you are not alone → stranger things

xxxxvi. terrific

Monday morning
Nancy's POV

I walked into school with an overbearing sense of calm. Nothing would go wrong today.

Someone yelled after me, "How's the orgies going, slut?"

I turned and smiled sweetly. "Terrific, thanks so much for asking." They looked shocked, and I kept walking, holding my head high.

Jonathan and Steve were talking together just inside the doors, near the bulletin board. They looked up at me as I came closer. "Hey, how's Eleven?" Steve asked.

I smirked, unable to keep it off my face. "Perfect, since she's with Mike." I turned to Jonathan. "How's Will?"

"Getting better," he replied, his lips twitching up. "Since Eleven's been visiting a lot. She seems to be the only one who really gets him."

"She and Mike are kinda dating, right? I mean, has he asked her officially?" Steve asked.

As I talked to them, I began to feel an itch on the back of my neck. Like someone was watching me.

I turned and looked around, and found the arrogant brown eyes piercing me with their gaze. They belonged to him: the boy who had tried to kill my best friend and break my boyfriend and I up. The boy who had a younger sister who had saved Will.

Billy.

"Guys," I whispered, turning back to them, "he's back from suspension."

They both immediately turned white, knowing who I was talking about. Steve narrowed his eyes. "I won't let him touch you, Nance."

Jonathan looked less sure. "Just ignore him and make sure you're never alone."

Luckily, the bell rang a few seconds later, and I didn't have to deal with Billy any longer.

***

After school was the only time I had to be alone, and I did my best to hurry to Jonathan's car. We were going to pick up Mike, El, Lucas, and Dustin from the middle school and go the hospital to visit Will.

My hurrying was for nothing. Billy was waiting just outside the door of the school, and he grabbed my wrist firmly and turned me to face him. "Hey, baby, where've ya been?" he said easily, blowing the smoke from his cigarette in my face. I was struck by how different he was than what I had thought. He had acted so caring, and I had fallen for it. Maybe I would have even kissed him back if he hadn't said what he had.

I jerked away. "Leave me alone, asshole."

He cocked an eyebrow, but surprisingly relented. "I'll just find someone else," he called after me. "It's not like you're special."

"Good," I bit back over my shoulder, quickening my pace and thanking my lucky stars that he would finally leave me alone.