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hargrove-mayfields · 3 years

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Day one of the Horror on Cherry Lane Challenge! I’ll be participating this month as a writer! The prompt for today is Knife!

warnings for mentions of suicidal ideation and attempts, death, child abuse, and blood.

Billy met Steve in the psych ward.

Well, they met officially at Tina’s party, but that wasn’t the real Steve. That was the King Steve. Deeper than that though, even the Steve Harrington everyone else saw even after the breakup and the fall from grace still wasn’t the real thing.

That was fake smiles, overdone nonchalance to cover up the wound from his fallen status. Now he was stripped down to himself, all bloody bandages and tired eyes, the boy he was pretending to be finally broken down to reveal this.

Apparently, Ruthie Harrington found her son with his grandfather's switchblade- all the other objects in the house sharper than a spoon and with less sentimental value had already been tossed -bleeding all over her freshly polished linoleum floors. She dropped him off at the hospital a night ago and nobody’s been by to see him since.

Now, it’s by pure coincidence that Billy’s already in on the same day Steve’s admitted.

He’s been locked up the past three days compared to Steve’s one. These small town hicks are jumpier (ha) than he thought, and don’t think doing the walk and turn test on the edge of the quarry after downing a bottle and a half of fireball is as funny as he does. Whatever. Cid would’ve thought that was badass as hell.

So he was admitted, on suicide watch for a stupid joke that wasn’t really worth it, or even really a joke. Max came to visit once. She punched him in the chest as hard as she could and cursed him out for an hour. She’d never done that before. By the time she left they were both in tears, and maybe Billy realized a thing or too about his carelessness. Realized for the first time that someone cared.

But he’s still in here for another week and a half by law, so. He’s not going to mope about it. And while Steve Harrington showing up is about the last thing he’s expecting, he decides that’s at least something he can work with. Definitely brings a little life to the place.

He waits until Steve’s intense watch period is over to bug him, once they’re out of their cramped little rooms for a couple of hours to “socialize” (see, the more sound of mind keep an eye on the other patients while the nurses take their smoke breaks) Billy goes straight to Steve. Him and Harrington are far from friends, but that’s pretty much irrelevant when the only other choices for company are kids younger than them too scared to approach them and people too deep in their midlife crises to bother with teenage drama.

Throwing himself down in the blue plastic chair across from where Steve settled in, Billy kicks his feet up on the table,, “What’s up Harrington? Didn’t expect to see a familiar face in here.”

But Steve, poor Steve, takes one look at Billy with those haunted brown eyes, and his face just falls completely apart. There are tears on his way too pale cheeks before Billy even has a chance to breathe.

The smile drops off of Billy’s face, “Jesus Harrington, I know m’not looking my best surviving on hospital food and cigarettes without a hairbrush, but that’s a little unwarranted.”

“Shut up. Not everything’s about you, Hargrove.”

“Oh I disagree with that. But I get the point. I’ll let ya be.” Billy hums, scooting his chair back and getting up. He stops when Steve starts to speak, “Y-You outta be careful saying that kinda stuff in here.”

“What?”

“That the world revolves around you. They’ll come up with a diagnosis for that and keep you here forever. Drug you ‘til you forget your own name, let alone your status.” Steve tells him with humor, wiping the tears off his face.

Billy nods in understanding, sits back down with an interested smirk, “This ain’t your first time here, is it?”

“Is it yours?”

“Nah. I’ve done some shit on purpose, some on accident. Once it wasn’t even me. But s’never done anything to help so far.”

Steve puffs out a sigh, “Don’t I know it.. I’ve been in and outta this place since I was like, ten. Clearly nothing’s changed.”

“Why? What’s your dirty little secret, Harrington?”

“I cut myself, dumbass.” He deadpans, looking at Billy with a bluntness in his expression that reads more concerning, more like indifference to what he just said than matter-of-fact.

“No shit. But that ain’t the secret.” Billy probes further, can tell he’s getting under that mask Steve wears, “Why do you do it?”

“Legally, I can't tell you. And I don’t think I would anyways.”

“What about if I tell you all about me first? I got no reservations ‘cept the one that got me a bed here.”

“It’s not a hotel, Hargrove.”

“Eh, might as well be. Feels like the damn hotel California.”

“Is that why?”

“Huh? Oh no, I been pullin’ stunts like this long before we left Cali.”

“Like what?”

“Like downing two full bottles of my mother’s meds after she left. Not at the same time obviously, or I wouldn’t be here. Mostly ‘cause my dad didn’t even wanna take me to the hospital either time.” Billy doesn’t look at Steve while he elaborates. Not because he cares, he’s an open book, if a random old woman at the grocery store asked about his last attempt, he’d tell her.

But. He doesn’t like watching people’s faces. Seeing sympathy and concern there. It makes him feel all stupid and guilty. It’s usually not like that with other kids like him, but Steve’s different. He’s got a big heart. Even if there’s no room for himself.

And Billy hurt Steve before. He doesn’t want to see someone he caused pain caring so much about him. He already cracked when Max came to see him. This could be what splits him open, spills out all the things he’s covered up.

So he keeps going, “And like runnin’ out in front of traffic with my friends. They thought we were just playin’ chicken ‘til I stopped dead in front of a station wagon. Metal rims’d done me in for sure if one ‘a the older boys hadn’t pulled me outta the way. Damn near ripped my shirt in half how fast he grabbed me.”

“I’m guessing your parents are the reason why then?”

“Yessir.” Billy deflects, not good at getting deeper into it, “You wanna tell me yours then?”

“I started cutting because Tommy Hagan told me about it. He thought it was freaky, but when he ran his mouth about how they found the neighbor kid in his room, drained of all his blood from his wrists, I wanted to try it. I’ve tried liquor and drugs and all kinds ‘a shit I shouldn’t, but nothin’ stuck like cutting.” Steve pauses for a long time, his eyes going blank, staring right past Billy, “When my mom found out she.. she.. Forget it.”

“Hey, you seen my skeletons. Can’t I see yours?”

“No. I don’t wanna fucking talk about it anymore.” Steve answers, despite his assuredness, his tone wobbling with some unidentifiable emotion.

Talk about mood swings. Billy doesn’t get how nobody would’ve noticed something was up before Steve started carving into himself. Really, he knows someone would have seen it and just ignored it.

It only gets worse though, the reservedness turning to sadness and frustration. None of the words are coming out, but he can tell Steve’s thinking of the stories, reliving all that got him to the here and now. Billy can also tell there’s nothing he can do no to stop him from doomsdaying.

So when Steve is inevitably in the thralls of a panic attack, he tries to hug him tight, to try to get it to stop maybe, that always worked for him at least, but Steve swats him away. Judging from the way he winces, it’s not easy for him to do either, with those thick ass bandages constricting his wrists, but the tears and the pain on his face are buried behind his resolution.

He’s hiding something from Billy.

In hindsight, talking to a new patient about past attempts probably wasn’t his brightest idea anyways, so he switches the subject while Steve works on coming down from his panic attack. He brings up Max and her little nerds, trying to bridge the healthier connections between him and Steve that they’d both been ignoring since the fight. He mentions basketball too, another something they have in common other than trying to kill themselves.

It doesn’t really work, though Steve does stop shaking as bad, just curling up in his little chair and sniffling, pretending not to listen while Billy rambles on and on. But he doesn’t talk. It’s probably better for him not to anyway. Billy himself has been known to say some dumb shit when he’s in distress.

Ultimately, even once the conversation runs out, he stays with Steve until dark. He can tell from the way his gaze sticks to the floor that Steve recovered from his fit a while ago, but he’s embarrassed by having a breakdown in front of him, as if he isn’t in here for the same reason. It helps that he gets it though, and they sit in a comfortable, albeit very prolonged, silence.

Long after Steve gets xanned up and knocked out though, while Billy is still free to wander until the midnight curfew as a low risk patient, he decides to stick with him in his room. Billy’ll never admit it, but he gets nightmares, and he doesn’t want to face that just yet, so with a new friend as an excuse, he’s up half the night watching Steve sleep.

