A Deal With God

Chapter 22: The Scheme

June 24, 1985

"You said this would get better," Billy huffed, wiping the sweat from his forehead as he emerged from the trees after Quinn.

"I don't know what to tell you. You whined about the 'ass-crack-of-dawn' sprints, now you're whining about the mid-morning runs. You don't have to come," she replied, running her fingers through her hair to pull it back into a ponytail. She did partially understand his grievances. If they went out early in the morning, that meant he slept less, knowing that he tended to have rather late nights. If they went out later like they had been since school was out, the forest was halfway between the cool night air and the summer heat making it a muggy haze that was, truth be told, unpleasant.

"I do not whine," he responded, taking a puff from his freshly lit cigarette and handing it to her. Quinn's comment about him not having to come along wasn't worth addressing, in his opinion. With mild amusement, he watched a bag and a pair of shoes fly out of a window as they made their way up to the backdoor of the house.

"Real classy, Wheeler," Billy remarked mockingly, watching Nancy jump out of the window he knew was Jonathon's. Nancy rolled her eyes as she hastily put on her shoes and grabbed her bag before taking off to the front of the house without a word. He took one last drag from the cigarette before putting it out on the concrete step and following Quinn into the kitchen.

"Morning, Mrs. Byers, William the Younger, Don Juan," Billy greeted the other members of the family.

"Ugh, gross," Will all but spat watching his Mom try to wipe the lipstick off of Jonathon's cheek.

"Well, I don't think you're gonna think it's gross when you fall in love," Joyce commented as she returned to the breakfast table.

"I'm not gonna fall in love," Will muttered indignantly. Joyce held up her hands in mock surrender.

"Never say never, little man," Billy said, grabbing a handful of grapes from the table.

"Is there a special lady in your life, Billy?" Joyce asked, genuinely surprised.

"Oh, I wasn't referring to myself, but since you asked, actually yeah, I might be going steady with Heather," he responded.

"Heather Holloway? Aw, that's nice," Joyce said, even though she noticed the puzzled look Quinn threw in Billy's direction.

Once Quinn's neck had healed entirely and she went back to school and fell into a modified version of her regimented routine, Billy found ways to enmesh himself more and more in her day-to-day. He realised that she'd fallen out with her cousin Jonathon — the reason being of no interest to him, but he assumed it probably had to do with Jonathon stealing Harrington's girl — and that was enough for him to takeover driving her to school every morning.

True to his word, Hopper had informed Joyce of the two getting pulled over in the middle of the night in late January, but Joyce refrained from stepping in between the two teens. She was aware of his reputation but all signs pointed to their relationship being platonic. Moreover, Joyce believed that Quinn hadn't slipped back into that sort of dormant attitude following her demodog hunting spree because Billy matched her aggressive energy and encouraged her to diversify her activities. The girl was expressive now — a stark contrast from a year ago — and a couple of brawls was a price Joyce was willing to pay to continue seeing Quinn that way.

"You kids want some pancakes or something?" Joyce asked, watching Billy rummage through a cabinet while Quinn refilled her glass of water for the third time.

"That's alright, Joyce, Billy just needs a snack to hold him over until lunch after we go to the pool," Quinn replied, shooting Billy a look. He just shrugged at her, continuing to go through the cabinet until he found the open box of Nilla Wafers he was looking for.