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THE CAR rolled to a stop, the engine's rumble dimming as the brakes of Billy Hargrove's car overpowered it. Valentina sighed, putting the car into park. She turned to the girl in the passenger's seat.
"Are you sure this will be okay?" she asked.
Max nodded, her lips pulled into a tired smile. "Yeah. He wakes up in someone's yard half the time anyway. At least this time it'll be his own."
Valentina nodded, partially laughing at the girl's rambition of her stepbrother's tendency to get intoxicated and wake up face down in the grass. She could totally see that happening after how she saw him at Tina's Halloween Party.
Her mind got stuck on Tina for a second. She hadn't talked to her in a few days since the gym class she broke her nose, and they'd just become friends again. What kind of best friend was she, ghosting her for days? Tina probably thought she was dead.
Lights flickered into the car from the back windshield. Valentina and Max peaked through the gap between their seats, finding the burgundy BMW pull into the driveway behind Billy's Camaro. Steve flashed his brights to grab their attention, then his engine cut off.
"You go off to bed. We'll handle him," Valentina told the younger girl. She could tell how tired Max was. She was tired herself, but they weren't at her house yet, and, to be honest, Valentina was thankful for that. She wasn't prepared to face a sad, empty house after what she'd just gone through.
"Are you sure?" Max asked. Valentina smiled, genuinely, and nodded.
Both girls climbed out of the car, Valentina grabbing the keys from the ignition before she did. Max headed up to the front porch while Valentina went in the other direction toward Steve's car. He was leaning against the front of it, watching the girls with a tired smile and his arms crossed.
"Goodnight!" Max whisper-shouted from the porch. Steve waved. Valentina whispered the farewell back.
During the car ride, Valentina promised the younger girl that she would come over whenever she called. She wrote her phone number on a piece of paper and stuck it into the girl's jacket pocket, and told her she could call whenever. If Billy was being an asshole and she needed someone to break his nose—it's only fair—or if she just needed some more estrogen in her life. Max took it with a nod, but Valentina could tell she appreciated it more than she was letting on.
"She's a good kid," Valentina said once she reached Steve. He looked at her, her eyes hadn't left the front door yet. She waited until Max was inside and they heard the lock click before she turned away.
"Yeah," Steve agreed. "This asshole, however..." He stepped aside to reveal an unconscious Billy Hargrove slumped over the backseat of the car.
Steve had argued with Valentina that he should be the one to drive Billy, just in case he woke up before they dumped him at his house. Valentina didn't really argue back. He smelt bad. Plus, Steve had to follow her in his car to the Hargrove-Mayfield house anyway to give Valentina a ride back to her house after they dropped all the kids off.
