mary. [ BILLY HARGROVE ]

vii. CHAPTER FIVE

~*~
warning: mature language

     Third period had come around, Mary sitting in the bleachers as the gym teacher had the girls played either volleyball or their own game of basketball. Most of the time it was volleyball, but Mary usually got out of it because she hated playing. Every single time she'd be able to convince the coach that she had cramps, and he believed her. He was naive and a man in the 80's, it was easy to lie about woman problems. 

     "Harrington, right?" The sound of Billy's voice and her best friends name made Mary look up from her notebook. "I heard you used to run this school. That true?" Steve was dribbling the basketball, and Billy had his body pressed right up against his back. "King Steve, they used to call you, huh? Then you turned bitch." 

     "Hey, maybe you should just shut up and just play the game," Steve snapped. Billy stepped forward and snatched the ball from Steve, tripping him as he ran to the other basket. He brought his leg up, switching the ball from hand to hand under it, then laying up and making a perfect basket. 

     "Whoo! That's what I'm talking about! Whoo!" Billy cheered. Steve got up from the ground slowly, grabbing his back in pain.

     "Steve!" Nancy called. Mary looked to her, surprised to see she was even at school today. Considering how Steve barely wanted to talk about it and took Mary to school that day instead of Nancy, she was a bit shocked to see the Wheeler girl in the gym, skipping her free period. Steve, nevertheless, followed Nancy outside. Mary watched them walk out, her gaze shifting back to the game. Her eyes, for some reason, watched Billy's every movement. 

     Mary couldn't place what she did like about him, but she loved when he got angry. Her comparison to him being a teddy bear she found to be quite accurate. She'd actually been picturing the two next to each other the whole day, the actually side by side nagging at her. 

     But that wasn't the point. The point was, she was trying to figure him out. It was difficult with how bipolar he was acting towards her. The bad boy act the first day, the weird trying to bed her thing, and then the soft touches but angry tone in the hallway. It was all so different, she just didn't know what she liked most. 

     Steve eventually walked back into the gym, looking a bit angrier than when he left. He seemed to be playing worse than before, something about Nancy obviously on his mind. When the bell rang, Mary got off the bleachers and went to wait outside the boys locker room. It was lunch next period, which meant a break before Mary had to go to fourth, lunch, then sixth with Nancy and Billy. She waited outside the boys locker room, waiting for Steve to come out. Once he did, Mary pushed herself off the lockers to walk with him. 

     "Hey, what is going on with you and Nancy?" she asked, giving him a concerned look. "Obviously something happened and you two aren't talking to each other. I mean, you gave me a ride to school this morning. A silent ride to school, may I add."

     "Can I tell you during lunch? I don't want to talk about it here," Steve said, not looking at Mary. 

     "Yeah, sure. Meet on the bleachers, okay?" Mary nodded. Steve just shrugged, walking towards his next class. The girl sighed, turning to go to her next class. But she bumped into what she thought was a wall. Mary was about to fall on her ass when two hands grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back up. She looked through her hair to see that it was Billy, a sigh escaping her lips.

     "You should really be more careful," he suggested.

     "How long have you been trailing Steve and I just so I could run into you and you miraculously catch me before I fall?" Mary asked as she pulled her bag strap up, sorting her books out in her hands.