Chapter Four: The GLOW Show

 

Chapter Four: The GLOW Show

            It was rare to see the town of Hawkins buzzing with so much energy like it did that eventful summer evening. Half of the town came to the bingo hall for the sold-out GLOW show happening there. That included a highly reluctant Joyce Byers and a somewhat eager Jim Hopper.

            “I really don’t know how you talked me into this, Hopp,” Joyce grumbled, sitting with her arms folded in Jim’s parked police truck. “A GLOW show for date night?”

            “To be honest, I wasn’t even sure this was a date,” Jim said. “Who knows, maybe you’ll enjoy it?”

            “I’m only going to this to see what the fuss is about. Will practically begged and pleaded me to go to one.”

            “What did you tell him?”

            “I told him ‘No,’ of course. Have you seen the commercials?! The revealing outfits these girls wear?! It’s like something out of a porno!”

            “Yeah, I have.” The charmed way in which Jim answered attracted a bit of ire out of Joyce. Quickly, he changed his tone to a stricter demeanor and restated, “I mean…yes…yes, I have.”

            Joyce didn’t seem to be convinced, not saying a word as she got out of the truck.

            This “date night” is certainly starting out well, Jim mockingly thought to himself.

            As he caught up with Joyce, the both of them failed to recognize three familiar boys and one teenaged blonde pulling up near the front of the bingo hall and parking their bikes at the racks.

            “I can’t believe you boys talked me into this,” Si moaned.

            “Hey, we’re here now and it’s happenin’,” Dustin told her. “No turning back.”

            “Aren’t you guys a little young for this kind of show?” The voice of Steve Harrington drove their attention away from each other and to the guy that was formerly the boyfriend of Nancy Wheeler.

            “Steve,” Si uttered. “You here with anybody?”

            He hesitated with his answer. “No…actually. I was just…” His focus appeared to be drawn elsewhere from the four individuals in front of him. Si and the boys followed his gaze and realized why he was so tongue-tied: Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers were also in attendance for the GLOW show on their date.

            “Dude, please tell me you’re not here to spy on them,” Dustin disapproved.

            Steve timidly scoffed at himself. “I’ve gotten that pathetic, eh?”

            “Shoot!” Mike suddenly exclaimed. “Will, if your brother and my sister are here together…”

            “They might tell our parents!” Will exclaimed in fear. “We gotta lose ourselves in the crowd!”

            Both of them, along with Lucas and Dustin, were in the process of doing just that while Si stayed behind, taking pity on the lonesome Steve Harrington. “You wanna come with us?” she invited him. “I’m not exactly here for the entertainment either.”

            A grateful smile appeared on Steve’s face. “Yeah, sure. I’d like that.”

            He never noticed until then how gorgeous Si was.

            The two walked into the bingo hall together, just as another pair of characters – a white male wearing a bowtie and tweed jacket and a young black man in a hoodie – stopped near the bingo hall entrance. The former brandished a strange tool that glowed green at its tip.

            “The trail of nuage energy stops here,” the Doctor told Jake. “This is where the other Neas is. Let’s split up and look for her.”

            Jake was more than willing to follow the Doctor’s lead. However, as he gazed among the congregation of attendees, he stumbled upon a major concern. “Yeah, only one problem, mate: we haven’t got a clue what she looks like.”

            “Teenage blonde in a green blouse and bellbottom jeans, remember?”

            Following this description, Jake looked on the congregation of attendees once again and groaned when he saw at least twelve girls who matched the description. “Yeah…this is gonna be fun,” he derided.

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            It was pretty easy getting lost in a sold-out crowd – so much so that Si and the boys had to be extra careful not to lose each other. That meant waiting in one place while Si and Lucas volunteered to get everyone snacks.

            “Ever tried Goobers?” Lucas asked Si. “Man, those things taste like…”

            Lucas walked backwards as he talked, failing to see the redheaded girl behind him. He bumped right into her, causing her cup of soda to splash all over her white tee. To make matters worse, Lucas recognized this particular girl. She was the one he, Mike, Dustin, Will, and Si had seen hanging out at the Palace Arcade. “MADMAX” was what they called her, on account of how she beat Dustin’s high score on Dig Dug. Her actual name was Max Mayfield, a California girl who moved to Hawkins earlier that year.

