AT LAST, I COULD BREATHE | billy hargrove

practice makes perfect.

chapter song: Rock You Like a Hurricane - Scorpions

practice makes perfect.

As each period went on, I found that my time in Hawkins was going to be kind of miserable. The people here were so boring that it physically pained me to pretend to like them. Eventually, I gave up on that after the third or fourth attempt.

Luckily, I saw Nancy Wheeler when the lunch bell rang, so I wouldn't be completely alone at lunch.

"Isn't the cafe this way?" I asked, catching up to her, pointing in the opposite direction with my thumb.

She looked surprised that I would approach her. "Oh, Bo, hi. Um, yeah, it's over there, but I don't eat in the cafe."

"Where do you eat?"

"I'll show you, you can meet my friend Jonathan," she replied cheerily. Great, more people to meet.

Nancy's mood instantly heightened at the mention of her "friend" Jonathan, so I figured something was going on there but decided not to mention it.

The two of us walked out into the parking lot in front of the school to a brown-ish older car with a matching brunette boy standing near it. His eyes were also quite dark and I could instantly tell he was uncomfortable by my presence.

"Hi Jonathan," Nancy greeted.

"Hey, Nance," he replied with a shy smile. The two gazed at each other before I cleared my throat without a shred of subtlety.

"Oh, right. Sorry," Nancy said awkwardly. "Jonathan, this is the new girl, Bo. Bo, this is one of my close friends, Jonathan."

I shook the kid's hand and laughed quietly. He looked at me funny. "What?"

A smirk spread across my face, "Nothing. You guys are really cute, that's all. I'm gonna go check out the gym, I'll be back."

Both of their faces turned beet-red and I turned away. I did need to visit the gym because I wanted to see the place in which I would be spending pretty much the entire fall and winter seasons.

Once I strolled into the gymnasium of Hawkins High, I was immediately hit with a wave of B.O. After recovering from near vomiting, I glanced into the basketball court and saw a group of guys playing shirts-and-skins basketball.

Billy Hargrove caught my eye about the same time I caught his eye and we both winked at each other quickly in stereo. He laughed out loud in the middle of a play, and my forehead wrinkled when I snickered. Billy snatched the ball from a tall, dark-haired, wiry boy, and ran down the court to shoot it in the hoop. He yelled something to his coach of which I couldn't hear, but I assumed it had to do with a time-out because he started to run over to me.

"Couldn't stay away, huh?" He purred, breathing hard. It took all of my willpower to tear my eyes away from his beautifully carved chest. I'll always give credit when it's due and this man deserved some. Jesus Christ almighty.

"Love at first sight, sorry, I don't make the rules," I flirted back. He flashed me a handsome smile.

"Just having a look around?" I nodded.

"What about you? Gym class?" He nodded back. "You're pretty good?"

"I know."

"Yeah, well, you could've executed it better. When you took the ball from Hairspray Wonder over there, you should have gone left, not right, because he would have been able to swipe it from you if he were paying attention and not checking me out. And if you went for a three, he would have been right next to you to block it. Left would have gotten you a free space over by the three-point line there and there was no way he coulda gotten over there at that angle in time, so your shot would have been a walk in the park."