bad -- 325 out of 850 -- depending on what that first number is. Gwen’s credit is pretty bad, which isn’t surprising considering she’s working at Camp Campbell, but I’m still proud of her for being either the second- or third-highest person at the camp.

None of the campers should have credit, so these numbers are just goofy, but I’m as shocked by Nikki’s “exceptional” credit as I am by Nurf’s “literally not on the chart by 298 numbers” rating. Assuming Dolph made at least the campers’ scores up, and we know he’s pretty good friends with Nikki, I assume he gave her a higher score because he likes her, Max’s is trash because their relationship is rocky at best, and Nurf’s is just petty and spiteful because he bullies Dolph, and I just love it.

(I assume Mr. Campbell’s credit is in negative numbers, and QM doesn’t exist on any official records.)

Counselors & Campbell

Campbell, I’m going to argue, makes sense.

This? Not so much.

I have no idea what Gwen’s talking about -- “I need her showing. We all agreed to it”???? -- and literally none of this makes sense in any understanding of characterization or anything, but my counterpoint would be:

Look how cute Gwen looks dressed up like David.

“Mumble, grumble, aliens!” and something about Mormons in David’s cheery voice adds 5 years to my life.

David’s floof is now beard.

David is wearing plaid.

QM. Just . . . QM.

Did I mention that Gwen looks so fucking good here? I swoon. So hot. Babe. Step on me, mommy.

Anyway. Campbell.

He’s not what you’d call . . . nurturing, by any means, so at first this weird dad!swap is totally out of left field. However, he has proven himself to be . . . well, not a great caretaker, but someone who does put in the effort when he has to, and is surprisingly good at dealing with the kiddos when forced.

He’s also proven himself to be remarkably introspective, starting back in Season 3. He does to an extent feel bad about what he’s done, and to varying extents wants to make amends for it. So when he starts talking about legacy, and what a man leaves behind --

-- I can’t say I’d be all that surprised if he stumbled upon Preston trying to be “cool” with sports camp and decided (probably with the help of whatever supernatural strangeness came over the other counselors) that he wants to have a better impact on this camp than a bunch of broken-down equipment, a pile of debts, and a “son” who’s disappointed in him.

Listen, what I’m trying to say is that I will die defending my Trash Grandpa and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. There’s good in him!!!! I CAN SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!

On a less “Campbell is my dad” note, as a rather stereotypical Manly Man(TM), he’d be best served helping some weedy little brat become more traditionally masculine. i’m saying Campbell was great at football in high school and is in part reliving his glory days, okay?

Nikki

Oh, come on. Nikki’s always shown an interest in science, and particularly in the mayhem it causes. When Neil is out of commission, and she sees that everyone else is doing major hobby swaps -- including Ered, who I believe she still sees as her idol -- why wouldn’t she want to join in on the fun in the most destructive way possible?

The show didn’t say she was a good scientist, after all.

Neil

Remember when I said I couldn’t defend Neil? WELL SURPRISE BITCHES, TURNS OUT I CAN!

(I didn’t realize it until halfway through writing this post, to be fair.)

But think about it: the boy does not respond well to his mind being freaked. We have observed this.

This is not a good reaction to an unsolvable logical problem.

I’m just saying, there’s not a huge difference between these pictures. Neil doesn’t do well when his brain is overloaded with things he doesn’t understand, and everyone around him turning into different people -- which is how it must look from their perspective, even if I can sit here and explain it in ways that make sense at least to me -- broke the poor boy’s brain.

He’s a very fragile ecosystem, our little Neil. You must protect him from thinking too many thinks and getting overheated.

So . . . yeah. This episode is rad, way more of it makes sense in terms of the characters’ motivations than people are giving it credit for, and the ones that don’t make a ton of sense are at least funny and clever enough to be overlooked, at least in this broad’s humble opinion.

#campcamp #camp camp roosterteeth #cc spoilers #no one is gonna read this #i feel like i used to be a bnf at some point #(when there was no competition)#but then i started writing mediocre fics and running my mouth about shit and then people got tired of my bullshit #which you know? fair #but i gotta let it out because i have FEELINGS #and i don't have the outlet of being an english major and writing 20-page papers about my feeling anymore

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pllandcompany · 6 years ago

Text

From Now On

Summary: Human!AU. From the outside, Roman Prince had it all. Good looks, charm, popularity, romance. So why was he so unsettled? And why did the sarcastic nerd make him question risking it all?

Pairing: Roman/OC, eventual romantic Logince

Warnings: implied nsfw-ish scene, anxiety, repression of sexuality, a swear or two, spoiler alert! teen pregnancy

Tagged: @ziallwarrior @thefallendog Message me if you'd like to be tagged!

Notes: I literally cannot write romance without angst; it's not physically possible for me. It's a long one but hopefully, it's worth the read. As always, feedback is appreciated! Enjoy!

They were the ideal “it” couple, the envy of every nerd, prep, and jock at Hamilton High. Roman Prince, the varsity quarterback and senior class president. Laurel Hudson, the head cheerleader and unofficial theatre queen. They met doing a show their sophomore year after Roman convinced his coach that dancing would be adequate conditioning for football. It was Grease and they were the quintessential Danny Zuko and Sandra Dee, her blond curls and his strong arms sweeping them across the stage in perfect sync. From then on, their love story played out beyond the stage curtain while everyone watched in awe and envy of her seemingly ideal romance. It wasn’t until the start of their senior year that the wheels of their well-oiled machine began to rust when a single conversation and a pair of wandering eyes became their downfall.

“Roman?” Laurel was hesitant, twisting her hands into the down of Roman’s comforter while he distractedly flipped the pages of Vogue (when did he start reading that? she wondered).

“Hmm? Yes, my love, what is it?”

“Why haven’t we had sex yet?” Roman nearly choked on the gasp of air that misrouted its way to his lungs at that statement. “Love...we-we said we were going to wait until we were both ready.”

“Are you ready? Be-because I was talking to Millicent-”

“Why are you taking advice from that shrieking harpy?” Roman quipped, tone dripping with a casual sarcasm. “Because she’s my friend, you clod, don’t be mean!” She playfully tossed a pillow at Roman’s overly styled coif, mussing it slightly and earning a dramatic noise of offense. “I’m being serious, Ro…I think I’m ready. Millie’s been having sex with Ben for months now and they’re barely in love. We’re literally perfect in every way. We should…take the next step.”

“Laurel-love…if we’re perfect in every way, why do we need to complicate things with sex? I love us the way we are.” Laurel’s face crumpled. “She was right. You don’t find me attractive. I knew it. You don’t want to be with me, not that way.”

Roman sat up quickly, alarmed at how close his girlfriend was to tears. “Babe, no, no, you’re wrong, that’s not it at all. Of course I think you’re attractive. Besides, it’s not like we haven’t done anything, we’ve…fooled around.” He ran his hand down her back comfortingly. “I just…still need to wait, okay love? It has nothing to do with you or how beautiful you are. I just want to know that I’m ready, all right?” Laurel nodded silently, still looking unsure but accepting his answer. “Come here, let me hold you.” Laurel climbed over and crawled into his arms, curling into Roman’s broad chest. He let out a sigh of relief, strangely feeling like he had dodged a bullet.

****

It was strange, honestly. Roman had seen Logan Fields around school before plenty of times. They had even spoken. But for some unknown reason, today felt like the first day he noticed him. He noticed his thick rimmed glasses that framed his face perfectly. He noticed his formal dress that so appropriately suited him. He noticed that he was tall. Tall, dark-haired with piercing grey eyes, long legs and broad shoulders...

Why was Roman thinking about these things?

Better question, why was he thinking about these things instead of watching where he was going? The distraction of Logan's limbs caused the two to collide like linebackers in the endzone.

"Oh my God, I am so, so sorry! Here let me help you," Roman grabbed at Logan's papers frantically, purposely avoiding eye contact.

"Well. That explains why your percentage of sacks taken in the pocket is so high."

Roman froze. "Excuse me?"

Logan smirked proudly. "You obviously have poor peripheral vision if you couldn't see me walking towards you."

Roman barely processed the slight jab once he locked eyes with the alluring smug on Logan’s face. He couldn’t believe himself as he stammered around his next sentence: Roman Prince was actually flustered. Him at a loss for words, a novel concept. “You, uh…you follow my stats? I didn’t someone like you would be interested in me- uh, football! Interested in football, I-I mean.” Nice going, Prince, really smooth.

“I don’t care about football. I enjoy math. Football has a lot of statistics and physics elements that interest me. But no, I have no emotional investment in whether you win or lose. Although,” Logan leaned in and lowered his voice, slipping a notebook into Roman’s hand, “you are compelling to watch on the field. Your passion is…admirable.”

Should hearts beat this fast? Roman didn’t think it was healthy to actually feel the blood rush through his veins. “Oh…thank you. It means a lot that you…notice that.” Why he did feel such a strong urge to compliment Logan back? He should be saying sorry and leaving, nothing more. Damned if he couldn’t make his feet move, though. “You know, I’ve watched you from the sidelines as well. At the poetry jam session.”

Logan’s eyebrows shot up. “And I’m supposed to believe that Roman ‘Mr. Popular’ Prince spent a Friday night in the school’s basement listening to poetry?” It was Roman’s turn to purse his lips into a smirk. “That you are, Fields. I do have other interests than sports, you know. And even more shocking, I actually enjoyed it. Your piece especially was inspired.”

“Well…thank you. That’s very kind of you.” A beat went by before Logan spoke again. “Roman? May I have my binder back? You still have it.”

“I’m aware. It’s in secure hands; you should know that from my pass percentage.” The quarterback winked at Logan’s annoyance, feeling the control shift back to his realm. He cocked his head to the side casually, purposefully ignoring the poet’s indignant expression. “Hey, we have history together, right? Third period?”

“I’m aware,” Logan fired back. God, he was pretentious. Roman shouldn’t find that so attractive.

Wait. He shouldn’t find that attractive at all.

“Well then, calculator watch, you won’t mind if we sit next to each other? We have those projects coming up and I’d like a shot at a decent partner. Besides, I owe you for practically flattening you in the hallway just now.” What the hell are you doing? Give him his binder back and shut up! Roman was too busy berating himself to notice the small smile pulling at the corner of Logan’s lips. “I suppose that is satisfactory. Maybe working together will make our mutual admiration for one other a little less…distant.” Was…was he… flirting? It couldn’t be. Logan wasn’t gay…right? It doesn’t matter, you dunce, neither are you-

“Hi, baby,” Laurel walked up placed a kiss on Roman’s cheek and snapped him out of his reverie, the squeak that escaped him reddening his face even further. “You okay? You’re awfully jumpy. And you look a little flushed.”

“Good morning, Laurel. I’m fine, just recovering from a little collision with my…with Logan here. Logan, this is-“

“Laurel, your girlfriend, I’m aware-“

“Aware, yeah, I know.” Roman tried for another smirk but Logan’s face had suddenly slipped into something cold and impervious. “So…see you in class?”

Logan nodded stiffly. “That you shall. You two have a pleasant day.” The taller boy sped off, long strides carrying him away with purpose.

“What was that with you and the nerd about?” Laurel inquired. “You two seemed tense.” Roman swallowed thickly, ignoring the…tension he felt swimming in his gut and wrapped his arm around his Laurel-love. “Nothing, darling. He’s fine, let’s go to English.”

That day, when the envied popular couple read the balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet for the class, Roman fought visions of himself looking up, directing the dramatic declarations at Logan.

****

"I'm ready."

Those were the two words Roman uttered after discovering that he and Logan lived in the same neighborhood two streets over. After they had spent almost every day together since the project was assigned, researching and bantering about the history that was and wasn't in their textbooks. After weeks of discussions that trailed off-topic to shared and unshared interests, worldviews, beliefs, and philosophies. After one particularly heated conversation that left Logan red-faced and flustered and Roman wanting to lean over and kiss the incredulous look off the intellectual's face. After Logan closed the gap and Roman melted into him for only a split second before he remembered that he couldn't and broke away frantic, dashing out of the door and sprinting to his house with Logan calling after him. "I'm ready," he panted to Laurel over the phone, who said that she'd be over in fifteen minutes.

She was there in ten. He was still panting. Laurel just took it as excitement. Roman was terrified.

Kissing Laurel felt nothing like kissing Logan.

When it was said and done, they both laid on the bed in silence, feeling something had forever changed between them.

"You didn't enjoy it," Roman said blankly. Laurel said nothing. "I can do better," he pleaded, turning to face her. "It'll get better." Silence persisted in favor of Laurel rising to leave. "Wait! Will you at least say something to me? Tell me what did I wrong? Did I hurt you? I'm sorry."

She turned around slowly, unshed tears threatening to spill at any second. "You called me Logan," she whispered brokenly. Wide eyed, Roman watched her leave without another word, nausea rising in his throat, choking out any excuse he could have offered.

She broke up with him the next day. News of the demise of the most coveted relationship spread like wildfire. Roman spent the majority of his day numbly fielding question after question of why and how and what happened. He couldn't answer any of it. Truthfully, he didn't know how to answer any of it. Fortunately, Laurel had enough grace to suffer in silence as well as he heard no rumors of his unfortunate...slip-up. Confession? What did it even mean? What did he feel? What did he want? Why wasn't he more heartbroken? He loved Laurel...right? Did he love Logan too? Could he? Roman found himself under the bleachers during seventh period with a tornado of questions spinning in his mind.

Just in time for one Logan Fields to walk by and catch his eye.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" Roman called out. His tone was flat, empty. Logan turned his head to witness a disheveled and red-eyed quarterback staring back at him. He walked under the metal bars and sat next to where Roman was perched, hunched over in some sort of pain. Logan could guess it was far worse than physical.

"I have this period free. I usually study. Today I feel like going home. And you?"

"Came out here to get away from the damn stares and questions long enough to freaking think."

"Mmm, and how's that going for you?" It was said without malice or sarcasm; Logan felt genuinely concerned. Roman exhaled shakily. "Not well. She broke up with me."

"I heard, unfortunately. Damn high schoolers with nothing better to do than revel in someone's misfortune. It should just be your business, no one else's." Roman looked up at Logan, grateful that he understood. "And what happens next? Is that...my business too?"

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

"We had sex, Logan," the ravenette visibly stiffened, "and I...I called her by your name. I said your name, not hers." Jealousy broke way for shock to inhabit Logan's body. He quickly regained his composure and swallowed the torrent of emotions that confession stirred up. "I see...well, what do you think it means?"

Roman stood up suddenly and took up a rhythmic pace back and forth. "That's just it! I don't know what I want it to mean! I'm not...I've never been...attracted to men before, Logan! I've loved Laurel since sophomore year! But then you come along and-and confuse me with your razor-sharp wit and your gorgeous eyes and your...just, you! You confuse me and I feel something that I've never felt before but I can't give in to it, I want to but I can't, I don't know how-"

"Roman. Stop. Breathe. Look at me and breathe." The intellectual allowed Roman to search for his eyes who finally managed to calm himself once they found each other and the glaze of fear began to dissipate. "The only person scared of this is you. I have no expectations. I am not pressuring you to be anyone you're not ready to be nor will I ever do that. So the only question is...what do you want?"

Roman stared into the grey pools that glistened with such care for merely a second before he knew the answer.

"I want you."

This time when they kissed, Roman didn't pull away.

****

They kept their relationship private out of respect for Laurel who unfortunately seemed to be spiraling. She had been absent frequently after a prior perfect attendance record. She quit cheerleading. She had lost weight. Roman was wracked with guilt, here he was living in bliss with Logan Fields while she was burning herself to the ground. It wasn't fair; he might not be in love with her in the same way anymore but he still cared. So he tried to talk to her. And tried. And tried. Nothing ever came of his efforts.

Until one day she showed up on his doorstep unannounced, tears streaking down her face.

"Laurel-love," the old nickname slipped out at the heart-wrenching sight in front of him, "what is the matter? You can tell me, I've been trying to call for weeks-"

"I'm pregnant."

Roman's world ceased to rotate. Alarm bells rang in his ears. His heart threatened to mutiny and exit his chest along with the contents of his stomach. He did only thing he could think to do.

He ran.

He sprinted two streets down to Logan's house and slammed the doorbell repeatedly. His parents weren't home, only Logan would answer. A perceived eternity later, the poet came to the door, an expression of bewilderment gracing his features. "Roman? What are you doing here?"

"She's pregnant." He could barely speak around the gasps of air marching from his lips.

Logan went stone-faced. "What...did you just say?"

"Laurel, she's pregnant. She just came over and told me and...and I just ran like a coward! God, I am trash! I'm a quarterback, I'm supposed to be a leader, a hero but I just fucking abandoned her like the trash I am! And I don't know why I'm here telling you but she just dropped a bomb on me and I had no idea what to do, Logan, I have no idea what to do-"

A deafening crack sounded through the air.

Roman grabbed his cheek, stunned both by the stinging of his skin and the expression of fury and pain outlined on Logan's face. He shook with rage but his eyes told the truth: he was hurt.

"That," he said sternly but evenly, "is for making me love you while you screwed around and got a girl pregnant and then left her on a doorstep!" Roman swallowed thickly, fear freezing his vocal cords. Without warning, Logan stepped forward and brought Roman into a passionate kiss, one he barely reciprocated due to the overload of shock and relief flooding his senses. Logan finally pulled away and rested their foreheads together, both breathless and shaking. "And that...was to show you that I still love you and we will figure this out. But right now, you need to go to her. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. You are not trash but if you want to be a hero, then you go to her. Now. Go!" Roman nodded and took one last longing glance at Logan before he turned the corner. Logan watched Roman's sprinting figure fully disappear before he shuffled inside, shut the door and slid down the frame, collapsing under the weight of how quickly and unfairly things had changed.

****

Laurel and Roman agreed that adoption was the best choice for both of them. She left school to finish her senior year from home with her aunt, the potential of stares and mocking too much for her to handle. Roman visited her as often as he could although it broke him every time to do so. Logan spent weeks convincing Roman that he wasn't getting away with anything, that this was the best outcome of a difficult situation and she was going to be fine and have a life just like Roman would. Logan kept him focused, kept his grades up so he could earn the eventual full scholarship to college with his intelligence and his athletic talent. Laurel chose to go to nursing school nearby, the experience making her realize just how much she wanted to help young mothers going through similar struggles. Roman breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the light turn on again in her eyes. They were forever changed but they weren't broken, even when Laurel had the baby three weeks early and Roman dropped everything to be right by her side, holding her as she cried when the beautiful baby was finally taken away. Their shared pain was terrible, without question, but also survivable because they trusted the love they had for each other. A love that Roman finally accepted was different than the love he held for Logan, who on that same day waited for him in the lobby, holding Roman through his tears when he was done being strong. What should have torn the two apart pulled them together in a way most would only describe as miraculous. Their relationship remained private, mostly for Roman's sake as he learned to accept himself for who he was now in spite of his past. The journey was a difficult one with many battles but their combined resilence persisted and it too proved to be survivable. At the final poetry session of the school year, Roman signed up to present an original work to the sheer surprise of his (now) boyfriend. He slowly ambled to the stage, more nervous than he had ever been for any performance prior, leaned into the microphone and began to speak.

"Good- good evening. I'm Roman Prince and this is an original piece I wrote when I was going through the toughest time of my life so far. Before I begin, I'd like to dedicate this to the two most important people in my world today: my first love, Laurel Hudson and my truest love, Logan Fields. This is called How to Become a Hero."

Logan placed a hand over his chest to steady his pounding heart, overwhelmed by the frankness of Roman's declaration. His eyes filled with tears of pride and love as Roman began the first line of his poem.

"It began in a shroud of darkness and deceit. It ended in illuminated joy and the most brilliant honest love I've ever known."