He remembers what happened earlier, how focused Steve was on keeping him away from him, despite his panic, and decides, with a glance at how deeply Steve is sleeping, his greasy hair all strewn about on stiff pillows, that he’s going to figure out what it was.

He snoops around in his bedside drawers, in the bathroom, in the locker in the corner. It’s there he notices the knitted jacket Steve was wearing before, hanging heavy to one side, like there’s something in its pocket. He touches it and feels the outline of something small, so he pulls it out.

He regrets checking though, because it’s a knife. Judging from the old looking engravings on its handle, and the coppery stains within the grooves, it’s specifically the very same one that got Steve hospitalized.

He shoves it in his own back pocket and keeps looking, with a quick glance at Steve, finding a note tucked where the knife had been. Written in perfect scrawl on bond paper that’s been folded a dozen times and stained with tears,

“Do it right next time, why don’t you? Your mother is too soft on you. I’m not paying for this again.

- J.Harrington.”

Billy doesn’t know what to do but throw the note in the trash. Not really in shock, but definitely more than a little fucked up from reading that, he sits on the end of Steve’s bed. His own dad, who'd more than once been the one putting him in the hospital, had never even said anything like that to him.

He didn’t get to talk to Steve much today, but they’ve got as long as Billy’s stuck in here together to fix that. Longer if he just pulls something in front of a nurse. And he wants to, really really wants to.

Because he knows he just met the real Steve, can recognize another broken boy when he sees one, and he knows too, that he never wants to meet a pretty boy like this again.

And if that’s his declaration to get clean, then so fucking be it.

But. He never promised not to hurt anyone. Ultimately he’d still need that outlet.

He keeps the knife. To make sure his pretty boy doesn’t get hurt again.

#CherryLaneChallenge #harringrove #billy hargrove #steve harrington #ej writer #story by ej!#tw self harm #tw attempted suicide #tw blood #happy October!#I’m so excited!#I’m gonna try to do all of this but I’m real busy coming up!#im not sure what vibe I’m goin got in this challenge #but I think it’s mostly haunting?#not scary but like that oh moment y’know

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misha-moose-dean-burger-lover · 4 years

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Jack misunderstands what Valentine's Day is for and gets gifts for all 3 of his dads

Cas, Sam and Dean wait for Jack in the kitchen, sitting around the kitchen table. He's summoned them here, but now he's nowhere to be seen.

"What do you guys think this is about?" Sam wonders out loud, taking a sip from his beer.

"I only hope this isn't about Billie." Cas answers, gravely. "I don't want her to ask him to do any more than he already is." Sam nods, sympathizing.

"I was thinking more of a forced birds-and-bees talk." Dean muses, and the other two turn to give him a coordinated look of judgement. "What? It's happened before."

"Perfect." Sam glares at him. "Now that's all any of us are going to able to think about, when he comes in."

"S'not my fault," Dean shrugs. Cas just stays frozen, possibly horrified.

And then, Jack does come in. He carries in his arms, three large wrapped bundles. One of them looks like a box, the other two are definitely shapeless under the pink-hearts wrapping paper.

"Hello." He waves, putting the three things on the counter, and turning around to face them.

"Where the hell did you get wrapping paper?" Is Dean's first question, which is a little suspicion-provoking, but Sam and Cas are too occupied right now.

"What's this?" Cas asks, serious.

"Well." Jack beams at them, spreading his arms. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

There's a pause.

"Valentine's -" Sam repeats, incredulously. That's just ridiculous. Why would Jack buy them gifts for Valentine's? In all seriousness, he's like their son.

"Valentine's isn't for us, Jack." Cas blinks.

"Of course it is." Jack sounds like he believes the rest of them are trying to be funny. "I'd like you all to know that I love you!" He adds, as if it's the correct way to go about it.

"We love you too," Dean waves his hand in the air, dismissively. "But that kinda love isn't grounds for Valentine's gifts!"

"It -" Jack falters. "It isn't?"

Sam shakes his head. "Why did you think it was?"

"I'd gone shopping for, uh, Dean - and Megan at the cashcounter told me Valentine's day was when we told the people we loved, that we love them." Jack explains, earnestly. "And that made sense to me, so I thought of -"

"Oh, Jack." Castiel sighs, but it's a happy one, and then he's getting up and walking to his son, and Jack hugs him himself. "That's very sweet of you."

"It is," Dean agrees. "But this day's for the romantic kind of love, okay? It's for couples, and to be fair, highschool couples."

Sam gives him a look.

"What?" Dean snaps at him.

"As if you don't celebrate it every year." Sam rolls his eyes, unaffected by Dean's comment.

"I don't!" Dean recoils, probably over-defensive.

"Yeah, yeah. Tell that to someone who hasn't lived with you all their life." Sam frowns, turning back to Jack. "In fact, you know what, Jack? Let's do this. I'm going to show you how people actually celebrate this day."

"Sam, I don't think I want Jack going on a date -" Cas immediately begins, and Sam cuts him off.

"Of course not. He's hardly three, Cas. But I think he's old enough to witness you two celebrating Valentine's." Sam adds, smug, eyes shifting between Dean and Cas.

Dean instantly starts to blush. "W-what? That's fucking ridiculous. I -"

"I agree." Cas says, slowly, and Dean stops mid-sentence.

"You agree?" He turns to Cas.

As simple as that, Cas nods. "Jack should know, Dean. And obviously, Sam already knows."

"What should I know?" Jack pipes up, but Dean ignores him.

"It wasn't obvious until one frigging minute ago -" He says, starting to get agitated.

"It was always obvious." Sam says quietly, and Dean scoffs at him, for lack of a better response.

"Dean." Cas begins, in a more soft voice. "I'd like to give you your gift here. In front of our family. If you don't want to, it's okay -"

"Like hell I don't want to," Dean swears, scrubbing his face with his hand. Castiel's pleasantly surprised, and Sam does a double take. "I want to get this out with too, Cas. I've been thinking about it a lot."

Sam looks like he's about to choke on air.

"It's just -" Dean goes on, sheepishly. "If I'd had known this gift-giving was going to be - uh, in front of Sammy and the kid this time, I would've gotten you something else."

Cas melts into a smile.

Sam snorts, with the most exaggerated eyeroll yet. "Jerk, I swear if you're still doing those free-foot-massage-coupons thingy, I'm going to -"

"It's not a fucking massage, okay?" Dean throws back, reddening in the face, and then Sam stares at him for a moment, and then he looks at Cas - and the pink in his cheeks, as he smiles, and then it clicks in his head.

"Wow. Shit." He breathes out, inaudible. "I thought I was ready, I really did - but I'm really not. Whoa."

He looks like he might throw up this time, and somehow, that alleviates some of Dean's panic.

"What is it?" Jack enquires, innocently. "I don't think I get it."

"I'm glad you don't." Dean tells him, meaning it. "Cas?" He turns to his angel.

"I get it." Cas informs him, almost smirking.

"I know you do, asshole." It's Dean's turn to roll his eyes. "I just meant. Do you still want to give me your present in front of Jack? And, uh, Sam, if he stops looking like he's about to puke."

Cas smiles serenely at him, taking his hand in his. Jack starts to beam at that, his smile lighting up his face. Even Sam looks up, not wanting to miss it.

"I do."

Cas gives Dean his gift only after Jack returns from having excused himself to put the gifts away. (He'd declared that the three of them would only get to open them on Father's day, now. None of them had put up much of an objection.)

Cas's gift is a pendant. It's just a little bit like the amulet - only enough to remind the three of them of it, and it's apparently made of enochian verses alone - all condensed together, intricate poetry, to form a pale blue stone.

Dean doesn't even question it. If Cas can be a wavelength, then poetry can become stone. And Cas's eyes promise Dean that they'll read that poetry later.

Dean loves the sound of that.

