Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 6

Billy starts to stand up.
"No!" I say, pulling him back down. "Don't start something yet! He might not even notice us!"
"Fine. I'm only doing this for you but if he comes near us-"
I cut him off. "You'll beat his ass."
Billy smiles and pulls me into a side hug. "That's my girl!"
He always spoke as if we were boyfriend and girlfriend and not going to lie, I kind of liked it.
"Billy!" Somebody yells from across the room. "We're starting the keg drinking competition!"
"Sorry, babe. Competition calls." He says as he walks over to the voice.
"Good luck!" I call out to him.
Since I was now alone, I decided to go outside for some fresh air. I sat on the steps and just zoned out.
"Finally. I get to catch you alone and not with that jackass." I jump at the sound of his voice. James.
"He's not a jackass." I say, defending Billy.
"Well you obviously don't know him that well."
"Shut up James." I say, completely annoyed.
"Speak to me like that again, Kate. I dare you. You don't have Hargrove here to protect you this time."
I roll my eyes and get up to go back inside, when he aggressively pulls my arm, causing me to sit back down.
"Don't touch me!" I yell into his face, as I finally break free from his grip.
I get up to leave when I run into a tall figure.
"Hargrove! It was nice of you to finally join the party!"
"Shut your mouth James."
"Make me." James said, which was a terrible idea.
Billy started chuckling. "You're going to regret that!"
Billy punched James square in the face. Billy then pushed James who lost his balance and fell down. Billy straddled him and began throwing punch after punch. Surprisingly, James fought back. He punched Billy in the gut, causing him to roll over in pain. This time, James was in control. He got on top of Billy and started firing the punches. I couldn't take in anymore. I walked right up to James and kicked him in the gut. He fell off of Billy and stared at me.
"Leave us alone." I say, kicking him one more time, just for fun.
James doesn't respond, he just gets up and walks away. Clearly, he gave up.
I ran over to Billy to see if he was okay. He wasn't beat up as bad as James was, but he still had a bloody nose.
"Oh Billy." I say, giving him a tissue I found in my pocket to stop the bleeding.
I help him stand up as we walk over to his car.
"Give me the keys." I say to Billy.
"What? You're not driving my car! I am!"
"No you're not. You've been drinking and you're totally out of it. Give me the keys Billy."
He hesitates at first then fishes into his pocket and passes me his keys.

"You gave him a pretty good kick!" Billy says.
"I know it was pretty badass." I say, giggling.
"I know it kind of turned me on." Billy says, chuckling.
"Billy!" I playfully slap him on the arm.
We finally pulled into his driveway. We still had 15 minutes to kill before El and Max got back from the arcade.
"You're not like other girls, Kate." Billy says.
"Yeah?" I say, questioning him.
"Yeah. I admire that about you." Billy says, placing a hand on my thigh.
"Wow. I never knew that Billy Hargrove could have a soft side to him!" I say, smiling.
He smiles back. "Don't tell anybody."
"I won't because I want this soft Billy all to myself." I say, scooting closer to him.
'I shouldn't be doing this' I think 'I've only known him for a little over a month'
"Well... I suppose you can have him." He says, scooting closer to me and kissing me. I give in and kiss back.

I wave to Billy and Max as El and I pull out of the driveway and head home.
"How was it?" I said to El.
"It was fun. I beat the high score on Pacman."
"Nice!" I say. I've noticed over the months that my relationship with El was more awkward than anything else. I was trying to change that, but it was hard. Really hard.

When we arrive home, I went straight to my room. I sat on my bed, thinking about tonight. I suddenly jump at the sound of my phone ringing.
"Hello?" I say.
"Kate! Finally, you answered. Where have you been?" It was Nancy.
"Sorry I was just hanging out with a friend."
"Oh okay, whatever. I think we have a real problem here."
She tells me the story about exploding rats and how she believes it has something to do with the upside down.
"Yeah, that's really bizarre." I respond.
"It's more than bizarre Kate! It's fascinating and terrifying! I feel like this could be something to look out for but nobody believes me!" She yells into the phone. "I don't know Kate. Whatever it is, it's something terrible. And I have this awful feeling about it." She finishes up, genuinely concerned.
"It could be the beginning of something horrible." I say, thinking of the dream I had.
"That's what I'm worried about! And to make matters worse, not even Johnathan believes me! We had an argument about it and now he's not speaking to me!"
"Awe Nance." I say, changing the tone in my voice.
"Anyways, enough about me. Hows your job going?" She asks.
"It's great. I've actually been hanging around with another lifeguard. We've gotten pretty close." I say, smiling.
"Ooooh! A lifeguard, sexy!" Nancy says and we both laugh. "But what's his name? Tell me all about him!"
"Well, his name's Billy Hargrove, he's-" Before I could go on, she cuts me off.
"Billy Hargrove... Where do I know that name from?"
"Ummm..." I say, thinking. "I don't know. He didn't go to school with us. Anyways..." I go into full detail about him. Just thinking about him puts a grin on my face.
"Hargrove! They call him Hargrove!" Nancy yells out.
"Yeah." I say. "Where do you know him from?"
"Steve and I went to a party when we were still together. He was there and Steve and him got into a heated argument. They almost got into a physical fight." She says.
'That explains it. That's why Steve left when Billy approached at the party'
"Oh." I say, pretending to be a little shocked.
"Also, I swear I saw him makeout with like four different girls. You'll have to be careful Kate... I don't want you to end up getting hurt."
"Okay." I say. "Thanks Nance."
And with that, she hangs up the phone.

I woke up the next morning at 10:38am. Today was Saturday and thankfully I didn't have anything to do today.
I figured I'd read a couple of magazines untill I felt like getting ready for the day. I found a comfortable spot on my bed, flipping open the first page when I hear a loud bang.
I run out of my room to see El picking up a broken plate with her bare hands.
She's sees me staring at her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to." She says, apologetically.
"Don't worry about it!" I say, grabbing a broom and dust pan. I sweep the shards of glass into the dust pan and dump it into the garbage can.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see that El's nose was bleeding.
"Here." I say handing her a tissue. "What were you trying to do?" I say calmly. I definitely had a better temper than my father.
"All of the magnets and photos on the fridge fell off, so I was just trying to put them back on. I guess I got a little frustrated." El says, wiping her nose.
"It's fine." I reply, walking over to the fridge. I crouch down and pick up the magnet. The magnetic backing was still attached, so it was broken. I gently place the magnet on the fridge, but it just slides right to the floor. I repeat the process again and again, but the outcome was still the same result.
"See."
"That's strange." I say, looking at her.