#sanders sides #romantic logince #logince #logan sanders #roman sanders #roman angst #my writing #sanders sides human au

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hannahberrie · 7 years ago

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Everybody Talks | Chapter 13: Into the Woods

Fandom: Stranger Things Pairings: Mileven, Lumax Rating: K WC: 13,562 😵 Summary: When Will invites the group on a weekend camping trip, everyone gets a lot more surprises than they bargained for.

[AO3] Chapter Selection: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]-13-[14][15][Epilogue]

El is crowded with her friends in the A.V. Club room when Will brings up the idea.

“Are you guys busy this weekend?” He begins, glancing at everyone curiously.

Mike is crouched in front of the TV, trying to get it to turn on. Dustin is hovering beside him, snacking on a 3 Musketeers bar, and trying his best to instruct Mike on what to do, even though Mike claims he already knows what to do. Max and Lucas are seated in two of the desks, with Max’s legs draped across Lucas’ lap.

It’s Monday after school, and they’re all in here to see the boys’ final cut of their Homecoming video. El is seated on top of the third desk, near the back of the group. She finds herself torn between eyeing Mike (because he looks really cute whenever he’s focused), or eyeing Max and Lucas (because she can’t help but wonder: are they dating now? It’s kinda unclear. El’s pretty sure that Max would tell her if they were, so they’re probably not, but first it was holding hands during movie night, and now Max is totally acting even weirder than usual around him).

Despite all the clamor, when Will poses his question, everyone stops what they’re doing to turn and look at him.

“I dunno,” Dustin shrugs, “I mean, whatever we do, we’re probably going to be together anyway.”

“Why?” El asks Will, intrigued.

Will, seated in the fourth desk, hesitates before continuing. “Well, I was just wondering if you guys wanted to go camping?”

“Camping?” Lucas frowns, confused.

“That’s kinda random, Byers,” Max nods, eyeing him.

“I know,” Will blushingly admits, “It’s just…I don’t know, it’s kinda dumb.”

“No, what is it?” Mike asks concernedly, “You can tell us.”

Will gives Mike a grateful smile before turning to look back at the rest of the group. “Well,” he begins, “Jonathan and I kind of have this tradition. On the last weekend of October, we take a camping trip to the woods, you know the big forest out by the Quarry? And we like, set up sleeping bags and build a campfire and roast marshmallows and…I dunno, it’s just always a lot of fun.”

“And you want us to do that with you?” Mike offers.

Will nods.

“Let me get this straight,” Max cuts in, removing her legs from Lucas’ lap and sitting up straighter, “You want us, a group of teenagers, to go spend a night in the forest, alone?”

“Yes?” Will hesitates.

“You realize that that’s like, the set-up for every slasher movie ever?” Max points out, “Friday the 13th? Madman? Sleepaway Camp? You’re basically asking to get murdered.”

“Those are just movies,” El frowns.

“I dunno, Max has a point,” Dustin shrugs, “It sounds kinda risky; we’d basically be tempting the horror fates.”

“I know,” Will patiently replies, “But…I mean, we’ve been doing it every October since our dad left, and this is the first year that Jonathan’s not going to be here since he’s at NYU now.”

Everyone falls silent at that, looking a little guilty.

“I dunno, it was a dumb idea,” Will hastily continues, slumping back in his desk, “Just forget I said anything.”

“No!” Mike frowns, “Let’s do it!”

“Really?” Will asks hopefully.

“Yeah,” Max nods, looking a little embarrassed, “It could be fun, I guess. And if a serial killer does come after us, we could always use Dustin as bait.”

“Why me!?” Dustin protests, looking offended.

“My dad has a lot of old camping stuff,” El offers, ignoring Dustin and Max’s bickering, “If we need anything.”

“Okay!” Will replies, starting to look more excited. “I mean, if you guys really want to.”

“We really do,” Mike assures Will before turning back to fiddle with the TV.

“But wait,” Lucas suddenly pipes up, looking concerned, “Isn’t the homecoming dance this weekend?”

“No, that’s the football game, you dweeb,” Max huffs with an eye roll, “The game is this weekend, the dance is next weekend.”

“Why do you know that?” Dustin snorts.

“Why don’t you?” Max snaps back defensively, “You’re the ones who made a whole video for it!”

“But do we care about going to the football game?” Will points out, looking puzzled.

“No,” Dustin snorts again.

“Speaking of,” Mike segues, “I finally got the TV to turn on, so we can watch our video.”

“Finally,” Max sighs, “Let’s see this thing.”

“Full disclaimer,” Dustin prefaces, “It’s kinda super boring, because it’s about football, but in our defense, we did the best we could.”

“It’s not boring,” Lucas counters, “I mean...it kind of is, but it could be worse.”

“I think it’s fine!” Mike insists, “Let’s just watch it and see.”

“Have you guys not watched it or something?” Max asks skeptically.

“This is our first time watching the final cut,” Will explains, “We just finished it today.”

“It’ll be good,” El assures them, “I know it. You guys are all really talented.”

Mike glances over his shoulder to smile at El thankfully, and El feels her heart flutter in response. It’s not fair how he manages to look insanely cute even when his face is still a little bruised and he’s wearing the most basic of hoodies.

El watches Mike as he inserts the tape into the VHS player under the TV, hurries to the back of the room, and turns off the lights. As the tape clicks into place and begins to whirr inside the player, Mike comes to sit beside El on the top of the desk.

This, of course, causes El to blush like mad. It’s a pretty small desktop as is, so having Mike squeeze in beside her means that they’re seated rather close to each other. It’s not like she minds this, or anything, but she’s still adjusting to being this up close and personal with Mike on a regular basis.

Ever since they spent Saturday afternoon eating waffles and watching cheesy soap operas at her house, things have felt a little different. El’s not quite sure what it is, but something has definitely changed. They’re more comfortable around each other (for the most part), and El notices that Mike’s been casually gazing at her more often, like before school, during lunch, during Biology, right now...

“Aren’t you supposed to be watching the video?” El whispers, giving him a teasing smile.

Mike flinches and nods, looking flustered. “Uh, yeah,” he admits, turning to look back at the TV.

El has to bite down on her lower lip to stop herself from giggling. As she turns to look toward the screen, she does her best to pay attention to the video, and not the fact that Mike currently smells like Ivory soap (a fact that, while albeit slightly strange to point out, is nevertheless pretty distracting).

El doesn’t know too much about sports, but from what she can tell, the video is constructed well. There’s plenty of footage from the games, the transitions are nice, and she can tell that the boys must have worked really hard on it.

When the video ends, Mike leaves El’s side, turns on the lights, and goes to retrieve the tape from the VHS player. “And that’s pretty much it,” he summarizes, glancing at all the members of the group as he stands before them.

“So, what do you think?” Dustin asks, turning to look at Max and El, “Did that not just like, blow your mind?”

“Oh, it did,” Max nods, “But not in the way you probably wanted.”

“What do you mean?” Lucas frowns.

“Isn’t this supposed to be a video supporting our school?” Max asks incredulously.

“Obviously,” Dustin scoffs.

“Then why did you dweebs put in so many shots of the other teams scoring on us?”

The boys pale and turn to look at each other worriedly.

“We did!?” Mike exclaims, looking panicked.

“But the crowd was cheering!” Will pouts, “Doesn’t that mean we scored?”

“That means that the other team’s crowd was cheering,” Max replies, “Not ours.”

The guys exchange collective groans of defeat.

“It’s a small mistake!” El offers encouragingly, “I didn’t notice!”

“Still,” Mike sighs, “We’re gonna have to fix it.”

“But Mr. Coleman wants it turned in by Wednesday!” Lucas laments. “That gives us less than two days!”

“I’ll help you geeks fix it,” Max huffs.

Dustin eyes her. “You know about video editing?”

“No,” Max admits, “But I know how to tell the difference between winning or losing, which you guys obviously don’t.”

The guys nod reluctantly, all unwilling to argue with that.

“Let’s meet after school and work on it tomorrow,” Mike instructs, “It’s already getting late. We’ll work on it tomorrow, finish it up on Wednesday, and then we can start planning for the camping trip.”

Everyone else nods in agreement before rising out of their seats.

“I can’t believe I’m gonna have to help you nerds,” Max gripes as she grabs her backpack and skateboard.

“If you’re helping them make the video,” El nonchalantly responds, “Does that mean you’re in the A.V. Club now?”

Max pauses to crinkle her nose in disdain. “Please, no,” she groans.

“Too late!” Lucas smirks, giving her a light nudge, “You’re one of us now, Mad Max.”

Dustin bursts out laughing at this, which only causes Max to look more annoyed (though, to be fair, El is certain that Max’s annoyance falls under the “pretending like she hates something even though she secretly likes it” category).

Max exits the classroom while bickering with Lucas and Dustin on whether or not she’s a nerd like them (according to Dustin, since she has the highest scores at the arcade and she’s seen 2/3 Star Wars movies she is; according to Max, Dustin can shut up).

Will grabs his backpack and moves to follow them, but first stops to look at Mike and El.

“Thanks for agreeing to go on the camping trip with me,” he says, smiling shyly, “I know it sounds dumb, but...it really means a lot.”

“It’s not dumb,” El assures him.

“El’s right!” Mike nods, “If it’s something important to you, then it’s important to all of us.”

“Still,” Will insists, “I just wanted to say ‘thanks’.”

El and Mike both give Will reassuring smiles before he continues to head out the door.

“See you tomorrow!” Will cheerily calls back over his shoulder.

“‘Bye, Will!” Mike calls back.

And just like that, they’re alone.

There’s an awkward beat of silence as Mike and El exchange nervous smiles. Even though they’ve been more comfortable with each other since Saturday, this current newfound privacy came quickly and by surprise.

Thankfully, Mike, as usual, has something to talk about.

“Did you see that Troy was back in school today?” He asks. He moves closer, sits on top of the desk that Max was previously seated in, and positions himself so that he’s facing El.

“Yes,” El nods, “We have Biology with him.”

“Right!” Mike blushes, looking embarrassed.

It was true, Troy had returned to school that day. He was sporting an arm cast and a surly glare, but other than that, he’d kept to himself. El caught him looking her way during Biology class, but all it’d taken was one cold glare from her to get him to snap back in the other direction.

“I don’t think he’s going to bother us,” El remarks.

“Yeah, all thanks to you!” Mike beams.

“And you,” El reminds him.

“I guess,” Mike shrugs, “But it was mostly you.”

El doesn’t feel like turning this into a debate (mostly because she knows that Mike would never give it up), so she chooses to give him a soft smile instead.

“Speaking of all that,” Mike continues, “I kind of have an idea.”

“An idea?” El frowns.

Even though they’re completely alone, Mike still glances around the A.V. Club room before leaning in a little closer. “I think the camping trip might be a good time to tell everyone,” he says, voice low, “About your...you know.”

Her powers.

El glances down at her hands before looking back up at Mike. “Why?”

“Well, just think about it,” Mike explains, “We’re gonna be completely alone in the woods, so you don’t have to worry about anyone overhearing you. Plus, both Max and I will be there to help you explain everything.”

“That’s a good point,” El nods, though with slight reluctance.

While they watched soap operas and ate waffles on Saturday, they’d also discussed ways that El could reveal her powers to the rest of their friends. It had to be just right, Mike pointed out, so that their reaction wouldn’t be like his reaction. But after finishing off two boxes of Eggos and learning that Jessica’s sister, who was thought to be dead, is really alive and having an affair with Robert, her long-lost half-brother, Mike and El still hadn’t come up with any plan. The subject was eventually dropped in favor of discussing how “totally insane” soap operas were (Mike’s words, not hers).

El knew that she was going to have to tell her friends, she just didn’t think it was going to be as soon as this weekend.

“Do you think you’re ready?” Mike asks concernedly.

El sighs and shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know, but...I think I should get it over with.”

“Yeah,” Mike nods, “I think so too.”

“You’ll help me?” El asks, glancing up at him.

“Yeah, totally!” Mike assures her, “I promised you! I’ll make sure that they don’t freak out like I did.”

El gives him a small, relieved smile as she feels herself relax. “Thank you,” she murmurs.

Mike smiles back, nods, and leans forward in his seat to give her a quick little hug.

Before he can move away, El grasps him tighter and holds the hug longer, not wanting to leave his arms. She nuzzles her face into his shoulder, taking in both the scent of his Ivory soap and of the fabric softener that lingers on his hoodie.

Safe.

On Tuesday, everyone stays late after school to finish the video. The time is mostly comprised of Max teasing the guys, Dustin getting offended, Lucas not-so-subtly drooling over Max, and Will and Mike trying to keep them all on task. Even though El doesn’t know much about film editing, she still hangs around to give moral support (and to pass out lots of caffeine-filled sodas for stamina). They finish the video around 8 pm, and when they’re done, they’re all pleased with the final product.

“If this doesn’t get on the news,” Max says after they drop off the finished tape at the main office, “I’m gonna torch Mr. Coleman’s car again.”

“Because that’s a reasonable reaction,” Dustin replies dryly.

Since they finish editing the video early, they get to spend Wednesday solely focused on planning their upcoming camping trip. Though El’s excited, she can’t help but worry. While everyone else already got their parents’ permission to go on the trip, El has yet to ask Hopper for his, mainly because she’s almost 100% certain that he’s going to say no. He’d just met Mike, and while Hopper had admittedly treated him well, El can’t help but feel like she’s asking for too much too soon.

When she confides these concerns to Max after school, Max offers to help El ask Hopper, a proposition that El readily accepts.

Since Hopper is still on duty, the girls decide to visit him at the police station. While El doesn’t spend a lot of time there, the secretary, Flo, is always super nice, and Max always gets a kick out of messing around with the handcuffs, badges, and other police equipment that Hopper now says are ‘Off Limits.’

As the two girls walk down the sidewalk with their skateboards under their arms, El shares the details of her planned confession.

“So, you’re going to tell all of them?” Max summarizes.

El nods.

“And this is all Wheeler’s idea?”

“Sort of,” El frowns, “But...I want to do it. I don’t want to lie to my friends.”

Max nods. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

They walk in silence for a moment before Max speaks up again. “Well, I got your back, okay?” She assures El.

“Thank you,” El smiles gratefully, before reluctantly adding, “But it won’t matter if I don’t get my Dad’s permission.”

“Why wouldn’t he give it to you?”

El gives Max a wary look. “He made me keep the door open when Mike was in my room. I know he won’t be happy about us going to the woods, alone.”

“But you won’t be alone,” Max points out, “The rest of us will all be there.”

“That’s true,” El admits.

“Plus, if your Dad wants, I’ll make sure that you and Mike are never alone together. I’ll be your personal third wheel.”

“But then Lucas will be lonely,” El teases.

The late-afternoon air is rather chilly, so when Max gives off an exaggerated, indignant huff, her breath fogs into a wispy mist. “What?!”

El holds back a smirk, instead keeping her expression innocently inquisitive. “I thought you liked him?”

“No!” Max fervently exclaims.

“You were holding his hand during the movie. You sat by him on Monday.”

“So?! That doesn’t mean anything.”

El can’t hold back her smile any longer. Max likes Lucas so much, it’s completely obvious. She can try to deny it all she likes, but El sees right through it.

“Are you dating him?” El asks, studying Max’s reaction closely.

“No,” Max answers, rolling her eyes dismissively.

“Do you want to?” El smiles, giving her a light nudge.

In a rather out-of-character reaction, Max actually blushes and seems a little flustered. “Maybe,” she mutters.

El opens her mouth to gasp excitedly, but Max quickly moves in and clamps her hand over it.

“Don’t!” Max hisses, “You can’t tell him, or anyone!”

El nods, still smiling elatedly.

Max likes Lucas and Lucas likes Max and they’re probably going to date and everything is perfect!

She’s about to voice these elated thoughts to Max, but then she realizes they’ve finally arrived at the station. Her thought process shifts to the main task at hand: convincing her Dad that allowing her to spend a night in the woods with her friends is a good idea.

Flo greets the girls when they enter and cheerily guides them back to Hopper’s office.

“Hey, Hop!” Flo calls out as she knocks on the closed door, “Your 3 o’clock is here.”

“I don’t have anyone at 3 o’clock,” Hopper grumpily replies from inside.

El and Max have to bite down on their bottom lips to keep from giggling out loud.

“Well, I got two people here who really need to talk to you,” Flo continues, smiling at the girls.

“Send them in,” Hopper sighs.

Flo gives the girls a wink before walking off. El and Max give her appreciative waves before El moves forward, turns the doorknob, and steps inside.

Hopper is seated behind his desk, surrounded by empty white mugs, miscellaneous documents, and a couple untouched apples (El doesn’t know why Flo insists on giving Hopper apples every morning — he never eats them and El just winds up throwing them away after they start to rot). When Hopper sees the two girls walk in, he’s surprised at first, but his expression quickly relaxes into a warm smile.

“Hey, kids,” he greets, putting his feet up on his desk.

“Hi, Dad!” El smiles, trying to stay calm. Her dad is so much more intimidating when he’s in full uniform, and as she and Max sit in the two chairs in front of his desk, she can’t help but feel like one of the suspects in his cases.

“What are you two doing here?” Hopper asks, glancing at them, “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Max shrugs. She slumps back in her chair and puts her feet up on the desk, mimicking Hopper’s pose.

“Really?” Hopper asks flatly.

El forces herself to smile, though she feels like crumbling. What if she’s the only one who can’t go on the trip? Would they go without her?

“I…uh…have to ask you something,” El states, trying to sound as confident as possible.

“Okay,” Hopper replies, eyeing her cautiously.

“I want...I want to go camping.”

“Camping?!”

“...With my friends.”

Hopper blinks at her, confused.

El takes a deep breath and without further hesitation, proceeds to spill out the entire plan, from where she’d be going (the woods near the quarry), how she’d get there (she would skate to Will’s house Saturday morning, or Hopper could drive her, if he really wanted), how long she’d be gone (they’d hike Saturday afternoon, camp in the evening, come back Sunday morning), and who would be coming with her (Max, Mike — yes, that Mike — Dustin, Lucas, and Will).

When she finally finishes, she’s slightly breathless from talking so much. As she stops to catch her breath, she crosses her fingers under her seat, hoping that her dad will be understanding.

There’s a minute of silence has Hopper processes all this information. As it starts to settle in, he takes his feet off his desk and furrows his brow.

“Let me get this straight,” Hopper finally says, leaning forward, “You want to spend a night in the woods, alone, with a bunch of teenage boys?”

“Not just teenage boys,” Max pipes up, “I’m gonna be there.”

Hopper eyes Max, most likely dwelling on the fact that that’s not the most comforting news.

“It’s for Will!” El pleadingly continues.

“Byers?”

“Yes. He used to take the trip with his brother, but now he left for college.”

Hopper nods. “Yeah, I know. I know the Byers. I…I went to high school with their mother. We were pretty close.”

Max snorts. “What, did you like her?”

Hopper and El both turn to look at Max indignantly, Hopper especially.

“Max!” El hisses, hoping that her chances of getting her dad’s approval weren’t about to be thrown away like one of Flo’s daily apples.

“I did not like her,” Hopper huffs, though he looks slightly flustered, “I’m just saying I know her, so I know her boys. Will’s a good kid.”

“He’s Mike’s best friend,” El adds quickly, “Well, one of them.”

“Is that so?” Hopper remarks. He keeps studying El, but El can’t read his expression.

“If it makes you feel better, I can be your eyes and ears the entire time, Chief,” Max offers, “I’ll make sure that El doesn’t get into any Mike-related shenanigans.”

El, cheeks burning, throws Max a dirty look. She’s not sure if that statement is going to help or hurt her chances of getting permission, and with the stoic look on Hopper’s face, there’s no way for her to tell.

It seems to work though, if the way Hopper proceeds to smile is any indication.

“I’m not that worried about Mike,” Hopper admits.

“Why not?” El frowns, not liking his tone.

Hopper hesitates. “Well, you know, he just seems kinda...”

“Like, the biggest nerd ever?” Max finishes.

Hopper hesitates again, but then nods and shrugs. “Yeah.”

