ᴘᴇʀꜰᴇᴄᴛ ᴍᴇꜱꜱ • ʙɪʟʟʏ ʜᴀʀɢʀᴏᴠᴇ

Six

For the next couple of days, things were a little weird at school between Daisy and Billy. He was still a jerk when he was in the presence of the other boys, but once they were gone, he would apologise to Daisy.

"I still don't get why you let them influence you like that, Billy." Daisy would always point out, her arms crossed.

"I do." Steve would chime in, giving Billy a glare that could kill. Then he'd look down at Daisy and tell her, "He's an asshole, Daise. I don't know why you waste your time with him."

On an ordinary Friday, Steve was hanging out with Jonathan, Nancy and Robin in the canteen. Daisy had a Chemistry test she needed to study for, so she settled into the gym, where it was peaceful and quiet for a solid three minutes until the jocks came to play basketball. Amongst them was, of course, Tommy H and the rest of his posse.

"Hey, nerd!" Tommy H yelled at her. Daisy barely flickered her eyes up to look at his direction. "Yeah, you! We're kinda practisin' here, so..." He paused and did a motion as if to shoo her off.

Daisy turned bright red and closed her book, ready to leave, but a voice from the boys' locker rooms stopped her from getting up.

"What the fuck is your problem, Tommy?" They all looked at Billy, stepping back when he marched up to Tommy. Daisy stood up, book clutched against her chest. Is he defending me? she thought, gulping. This wasn't going to end well. "She was just reading."

"Oof, touchy about the nerd, Billy boy?" Tommy smirked, earning a few sniggers from his teammates, who immediately stopped when Billy shoved him aggressively. "Dude, what the actual fuck?!"

Billy grabbed him by the t-shirt, lifting him a good inch off of the groud.

"Oh, shit!" One of the boys muttered, stepping away with fright. Daisy was still stunned at this, but couldn't help the smile that escaped her lips. Billy was actually defending her. She only wished her friends were there to witness it.

"Listen to me, Tommy. I've had it up to my fucking neck with your crap. If I as much as see you even thinking about saying something to her, I swear to God, I will fucking end you. Got it?" Tommy nodded. "I said got it?!"

"Yes! Yes!" Tommy yelled, his voice ringing the whole gymnasium. Billy let go of his shirt, leaving him clutching his chest to catch his breath. As he walked off, Tommy yelled, "You are a fucking lunatic, Hargrove!"

Billy ignored him, instead opting to give him the middle finger as he exited the gymnasium and into the locker rooms. As the chattering slowly went back to normal, Daisy descended the bleachers and waited for Billy to come out. He emerged a few minutes later, walking past her. She frowned. He came to her defence one minute and now he's ignoring her? This wasn't good enough for Daisy.

"Billy, wait up!" Daisy exclaimed, and he stopped, not turning his back. "I... Why did you do that?"

"A thank you would have been enough, Henderson."

She scoffed. "I didn't need saving, Billy. I could have just walked off, no trouble at all. You know what? I'm done trying to understand you. One minute you're nice, the next you're calling me a loser and then--"

"Do you wanna hang out later today?" Billy blurted out, catching her by surprise. He was also surprised by what he just said. Did I hear him right? Daisy thought.

"But I wasn't done--"

"I could drive you up to Hillwood to rollerblade."

Daisy blinked. She knew he was diverting the topic away from his outburst in the gym, so she dropped. it. She knew he had issues and could tell from his pleading eyes.

"Wait so you want to rollerblade with- with me?" she asked out fo genuine curiosity, but he laughed in response.

"Hell no, Henderson. I'll just drive you there and I'll sit in my car and listen to some music or somethin'." he said. "So? What do you say, princess?"

After giving it very little thought, she smiled and replied, "Pick me up at five." She turned her back to him and as she walked away, she added, "And don't fucking call me princess."

*

Once home, the first thing Billy did was take a long, cold shower. He wasn't sure whether he regretted asking Daisy to hang out with him. At first, she seemed like the perfect excuse to get the hell out of his house and away from his father, but the more he thought about it, the more he looked forward to it.

After the shower, he put on his best white t-shirt and jeans and sat at the edge of his bed, fastening the laces of his boots when his stepsister, Max, walked past. After a second, she walked back, looking at him with a slight frown.

"Where are you off to?" she wondered. She noticed his hair was well-put and he had his cleanest shoes on.

"None of your business, Max." he snapped, not looking up. "Piss off!"

She leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. "Your dad asked you to watch me while he's out with mom." He didn't flinch as he stood up, reaching for a new pack of cigarettes. "Are you seriously going to leave me alone here?"

Billy walked past her and into the kitchen, grabbing a carton of orange juice, downing it almost instantly, leaving Max to stare at him in utter disgust.

"Why don't you hang out with your little friends? Been doin' that every day since we moved, why not today?"

"Because I have homework to do. Plus I don't think they want to hang out with me after you almost ran them over the other day, which thanks for that, by the way. Scared them half to death."

"Well, tough. I'm not staying here." He looked up at the kitchen clock. "And I'm close to being late."

"At least tell me where you're going!" she yelled as he ran past her.

Billy rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to contain himself. "I'm hangin' out with a friend."

"A girl?"

Billy raised an eyebrow, hoping she didn't ask him that because of the soft blush on his cheeks. "Does it even matter?"

"It does." Her expression softened, giving him a small smile. "So? Is it a girl?"

"Okay. Yes, it's a girl." he snapped, ignoring the smirk on her face. "And we're just friends. Nothing more."

"It's... nice... that you have a friend to talk to. And not, you know, do the nasties with her on the first date."

"Oh my god, you disgust me with all the theatrics, Maxine." Billy chuckled humourlessly, walked up to her and ruffled her hair, making her groan and laugh at the same time. "Go hang out with your friends, brat. Make sure you're back by the time the others are here though, yeah?"

She nodded and with that, he walked out of the house. Max looked on as he drove off, smiling softly at the rare occurrence for them to joke around. She missed her brother. For a second she thought she lost him the second they drove into Hawkins.

Something told her this new friend of his had something to do with his sudden change in character.