𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐘 𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐄𝐒 [Stranger Things x Billy Hargrove]

// nine //

"Friends don't lie." - Eleven

When I open my eyes the next morning my face is completely numb and the entire right side of my pillow is soaking wet where the ice I'd wrapped in a cloth has melted overnight. Groaning, I sit up slowly and stretch my arms out.

I'm slightly relieved when I remind myself that today is Monday so both my mother and Jim will have left already. But I snap back to reality when I gaze up at the clock and realise its nearly noon already. 

Shit, fuck, shit!

If I miss too many classes and manage to get myself in trouble, Jim might actually kill me for 'disgracing my mother with such disappointing behaviour'. Yep, he'd actually used that line on me before.

So without any further hesitation I scramble out of bed and hastily get dressed, grabbing the closest pair of jeans to me and a plain black t shirt. I stare at Billy's shorts and shirt for a few moments before I decide to shove them into my bag and then I run to the bathroom, slipping on my leather jacket as I go and begin to quickly brush my teeth.

While I'm there I do my best five minute job of covering the bruise that is slowly but surely forming on my right eye and along my cheekbone. There's nothing I can do to hide my split lip but I do grab a pair of sunglasses on my way out in the hopes that they'll help to conceal the black eye that makeup couldn't completely hide.

By the time I actually make it to school everybody is already outside for lunch. I sigh softly to myself as I note the many stares my car receives as I pull into the parking lot. I can only hope none of the teachers pull me up about the classes I missed earlier today. 

I snatch my bag off my front seat and head inside for my locker but before I can make it all the way down the hallway I'm forced to stop in my tracks as a familiar face stops in front of me. 

"Hey."

"Hi," I can't help but return Steve's genuine smile.

His face brightens when I smile back at him, I can't remember the last time we had a pleasant encounter in the school hallways like this and it actually feels pretty good.

"I was looking for you this morning but I didn't see you, is everything alright?" he asks gently. 

"Yeah everything is fine, I just slept in is all." I lie, not wanting Steve to have to bare the burden of the ugly truth. 

He seems satisfied by my answer, of course he has no reason to assume I'm hiding something.

"Oh, okay. Anyways ah- listen, I just wanted to thank you for- you know, the party," he says, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. 

"No need to thank me Steve, that's what friends do. You know? Help each other when the other is clearly upset."

"Either way, thank you. You were the last person I would've expected to care, Cassie."