Even though this is pretty much true, El can’t help but feel offended on behalf of Mike. “He is not!” She insists.

Hopper and Max only exchange knowing looks.

“He’s not!” El huffs, slumping back in her chair.

“He seems like a nice kid,” Hopper amends, sounding like he’s trying not to laugh.

“He is,” El grumbles.

Hopper gives her a small smile before stopping to think.

He’s deciding.

Another minute passes, though it feels more like an hour. El keeps her fingers crossed as her heart pounds in her chest.

Please, please, please, please!

Finally, Hopper gives a sigh and replies, grudgingly saying, “I guess you can go.”

“Really?” El replies, breath hitching.

“Only,” Hopper warms, holding up a finger, “If you promise to behave.”

He turns his finger to point it at Max. “You’ll keep an eye on Wheeler?”

“Totally!” Max nods.

“Okay.”

El leaps out of her chair and leans across the desk to give him a hug. “Thank you!” She beams, heart soaring.

Hopper returns the hug, patting El on the back. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“I won’t, I promise.”

Hopper nods and relinquishes the hug. “Alright, kid,” he replies, “You better get going, I got a lot of work to catch up with.”

“Okay!” El nods.

She and Max both prepare to exit the room, but just as El reaches the doorway, she remembers that she almost forgot one of the most important parts.

“Dad?” She asks nervously, turning to face the desk again.

Hopper glances up at her. “Yeah?”

El swallows. She’s probably asking for too much at once, but if she doesn’t do it now, she’ll miss her chance.

And so, tone mild and hesitant, she voices her next request.

“Can I have $5?”

It’s Thursday afternoon and El is standing in the parking lot of Bradley’s Big Buy with the rest of her friends.

“Alright, did everyone get the five dollars?” Mike asks, standing in front of the group.

Everyone nods, digs into their pockets, and retrieves a bill to show him.

As El shows off the $5 she was able to get from Hopper, she can’t help but smile. Now that she’s been given the all-clear from her dad, she feels as if she can finally allow herself to be excited.

While they were planning the trip on Wednesday, Dustin pointed out that they were going to need food for their travels. Will wholeheartedly agreed, mentioning that he and Jonathan always had a great time making s’mores. Lucas worried that they wouldn’t have enough money to afford food, so Mike proposed that they all ask their parents for just $5, that way when they all put their money together, they’d have a lot.

Mike’s so smart like that, El dreamily muses, smiling at Mike as he continues to say something. What he’s saying — she’s not sure, but he looks really cute saying it. He’s wearing a blue collared sweater under his windbreaker, and El is probably enjoying the sight more than she should. As she continues to gaze at him, she takes note that his wounds from the fight have finally started to heal. While he still has scars and a few bruises, he doesn’t have to wear the band-aids anymore, and his face looks less discolored overall.

She snaps out of her lovesick daze when she realizes that Mike is now yelling at someone. She flinches, startled, and glances over her shoulder to see that Dustin and Lucas have climbed inside a shopping cart, and Max is pushing said shopping cart in figure-8’s around the parking lot.

“Holy shit!” Dustin and Lucas gleefully exclaim as Max zooms around.

“Stop! We’re gonna get kicked out!” Mike exclaims, irritated. “What are you guys even doing?!”

“We wanted to see how fast I could push them!” Max calls back as Lucas and Dustin cheer her on.

Mike sighs and frowns, but El and Will both give him comforting smiles.

“I’m sorry,” El smiles sheepishly, even though she knows that she really has nothing to do with their friends’ antics.

“It’s not your fault,” Mike grumbles.

“Don’t worry,” Will reassures them, “I know what will get them over here.” He turns and cups his hands around his mouth, but even when he proceeds to call out to the others, his voice still isn’t very loud. “If you guys don’t stop, we’re gonna get sugar-free marshmallows and whole-grain graham crackers!”

The shopping cart comes to a screeching halt.

“What?!” Dustin and Max snap, sounding disgusted.

Sure enough, that does the trick.

Five minutes later, they’re hurrying down the aisles of the grocery store together. Will pushes the cart, reading off a shopping list that he composed, while the rest of the group darts around, listening to his instructions.

They get a little bit of everything: cereal, juice boxes, water bottles, hot dogs, trail mix, potato chips, cookies, and, perhaps most importantly, plenty of supplies to make s’mores.

When the time comes to check out, they all step up towards the register and place their $5 bill into the hand of the slightly confused-looking cashier.

The money they have left over, while not much, is given to Mike. The group, despite Mike’s humble protests, insists that he should keep it so that he can start saving up for a new bike.

“Thanks, guys,” Mike blushes as everyone grabs a shopping bag and heads out the door.

“This is gonna be the best trip ever!” Dustin exclaims.

“You know, I’ve actually never been camping,” Max admits.

“How?!” Lucas gapes.

Max shrugs. “I dunno. It’s just not really something my family does.”

“Well, I’ll have to teach you then,” Lucas states, gently nudging his arm against hers.

“Fine, whatever,” Max replies with an eye roll.

El has to clamp her mouth shut in order to not giggle out loud. They like each other and it’s so obvious and—

“Are they like, dating?” Someone mumbles into her ear.

El is startled, but when she looks over her shoulder, she sees that it’s just Mike.

“Not yet,” El whispers back, eyes shining with mischief.

Mike smirks back with a small shake of his head, as if he can’t believe they aren’t together yet.

As El smiles at him, heart fluttering, she can’t help but feel the same.

El and Max both decide in advance to dress down for the camping trip. They agree to ditch the eyeshadow, hairspray, and leather jackets in exchange for softer, more comfortable attire.

When Saturday morning comes, El borrows one of her dad’s flannel jackets, which is more than enough to keep her warm, even if it is really large on her. She also decides to keep her hair natural. While she’s slightly worried about getting teased by the other guys, the whole point of this trip, at least from her standpoint, is revealing her true self to them.

Plus, it had felt amazing when Mike ran his fingers through her curly hair, so maybe, he’d like, do that again.

Hopper offers to drive her to the Byers’, which is a little surprising, since El knows he has a lot of tough case files that he’s supposed to be working on. Nevertheless, she accepts the offer gratefully. Skateboarding while also lugging a sleeping bag and heavy backpack was not a feat that she was looking forward to.

When they pull up at Will’s house, everyone else is waiting outside in the front yard. There’s an older, pretty woman with mussed brown hair talking to Will, her hands on his shoulders. She’s short, Mike’s taller than her, but she still stands out amongst the clamor of jabbering teenagers.

“Is that Will’s Mom?” El asks, turning to glance at Hopper as he pulls the car to a stop.

El’s never seen her dad look anything close to shy, but that’s the only word she can think of to describe the way he’s glancing over at Ms. Byers.

“Yeah, that’s Joyce,” he nods, hastily averting his gaze back towards El.

El eyes him. He’s acting so weird. “Do you want to talk to her?”

Hopper gives a gruff, indifferent sort of huff.

El rolls her eyes. “C’mon,” she says, stepping out of the car.

Hopper composes himself and follows El. As they approach the group, her friends turn to greet them excitedly.

“You’re here!” Mike beams.

“Finally!” Max grins.

“HOLY SHIT! Your hair!” Dustin squawks. “What happened?!”

“Dude!” Lucas snaps, punching Dustin in the arm, “Shut up!”

“I think it looks nice,” Will states, giving Dustin a disapproving frown.

El feels her cheeks start to burn as she shyly tucks a curl behind her ear. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, it does,” Dustin quickly adds, rubbing his arm, “You look great!”

Joyce steps forward to give El a warm hug. “You must be Eleanor,” she says, pulling back to examine El’s face.

El nods shyly. “Yes.”

“Will’s told me so much about you,” she continues, “More than your dad has, anyway.”

Hopper, who’s been hovering on the sidelines this whole time, flushes pink at this. “‘Hello’ to you too,” he grumbles.

Joyce gently pulls away from El and moves to stand in front of Hopper. Her smallness compared to Hopper’s largeness makes for an interesting contrast, to say the least. Will’s Mom has to crane her neck way back to even make eye contact with Hopper.

“Hopp,” she smiles.

“Joyce,” Hopper smiles back.

Will’s Mom steps forward to give Hopper a hug, though her face only meets his upper torso.

El frowns, still a little confused as to how weird they’re acting. She turns to glance at Will, hoping for an explanation, but he looks just as puzzled as she does.

As Hopper and Joyce begin exchanging pleasantries, El steps closer to her friends. Everyone’s sporting bulging backpacks, bundled in warm coats, and carrying a sleeping bag under their arm.

Max is wearing a beanie with a large pom-pom on the top. The pom-pom bounces around as Max tilts her head to the side, and El has to force herself to not laugh at how funny it looks. “I’m pretty sure your dad likes Will’s mom,” she comments, eyeing Hopper and Joyce.

Will’s brow furrows in confusion, but he shakes it off, instead turning his attention back to El. “Is that a camera?” He asks, motioning to El’s torso.

El glances down where indeed, she has her Polaroid camera hanging around her neck. It’s kind of a bulky thing, but she loves using it to take photos of her and Max whenever they hang out. “Yes,” she nods, smiling at Will, “I wanted to take pictures.”

“Me too!” Will enthuses, pointing to the camera hanging around his own neck.

El’s eyes widen curiously as she leans in to look at Will’s camera. It’s different from hers; it has a bigger lens and more buttons to work with.

“It’s a 35 millimeter Pentax MX,” Will says proudly, “It’s Jonathan’s old camera; he let me have it when he got a newer one.”

“Where does the picture come out?” El frowns.

“It doesn’t, you have to develop it,” Will explains, “I can show you sometime, we have a dark room in the school for it!”

“We should get a picture of all of us,” Mike smiles, “Before we leave.”

“El could use an updated one,” Max mutters wryly.

El gives her a warning look, but thankfully, no one else seems to have noticed her comment.

“Good idea!” Will nods. He walks over to his mom, gently tugs on her arm, and asks her to take their picture.

As Will walks her through how to use the camera, El and the others drop their things and huddle together. El and Max stand in the middle with Mike and Lucas at their sides, respectively. Dustin crouches in front of them, and as soon as Will hands the camera to Joyce, he runs over to crouch beside Dustin.

As Mike wraps his arm around El’s back, she shivers, and not just because the morning is a little cold.

“Alright,” Joyce announces happily, peering into the viewfinder as she aims the camera at the group, “Smile!”

Everyone smiles, leans closer together, and the camera flashes. The flare leaves El’s vision dotted with colorful splotches for a moment, and she has to blink several times to get them to go away.

“You all look so cute!” Joyce gushes, causing Will to blush.

“Mom!” He bashfully whines. As he runs over to get his camera back, everyone else picks up their backpacks and sleeping bags again.

“We should probably get going,” Lucas reminds them, glancing at his watch, “It’s already after 11 o’clock.”

“Yeah, and I wanna eat the snacks,” Dustin chimes in.

“You already did!” Max snaps.

“Uh, no!?”

“Uh, yeah? Someone opened the box of Fruit Loops!”

“Oh, yeah,” Mike hesitates, “That was me.”

“What?!” Max exclaims.

“I got hungry!” Mike defends.

“El,” Max gripes, “Tell your boyfriend to stop digging into all our food like a weirdo.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” El insists at the same time that Mike stammers, “I-I’m not her boyfriend!”

Max, Lucas, and Dustin all exchange doubtful stares just as Will rejoins the group.

“What’d I miss?” Will asks, glancing at everyone.

“Nothing new,” Dustin snickers, “We’re just ready to go.”

Hopper and Joyce step forward to wish the kids goodbye. As Joyce fretfully lists off a series of reminders for Will (all of to which Will replies, “Yeah, I know Mom”), El moves in to hug her dad goodbye.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Hopper mumbles, patting the back of her head.

“Tomorrow,” El agrees.

They pull away, Hopper gives her one last smile, and El waves goodbye.

“Let’s go!” Lucas says eagerly.

“Hopefully we won’t get murdered,” Max jokes.

As they enter the forest that surrounds Will’s house, their feet crunch against the fallen leaves and their backpacks brush against protruding tree branches. Even though the morning is cold, the sky is a clear, vibrant blue.

“We won’t get murdered; there’s no serial killers out here,” Will sighs as he takes the lead.

“Other than Mike,” Dustin snorts, “He totally killed all those Fruit Loops.”

Everyone but Mike gets a good laugh out of that, Max especially.

“Wheeler’s a cereal killer!” Max cackles, shaking from how hard she’s laughing.

“Yeah, I got that,” Mike replies flatly.

The camping site isn’t too far from Will’s house — it only takes a little over an hour until they’re there. Will leads them to a small, secluded clearing. Trees stretch on for miles, their branches curving over the clearing, almost protecting the stop. Sunlight filters through the branches, causing the ground of the clearing to look like a mosaic of light and leaves. In the distance, El can make out the rocky bluffs of the Quarry’s edge. The air is tinged with the faint scent of clean, crisp freshwater, musky oak trees, and sticky sap.

“Well, here we are!” Will announces, motioning around the clearing, “This is the spot Jonathan and I always come to. It’s right by the Quarry, and there’s plenty of firewood, and—“

“Isn’t this place right by the kissing rock?” Max interrupts, looking around the forest skeptically.

Will pauses and frowns. “The what?”

“I think she’s right,” Dustin nods, “I mean, I’ve never been there, but I heard it’s in the woods right next to the Quarry.”

“It is!” Max nods, “I’m pretty sure it’s like…a 5-minute walk from here.”

“What’s a kissing rock?” El asks, brow furrowing in confusion.

“It’s this big boulder by the edge of the quarry where all the kids at school go to like…kiss,” Lucas explains, blushing.

“Where all the lame kids go,” Max corrects.

“I mean, I guess we’re by it then?” Will pouts, “I dunno.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Mike huffs, setting down his things, “It’s not like any of us are gonna—“

His voice trails off, and El suddenly realizes that he’s glancing at her. When El sees that he’s doing this, and Mike sees that El sees that he’s doing this, they both look away from each other quickly, cheeks crimson.

“Whatever,” Max sighs, shrugging the entire conversation off, “Let’s just unpack.”

Everyone else nods and proceeds to do so.

It takes the entire first half of the afternoon to set up camp. Will designates that they leave the center of the clearing for building the fire, so everyone else sets up their sleeping bags in a radial formation around it (first Lucas, then Max, then El, then Mike, then Will, and finally Dustin). After the sleeping bags are rolled out, the group proceeds to hike into the woods in search of sticks and stones for the fire pit.

The forest floor is covered with a thick layer of dead leaves, and El has to kick them all out of the way to find the stray twigs and sticks hidden beneath. As she bundles sticks into her arms, she tries to formulate a way to reveal her powers. She wants to tell them at just the right time and place, but there doesn’t seem to be any organic way to work it into the conversation.

By the time they finish gathering enough supplies to make the fire, it’s already late afternoon, and El’s mind is still as blank as ever.

“Okay,” Will says as soon as they return to the clearing, “We should probably get the fire going.”

“Already?” Lucas questions.

Will nods. “It’ll keep us warm, and it’s kind of hard to start one once it’s really dark out.”

El’s pretty sure that they’re all eager for a heat source right now, so Will doesn’t need to tell them twice to help him build a fire pit. They follow his instructions eagerly, setting up a circle of stones in the middle of their clearing and placing a pile of sticks and dead leaves inside.

“Great, so, how do we get it started?” Mike asks once they’re done.

“We’ll just use some matches,” Will shrugs. He gets up, goes to kneel beside his backpack, and starts digging through it.

“Can we make s’mores?” Dustin asks, “I’m really hungry.”

“Those are for after dinner!” Lucas disputes.

“Says who?”

“Says…I don’t know! Rational people!”

“We could have s’mores for lunch,” El points out, “And then again after dinner.”

“Yes!” Dustin beams at El, “That sounds like the best idea ever.”

“You guys are gonna get a stomach ache,” Mike smiles wryly.

“It’d be worth it,” Dustin insists, “I wanna eat nothing but s’mores for the rest of my life.”

“What about baloney sandwiches?” Max counters dryly.

“Those too.”

“Hey, guys?” Will calls out, still rummaging through his backpack, “Did you guys take the matches?”

“No,” Mike frowns, “Why?”

“I can’t find them!” Will says worriedly, turning to look back at the group.

“Are you serious?” Lucas groans.

“I’m sorry!” Will frets, starting to shake a little. “I think I forgot them!”

“Hey, it’s okay!” Mike insists. He rushes over to Will’s side and gently places his hand on Will’s shoulder. “It was an accident!”

“An accident that’s gonna leave us cold and hungry,” Lucas mutters under his breath.

“What should we do?” El asks, trying to remain calm.

“We could try to start one without matches!” Dustin offers, “You just gotta rub two sticks together! I saw someone do it on TV once!”

“If we wait for that to happen, we’ll all freeze to death,” Max snorts.

“Well, do you have a better idea?” Dustin snaps crossly.

“Uh, yeah? It’s going back to Will’s house and getting the matches!”

“But that’s like, an hour long walk!” Mike points out, “Plus another hour back! That’s two hours!”

“I know,” Max huffs, “I’ll do it.” She walks over to where she’d set her things down, picks up her backpack, and slings it over her shoulders.

“But it’s dangerous to go alone!” Lucas hesitates.

“Then come with me,” Max shrugs.

“Me?”

“Didn’t you go to karate camp?”

“Karate camp?” Lucas echoes, confused.

“Remember?” Max raises an eyebrow. “Jennifer’s party? Dustin told me you spent all of last summer at karate camp.”

Dustin and Lucas exchange quick glances. “Right!” They both exclaim, nodding quickly.

El doesn’t remember any of this, but she’s pretty sure the boys are lying. Either way, the whole situation is pretty amusing, and she can’t help but snort into her palm.

“Then let’s go,” Max orders, already starting to walk off, “I wanna get back before it gets dark.”

“Okay!” Lucas nods, grabbing his backpack before hurrying after her.

“You better not die!” Dustin calls out after them, “If this really is a horror movie, one of you probably isn’t going to make it back!”

“Dustin!” Mike scolds.

“What!? I’m just stating the facts!”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“I’m sorry,” Will mumbles woefully, “This is all my fault.”

“You make a mistake,” El reassures him, “It’s not that bad.”

Will only pouts in response, still seeming pretty resentful of both the situation and himself.

Mike turns to glance at El, looking pretty helpless.

El racks her mind, trying to think of a way to cheer Will up. “Why don’t we take some pictures?” She offers, motioning to both of their cameras.

“Of what?” Will asks curiously.

El shrugs as she glances around their surroundings. “Everything.”

Will hesitates, seemingly unsure, but then El raises her camera. “Like you!” She smiles, snapping a picture of Will and Mike.

“El!” Mike exclaims, looking frantic, “I wasn’t even ready!”

El catches the polaroid as it slowly prints out of her camera. “I know,” she smiles teasingly, slipping the photo into her pocket.

Will smiles back, looking more excited. “Okay!” He nods, rising to his feet.

Time passes by quickly as Will and El explore the clearing together, snapping pictures of everything. The weirdly-shaped knot on a tree trunk, the dandelion peeking out amongst the dead leaves, the squirrel sitting on a tree branch. Mike and Dustin follow them around as they work, pointing out all the potential subjects of interest (including themselves).

Before long, the two hours has nearly passed. The sun is a little lower in the sky and the air has grown colder, but they’re having too much fun to notice.

At least, they are until they’re abruptly interrupted by the sound of a high-pitched, terrified scream. It echoes through the trees, causing some birds to fly off with a frightened squawk.

“Shit!” Dustin hisses, eyes wide, “What the hell was that?”

“Someone screamed,” Mike replies, balling his fists.

“Was that Max?” Will asks worriedly.

“I’m not sure,” El frowns, “It didn’t sound like her.”

