𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅𝒔 • 𝑩𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 [2]

13•

I left the pool quicker than a bat out of hell and drove around for a while before pulling onto the side of the road. My head was a mess. I turned off the ignition and just sat in silence. My arms hurt and I could see them start to bruise from where Billy had grabbed me. I couldn't think straight. It was like my brain couldn't comprehend that he had actually hurt me.

I let out a loud sigh before starting up the engine and hitting the road again. I found myself driving towards Starcourt, and once I arrived I made a b line for Scoop's Ahoy.

I went over to a booth and dumped my bag before walking up the the counter. I was met with a pretty freckled faced girl, who was about my age.

"Hey, I'm Evie. Uh, is Steve here?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly.

"He sure is popular today," she mumbled with a smile, "I'll get him now."
She turned on her heel and entered the back room, a few moments later Steve came out.

"Hey Evie," Steve smiled as he came out, only for his face to fall once he looked at me, "hey what's wrong?" a frown was now evident on his features as he leant across the counter in front of me.

"It's messed up." I whispered as I lowered my head.

"Come on back here." He said after he glanced around the shop. I quickly made my way around the counter before following him into the back room. Once the door shut behind me I looked up and saw Dustin. I gave him a small smile as I sat across from him. The girl looked between the three of us before she walked back out the door to give us some privacy, Steve pulled a chair across so that he was now seated beside me.

"What happened?" he leant close to me and his voice was low.

I looked between him and Dustin before clearing my throat. I told them what happened with Billy and by the time I was finished, Steve's mouth was set in a hard line and he was staring daggers at my arms.

"Asshole," Dustin mumbled before glancing at me, "no offence."

I looked at Steve and to be honest, I'd never seen him look so angry. "Steve, say something."

"I'm gonna kill him." I almost laughed at his words but the seriousness in his tone made it clear that he was not joking.

"Steve-"

"No," Steve abruptly stood up, "I'm serious Evie, he's going to die."

"Steve I know you're angry and I know it sounds crazy but it wasn't him."

I stood up and watched as Steve pinched the brow of his nose. "Well who the fuck was it? Stop making excuses for him."

"I'm not making any fucking excuses, I'm serious!" I folded my arms over my chest and frowned. Steve let out a dramatic sigh before running his hand through his hair.

"You know what, just stay in here with Dustin. I've got work to do."

I slumped back into my chair as Steve practically stormed out of the back room. We'll that didn't go very fucking well. I glanced over at Dustin, who had a puzzled look on his face, and gave him a weak smile.

"Who was it then?" Dustin asked as he scratched his cheek.

"Oh don't you start-"

"No I'm serious," he cut me off, "If you really don't think it was Billy, although it does sound like him, no offence, I'm just curious as to who you think it was." I stared at Dustin with narrowed eyes for a few seconds before answering.

"I don't know, but it just really reminded me of last Halloween. You know, with the monsters and Will. It's crazy. " I just knew by the look on Dustin's face that I sounded absolutely insane. I mean, how could it be anything to do with that? We closed the gate. It was over.

"It's not crazy. I think there's something going on too," Dustin nodded as he fiddled with his walkie talkie, "I just hope we're all really paranoid and it's actually nothing."

Suddenly, before I could answer, Steve entered through the door. "Max and El are here, I think you should go with them."

"Oh." Was all I could say as I quickly waved goodbye to Dustin and followed Steve out the door.

"Hey girls." I smiled. They were both halfway into their ice creams and El had a small bit on her nose which almost made me laugh. I grabbed my stuff from it's place in the booth and came back over to Steve. "Listen Steve I-"

"Evie we'll talk about it later okay?" I could tell that he was still very much pissed off so I just nodded.

"Alright."