ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴜʀɴ

"Since when was I a thing to be rented out?!"

"Soleil, you're just doing a ribbon dance for the school, they wanted to make this year special, spring break is coming up soon. Don't be so dramatic considering the position you're in right now."

Something that has never happened in the very history of Regal Circus. It was the very decision the Ringmaster had just made that would make the most dedicated performers take double takes.

Soleil's father had just delivered her the news that she was going to be performing at the beginning of the championship basketball game for Hawkins High. Since she was already in the hot seat, it'd be next to impossible to escape this. However, what her father was making her do contradicts his values for the Circus. He always wanted these shows to stay in the red and white tent since the beginning of the Circus, these shows were shows of a lifetime for a reason. Now he wanted to do something privately? That was shocking, which is an understatement.

That wasn't the only reason that she didn't want to do this, she had a few. She was overworked from doing so many shows already and practice, it was getting harder to hide her burns, and she didn't want to see some of those guys from the basketball team again, and most of all, she told Eddie she would try and sneak out to watch the end of his D&D campaign unfold now, she wasn't so sure she could anymore. Plus, she was on her period and her cramps felt like she rolled around in piles of glass shards.

Soleil crossed her arms while she stood backstage trying to make her father see reason. Cassandra was to the side of her, not even phased by what she was hearing. "You said yourself that what we do in this tent stays in this tent, our show is one of a kind."

"Things change."

Cassandra gave him an unimpressed look. "You want to cheapen the worth of our show? How much money could that principal even pay you for Soleil's performance? She's tired Everett let her rest besides, you're the one who says she can't use her abilities outside."

He simply ignored both of them. "I said she could use her powers when performing so, so she can use them, I don't even know why I'm explaining this to you but, I promised everyone a bonus, and I have to deliver."

"I can't believe you." For a split second, Sol thought she saw her dad's stern expression crack.

"Cassandra, you know how it is in show business sometimes."

"No, no I don't."

This was so short notice, tomorrow all of a sudden, Sol had to do three shows and a private performance that she had no prep time for. That was it, maybe it was because she was tired, in pain, and overall sick of her father's crap but, she had enough.

"I'm not doing this unless I get to make the dance up, choose the music and my dancers." If she couldn't get out of it, she could bargain. "
I want my tapes back and I want Kelly on the bench for the next week."

Her father got in her face. "You think you're in any position to make decisions?"

She swallowed hard, it was too late to back out now and she wanted so badly to give her father a piece of her mind but, the time went right.

"It's either that or you'll have to drag me out of my trailer, if you manage to do that, don't expect any ribbon dancing from me."

"...Fine." He gripped his cane tightly. "I've been meaning to sit Kelly out anyway now, you better go start planning that dance, you barely have two days." He walked away and Cassie approached Sol.

"Don't worry Sunny, about everyone detests Kelly as much as you do. Good on you for telling your dad what was up."

"Feels good but not all the way right."

"And why is that?"

She laughed to herself. "It sounds stupid after everything he has done and said but I still care about what he thinks. I still care about him."

"I thought you didn't need me to tell you this but, screw his opinion and screw my opinion."

"What?"

"Sol, I know you could care less about what other people think but when it comes to your dad or me that's harder. You don't owe us anything and you don't need to prove yourself to us."

She huffed. "I know that and that isn't my problem at all."

"So what is it?"

"It's just, with all that's happened with Adelaide, Ryder, Elowen, and the rest of my siblings, I would just hate to know he's suffering even more because I'm doing what I'm doing." Confliction was always an enemy. "Then again, I'm eighteen, I'm an adult and he's still testing me like this. I wanna see the world without a leash."

"Woman to woman Sunny, don't feel bad over what you can't control, you see the world even if it's the last thing you do, and keep this in mind, someday you need to tell your dad exactly what's on your mind. No matter how much it hurts you or it hurts him, you'd do everyone a disservice by not being honest."

Soleil gave it some thought, Cassie was right. Eventually, the time would come to stand up to the one person she never felt like she could. She would just have to prepare herself till then. In the meanwhile, she had a dance to plan and someone to radio.

"Cassie, can I ask a favor?"

