𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐌𝐄 // Billy Hargrove

Pre party

I spent the whole morning trying to hide from Steve, but since we had some classes together and our lockers were next to each other, it was nearly impossible. We eventually saw each other, and he was already with a new pair of clean clothes and I gave him an apologetic hug, because otherwise he would've stayed mad at me, even though he was the one starting this whole thing.

Steve, Nancy and I were at the library studying with Nancy.

"Do you know this one?" Steve asked me, pointing at a math exercise.

"Yeah, I did it a while ago, you can copy if you want." I say handing him my notebook.

"Thanks." He said taking it. Nancy then broke her pencil and got up to sharpen it.

A couple of minutes passed, and she was still there looking at some girl that had an outfit exactly like Barb's. Oh shit.

"Steve?" I called.

"Yes?" He asked, finally looking up from his paper.

"Look." I said pointing at Nancy. He caught up what was going on and went up to her. As soon as he touched her, she came to her senses.

Steve said something to her that I couldn't quite understand, and it was all it took before she came towards me, grabbed my hand and led us to a small room, inside the library.

"I can't keep doing this." She told us.

"Can't keep doing what?" Steve asked her.

"Pretending like everything is okay." She said, looking at him.

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked confused.

"Barb. She's talking about Barb." I said looking at her, and she nodded her head.

"Yeah. It's like everyone forgot. It's like nobody cares, except her parents." Nancy explained.

"Oh yeah, you had dinner with them last night, right?" I asked and they nodded.

"They're going to sell their house because they think they are going to find her." She told me.

"That's terrible! Oh my God." I said, feeling bad. I was never as close with Barb as I was with Nancy, but she was always friendly to me. We were never really close because I was always with Steve, and let's just say that Barbara wasn't Steve's number one fan. Even so, this makes me feel like shit. I was at the house when it happened. Did I see the Demogorgon? No. Why? Because I was too busy having a fight with my now ex-boyfriend Rafe. I never felt so guilty about something in my life, but the truth was, there was nothing we could do anymore. She was gone and we had to accept it.

"Tell me about it." Nancy said sadly.

"Nance-" Steve tried but was cut off.

"This whole situation is destroying them!" She said in the verge of tears.

"I know, I know. Okay? I get it. But listen, there's nothing we can do about it anymore." Steve said, trying to make her feel better. See? Great minds think alike.

"We could tell the truth." She said looking between us.

"Nancy, I love you, but are you insane?! You know we can't do that!" I whisper yelled.

"We don't have to tell them everything." She defended.

"This isn't some game, Nance. If they found out we told anyone..." Steve said, only to stop himself to close the blinds, just in case someone could hear us/see us. "They could put us in jail, okay? Worse, they could destroy our families." He said quietly once he got near us. "They could anything they want. Okay? Just think about what you're saying."

"I agree with Steve here, Nancy. I just think that it's too risky." I told her while putting my hand on her shoulder, sweetly.

I then notice she was about to cry, and Steve did too.

"Hey... hey..." He said holding her. "It's hard, but let's... let's just go to Tina's stupid party, wear our stupid costumes, that we've been working on for a stupid amount of time, unlike someone over here." He said looking me, which made me smile at them and do a little wave, making her chuckle. "Let's just pretend that we're stupid teenagers, okay?" He asked looking down at her, smiling lightly.

"Let's do it! Just tonight!" I said pouting at her.

"Okay." She said looking between us once more. "Let's just be stupid teenagers."

"Come here." Steve said hugging her.

"That's my cue. I'll see you later, love birds!" I said exiting the small room we were in.

I was walking towards my car when I saw Billy leaning against his, looking at me.

"How's it going, princess?" He asked me, lighting up his cigarette.

"It was going alright. Until now." I said giving him a sarcastic smile.

"You're one tough lady to find." He said blowing out some smoke.

"Why? Were you looking for me?" I asked him, confused.

"I'm always looking for you." He said winking at me.

"I know that was supposed to sound hot, but it sounded more stalkerish to me." I told him.

"Bummer." He said, keeping on smoking his cigarette. "Do middle schoolers usually take this long?" He groaned.

"Why? Got somewhere else to be?" I teased.

"Not really, I just don't like waiting." He said, starting to get frustrated.

"Yeah, well it's kind of part of the job of being a step-brother. Deal with it." I told him.

"I wouldn't if I had a choice." He muttered under his breath.

"Why don't you have a choice?" I asked him curiously.

"None of your business." He said coldly. Wow, where the hell did that come from?

"Alright then, Mr. Grumpy. Do you want me to take your sister home?" I asked him. I didn't want to it for him, I just didn't like the idea of him being pissed at her.

"No need, she's right there." He said pointing at redhead skating in our direction. "Were trying to be nice or was that just a way to go to my house again?" He asked me, winking at me. This guy definitely had a problem. One moment he looks mad, like he's about to punch someone; the other, he looks his old teasing self. What the fuck.

As Max reaches us, I give her a light hug.

"Hey, Max and bye Max!" I said laughing making her laugh too.

"See you later, princess." He said winking once more, making me roll my eyes.

"See you, Cali." I said walking away from them.

As I was walking towards my car, I heard them talking.

"You're late again." He said sternly.

"Yeah, I had to get catch-up homework." She explained.

"Jesus, I don't care. You're late again and you're skating home, do you hear me?" He said, again in a not so nice tone. Why is he such a dick to her? She's just a 13-year-old kid.

I saw them leaving a few seconds after I did.

"We were riding here, and you'll never guess what happened!" Dustin said dramatically. He was telling me about his day while I was cleaning up our vinyl.

"What happened?" I asked in a mocking tone.

"We were almost run over by Max's brother!" He exclaimed and my eyes went wide.

"You were what?!" I asked shocked.

"Yeah, we were riding in our bikes, talking and shit, when suddenly we heard a car behind us. As soon as he saw us, he started going faster and faster and we had to ride to the grass out of the road, or else we'd all be dead by now." He said, making my blood boil.

"So basically, what you're telling me is that the little shit almost killed you?" I asked, trying to make myself sure that I heard correctly.

"Yeah, pretty much." Dustin said. Billy fucking Hargrove is so going to die.