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! We’re gonna die!” Dustin exclaims, clutching the sides of his head, “I knew this would happen! I told you, we’re tempting the horror fates and now we’re all gonna get picked off one by one and—“

Dustin’s interrupted by the sound of twigs snapping.

There’s a collective gasp as they all jolt in both surprise and fear.

Someone’s coming closer.

El takes a deep breath and prepares to raise her hand. This isn’t how she planned on revealing her powers, but she’s more than willing to do so if it means keeping her friends safe.

As it turns out, her determined gallantry is for naught. Moments later, Lucas marches into the clearing and everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

“Son of a bitch, Lucas, you scared the shit out of us,” Dustin says, slumping his shoulders.

Lucas doesn’t reply. Instead he looks annoyed. Really annoyed. He drops his backpack onto the ground with a grumpy huff, not really making eye contact with anyone.

“Did you get the matches?” Will asks hesitantly.

“Yes!” Lucas snaps, sounding just as irritated as he looks.

El doesn’t know why Lucas is so upset, but moments later she gets her answer when Max rushes into the clearing. She’s holding a box of matches in one hand and a metallic, sharp-looking object in the other.

“C’mon, Lucas!” Max laughs, “Are you still pissed off at me?”

“Yes!” Lucas scowls, crossing his arms.

“Wait, what happened?” Mike questions, glancing at both of them.

“When we were walking back, Max thought it’d be funny to hide behind some bushes and jump out at me!” Lucas snaps bitterly. “She snuck off, and I thought she was hurt or something, but no! She just wanted to scare me! With a knife!”

“It was funny!” Max counters, “You screamed like a girl!”

“You had a knife?” El frowns.

“It’s not even a real knife!” Max defends, “It’s from my old Michael Myers costume.”

“Why did you bring it?”

“Just in case,” Max shrugs.

“It doesn’t matter!” Lucas replies brusquely, “It wasn’t funny!”

“I thought it was!”

“Well, you thought wrong!” Lucas dismisses.

With that, he storms off again, disappearing amongst the countless trees that surround the clearing. He leaves both a tangibly awkward silence and a worried-looking Max in his wake.

“Here,” Max mutters surly, tossing the box of matches to the guys.

Mike, Dustin, and Will exchange uncomfortable glances, but ultimately decide to turn their attention back to the main task at hand: starting the fire.

El, on the other hand, walks over to Max, not wanting to leave her feeling upset. “Are you okay?” She asks gently.

“Not really,” Max grumbles.

“It’s ok,” El murmurs, placing a comforting hand on Max’s shoulder. “It was just a prank.”

“I didn’t think he’d get so mad,” Max mutters, not looking directly at El.

El pauses. Even though she doesn’t want to hurt Max’s feelings, she ultimately decides that it’d be best to tell her the truth.

“You pretend to not like things, even though you do,” El states, making sure to keep her voice low.

“That’s not true!” Max protests.

“It is,” El nods, not bothering to waste time further arguing this fact, “I know it. But Lucas doesn’t. He doesn’t know that you teasing him so much is good. You tease him because you like him, but I think…he might think you’re doing it to be mean to him.”

Max’s head droops as she silently considers this.

“I think you should be honest with him,” El advises.

“Be honest?”

“Tell him how you feel.”

“Like…that I like him?” Max gulps, looking terrified.

“That you don’t hate him.”

“Oh.”

El watches as Max shuffles in place, contemplating what to do.

“I guess you’re right,” Max finally admits. She drops her backpack, tosses her prop knife onto her sleeping bag, and turns to smile gratefully at El. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“Good luck,” El smiles back, giving Max a reassuring hug.

Max nods before darting off, running off in the same direction that Lucas had.

El’s smile falters as an uneasy feeling starts to churn in her gut. As she turns to rejoin the others, she can’t help but feel incredibly guilty. Here she is, telling Max that she needs to be honest with Lucas, and yet, she still hasn’t managed to tell her friends about her powers. She’s a giant hypocrite.

Will has the beginnings of a small fire going. There’s a faint trail of smoke streaming from the fire pit, and the sound of crackling leaves fills the air.

“Wouldn’t it be awesome if we didn’t even need matches?” Dustin comments as Will gently blows into the glowing embers.

“What do you mean?” Mike frowns, eyeing Dustin.

“Like, if I had superpowers,” Dustin elaborates, “Like Pyro.”

“Pyro?” El blanches, wondering if that’s some kind of codename. Does Dustin know? How did he figure it out? Did Mike or Max tell him? No, they wouldn’t, not without telling her that they’d told him—

“From the X-Men comics?” Dustin offers.

“Oh,” El flushes. Even though she feels slightly dumb for rushing to judgment, she’s still left rattled. She just doesn’t know how to tell them. It has to be as normal as possible, with seems highly improbable. She almost wishes that it was a serial killer that’d walked out of the trees, and not Lucas. At least then she wouldn’t have to use any words.

Even though El’s trying to remain outwardly calm, Mike seems to notice how anxious she looks, because he suddenly gets up and walks over to her.

“Do you wanna talk?” He whispers.

El meets his eye and nods gratefully. “Please.”

“Okay,” Mike murmurs before turning back to Will and Dustin to announce, “We’re gonna be right back!”

“Sure you are,” Dustin snorts.

Mike rolls his eyes indifferent and doesn’t reply, instead grasping El’s hand and leading her off down a forest trail.

El blushes as their fingers intertwine, but she accepts the comforting gesture gratefully. “I’m sorry,” she mumbles as soon as Dustin and Will are out of earshot.

“For what?” Mike asks concernedly.

“For being so nervous,” El answers, “I just..I don’t know how to tell them. I don’t want to just blurt it out.”

“You don’t have to be sorry for being nervous,” Mike reminds her, “I would be nervous, too.”

El nods, grasping Mike’s hand a little tighter. She remembers how shocked Dustin had been upon seeing her hair this morning. If curly hair had been enough to make him shout HOLY SHIT, she could only imagine how learning she had powers would make him react.

“Well, there’s no pressure to do it right now,” Mike points out, “We can wait until the night, that way you’ll have more time to think about what you want to say.”

El glances upwards, towards the sky. The blue sky is already beginning to fade. The days feel so much shorter as November draws closer. Waiting until the night still doesn’t give her much time.

“It’ll be okay, I promise,” Mike assures her, giving her hand a squeeze.

“Okay,” El murmurs.

It’s not until El pauses and looks around that she realizes they’ve walked a pretty good distance away from the camp. They’ve exited the wooded area and are now standing on the rocky terrain that surrounds the top of the quarry. There are large boulders scattered about, and El realizes that one of them is probably the kissing rock.

Oh.

El feels herself flush pink as she cautiously turns to glance at Mike. He seems to be thinking the same thing, if the way he’s flushing bright red is any indignation.

El bites her lip shyly, and Mike turns to meet her gaze. “Maybe we should—“ He begins.

“Yes?” El asks hopefully.

Mike swallows, still blushing like crazy, but then his gaze moves to something just beyond El’s shoulder. “Holy shit!” He whispers, eyes widening.

El pales. “What?”

“Look!” Mike says, still whispering. He uses the hand that’s not intertwined with hers to point behind her, and El cautiously turns around to look.

She spots two figures sitting on a large rock about 20 or so feet away. At first she can’t tell who it is, but then she spots that silly pom-pom hat and the long, vibrant red hair tucked underneath it.

Max. Talking to…Lucas. Their heads are ducked low together, deep in conversation. Since they’re so far away, El can’t make out what they’re saying.

“What are they doing?” Mike murmurs.

“She was going to say sorry,” El murmurs back, “For scaring him.”

“Oh.”

El hesitates, unsure of whether or not she and Mike should leave. She can’t help but feel like they’ve walked in on something, even if Max and Lucas are just talking.

She’s just about to voice this concern to Mike when suddenly, without any hesitation, Max shakes her head, cups Lucas’ cheeks in her hands, pulls him towards her, and presses her lips to his in a firm kiss.

El hears a gasp, and she’s not quite sure if it’s from her or Mike. Maybe both of them. Either way, her brain seems to have stopped working, because she’s instantly overwhelmed with surprise, happiness, and excitement all at the same time.

“She kissed him!” El whispers gleefully, turning to beam at Mike.

“I can see that,” Mike replies bashfully, averting his eyes away from the still lip-locked couple.

El bounces in place excitedly, squeezing Mike’s hand in order to keep herself steady. “On the kissing rock!”

“Where all the ‘lame’ kids go,” Mike jokes, pitching his voice higher in what is apparently his best Max impression.

El giggles as she gives Mike a gentle, chiding nudge.

A beat of silence passes as they both turn to steal one more glance at Max and Lucas.

“We should probably go,” Mike whispers, motioning his head in their direction.

“Yes,” El nods, still beaming.

Mike, still clutching her hand, pulls her back into the woods. As they hurry back to camp, El just can’t stop giggling. She’s just so happy for her best friend that there aren’t even enough words to express it.

By the time she and Mike reach the clearing, the sky is a rich ochre and a few crickets have begun to chirp. Dustin and Will have successfully gotten a fire going, and the flickering flames cast dancing shadows against the surrounding trees.

El and Mike release each other’s hands and come to sit beside the fire, both grinning from ear-to-ear.

“What’s so funny?” Will asks, eyeing them suspiciously.

“Nothing!” El smiles.

“Ugh, ew, I don’t even wanna know what you guys just did,” Dustin frowns, wrinkling his nose. “It’s probably going to ruin my s’mores appetite.”

“It’s not like that,” Mike insists, throwing Dustin a look.

“Uh, huh. Whatever you say, Mike.”

Thankfully, neither Dustin or Will presses them for any further information, and instead focus on setting up the fire for hot dog roasting.

15 minutes later, Max and Lucas rejoin the group. As they step into the clearing, El studies them carefully. If she hadn’t seen them kissing with her own eyes, she never would have guessed that they had. Their expressions are neutral and they’re not holding hands or anything. Lucas’ cheeks look a little more flushed than usual, but that’s about it.

“What took you guys so long?” Dustin asks as Max and Lucas come to sit with everyone else.

“We just talked for awhile,” Max shrugs, grabbing a roasting stick and a hot dog. She comes to sit beside El, face completely unreadable.

“How did your talk go?” El quietly asks, making sure to keep her tone nonchalant.

“Fine,” Max breezily murmurs back. “He’s not mad anymore.”

“That’s not surprising,” El mutters under her breath.

“What?” Max asks, sounding confused.

“Nothing!” El quickly amends, “I’m glad you talked.”

Max eyes her warily but ultimately turns her attention back to the fire pit. “Me too,” she says, and even though El knows Max’s trying to hide it, there’s no missing the faint smile pulling at the corners of her lips.

“—And with that, the creature gave off a final screech, dragging his last victim into the night,” Dustin concludes dramatically.

“How the hell is that a scary story?” Max snaps.

“Because the dog turned into a giant, killer lizard!” Dustin defends.

It’s long after nightfall. The forest is pitch black and the only light comes from the crackling fire.

After the hot dog roast and the seemingly endless, completely delicious s’mores feast, Max suggested that they all tell scary stories. They all gathered around the campfire, seated atop their sleeping bags, faces illuminated by the glow of the warm flames. Max had kicked things off with a story about a deranged killer with a hook for a hand that stalked the forests of Hawkins. After that, any story would have really paled in comparison, but Dustin’s tale of a boy adopting a dog that secretly turned out to be a lizard seemed especially weak.

“Lizards aren’t scary,” Max snorts.

“They can be!” Dustin insists. He turns to glance at the rest of the group for validation. “Right?”

“Not really,” Will yawns, looking a little sleepy.

“Well, it was a killer lizard,” Dustin reminds them.

El is trying to focus on the stories, she really is, but her mind is still elsewhere. She feels like she’s not actively engaging with her friends, but rather, waiting on the sidelines, praying for a way to work her confession into the conversation.

“Killer lizards are still just lizards,” Lucas says, shaking his head, “They’re not scary.”

“What about Godzilla?” Dustin points out.

“You didn’t say it turned into Godzilla,” Lucas counters.

“What do you think, Mike?” Dustin asks.

“Honestly?” Mike shrugs, “When you said killer lizard, all I could picture is that newt Mr. Clarke had in the terrarium back in 8th grade. With like…little fangs.”

The conversation is going nowhere. Nowhere near telekinesis, at least. El realizes that she probably gave up her perfect chance when Dustin had mentioned the X-men, and instantly hates herself for it. She had her opportunity practically handed to her, but she’d freaked out and given it up. She could be such a knucklehead…

“El?” Dustin pleads, turning to her, “Please tell me that you think my story was scary. You’re my only hope!”

“Now you’re quoting Star Wars?” Max smirks.

“Now you’re recognizing Star Wars?” Dustin smirks back.

“I am not!” Max insists.

“You literally just did!”

“Are you even gonna let El answer?” Mike huffs.

They’re all growing a little louder, and little more heated, and all the commotion is making El’s head hurt.

“Does El need to answer?” Max snorts, “Literally nobody thought that story was scary.”

“And your hook-hand story was?” Dustin glowers.

“Uh, yeah!”

“Uh, no! Having a hook for a hand isn’t scary!”

“Yes, it is!”

“Captain Hook has a hook for a hand!” Dustin points out, “And he’s from a kids’ movie!”

“Can you guys please stop fighting?” Will pleads, “It’s getting kind of late.”

“Dustin is the one who keeps on arguing!” Max insists.

“Am not!” Dustin argues, “It’s not my fault her opinions are wrong!”

“Your opinions aren’t facts, Dustin!” Lucas retorts.

El doesn’t know what comes over her. She just wants everyone to stop arguing over their dumb stories, and her head hurts, and she’s just so frustrated and tired of trying to wait for the perfect moment that’s probably never going to come. And so, before she can’t stop to second-guess herself, she just blurts it out.

“I’m a telekinetic!” She bursts.

That shuts everyone up quickly.

Mike and Max’s heads snap over to El, looking startled. Will sits up a little straighter, suddenly looking less tired. Lucas and Dustin both freeze, eyes wide.

“Wait, what’d you say?” Dustin asks, cautiously.

“El?!” Mike hisses, sounding confused. Since his sleeping bag is located next to hers, he’s able to reach out and grab her arm in a protective manner.

El gently shrugs him off with a shake of her head. Even though she’d initially pleaded for Mike’s help, she now knows that she needs to do this on her own. She needs to come to term with her abilities once and for all, no more hiding, no more secrets.

“I’m a telekinetic,” she repeats, keeping her gaze locked on her friends, “I have superpowers.”

Lucas, Will, and Dustin exchange confused glances. They look at Max and Mike for some sort of explanation, but Mike and Max only have eyes for El. They both give her encouraging nods, silently showing their support.

“Wait, are you being serious?” Lucas questions, looking hesitant.

El nods solemnly.

“A telekinetic?” Will asks slowly, “Like…you can move stuff with your mind?”

El hesitates. The easiest way to get them to understand is going to be by showing them. Taking a deep breath, she raises her hand, points it at the fire pit, and uses her powers to raise one of the burning sticks into the air. As it hovers before their eyes, spinning slowly, flickering embers crackle off the stick and drift off into the cold night air, extinguishing with a faint whisper.

After several seconds, she relinquishes her hold on the stick and allows it to fall back into the flames.

“Holy shit,” Lucas breathes, looking floored.

“That’s so cool,” Will whispers, eyes wide with wonder.

Dustin, shockingly, still hasn’t talked. He seems to be responding in the same way that Mike did: stupefied, unadulterated shock. His jaw is hanging open, his eyes are nearly bugging out of his head, and for a moment El worries that she might have broken him.

“H-how?” He finally manages to stammer.

El proceeds to give them an abridged version of her history, starting from growing up in the lab, escaping with Hopper, becoming his legal daughter, and finally joining their class in the 6th grade. She explains how her powers work, how she was the one who saved them at Jennifer’s party, how she broke Troy’s arm. By the time she’s finished, she’s left emotionally exhausted and slightly out-of-breath, but satisfied all the same.

“Oh my god,” Dustin whispers, still frozen in place.

“That’s so COOL!” Lucas exclaims, “Like, holy shit!”

“Right!?” Mike beams, “El’s amazing!”

“Wait, you knew?” Will asks, looking surprised.

“She told me last week,” Mike nods.

“And you didn’t tell us?” Lucas exclaims, sounding a little offended.

“I told him not to,” El cuts in.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Will asks curiously.

“Because,” El mumbles, suddenly feeling a little sheepish, “I…I didn’t like being different. I wanted to be normal, like you guys.”

“Us? Normal?” Lucas jokes.

“You know what I mean,” El smiles wryly, “I didn’t want to be a freak.”

“Well, you’re definitely not a freak,” Dustin beams. It appears that his mouth has finally started working again, as he proceeds to ramble quickly and excitedly. “You’re so awesome! Like, the coolest person ever! You’re like a wizard, or a superhero, or Yoda!”

“Or a mage,” Mike adds affectionately, giving El a playful nudge.

“Yeah!” Dustin gushes, before pausing and adding, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry I that ever called you our enemy, and a murderer, and a Drow!”

“What?” El frowns.

“Nothing!” Dustin hastily backtracks. “I just…uh..I’m really happy you’re our friend.”

“Me too,” Will nods, “And not just because of your powers. You were always nice to us, even when we judged you at first.”

El flushes pink, unsure of how to react to the unexpected slew of compliments. “I’m happy we’re friends too,” she murmurs, ducking her head shyly.

“Just so you guys know, we can’t tell anyone else about El’s powers,” Mike pipes up, “We have to keep it a secret, just between all of us.”

“Of course!” Will nods.

“I’ll never tell anyone!” Lucas agrees.

“Never!” Dustin insists.

El feels her heart swell with happiness. The feeling of finally feeling accepted not only by her friends, but by herself, radiates within her, leaving her warm and bubbly inside.

She reaches out to grasp Max’s hand. Max smiles and blushingly grabs Lucas’ hand. Then Lucas grabs Dustin’s, Dustin grabs Will’s, Will grabs Mike’s, and Mike finally closes the circle by grasping El’s free hand.

As they all grasp each other’s hands tightly, huddled around the warm light of the fire, no further words need to be said. They’re friends, but their bond isn’t like everyone else’s. Their friendship isn’t the kind that’ll just dissipate after high school or over a silly argument. It’s the kind that’ll keep them all connected for years to come, through good times and bad times, through whatever toils they’ll have to face.

El isn’t sure how she knows all this, since she can’t see into the future, or anything, but as she smiles at each of them, she knows that it’s true. She can hear it in her heart like a whisper, like a promise, reminding her that this moment is one she’ll remember.

It’s the start of the rest of her life.

The night is calm and the forest is still. Off in the distance, the reverberating hoot of an owl echoes through the trees.

El’s not sure what time it is, but she knows it’s late. Everyone else is nestled inside their sleeping bags and the fire has died down to its last glowing coals. Consequently, it’s cold. Very cold. Despite her sleeping bag, flannel jacket, and thick sweater, El feels the chill settle into every pore. It makes it hard to sleep, and while El definitely doesn’t regret coming on this camping trip, she’d be lying if she said she didn’t miss her warm bed and soft quilt.

She flips onto her side, hoping that maybe if she moves around a little, she’ll be able to keep warm.

It doesn’t work.

El sighs and flips onto her other side. She’s now facing Mike, who’s bundled up inside his sleeping bag less than a foot away from her. Since he’s situated so close to her, she’s able to make out his features in the faded silvery light of the moon. As she shuffles around, she sees his eyes flutter open.

“Mike? Are you awake?” El whispers, even though it’s pretty obvious that he is.

“Yeah,” Mike whispers back, locking eyes with her.

“What time is it?”

Mike shuffles a bit around before he manages to pull his arm out of his sleeping bag. “Like, 3 am?” He whispers, eyeing his watch.

“Oh.”

“Can’t sleep?”

El shakes her head.

“Me neither.”

“It’s just...it’s pretty cold,” El murmurs, shivering slightly.