"Sure."

"Can you get Candy, Jacob, Wendy, Logan, and Chris to meet me in the center ring in an hour so we can make this dance up, I need to recharge real quick."

"Picking the fast learners I see, smart."

"Just thinking ahead." Soleil grabbed her yellow handbag off her vanity table. "I'll see you later."

"You got it—" Cassie rubbed her temples as her hearing aid gave off loud feedback. Her nose started to bleed, and small droplets of blood traveled down to the floor.

Soleil went to her vanity to get a few tissues for the older woman. "Woah—what's going on with you lately Cassie?"

She took the tissues and slowly, the noise from her hearing aid died down. "I don't know, it's been happening more often now, nose bleeds and a mind-splitting headache is just the start of it. My tinnitus is worse than ever when it's too quiet."

"Hope you're still listening to that Blondie tape."

"All the time, I've practically got the lyrics to Call Me stitched into my brain."

"Seriously though, you alright?"

"I'll be fine, go ahead and get some rest before practice. I'll go tell everyone for you."

Sol gave her two thumbs up before she ran off to the soft pretzel stand she hadn't stopped by in a while, Jackson must've been worried.

She strolled up to the soft pretzel stand with three dollars, sliding them on the counter. Jackson turns away from the fryer to face Soleil, his surprised look only growing on his face.

"Well, look who it is."

"Hey Jackson, how many people still buying soft pretzels?"

"The people love them and I uh, heard what happened with you and the boss."

"Oh don't give me that Jackson."

"Right right, so just a regular soft pretzel?"

"Actually, I want a cinnamon sugar one this time." She watched as he wrapped the bottom half of the pretzel in a napkin, handing it to her. "I also have something else to ask for."

"Shoot."

"As a frequent pretzel customer who is nice to you, I need to ask how hard is it to get Slippery When Wet on cassette by tomorrow."

"That's a big request—"

"I'll get you a date with Kara by next week."

"Consider it done."

"Pleasure doing business with you, I'll be back tomorrow, same time."

Soleil took bites of her snack as she took her time walking over to her, for now, unlocked trailer. As soon as she entered, she collapsed onto a chair in the kitchen, worn out from the day she had. This 
happened to her way too often, where Soleil would just lie on the floor or sit in a chair, eating Circus food while still in her costume and shacking up in her trailer just to get some peace.

She barely had a minute to think so Soleil made sure that she savored her food well before she went to retrieve her walkie-talkie from under the bed. She sat against her bed and pulled the antenna up.

"Eddie you there?"

There was a minute of silence before he picked up. "Just got home, you finish up your show?"

"Yep, and I bet your day went better than mine."

"It was fairly normal why? What happened?"

"I just found out I have less than a day to make up a whole dance because my dad decided to book me for the championship basketball game. Also, I'm tired as hell."

"Ugh, sounds soul-crushing. Wish I could see it but, y'know."

"It's alright, I was so ready to come to watch your D&D game."

"It's alright...I get the place you are in right now but, if you manage to get away, we'll be in the room down the hall from the gym. You can't miss the sound of my club members getting their asses beat."

"Don't count your eggs before they hatch Munson."

"I'm not, just saying, it'll happen. It always does."

"Alright Eddie, I'll leave you to study for that final, yes?"

"Studying, please—"

"Hey, what did you say you were gonna do?"

He sighed. "Walk onto that graduation stage, snatch that diploma, flip principal Higgins off, and run like hell out of there."

"That's right and if you're gonna do that, you have to study for this final so you can also give those teachers who doubted you the finger."

"Fine guess you're right, I'll go do it before I give up."

"Don't run from this Eddie."

"Yeah yeah, talk later?"

"Talk later." She lowered the antenna down. Soleil could only pray that Eddie did take her advice to go study, he just had to graduate this year so he could live those rockstar dreams he always had and, after reading some songs he wrote being a former writer herself, he was halfway there. Now that she was stuck in silence, she decided to take a quick nap.

Then, it was off to plan a dance in less than forty-eight hours. That was something to look forward to.

