Help Me | Harringrove

Chapter 2

Steve was late to class. He doesn't know how that happened. It might have been the fact that he got high in the parking lot once he got to school and was too delirious to find his classroom. But it was okay. Steve managed to get decent grades so the teachers didn't care too much that he showed up late to class sometimes.

"Hey, Steve?" Mary, the quiet girl says.

He looks up from his desk with a start. He didn't realize that he was dozing off.

Mary frowns. "Are you okay?"

Steve doesn't know why but he grows angry. Who does this girl think she is? I am Steve Harrington, of course I am okay. That's not exactly true, but she doesn't need to know that.

"I'm fine," he snaps.

Her face seems to grow red in embarrassment as she looks back down to her school work.

"Sorry," she mumbles.

Steve sighs. She was only being nice and he acted like a total douche. He has his problems, but he shouldn't take that out on Mary. Besides, she never talks, so the fact that she even said anything at all is shocking.

"No, I am sorry," Steve says. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

Mary softy smiles. "It's okay. I should have been minding my own business anyway."

Steve thinks for a moment. Mary doesn't have any friends. She sits alone during lunch. Well, actually, she sits outside away from everyone else. She might understand being lonely. But Steve isn't very trustworthy, so he leaves the thought behind. Mary is just a girl who asked if he was alright.

Steve begins his worksheet, but a few minutes later someone walked into class. And that someone had gorgeous blonde hair, and he could really rock those jeans. He went up to the teacher and spoke to her for a few seconds before sitting down in the back. Who was that?

Steve leans over to Mary and whispers, "Who is that?"

Mary doesn't look up from her work as she says, "Oh, he just moved here. His name is Billy, I think."

"Huh," Steve responds simply before leaning back into his chair. Interesting.

———

It's lunch.

Steve is sitting with Tommy and Carol. They are talking about something but Steve doesn't bother to join in. He has too much on his mind. It seems he always does these days.

Steve begins to stand up.

Carol looks up at Steve with a skeptical look. "Where are you going?"

"Bathroom," he replies as he starts to walk towards the lunchrooms exit.

He wasn't actually going to to the bathroom. He was going outside to pop a pill so he could stop thinking for one damn moment of his life. But Carol didn't need to know that.

When Steve gets outside he takes out his bag of pills and pops it into his mouth. He doesn't need water anymore. He leans his head against the wall behind him as he takes in a deep breathe. This is better, he thinks. He closes his eyes as he feels the wind blow through his hair.

Much better.

———

Okay. It's official. This new Billy guy is an asshole.

"Hey, Pretty boy," he taunts as he tries to get the ball from Steve. "I hear you run this school."

Steve grits his teeth as he tries to get past Billy but he's pretty good.

It's currently basketball practice. Since Billy is new, he gets to come today and impress the Coach. So far, everybody is impressed.

"King Steve has a good ring to it," Billy says. "Too bad you won't be a King for long."

Steve gets distracted by this, causing him to lose control of the ball. Billy smirks as he receives the ball, while doing a fancy layup. Showing off.

Steve eventually gets the ball back, but Billy is making it difficult. He keeps backing up to Steve. A little too closely. Once Billy almost knocked Steve down, and then made a comment about planting his feet. Steve ignored him, though. But then Billy actually knocked him down. "I told you to plant your feet, Harrington," Billy calls from across the court.

Yeah, total asshole.