“Yeah,” Mike agrees with a quirked smile, “I guess that’s what happens when you go camping in the fall.”

El nods and wraps her sleeping bag more tightly around herself. Even though she doesn’t want to look like a dopey weakling in front of Mike, she can’t stop her teeth from chattering.

“You look really cold,” Mike murmurs concernedly.

“I’m o-okay,” El lies, “I j-just need to f-fall asleep.”

Mike looks her over for a moment before his cheeks start to flush red. “Maybe,” he begins, voice cracking a little, “You could, like...uh...”

“W-what?” El shivers.

Mike smiles nervously. “Like...come over here?”

Now El’s the one blushing bright red. “N-next to you?”

“There’s room,” Mike explains, looking flustered, “And you’d be warmer.”

That’s definitely true. El’s not even next to him yet, and already she feels incredibly warm (mostly from blushing so much, though).

“Okay,” El whispers with a small shrug.

“Really?” Mike whispers back, sounding like he’s trying (and failing) to not seem too hopeful.

El nods.

With shaking hands, Mike moves his hands down to unzip the side of his sleeping bag. El quietly wriggles out of her own, crawls over to Mike, and snuggles up against him.

As Mike zips the sleeping bag closed again, El instantly feels enveloped in warmth.

Mike slides over so that El can rest her head on the pillow with him. As she wriggles upwards to do so, she can’t help but feel flustered, being pressed this close to him.

She rests her head on the pillow, shyly meeting Mike’s soft gaze. Their faces are only inches apart. As El studies his face, she can feel his warm breaths as they faintly brush against her skin.

“Hi,” she whispers teasingly.

“Hi,” Mike whispers back with a smile.

El falls silent, content with just enjoying the sight of him beside her. As she gazes at him, Mike wraps an arm around her back and starts playing with her hair. He runs his hands through it idly, almost mindlessly, and it takes everything within El to not melt on the spot. She’d give up anything to just spend the rest of eternity in this moment, snuggled beside Mike, his fingers nestled in her curls.

She gives off a contented sigh before she’s able to stop herself. As she relishes in this moment, her vision starts to seem a little hazy. Nevertheless, she does her best to take in every last one of his features: his warm, chocolate-brown eyes, his ruffled dark hair, his pink, though still faintly bruised lips, and of course, his freckles.

The sky above them is glittering tapestry of stars, way more stars than what El’s used to seeing in town. As she examines Mike’s face more closely, she realizes that the freckles on his cheeks remind her of constellations.

She’s definitely losing her mind.

“What are you thinking?” Mike murmurs, twisting a strand of her hair around his pointer finger.

“Your freckles are like stars,” El mumbles, not caring how insane she must sound.

Mike doesn’t say anything, he only nods, but it seems like he gets what she means. Either that or he’s just too nice to call her out on how weird she is.

The longer El gazes at him, the more she feels drawn to him. She wonders if it’s possible for people to be made up of magic, even if they don’t have superpowers. Mike has to be. The way he makes her feel is unlike anything she’s ever experienced before. Surely, if his cheeks are dotted with constellations, then his insides must radiate with stardust.

She’s getting pulled closer into his embrace, deeper into his orbit, and El realizes that she’s tired of wasting time. Her eyes close as she carefully leans in and presses her lips to his cheek.

It almost feels like the first kiss she gave him, only this one is far better. The first time, he’d just laid in bed, lifeless and cold. Now, while still a little cold, El can hear his breath hitch in awed wonder and feel his eyelashes flutter against hers.

It’s an intoxicating feeling, and El, feeling emboldened by his awestruck reaction, moves her lips down to press them against the corner of his mouth.

It’s not a kiss, not quite — her lips land more against his jaw than anywhere else — but it’s close. Very close. Close enough to make Mike’s breath hitch in another faint gasp.

Maybe the gasps aren’t a good thing though.

El pulls back to examine his face, suddenly worried that she might have overstepped her bounds. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs, looking a little embarrassed.

“Don’t be,” Mike murmurs back, shaking his head ever-so-slightly. His eyes seem almost glazed over, like he’s somewhere in between waking and dreaming. His fingers curl more tightly in her hair, slowly pulling her closer to him.

El feels light-headed, but in the best of ways, like she’s floating. Like the only sense of gravity she possesses is the force that’s pulling her closer to Mike, slowly narrowing the gap between their parted lips. Just a couple centimeters closer, and—

“Oh my god,” Dustin’s voice grouses, “Are you guys making out?”

Mike and El jump apart as quickly and jerkily as is they’d both been hit with an electric shock. Since they’re both still stuck inside the sleeping bag, they don’t manage to get that far apart, and only wind up accidentally elbowing each other instead.

“DUSTIN?” Mike yelps, “You’re awake?”

“No, Mike, I’m clearly asleep right now,” Dustin replies dryly.

Oh, god. Dustin’s awake and he’s heard everything, including that El thinks Mike’s freckles look like stars. She instantly wants nothing more than to jump off the edge of the Quarry.

“We weren’t making out!” El blushingly insists. She’s thankful it’s dark out — at least Dustin can’t see how humiliated she looks right now.

“You better not be,” Max suddenly pipes up, “Because the first teenagers to get it on in a horror movie always die first.”

“W-what!?” El stammers.

“MAX!?” Mike again yelps.

“Mike,” Max mimics in a whiny voice, “I couldn’t sleep over the sound of your mush-fest.”

“How many people are awake?!” Mike demands, sounding mortified.

“Like, all of us,” Lucas admits.

“Yup,” Will concludes.

“You’ve all been listening this entire time!?” Mike exclaims, “And you didn’t say anything?!”

The rest of their friends all shuffle inside their sleeping bags as they make an indifferent sort of mumble.

“Oh my god,” Mike mutters.

Oh no, no, no. This is officially the most embarrassing thing ever.

“Great,” El mumbles, turning to bury her face in the pillow.

“You guys are pretty cute,” Lucas snickers.

“And you guys are pretty much hypocrites!” Mike grumbles.

“How?!” Lucas counters.

“If this was a horror movie, El and I wouldn’t be the first people to get killed off, it’d be you and Max!” Mike explains bitterly, “‘Cause you guys totally made out on the kissing rock!”

As everyone falls silent, the sound of chirping crickets fills the air.

“Wait...you guys kissed?” Will asks.

“Um,” Lucas hesitates.

“Fine!” Max snaps, “We did! It wasn’t a big deal!”

“It wasn’t?” Lucas asks worriedly.

“I mean,” Max pauses, sounding flustered, “I guess it was.”

“Oh my god,” Dustin groans, “I mean, I’m like happy for all of you, but you guys seriously need to get a room, like, right now.”

“A room? In the forest?” Will questions.

“Lucas and I aren’t the ones being all weird! At least we understand the concept of privacy!” Max gripes, “Instead of trying to get to second base in front of literally everyone.”

“We thought you were asleep!” El insists.

“We weren’t trying to get to second base!” Mike adds.

“Because you were already there!” Max counters.

At this point, El knows that she wouldn’t need to cuddle Mike for warmth, her entire body feels like it’s been engulfed in flames. “Let’s just go to sleep,” she pleads, “Please.”

“It’s pretty late,” Will agrees with a yawn, “We should try to get some rest.”

“Fine by me,” Max sighs, settling back down into her sleeping bag.

A beat of silence passes as everyone tries to settle down. Unsurprisingly, the silence doesn’t last long.

“Wait, so are you and Lucas dating now?” Dustin asks Max.

“Dustin!” Everyone snaps.

“Jesus!” Dustin exclaims, “Sorry! I’ll go to sleep!”

“Thank you!” Lucas sighs.

As everyone finally falls silent, El wonders if she should go back to her own sleeping bag. Maybe Mike is too embarrassed to do this anymore.

But to her surprise, Mike doesn’t push her away. Instead, he draws her closer to him, gently tucking her head under his chin and wrapping his arms around her protectively.

Her ear is pressed against his chest, and as she cuddles Mike back, she listens closely to the steady, pounding rhythm of his heartbeat.

As embarrassing as that entire interaction with her friends was, a small part of El is relieved that they’re not afraid to tease her. Even though they know that she still has powers, they’re not treating her like some strange oddity, or someone to handle with rubber gloves.

To them, she’s still just El, and as El drifts off to sleep in Mike’s embrace, she realizes that that’s the most comforting feeling of all.

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viewfromthestandblog · 3 years ago

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"IT'S MY CLUB, IT"S YOUR CLUB, IT'S OUR CLUB" MICHAEL HEFELE ON HIS MOVE BACK TO HUDDERSFIELD, HIS FUTURE PLANS AND THE VITAL ROLE SUPPORTERS PLAY

He's an absolute legend and he's BACK. Michael Hefele.... bringing his passion, heart, honesty and respect to this new chapter in his life and his new ambassadorial role at Huddersfield Town.

Here's my EXCLUSIVE conversation IN FULL when the Hef sat down to talk all things Town ahead of the first Championship fixture of a brand new Season.

HH: it's so good to have you back! And thank you so much Hef for taking the time to speak to me. First up how did the move back to Huddersfield happen?

MF: Well Phil Hodgkinson, the Chairman, contacted me a couple of months ago. I think it was in February or March, asking what my situation is, what I'm doing, what are my plans and my thoughts for the future? And I pretty much told him that I'm retiring because I couldn't come back from my last injury. And then I asked him, well I told him my vision... my plan would be to come back to Huddersfield Town in a different role to do my coaching badges, to develop as a coach and as well as I have a sporting director course starting now in September. So to develop these two sides and just to be in the football club again which I love, and which gave me a lot. And just to start a second career here with Huddersfield Town. Obviously I've got big plans and I told him my plans: that I'm looking in the future to be a Head Coach or something like this; or in the sporting director direction. But I have to do a lot of learning and a lot of work, and I want to get to know everything from scratch. Learn everything from scratch. And the people here are helping me a lot because it's a family club and you feel the positivity and the people are very friendly, and very very helpful. And so it's very heartwarming for me and Leigh Bromby is helping me a lot too. He's teaching me a lot as well; like the Academy, all the Coaches. And David (Threlfall-Sykes).... I could name everybody!....they've given so much input and it's just amazing to be back. And what is helping me after such a dark time is all the support from the supporters, from the fans, all the love. It's just incredible and it feels so so good.

HH: So you're seeing a manager/sporting director role potentially in the future.... What sort of manager will Michael Hefele be, be do you think? Like David Wagner (calm and composed)? What kind of manager do you see yourself being in say 5 years time?

MF: Well I'm just Michael Hefele. Michael Hefele is Michael Hefele!... There's a lot to learn. It's early doors but there's a lot of passion, with a lot of heart, a lot of honesty, respect are my main habits. What I got taught was that you're respectful, you're honest and you're hardworking, that you're passionate, and you put a lot of work and effort into every situation in your life. Doesn't matter on the pitch or in the office, always bring 100%. Always willing to learn, always put as much effort as you can put in.

HH: And as an ambassador for the Club, what are your ambitions for this role. In terms of the community; in terms of Huddersfield as a place?

MH: Well everything! I just want to give the Club back what they gave me. With the opportunity to live my dream, to play in England. And I had such a nice spell here. So I just want to give as much back as I can to every department, and everywhere. And where I can help I'm very open to help. And I want to glue everyone together. Fans, the Town, the Club, the players, the staff.... all the people around. It's not just about one person it's about 'we are Huddersfield Town', we are one community and this is what makes us strong. This Terrier bound, this Terrier spirit that we put together. It's my Club, it's your Club, it's our Club.

HH: 100%!!! I saw you were at the game on Sunday and I wondered what it was like to watch the game against Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday (when Town won on penalties in 2017).... it must have brought back some great memories?

MH; It brought back great memories.... Hillsborough is great, and because for me I think it's a fantastic stadium. We had fantastic memories there, and a great night. (When I played there) it was one of the great nights of my footballing career, so obviously it's good when you come back to such a place where you had major success. And even when we went to the penalty shoot out and it was quite relaxed because I already knew we could win here in the Stadium because we used to do. So I was very happy and glad for the fans that they come back the first time and they got a little bit more than just 90 minutes.

HH: And looking forward to this coming Season, what do you think is possible that we could achieve? Obviously the last couple of Seasons we've been in a relegation battle and we've survived but now with Carlos and his second Season and now there's been a lot of players brought into the Club, what do you think could be achieved this Season?

MH: Well we had a good start already with the Cup now, but what I see so far everybody's humble, everybody's hungry and has a desire to win and the most important thing is that we have to stick together. Doesn't matter how we start or how it is going, everything is possible from my perspective. So we just have to be together and the supporters will play a massive, massive part of it. Because they can push the lads on the pitch. They can bring like this positive atmosphere when the guys are trying to win. You know sometimes you make a mistake and then the fans are there to help.... to cheer you up.... to help you out. Not to boo because this is never good because it doesn't give the players good confidence. But so far I'm full of confidence. We are just very excited that everybody is together and we have to keep in our mind that everything is possible BUT as a unit. And everybody.... and when I mean everybody I mean everybody. Even you! 100% Huddersfield Town you know. We are altogether successful and we'll have a very good time.

HH: You're a cult hero Michael through your time as a player, and now coming back to the Club. How much are you looking forward to interacting back with the supporters again?

MH: Obviously it's a big part of me. I like to be in the community more or less. I want to interact with everybody, just to glue everybody together. It doesn't matter where they come from, which culture, which religion. I'm very open minded. I like to be around different people. So I'm very excited that everybody can come together after this spell which was not nice for everybody with the pandemic obviously. But now we start together this Season and it will surely be a successful one.

HH: Just taking it back, briefly to your playing days what were your memories of that promotion Season and do you see any similarities between this group of players and the group of players you had back then? And the managers too - Wagner and Carlos.... do you see any similarities between the two?

MH: Well it's early stage. I mean everybody has their own style. The players, what I see so far.... they've got the hunger, they've got the desire. So I see this similarity to the promotion team but this is a different scenario and you can't compare apples with bananas or bananas with apples! So I hope we write a new history right now. But we have to stick together, we have to be humble, we have to work hard every day. Just work work work. And then, as I say everything is possible.

HH: I remember when you left Huddersfield Town as a player, and I wondered how tough a decision it was to leave?

MH: Well it was not my decision. I had to go, you know from David (Wagner). I never wanted to go. Huddersfield Town gave me the opportunity of English football, they gave me the opportunity to live my dream and I'm very thankful. The connection and the happiness and the togetherness. The belief.... what I experienced here it's just amazing. I'm lucky enough that I am a part of this football club and we achieved a lot of things. It was never my intention to leave the football club but sometimes that's how it is and you have to go on. Now I'm luckily back and it feels like three years that was in a blur.... so I'm just happy to be back. It feels like I never was away.

HH: What did you think of Nottingham Forest as a Club, and the comparisons between Forest and Huddersfield?

MH: Nottingham Forest is a great Club.... a great Club for me. Can't say anything bad about the football Club. It's a huge historical Club. Not many Clubs can win back to back Champions Leagues, and are European winners. I met a lot of people from different backgrounds, including high profile people which is amazing and I learnt a lot. Unfortunately I was always injured because of different problems: a torn achilles, I twisted my knee, broke my foot. Unfortunately it shouldn't be like this. I like the Club because it's so big and so huge, and the City Ground and it was an amazing feeling to play as well. The Brian Clough Trophy that we won and this is a great experience but at the end of the day I played half a year there and the rest I was more or less injured so my body let me down because I put everything on the line. Then it ends up as not such a good spell when you are just injured and you suffer a lot.

HH: From the outside looking in, I've always been a huge fan of Chris Hughton. I think he's a great Coach and he did a fantastic job at Brighton and now at Nottingham Forest. I wondered what you thought of him as a Coach?

MH: Chris is a fantastic guy. I just did a couple of conversations with him. I can't say anymore. He's a good guy. Like Martin O Neill and Sabri Lamouchi and they are fantastic characters and fantastic men and I obviously learned a lot from them.

HH: Finally coming back to Town.... which player in the Huddersfield Town squad best represents the Terrier spirit you played with?

MH: Well everybody's got a little bit of it. But if I have to call one person out, then it has to be Jonathan Hogg. He's the Captain. He's a proper leader and he's played a long time for the Terriers now. He’s outstanding - his working attitude, his character, his honesty is just brilliant. His fight on the pitch, you know. This is Jonathan Hogg.

HH: Could you give me a prediction for Saturday?!

MH: Well it's always tough you know. But obviously I want Town to have a good start to the Season and we win the game. I don't care how much it is by you know.... but at the end of the day we want to have 3 points and a positive start. But sometimes in football you play very good and you just drop but you still have positive momentum. I hope we will have a really good result and obviously 3 points but everyone wants a win in Huddersfield Town, and we are prepared for it.

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samanthag3962garcia · 3 years ago

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Extended highlights: Tottenham 4, Crystal Palace 1 | NBC Sports

Spurs v palace highlights - VIDEO Tottenham Hotspur vs Crystal Palace (Premier League) Highlights | Soccer Highlights

Our Tottenham correspondents Alasdair Gold g Rob Guest as well as Crystal Palace correspondent Joe Doyle are covering the match with all the action from inside the stadium and reaction from the supporters and media.

A late goal in the first half and Wilfried Zaha's introduction at the break would have lifted spirits for Spurs v palace highlights, but two quick second-half goals sunk Palace. Here are the player ratings for Roy Hodgson's side. Spurs really turned on the afterburners in the second half, with some fine performances from Harry Kane, Gareth Bale and Lucas Moura in attack.

For Spurs v palace highlights, more questions spurs v palace highlights answers following another collapse soon after half-time as they suffered against Burnley and Leeds in recent weeks.

Zaha stretches highligjts legs highlihhts gets past Sanchez down the left before putting in a ball that evades Mateta - but Zaha was pslace. Mateta gets on the end of a cross spurss Zaha had won a corner, but he can't do enough to direct it on target. Schlupp then finds Zaha, who works it onto his left foot from distance and cracks one off the spurs v palace highlights of the far post, so close to a second for Palqce. Milivojevic drives it in but Lloris punches straight out for a spurs v palace highlights and Palace can't work an opportunity.

Spurs v palace highlights before that sub Townsend almost found Zaha with a cute ball in behind sspurs it was cleared for a corner. Starting the move as he spread the ball out wide to Reguilon, he was in the right place as his fellow attacker headed the Spaniard's cross across the face of goal. Riedewald spurs v palace highlights shown a yellow card for bringing down Moura wide on the right.

Highlightss look too serious of a foul, that one. Wilfried Zaha is coming on - swap with Ebere Eze, which is a little surprising given Jordan Ayew is on a booking. It's spuurs a similar pattern for Palace to previous games against Fulham and Manchester United this week, sitting back and spurs v palace highlights the opposition to dominate. Luka Milivojevic has been caught a couple of hoghlights with Spurs' high-intensity pressing and Hodgson will need to change something to deal with that in the second half.

But the captain made up for it on his th appearance for Palace with a lovely cross for Christian Benteke to head home on the stroke of half-time. The minutes leading up to that goal show what Palace can do with a bit more impetus in attack, and with Wilfried Zaha on the bench and Jordan Ayew on a booking, we might see a change soon to try and pakace the ante. That equaliser before the break, with Palace's first effort on goal, was the punishment for Spurs failing to build on their opener.

Hughlights Bale spurs v palace highlights been excellent once again, using the ball well whenever he has had it, setting up good chances for spusr Son and Reguilon, before putting the finishing touch to Kane's low cross himself. Lucas Moura's pressing has been excellent, winning the ball in the build-up to the Welshman's goal but he needs to use the ball better in the final third, an accusation that could be levelled against a number of his team-mates.

With Ndombele out of the creative role in the centre, Spurs v palace highlights need to use their width well and neither Doherty nor Reguilon have been putting in quality crosses for the attacking players. Mourinho spurs v palace highlights be frustrated at half-time source Palace have been struggling to get shots on goal in recent games and they've scored with just their one paoace so far tonight, Benteke finding it too easy to simpy rise above the defence, getting in between Sanchez and Alderweireld to head home with Lloris helpless.

