the scientist // billy hargrove

T w e n t y F i v e

Dustin woke up from his sister's angry yells on Monday. He ran into her room and she was in the process of throwing stuff around.

"J, what are you doing?" She threw a crumpled note at him and punched her wall. Dustin carefully unfolded it and watched his sister throw a glass of water at the wall where it shattered and splashed all over. "'Dear Jade, last night you asked about your metal death trap when your boyfriend was trying to talk to you. I still don't understand why you got so upset when I brought up Patrick and why you never told me you have a new boyfriend. Anyway, I sold it to a girl named Gretta. She's very sweet. I put all of your belongings from that trap into a box on your nightstand, as well as the keychains on your keys. I hate that car and how you act like you're living a hard life when the worst thing you've ever had to deal with is Mews dying. It's difficult being the mother of the town slut and I hope you improve the way you've been acting because you don't have the right to ruin everything else by acting like you've been through something difficult or tragic. Have a good day at school.'"

She jumped onto her black sheeted bed and groaned into her pillow decorated in skulls. Her outfit was, of course, black. A black sweater, black tights, black skater skirt, and black knee high boots.

Beverly dyed Jade's hair after they rehearsed the choreography for their Halloween performance at the end of the week. Jade had been watching movies with Nanook while Bev added pink, blue and blonde coloured streaks to her dark brown hair. She'd also decided to get an eyebrow piercing that her mother constantly told her not to get.

"Are you okay? I know how much you loved your Impala, but at least you got to keep everything inside it. Why did she say you were the town slut and what does she mean boyfriend?"

"It's not the type of thing I can tell my little brother," she responded with her face still in the pillow, "the slut part is all rumours that everyone in Hawkins believes and I don't have a boyfriend."

"I like your hair and piercing even though mom said you couldn't get it."

"Thanks, Dusty. You can go meet up with your friends to get to school. I've got to call Alex and tell him he's picking us up."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

Dustin left and got ready for school then headed out with his hat and grabbed his bike. Jade emptied the box from her car onto her mattress and searched through it all. Her mother actually had gotten everything out of the car like she said she did. Jade started walking out of her room with her bag until she looked at the floorboard. She dropped her bag and went to check it. Everything was still in it which made her relieved, but that didn't stop her from being stressed about the car she spent her money on being sold to the biggest bitch in Hawkins. She reached in and grabbed a cigarette, putting it between her lips and feeling around for a lighter, eventually finding the black one Billy had given her awhile ago. Sighing, she lit it and put the lighter into her bag. She was about to put the board back in place, but instead she reached in and grabbed a knife she kept hidden- a black butterfly knife she had pickpocketed. She stuck it in the waist line of her skirt and put her shirt back over it. Jade breathed in the smoke and walked outside where Beverly was waiting.