═══ 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚛 ═══

III

𝐎 𝐔 𝐓 𝐁 𝐔 𝐑 𝐒 𝐓

The next week was dry, humid, and nearly unbearable. Billy had been scolded that night, but overall, it was manageable. His father noted the wound and simply told Billy to tell everyone it was an accident, that he fell. Easy, so he did. He didn't want to tell the truth anyway, his father only knew half of the truth, that his friends did this to him; even though it was ultimately his doing.

It was after school hours on a Friday, Billy had been sitting near the outside picnic on the school's premises, waiting for Richie like he said he would when two familiar boys came up to him, a third one in front of them. "Pretty quick on the replacement, quite the step down," Billy was cocky, he didn't know when to shut the fuck up, and now was one of them. As always, he chose violence. But he was right, it was quite the step down compared to him. Cameron Watson; the school's pretty boy. 

Now as to why he was even remotely interested in a rebellious 'gang' wasn't for him to question, just accept the fact they had already moved on. They were nobodies anyway. "Far from that actually," peaked the blonde goody-goody boy from the front, Henry and Nick still on the sidelines, at least he /actually/ gave them some moments of shine time. He could've given them more, but he was selfish. "Oh, and how so?" Billy tested the waters even more. A chuckle left Cameron's mouth, azure eyes framed Billy challengingly. To which Billy, as always, never passed up a moment to beat the shit out of someone.

But he wasn't in the best shape, though that didn't stop him.

"BILLY!" Yelled a sweet and cheerful voice from afar, it was Richie. This, for a split second, caught Billy off guard only to be brought back by being hoisted up by Cameron himself, which was funny because he was shorter than Billy. It left him perplexed, vulnerable for a second before he kneed the boy's stomach, earning a groan, but what Billy didn't see coming was two hands grabbing both ends of his wrists and holding them behind his back. Leaving him exposed. Richie saw this and instantly ran to get staff; leaving enough time for the group to at least throw a few punches. To which they ate up all the time they could scrape up until Billy was left with a shiner; bruised from his cheek to his eye, head drooping low before hands were removed by three teachers, the other catching Billy before he even made impact with the ground. He was out cold. The only thing he could hear was both audible, and faint. But he knew it was Richie, as he extended a handout to reach out to him, even though he couldn't see. He could hear. Though everything went black before he could manage anything. 

It was bright, hardly adjustable due to the sting of pearly white bulbs that struck him through a flat surface on the ceiling, squared off; he was at the hospital. It wasn't hard to notice. What wasn't something he expected was to find two people here, not his father, but that old man and Richie. Richie had been asleep, sprawled on the chair as the old man was reading some newspaper, typical. The newspaper was boring, but again he was older. Maybe he'd understand when he turns his age, but now, well, it was a waste of time. "Nnngh," he was incapable of moving due to the severity of the pain he felt throughout his body, leaving a stiff cramp around his legs due to the lack of mobility. "I wouldn't move much there kid, doc said you had a pretty bad concussion." He implied, eyes moving from the paper to Billy with concern. "Shit," Billy mumbled, resting his head up a bit to cease the strain around his head, trying not to fall asleep.

"Your pops just came in, thought you ought to know." He mentioned, crossing his legs. "Like I give a shit, he probably wanted to make sure the bill wasn't high." Billy rolled his eyes with a hiss to his words, looking over to see a fresh cup of ice water settled on top of the metal tray. The man noticed and chuckled, Billy was far out of it to even manage the simplicity of holding a cheap cup. The man got up off of the chair and took the cup into his hands, "here, drink. You're gonna need as much strength as possible." Billy was reluctant at first, but he was so /fucking/ thirsty he couldn't careless on how petty he looked. "Thanks old man," he mumbled. "Old man? I am only 60." He barked back. "Yea, like I said, old." He chuckled, he was genuinely poking fun this time.