POISON - Billy Hargrove

- Nine -

Melanie studied the number on the rusty mailbox in front of her, the address paper in her hand, and then the mailbox again. The number and street matched the one on the paper Mrs. Pollard had given her the day before, so she knew she had the right house. All she had to do was go to the door and knock.

"It's not that hard," she thought, making her way up the steps to the porch, "just go to the door and –"

"Hi!" The door swung open and a young girl stood in its frame. "Hey, I've totally seen you before."

In front of her stood none other than the freckled, red-headed Maxine Hargrove. Of course. Of course.

"Oh boy," Melanie chuckled. She pressed her palm to her forehead, shaking her head lightly.

"Oh no," Max gasped, her pale blue eyes suddenly widening. "You're the girl Billy almost hit! He drove you home Halloween night."

Melanie's brows furrowed. She looked at Max intensely, "how do you know about that?"

Max motioned for her to come in, and Melanie followed. "He complained about some girl not being grateful that he brought her home when she was drunk," she explained, "and that when he flirted with her after she was a total b –."

Melanie raised an eyebrow, causing Max to realize she was about to accidentally call the high school senior in front of her a bitch. She spoke quickly and with so much personality that Melanie couldn't help but smile.

"Wait," Max continued, "that means you're the one who drew this."

She ran down the hallway to a bedroom, leaving Melanie to stand alone at the kitchen table. When she returned, she had a crumpled up piece of paper in her hand. It was smoothed out as best as it could've been, and folded in half instead of in a crumpled ball.

"Holy shit, he gave that to you?" Melanie laughed, glancing over her explicit drawing of Billy from Monday.

"Oh, absolutely not. It fell out of his backpack and I found it." Max folded the paper back up and stuck it in her pocket. "This is a masterpiece; I can't believe you gave it to him."

"He's not home, is he? I didn't see his car or anything."

Max shook her head.

A sigh of relief fell from Melanie's lips. "Oh, thank God."

Max laughed again, pushing herself up to sit on the wooden tabletop. Melanie could tell why Mrs. Pollard wanted her specifically to help Max with her writing. The two sported very similar personalities.

"Alright," Melanie clapped her hands together, her fingers tapping against her chin rhythmically with her words. "I assume you know why I'm here?"

"Because I'm dumb," Max stated.

"You're not dumb; you're thirteen." Melanie grabbed Max's backpack and placed it on the table. The zipper struggled to slide around it, getting caught on notebook coils and stray papers. "And maybe a little disorganized," she added.

The two worked together on Max's essay. Melanie was in the middle of teaching the power of a graphic organizer, when the front door creaked open. Both girls' heads turned towards the noise.

Billy had returned home. He wore an unbuttoned shirt under a denim jacket, and jeans, as usual. He closed the door, turned around, and stopped. His eyes fell on Melanie and narrowed.

"Are my eyes deceiving me, or is that you, St. James?" he gawked, rubbing his hands together slowly.

"Don't get a boner," Melanie quipped, shooting him a full smile.

Max let out a giggle, resulting in a glare from her step-brother.

"What are you doing here?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Teaching your sister," she replied, remembering Billy's disdain towards the word.

She kept a smile stuck to her face the whole time, not the slightest bit scared of him.

"You're such a shitbag," he muttered, shuffling off to his bedroom.

The door closed loudly behind him.

Melanie wasn't sure where she stood with Billy. There's no way in hell she would actually ever go out with him, but the flirting game they were playing before was fun, and he was awfully attractive. As cliche as it was, his dark blue eyes were absolutely mesmerizing, and he had perfected the act of flirting. He knew just what to say and how to say it, how to position his body, or when to stare and look away. He pulled off a mustache and stubble really well, and the size of him alone showed he took good care of his body. The whole dick-sucking picture was meant to mostly be a joke, just to get on his nerves.

"I think that's enough for tonight," Melanie said slowly, looking towards Billy's door instead of Max.

"I know what you're thinking, and it's not a good idea," Max warned.

Melanie had received warnings about hundreds of things in the past, and never once did she listen to them. She wasn't about to start then.