Billy Hargrove // DNA

Chapter Seventeen

Amelia woke up by the annoying sound of her alarm. Surprised she climbed out of bed while stretching her muscles. It was quite unusual that she woke up before her alarm went off. For the last two years she had been experiencing heavy nightmares. Last night she had slept great, she didn't once wake up in sweat as an result of yet another nightmare.

Today was Tuesday which meant she had cheerleading practice. Amelia took her ironed uniform out of her closet, went to the bathroom, and began her morning ritual. She took a quick shower, put on her clothes and pulled her hair in a high ponytail. Afterwards she applied some light make-up on her face.

When she was finished she hummed while going to the room of her younger sister. Cora was still sleeping peacefully in her little bed, surrounded by stuffed animals. At moments like this, Amelia just wanted to take the whole image in, not wanting to wake up her sister. Unfortunately that wasn't possible.

Amelia gently nudged Cora's shoulders. "Rise and shine, sweetie." She said softly. Cora blinked her eyes a few times and then began to yawn. "What color of clothes do you wanna wear today?" Cora seemed to think about it for a moment. "Pink!" She exclaimed enthusiastically. Amelia smiled before opening the wardrobe and pulling out a pink sweater with white trousers. She helped Cora get dressed and afterwards they went downstairs.

John, her stepfather, seemed a bit worried today. Normally he was always sitting like a collapsed old cake in his chair with a coffee in his hand and the news paper in his other hand, but today there seemed to be something wrong. He leaned against the refrigerator as he chewed on his lower lip. He seemed to be deep in thought.

Amelia knew it was best to not interrupt him. "Goodmorning, mom." She greeted. "Hi, honey." Cora sat down and greedily ate her cereal while Amelia grabbed an apple from the fruit basket. "Are you excited for today?" Her mom asked. "For the cheerleading practice? Yeah, always. I can't wait until there's a game." Amelia replied before taking a big bite from her apple. 

"How's Rebecca? I heard she's hanging out with a certain boy, Jeremy is it?" News and gossip in particular, spread very quickly in a small town like Hawkins. 

In the meantime, John had removed himself from the kitchen which made Amelia a little more comfortable to talk about boys. "I don't know him very well, but she seems to be happy." Amelia grabbed a glass and filled it up with water. "That's good to hear. She's a sweet girl." Her mother said friendly. "Yeah, she is." 

After Amelia had finished her apple, she went upstairs and knocked on Benjamin's bedroom door. "Benji! Wake up!" She shouted as she continued to knock on the door since he didn't respond. 

Finally, the door swung open. "Dude, you have too much energy in the morning." He murmured while he scratched his head as he went to the bathroom. 

Amelia went to her bedroom to put on her sports shoes and to grab her backpack. When she went back downstairs she noticed that John had already left. "What's wrong with John?" Amelia only dared to pronounce his name when he wasn't around. "Problems at work. There have been some weird finds and they're now busy researching it." Her mom answered while she was busy cleaning the kitchen. 

"What weird finds?" Amelia asked curiously. "I don't know. He doesn't tell me much." 

"I thought we could invite the Hargrove's over for dinner sometime?" Her mom suddenly asked, clearly to change the subject. Amelia's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. The strange reaction didn't go unnoticed by her mom. "What's wrong? Don't you like Max?" Amelia wildly shook her head. "It's not that. I like Max. It's just-" 

She was interrupted by Benjamin entering the kitchen. He looked like a starving animal when he rapidly stuffed some fruit in his mouth. "We gotta go. It's already late." He said with his mouth full of food. Amelia felt slightly disgusted but decided not to comment. After the last piece of his banana disappeared in his mouth, Benjamin hurried to the living room to grab the keys lying on the small table. "Let's go."