dollhouse // billy hargrove

twenty-seven

heather's pov

it's been months since billy and i have first started dating. and a lot has happened.

we finally graduated high school. it took a lot of convincing to the principal for billy to graduate on time. but, our principal told billy that as long as he didn't add onto his thirty plus absences and got c's or higher, he was set to graduate with the rest of the class.

it was my duty to keep him on track. it was probably not the best choice because it was definitely easy to lose track a couple times–or more than a couple times–when studying in our bedrooms. perhaps, the library would've been more efficient for trying to study anything but human anatomy.

but it worked, because the day he brought me his letter from the principal confirming his graduation, he smiled the widest i've ever seen. i even made him look in the mirror, so he could see it, too.

meanwhile, chris morrison received his long overdue karma and was finally expelled for pulling the exact same stunt on me except with the superintendent's daughter–to make it even more worse, this time he intentionally set fire to her car. what a psychopath. and trust me, no colleges accept people with felonies of arson or assault.

steve and nancy are still together and are going to the same school, emerson college in boston. steve's sticking to his roots by majoring in film studies, something he's loved ever since he was a kid. he's officially retired from the family video store and is currently working as an assistant for some big-time director. 

nancy, on the other hand, is going for journalism. she already got an internship thanks to her incredible reporting of hawkins high sporting events and other town news. 

luckily, this internship isn't just making her go on coffee runs while the guys write the articles. they are actually appreciating an incredible woman and her incredible work. the place she is interning for is already planning to publish her article on fighting for equality in the workplace. proud is simply an understatement for what i feel towards her. 

as for billy, neil was finally charged with child abuse. 

he came home one night from work–completely sober–and couldn't find billy, because he was at my house. neil got fired for aggressive behaviors and needed to take his anger out on someone.

unfortunately, sweet baby max was home with her mother. neil stomped up to her room and pushed her to the floor, hitting her in the face repetitively. 

billy came home just in time and as soon as he heard the wails coming from max's room, he sprinted at lightning speed to protect her. 

he bursted through the door yelling to hurt him instead. billy was the one neil wanted dead, not max. a new side of neil's anger showed through when he took a pocket knife to max's throat and threatened her life. after an incredibly long physical fight, billy finally landed a punch that knocked neil cold. the punch that saved him, but most importantly saved max. 

billy sped to the hospital to get max checked out for any significant injuries, completely disregarding his own. the hospital took care of any police phone calls necessary. 

susan did nothing to stop neil and even watched the whole fight from the bedroom door. didn't even call the police. she's under investigation with hawkins police department.

as for max, she has no significant injuries. just bruises and a few minor cuts. max begged for a switch of her legal guardians, because she was still shattered by the fact that her mother just watched. because of billy being eighteen, she could choose for him to be her legal guardian. and she did.

billy's still dealing with a lot of guilt that if he went to the hospital when he was beaten before, this would've never happened to max. max, as well as myself, are helping him recognize that he is a hero and should much rather focus on the fact that he truly did save her. 

their relationship is turning around for the best.

in late july, billy and max were given a lawyer and offered to press charges and give testimonies with their stories. they agreed to testify just so they could get a chance to heal. 

their testimonies were so impactful, that they were statewide news. max didn't realize how much attention her story would gain. and billy hated the attention, so much that he wanted to move back to california in hopes he'd be able to reunite with his mother. 

after their trial was completely done, billy and max received a lump-sum of money from not only the media outlets using their story, but also from the government as an "apology" for what they went through.

as for me, jess was charged with negligence when bradley stopped showing up to school. when cps came to investigate the truancy, she almost started to physically fight them for telling her how to parent. 

i was able to tell my story. and brad was able to share how i was practically his parent ever since i was twelve. i was granted guardianship of brad because our father was no where to be found–or even heard from for that matter. 

i got accepted into the university of california-san francisco's nursing program with a full ride. this further encouraged billy to move back to california. within weeks of everything that went down, we were driving the thirty-three hours to california with max and brad. 

before we left, though, billy showed me his new and improved hargrove hut with new photos added and old ones taken down. he told me he wanted to leave only happy memories in case some children stumbled across it while playing in the woods. the pictures were of us, max and him, and our group of friends–nancy, steve, robin, billy, and i. he was content with it to finally leave it behind.

we found an apartment in california and settled down with our own little makeshift family. it was hard at first living on our own without a clue in the world. but, we were determined to make it work. 

over the years, i've begged for a perfect home. a home that was beautiful on the inside and on the outside, the perfect doll house. the one every kid in a toy store wanted. i was never granted that opportunity because of the dolls that resided inside my home. 

that was until i realized, it's never too late to find home in a place where you didn't grow up. we are not the people who raised us, we are better. we have the chance to create a home that is welcoming and full of bliss. home doesn't necessarily have to be where you are, it can be the people you surround yourself with.

because out of every place i've lived, every house i've had the pleasure of entering, none compared to him. he was a sunrise that stretched for miles showing its beauty. he was a breath of fresh air on the days where i felt most constricted. he was a voice that told me everything would end up being okay. he let me know i wasn't completely alone, because he was simply there. you see, there's a difference between a house and a home. and billy hargrove was home.

he was the doll house i was yearning for ever since i was a child, beautiful on the inside and on the outside.  

a/n: and with that, dollhouse is now complete! thank you so much to everyone who read this little book i put together through the course of a few months. i really, truly do appreciate it. now a question for you, would you like a sequel to dollhouse? in addition to that, what else would you like to see from me–steve, eddie, or another billy fanfiction (that isn't a sequel)? what genre–romance, mystery, something with more things with stranger things (like the upside down, mindflayer, etc.)? lastly, what characters would you like incorporated more–the children (dustin, el, mike, will, lucas), robin, the parents (joyce, hopper)?

again, thank you so much for spending your time reading my work, my heart is forever yours <33