ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʜᴏɴᴇ|ʙɪʟʟʏ ʜᴀʀɢʀᴏᴠᴇ

☥𝟢𝟢𝟪☥

⇰ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕊𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕟.
-𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕘, 𝕕𝕦𝕞𝕓, 𝕒𝕟𝕕... 𝔻𝕖𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕚𝕟 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕖𝕥.

Billy and I laid on his hood before the first bell. I snatched the cancer stick from his hand and took a pull. The sound of distant footsteps approaching had caught my attention. I looked up to see Steve's posse. "King and queen finally together?" He laughed. "What's it to you, Hagan?"
He shrugged. "Word around town is that Billy gave you a good fuck and now you won't leave him alone."
I scoffed. Billy noticed the tension, sitting himself up. "Rumors about us are nothing new," He said. "She's always with you."

"Sort of like how you're always following him like a lost little puppy, huh?" I chuckled. "Wanna suck his dick? Maybe your tongue tricks are better than mine." Billy laughed from beside me. "Doubt it."
Tommy huffed. "Just don't understand why you'd wanna sleep with the town slut."
Billy jumped off the hood, grabbing Tommy by his collar. "Fuck did you just say about her?"
"It was a joke," Carol spoke from beside him. "Joke my ass."
"Keep sticking up for your little boyfriend Carol and you'll end up just like him."
She scoffed. "Am I supposed to be scared of you?"
Billy and I shared a look before I hopped down too, getting right in her face. "Keep talking, airhead."

Before she could get enough spit in her mouth to launch it I sent a right hook to temple, Billy copying me with Tommy H. "This blows." He locked the car before we walked inside.
Billy and I had become the talk of the town since our rendevous at my house... and In the school bathrooms... and janitor closet.
We took every opportunity we could to get our hands on each other.
He followed me to my locker, not even bothering with his own. I could see Steve hesitantly walking over in the corner of my eye.

"Hey, Déja," He leaned against the lockers to my left, Billy on my right. "I haven't seen you in a while." He forced a smile on his face. I knew it was bothering him. "Yeah, sorry about that. I've been pretty busy lately."
He shook his head. "With what? Him?"
Billy pushed off of the lockers, standing by my side. I held my hand up, silently telling him to hold back. "What's your damage, Harrington?" I questioned. "What's my damage?" He laughed. "You've been running around, getting into trouble ever since you met him," He said. "I've been getting into trouble my whole life."
"Not like this. He's not good for you."

"And what? You are?" Billy chuckled. "Save yourself some dignity and walk away."
Steve stared at me in disbelief. "You're gonna let him talk to me like that?" He asked. The hurt was so clear in those big brown eyes, but this feud between them was irking my nerves.
"He's fucking your life up, Déja!"
"What're you on about now, Steve?"
He huffed. "Do you understand that all of your scholarships go away the moment you get locked up again?" He started, "Soccer goes away, Déja. Duke goes away."
Fuck. I had forgotten all about my acceptance letter. "It's not even like that, we're just having fun."

"You call fucking up your future fun? You have a chance to get out of this shit show of a town, to be normal and happy, and you're gonna throw it away for Hargrove?"
Billy's second fight of the day had begun as he swung on Steve. The latter ducked it, hitting Billy in his jaw. "Stop, fucking stop!"
They kept going, tuning my pleas out. "Hagan!" Tommy quickly ran over and broke them up, sensing the anger pulsing through my veins. "You two are fucking children. Grow the fuck up."
I slammed my locker shut before walking off and leaving them there.

☥

What Steve had said earlier was really getting to me. I could barely focus on Max's French lesson. "Okay, what's going on with you?" She sat her flash cards down, giving me her full attention. I let out a small sigh. "You heard, didn't you?" I asked. She nodded her head. "Everyone heard."
I laid back on the bed. "My life is a shit show right now."
She let go of a small laugh. "Isn't all of ours?"
"Maybe Steve is right... I was getting back on track -- Well, barely, before Billy and I got close."

"Steve doesn't know what he's talking about," She said, "He's not with you every day like we are. You're doing really well from what everyone's told me about your past, and Billy has nothing to do with the fact that you just don't take people's shit."
I shook my head. "Yeah but, Steve's right about Duke. It goes away if I don't get my shit together."
She shrugged. "I really like you, Bex. And you've helped make my life not shit by being around Billy."
I sat up to get a good look at her. "What're you talking about?"

"Billy really likes you, talks about you all the time to mom," She said. "She wanted me to tell you thanks for sticking up for Billy, they think I don't know about everything because I'm a kid but... It's so in your face that you can't ignore it."
She picked her flash cards back up. "I haven't seen him this happy in a while, it all drained out of him when his mom died."
My brows furrowed, "His mom died?"
"Shit."

"He hasn't told you?" She asked. I shook my head. Now I get why he flipped out that night. I was getting too close to home and his mom's death is still an open wound. "His mom was his life, sort of like how you are now."Kids sometimes spill the truth without even realizing it. Max did that. "I'll be right back." I prodded down the steps and over to the phone, dialing their house number. It went to voicemail. I cleared my throat. "Billy, it's me. I think we should talk and try to work this all out... Call me back, alright?"