—㋛—

When Soleil first saw the outside of Hawkins High, it didn't look like much but indeed it was a place crawling with all sorts of cliques, self-doubt, and soon-to-be trouble. She had heard many things about High School, including how easily embarrassed you could get, and how ruthless some teachers were.

Though she never liked to make assumptions without seeing herself, unfortunately, she did not know what Hawkins High would be like.

Soleil, her father, and the dancers with their costumes still in their bags had all walked into the school, students who were lurking in the halls waiting for the game to start stared them down, and some sneered at their attire with everyone still dressed in their usual red and gold performance clothes from the earlier shows. The Ringmaster gave them one stern look and they shut right up.

Sol fixed the collar of her cellophane jacket, her makeup and hair were already done up for the performance, it was in its loose curls parted to the side, the costume designer adorned her hair with jewels and gave her the bag with her outfit for the night claiming, 'it should be a big reveal.' Her makeup was shimmery as normal, this time the main color being a variety of natural colors and silver.

The Ringmaster lead everyone to the main office where the women working at the front desk immediately got up to greet the Ringmaster.

"Mr. Alastair, glad to see you. I'll go get the Principal right away." She scurried away to knock on a door, and when it opened to reveal the principal, whatever she said was out of earshot. The principal emerged from his office and went to shake the Ringmaster's hand.

"Ringmaster Everett Alastair, so glad that you and your Circus could perform for our school."

"This is special for us too, this will be the first time we perform outside of the Circus. This is Soleil—"

"Soleil Alastair." The principal shook the girl's hand. "My dancers and I promise we'll give you an amazing show."

"Pleasure to meet you, young lady. Now, if you have to change I suggest you go before the basketball team needs the locker rooms, they are right through the gym—" He paused, and the Principal looked behind Sol. When she followed his gaze, she realized he was staring at a girl in a long skirt with curly brown hair talking to the woman at the front desk. "Nancy? Could you come over here please?"

The girl Sol now knew as Nancy sighed and walked over to the principal. "Yes, Principal Higgins?"

"These are the people from the Circus, could you please show them to the locker rooms? I'll show the Ringmaster around."

"Of course, you all can follow me. I'm Nancy Wheeler, by the way, love the jacket." Nancy walked and Soleil followed her side-by-side, the other dancers followed at a distance talking amongst themselves.

"You're the girl who does the fire tricks right? My family went to watch it, pretty cool."

"Thanks, feels like I'm a little rusty so it's nice to hear that." She moved her hair out of her face. "So, what do you do here besides classwork?"

"I work for the school newspaper, we needed extra pencils but, someone else will get them from the main office I guess."

"We won't be in your hair for too long, don't worry."

"I don't mind, honestly."

Soleil snapped her fingers. "Hey wait...are you related to Mike Wheeler?"

"He's my brother, what? You've met him?"

"Briefly yeah."

When Soleil entered the gym, she saw the familiar faces of the Hawkins basketball team and the opposing team standing in the middle of the gym while some people were in the stands. Their attention was caught by the performers and Sol, she gave them a small wave for the hell of it. Just to leave the crowd wanting more. Nancy lead them all to the back and pointed out which locker room was for the boys and the girls. The dancers walked accordingly into the rooms to get dressed.

"Nancy right? Wouldn't mind seeing you around again."

"Likewise...Soleil?"

"Like the sun."

Nancy smiled. "See you around, can't wait for that show. Should be better than Tammy singing..." She mumbled the last part as she strolled away from Soleil.

Now, Soleil walked into the locker room where Wendy and Candy were already changing into their black and silver leotards. She placed the bag with her clothes on the bench. When she unzipped it, she saw a silver dress that had fringe at the bottom, perfect to move in. Along with that were a full-length leather jacket, pointe shoes, a needed for ribbon dancing, and her fireproof ribbon. She had asked for the jacket and the costume designer delivered it as there was one part in the dance routine where she'd burn it off, the principal was paying her father for an amazing performance so she had to deliver. Many of the people she cared about within the Circus could use the extra money for putting up with her father. Even though the thought may have been naïve, Soleil figured if she put on a good performance, she could get her dad off her back.

