Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 41

"Are you crazy?" Mike says to us, raising his voice. "The Demodogs and Demogorgons are going to get out! And we're putting El in danger! She's already using enough power opening the gate, and now you guys want her to fight too?"
I look at Mike, a little shocked that he would yell at us, but happy he cared about El so much.
"Calm down." Billy says.
"We've already got that covered. All El would have to do is open the gate a tiny bit so we could climb in, then she'd shut it behind us."
"If anything happens to get out, Doctor Owens and his team will be there with guns." Joyce says, taking the words right out of my mouth.
"You guys want me to lock you in the UpsideDown?" El asks, concerned.
"It's the only way." I say in a reassuring voice.
She nods her head. "Okay."

I spent the rest of the day hanging out with El and the gang. It felt good being around them, once again.
"I think we better get going now." Billy says, looking over at me. Billy offered to let me stay with him over the couple of days that I'm in Hawkins.
"No!" El pleaded.
I smile at her. "I hate to admit it, but he's right."
She smiles back at us. "Okay, fine."
"Maxine are you coming with us or staying another night here?" Billy asks his sister.
She rolled her eyes. "It's Max. And yeah, I think I'm going to stay another night."
Billy nodded his head and stood up. "Let's go."

We arrived at Billy's house around ten minutes later.
"Home sweet home." Billy mumbles under his breath.
I smile at him and climb out of the car, making sure to grab my bags from the backseat.

"Hello, Billy. How was your day?" Susan asked as soon as we entered.
"It was fine." He replies, annoyed. Susan was one of the nicest people I've ever met but for some reason Billy couldn't stand her.
"That's good." She responds, looking at him. Behind Billy stood me.
"Kate!" She yelled, running over to me.
"Hey!" I reply as she hugs me.
"How are you?" She asks.
"I'm doing well." I reply as a shadow appears from the hallway. It was Neil, Billy's abusive father. As he passed us, he glared at Billy and smiled at me, showing two different sides of him.
She smiles, ignoring her husband's entrance. "That's good. I just made some chicken and mashed potatoes, do you guys want any?"
Billy shook his head before I could reply. "We're okay, thanks."
She smiles back, seeming a little hurt. "That's okay. Is Max coming home tonight?"
He shakes his head. "Nope." With that, he grabs my hand and drags me to his room.

"She's a really nice lady." I say, closing the door behind me.
Billy sits on his bed and rolls his eyes. "You say that everytime you speak to her."
I shrug my shoulders and smile. "It's true. Why don't you like her?"
He shrugs his shoulders. "I pity her because she can do much better than my father. She should just take Max and leave his ass."
I sit beside Billy on the bed as he continues talking. "Also, she reminds me of my mother, for some reason. And I really miss her, so I guess I turn into an asshole whenever I see her because I miss my mom. If that makes sense."
I now had my hand placed around his shoulders. "That makes total sense." He puts his head on my shoulder and stayed there for awhile, obviously overwhelmed of spilling his emotions all over the place.
"Anyways, enough of the emotional shit." He finally says, removing his head from my shoulder.
I look at him and smile, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "We have to be quiet." I say giggling.
He smiles back at me. "I'm not the loud one, remember?"

I awoke to the sun beaming through Billy's blinds. I blink a couple of times, trying to adjust to the lightning.
"Hey." Billy says. I can see he was laying down beside me, watching me.
"Were you watching me sleep?" I ask, giggling.
"Maybe. You look cute when you sleep."
I smile. "Thanks, weirdo."
Billy grabbed one of his pillows and decided to hit me with it. "Weirdo? That's a new one." He says as he continued to playfully hit me with pillows.
"Oh it's on, Hargrove!" I reply giggling. I grab a pillow and smack him right in the face.
"Woah there! Watch the moneymaker!"
I smile and stand up, to get a better angle. I look him in the eyes, then hit him in the face again.
He begins to laugh. "You're going to regret that!" He now stood up, towering over me.
I look at him a little afraid of what he was going to do. Not surprisingly, he hits me in the chest with the pillow, causing me to loose balance.
I expect to land on the floor with a thud but instead I landed on top of Billy. Billy obviously realized I lost my footing, so he came to the rescue and became my cushion.
I begin to laugh hysterically, pushing myself off of him.
"What's so funny?" Billy asks, concerned and worried.
"That was fun!" I reply, causing him to chuckle.

Today, I persuaded Billy to come to the arcade with me to see Steve and Robin. I know the two boys have their problems, but I honestly didn't really care that much. They could get over themselves and suck it up for me.

"Harrington!" I yell as I entered the arcade.
"Kate! You're back!" His mood drastically changes as soon as he see's Billy.
"I am."
"How have you been?" He asks politely.
I shrug my shoulders. "Fine. It's been a crazy week."
"Oh yeah?" Steve asks, leaning on the counter. "What happened?"
I sigh. "Well my father is stuck in the UpsideDown."
"What?!" He asks, confused.
So, I go on and tell him the whole story about communicating with my father through lights.

He sighs. "Wow, that is pretty crazy."
I nod my head. "I know."
"But I think I've had a crazier week."
I look at him. "Oh yeah? What happened?"
He smiles. "I finally got a girls number!"
I look at him and smile back. That was pretty crazy. "You win." I finally say.
Billy quietly scoffs under his breath. He was probably thinking something along the lines of 'I can get any girl whenever I like.'
"Hey Kate." A voice from behind me says, startling me.