Love game | Billy Hargrove

22

After training, all the girls went home, Robin was the first to rush to work, which she was already late for. I was walking slowly down the school corridor towards the exit when at that moment I heard running towards me. I knew full well it was Billy.

"Layla, please stop. Let's talk." Billy asked. I didn't even stop, ignoring the guy and walking on. He was following me and wouldn't back down. As soon as I left school, I wanted to turn around and run back to school. Hopper's car was parked in the parking lot, and next to it was Hopper himself, smoking a cigarette.

"Layla, I..." Billy tried to speak.

"Billy, I'd advise you to get out of here, because next time it's going to be bad." Hopper who was looking directly at Billy said firmly and angrily. Hopper's gaze was angry and strong, I could never look into his eyes for long when he was angry because it always turned scary. Hopper waved me over. I had nowhere to go, I had to go to him. So that's exactly what I did. Hopper motioned for me to get into the car, so I sat down without waiting. While sitting, I remained silent and did not say a word, I was afraid of his reaction.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about your problems, Layla? You know I can help you." Hopper said sadly. He wasn't looking at me, his gaze was directed somewhere outside the window.

"Don't be kidding Hopper, you already have a lot of problems, I don't want to become one of them." I answered quietly. I knew he didn't like me hiding everything from him. But there is no other way out. Hopper didn't say anything, just shook his head and started the car and drove off. Even before he started driving, I understood where we were going. Probably to Jim's trailer by the lake. I adored that place. And I was right, just a few minutes later we were in Hopper's yard. I got out of the car and took a deep breath. The lake was restless and the warm autumn wind caressed my hair. I could spend my whole life in this place. Although the Hopper trailer didn't look like a five-star hotel, I liked it. I felt like a real home here. Hopper stood next to me.

"I had already forgotten how good it is here..." I confessed to this man. He just laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"You can be happy, because until the end of school you will live with me, in this place." Hopper said happily. I turned to him and he was just smiling big. I knew very well that he wanted me to stay here. So I immediately hugged him. At that moment, I heard a loud barking of a dog that echoed through Hopper's trailer.

"Since when do you have a dog?" I asked Hopper raising an eyebrow, he just laughed and started walking closer to his house.

"I saved Buddy when I was in the forest. Some kids tried to kill him with stones, but I appeared just in time. From then on he kept coming to my house, so I decided it would be nice to have some company, so I took him and now he lives with me." Hopper said cheerfully. Without waiting for anything, he opened the door of his trailer, through which a huge dog came running at great speed. I flinched and backed away, but the dog jumped on me, knocking me to the ground and started licking my face all over. After a moment I burst out to pet the dog. When I opened my eyes, I realized that it was a golden retriever.

"He's perfect, Hopper. I adore this dog." I talked to Jim laughing. He looked really happy. Maybe even finally stopped drinking so much. This dog gave him the happiness he had lost a long time ago.

I spent the rest of the day at home alone because Hopper went to work at the police station. After cleaning Jim's entire trailer, I decided to go for a walk, many thoughts running through my head. Therefore, I quickly wrote a note that I hung on the refrigerator and went out the door. But Buddy sat down at the door, and he started whining non-stop. He wanted to go along, but I was afraid he would run away.

"Great, let's go. But if you run away, we'll both be dead, understand?" I asked the dog. The dog suddenly barked and ran out the door. I was surprised because the dog walked beside me the whole way. I have to admit, I missed being with myself. I had to think about every detail of my life, events and feelings for certain people. Of course, one of those people was Billy. I couldn't say that I don't feel anything for him, on the contrary, he has my heart. But his act yesterday hurt me to no end. I knew I could forgive him, but I didn't want to forgive him too quickly. I had to stay away from him. He knows how to get to me, he knows how to treat me to obey him, he has complete control over me.

I followed all the way where my eyes lead, but I didn't even realize that I had come all the way around the town and ended up at Lovers Lake. When Buddy saw the sand, he immediately started running and jumping on it. I smiled, this dog is probably the happiest dog I've ever met. But in the distance, near the shore of the lake, I saw a very familiar car. I didn't want him to talk to me, so I turned to the dog and started indicating that we were leaving here. But the dog seemed to run towards Billy's car on purpose.

"Fuck." I hissed. Of course, when I got to the car I noticed that there was nothing near it or in it, so I was relieved, but Buddy kept staring at the water and started barking. Without waiting for anything, he jumped into the water and started swimming deep into the lake. Stopping in one place, he barked incessantly, splashing water. I found this behavior of the dog strange, but when I realized that Billy was not in the car, bad thoughts started to run through my mind. At the same moment, I took off my shoes, sweater and pants. Without waiting for anything, I jumped into the water and started swimming towards where Buddy was barking. But the dog started swimming in the other direction, so I followed the dog without waiting for anything. At the same minute, Billy rose to the surface of the water. Buddy swam up to the guy and started barking looking him right in the face. Billy was confused, but he seemed even more confused when he saw me.

"Seriously, Buddy, I thought he was dying!" I swung at the dog and began to swim toward shore. Buddy started swimming after me, but I could hear Billy swimming too. As soon as we got ashore, Buddy started shaking the water off his wet fur, splattering all my clothes left on the shore. I took a deep breath and exhaled. This dog really drives me crazy.