And to top it all off, the stone's the shape of a rectangle, and bears a resemblance to the mixtape. Dean holds it in his hand, feeling all the profound meanings of his gift wash through him, while the three of them look on, Cas from right beside.

Once he puts it on, Dean pulls Cas in with a hand cupping his face, and kisses him gently.

This time, both Sam and Jack smile until their faces hurt.

#destiel #destiel fluff #jack kline #sam winchester #sam and dean #dean/castiel #dean winchester #deannd cas #castiel #destiel kiss #destiel undertones #fanfiction fluff destiel #supernatural s15 #destiel speculation #sam knows #sam ships it #valentines day

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screensirenfic · 4 years

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Menthol Cigarettes - Chapter 23

Paranoid was not a word anyone would use to describe me under normal circumstances.

I was vigilant, perceptive; maybe a little trigger happy, but never paranoid.

But all through the night; I donned my tin foil hat to theorise from the dumb but reasonable, to the just plain batshit crazy on reasons why Billy hadn’t come last night, and why he’d hang up on me in such a hurry.

Maybe he was sick and suffering with some sort of fever that didn’t have him thinking straight?

It would explain the tiredness and the ill temper, but not why he’d get all dressed up to come out in the first place rather than just cancelling like a sane person.

He could’ve been abducted by aliens.

With all the shit I’d seen in Hawkins, aliens really weren’t that much of a stretch, and they say you can lose track of entire fucking weeks on the TV shows.

Still; this wasn’t Close Encounters Of A Third Kind, and I wasn’t quite ready to be carted off into the looney bin just yet.

The obvious one was cheating.

I mean; why else would Billy get all dressed up unless he was going to meet another girl.

It would explain why he didn’t want to talk to me on the phone.

Guilt did funny things to people, and I always got the feeling that Billy hardly ever felt guilty about anything.

Still; I didn’t want to believe it.

Me and Billy were happy.

We were happy and we loved each other and we were going to move to California together.

He wouldn’t do that to me; not when we already had our future laid out in front of us.

But it did little to settle that uneasy feeling in my stomach that told me something terrible had happened last night; something Billy might never tell me.

I could hear her through the thin cabin walls.

Quiet, muffled; almost drowned out by the murmur of Age Of Consent on her radio.

I gave her the tape only last week; a gift from me and Jonathan’s regular tape exchanges. This one was taped off the radio, but it was fair; just another opportunity to expand my “musical horizons”, as he said it.

It was good music to mope too; something El was making extensive use of judging by the soft sobbing rising over the quieter parts of the song.

My guess was there was trouble in paradise in the form; or really, more absence of a form of one Micheal Wheeler.

The boy was usually here before my dad’s coffee cooled in its jug; so his apparent tardiness told me something had gone wrong there.

Well; that, and the fact that the kid hadn’t stopped listening to depressing New Wave for the past hour.

Still; I could sympathise. Relationships were complicated, and boys were fucking idiots when it came to doing the right thing.

El should really just learn when to read them out about it; but she was fourteen, and I really couldn’t expect her to know that yet.

Instead; I took my own initiative and decided to show a little solidarity with my sister in suffering, emerging from my own fortress of solitude to make the trek across the cabin to her door.

“And I'm not the kind that likes to tell you

Just what you want me to”

The music was louder from here; practically blasting in an attempt to drown out the sounds of sorrow with something of more substance.

I lifted my fist up to the door, ready to respect the rules of boundaries and knock, but then changed my mind; deciding that boundaries were best observed outside the pitfalls of teenage romance.

Instead, I just pushed it open, revealing my apt hunch that El would be spread out on her carpet, staring at the ceiling and wallowing in the self-pity of British New Wave, whilst pondering where along the evolutionary scale did the male species become so absolutely clueless and infuriating.

I leaned against the doorframe; the smallest of bittersweet smiles peaking at the corners of my lips, because I could see a lot of myself in the kid.

The same surly look of despondence; the same stiff defensive posture, as if just waiting for the criticism over why she had no right to be so miserable.

Self-pity often turned to self-hate in the Hopper household, and that self-hate could quite quickly be reflected upon anything in the immediate vicinity; often leading to a series of intense arguments that could easily be avoided by some simple communication and a relinquishment of the emotional constipation we kept pent up on as a point of precedence.

Surprisingly; the kid was taking everything quite well, all things considered. No hoarse screams for me to get out of her room, or objects being thrown across the room as makeshift projectiles.

Instead, she just looked over at me; her teary eyes pleading, hopeful even, as if she was just waiting for me to offer some well needed words of comfort.

“Mike stood you up too?” I asked; already knowing the answer to the question long before I opened her bedroom door.

She just nodded; unable to hold back a pitiful sniff as she tried to keep a fresh wave of tears at bay.

“Boys are assholes.” I offered; knowing that the statement, no matter how true, did little to abet that gnawing feeling in her heart that something was wrong.

I gnawed my lip, trying to think up the right words to say; what I’d like to hear myself.

I was shit at this sympathy stuff; unable to even console her when I was probably having the exact same thoughts; the same self-doubts.

Instead; I offered her the only thing I truly knew that worked in times when you’d be willing to feel anything but present;

Distraction.

“Come on; let’s get out of here…” I said, pushing myself up from the doorframe and beckoning her out of the bedroom.

“Wait? What?!” Eleven replied; misery momentarily being replaced by confusion as she pushed herself up onto her feet, following me as I pulled on my leather jacket and snatched up my keys.

“We’re getting out of here.” I told her, already opening up the front door before she had a chance to argue.

It might not’ve been the healthiest solution; but my god, if it wasn’t effective.

“Wait! Where are we going?!” She called after me, pulling on her jacket and shoes as she followed my out onto the porch, trying to keep up as I quickly made my way over to my bike.

I didn’t answer, already mounting up and buckling on my helmet whilst a slightly concerned Eleven hopped on one foot, pulling on a worn Converse sneaker.

Once my helmet was secure, I snatched up my spare, chucking it at the kid so she had no choice but to catch it.

“You happy riding on the back?” I asked; putting my keys in the ignition as she stared at me slack jawed.

The kid had never been on a motorcycle before; had never been allowed, despite a clear desire to do so. Dad always thought it was too dangerous. He didn’t even like me riding one, so why would he let a fourteen year old on the back of one?!

Still, there was something pretty exhilarating about defying your parents; something that must’ve been universal judging by the bright smile that had begun to spread across El’s face.

The kid shoved on the helmet and pulled it tight, wasting no time to climb onto the back and cling to my leather jacket; the tight grip of her fingers a dead giveaway that she may have been a little bit nervous about the experience.

“You ready to go?” I asked her, noting how her fingers began to settle on my waist, mirroring how she’d seen her friends hold on on the many occasions I’d driven them home.

“Okay. Just take it eas-“

ROOAAARRR!

She didn’t get a chance to finish; me already kicking my bike into gear so it roared like a hungry beast.

The bike sped off at a hurtling speed; the kid’s fingers gripping vice-tight on the leather of my jacket, as if she feared she’d fall off at any minute.

Maybe I should’ve eased her into it. Started slower and got her used to speeding virtually unprotected through the woods, but sometimes the adrenaline rush was just what was needed.

I could feel the wind whipping against my face; the taste of summer ripe in the air; and for a moment, I felt the world slip away.

Everything was simpler like this.

Better; even.

Just me, my bike, and the open road ahead of me.

And I guess El now.

I could feel her grip loosening; arms relaxing into a light hold around my waist, head leaning against the back of my shoulder blades as she began to let her tension slip away.

You couldn’t always hold on to everything all the time.

Sometimes you just had to accept that you weren’t in control and let go and enjoy the ride.

