Stigma--Billy Hargrove

Amber meets Dart

So interesting chapter, hope it makes sense (ik I say this for all my chapters, but I truly mean it lol)

Enjoy and not edited

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After nursing her hangover all day long, Amber decided that she wanted to thank Hopper for getting her home, it was the least she could do. She managed to make herself self look sort of okay, the only give away to her hangover was the dark circles under her eyes.

She finished tying her shoes and started to leave when she heard a very strange sound from Dustin's room. Like really weird.

"Dustin?" she asked, moving to stand outside of his door, "what's that weird noise coming from your room?"

There was a lot of shuffling and Dustin slowly opened the door, peaking only his head out, "I'll show you if you promise not to tell another soul."

"Dustin," she began, but he interrupted her.

"Promise!"

"Okay, fine, I promise. Let me in," she said, opening the door and stepping into his room. It was strangely dark, the only light came from his lamp by his desk. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed a blanket, hers actually, draped over his turtle's terrarium.

"I've been looking for that blanket all week," she said with a scowl, looking down at him.

Dustin shrugged, "it's being put to good use at least," he said and walked towards the terrarium. He stopped in front of it, grinning like a mad man, and lifted the blanket.

Amber looking into the terrarium not seeing anything, "did your turtle lay eggs or something?"

"He's a tortoise, but no, Yurtle is hanging out around here somewhere. He was nice enough to lend his cage to a friend in need," Dustin said.

"And who might that friend in need be?" Amber asked, raising her eyebrow.

Dustin pulled out a Three Musketeers from his back pocket, opened it, and dropped a piece into the cage. Amber's eyes widened when she saw a frog sort of creature pull itself out from the log in the terrarium. It quickly grabbed the piece of candy and swallowed it whole.

"What is that thing?" Amber asked, a little disturbed.

"Some kind of Pollywog. I think I discovered a new species. In fact, can you drive me to the library to get some books?" Dustin asked.

Amber laughed, "yeah sure, I got to stop at the Police Station to thank Hopper, so you can meet me there when you're done. Hey, did you name it?" She asked when she stood back up to her full height.

"Of course I named him, he's called D'Artagnan, but Dart for short," Dustin told her with a grin as he grabbed his hat and slipped on his shoes.

Amber shook her head, smiling, "never change Dustin, you're precious."

Dustin scoffed, "ugh, stop I hate when you get sappy."

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Amber dropped Dustin off at the library and drove down the street to the station. She parked her car and got out, locking the door behind her and putting the key in her back pocket. With her good hand, she opened the door and was immediately face to face with Billy.

"Henderson," he said, looking down at her with a smirk, "how ya feeling?"

"Pretty good, all things considered. Guess you're not the best at kegs stands, yeah?" she said with a smirk.

Billy laughed quietly, it sounded almost a little sinister, "okay, might want to get off that high horse if I was you," Billy said, grabbing a cigarette out of his pocket.

"What do you mean?" she asked, tilted her head.

"Your foster dad or some shit is about to chew your ass out for partying last night," Billy told her, his smirk growing larger.

Amber narrowed her eyes and grabbed the sleeve of his jean jacket, pulling him into a filing room across from Flo's desk, unnoticed by the officers in at the station. She shut the door with her foot and glared at him, "he's not my dad."

"You pulled me all the way into this room to tell me that? Seems like you might have an ulterior motive, Henderson," Billy teased taking a step closer to her.

Amber swallowed thickly, "no! Not at all, oh my gosh, gross," she said and averted her gaze from his, her cheeks flaming, "I was going to ask you what he said to you!"

"You're blushing," Billy said in a mocking coo ignoring her question.

"I'm not!" she shot back, her cheeks turning redder.

Billy shook his head, his grin growing wider. He took another step closer to her, causing Amber to be pushed back against the filing cabinet behind her. Her heart was thudding in her chest and she had no idea why her brain was suddenly turning to mush. Not to mention the flood of butterflies in her stomach. Why in the world would Billy be causing her to feel this way? Apparently, all he had to do was sort of drive her home and her hormones would go batshit crazy, she internally groaned, how inconvenient for her.

Billy placed one of his hands on top of the cabinet beside her head, trapping her in. With his other hand, he took a drag on his cigarette and blew the smoke into her face, "I think," he began, his grin growing larger, "I think that I may be catching on to something."

"Catching on to what?" she asked, her breathing heavy.

Billy now had both hands on the cabinet trapping her fully in between his arm. He brought his head down closer to her, smoke curling from his lip. He opened his mouth to speak but suddenly the door flew open with a slam.

"What the hell is going on," Hopper growled, his jaw clenched.

Billy leaned back from Amber, his expression cool, "why don't you ask Amber, she's the one who dragged me in here."

Amber gulped, she looked at Hopper who was looking at her with a livid expression. She was in deep shit. "Um," she began, finding no words to redeem herself from Billy's accusation.

Billy took a drag on his cigarette and exhaled, "well, see you at school Amber," he said and raised an eyebrow at her, "always nice talking to you, Chief," Billy added as he quickly slipped by Hopper and was out of sight.

That little shit. Amber's embarrassment quickly turned to anger and she stood up looking at Hopper with raised eyebrows, "he was-"

"Amber," Hopper interrupted her, "what were you doing with him? He's bad news," Hopper growled, his eyebrows furrowed.

Amber sighed, "I'm not doing anything with him! Why do you even care?" she snapped back.

Hopper took a step back, hurt flashed across his features briefly, but he composed himself, "because I'm your boss and you can't be pulling this shit at a police station. I'm going to have to ask you to leave, you should know better not to do this."

"Wait, Hopper," Amber started, feeling guilt bubble in her chest, "I'm sorry. I wasn't even here to see Billy, I had no idea he was here. I was going to thank you for getting me home safe, I swear, really. He started spewing some nonsense about how you were trying to replace my dad, and I got mad. You're not going to fire me right?" she rambled, wringing her hands together nervously.

Hopper sighed, he knew he shouldn't have become friends with her. She was so much like Sara that he couldn't help himself, not to mention he had always like to help the underdogs, and Amber, an orphan, was totally an underdog. "It's fine, kid. Just stay away from him okay?"

Amber nodded, "trust me, I don't want to be near him."

Hopper looked at her, hoping that was true, but he saw the way that Billy was looking at her. Even though Billy told him that Amber 'wasn't his type' or some shit, he wasn't dumb. The kid was completely enamored with her.