POISON - Billy Hargrove

- Seven -

The Sunday after Halloween gave everyone just enough time to get over their hangovers. A thin layer of snow covered all of Hawkins, just like Joe Anders predicted. Monday came too soon, and back to school everyone returned.

Melanie remembered bits and pieces of Halloween night. Dancing with a stranger, kissing him, and Billy bringing her home. Jealous glares shot her way from the other Hawkins girls throughout the day.

"I heard you took off with Billy Hargrove," Nancy squealed, grabbing Melanie's shoulder from behind. She was walking down the hallway alone, headed towards her last class of the day, and Nancy scared her.

"Jesus Christ!" Melanie squeaked, clutching her chest. "What is wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with you?" Nancy giggled, shooting her a giddy smile. "Billy?"

"He drove me home," Melanie responded, "because my ride was nowhere to be found."

Nancy's face dropped into a guilty look. "That might've been my bad."

"Oh really?" Mel replied sarcastically. "Who woulda thunk?"

Nancy already told her what happened between her and Steve on Halloween night. Melanie wasn't mad at either of them for forgetting about her. She honestly felt kind of bad about everything that went down. Steve really liked her.

"Are you doing okay?" Melanie asked Nancy quietly.

Nancy nodded. Her back turned and she took off down the hallway.

History at the end of the day was miserable. The same names and events spilled out of Mr. Watson's mouth over and over again. Making class interesting and engaging was not his specialty, and it felt like it dragged on forever.

Melanie took notes, but her focus slowly drifted away from Mr. Watson's monotone rambling. Black swirls of ink filled the margins, her mind wandering. She continued to doodle, her head off in a different world, when something hit the back of it. A wad of paper bounced on the floor by her foot. Billy sat diagonally behind her with a smirk on his face.

The paper crinkled quietly between Melanie's fingers as she revealed its message.

"Need another ride today?" it read. "Maybe I could get something in return this time."

She turned and wiggled her fingers, giving Billy a flirtatious wave. His smirk grew as she pulled out her pen and scribbled her own note. Mr. Watson, deep into his own ramblings, didn't notice her drop it on the floor and kick it back over to Billy. Her eyes peered over her shoulder, watching him examine her reply.

The sheet of loose leaf was newly decorated with a scribbled drawing of Billy, curly mullet and all, with a penis in his mouth. "Gay" was written in big letters underneath it.

The sound of paper crumpling into a backpack behind her was loud. Loud enough that Mr. Watson turned to face Billy.

"Mr. Hargrove," he sneered. "Quiet."

A puff of air puffed out of Melanie's nose and she pushed her fingers against her mouth. It took everything in her not to let out a laugh.

After that moment, Billy left her alone. Other than the occasional stare, Melanie didn't hear from him much for weeks. She watched him go after all the Hawkins girls who gawked at him. No harm no foul; the flirting was fun while it lasted.

—

The trees in Hawkins stood like skeletons, dry and empty, as the month of November left them. The air bit at noses and ears. The people of Hawkins began to bundle up as December rolled around. Bulletin boards of Hawkins High were in the process of being decorated for Christmas, most of them half finished. It was only the first week of December.

"Melanie St. James, please report to Room 233," a woman's voice called over the loudspeaker.

"Ooooooh," echoed off the tile walls of the cafeteria.

"What did you do?" Steve asked, a piece of white bread muffling his voice.

"Nothing, I don't think?" Melanie replied. Her brows furrowed as she gave him a shrug. "I mean, nothing to Mrs. Pollard, anyway. 233 is her room."

The zipper on her backpack stretched as she shoved a water bottle into it. She couldn't remember doing anything particularly good or bad in English recently, so why would Pollard want her?

"I'll talk to you later, then," Steve called after her as she trotted out of the cafe.