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hello-justawriterofthings · 5 years

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Someone who Loves You ( Without Me Part 2 ) - Billy Hargrove

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Hey guys, We’re finally here! this is part 2 to Without me. It's not really based off the song this time. I was excited to write this, I just want to Thank everyone for the Amazing support I got on the first part, I appreciate it so much. I hope everyone enjoys <3 { Warnings - Language and angst. I make a lot of Freddy Krueger puns, so bare with me }

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I let out an aggravated huff as I walked up the Wheelers sidewalk on the Chilly October night, the Door opened and I was Greeted by a Smiling Karen, who quickly pulled me into a hug. " Nancy ans Steve are upstairs, still putting their costumes together. You know them, they wait until last minute and throw things together. Yours looks great by the way! " she stated motioning to my costume, if Freddy Krueger were a female, that'd be me. I wanted to go as something, unexpected. Not like the rest of our girls in school and I also wanted something that would hide my face somewhat, since I was avoiding Billy. I left classes early so I wouldn't run into him in the hallway, I ended up at classes 15 minutes early, I ate lunch in the office, after volunteering to be an office aid. I might hve been taking this to an extreme, but I already hurt from being used, I didn't want to feel the whole heartbreak. So, when Nancy guilt tripped me into going to this stupid Halloween party, I knew to expect Billy and his crew to be there. " Knock knock, Better Stay up late, because you're never gonna sleep again! " I chuckled as I entered Nancy's room, Steve rolled his eyes " How long were you rehearsing that one? ". I smirked " Long enough, can you tell that it's me under the makeup? ", Steve and Nancy both nodded. " Shit " I sighed while sitting on her bed, Nancy smiled " It's a great costume though Y/N, besides I doubt he'll even know your there, he's going to be wasted ". " No, he'll know. Yesterday he punched Tommy in the face when he made a nasty comment about you Y/N. Trust me, Billy has it bad " Steve then stated with a slight chuckle, " He only has it bad because I took away the only thing he wanted, the first girl to deny the great Billy Hargrove... Besides, I heard he was out with Jessica or Heather, or whoever he was with last week " I stated seriously while rolling my eyes. " He was not, those girls love making shit up! I don't think he's been out with anyone since you started ignoring him " Nancy exclaimed, " When did you you become Pro Billy? " I asked her with a brow raised. " I'm not, but when you were hanging out with you, you seemed happy. Happier then what you are now, you barely go out anymore because you're avoiding him. I miss you sometimes, it's different, you're different " she stated with a sigh, I didn't reply, but I did stand up and give her a hug, avoiding smudging my makeup I worked 3 hours to get right. Letting her know I was always here, she still had me as a friend.

Once we reached Tina's house, we all got out of Steve's car and made our way towards the party. " Is Jonathan coming? " I asked Nancy since she and him seemed to be be spending more time together recently, she shrugged " He was taking Will trick or Treating, I tried to talk him into it, but I don't know if my tactics worked ". I nodded while letting out a sigh, " Wow, great costumes guys! Thanks for Coming, Wooh!!! " Tina shouted over the music, already drunk. The three of us smiled awkwardly but headed towards the kitchen, I wasn't much of a drinker, but I needed an escape ( But still needed to stay level headed, because if I got too out of control, I end up in bed with Billy again ). When we reached the kitchen, I grabbed a plastic cup with people were calling ' Pure Fule '. " What are you supposed to be Y/N, a fashion victim " Carol stated with a smirk, but also rolled her eyes at the same time. Rebecca chuckled behind her, even though it wasn't funny at all. " I see you two decided not to wear a costumes, just the same old masks you were everyday. Slutty as always " I stated with a smile, walking further into the kitchen as Nancy and Steve decided to dance. " 1, 2 Freddy's coming for you! " I heard Billy shout loudly, " No No, Freddy's not coming for you anymore! " I sighed shaking my head as I quickly found an escape route, turning many corners to get away from him. When I managed to do so, I ended up running into someone else. " Woah, slow down Freddy " The guy chuckled, I sighed deeply " I'm so sorry... ". I looked at the guy, realizing it was Chad from art class. He chuckled " It's okay Y/N, great costume by the way. Make a statement, just because Freddy is a guy, doesn't mean a girl can't dress up like him for Halloween!... How have you been? ", I smiled " Thanks, I've been good, just dodging this guy ". " Hargrove? " he asked, I nodded letting out a deep sigh. " Well, I wish you luck with that then " Chad stated , I looked at him confused. An arm slung around my shoulder, " Buzz off Chad, she's mine! " Billy slurred. Chad held his arms up in defense with a smirk on his face, I pushed Billy's arm off me " I'm not yours, now leave me alone or I'm going to haunt you in your dreams! "{ End of the Freddy Krueger puns, promise }. I then walked away from him once more, not hearing him whisper behind me " You already haunt them ". I ended up leaving the party after that, unaware of what happened after that. I walked to the bus station and caught the closest bus that would end up close to my house. I sighed deeply, receiving weird looks from the other people in the station, I ignored it though. Once I got home, I sighed deeply. My dad wasn't home, thankfully he had left on a business trip that lasted until Tuesday. I went into the bathroom, stripped out of my clothes, jumped into the shower. Scrubbed off the three hours of work I had put into my makeup, the got into my pajama's and then climbed into bed, Good Fucking Night Halloween.

Since Halloween fell on a Friday, I got to lounge around all weekend at home and I planned on keeping it that way. Halfway through the day, around 4pm. There was a knock on the front door, making me groan deeply. I got up and answered it, Nancy rushed her way in while looking frazzled. " What happened to you last night, I thought you left with Hargrove! " she exclaimed quite dramatically, I rolled my eyes " You thought wrong, he was bugging me and I didn't want to deal with it ". " It;s just that, he left soon after I noticed that you were gone and I can't remember anything that happened after that. Steve won't answer my calls, I was worried about you, I was freaked out this morning " she then stated, making me nod " Billy's an idiot, he had so much to drink last night, he was drunk out of his mind. You know I'm not that stupid to get in a car with someone who's drunk, whether I love him or not! ". Nancy's eyes went wide " You love him, why didn't you tell me before ! ", I groaned deeply " Because I'm trying not love love him anymore, that's why I've been avoiding him ". " " Oh my gosh, your first love! " Nancy smiled widely, causing me to roll my eyes and groan " Okay, I think visiting hours are over ". " Y/N " Nancy sighed deeply, " No Nance, I'm trying to get over it okay. I'm going to move on and one day fnd someone who'll treat me better. No one ever ends up with who they date in high school anyway " I muttered loud enough for her to hear. She sighed once more while awkwardly nodded " Fine, I'll drop the subject. Can I stay and hangout with you for a while? ", I nodded " Okay, you can stay, but no more mention of my love life or I'm kicking you out ". She chuckled slightly, but she knew I wasn't joking.

