Thalassophile (Billy Hargrove)

The Upside down

Chapter 23
Unedited

A/ N - I never really explained Kai's backstory, so this is that. Enjoy.

I sat on the edge of Nancy's bed as she tossed clothes around in her closet to find something to wear. "I have nothing to wear." She sat down on the chair across from me.

"Your closet is filled to the top with clothes. Nancy, pick something." I said, laying down and opening the latest cosmo.

"I need to look good, you know."  Nancy stood up again and returned to her piles of mess, "how about this?" Barbara held out a pink baby top. I lifted my head and raised my brows "that's really cute, Nanc" Nancy took the shirt from Barbara and held it in front of her body, and crooked her head to the side.

"It's fine, Nancy; I'm sure if you even showed up in a potato sack, Steve would still think your cute," Barbara said reassuringly; I couldn't help but roll my eyes behind the Magazine. I was happy for Nancy, but why couldn't it be anyone else? Why did it have to be Steve?

But I wasn't going to let that stop me from being a supportive friend. I put the magazine down and stood up; I picked up a cute striped shirt off the floor and handed it to Nancy."

"This with your hair pushed back." I held the soft brown locks of her hair back and watched as my best friend began to glow.

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As we sat there in the back yard of Steve Harringtons' house, I felt as if I would explode. So I kept my head down, staring at my sneakers with a glass of water in my hand.
Nancy hadn't been acting like herself all night and I was starting to regret coming here in the first place.

"Here." I looked up to see Steve holding a beer. "I'm good." I mumbled, "what too much of a prude to drink?" Tommy snickered from the side, which made me roll my eyes.

"Come on, Kai, just have one." Nancy took the beer from Steve, handing it to me; I stared at her, not recognizing my friend; what happened to the responsible Nancy? I looked over at Barbara, who seemed uncomfortable as well.

"How about this one then?" Tommy said, getting up and shoving a beer towards her. "No, I will drink." I said, getting up and grabbing the can from Steve, "there you go!!!!!" They cheered, but honestly, I was just pissed, pissed off at my best friend for dragging me to this so-called party, pissed that I had a paper due Monday morning that I hadn't started, pissed that a kid just went fucking missing in this town and no one has done anything.

Pissed that the one guy I've had a crush on since forever decided to fall in love with my best friend. I was pissed that out of the six-plus billion people on this planet; I have to spend the night with Tommy and his girlfriend.

As I chugged the beer feeling the liquid gushing down my throat, creating an awful burnt and bitter taste in my mouth, I couldn't help but wonder how I would survive the next few hours.

But to make matters worse, the minute the can detach from my lips, I was no longer standing on the solid ground; instead, my body had been pushed into the cold water. I immediately began to panic as the shock of cold water hitting my body paralyzed me, that and the terror that I didn't know how to fucking swim. I began to gasp for air, a stupid move that just made things so much worse as the chlorine water began to rush into my lungs.

I opened my eyes, and for a brief moment, I was sure I went crazy, but staring at me was a creature so demonic-looking that I opened my mouth to scream and immediately lost all strength to do so but just then, I was pulled out of the cold water. My body froze, but my mind was racing; it was Steve that pulled me out, holding me in his arms as Nancy wrapped a towel around me; their voices were zoned out, but I could tell they were calling my name. My other best friend, Barbara, had begun to yell at Tommy but all I could do was stare at the water in horror and utter shock.