Know Your Enemy

Part 10

So basically, tonight was amazing. I stepped through the door to my house and closed it. I began to head for the stairs when I saw my mother out of the corner of my eye.
"Scarlett." She said in a very stern tone.
I glanced at her, too nervous to speak, so she continued.
"I heard you talking to Billie. Did you forget that you can't see him tomorrow? You're grounded. And, you got home way too late, so that's another week, young lady." You know when your parents use the term "young lady", you're in deep shit. But right now, I didn't want to argue, or say anything, so I walked up to my room. And that was what triggered it. My mom followed me up the stairs and into my room, pissed as hell. "Mom? What's going on?" I tried to ask, but she wasn't having it. She went into my room, and grabbed my phone off of my desk, and yanked the cord out of the wall. Then she turned to face me. "Until you can get your attitude in check, no phone for you!" I could feel my eyes widen. I was about to dig an even deeper hole for myself.
"Mom! That's crazy! Why-"
"Not another word!" She screamed. "I think the way you've been acting is because you have been hanging around the wrong influence!! That Billie kid is a troublemaker and you know it! Plus, all of his kids are junkies, and they - including Billie - will probably be dead in the next five years!!"
How could my mother say this? With all of the things she had brought me up to believe, she now said these awful things about Billie? How hypocritical.
"So what? You're saying you don't want me to see him again? I can't see my ONLY FRIENDS?" I returned, tears welling up in my eyes.
"You can damn well find new friends. There are plenty of other students, GIRLS, in this school that you can be friends with, and until you make the right decision, and dump these junkies, you ARE NOT getting your phone back, do I make myself clear?"
No.
I didn't say anything. Tears just rolled down my cheeks.
My mother rolled her eyes, and slammed my door.
That's about the time I started sobbing. I ran to my pillow and cried. Billie didn't even know what had happened. How could I let him know? I'd told him I'd see him tomorrow, and without my landline to call him, he'd never know. But that was when I got an idea.

•••

It was about 12:42 when I crossed the broken train tracks. No signs of road blocks were down, but I felt the tracks for vibrations. They were soft, so a train was coming, but not for a while. I hopped over the tracks and walked the rest of the way to Billie's house. After I passed the next block, it started to pour. It started to rain big violent drops all over me, and I was soaked in seconds. It was freaking November and it was raining and I was cold as frick. When I reached Billie's house, I stood at the front door. I was just about to knock when I remembered that I hadn't met any of Billie's family. Not his mom, or his dad... no one. I turned around, and was just about to walked down the steps, when I heard the front door open.
"Scar?" Billie asked. "Is that you?"
I turned around. Instantly, tears rimmed my eyes.
"What wrong, Scar? You're soaking wet..."
I started crying. Like, really crying. Billie came outside into the rain, and wrapped his arms around me. He was holding me as I shook with sobs, soaking wet in my pajamas, my makeup from that night running all down my face. He stroked my hair, gently. I tried to breathe. He let go of me, slowly, and took off his little windbreaker jacket he wore tonight after the show, and put it around me, leading me into his house. It was dark. All the lights were off, and he led me around what seemed like the kitchen, and into a room, then closed the door behind us. There were two twin beds in this room... and a person was laying in one. I stayed by the door as Billie went I've to the person. He shook him. "Hey, Mike, can you uh, sleep in the living room for a bit? I gotta do something real quick."
Mike sat up, and groggily left the room, acting like he didn't notice me, but winked anyway. Billie cleared all of the clothes off of his bed, and motioned for me to sit. I did so, and he spoke.
"Scar, what happened?"
I thought about what had happened tonight. And how I wasn't at all supposed to be here. I started to play with my soaking wet hair, watching each drop of water fall off, and onto Billie's bedsheets. Finally, I took a deep breath.
"My mom grounded me. And banned me from ever seeing you again. But I didn't want to do that. So I snuck out, and came here." More tears welled up in my eyes, and I put my head down. A few pieces of hair fell from behind my ear. Billie swiped them up, then put his hand on my cheek, wiping my tears. He moved from the ground in front of me to right beside me on the bed. I looked up to him. He was sad. But then he noticed I noticed, and tried to smile.
"It's okay," he tried, "everything will be okay." He then pulled me into a hug.
"No, Billie," I cried, "I really messed up this time. I'm messed up."
And then I fell apart.