            “I am so sorry,” Lucas told her. “Here, let me…” He reached over to the nearest napkin dispenser, grabbing over a dozen napkins and rendering the dispenser close to empty. Lucas proceeded to clean off the soda stain on Max’s shirt, which he saw as a gentlemanly gesture.

            Unfortunately, in the eyes of Si and Max herself, Lucas was rubbing his hands all over Max’s fairly “developed” chest.

            “What are you doing?” Max asked him.

            Lucas’s hands stopped at the most inappropriate time at the most inappropriate place, realizing how he looked in front of everyone. “I-I’m sorry…I just…”

            “Get your grubby mitts off me!” Max slapped his hands away.

            “HEY!” Si jumped at the aggressive voice yelling out close nearby.

            It belonged to an equally aggressive teenage boy with a dark brown mullet, wearing a denim jacket and ripped jeans to match. Despite his age and the “No Smoking” signs all around, he puffed on a cigarette.

            “What’s the problem here?” he asked, his steely blue eyes fixated on Lucas.

            “There’s no problem here at all,” Si intervened. “C’mon, Lucas. Let’s go.”

            The cigarette-smoking teen forcibly moved himself in front of them, barring their exit. “I asked a question: what’s the problem here?” His tone became more antagonistic, his eyes still fixated on Lucas.

            “She said there’s no problem here, Billy,” Max said. “So, get lost!”

            “Don’t tell me to get lost,” Billy snapped at Max. “I saw what this little pervert tried to do to you!”

            Lucas frowned at the term used to describe him. “Say what?!”

            “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Si said. “Now that is a bold accusation you’re making.”

            “No one asked you!” Billy flicked his cigarette at her chest.

            Triggered by the teen’s actions and (most of all) his words, Si intimidatingly got right up in his face. “Don’t start something you can’t finish, Bender,” she warned him. Her Breakfast Club reference/insult flew over the youth’s head, considering the film had yet to be released at that time.

            Billy didn’t take the warning all that seriously anyway.

            He attempted to deliver a backhanded slap across Si’s face, but she was quick to catch his arm and wrangle it behind his back, strong-arming him. She pinned him face-first against the wall with a loud, sickening thud. Several people stopped and watched to see what was happening, including one young black man in a hoodie who had a specific interest in finding a girl who matched Si’s description.

            “Apologize to my friend,” Si ordered.

            “Bite me!” Billy defied.

            Si applied more pressure to his arm, making Billy squeal a little. “Apologize,” Si repeated with more hostility.

            “Alright, alright!” Billy conceded. “I’m sorry!”

            She let him go accordingly, and Billy made a hasty, shamefaced exit. He grabbed Max along the way, not noticing how she smiled at Si, impressed by how much of a wuss she made her stepbrother look.

            One person did notice Max’s awestruck smile, however, and that was Lucas.

            “Lucas, you O.K.?” Si asked him.

            He gave her a fiery glare as he belligerently rebuffed her concern, “I didn’t need your help!”

            Baffled, Si watched him as he stormed off in a huff.

            She attempted to rush after him to find out why he was so upset with her, until she was approached by a young, long-haired brunette in a pink jacket and denim jeans. “That was one impressive arm-lock you had that guy in,” she told Si. “You must be a serious GLOW fan to learn that move!”

            “Not really,” Si confessed. “I’m only here for my friends.”

            The woman nodded understandingly. “Still, if you weren’t a minor, you’d be perfect for the show.” She stuck out her hand for Si to shake. “I’m Ruth Wilder. I know a few people behind the scenes. If you ever need a referral, I can…”

            “With all due respect, Miss Wilder,” Si said, “if I were the appropriate age to audition for GLOW, I’d still say ‘No’.”

            Ruth nodded ever so faintly (and awkwardly). “Gotcha,” she uttered.

            Si parted ways with her and looked ahead past the crowd to find Lucas. Even with a few people beginning to disperse into the main hall, those crowding the lobby made it virtually impossible for Si to find Lucas or even Steve, Mike, Dustin, and Will.