The pain that came with it wouldn't be fun but, on the bright side, she didn't get too many burns. Sol started to put on her costume when one of the dancers spoke to her.

"Soleil, you heard what happened to Kelly?" Wendy spoke in a thick, Houston accent.

"No what?"

"Someone put a bucket of water over the door to her trailer, that oughta humble her up right quick!"

"I just wish she'd be a little nicer." Soleil zipped the full-length jacket all the way, hoping it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to ribbon dance with. Sol was thinking that maybe Kelly did learn her lesson.

"We all do," Candy said. "We just wish she would start acting nice sooner than later. Ever since Adelaide passed...she turned into a different person."

Adelaide? Kelly? What type of connection did they have with each other?

Sol opened her mouth to keep asking Candy about it but she decided not to, she was already too drowsy to dance but had to save all her energy for the performance, she couldn't focus on that.

After Sol and the dancers finished dressing, they stood outside of the locker rooms to see that the game was just about to start, all they had to do was sit back and wait for the Ringmaster (who hoped everything went right) to give them the signal.

The marching band played and the cheerleaders chanted in support of the Tigers, the players came out from a side door and once they got onto the gym floor they passed basketballs to each other. Then the players lined up by the stands and the marching band stopped to direct all focus to Principal Higgins who took the mic at the center of the gym.

"Everyone now please rise for our national anthem." Everyone stood up. "Singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest. All the way from Nashville, our very own Tammy Thompson!"

The crowd clapped as a young woman in a pink dress entered, waving to the crowd. She approached the mic and started to sing.

"O say, can you see—" Microphone feedback echoed throughout the gym. Her singing was poor to put it lightly. Sol thought she sounded like, Miss Piggy. Not good at all.

"We are gonna blow her out of the water." Chris watched as she finished up the song.

"Hey, be nice." Candy jabbed him with her elbow.

They all stopped talking once the Principal took the mic once again. "Now, Hawkins High and our wonderful players of our basketball team, we have another treat for you. From the Regal Circus, Ringmaster Everett Alastair has been so kind to give us a pre-game show." The crowd erupted with overwhelming applause as the Principal gave the mic to the Ringmaster.

"Good evening to all of you. My performers and I are so happy to be here,"

Yet another lie, Sol would rather be watching Eddie's D&D game play out instead of exhausting herself even further.

"I won't make you wait any longer so please, give it up for the dancers of the Regal Circus and our crown jewel, my Soleil!"

As the crowd clapped, he tapped his foot to the ground twice. It was the signal. Jacob reached for the light switches to the gym that was right next to the doorway they stood at. The whole room went dark, and the students looked around in the dark, not sure what to make of it. The Ringmaster carried the mic away as Sol stepped into the middle of the gym.

Soft, classical music played once she lit her ribbon on fire, roasting the tips of her fingers. Her eyes also caught fire. The flame made her face visible to everyone. She started by twirling the ribbon around her while standing up on her tiptoes, her whole body was illuminated in an elegant show that got a positive reaction from the crowd and the basketball teams.

She lept into the air, still spinning the ribbon around. Her short dance was full of twists and turns, jumps and splits. It looked like a fairy appeared right in the middle of Hawkins High's gym and started dancing.

Once the flame died out, the lights slowly started to come back on, a beat starting in the background, showing it wasn't over yet. Soleil tossed the ribbon to the side as the dancers joined her. As Chris stood a little behind her, Soleil locked eye contact with some of the cheerleaders and basketball players like the one that was nice to her at the mall, Patrick if she remembered correctly. He smiled at her.

Before the lyrics to Micheal Jackson's Beat It started, Soleil snapped her fingers, and the leather jacket she wore burned away only to reveal the silver dress she wore underneath it.

That hurt like hell.

The students of Hawkins High almost lost their minds. Soleil blew a kiss and rested her hands on the shoulder of Wendy and Candy. They strutted forward and then turned to face Logan, Jack, and Chris. The three dancers rushed forward, lifting the girls in the air and then back down.

Next, they danced side by side, hitting each move the best they could since they had limited time for practice, at one point, Soleil did the moonwalk with pointe shoes on which wasn't easy. The last move the group did was to have the girls kick a leg up in the air then, the guys lifted them again letting them wrap their legs around their waist, arching back to face the audience. The performers bowed as the Ringmaster came back out to close the show.