Nancy ended up staying a few hours, we baked cookies, watched a dramatic movie and did little bit of homework. By the time she left it was almost dinner time, so I warmed up leftover pizza and made myself comfortable on the couch. That is until 10 minutes later, I heard a loud bang come from upstairs. I furrowed my brows, grabbed the closest objects to me, which happened to be my math book, then made my way upstairs. Checking all the rooms, until I landed on my own bedroom. I let out a deep sigh, then pushed open the door, only to see Billy laying on the floor groaning. " What the hell are you doing? " I asked tossing my matchbook onto my desk and placing my hands on my hips, " I wanted to talk, why did you move your furniture around, I expected to lad on your bed like I used too " he groaned while rubbing his knees. " Maybe you should've used the front door " I stated, he groaned once while getting to his feet " You wouldn't have answered and I saw that your window was open and took the chance ". " Your right, I wouldn't have answered. Because, when you avoid someone that's what you do " I stated walking out of my room and back downstairs, back to my pizza. Billy followed my of course. I sighed deeply while sitting back on the couch, " Y/n, are you going to avoid me forever? " he questioned sitting on the arm of the couch. " That's the plan " I stated with a smile, focusing back on the TV. Billy let out a deep huff, then grabbed the remote from my hand, switching off the television. " Billy, give it back! " I yelled, making him shake his head no. " Billy! " I exclaimed grabbing for it, making him stick it in his pants. " Go for it now " he smirked, making me roll my eyes " That's all you care about! ". He looked at me confused, " Sex! Billy, all you care about is sex! " I exclaimed loudly. " That's not true " he stated bluntly, making me roll my eyes. " If all I ever wanted was sex, I would have ditched you the minute after we fucked " he stated with a sigh, " You did, you were gone by the time I woke up and if you really cared about me, you would've stayed or at least told me you were leaving! " I snapped back. " You now my dad would've killed me " he stated, " You didn't care any time after that, when you were taking out other girls, your dad didn't expect you to come home those nights. So you ended up here, toying with my fucking feelings. You used me " I spat. He shook his head while fishing the remote out of his pants, dropping it on the coffee table, then started walking towards the front door. " I did not Y/N, I care about you! " he stated loudly on his way, " No! You wanted to talk, let's fucking talk! " I yelled chasing after him. " You only ever came around for sex and for me to make you feel good about yourself! You never once did the same for me, never cared about what was going on in my life or how I was feeling. You took advantage of my feelings, especially when I told you I loved you... So, if you can't accept that, then leave and don't ever come back. My feelings are just as important as yours, stop acting like your the only one that's been through shit! " I yelled, causing him to turn towards me with a softer look on his face, it reminded me of the look I saw the night I met him. It didn't last long, he got that harsh look on his face once more as he stomped his way towards his car, jumping in and then pulling out of my driveway like a bat out of hell. I only hoped now, he got the message.

The weekend passed quickly, as did the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. Finally confronting Billy about everything, felt rewarding and I stopped hiding from everything. He had yet to try to contact me again, so I guess he got the message. Wait, unless you count the midnight phone calls I had been receiving. I knew they were him, the caller never spoke, they waited until I said Hello three times before hanging up. Nancy said, that maybe my voice was like a security blanket, that he still wanted to hear it, maybe it helped him sleep. To that I rolled my eyes, it was just another way to annoy me, but I continued to answer those calls, because somewhere deep inside, I missed him. But after we all returned to school after the Thanksgiving he fell back into his old ways, he pretended as if I wasn't there, had a different girl on his arm everyday and always gave that said girl a ride home after school ( And we all know what happened on those ride homes ). As much as I wanted to stay strong and get over him, it seemed to be a lot harder than I thought. I found myself crying late at night about the old days with him, waiting for him to climb through my window and make everything okay again. Why couldn't I figure out what I wanted, I couldn't get my feelings in check. I'd curse at myself when I woke up in the morning, realizing I'd left my window open the previous night, on purpose. The relationship he and I had was unhealthy, I made the right decision when I ended things, but that thought never brought me any comfort. This pain I was feeling for that boy, was worse than when my parents got divorced, I wasn't sure how I'd get through it.

The week before the Winter Formal, notes had started appearing in my locker out of the blue. Simple ones at first, telling me how nice I looked, congratulating me on how well I did in science class, Odd things. At first I took it as a joke, kids at school were cruel and knew what had gone down between Billy and I. The notes though, were always signed - Someone who loves you. So, it couldn't be Billy, he didn't love anyone. I was taken by surprise when I opened my locker this morning and the note read - Be my date for the Formal? Circle Yes or no, then slip it in locker 306. Someone Who Loves You -. I didn't do anything with it at first, just put it in my pocket and made my way to my first class. I'd deal with it later. Once lunch came along, I grabbed my food and sat down at the normal table. Nancy and Jonathan joined soon after, I let out a deep sigh " I have to talk to you! ". Nancy looked worried as I pulled the note out of my pocket, slamming it on the table. " Oh no, what did Mr. Someone who loves you, say today? " Jonathan smirked, Nancy picked up the note and read it. " He asked her to the winter formal " Nancy smiled widely, I rolled my eyes " I'm not going ". Nancy then scoffed " What! Why not? ", " Because this is probably some prank on Carol's end, they all know what went on between Billy and I... I don't want to show up and be made a fool " I stated with a shrug. Nancy sighed " What if it's not a joke, what if someone actually like you in this school other than Us! Don't you want to find out? " again I shrugged " I'll think about ". She nodded, " What if it's Billy? Maybe hes trying to right his wrongs " Jonathan stated with a smiled. " Billy's locker number isn't 306, it's 490 " I sighed running my hand through my hair, " Well, we have to figure out who's locker is 360! " Nancy exclaimed. " We don't, I wasn't planning on going anyways, it's just a stupid dance " I stated honestly, " Just a stupid dance, I'm appalled! I'm on the dance committee, it's going to be amazing " Nancy stated dramatically. I just rolled my eyes, I hadn't made my mind up yet. This is my decision and only I could make it.

By the end of the day, I had slipped the note, that I had circled yes onto, back into locker 306, hoping I didn't just make a mistake. I got a ride home from Jonathan and when I arrived home, I wasn't surprised to find the house empty. My dad had been dating a new woman recently and he was gone most days / nights. Even though I spent so much time alone now, he seemed to be happy again, so I guess I approved. He was a good man and deserved it. In preparation for the Winter formal, Nancy and I planned on going dress shopping Wednesday after school. Mrs. Wheeler ended up driving us and dropping us off, before running errands of her own. Nancy was extra excited for the formal, she and Jonathan would be going together and I was very happy for the as well. What I wasn't happy about was because our town was so small, there was only one dress shop and it seemed other girls had the same idea coming after school. Wow, look who it is girls. Wheeler and her little side kick Y/L/N. Tell me, did you both finally find dates or are you going with each other " Carol stated with a cackle, I rolled my eyes " Just because this is a stupid dance, doesn't mean you can't go alone or with Friends ". She scoffed " Your lame is you go alone though, imagine how awkward the picture will be. Tommy and I are going together, Heather's going with Josh and Tina tell the who your date is ", " Billy " Tina smirked. Causing me to roll my eyes " Give me a break, did you really think I actually cared who your dates are? You and Tommy are always blowing each others ass holes and I remember both of you last year trying to fuck Steve, face it. You're both pathetic ", " then why are you talking to us, if we're so pathetic? " Carol smirked. " Well, I didn't start talking to you, you both came up to us as soon as we entered the store and started this. Clearly bored with your own lives and Now I'm ending it " I stated with a smile as I grabbed Nancy's arm and walked towards the back of the store. " I'm shocked Y/N, I didn't think tonight would end up like that. I don't get why they have to ruin everything " Nancy stated while looking through a rack of clothes, I just lent up against the wall and sighed " They aren't going anywhere in life, so they have ruin good times for everyone else to make themselves better ". She nodded, picking out a few dresses. I heard the bell ring and noticed Carol and Tina leave the store, carrying large bags with them. " Come Y/N, I know this started off bad, but let's make it more fun, your frown is bumming me out " Nancy then groaned, " Sorry, I just can't get excited for something like this. Especially when I know it's going to be a let down " I stated with a sigh as I glanced around the shop. " Why do you think it's going to be a let down " I stated with a serious look on her face, I shrugged slightly " I just feel like this is one big joke and I'm in the middle of it ". She let out a deep sigh " Well, at least you'll have us there if something goes down. You'll still have your friends to keep you company ", I nodded while sending her a smile " Okay fine! Let's stop talking about it and get back to dress shopping. I actually see something I'm interested in ". She smiled widely as we walked over to the strapless white dress that had pale color marks on it, I ended up getting that one in the end. Now with the formal only two days away, I was getting even more nervous, which was annoying. But what's done is done and hopefully, I wouldn't regret it in the end.