            “Dangit,” Si griped.

            “Neas!” She turned her head to where she heard her true Gallifreyan name called out, detecting a slight British drawl to it. She saw a young black man in a hoodie rush right up to her, not having the slightest idea who he was. “Please tell me you’re the Neas,” he desperately pleaded.

            Si kept herself on guard, cautious of the young man’s knowledge of her. “I am,” she acknowledged. “Who are you?”

            “Jake Pentecost,” he said. “Son of Stacker Pentecost.”

            It had been eons since Si heard that name. But, even seeing Jake there in front of him, memories that were somewhat more recent flashed in her memory, as if a part of her past timeline was catching up with her present one. “Jake…of course,” she reflected. “You’re here with the Doctor, aren’t you? Something about looking for…Cthulhu?”

            “Yes!” Jake happily exclaimed. “The other you left earlier to find him. And now, we need your help to find him.”

            Si let out a despaired sigh. “Looks like my night out with the boys is kaput…and my time in Hawkins, Indiana, for that matter.” She patted Jake on the shoulder and urged him to lead on. “C’mon. Let’s find the Doctor. I’ve got a friend back in my TARDIS who’s gonna be real happy to finally get out and…” She stopped just as a tall, dark hooded figure passed through, breezing across the crowd like a giant wraith. It attracted Si’s attention and curiosity more than the people who parted to get out of its way.

            Noticing how Si stopped in her tracks, Jake turned and asked, “Ain’t you comin’?”

            Not taking her eyes off the strange specter-like figure, Si hypnotically answered, “Yeah, I’ll be on my way. Let the Doctor know I’m coming, will ya?”

            The confused Jake watched her leave in the other direction, following the tall, hooded stranger. He had no other choice but to leave her to whatever she was investigating, hoping that she’d catch up with him and the Doctor later like she said.

            Si tracked the hooded figure down into the boiler room.

            It knew she had followed it there, subsequently removing its hood to reveal itself as an eight-foot humanoid alien, squid-like in nature.

            Si knew this certain alien. “Vilgax,” she hissed his name.

            “So, it is you, Gladiator,” Vilgax said. “The last I saw you with Ben Tennyson, you were much taller and better structured for combat. This form you’ve taken now is pathetic at best. You are now just as much a child as Tennyson!”

            “Flattery will get you nowhere, Vilgax,” Si jeered. “Why are you in this dimension? More importantly, how did you get here?”

            “An old relative assisted in my arrival through an underground interdimensional tunnel system.”

            Si knew of such a tunnel system. “The Upside-Down,” she gasped.

            “So, you have heard of it,” Vilgax relished. “As far as why I’m here, that’s rather simple: I’m here to kill you!” He advanced on her to do the job.

            Meanwhile, Si took out her sonic screwdriver out from behind her back pocket and used it to summon her TARDIS. The tall, black rectangular solid materialized right behind Vilgax, much to the alien, bipedal cephalopod’s amusement.

            “You pitiful fool!” he insulted Si. “You’ll have to go through me to escape!”

            “Escape wasn’t in my plan, idiot.”

            With the snap of her fingers, she opened up the doors to her TARDIS. In one quick second, a big, red stone fist slammed against Vilgax’s face. The crippling punch, delivered by the one and (thankfully) only half-demon known as “Hellboy,” sent the alien tyrant collapsing to the floor.

            “That is one ugly dude,” Hellboy spoke of the alien he downed. He then looked to Si and asked, “How is it I’m only ever let out of your ship to save your butt, kid?”

            “Hey, at least you have a reason now!” Si countered.

            Their spat was cut short with the sudden recovery of Vilgax, who leapt back to his feet and retaliated against Hellboy. The two behemoths exchanged huge blows, engaging in a fierce brawl that shook the boiler room walls. It only got more intense when Hellboy unleashed an uppercut on Vilgax that sent him crashing through the ceiling and into the main hall. Hellboy bounded up through the gaping hole to continue the brawl.

            The screams of attendees and presumably GLOW performers echoing from upstairs unsettled Si, who realized how much worse the situation had gotten.