Four Letter Word..

Chapter Forty Five

Hey guys. I'm so, so, so sorry it has taken me this long to update!

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Monday came around too quickly and I was sat in the passenger seat of the rental car my Dad had hired for the week whilst he was out here "Your Mom has an appointment with her Doctor tonight. Just a check up" I nodded "So I'll pick you up after school and I'll take you out to eat. I've got a couple of things I want to talk to you about" he pulled up outside of Hawkins High "Sounds good. I'll see you later"
"See you Kid" I got out of the Car and headed over to the smoking bench lighting up as I approached my friends "Hey Kat" Jen greeted me. My eyes drifted over to Stacey and Josh who were having their own private conversation on the other side of the of the bench "So, what's going on with the Prom King and Queen?" Jen looked behind her at the pair.
"I don't know... They disappeared from prom though .. Pretty much straight after they got those plastic crowns"
"They aren't dating though right?" I questioned "We're literally all moving soon"
"Josh is going to NYU too apparently, which is kind of convenient" the bell sounded
"Ok, let's get this week over with" Steve announced as he came over, wrapping his arms around mine and Jen's shoulders Jen shrugged him off immediately and tutted at him.

Seeing as it was our final week and all of our exams were done, our remaining time as Hawkins High students would mainly consist of videos and fun quizzes. Our Biology teacher put a film on for us to sit and watch but not many of us were that interested in it. I chatted with Steve "I've applied for a few jobs at that new Mall that's opening just outside of town""So you didn't apply for college anywhere?" I questioned him "No""Why?" he shrugged"I thought I'd still be with Nancy. So I never bothered applying. I could have just worked with my Dad" I laughed
"You threw your whole future away for that priss?" Steve stiffened his jaw as he looked at me "She's not a priss Kat. She's incredible" I rolled my eyes at him
"Jeez you're boring. I'm out of here before I puke" I scraped back my chair and headed out, ignoring calls from the teacher telling me that the bell hadn't rang yet. I headed outside and went and sat on our bench lighting a cigarette looking out at the parking lot and then over to the middle school where I caught sight of a familiar red head "Hey!" I shouted, standing up. Max sped up when she saw it was me calling her "Max!" I chased after her until we were by the bike lock ups "I don't know anything Kat ok!" she shouted at me
"Know anything about what?" I asked her as I dropped my cigarette butt to the floor and stamped it out "About where Billy is""I wasn't going to ask you that... What are you doing skipping class?""Teacher was being a total dick.. So I walked out" I laughed, realising just how much the younger girl in front of me reminded me of myself "You hungry?" I asked her "We can go to Benny's. It's not far from here" I headed out of the gates not bothering to check if she was following me.At the diner we sat at a booth in the corner and sipped on chocolate shakes "Did you tell your Dad Billy was here?" I asked her
"No.. The headteacher at the High School called and said he was at Senior Prom on Friday night. I'm not a snitch""So when you saw us in the Diner, you already knew he was here?" Max shook her head
"The headmistress didn't call until Saturday afternoon. I had no idea. How did he even get out of that place? Neil said it was super strict and secure" I thought about telling her the truth, but decided against it. I didn't entirely trust Max and I didn't want to get my Dad in any trouble "Why are you skipping class?" the redhead asked me, changing the subject "Are you upset about Billy?" I smiled"No... I know Billy's ok" I told her "Where is he?" she asked me"I don't know if I should tell you. That number he gave you. You can contact him on that though" she looked sad and I felt guilty "He's in California" I admitted "He's safe" that seemed to ease her "Anyway" I said looking at my watch "You should get back to class" I put some money down for the milkshakes "I'm not going back" I looked down at her "Max. If Neil finds out you've been skipping school I can't imagine he'll take it too well. You know what he's like with Billy" Max shrugged "What are you going to do instead?""I thought maybe I could hang out with you?" I smiled at her as she stood up and slung her backpack over her shoulder "You think I want to hang out with a 14 year old?" I asked her and she looked taken aback "I'm kidding Max, you're cool, but your step Dad doesn't need another reason to hate me" I ruffled her hair.

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It was lunch time when we got back to the school grounds and I headed over to the bench everyone was at "Where have you been? Steve said you left halfway through Biology this morning?" Stacey asked me as she tied her hair up into a ponytail
"He was talking about Nancy and it was making me sick" Steve was looking over at me from a conversation he was having with Carol... What was Carol doing here? She clocked me and Stacey and came over, smiling at us "Kat, Stacey, Hey!" I looked at her confused
"Can we help you Carol?" I asked her"I was just handing these out" she handed us both a flyer "Graduation after party at my place.. Friday night. You'll come right?" I looked at Stacey who was reading the flyer
"Sure..." She smiled at Carol, but it looked more like a grimace.
"Awesome, see you there" I narrowed my eyes as she walked off
"She hasn't spoken to us since junior year... What's her deal?" Stacey asked "I'm not sure" I slipped the flyer into my bag and pulled out a cigarette lighting it up "How about you tell me what's going on with you and the prom king?" she blushed "Oh you're kidding me Stacey?" I groaned as she blushed"I know, I know.... But we've been friends for years and we're both going to NYU next year so I figured why not""Well, as long as you're happy. That's all I care about"