Spurs need to up the attacking ante in the second half. This game is there to be won if they что liverpool champions league highlights Выкрутился find the quality to match Bale's in the final third. If there's highljghts tiny thing to pin your hopes on with the scoreline, it's spurs v palace highlights it forces Tottenham to push on rather than sit back and try to hold on to their lead, something they've struggled with before.

It's been all Tottenham for about 44 minutes, but Palace hit back and are level with their first effort of the match. Palace earn a free-kick wide on the right. Townsend crosses and Lloris goes to claim but can't.

Lovely crossfield ball from S;urs to Bale who curls in a cross that Reguilon slices wide from a good position. The Spaniard is very angry with himself. Lucas earns an iffy free-kick on the edge of the box but Kane's effort is deflected and the Brazilian can't quite get a foot on it.

By Alasdair Gold Tottenham Hotspur correspondent. Rob Guest Football Writer.

Scroll down for all of our latest updates from north London. Key Events Crystal Palace player ratings Crystal Palace player ratings A late goal in the first half and Wilfried Zaha's introduction at the break would have sprus spirits for Palace, but two quick second-half goals sunk Palace.

Tottenham Crystal Palace Spurs really turned on the afterburners in the papace half, with some fine performances from Harry Kane, Gareth Bale and Lucas Moura in attack. Sppurs time Five minutes added on. Danger Zaha stretches his legs and gets past Sanchez down the left before putting in a ball that evades Mateta - but Zaha was offside.

Corner Mateta gets on the end of a cross after Zaha had won a corner, but he can't do enough to direct it see post target. Spurs sub Carlos Vinicius now on in place of Kane. Kane has another goal as he heads home from pqlace range following's Son's cross. Lamela picked out Spurs v palace highlights, with highlightz South Korean putting it on a plate for his teammate.

Spurs boss Jose Mourinho : "After three victories in the same week. If the stats I was given next correct - goals scored in the season, which for a very defensive team, a very negative team, palacf not bad. Of spurs v palace highlights it is a privilege to have such a very good group of players. Three matches, nine points, and for next week when we play a crucial match in the Europa, and against Arsenal, nothing could be better for us than to win nine points this week.

Palace boss Roy Hodgson : "We felt we were back in the game at half-time but those two goals early in the second spura - goals of great quality - it was always going to be difficult. We've tried to encourage him to get in the centre. As Harry Kane said to me after the game they took their chances very well. Eight points might not sound very much but it takes a lot of getting.

I'm not concerned spurs v palace highlights that respect but I'm aware if you are not careful and think your spyrs is done you can easily lose game after spurs v palace highlights. Maybe some were a bit hasty in their judgment as he was obviously not match fit, and has taken him some time.

He didn't have the rhythm or the spring in his step, but now he looks like the player we expected to arrive. Another good night for Gareth. The attacking players we have are amazing.

Not just the ones who played tonight, but the others on the bench. We're all pushing each other, and it's nice to get the three points again. We've got the confidence back and hopefully we can keep it going. On playing with Kane: "It's fantastic, he's an incredible highlkghts as he spurs v palace highlights again tonight.

Tottenham 4-1 Crystal Palace highlights: Harry Kane and Gareth Bale star for Spurs

He's been so consistent. It was a fantastic performance again from him and we're happy to have him here. On his own form: "It feels good. It takes a click for more info of time sometimes but I'm experienced enough to be highlighys. It is what it is. Time will tell [if I can get back to my best], but I'm not 21 anymore. I'm sputs going to keep working hard every game. You've not got the youthfulness where you can recover quickly after sprinting for 90 minutes, but you learn about your body as you get older and that's spurs v palace highlights I'm having to do.

He's 32 in July. I played my best football when Spurs v palace highlights was I was strongest when I was Of course, he's not 21, but he's talking like he's an old spuds - he's not.

He's a worldie, and he should be doing the opposite of that and saying what he's going to do and how fabulous he's going to be. He's got spuds ability. He's spurs v palace highlights on the bench a lot at Spurs this time around. If you're on the bench, you're alright to play some part in games We saw pictures of him smiling on the bench. He's been here all season, and I expected more from him. I'm an enormous fan of him, and I just want to see more pallace him.

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footballghana · 4 years ago

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European Super League: Mixed reactions from Africa

The news that 12 clubs have signed up to join a new European Super League (ESL) has drawn almost universal condemnation - from fans, players, politicians, administrators - and even royalty.

However, the reaction from around Africa has been a little more mixed .

While there have been some against the idea, others have welcomed it.

For example, former Cameroon defender Sebastien Bassong is philosophical about the proposal - while South Africa's all-time leading scorer Benni McCarthy is not happy with the news.

Philosophical Bassong

So far 12 of Europe's top clubs have agreed to join the new ESL, including six from the English Premier League - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham.

The Premier League clubs will join AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid.

Former Tottenham player Bassong said he can understand why the clubs want to break away.

"I'm not surprised that the clubs are trying break out and create that Super League," he told BBC Sport Africa.

"Change always brings criticism. There are two different sides to it, so it depends what angle you are taking. Because if you are part of a big club, a big institution that has lost a lot of money in recent times, you just want to make your money back.

"I think I understand why they're trying to do it. But also if you are a small club, it would be awful - because that would kill their hope and their aspiration to grow.

"The big dogs want to stay big and they don't want to be caught up by the smaller ones who want to cut that gap. I really think that it's like life now. With capitalism, the rich want to stay rich, and the others are trying to catch up."

Torn Bong

Bassong's compatriot Gaetan Bong, who plays for two-time European champions Nottingham Forest, can also see both sides of the argument.

"I'm in between because I love change because I always think that, as human beings, we always have like evolution, we always have to keep going," he told BBC Sport Africa.

"But at the same time when you love something you don't want to change it too much, because in the end it's not what you had.

"I think it's about a good balance. We love football, we don't want to destroy it, we don't want to end it and we always want it to become better - find a better way to solve the problems.

"I enjoy watching big games with the big clubs - because I like the show. I think every fan wants to see the big ones.

"But at the same time football is about competition, it's about sharing.

"It is about the small clubs against the big ones and you're hoping that the small ones can beat them."

He is also concerned that too many big games means they will simply become less significant.

"We might maybe have some big games but when there is no really consequence then I don't really think that it's the same football, because I know what it is like when you are playing with pressure with a consequence behind that match."

Unhappy McCarthy

Former South Africa striker McCarthy played for Dutch side Ajax and Portugal's FC Porto - both former European champions who have not been invited to the ESL.

He is worried about the future of smaller teams.

"In my humble opinion it's very wrong, and it shouldn't happen," he said.

"It would disrupt the regular season, the regular league and also it will affect the smaller teams in the lower divisions.

"It is a bit of an unfair advantage and I can't believe the bigger teams have signed up they are already strong as it is and this will give them an extra dimension.

"I really hope that the Premier League doesn't allow the bigger teams to join forces in this Super League. In a few years time I can see a lot of the smaller teams in the smaller leagues just disappearing.

"I would be delighted that they (his former club FC Porto) hadn't been invited. How are you going to look down on the other clubs that aren't involved?

"It couldn't have come at a worse time and it looks they (the ESL teams) are trying to benefit from this whole Covid-19 saga to enrich themselves and say 'who cares about the rest of the world?'

"I genuinely hope this thing doesn't go through because it is exciting as it is, with teams fighting it out to win the league to qualify for the Champions League.

"That's where you get an opportunity to play against the best and the biggest teams in the world."

Warning from Zakuani

The former DR Congo captain Gabriel Zakuani said he felt sorry for the fans, the managers and the players who have not been consulted in this process.

"It is incredible that the fans did not have a say in this first of all and just the fact that they (the clubs) had the audacity to sign up for this without the knowledge of everyone, and it just to me just smells of greed," he told BBC Sport Africa.

"Football in this country depends on the supporters as they make the clubs and I just feel that is sort of betraying the supporters and following where the money is.

"I saw the interview with (Manchester Untied manager) Ole Gunnar Solskjear on Sunday and he was sort of a rabbit caught in the headlights he didn't know what to what to say about it.

"He couldn't really go against what the club have agreed to, and it puts everyone in an uncomfortable position. It has sort of lost a bit of integrity and morals."

Zakuani, who spent most of his career in the lower leagues in England, says the sport is in danger of losing some of its unpredictability.

"I think we know how the Premier League works and it is for the people and I feel that now it's trying to go that extra mile to make as much (money) as they can," he pointed out.

"People want to play in Europe through hard work - like the Leicester stories that we've seen, where a team comes from nowhere, wins the league and has the right to to be in Europe.

"For players in general I think it's very difficult because nobody's going to say 'no' to some more money, obviously, so that's the situation, so they may look at it from that aspect."

However he admits the idea of the ESL may well appeal to fans in Africa.

"If I look at it from that point of view, they (fans across Africa) want to see the best players every week so it's perfect for marketing," he pointed out.

"Fans in countries all over the world, and I know Africa first hand, they would love this they would love to see all the top teams play each other everyday.

"For the game where these clubs have come from and the people paying the money week in and week out, they should have a say in what they want to happen to their football club.

"There'll be a lot of teams that will have fans turn their backs on them, and these are fans that have been there from day one.

"But these teams are supported globally so they will fill up that money somehow from somewhere because they are supported all over the world."

The fans' view

Indeed some fans outside Europe have welcomed the idea including Liverpool supporter John Kimbe from Uganda.

"I believe this is a fantastic idea because the quality of football being watched day in day out is going to improve every single day," Kimbe insisted to BBC Sport Africa.

"I will be able to tune in and watch world class players playing against each other - Liverpool playing against Real Madrid - Barcelona against Atletico or AC Milan playing against Chelsea - these are the kind of games I would live for.

"If the players are happy, if the managers are happy with the arrangement then we are going for it."

However Manchester City fan Lotan Salapei from neighbouring Kenya is completely against the proposal.

"The 19th of April of 2021, is one of the saddest days when it comes to football," he told BBC Sport Afirca.

"I am absolutely disgusted. Football is all about competition and the moment where a team feels like they have the God given right to participate in the league, I think for me that beats the whole essence of a sport.

"I am sad about, it hate it, it is disgusting and I am really looking forward to when Uefa will take harsh laws against this.

"I am ready for anything, I am ready for relegation, I am ready for my team to be knocked off from the Champions League, or rather the Premier League because this cannot continue.

"So for me, as a city fan, my opinion is boycott the super league."

Source: bbc.com

source: https://footballghana.com/

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armeniaitn · 5 years ago

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Henrikh Mkhitaryan Signs Extension With Roma

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Henrikh Mkhitaryan Signs Extension With Roma

Roma midfielder Herikh Mkhitaryan

Captain of Armenia’s National Soccer team and midfielder for Roma has signed an extension to his contract that will see him play for the Italian team for an additional season, through 2021.

It was reported earlier that Mkhitaryan, who is on loan to Roma from Arsenal, would complete the 2019-2020 season with Roma. With this new agreement, he will play another year with the distinguished Italian team.

After putting the finishing touches on the deal Mkhitaryan spoke to Roma’s official website to share his thoughts on staying in the Italian capital, and his ambitions for the next 12 months.

So, Henrikh, just how pleased are you to sort this out and to extend your stay here at Roma?

I’m very happy. Finally, we could reach an agreement to extend the loan, with a provisional agreement for next season too, so I’m very pleased. I’m happy to stay here because I still have things that I haven’t achieved yet that I want to achieve.

I’m looking forward to it, I’m looking forward to finishing this restart of the season on a high note and then to be focused on what’s next.

How do you reflect on your time here so far, since your arrival last summer?

I came here with a very good, positive feeling. Then I started to play, and I scored and assisted others to score too… but then I got a couple of injuries that weren’t part of the plan.

At the start of this year I was back, though, and I was starting to get in the best shape… and then the virus came on. I think that was the worst time in our entire football life – but now we’re pleased to be back and to restart the season.

Of course it’s not the best start but we don’t give up – we’re going to push and go forward because the season is not finished. We still have 10 games to play, so we’re going to try to do everything possible to earn as many points as we can.

What is your personal target for the rest of the current campaign?

Clearly I want to start lots of games – but of course I will be ready, whatever the coach decides.

I think we’re a very competitive team because we have more than 25 players, so in a few positions we have not two but three players – which is hard but it’s good too, because we’re always keeping our teammates focused and not letting them relax.

It’s one thing, one goal we are fighting for – which is we want Roma to be a top club with wins and trophies. And even if it’s difficult; if one game I have to play and then the other game someone else plays, at the end of the day we’re fighting for one thing, and that’s Roma.

So we have to push each other, we have to support each other and work to move forward.

Two games have been played now since the lockdown – what’s your assessment so far?

Well, we started with a positive note winning against Sampdoria – which was not an easy game, obviously, because we conceded an early goal. It was hard to come back from that but we did, thanks to my teammates and especially thanks to Edin [Dzeko], who scored two incredible goals.

The game against AC Milan; I can say that in the first half we played better than them, we played well – but then in the second half I’m not sure what happened. They started to dominate the game and we struggled a bit. But we have to learn from that, we cannot give up.

“It’s always easy to give up – but we just have to learn, to identify our mistakes and to learn from them and make sure we don’t repeat them again.

Does that make the Udinese game on Thursday even more important, to bounce back?

Well, sure. But even if we would have won against Milan, you know, the main target would be the same – to win the next game against Udinese and then the ones after that. So now we have to be even more motivated to play against Udinese.

There are no easy games in Serie A. Everyone is fighting for their place, everyone is fighting to win and we are the same – so we have to be more ready than they will be and to go and try to win the game.

We are playing at home without supporters, which is neither good nor nice, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how we play or where we play, we have to win that game.

What has it been like for you, playing behind closed doors? Is it something you have experienced before?

Maybe in a few friendly games, I guess! I mean, it’s not nice to play in empty stadiums. Not in the San Siro, not in the Olimpico, because at the end of the day you want to feel the support of your fans, you want to see them, celebrating the wins, celebrating the goals and see their happy faces.

So it’s a shame to see this situation, but of course we know the reason and everyone is fighting to solve this problem and make sure that fans can come back to the stadium as soon as possible, and as soon as it is safe.

So when that happens I will be more than happy to see Roma fans at the stadium, because we really miss them. Since the very first game, I have been very impressed by the way they support the team and the players. Of course, we have had bad games too, but they were there for us even so.

So I’m looking forward to start playing in full stadiums and hopefully we can we can have that some time soon.

What about the various new health protocols and practices in place now. As a player, do you feel safe?

On their part, the club has done everything to keep us safe and I’m thankful to them for that. Of course it’s something new for me, for my teammates, for the club, to be tested every week before the games, and then to travel to Milan in the way we did, after it experienced the pandemic quite heavily. So it was something a bit new as an experience over the past few days and weeks.

I hope it will never repeat, this situation, but it’s a thing that we have to take the positive energy from it and move forward.

As I’ve said, we’ve tried to stay safe, we’ve tried to do everything that the club told us to do, from staying at home to being focused on the start of training and then the start of games.”

Now there are these 10 remaining games in Serie A, but after that there is the Europa League too. How exciting is that prospect – a competition you know very well?

Well, first of all, we have to be focused on the upcoming 10 games in Serie A. And then we’re going to have time to think about Europe, because there is still over a month before that starts. So everything is possible before that. We want to be focused first on Serie A.

Even the Europa League games will be played in Germany, without our supporters, over just one leg – so it will not be straighforward. It’s something new for everyone. But you know, I think they took the decision for everyone that it will be safe.

So we have to keep our heads up and be positive and confident that we can reach the final or win it. All the teams left in the competition are very strong, so we are ready to face anyone and give our very best to win.”

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wsmith215 · 5 years ago

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Jonjo Shelvey exclusive interview: Leaving Liverpool too soon and growing up at Newcastle | Football News

Jonjo Shelvey joined Newcastle from Swansea in 2016

Matt Ritchie caused quite a stir last week when he said his Newcastle team-mate Jonjo Shelvey could “easily” play for Barcelona – if only he would lay off the golf and focus on his football. “I say it to him very regularly,” Ritchie told the In The Box podcast. “He’s that good.”

Shelvey doesn’t do social media. He decided long ago that it wasn’t worth the hassle. But Ritchie’s comments soon filtered back to him.

“Someone sent me a picture of me in a Barcelona shirt next to Messi,” he tells Sky Sports with a chuckle. “Matty text me saying he’s had everyone asking him, ‘is he really that good? Is he really that good?’

“It’s very flattering for people to say stuff like that and Matty obviously knows his football. But I was a bit peed off that he said I play golf three times a week. He’s killed me with that.”

Shelvey can afford to smile about it. He has had his ups and downs but he is in a good place in his career now. He has re-emerged as a key player for Newcastle under Steve Bruce, scoring five goals in 20 appearances before the lockdown and signing a new three-year contract with the club in March. At 28, he has already surpassed 200 Premier League appearances.

Shelvey is happy and settled in the North East and his achievements are not to be sniffed at. But at the same time, it is impossible to hear comments like Ritchie’s without wondering what might have been.

Shelvey was regarded as one of the best young players in the country when he moved from boyhood club Charlton – for whom he had made his debut at the age of 16 years and 59 days old – to Liverpool a decade ago. Have things turned out how that precocious teenager hoped?

“It could have been a lot better, to be honest with you,” he says, speaking via video call. “Don’t get me wrong, by the time I finish I will have had a fantastic career. But you do sit there sometimes and think, ‘could I have gone higher? Could I have been playing in the Champions League?’ Hopefully one day I still will, but time’s running out now. You go back in the past and you’ve probably made certain decisions that were wrong.”

Leaving Liverpool too soon

Shelvey arrived at Liverpool from Charlton in 2010

For Shelvey, the big one came at Liverpool.

He was making encouraging progress there as a cultured yet combative young midfielder and won his first England cap in a World Cup qualifier against San Marino in October 2012. But when the following summer came around, and against the advice of Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool’s manager at the time, he departed to Swansea in search of more regular football.

“I was only 21 when I left,” he says. “I don’t think you would find many other players who go there at 17 and leave at 21 and I think that speaks a lot of what I’m like as a character. I wasn’t happy playing one or two games then coming out of the team. I wanted to carry on playing week in, week out.

In hindsight, should I have stayed? Probably, yeah. Even if it was only for another year or two, just to see how things changed

Jonjo Shelvey on Liverpool

“I’d been on loan at Blackpool, and at Charlton I’d been obviously playing at such an early age. I don’t think that helped because you get that knack for playing games and constantly being in the team. When you’re playing once and then not playing for six games, I don’t care what any footballer says, you don’t feel involved. You don’t feel part of the team.

“I think that was the feeling I wanted but, in hindsight, should I have stayed? Probably, yeah. Even if it was only for another year or two, just to see how things changed. But it is what it is at the end of the day.

“Every decision I’ve made in my career was just to play, to try and get as much game-time as possible. I can’t say I’ve got too many regrets.”

Overcoming obstacles at Newcastle

Shelvey has scored five goals in 20 appearances this season

Shelvey got his wish at Swansea, starting 77 Premier League games out of a possible 96 before his £12m switch to Newcastle in January 2016. But last season he found himself watching on from the sidelines again under Rafael Benitez. He is grateful to Bruce for ushering him back into the fold.

“I’ve got a lot to thank Steve for,” he says. “He has been superb for me. He’s come in and just asked for one thing and that’s hard work. On the first day with him on tour in China, he was just spot on. He said, ‘as long as you work hard, that will be enough for me.’ I think everyone has bought into that.”

Newcastle have certainly exceeded expectations, their total of 35 points putting them eight clear of the relegation zone in 13th place. Shelvey’s tally of five Premier League goals includes a stunning equaliser against Manchester City at St James’ Park in November. It’s already his highest-scoring season since the 2013/14 campaign.

