Riptide

Chapter Twelve - Rachel

When Billy was fully moved in I'd spend more time over there than I did in my own house. We became inseparable everywhere, well everywhere except for school. That's where we'd part ways, and that's where he met Rachel Grey. Rachel, was your standard stuck up hot rich girl. She was really pretty, which is what I'm convinced is all Billy saw in her. Rachel had long bottle blonde hair with her brown roots growing in, sunkissed skin, hazel green eyes, and the way she carried herself was like she was better than everyone else. "Look Eddie I don't know what he sees in her either." I sighed softly, holding my sketchbooks to my chest as I headed to the cafeteria with Eddie. "She has tits," Eddie joked, and I glared at him. Before I could say anything I felt someone bump into me causing me to drop my stuff. It was one of Rachel's friends. Rachel comes over, "Oh my god, I am so sorry Lindsey is so clumsy, here let me help you." She said putting on a sickeningly sweet fake smile as she helped me pick my stuff up. I looked into Rachel's eyes as she handed me some of my stuff. "You know while I have you, I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with us? I'm just so curious about Billy and I know you've known him for a long time." She said, having that sickening smile. I didn't want to go, but I knew Billy would appreciate it if I did, so I took a deep breath. "Sure," I nodded looking at her. Her and her friends practically dragged me to their lunch table.

When I sat down and placed my lunch and sketchbooks on the table I looked at the group of girls that were looking at me. "You know you're actually kind of pretty." One of them said, smiling a bit. "Was that supposed to be kind of a compliment?" I asked, raising a brow confused. Rachel laughs, "You know you shouldn't be hanging out with those freaks." She said, referring to the Hellfire Club. I rolled my eyes, "Are you going to insult my friends this whole time?" I asked, regretting agreeing to sit down. "We're just saying, you're really pretty, you'd be gorgeous if you got a makeover." Rachel said with a twisted smile. "Well darn, guess I'm settling for being just pretty." I said, meaning, I didn't want to change my appearance for them. Rachel sighed, "Look I know you're trying to be nice to me in order to remain in Billy's good graces, and frankly cut the bullshit." I said, crossing my arms. "Why is he friends with you?" Rachel asked, narrowing her eyes. "We met as kids back in California, that's all I'll disclose." I said looking into her eyes. "Hmm...fine, I guess I'll just ask you questions so I can get to know Billy better." Rachel smiled, "Why don't you ask him?" I raised a brow. "Well I want him to think I'm his dream girl, he's going to be part of my plan. I'll marry him once out of high school, my dad will give him a nice cozy job and-" I laughed before Rachel could finish her little plan. "Oh my god, as they say in Texas, bless your little heart." I said laughing so hard I was nearly crying. She narrowed her eyes at me. "What's so funny?" She asked, "Billy isn't the cozy corporate job type. You're his flavor of the week, you just happen to taste a bit sweeter than his last one. If you try to change him into that, you'll leave a bad taste in his mouth." I stood up and grabbed my things. "Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot." Rachel said, trying to regain control over the conversation. "That's all you've got, two left feet in fucking ugly shoes." I said before walking away. I was really happy when I saw that line in a movie 16 years later. 

I walked away over to the Hellfire Club table and sat down. "Bitchy Beckett at it again," Dough said, chuckling softly looking at me. "Fuck off," I huffed, "What did they want?" Gareth asked, raising a brow. "It was about Billy no doubt." Eddie shrugged, "Oh the popular guy she's friends with," Jeff sighed a bit, "Yep," Eddie nodded his head. "Why are you even friends with him?" Gareth asked, confused. "I-" Eddie cuts me off. "She's known him since they were kids." He shrugged, I glared at Eddie then I looked at everyone at the table. "I met Billy Hargrove when we were kids in California on the beach while I was making a sandcastle. We were inseparable until I had to move, and we've somehow miraculously been reunited and we figured some bullshit out and he now lives in my parents' guest house for reasons I will not disclose. Are there any other questions?" I asked, looking at everyone. "He's not going to interfere with Hellfire Nights when you're hosting is he?" Dough asked, "What? No, he doesn't care about DnD." I said looking at Dough like that was obvious. "But he seems to care an awful lot about you." Eddie points out, I was confused by what Eddie was implying. "I don't think I follow," I rested my head on my hand looking at him. "You're an attractive woman that he's very close with, hanging out with a bunch of guys." Eddie said like it was obvious. "We're not like that, we're just friends." I sighed, "Well I can tell you the reason Rachel was behaving that way, is because she's jealous." Eddie shrugged before starting to eat his lunch. "Why would she be jealous of me?" I asked confused, "Because you have an actual personality." Jeff points out, I nodded taking all of this in. I then went on to eat my lunch and the conversation thankfully shifted to our DnD characters. 

When I got home that day, I went to the kitchen to start making something, I usually had a habit of cooking when I was stressed out. "What's bothering you?" Billy asked, leaning against the kitchen counters watching me cook. "Am I attractive?" I asked, looking at him, he seemed taken aback. "Is this a trap?" He asked, chuckling softly, "No I..." I sighed, "Rachel talked to me today." I said looking back at what I was doing. "Gotcha, want me to dump her?" He asked, I was confused. "No," I sighed before turning to look up at him again. "Just...she seemed..." Billy finished my sentence. "Jealous?" He asked, smirking a bit looking at me. "Yeah...jealous," I sighed, crossing my arms. "Does she have anything to be jealous of?" Billy asked, tilting his head to the side and giving me a slight smirk. I huffed, "I don't know, does she?" I asked, looking into his eyes. "Well I can tell you one thing, you're way prettier than she is." Billy started walking over to me. I put my hands out in front of me, "Nope, not doing this, you have a girlfriend." I said turning back around to finish cooking. Billy seemed shocked by this. "And that's why Rachel is jealous, because you're a better person than she is." Billy said revealing his whole flirtatious act he just pulled was to prove his point. I sighed softly relieved that he was just trying to prove a point. "So you weren't hitting on me," I chuckled, "Oh believe me, if I thought you'd actually give me a shot, Rachel would be history." Billy chuckled before heading to the fridge to grab a soda. I nodded looking at him, "Guess you'll have to just make do with Rachel." I joked. "So, quick question, why did you move here? You never told me," I looked over to him. Billy looked at me then to the ground. "Max..." Billy shook his head, "I did something bad." Billy sighed, "I broke some poor kid's arm..." He looked like he regretted that and like this was the first time he came to terms with taking the blame for the move. "Damn," I said, biting the inside of my cheek. "I'm not proud of it." Billy sighed, "Gotcha..." I nodded a bit looking at him. "Yep..." He sighed, staring off into space for a minute. "Anyway, if Rachel gives you any other problems let me know." He shrugged, walking out of the kitchen and heading to the guest house.