Emma || Steve Harrington/Billy Hargrove

018. What is Going On?

*Emma's POV*

About two weeks later, school started. Everything felt a lot more stressful for me right off the bat. My parents were on my ass about college and where I was going to apply, and I was stressing because I had no idea where I wanted to go let alone what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. On top of me having no clue what I wanted in life, it stressed me out that my parents were pressuring me. My parents had never been the type to stress me out from their own stress, but for some reason with this they were.

School was stressful, but there were also really weird things going on around Hawkins. I started having an eerie feeling about just being in the town, and everyone I talked to, except Billy, started acting weird. Whenever I babysat Elle and the kids came over, they'd lock themselves up in the other room and not tell me anything. Jonathan, Steve, and Nancy were being secretive too. The people around me just weren't helping make anything easier.

I woke up early on the Wednesday of the second week of school and got myself ready so that I could leave before my parents were able to say anything about the college situation. I gathered all my school materials and said goodbye to my parents before heading to the school. It was a little early, but I decided maybe I should just go to the library and work on my college essay and start filling out some of my applications.

When I got to the library, I saw a few other kids in the same boat as I was. They were all drafting essays or filling out the applications for different schools. I sat in a secluded area of the library where Billy and I would hang out during lunch and just talk. Since Steve was no longer at the school, I didn't get to see him as often and Billy was my only other super close friend, so we ended up spending a lot of time together. About 20 minutes after I sat down, I had made some but not a lot of progress. Billy came up at around that time and sat in front of me.

"Morning," he smiled as he sat down.

"Morning," I smiled back. He leaned back in his char and put his feet up on the table. "How are you not stressed about applications?" I asked in amusement.

"I already know I'll probably end up getting a basketball scholarship to wherever I apply, so I'm not worried at all," he answered, "Why are you so stressed Ems? You're literally the smartest person I know and your GPA is impeccable."

"My mom and dad are on me about it," I sighed, "but I don't even know where I want to go anymore. I thought I wanted UCLA but now I'm also thinking about NYU, but I can't even make a decision because I have no idea what it is that I want to study." More and more students started flooding into the school and the library the closer it got to when school was meant to start.

"It'll all be okay, babe. You'll figure it out, you always do," he smiled sympathetically.

Just then, the ground beneath us started rumbling beneath us. I'm not sure if you know this, but earthquakes weren't common in Indiana at all, and the one that was happening then was strong. The lights started swinging, and Billy and I instantly dropped to the ground and crawled underneath the table we were sitting at. At that point, almost all of the students that went to the school were there, and you could hear people panicking. Billy and I just sat under the table, our hands tightly gripping one another's. It lasted only for a minute or two, but once it was over, Billy and I ran outside so that if anything happened again, we wouldn't be in danger inside the building. We were out there for about twenty minutes before we were all dismissed to go home. Billy offered to take me home, and we were on our way to his, but I didn't make it as Steve came speeding into the parking lot. He quickly got out of the car and ran to me and pulled me into his embrace.