ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʜᴏɴᴇ|ʙɪʟʟʏ ʜᴀʀɢʀᴏᴠᴇ

☥𝟢𝟢𝟤☥

⇰ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕋𝕨𝕠.
-ℍ𝕠𝕥 𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕝𝕤.

Anthony and I sped into the parking lot of Hawkin's High. Him on his motorbike and me in my car. He sat his helmet down and walked over. I rolled the window down. "Is it just me or is your head hurting like you got molly whopped?"
I nodded. "Totally." I handed him a water bottle from the back and he immediately cracked it open. I hopped out of the car and we started making our way inside. As we reached the door, I broke my neck to see the car revving through the parking lot. It stopped a few spots away from mine and Ant's. "seventy-nine Camero Z-28," Anthony whispered.

I just knew his body was tingling. He wanted to get his hands on it. He started to walk forward before a face appeared. I stuck my hand up, stopping him. "Keg king," I informed. "Kid from last night?" He asked. I nodded my head. Billy didn't walk towards the doors though. He lay on his hood, placing a cancer stick in his mouth. "C'mon." Anthony was suddenly cheery as ever as we made our way over.
"Hey, new kid!" I called out. He lifted his head just the slightest bit, the same smirk from last night appearing on his face.

"Keg queen," He addressed. "We've never seen you around before," Ant spoke up. "Saw me last night," Billy countered. "Never saw you before last night."
He took a pull off his cigarette before sitting up. "What do you want?" He pressed. "Where you from?"
He looked between Anthony and me, seemingly studying our appearance. "California, you?"
"New York," I answered. I hopped up on the hood next to him, taking the cancer stick from him. "Not looking for friends," He stated. "Neither are we."
Anthony was antsy, waiting for my approval to ask about the car. I nodded my head. "Sick car," He smiled. "Déja-" He stopped himself, noticing my harsh glare. "-Bex's got a sixty-five SS."
Billy looked down at my car before looking at me. "That's yours?" He asked. "She's pretty, ain't she?"

He mouthed the word 'she' to himself. I flicked the cigarette to the ground, crushing it as I hopped off the hood of the new kid's car. We started walking as the bell rang. "Catch ya' later, California!"

☥

"God, do they ever shut up?" Cass barged into my room with Ash and Anthony on his tail. They peered through the window, looking through the neighbor's opened curtains. "No, they don't. I've been trying to study for the last hour and all they do is argue."
He opened my closet door and pulled out the bat with nails and barb wire. "That's it, time to kick some ass-"
I stopped him, hearing the noise die down. This time, we all stuck our heads out the window. It was Billy. He stormed out of the house and into his car, pulling off faster than the speed of light.

"Well, at least we get some fucking peace now, right? I'm gonna go play Nintendo," Ash zoomed out of the room. "It was my turn!" Anthony yelled. All Cassidy and I did were shake our heads. I closed my textbooks. I wasn't gonna be able to study. Not with the neighbors, and definitely not with those dickwads screaming downstairs.
I followed behind them, watching as they fought over the controller. "I'm getting pizza, you guys want anything?" I asked. They both dropped the controller, running for the notepad in the kitchen.

When they brought it back to me. "Cass?" I questioned. "The usual." He tossed me my keys as I slipped my shoes on. "Someone get the phone!" It was blaring in the background as I put my jacket on. No one picked up, as usual. Groaning, I walked over to answer. "Rockefeller's."
"Hey, Bex, it's Steve." Steve and I fell off a while back. He got kind of weird when he and Nancy Wheeler got together, Hawkins resident good girl. "What's up?" I asked.

"Mind coming over? Poppin' some jiffy pop?" Hell. Jiffy pop meant a 911. "Yeah, sure. Give me thirty?" He hummed on the other line before we hung up. "Who was it?" Ash asked. "Steve. Jiffy pop detail."
He sucked in a sharp breath. "Yeah... We'll go get the food. Have fun." The ride to Steve's wasn't that long. His parent's cars were gone, per-usual. They were never around, never there to take care of him.

I knocked on the door, hugging my jacket closer to my body as the night air cut through it. "Coming!" I could hear his feet against the floor as he rushed over. He opened it, eyes red and puffy. I didn't bother asking what was wrong. I shoved past him and kicked my shoes off. "Popcorn?" I questioned. He pointed towards the living room. We plopped down on the couch and pressed play on The Outsiders.

"So, you gonna tell me what's wrong, or am I gonna have to pry it out of you?" I asked. "We broke up." His voice was barely above a whisper but I still heard it crack and betray him. "Why?"
"She cheated... And she said our relationship is bullshit -- that I'm bullshit." I placed the popcorn bucket down as I processed. "I'm gonna kill her."
His hand reached for my arm pulling me back down.

He was shaking his head, tears welling in his eyes. "No, just- Just stay here, please, Déja." Ugh. Him and those big brown puppy eyes I love so much. I hate him. I got comfortable again, moving the bucket so he could lay his head on my lap. "I've been a shitty best friend," He said. I nodded my head. "You have, but it's okay."
He grew quiet, finally watching the movie. We were about halfway through when he rolled over to face me. "So..." He started, "You and Billy?" He laughed. "There's no me and Billy, Steve."

"He stole my title." I couldn't help but laugh. "At least you got to keep king Steve, right? At least he didn't come for that name."
He shrugged. "He seems a little... Off, don't you think?"
"What do you mean?" I asked. "The car, the aggression, the black cloth-"

"Ah, I see where this is going." He rolled his eyes at me. "That's not what I mean, Déja. He just seems a little unstable, something about him makes my stomach ache." I picked up the bucket, "Sure it's not because of all the popcorn you just ate?" I laughed. "Could also be that." He grew quiet once more. This time, his eyes were glued to mine. "Thanks for still being my best friend," He smiled. "For you, Steve? Anything."