"Wendy," Soleil spoke to the dancer in a quiet voice. "Cover for me, if my dad asks, say I went to the bathroom or something."

"Got it but remember to come back for your stuff."

"I will, I'll be back before the game is over."

Soleil picked her moment to sneak out of the gym by using the exit by the locker rooms and booked it down the hallway where Eddie said he and the members of the Hellfire club would be. She peeked into a few empty rooms, forgetting where the room was already but eventually, she found where she was supposed to be.

She opened the door to the room to see a group of kids in a huddle like they were football players. Eddie stood at the end of the table they were playing D&D, once he saw Soleil enter the room he vaulted over the table.

"And she's here!"

With tired eyes, Soleil greeted Eddie. "Hey, hope I didn't miss too much of anything."

"These six are about to decide if they're gonna take on Vecna."

"So Vecna does live, I knew it."

Eddie looked Sol up and down, the sliver dress she wore worked with her complexation so well that he had to admire it. "You had a lucky guess."

Someone cleared their throat, and Eddie and Sol turned around to see Dustin, Mike, and the others waiting.

"Earth to Eddie, we're ready," Dustin said. "Oh, hey again Soleil."

"Hey, guys."

Soleil looked at a girl that has an American flag draped over her, she had never seen her. "Who are you?"

"Erica Sinclair, don't wear the name out." Soleil nodded in approval. "Are we gonna play or are we gonna wait till Mr. Long-hair's eyes fall out from their sockets?"

Eddie blushed deep red realizing that he had got a little distracted so, he went back to his chair. "Right, right." Soleil stood off to the side and smiled at his flustered self.

"Eddie, you there alright man?" Dustin asked him.

"Ye-yeah, I'm fine anyway, gentlemen and Lady Applejack. Whilst I respect the passion, you'd be wise to take Gareth the Great's concern to heart. There is no shame in running. Don't try and be heroes." They all looked at him. "Not today, 'kay?"

Dustin put one finger up. "One sec." They fell back into a huddle. Eddie looked at Soleil once again, she shrugged her shoulders amused at what was happening.

Everyone turned back around. "Let's kill the son of a bitch."

"Chances of success are 20-1—" Jeff tried to reason.

"Never tell me the odds. Give me the D20." Eddie tossed the dice to Dustin.

This was now or never.

All of them approached the table. Dustin shook the dice in his hands rapidly and rolled them onto the table. He rolled an eleven, a miss.

"That's a miss!" Eddie banged his head.

"No!"

"Shit, shit!" Dustin pushed something off the table. Now it was only left up to Erica to win the whole game.

Erica took the dice in her hands, shaking them. Dustin and Gareth were hoping that this would be their winning roll. Finally, she let go of the dice, it rolled along the table till it stopped and it said—

"Crit hit!" They had won the game, and everyone including Soleil cheered, high-fiving the other members while Eddie started to act like he was dying.

"That's why we play!" Eddie outstretched his arms over the table and Erica stood proudly.

"Nice plays Miss America," Soleil told her.

"What can I say? All in a day's work."

Soleil then sprung to life, she had been so caught up in the celebration that she almost forget she had to be back at the gym in due time. The game should've been done by now.

"Shit! I gotta go, I'll see you all later." Before anyone could say goodbye, she was out the door, only a flicker of her sliver dress was visible before she darted down the hallway. Eddie watched the open door for a while, almost longingly.

Dustin and everyone else looked at each other with huge grins.

Eddie clasped his hands together. "Congratulations, you beat Vecna while the odds were little to nothing. I gotta say I'm impressed."

"Oh Eddie, you definitely got it." Dustin laughed.

"It? What's it?"

"Are you serious?" Erica put her hands on her hips."Is he serious?"

"Yes! What's it?"

"We'll let you figure that one out long hair."

Eddie became dumbfounded thinking he said or did something weird but he ultimately didn't pay attention to his younger friends. All he thought was what Soleil's performance in the gym looked like as he was sure he'd be hearing about it around the town.