“We’ve changed formations a lot and tried different things,” he explains. “Your role is constantly changing within that. But I just feel that as you get older, you learn the game, the positional sense and that side of it. Also, one thing Steve is big on is fitness. We do a lot of running during the week. The fitter you are, the more you can get from box to box.

“That’s obviously helped, and it also helps that Steve has been there and done it as a player. You just try to pick things up from him.”

Shelvey was not as close with Benitez as he is with Bruce, but he maintains that there was no falling out with the Spaniard last year and insists the issues which kept him out of the team were injury-related.

Shelvey lost his place in the team under Rafael Benitez

“It was a tough season last season,” he says. “I had a very bad injury that kept reoccurring. We couldn’t get to the bottom of the problem but eventually we found out what it was and managed to keep it under control.

“Obviously, I didn’t know what was going on at the club at the start of the summer. But I went away and got myself proper fit. Even if it had been Rafa coming back, I was just going to try my best in pre-season. I know that if that had happened, I’d be in a similar position to the one I’m in now. But it turned out to be Steve and he’s been superb for me.”

It might have been a different story, of course, had speculation linking him with a move to West Ham come to fruition in the summer. But Shelvey’s focus never wavered and he is delighted by how things have worked out.

“I didn’t really have an opinion on it,” he says. “I was under contract at Newcastle and it was just a matter of what would be would be. If they wanted to move me on or sell me, then that was their choice. But I was more than happy to stay. I never once thought about leaving.

“Obviously, I grew up as a West Ham fan and I’ve got a place back home right next to their training ground. It would have been an easier choice, in that sense, but I’ve always been away from home. It’s sort of become the norm. You just get used to it. Now, even when I get time off, I tend not to go back. I just stay up here and enjoy it. It’s a lovely place to live.”

It’s also an exciting time for the club, with a potential takeover in the offing, and Shelvey is pleased to have committed his future to it.

“We’ve done very well this season to be where we are,” he says. “If we can get back and play the nine games that are left, hopefully we can climb up a bit more. Me and Matty have signed the new contracts. We’ve been at the club for some time now and I thought it was important to get that signed. It takes the pressure off. You’ve got that security, so now it’s just time to put it to one side and concentrate on your football.”

Growing up and mellowing out

Shelvey celebrates with Newcastle team-mate Matt Ritchie

It is not yet known when exactly Shelvey and his Newcastle team-mates will be able to return to action. But what’s clear is that a player once known for his hot-headedness, a player who even had the temerity to confront Sir Alex Ferguson after a sending off against Manchester United, has learnt to control his impulses and, most importantly, enjoy his football.

“I think I’m a lot more laid-back,” says Shelvey. “People I played with at Swansea will tell you that I wasn’t laid-back when I was there. I just wanted to win so much on the training pitch that I’d end up falling out with people.

“I’d say nasty comments and stuff like that, whereas now I’m just enjoying football. I’m going out there and I’m playing with a smile on my face, whereas back in the day I would probably have been a bit of div to referees and picked up stupid little bookings.

“Now, I just laugh and try to have a joke with them and I think that’s the one thing that has changed massively with me. I have sort of taken a step back and started to enjoy it all a lot more.”

The hope now, both for Shelvey and for Newcastle, is that the best is still to come. Just don’t expect him to give up the golf any time soon.

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truesportsfan · 5 years ago

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How The Chiefs And Niners Became The Last NFL Teams Standing

sara.ziegler (Sara Ziegler, sports editor): And just like that, we’ve got ourselves a Super Bowl.

It would have been hard for the conference championship games to match the chaos of the first two rounds of playoff action — though about 10 minutes into the Kansas City-Tennessee game, I thought the Titans might actually take out the No. 2 seed (along with the Nos. 1 and 3 they had already dispatched). But Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs rallied again. What stood out to you guys about that game?

Salfino (Michael Salfino, FiveThirtyEight contributor): That the Titans, stealing a line from “The Untouchables,” brought a knife to a gun fight.

joshua.hermsmeyer (Josh Hermsmeyer, NFL analyst): That Derrick Henry is basically just a guy, and that Mahomes is not just a guy.

neil (Neil Paine, senior sportswriter): Too much K.C. offense, too much Mahomes.

Salfino: Mahomes now has 11 TDs and 0 picks in the postseason. He has the highest QB rating in postseason history since the merger.

joshua.hermsmeyer: Two moments stood out to me in particular:

One was the Titans’ last drive right before the half. They needed to run clock, and it was Henry time. They got predictable and had to give the ball back to Mahomes before the half (he scored), and then K.C. got the ball again after halftime.

The other was the third-and-1 where holding was called, and Henry still got stuffed.

neil: In general, the Chiefs were able to slow down the Titan running game like no team really has recently. Tennessee’s rushing expected points added in the game was -0.1 compared with average. That stopped a streak of nine straight games where they had been positive, and often significantly so.

Salfino: When it came to stopping Henry, the Chiefs, who allowed 4.9 yards per rush during the regular season, just threw numbers at the problem. Remember, a team with a top QB like the Chiefs should be built to stop the pass, not the run. They don’t care about stopping the run because they are generally playing ahead. But Sunday, the Chiefs did. They committed to it.

You can do that against the run and it works. You can’t really throw numbers at the problem of stopping the QB.

neil: Of course, K.C. did do some Andy Reid-ish things late in the game to try to let the Titans back into it…

sara.ziegler: Clock management just shouldn’t be so hard.

neil: Mahomes is so good that bad clock management can’t thwart his Super Bowl aspirations.

Salfino: Mahomes bailed Reid out of horrible clock management with 20 seconds to go in the half by running in that TD.

That was classic Reid.

neil: And then late in the game they just refused to either: a) force Tennessee to stay in bounds to run clock, or b) not stop the clock when they had the ball.

sara.ziegler: I get that teams built to pass sometimes keep passing in end-of-game situations just because it’s what they do best. But man, they really kept stopping the clock!

neil: Luckily they got that defensive pass interference call!

Salfino: I thought the game was over as soon as the Chiefs went up double digits. Everything after that was garbage time.

neil: Certainly that took the Titans away from their run-heavy focus and made Ryan Tannehill more than a caretaker.

sara.ziegler: What did you guys think of how Tannehill played?

joshua.hermsmeyer: I thought he played well. They went back to their strength, the play-action (0.41 EPA per play-action pass play), and he kept them in the game at the very least.

Salfino: Tannehill was OK. Not as good as his rating. He could not make a play to stop the Chiefs momentum.

neil: He did his best — and man did he take some licks at times.

sara.ziegler:

neil:

sara.ziegler: That was maybe my favorite moment of the game, tbh.

joshua.hermsmeyer: Momentum is a hard thing to stop, considering it’s impossible to measure or define.

I thought Tannehill’s QBR of 74 accurately reflected his play. And his QBR of 86 on play-action passes was very good.

Salfino: It’s interesting with Tannehill and the Titans. We reflexively say after a run like the Titans had, “They’ll be back.” No, they won’t.

Tannehill is a free agent — I’m fairly certain he’ll be back, but do you give him a long-term deal at franchise money or just franchise him for $30 million (or whatever) in 2020? I opt for the latter. That’s almost a guarantee you don’t have Tannehill in 2021 though.

sara.ziegler: So was this just lightning in a bottle for them, Mike?

Salfino: The Titans have two football freaks on offense in Henry and A.J. Brown who have really no other physical comparables. But the defense is bad. They don’t have a high draft pick. They have no long-term plan that I can see at QB unless you believe Tannehill is good. (I do not.) And their approach to football is antediluvian.

neil: “Antediluvian”!

LOL

joshua.hermsmeyer: The pre-flood games were lit.

neil: Noah was BIG on smash-mouth football.

Salfino: I learned that word from Josh.

When he’s flaming the “run to win” Twitter trolls.

neil: To be fair, there was one team that Ran to Win on Sunday … but I am sure we will get to the Niners soon enough.

Salfino: Do you guys think that Mahomes would have been great no matter where he landed, or that he landed in the perfect place (or both)?

joshua.hermsmeyer: I think he landed in a good spot, but there’s no denying that he’s a special talent.

But my take is that every QB, if he’s any good, is a system QB.

Salfino: I just have a hard time assessing true skill level in football as opposed to baseball, which is so pure in this regard. It’s more tools in football, I guess. Mahomes sure has them.

sara.ziegler: A little website I like to follow told me that Mahomes had a pretty ideal situation to start out in.

joshua.hermsmeyer: That guy Neil seems to know his stuff. Sharp fellow.

neil: LOL

I think it’s fair to say he has exceeded expectations, though, even given his coaching and supporting cast.

sara.ziegler: I’m pretty sure Mahomes’s path to greatness all started with his early experience around the Minnesota Twins clubhouse:

neil: Yesssss

Or his Little League World Series experience (hat-tip to designer Emily Scherer for this find):

Salfino: Um…

neil: This is how good Mahomes is. Not even the Mets’ curse can stop him.

sara.ziegler: LOL

So let’s move on to the NFC game … which was decidedly less exciting.

neil: Pretty exciting for San Francisco fans, at least.

sara.ziegler: Well, sure.

neil: And Aaron Rodgers haters.

sara.ziegler: And Packer haters.

neil: LOL, jinx.

Salfino: The 1972 Dolphins are always so touchy about their place in history and about people remembering them. But this is really the postseason of the 1972 Dolphins. Or that era’s Dolphins teams. The Titans started it, and then the people who want that style of football just latched on to the Niners. San Francisco had the third-fewest passing attempts (eight) in a postseason game since the merger. Miami had the others. Note that all but one team with fewer than 15 attempts won their games. (Just don’t throw the ball, and you’ll win!)

sara.ziegler: Jimmy Garoppolo with just six completions was definitely my favorite stat of the day.

neil: And Raheem Mostert had the second-most rushing yards by anybody in a playoff game ever!

So much history (that Green Bay was on the receiving end of).

Salfino: You need to find a back who can run to the Super Bowl either at the top of the draft or on the punt coverage team after he’s been cut a half-dozen times. Take your pick.

neil:

joshua.hermsmeyer: I had no dog in the fight, but the game was an object lesson in the old football saw that you have to stop the run to win. Mostert averaged 10 yards per carry on his first 19 attempts. That’s far too many long run plays. It looked like high school ball out there.

neil: The Packer run defense had zero answers for it.

Salfino: I don’t remember a team running that often and that easily ever. There was almost no resistance. I guess we have to credit the Niners’ scheme and blocking.

sara.ziegler: I’m a little confused about how that happened, though. The Packers were bad against the run during the regular season, but not the worst in the league, by any means. Football Outsiders had their run defense at 23rd in Defense-adjusted Value Over Average.

Salfino: Kyle Shanahan is a chip off the old block — Mike Shanahan was finding running backs in the recycling bin with the Broncos and turning them into All-Pros, even after Terrell Davis (a sixth-round pick who also made his bones on special teams).

Someone told me once that defense doesn’t matter. Offense controls outcomes.

joshua.hermsmeyer: The why is always hard without a lot of tape study. But it sure seemed like Shanahan saw a structural flaw in the Green Bay defense and exploited it again and again.

Salfino: How many times have the Packers faced a fullback and a tight end who can block like George Kittle? This is what is tricky about defensive stats, seriously.

neil: And it bears mentioning that the Packers are sort of built this way deliberately. No team spent a higher share of the cap on offense this year, and it’s not even close.

A lot of that is tied up in Rodgers’s massive contract as well. But Rodgers and the offense couldn’t really get rolling at all when the game was still in reach.

(The many turnovers didn’t help.)

sara.ziegler: That has to worry Packer fans long-term. We’ve talked about Rodgers’s “eliteness,” but is he kind of done?

Salfino: Rodgers gave hope to the people who still believe in the greatness — which has objectively faded since 2014 — with a bunch of garbage-time numbers.

neil: Well, he did statistically outplay Jimmy G in the raw numbers, LOL.

(Obviously those numbers are very misleading for the reason you said, Mike.)

joshua.hermsmeyer: Rodgers was average all season long. I think he’s a player you can win with, and might still have sparks of greatness left. Think late-career John Elway as the very top range of outcomes, if the entire team is reshaped around a different philosophy.

Like, imagine Rodgers in a system that asked him to make the throws Tannehill was asked to make this season.

Salfino: I will say it again: Rodgers has ironically turned into Alex Smith, his lifetime nemesis from back in the 2005 draft.

sara.ziegler: Can I just rant for a second about that dumb narrative about Rodgers seeking revenge on the Niners for not taking him No. 1? It’s not like every other team was lining up to take him as their first pick either. He fell to No. 24, for Pete’s sake!

neil: Also, it was 15 years ago. Get over it already.

sara.ziegler: ^^^ THIS

Salfino: The Niners always kick Rodgers’s ass in the postseason, too.

neil: By running the ball down the Packers’ throats, usually.

ESPN’s Stats & Information Group had a stat where San Francisco has averaged 258.3 rushing yards and three rushing TDs per game in three playoff wins vs. Rodgers.

Salfino: Well, there was that Colin Kaepernick game where he ran for about 1,000 and threw for 1,000.

neil: Right.

joshua.hermsmeyer: Coming back to more recent history, I have another thought on the Niners game: It was smart of the 49ers to hide Jimmy G. I think they should continue to do so in the Super Bowl, if they can.

Salfino: But they won’t be able to, Josh. I’m sure you agree.

Mahomes doesn’t let you run to win.

joshua.hermsmeyer: Yes, they won’t. And I think it’s why K.C. will win, and probably pretty easily.

neil: This is low-key one of the biggest QB mismatches in Super Bowl history.

Salfino: I think the spread should be 5. It was 2.5. Now it’s 1.5. All the retired head coach money coming in on the Niners.

neil: (We say K.C. -3.5, for what it’s worth.)

joshua.hermsmeyer: Richard Sherman is not going to be able to run with Tyreek Hill.

Salfino: Darrelle Revis doesn’t think so. Tyreek is going to have a huge game — 200 yards, I predict. He’s going to break the way the Niners prefer to play defense. Or Travis Kelce will have about 150. Pick your poison.

joshua.hermsmeyer: Right, if you go to a zone scheme with safety help for Sherman, then Kelce could be a big problem underneath.

sara.ziegler: Will the Niner pass rush affect Mahomes? He had all day long to throw on Sunday — I can’t imagine that will continue against Nick Bosa and Co.

Salfino: Mahomes’s sack rate is the most underrated thing about his game. It was 3.4 percent this year and down from 2018. It’s 2.8 percent for this postseason. Yes, the Niners have the best rush the Chiefs will have faced, but Mahomes won’t be getting sacked 10 percent of the time or so, which would swing this game to the Niners, IMO. I’d expect 5 percent — so two or three sacks.

joshua.hermsmeyer: The Niners get above-average pressure with just their front four, so I think Mahomes will not be too comfortable. But we saw at the end of the half vs. the Titans what he’s capable of if you let him loose running as well.

Salfino: Mahomes is such a decisive runner for someone who does not run a lot. He had 53 rushing yards in each of the past two games, and he has only exceeded that number twice in his career in the regular season.

sara.ziegler: What other matchups in the Super Bowl are you guys excited to see?

neil: I will say that K.C.’s run defense is suspect, even after they performed a lot better against Tennessee. That might play into San Francisco’s strengths some.

The Chiefs ranked 29th in rushing defense DVOA this season.

Salfino: The 49ers could hurt the Chiefs in the passing game if they cross them up by being more aggressive and designing their game plan to score 30 points, which I think is essential for them to win. If they think they are going to ride their defense and running game to victory, they are sadly mistaken. I’m assuming Shanahan is too smart to think that, though.

joshua.hermsmeyer: Early on, the Niners offensive line vs. the Chiefs run defense should be telling. San Francisco will need that to be another home run, much like the Green Bay game.

Salfino: But Neil, don’t you discount their season ranking given how they just shut down Henry, who was supposedly unstoppable? I just believe that if you want to stop the run badly enough, you can.

neil: So will the key to the Super Bowl be whether Garoppolo is better than Tannehill???

joshua.hermsmeyer: I think that’s the question!

neil: (Um … is he?)

(LOL)

Salfino: I think Garoppolo is better than Tannehill, but I have very low confidence in the accuracy of that opinion.

Deebo Samuel and George Kittle are very serious weapons, though. I think the Niners forgot Manny Sanders was on the team yesterday. But he’s fine.

sara.ziegler: When Kittle was on the stage at the end, holding the trophy, I was like, “Oh, yeah — him!”

LOL

Salfino: Kittle did have 17 targets in the loss to Atlanta. That seems impossible now. Both the targets and the losing to Atlanta.

sara.ziegler:

joshua.hermsmeyer:

sara.ziegler: Oh, no.

joshua.hermsmeyer: Kittle is all that’s good and wonderful about football.

sara.ziegler: So let’s wrap up our final Slack chat of the season (not including our live blog the night of the Super Bowl) with our predictions.

Are you three all taking the Chiefs???

joshua.hermsmeyer: Yes!

Salfino: Chiefs 34, Niners 17.

joshua.hermsmeyer: Wow, even a score.

sara.ziegler: You think the Niners are going to give up roughly the same number of points as the Titans, but score less?

Salfino: I’m 5-5 in the playoffs now! Feeling it!

neil: I’m gonna be a little more conservative than Mike. Chiefs 24, Niners 21.

joshua.hermsmeyer: 28-13

sara.ziegler: Neil stays true to the model, to the very end.

Salfino: Hahaha

neil: Ehhhh, my O/U of 45 now feels a bit low. Can I make it 27-24? LOL

sara.ziegler: Nope

neil: Awww

sara.ziegler: OK, fine.

Salfino: 27.5-24.

neil: Ooooh

I like how somebody on the FOX pregame picked a half-point margin. I think it was Howie.

They were like, YOU CAN’T DO THAT!

Salfino: I think this game is going to be very tribal. There is a football philosophy on the line for the old-school types. So I bet that, as was the case with the Titans, ex-players and coaches will pick the Niners in the game.

sara.ziegler: All right, I can’t let us all have the same picks.

So I have to take the Niners.

neil: It helps that you also took them in our Hot Takedown Super Bowl Draft episode! (Many, many weeks ago!)

sara.ziegler: Very true — gotta stick with my teams to the bitter end.

joshua.hermsmeyer: Nice work!

sara.ziegler: 49ers 29, Chiefs 28.

Salfino: Niners win on a 2-point conversion in the final seconds.

neil: Running it in, naturally.

sara.ziegler: But really, I just want a good game. We deserve a good game for the Super Bowl.

I’m like Rob Lowe out here, just rooting for everyone:

neil: “Go League! Protect the Shield! Wooo!”

Check out our latest NFL predictions.

source https://truesportsfan.com/football/how-the-chiefs-and-niners-became-the-last-nfl-teams-standing/

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davewakeman · 5 years ago

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Talking Tickets: 21 February 2020--MLB! NBA! NHL! And More!

Hey everybody!

How’s your week? Let me know!

If you haven’t had a chance to fill out my short survey yet, I’d appreciate it if you’d take 3-4 minutes to share your thoughts and ideas so that I can make sure this newsletter and the podcast continue to deliver value to y’all.

Anytime you want to say hello or share something with me, you can always reply to this email…you definitely will get a response from a live human.

To the tickets!

————————————————————————————————————

1. MLB continues to struggle to put the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal in the rearview mirror:

My frustration with baseball is that they just are always on the back foot to use a soccer term.

This week really highlighted the challenge that is going to have for the game to ever right its ship.

I know they report that they are making more money than ever, but from an attendance standpoint, reporting tickets distributed while Twitter is showing you stadiums sitting there with 3,000-5,000 fans a lot of nights isn’t a great look.

Compare MLB’s reaction to the Astros scandal with the way that Man City’sbreach of Financial Fair Play in Europe is being handled and you see a leadership gap, which hasn’t been helped by the Rob Manfred trying to throw the blame everywhere but his office.

