Don't Call Me Baby (Billy Hargrove)

-Chapter eleven-

Emilia

It was Friday, finally after a whole week of homework, classes, more classes and long hours at school, I could finally just sit at home and relax. I was relieved to see the week had zipped by faster than I thought, and all I wanted to do was drive with Jonothan back home in his car, and crash in my bedroom.

'Later, I'll probably call one of you, most likely Nancy, because you're too busy Mr.Camera man' I laugh, causing the two of them to argue with me about who was a better person to talk to over the phone. They drove off, the sound of Jonothan's music fading into the distance and I sigh as I twist around.

Over the fence next door, I see Billy standing by his Camaro, a smoke dangling in his mouth while he stares at me intently from where he's standing, I see a soft look flash in his eyes, and I just sigh and look away while I walk up to my front door.

All afternoon I had been in my bedroom, playing my tapes while I searched through my cupboard to clear out the clutter inside. It mostly consisted of pictures and photo book albums, more tapes from musicians I liked when I was young, but grew out of when I was a teen. It was just a cupboard full of nostalgia.

I pulled out a box of pictures and opened the lid to find a stack of photos. Tied together in a pile with a peice of string, instantly I reached over to my desk and grabbed a pair of sicssors to cut it.
The first picture was an image of me as a baby, clearly it was my first birthday, I looked happy while my parents stood behind me, smiling widely while they looked at the camera.

I flicked through more of the pictures, a fond, warm feeling radiating from them as I gazed at each one with a small smile on my face. These were the times my life wasn't effected by boy problems and high school work, it sucked knowing I'll never go back to these times, I'll just keep getting older.

I heard a knock on the door behind me, and I spun around to see who it was. Surprisingly it was Max, her skateboard under her arm and a little smile on her face. My eyes skimmed down to the end of her skateboard, and I noticed it had been wrapped in duct tape.

'Hey Max, uh what happened to your skate board?' I question as she enters the room and sits down on my bed with her skate board sitting on her lap.

'Billy got pissed and broke it, which is actually why I came here to see you' She sighs out as she gets up to quickly shut the door and turns to me to talk.

'Billy's been getting alot more angrier at me, and basically in general. I mean he's talking back to my mother when his dad's not around, and he's starting to scare me. He's been getting more beatings from his dad because of his back chat, but he's just so-'

'Stupid' I say finishing her sentence and she nods in agreement.

'I was just wondering if it had something to do with you' Max questioned and I exhaled heavily before weaving my fingers in my hair and brushing it out of my face.

'We separated because he said some hurtful things, and decided to be an asshole and tag on the walls at school, calling me mean words, it was just a really bad week for the both of us' I explain and Max gives me a sympathetic look before dropping her skateboard on the ground and pulls me into a hug.

'I'm sorry you had to suffer aswell' Max mumbles into my hair and I wrap my arms around her tightly.

'Max, if he's scaring you, I can talk to him about it' I mumble as we pull apart, she looks away and shakes her head.

'No, it's fine. Really he's just being a dick' Max says but I just grasp ahold of one of her hands and squeeze it lightly.

'I will talk to him about it, don't worry' I reassure her and she turns to me.

'Would you mind?' She questions, and I shake my head with a smile on my face. I wasn't really ready to talk to Billy, but if it benefited Max and her mother, I would confront him about his behaviour.

Max decided stay over for a bit longer since her parents were out on a date night, and she was left at home with Billy. She helped me with finishing up on the closet and looked at some of the pictures herself, we laughed together at my embarrassing ones, and eventually time flew past faster than we expected.

It was dark outside and we barely noticed it was past 6.00 o'clock, Max cursed under her breath when she noticed it was night time, she grabbed her skateboard and I walked her outside. She looked nervous when she glanced at her house from my porch.

'I forgot to tell him I was leaving, he's going to be mad' Max whispered as she brushed her hand through her red hair and cursed some more. I sighed before clamping my hand on her shoulder.

'I can come with you, and explain to Billy, I'll just lie and say I asked you to come over, okay?' I say as I try to reassure her, she looks at the ground before nodding slowly. I didn't want to talk to Billy, but it's been three weeks since we last had that argument at school, and it benefits Max, and I didn't want Billy to be in a shitty mood toward her. Espically after she told me he was starting to scare her.

So we walked toward their house, their living room light was on and so was Billy's, his Camaro was parked in their driveway and I couldn't help but skim my hand against the surface of the car. Once we were on their front door step, I sighed heavily as I faced Max before reaching out and knocking quickly on the door.

It took a few more tries before I could hear Billy's footsteps on the other side of the door.

'Maxine you little shit, what did I tell you-' Billy shouted, but stopped completely when he saw me standing on his doorstep. I give him a forced smile before opening my mouth to greet him.

'Hi Billy'