Soleil however, dashed back to the locker rooms, and people were exiting the gym talking about how Lucas won the game, Sol had heard that name before, from Dustin and Mike, he was their friend. She guessed he didn't play D&D or maybe he didn't do that anymore.

Nevertheless, she proceeded to the locker room, trying to use her spare energy to get her damn stuff, go home, and take a long rest before she started to get delusional. Soleil opened the door to the locker room and instead of seeing Wendy or Candy or her stuff she instead saw the ENTIRE Hawkins basketball team some of which were just in towels.

At first, she stared at them in shock and they stared back. She couldn't just walk away from this. Rather than feel embarrassed though, she stood there rubbing her temples, so tired that she could barely feel anything. After a few seconds, she tried to leave but felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Miss Soleil," She turned around to face the guy she knew was Andy. "You get lost or something?"

"I know where I'm going, sorry for busting in on you guys like that..."

"It's perfectly fine, I can show you where to need to go."

"I'm fine."

"I mean, you did walk in on us—" He was interrupted.

"Dude, knock it off. She said she's fine." Patrick spoke up.

"What did you say?" He turned to face the other guys.

"Leave her alone man."

"Oh, Lucas, you win the game once and you think your some type of big talker huh?"

"Alright, alright. Break it up, this is not the night for this."Jason interjected, stopping the argument. Patrick just continued to look at her while biting the inside of his cheek.

"I'm just gonna go," Soleil mumbled and she tried to leave again but, she felt a hand on her shoulder again.

She was so done.

Andy removed his hand from her shoulder immediately after he felt the temperature of her skin, she was burning up like she had a bad fever.

"I told you I'm fine." Soleil walked out of the room.

Andy held his hand in shock. "Dude—she was hot—"

"Yeah, no shit." Chance remarked.

"No like—literally hot dumbass. Her skin was hot."

They all look at him weirdly. "You started drinking early tonight man?"

He furrowed his eyebrows, "Forget it."

Soleil now walked into the right dressing room where she saw Wendy and Candy changing.

"There you are thought you got lost or something," Candy said.

"I didn't, just tired."

"Okay, the boss is waiting so once we get dressed, we'll take you to him."

"Fine by me, I just wanna sleep." Sol shoved all her belongings into the bag she carried, put on her cellophane jacket, slung her bag over her shoulder, and exited the locker room to wait for Candy and Wendy. When she went outside, she was surprised to find Patrick leaning against the wall, changed out of his basketball uniform. Sol stood next to him, also hearing Jason giving a speech (which she heard he did a lot) to the other players.

"Waiting for your very gentlemen-like friends?" She asked him.

He nodded. "Again, sorry about them they can be really stupid sometimes."

"Don't apologize, if they were man enough, they'd apologize for their actions."

"I like that."

"Like what?"

"You don't seem like the type to take crap from anyone."

"I don't, too busy for it."

"I can tell, nice performance, by the way, helped keep the other team off their game for us."

"That's what I do, here to put on a good show."

He slightly smiled. "I admire your ability to do that almost every day, I know I couldn't."

"Well everyone's got their thing, yours is basketball, mine is the Circus. I imagine you can't wait to get in your bed after tonight."

"Actually, we're gonna go party after that win, we have to. I'd invite you but you look pretty beat."

"Damn right, I am, three shows and an extra performance is why. I am a hot mess."

"Still looks flawless to me though, not many people can pull that off."

"Now you're just flattering me."

"I'm serious."

"Well...thanks then." Wendy and Candy had come out of the locker room, gesturing for Soleil to follow them. "See you later then."

He picked up her hand, looking to see if she objected which—Sol didn't (maybe she was too sleepy to care), he raised her hand up and softly kissed her hand. "See you later." Soleil rose her eyebrows before walking over to Wendy and Candy who saw the whole thing and they weren't the only ones.

There was Eddie in the hallway, supposed to be on his way to go get Chrissy but here he was feeling something like pain growing in him, why did that make him feel irked? The truth was Eddie knew the reason, he just didn't want to admit it.

Though, he should've acted faster before things got too out of hand.