From a marketing standpoint, a tough situation, selling baseball in a crowded market, has gotten more difficult.

I’ll type up some more thoughts about this on my blog, but here are a few actionable things:

1. Stop digging. Rob Manfred’s PR team shouldn’t keep running him out there if he is just saying the same things. If you find yourself in a PR crisis, please don’t just start saying crazy things.

2. Step back and focus on how you are going to move forward. Just speaking about the scandal in the past tense isn’t very effective. You have to have a clear plan for moving forward.

In any organization, change begins by sharing a compelling vision for the future. This is obviously a challenge for MLB and all the teams, not just the ones directly implicated in the scandal. The teams need some leadership and a vision for how this ends and how the game gets back on the front foot, their partners and sponsors need this, and their fans and customers deserve it.

3. I’ve worked with teams that have won the World Series and one of the coolest things from my teenage years was making friends with a member of the World Series winning Big Red Machine teams and going over to my friend’s house to see his replica trophies.

Don’t slag on your trophies, ever. Those trophies represent much of the power and emotional connection your fans have to your sport and if you are crapping on that, why are people supposed to even care?

2. The NBA is seeing some financial challenges from their dust-up with China:

I’ve had the flu this week and I haven’t had the voice to record the intro to a new, updated episode with Greg Turner about doing business in China, but if you can make out anything from the first episode, it would be how this was to be expected. (Technical difficulties due to the firewall in China’s internets caused the first episode to be a big disjointed.)

It seems like the NBA is reporting taking about a 4% hit on revenue this year due to standing up for their beliefs in dealing with China.

In a world where brands are all shouting about how “cause marketing” is so important, real cause marketing means you put your bottom line on the line. The NBA did that, on purpose or not.

To me, the more problematic situation that the NBA is facing right now is a ratings slump at the local level with the Warriors falling 66% and the average team down 13%. Which mirror a slump in the NBA’s ratings this year despite a jump in viewership for this year’s All-Star Game.

Right now, we see the NFL rushing to finish up a new labor deal so that they can negotiate their next round of TV deals while extreme premiums are still likely to be had.

My concern is that losing ratings for a season isn’t going to harm the NBA too much, but if the trend of NBA viewing continues to lag, the issues in China become a multi-year challenge, and maybe you have some more injuries, retirements, or other on-court issues…the revenue becomes challenged. And, that trickles down to raising ticket prices, concessions, and merchandise to levels that to higher levels than they are now.

I mean, you’re already seeing in New Orleans with Zion.

As we’ve seen since the online shopping has become so prominent, we have trained consumers to wait and shop for deals. We’ve also seen an entire generation of marketers and business folks that have become almost blindly committed to managing by spreadsheet while consumer spending on experiences has increased dramatically.

TV viewership is a fickle beast. Live by the sword, die by the sword…I guess.

The real focus here has to be on creating communities of fans around teams, communities, stories, and experiences. These can absolutely happen online and offline.

P.S. The NHL is having hiccups as well. This can be even more problematic because the NHL probably would benefit from more television exposure.

3. Rage Against The Machine is raising money for charity and taking on the secondary market:

I’m going to guess that the Rage Against The Machine tour is going to be interesting. It is their first tour in a decade. It is an election year. It seems like a perfect storm for them, yeah?

This idea that Rage is going to thwart the secondary market would seem consistent with their ethos. Raising money for charities also seems on brand.

Where the big challenge comes in, is whether or not the charity pricing aspect was explained clearly at the start.

Pearl Jam does a similar thing with their charity tickets that support their Vitalogy Foundation. They handle it slightly differently, which I think helps with the messaging and the fan blowback.

To me, this is just a situation where if you have a fan base and you can sell the tickets directly with no issues at all, sell. But today’s consumer also has a higher expectation of transparency…so that if you are going to institute a charity program like Rage to fight the secondary market, just share that at the start.

BTW, where did Tom Morello get his “85% of the secondary market” comment anyway?

And, Don Vaccaro and TicketNetwork have committed to donating all their service fees from the first 3 shows in March to National Action Network, the civil-rights organization founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton.

4. Congress is going to continue to investigate the world of tickets:

Just as I trying to close out this week’s newsletter, this news came down the pipe. So, on February 26th, 2020, Congress is going to hold a hearing on tickets.

This comes on the heels of a letter being released that Pearl Jam sent to Representative Frank Pallone Jr on Wednesday saying that the BOSS act will hurt consumers and pointing to transferability and transparency of the number of tickets being on sale would be bad for consumers.

After the release of Pearl Jam’s letter, Bill Pascrell sent out a release of his own rejecting Pearl Jam’s feedback on the BOSS act.

This continued investigation of the ticket business is a global trend. Last week, I talked about the CMA in the UK halting the Viagogo & StubHub merger due to their concerns, even as the US government approved the deal despite these objections.

And, this week, news out of Australia shows that people are rallying around an Information Standard in regards to the secondary market.

Along with the UK government stating they will investigate the illegal resale of football tickets in the UK after a report in the Guardian uncovered the ins and outs of massive football ticket resale.

As for how do you approach this story:

* Pay attention to what comes out of next week’s hearing. I stated at the time of the workshop in June of 2019 that I felt like this would be an issue that would hang over the industry through the election because it is easy for both sides to beat down on ticket sellers, technology companies, resellers, and everyone involved in the industry directly or indirectly. Fun for the whole family.

* I’d also pay attention to what gets defined as “consumer” friendly. I’m on the side of giving Pearl Jam the benefit of the doubt. They’ve worked pretty hard and taken steps that definitely haven’t been in their own best interests to do what was right for their fans, but I’m also conscious of unintended consequences.

5. Red Bull shows how to grow a team from the ground up:

RB Leipzig beat Spurs 1-0 on Wednesday! (Just adding to the suffering of having the flu. You think Dele was mad…try watching a poor showing while barely keeping your eyes open and feeling like reheated death!)

But this story is really great in the context of the continuing story of the Astros scandal in the States, Man City in Europe, and Thursday’s news of the arrest of PSG’s president for bribery.

Closer to home for me, it highlights what is possible with vision as the Mets are for sale and the sale has started to have its own amount of drama…and, as the Knicks continue to struggle at MSG.

3 things here:

1. Vision is so important. Melbourne FC just released a plan this week for their fans. It was called out on Australian radio, but without a plan and a vision…you don’t ever reach your potential.

2. Winning matters, but community is powerful. I’ve given this speech on 3 continents now…but you can’t just sell winning, you need to build a community. Leipzig is showing that now and we can see in a lot of places that there is a thing like winning fatigue. Or, in the case of the Warriors, a new arena and a lot of winning aren’t going to fix a bad season in every case.

3. Marketing matters: Red Bull’s involvement in sports and the way they have managed their teams shows that they understand the value of marketing and they understand that great brands, teams, and organizations aren’t built in a day.

While their teams haven’t been successful 100% of the time, they have been consistent and have continued to focus on their vision, their values, and their message over and over. That’s something we can all learn from. —————————————————————————————————————-

What am I up to this week?

I’ve got a couple of webinars coming up this week starting with Wednesday’s visit of my ebook created in partnership with Booking Protect: What Matters In Ticketing Now. Sign up for the webinar and learn ideas, trends, and actions that you can take to put these insights to work for your business.

On Thursday, I’m turning my eye to sales by putting together: The Language of the Sale–10 Ways To Use Language More Effectively In Your Sales Process. This is built on the last 6-9 months of sales training I’ve done with teams around the world and this one will be fast and actionable for your team as soon as you get through with the webinar.

Check out the podcast archives: new episodes coming this week now that my voice is coming back. If you have suggestions for guests and the podcast, fill out the survey at the top of the page.

Please follow and like us:

Talking Tickets: 21 February 2020–MLB! NBA! NHL! And More! was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group

#marketing #sports business #tickets

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clodblogs · 7 years ago

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Otherkin interview

I was able to have a chat with Luke and Rob from Otherkin before their Cardiff show, talking about writing songs, Idols, and Brittney Spears.

What inspired you to become a band and write music?

“I think we were all just really just musical when we were younger and all really into bands” Luke reminisced, “going to gig and going to concerts and it’s something that you gravitate towards and want to do because it looks like the funnest thing in the world and it is.”

“Yeah, I mean I played in bands since I was 11 years old and pretty much never stopped so. I guess it’s all I know really.” Rob was able to show off his music ability, “It’s either that or sports so and the football team didn’t want me so.”

“Star goal keeper” Luke added, not sure whether to tell more about his sporting past.

“I was actually quite a good goal keeper, but let’s not get into that” Rob was quick to boast.

What’s your favourite song you’ve ever written?

“I think, my personal favourite is a song that’s called “Yeah, I Know” I like that song a lot” Luke was quick to point out, with Rob agreeing with the answer.”Yeah, just because, I guess it’s a bit of a different sound from a lot of the other things we do, and I’m not gonna say it’s an unusual song, but it definitely works really weirdly. There’s no real chorus and there’s no verse” Luke explained the make-up of the song.

“Yeah, well we were drunk when we wrote it, but I can’t remember how we wrote it, ‘cause it’s a really weird song” agreed Rob. “And it seems to be a fan favourite too.”

“We always tend to leave it pretty late into the set so it, it tends to get pretty, pretty rowdy. Which is the way we like it.” So you know how to react when you hear this song.

What’s the meaning behind your band name, and where did it come from?

“This is actually a question for Connor, our guitarist, because we had been looking for a band name for I’d say about six months, and it was awful” Luke was quick to pass the blame. “Yeah, we tend to be really bad at naming things anyway. We have a song of ours, called Enabler, which we played for about a year and a half before it got released which we used to call ‘Slow and Heavy’ because it was, slow and heavy. That was the name for a year and a half.”

“It was actually when we went into record the album, we were forced to give it a real name.” Rob confessed.

“People actually wanted to keep the name ‘Slow and Heavy’” Luke didn’t sound too pleased at some members contribution.

Rob continued, telling the story of how Connor “found an article in a magazine basically, that said the word ‘Otherkin’ and we didn’t do any research into what it meant, and we were like yeah, that sounds great. Then found out it was this crazy online subculture, who constantly message us asking if we’re representing them. We’re not.”

“It’s a bunch of goth kids in America, basically, who are on twitter a lot. They are!” Luke added, to help us understand the youth culture they unknowingly represent.

“They all think they’re half animal and stuff. They’re not, they’re quite obviously humans.” Rob added.

“They’re actually quite nice. They’ll say stuff like, we like the music but what does this have to do with Otherkin. And we never really have a good answer.” So if you wanted to do some research yourself by contacting the band, Luke has warned you about their not-so-good answers.

“Yeah, we’ll take the piss and say that sometimes we are representing them.” Rob joked. “ People seem to hate that subculture, like they fucking hate it. If you look at twitter, they hate it. It’s always like fuck Otherkin, those guys are dickheads, so it’s never about us, I think.”

“Yeah, it’s hard to know. But we’ll always re-tweet it” Luke laughed, so if you ever give a bad review they won’t be 100% sure it’s for them.

What is a song that you wish you wrote?

“I love, ‘Tomorrow Knows’ by the Beatles, that’s a fucking dandy song, and that would have been a pretty cool feeling to have written that song.” Luke was quick to comment. “Toxic, Britney Spears.”

“Yeah” Rob was quick to agree.

“Yeah, actually I would have liked to have written that song.” At this point Luke looks regretful of his first answer.

“Yeah, made a lot of fucking money from that song” Rob agreed. “Final answer, Toxic,” Rob confirmed.

What style of clothing do you try to go for?

“I think like, well we quite obviously dress in a certain way, but I think it’s just, I don’t know, I think quite a lot of the bands that we look up to, like the Ramones and the Libertines (well I do anyway), it’s just sticking to classic leather jackets and we just kinda stick to that.” Rob answered, looking down at his own black jeans and leather jacket.

“It’s very easy to wear as well, you know” Luke added, also looking at his outfit choice today.

“If everything you own is black, then you don’t have to put much effort into it. Exactly” Rob laughs, pointing to my outfit of a black tshirt and black jeans. “The perks of it all.”

“I’d hate to be in the Vampire Weekend or something, where they have to have a new polo shirt every day, and a new cardigan. Whereas we can wear the same clothes every day.” Luke thought of the horror of owning more than two shirts.

“What, are you trying to start beef with the Vampire Weekend?” Rob warned.

How do you feel about the role that the internet plays in the music industry?

“It’s destroyed it, but it’s also kind of, opened up a lot of opportunities I guess.” Rob said after a few moments of thought.

“Yeah, it’s a double edged sword, in the way. As in, I guess the way it used to be in the 80s and 90s, where that you would have a very small minority of bands that would get elevated in a way that you could ever get to hear about them. Whereas, at least now you know, people in Argentina could have hared of us, whereas, if we hadn’t been elevated back in the 90s they would never of hared of us. It’s democratised.” Luke said, giving an insightful thought into the internet music industry.

“People in Japan and Jamaica. God bless the internet I guess.” Rob added.

“It’s really democratised the music industry in a way. And it is beneficial for bands, who don’t have a lot of main stream appeal, because they can get out and tour and make enough money by selling stuff through the internet, like merchandise, and what not, or promoting for themselves. Whereas those bands would not have stood a chance 20/30 years ago. So it’s cool from that perspective.” Luke added.

“But nobody pays for music anymore, so.” Rob was able to draw a negative from the internet. “ So that’s kinda shit. Just the reality of it I guess.”

Name a band or artist that you think are underrated

“Yak” Luke was very quick to suggest.

“Yeah, Yak is a good one.” Rob was quick to confirm. “They’re fucking amazing, we’ve seen them a few times. I get why they don’t get the main stream appeal, because it’s pretty heavy stuff. It’s amazing, but it wasn’t a very busy show, which is sad to see.”

“I feel like, they’re not really a band that are not necessarily underrated, because I’d say the reviews of their album are really strong so, they’re just underrated by the public I guess. And they deserve to be, deserve to be known.” Luke added.

“The band Idols. We actually met, the bassist last night.” Rob added to the list of underrated bands.

“Yeah, he’s pulling pints. Really nice guy, they’re off to play with the Progedy this week.” Luke pointed out, so they’re not that underrated then?

“They’re about to not be underrated, they’re playing huge gigs now.” Rob amended his previous statement.

What’s your favourite and least favourite venue to play at?

“It’s called Jimmy’s in Manchester” Rob pointed out with little hesitation.

“Yeah, it was pretty shit. It was only open and they were really unequipped. It would probably be a really nice venue to play in,” Luke added, just in case anyone who works there sees their bad review.

“It was a bar with a stage essentially,” Rob said, painting a more vivid picture of the venue.

“Yeah, I think they’ve improved it now” Luke added.

“That place was shite, the one in Sheffield. I mean, we’ve had a few exceptionally shit gigs,” Rob reminisced about their Sheffield gig.

“At The Rocking Chair, well that is not a good venue. And we’ve played two soul destroying gigs there. And we’re pretty used to like, playing to nobody, but these were extremely difficult gigs. It’s like literally no one at one of them.” Luke added,” So yeah, there are two answers for worst venue. Best venue.”

“Best venue. Paradise in Amsterdam, it’s pretty good. It’s an old church, that they’ve changed. That’s like what, 2,000 +” Rob suggested, pretty quickly.

“Yeah, we played a festival there,” Luke added, clearly remembering the amazing impression that the venue had for him.

“I’d say Europe as well, they just do everything.” So I can guess where Rob wants to spend more time touring.

“Any places in England that are pretty good?” Luke asked the question I was ready to know the answer for.

“We played the Deaf Institute the other night. I’d never been there before. Especially since we played a shit gig the night before in Manchester, so that was actually an amazing show. They had a fully vegan menu as well. That doesn’t happen very often.” So there you have it, any vegan Otherkin fans know the gig to go to.

Could you describe your process of writing songs?

“There isn’t really a process,” Rob shamefully admitted.

“Yeah, we just stand in a room with our instruments on us and play things and if it works it works, if not we just, bicker for a bit then hope something good comes along” Luke joins in, giving us an insight into the inner workings of Otherkin.

“Oh, you should see the fights” Rob jokes, and by the smirk on his face I guess he wins most of them.

“No, it’s very democratic.” Luke was quick to amend his band mate’s comment. “If someone has an idea they play it, if other people enjoy it then they join in.”

“If no one likes it, they don’t join in. They just won’t play along” Rob jokes, they both laugh, evidently enjoying the extremely democratic process.

“Maybe someday we’ll get fancy, and go to a studio and write songs there.” Luke dreams.

“But for now we’ll just thrash it out in a room together. Hopefully not forever, because there are definitely better ways of writing songs than how we currently do it. All of us just blasting music as each other, trying to decide what to do.” Rob joins in.

“We don’t really have the patience to sit down with acoustic guitars and write songs. We do that the odd time, but the majority of the songs that we do are done by just being in a room.” Luke remembers the evidently painful times he has actually attempted to write a song.

“I wish there was a formula; it would be a lot easier if there was.” Rob joins in on Luke’s dream. “We’re drunk sometimes, that helps. But sometimes we’ll just write the shittest songs. We’re just faking it basically. Sometimes songs just come out and you’re just like yeah cool.” Rob tells me.

“We’ll let you know when we have a proper answer.” Luke assures me (I still haven’t received one though)

What have been some of your biggest challenges as a band so far?

“I’d say cracking in was the start, because we’re Irish, it’s quite tough,” Rob admits. “We don’t get to tour here as often as English bands; because they can tour then just go home. Whereas we have to do a three week shift, which means we’re playing on a Monday night gig, when sane people play on the weekends. It’s a lot easier to sell out a Friday night show than a Monday night show. But, I think, luckily its started to change. We had an amazing Reading-Leeds, we played it last year.” Rob said, a little more positively than he started.

“Yeah, it seems to be getting better.” Luke agrees. “I know we’ve done some tours that have been really grim. It’s one of those things where the English bands we’ve played with, we toured with the Amazons a while back and they said they’d done the tent that we’d been in four times. That was our first time being there. So it’s quite difficult for us, because we’ve probably spent the same amount of time being in a band, but spent a fraction of the time in England which is where we try to be.”

“But, we’d sell pretty big shows in Ireland, but that’s because we play there often. Whereas, over here, this is our first time in Cardiff, especially since we’ve got an album out.” Rob continued.

“Which is mad, it’s mad considering we have an album out but it’s just the way it is.” Luke states.

“And especially when you’re in Ireland there’s essentially three cities you can play in. Whereas where, there are fucking like, 29 or something. Everyone is like, bigger than Dublin, which is the main city in Ireland.” Rob admits, not bothering to name all 29.

“So I think that’s been our biggest challenge, us trying to crack the UK.” Luke returns to the question after some consideration. “And even still trying to crack the UK, like we could do a show in a certain city in the country and get nobody and we want to be at the stage now where we want to be able to know where we’re going to draw a crowd. It’s just difficult to be, in Ireland. We just have to be expecting that things are happening over here when we’re not here. At least in Ireland we know how well we’re doing there because we live there, we can’t do that in the UK. That’s the biggest challenge.”

“There’s probably a way better answer, but I can’t think of one right now.” So I take it that Rob isn’t too keen on the answer that he gave.

“Song writing?” Luke suggests, laughing.

“Song writing! Yeah, Jesus. Playing instruments, that’s a good one.” Rob adds, maybe a little too enthusiastically.

What’s a popular music opinion you have?

“I don’t particularly like the Beatles.” Rob happily admits.

“ Yeah, that’s really unpopular” Luke is obviously still sore about this subject.

“No, I appreciate the fact, like I know that they’re a very influential band, but I was never a Beatles person. And I’ve met people who are the same, so I know it’s not just me.” Rob defends his opinion.

“He doesn’t really like Radiohead, which is bad.” Luke adds, still clearly appalled by his band mate’s music choices.