The night of the winter formal, Nancy and I were getting ready in her room, with the help of her mom. The day before I received another note from someone who loves you, saying they'd met me in the back parking lot at 9:30pm. That's about an hour after the dance began, so I'd be able to hangout with my friends before I had to meet this mystery person. Steve swore it was Billy, he said throughout the last week that Billy couldn't keep my name out of his mouth. I just brushed it off, Billy would never go to this amount of trouble to ask someone to the dance, let alone go to the dance, it wasn't his thing. I sat on Nancy's bed, flipping through a magazine as she curled her hair, I just couldn't stop thinking about tonight. It was driving me crazy, not knowing who this mystery person was and I was terrified of looking like a fool in front of the whole school. " Come on Y/N, your turn " Nancy stated wearing a large smile, I sent her a panicked look " That’s it, I'm not going, I changed my mind! ". Nancy let out a deep sigh knowing I'd been thinking far to into this and she was probably tired of hearing my worries. " Y/N, everything will be okay. It's only a stupid high school dance as you put it, but it's also a time to unwind from all the stresses of School and have fun with friends ", Nancy stated with a small smile " Don't let the fear get in the way of your happiness ". I took in her words and nodded, " And you have to go and find out who wins the title of the Ice Queen and King. I Won when I attended Hawkins High, I probably still have the Crown around here somewhere " Mrs. Wheeler stated proudly. Causing me to chuckle and Nancy to roll her eyes " Not now Mom ", I let out a deep sigh as Mrs. Wheeler left the room in search for her Ice Queen crown. " So, are you ready to get pretty? " Nancy asked with a small smile, " Bitch, I already am pretty, but there's always room for improvement! " I stated with my own smile. " Look girls I found it, I can imagine there much small nowadays! " Mrs. Wheeler exclaimed excitedly while walking back into Nancy's room with a large white crown on her head, Nancy groaned loudly as I chuckled, everything was going to be okay.

Jonathan picked Nancy and I up, looking very dashing himself. I let out a sigh as we got closer to the school, the nerves already setting in now. Nancy turned her head towards the backseat, " Hey, remember it'll be okay and besides, if things don't work out, you can always get Steve to dance with you " she stated with a smile. I rolled my eyes as we pulled into the packed parking lot, next to Steve's car. I let out a deep sigh as I stepped out of Jonathan's car, wishing I had worn a heavier sweater. " Wow Y/N, you look... The best I've ever seen you look. Damn, if only I'd known, I would've picked you over Nancy " Steve stated with a joking smile, " Ew.. But, thanks " I smirked giving him a hug ( Steve and I have always had a brother/sister relationship ). " Ha ha, funny Steve! Okay, let's head inside, I'm freezing " Nancy exclaimed grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the front door, Steve and Jonathan following close behind. Once we reached the gym, I looked around, taking in all the faces. Who was I kidding, I was searching for the specific blonde. Tina, Rebecca and Heather all had dates off the basketball team. " Tina's a Damn liar, she's here with Trey not Billy. How many people has she been screwing around with, does she not realize that Billy and Trey are two different people " Nancy stated with an eye roll, causing me to chuckle loudly. 9:30 was approaching fast and I couldn't stop biting my nails, thinking of all the ways this could go wrong. " You okay? " Steve asked sitting down next to me and handing me a glass of punch, I only shrugged because I had no words for the battle that was going down in my head. " I get that your nervous Y/N, but I'll let you in on something, it's not a prank " Steve stated with a sigh, I looked at him confused " How would you know? " . " Because, Chad couldn't shut up in the locker room four days ago. Team members kept asking him who he was taking to the Formal, he didn't say a nae, but said that he asked a girl in a creative way. Through a note " Steve stated honestly. I looked at him shocked " How could he be the note holder? Sure he's a nice guy, but Chad is very artistic, any notes he would've slipped into a locker would've been more deep then. Hey, you looked good in History today. That doesn't sound like him ", He nodded " I get it, he's been my lab partner for 3 years. He doesn't speak like a normal person sometimes, more like a novel. Bit, I'm just telling you what I heard because I know you've been worrying about this ". I smiled slightly glancing up at the clock, seeing that it was 9:22pm. " Thanks for telling me, your a good friend " I stated with a sigh, him nodding in response while wearing a similar smile.

I walked through the school, more like snuck, because students weren't really allowed to venture through the school after hours. The faculty was worried kids were going to sneak off and have sex in classrooms, thankfully I had a good reputation around here and the staff weren't worried about me. Once I made it to the back door, I let out a deep sigh, Now or Never. I walked slowly towards the dark figure, butterflies in my stomach and my dinner was ready to make a 2nd appearance tonight. Once I saw that the figure was indeed Chad, I couldn't tell if I was relieved or a little angry. " So, your the mystery note holder " I stated with my arms crossed, Chad let out a small sigh but didn't respond. I rolled my eyes and started walking back towards the door, to possibly salvage and make the rest of the night good. Chad quickly ran around me, halting me in place. " Where are you going? " he asked nervously, " Back inside, if you wanted to ask me to the formal, you literally could of just asked. Instead of writing all those simple notes, that sounded nothing like you. I would've said yes " I spat. He let out a sigh, " Other than my friends, your the only one who's treated me like an equal, the only other guy that's been nice " I stated honestly. He nodded " But Y/N, I didn't write the notes. I've just been the middle man through this whole thing, hell I've been dating the same girl for over 2 years. Natalie Wood ", I furrowed my brows in confusion. Yes, I remember seeing them together, but never thought they weren't anything but friends. " Middle man? " I then questioned, earning a nod from him. " Middle man for who? " I asked, only getting a smirk in return as he pointed towards the parking lot behind me. I took in a deep breath as I turned around slowly, letting out a slight groan as I saw Billy standing there, leaning against his car, holding a handful of flowers. I turned back towards Chad, who was still wearing a smirk. " My locker is locker 306, he didn't want to use his own because obviously you would've known it was him. So, he paid me 5$ to help him out, but this was all his idea, he wrote all the notes, he's got it bad for you " Chad stated with a smile before patting me on the shoulder and making his way inside. The degree's had dropped slightly, making it even colder now. I sighed deeply while walking over towards the blonde, unsure of what I was going to say to this boy now. " Before you say anything, I just want to say... Hi " Billy started off nervously, " I know this is probably very confusing and I know you told me to leave you alone, but I can't. I just want a chance to explain everything to you and after that if you still want me to leave you alone, I will ". I had no words, but I was curious as to what he was going to say. So, I nodded. He let out a deep sigh " Okay, cool... Oh, these are for you... Stole money from my dad to buy them, I'll probably hear about it later, but it was worth it. Didn't have enough for a new suit though... ", he handed me the flowers which made me smile. " Thanks, they're beautiful and I recognize that suit from when we first met, on the beach in California " I stated with a smile, making him nod. I didn't say anything further, waiting for him to continue. " So, the last time we spoke, it didn't end well. But since then, I've realized how much I miss and need you in my life. I will do anything to have you in my life again " he stated with a deep sigh, he's dropped the tough guy act, he's more vulnerable. " I know that you think when we were messing around, I was also fucking with other girls, but I wasn't. Before we started doing things together, I had slept with two girls, none that go to our school. But as soon as we got together, I didn't want another bitch. Anytime I climbed through your window and told you I was out with some girl, I lied. I always came straight from home after having a fight with my dad. I didn't want to tell you, because I know you always worried about me when I was at home. Now I realize that I made the wrong choice in lying. I stayed all night at your house those nights, not caring about the trouble I'd get into when I got home, because at least I got to spend time with you, even if we were just sleeping " he stated a bit winded, I however furrowed my brows in confusion. " I understand that this is a lot to take in, but I want to be with you " he stated strongly, making me let out a deep sigh " But when I told you I loved you, you never said anything, you chose to ignore it ". He ran his hand through his freshly styled hair " I didn't ignore it, I just didn't confess that I felt the same way. I've never felt this way towards someone before and I was afraid of what people would say at school, you know Billy Hargrove being tied down. The longer I kept my feelings to myself, the more I felt guilty. Then you started distancing yourself and I knew I had fucked everything up. But, I love you Y/N and I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks or says! ", I looked at him shocked. I wasn't expecting this to come from tonight, something told me that he was telling the truth. Billy cleared his throat, making me realize I hadn't said anything in a while. " SO? " he sighed deeply, " Your serious, no games? " I asked looking at him intensely. He nodded " Absolutely, I don't want to spend one more day without you ", I smiled at him slightly as I pulled him into a hug. " But, what about Heather and Tina, they both swore that they were screwing you the same time we were messing around. " I then asked, " Both liars, Heather had herpes the last time I checked and Tina is such a fucking snooze fest. You know she asked me to the formal, I told her I'd rather hammer nails into my toes. I was working on getting my girl back and I wasn't risking that on her boring ass " he stated with a slight chuckle pulling me into another hug. " It'll take some time for you to gain my trust again, but if you're willing to put in the work, I think we could get back to what we once were " I stated honestly, making him hug me even tighter " I'll do whatever you want! I'll wait forever if I have to ". I smiled to myself, " Hey, you're freezing! Here take my jacket " he stated taking off the leather jacket and placing it around my shoulders. " Come on, let's get inside, I want to dance with my girl " he stated with a smile as he locked his car and then walked me back into the school.

