Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 51

After dinner, Billy went home and I decided to go over to Nancy's for the night.

"Kate! Long time no see!" Nancy's mother, Karen, says to me as soon as we arrive back at her place.
"Yeah, good to see you." I respond as Nancy pulls me up the stairs.
"How's El been? I haven't seen her in awhile?" Karen asks me.
Nancy sighs, clearly annoyed with her mother.
"She's doing good."
"She's such a nice girl." Karen mumbled to herself as we run up the stairs.

"She really likes El." Nancy says to me as I collapse on her bed.
"Yeah. I know El is very fond of her, too."
Randomly, Nancy changes the subject. "Have you talked to Steve recently?"
"Yeah I spoke to him just the other day. Have you?"
She shakes her head. "No, but I miss him."
My eyes go wide. "What about Johnathan? He'd be broken if you left him for your ex."
She continues to shake her head. "No, no. Not like that. I just miss him being around."
"Oh okay. That makes sense."
"I also miss Barb." She says.
I nod my head. "Me too." The three of us were all best friends, but Nancy and Barb we're extremely close.
"If maybe I didn't go inside with Steve, she'd still be here!" Nancy says, raising her voice quite a bit.
"Nancy." I say quietly. "You can't blame yourself for this." I didn't attend Steve's party at the time because my dad wouldn't let me stay out for the night.
"We should've invited her inside. She could've watched tv or hung out in the kitchen. But no. Instead we leave her outside in the dark with freaking Demogorgans running around." She replies.
"Nance. It's not your fault."
She nods her head, finally snapping back into it. "I know." She quietly responds.

The next morning I awoke to Nancy blasting music. She was playing our song, Call Me by Blondie.
"What are you doing?!" I say while laughing. I looked up to see Nancy dancing to the song.
"I'm having fun!" She replies.
I roll over and look at the alarm clock. "At nine in the morning?"
She nods her head and lays down beside me. "Yeah! Today we're going to have a girls day without any boys in sight."                                  
This is exactly what I needed. Everything Steve said about Billy was stressing me out and making me rethink everything. "That sounds really good actually."
"Exactly. So hurry up and get dressed."

I changed into a pair of jeans, a tank top and I threw on one of Billy's old leather jackets I stole from him.
"Looking hot." Nancy says as soon as I emerge from the bathroom.
I smile. "Thanks! I love your pants." I say as we head down the stairs.
"Mom! We're going out." Nancy calls out to her mother.
"Okay! Have fun ladies!" She responds from the kitchen.
Nancy grabs the keys from the table by the door and we head outside. It was a chilly fall day, so I'm glad I brought Billy's jacket with me.

"So what are we going to do today?"
"I was thinking we'd go and get breakfast and then maybe we could go shopping." Nance says.
"I haven't been to the mall since it reopened."
"I haven't either. I know you have bad memories there, so if you want we can go somewhere else."
I shake my head. "No, it's all good."
"You sure?"
I look at her and smile. "Yeah, I'm sure."
"Alright! Let's go get some food."

We went to a small breakfast restaurant right downtown. We both had waffles and some fresh fruit. We talked about college and all the things that have happened so far.

After we were done, we drove to the mall.
"This is strange." I say as I look out at the big Starcourt Mall sign.
"I know. I never thought they were going to fix this place up."
I take a deep breath and start walking to the front doors.

We entered at the food court entrance and immediately I was overwhelmed by all of the bad memories. I couldn't help but think about the time I was lifted into the air by the Mindflayer and how Billy risked his life to save mine.
"Where do you want to go first?" Nancy says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

An hour later, we were walking around the mall with multiple bags in our hands when a familiar face catches my eye. It was Alek, the strange Russian man who confronted me at the party the other night.
Almost immediately we make eye-contact.
"Shit!" I whisper to Nancy.
"What is it?"
"Walk faster." I say as he continues to watch me from across the mall.
"What's going on? Is it James?" She asked worriedly.
I shake my head. "No. The other night a strange Russian man came up to me and he knows who I am."
"Russian?"
I nod my head. "Yeah Russian. I have a feeling something bad might happen."
"I hope not." She replies.

We book it into a small clothing shop, in an attempt to get away from Alek.
"We'll stay here for about five minutes. He should be gone by then." Nance tells me.
I nod my head. "Okay."

Five minutes later, we exited the store. Thankfully, he was nowhere in sight.
"Oh thank God!" I say, letting out a big sigh of relief.
"Do you think he's following you?" She asks me.
I shrug my shoulders. "I don't know. But the last thing he said to me was: we'll see you soon."
Nancy looks at me. "That's really weird. Have you told your dad about it?"
"I started to last night at dinner."
Nancy shivers. "I think you have a stalker."

A little while later we exited the mall and walked out to Nancy's car, which was parked in the parking lot with everybody else's cars.
"Aw man!" She cries out.
"What's the matter?" I ask.
"I got a ticket! See?" She points to the windshield and sure enough there is a piece of paper facing downwards.
I go up and grab it. "Nance, this isn't a ticket."
"Well what is it?"
I hand her the piece of paper and her jaw drops.