When Billy and I walked into the gym together, we caught everyone's eye. A few people laughed, some gasped. Steve smirked, making me think he might have had a part in this too, despite the hatred he had for Billy. Billy and I got out onto the dance floor, I put my arms around his shoulders and he put his hands on my hips, as we started to sway to the music. I had never seen Billy smile the way he was smiling at me know, things were finally right. Jonathan and Nancy both sent me smiles, causing me to roll my eyes, but smiled happily back. Not long after the principle was on stage, ready to announce Ice Queen and King. " And the Winner is... Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler! " the principal shouted , causing a wave of applaud to abrupt in the gym. I let out a loud shriek of excitement as they were both crowned, Mrs. Wheeler was going to be very happy about this. Billy put his arm round me, pulling me closer and kissing the top of my head. Things seemed to work in my favor I guess, but even though I was happy now, there was no way to tell what was going to happen in the future. But, let's forget about that now and Enjoy the moment.

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Hey guys, I totally over did it with this one, but I enjoyed writing it so much. I've been in a slump lately and haven't been the best of health, so the fact that I was able to enjoy writing this so much means a lot. And I hope Everyone Enjoyed reading it, I just want to say Thank you for the amazing support I've received on this series. You're all Amazing <3<3

#Billy Hargrove #billy hargrove imagine #billy hargrove angst #billy hargrove fanfic #billy hargrove fanfiction #dacre montgomery #dacre montgomery angst #stranger things angst #Thank You #thank you for the support #your amazing #hope you enjoy

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thegloober · 6 years

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Bodied

Part rap musical, part social satire, with elements of Westerns and kung fu pictures, “Bodied” is one of the funniest, freest movies of the year. It’s so consistently audacious that when you get towards the end of its overstuffed running time and realize it actually wants to be the kind of film it mocks—a Tarzan fantasy along the lines of “8 Mile,” the biography of Eminem, who helped produce this very motion picture—you can’t but be disappointed. But there’s still plenty to admire.

We first meet the film’s redheaded Anglo hero, hip-hop fan Adam Merkin (Calum Worthy), attending an underground rap battle with his girlfriend, fellow grad student Maya (Rory Uphold). Adam convinces one of the victorious African-American rappers, a quasi-legend who goes by Behn Grym (Jackie Long), to be interviewed for his thesis about “the very poetic use of the n-word in battle rap.” “There are plenty of n-words you could ask about the n-word,” Grym retorts. This is one of many lines in “Bodied” with a poet’s sense of how changing the context of a word can alter its intent. Written by Alex Larsen, a Toronto writer who raps as Kid Twist, and directed by Joseph Kahn, a music video veteran, this is a film about language as power. It’s about how words are used and abused, originated and appropriated, and how terms can seem like literary abstractions in one context and incitements to violence in another.

Our first object lesson arrives when another white wannabe rapper challenges Behn to a battle in the parking lot outside the show, honking cornball rhymes and spiraling his hands over the brim of his sideways ball cap. It’s like one of those ritualized moments in an old Western where a young braggart challenges a world-weary gunslinger to a draw (the punk even has an outlaw’s pseudonym, Billy Pistols). Behn keeps his guns holstered. Adam, a more upscale version of this very same pest, steps up in Behn’s place and vanquishes the upstart, to his own surprise as well as everybody else’s. The victory goes viral on social media, triggering a formal offer to battle again and sparking visions of grandeur in the mind of Adam, a bookish young poet who’s lived his life in the shadow of his dad, a famous novelist and professor who teaches at the same school Adam is attending (he’s played by Anthony Michael Hall, who would’ve starred as Adam back in the day).

Adam treats his upcoming face-off with a Korean-American rapper named Prospek (rapper-actor Dumbfoundead) like a final exam that he can ace through research and sheer nerve. Ace it he does, though at a cost, reaching for stereotypes he swore he’d avoid. “At least you knew I was Korean,” Prospek tells Adam afterward. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s culturally sensitive by battle rap standards.” But even Prospek isn’t sold on the idea that rappers are merely performers. When he raises his glass in toast and speaks in Korean, his subtitle reads, “You’re a racist piece of shit.” “Thanks, man!” chirps Adam.

This poses a question that scholars of hip-hop as well as rock, stand-up comedy, and transgressive theater and cinema have all had to grapple with: if your art is chum to the reptile brain, and your best rhymes inflict emotional pain, are you an artist, or are you a sadist? And do casualties get to complain?

The best parts of “Bodied” put those questions under a microscope and examine it through prisms of varied life experience. These are represented by the multicultural bomber crew that orbits Behn, including zaftig Black female rapper Devine Write (Shoniqua Shandai); Latinx rapper Che Corleone (Walter Perez), who’s as horny as he is loquacious; and Maya, who tags along until the rancid atmosphere makes her sick. A subplot finds Devine and Che bonding over how tired they are of their adversaries’ racist and sexist material, then coming up with a smart way to mock them in the arena. Adam and Behn continue their conversations about whether a the n-word is defused if a Black man uses it, and if it’s marginally more acceptable for an Asian or Latinx rapper to use it. “There’s a difference between using the word and referencing the word,” Behn warns Adam. But who gets to decide when the line’s been crossed?

At one point, “Bodied” pits Behn against a towering white rapper who spews bigoted slurs that are too gleeful to be dismissed as being “in character.” It’s clear he’s exploiting a loophole that allows him to shout racist things at nonwhite people without getting punched in the face. But is the problem his ideas, or his loutish presentation? When Adam goes in the ring and makes jokes about Asians having slanted eyes and eating dogs, is it permissible because he’s a shrimpy academic who puts giant inflatable air quotes around the racism, and makes sure to let everyone know it’s a put-on? Do nonwhite rappers get a pass for racist tropes, and if so, why? What about straight men who use homophobic or gendered insults? And what of the drive to humiliate and dominate, a pastime that crosses experiential lines?

“I don’t see how anybody could be a good person when they spend all of their time thinking of horrible things to say about someone,” Maya tells Adam in the very first scene. It’s one of many moments where a character that other films would treat as a killjoy turns out to be a righteous person who’s asking valid questions. Maya gets skewered in “Bodied,” a film that reserves special ire for posturing campus leftists. She’s a snarky vegan who distinguishes between Tupac and Assata Shakur right before shuddering in revulsion at a Black homeless man sleeping on a bench. But just when you’re about to write her off as the usual no-fun girlfriend, you realize Adam is guilty of every sin she accuses him of committing, from exoticizing Black men and parroting sexist and homophobic language to acting as if slurs magically turn harmless when you wave the wand of “performance” over them. Adam never gives himself a rap name in “Bodied,” but another character’s unsolicited label suits him: MC Microaggression.

The most impressive things about “Bodied” are its control of tone and pace, its love of language, and its comfort with every kind of humor. It boasts intellectualized wordplay that fuses poetry and rap with Shakespearean constructions in which language examines itself. But it also has double-takes, pratfalls, eruptions of cartoonish rage and fear, and sight gags that amplify scenes that were already funny, as when our heroes check out a skid row motel while trying not to seem nervous: Kahn cuts to a man peeing on the sidewalk, a junkie shooting up, and an obviously fake giant waterbug scuttling across the check-in desk not once, but twice. It’s Abbott and Costello on Skid Row.

Larsen’s script gets high on its own supply, letting Adam make like Neo in the “Matrix” trilogy and challenge nonwhite masters for dominance in an art he’s barely begun to practice. Both Adam and the script that tells his story have a killer instinct for the delusions of every character, regardless of race, class or gender; but when the time comes to stop drawing blood with knife flicks, turn the blade inward and plunge it deep, “Bodied” chokes. Still, scene for scene, this is a remarkable film, superbly acted, directed, photographed and edited, thought provoking but unpretentious. It holds a mirror up to itself as well as to hip-hop culture, and stares until it blinks.

Source: https://bloghyped.com/bodied/

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hotdogjumpingfrog5 · 6 years

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It’s Strange - Chapter 8

Previous Chapters: Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven

“Yes,” Ems responded, “We’re sisters now, remember?”

She then exposed her forearm again, revealing the numbers 007

Eleven had glared out the window, staring into space, reluctant to tell her, but knew she had to.

“Go on then.” said Emms

Eleven sighed

“Our mom...is in town. But not well. We can see her tomorrow if you want.”

“Sure.”

Emma focused on the wheel, just thinking.

“What about our other sister? Where is she?”

“Let me organize my thoughts.” Eleven responded

After about five minutes of awkward silence in the car, Eleven was ready to speak again.

“Kali...is far away.” she said, not sounding like she even wanted to talk about her.

“And where is far away?” Emma asked

“I said, far away.” Eleven responded, annoyed.

Now, they were pulled up to the Evan’s residence.

“Don’t talk to me like that.” Emma said, also annoyed.

“No.” Eleven responded emotionless, while an unknown force pushes Emma into the snow.

“Are you kidding me?!” Emma exclaimed, also making her fall.

The yells were loud enough for her mother and sister to look out the window, confused, and that’s when they noticed Emms and Eleven doing telekinesis on each other, throwing each other back, flicking stuff at each other with their minds, etc.

“Ah, sisterly love.” Lucy said to their mother, “Even though me and Ems fought multiple times before, it was never as bad as this.”

“We need to go out there!” Heather said, and grabbed her clogs.

“STOP IT! NOW!” Heather screamed, “Two of you, get in the house right now, and explain yourselves!!”

“Fucking mouthbreather.” Eleven mumbled

“Language!” Heather scolded

Lucy comforted her adoptive sister on one side of the couch, while Eleven sat on the other end, not wanting to go near her at this point, or even look at her.

“We didn’t come all the way over here from England to raise violent children.” Heather said calmly, “We don’t want either of you to get hurt. We’re only trying to help you -”

“Help me?” Emma snapped, “Holy shit mum, why didn’t you tell me?! Why didn’t you tell me my mother was here?? Or even my sisters?”

“I-I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you didn’t!!” she yelled back, “You’re all a bunch of TRAITORS! LIARS! I’m moving to Canada, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop me.”

Emma stormed upstairs, violently stomping up the stairs, while managing to slam multiple doors with her mind out of anger, then her own.

She crashed on the bed, waterfalls coming out of her eyes. All of these thoughts going through her head, she couldn’t believe she’s gone an entire 17, almost 18 years without knowing any of this.

How could they have lied to me my entire life?! she thought, while continuing to drown in her own sadness and confusion

After about 20 minutes of weeping, she heard a knock at the door

“Go away.” Emma groaned

“It’s just me.” Lucy opened the door, “They asked if I could check on you, it’s been 30 minutes. Honestly I’m worried too, you sure you’re doing okay?”

Emma looked at Lucy

“Be honest, do you think I’m a freak?” she asked

Lucy laughed

“And you think I’m not?” Lucy continued to chuckle, “I wasn’t exactly Miss Popular back in England, and I’m sure not now. Well, I’m in uni now so I guess that’s different.”

“After what we’ve put each other through all the years?” Emma asked

“You’re not, trust me on this.” Lucy convinced

Emma looked up to the ceiling, and asked, “Think I should go back down there?”

“Yes,” said Lucy, “I think they want to talk.”

After Emma, Eleven, and Heather made their apologies, Heather responded with, “We’re going to both of your biological mums tomorrow at 11:30, all of us.”

The following afternoon, they went to their aunt Becky’s residence, and she was happy to see Jane again

When she met the Evans, they were already closely connected, and she was happy to have another niece as well.

Emma had sat down on the floor in front of her mother, already feeling close to her, even though she knew she wasn’t there.

“Breathe. Sunflower. Rainbow. 450. Three to the right. Four to the left. Breathe.” Terry repeated the same thing over and over again

“Now, close your eyes.” Eleven instructed her sister

Emma closed her eyes, and their aunt, as well as Heather and Lucy watched from aside.

She found herself in a dark room. Then, she saw her mother, and everything Eleven had seen before.

Only difference was, she saw her mother being carried away to an American airline, along with Terry screaming, before being struck with a blunt object to stop onlookers from seeing what was happening.

Now it all made sense, she had been living in UK for a few years, but was immediately brought back to the US when her first was born. She then saw three strange men bring an infant to a UK adoption centre. They had put her up for illegal adoption, lying to the workers there saying she was found in a garbage can. But she wasn’t. Em was abducted after birth.

Emma saw another thing. She had seen her sister Eleven was telling her about. Kali was in a dark alley, along with four other sketchy looking people. Then, her visions ended.

Her nose was now running, and eyes were turned black. She glanced over at her mother, and immediately gave her adoptive mother and sister a hug, along with Eleven.

“I should have known!” their mother Heather croaked, tears leaking out.

“It’s not your fault, mum.”

Max is sitting in her bedroom, taking in the mid-March breeze drifting in through her window. One of the only places she could keep away from her stepbrother.

She was glad to have finally got home from school, and out of that school uniform St. Peter’s required you to wear.

She can hear the loud music coming from Billy’s room, then a short while later, he bangs on her bedroom door.

“What do you want?!” she called out

“Don’t you dare come out of that fucking room. Do you hear me? Not until I say you can.” Billy said, “And if you need to use the bathroom, too fucking bad!”

Max glances out her window, ignoring her stepbrother’s every words.

She can see four tall girls walking towards the front door, there’s a leader of the four, along with a timid looking blonde girl, a tall girl, and an overweight girl belching without a care.

Max glanced a second time, and they looked funny. Max couldn’t lay a finger on it, and she has never seen them before.

Max can hear muffled speaking between them and her brother at the front door.

She decides to go closer to the door, ear pressed to hear what they were saying.

Surprisingly, she could hear every word they said over the loud music blaring.

“Did you find It or not?” Billy asked

“No,” said a masculine voice, “But we still have our other guy creeping on just about everyone we could think of.”

“What, the one with the suit? Who can sometimes change into different things?”

“Yeah! Come on, Billy, we’re two years younger than you, we know some stuff. You could at least tell us who to go after next!”

“The two Mikes. Fuckface who stole my name’s negro of a friend, and Max’s other friend.”

“So, tell It to mess with them?”

“Yes, Henry. Remember, you live more than an hour out of town, DO NOT mess this one up.”

“Okay, when do you want us to tell him that?”

“Tell It to mess with the Mikes when they least suspect it. Give it another week or two, got it?”

“Yes, Bill. Four of us will not let you down.”

“You better not.”

Then, he slammed the door.

Max was confused on why did the girls she had seen sounded like boys

She glances out the window, as she felt something fishy, but then they could be seen disappearing in the corner of the trees, out of plain sight.

Max was also a bit worried, Why were they going to get someone to mess with Wheeler and Hanlon?

Thoughts went though her head, and she remembered when she saw the strange man with the trenchcoat in the forest. She wasn’t sure if Billy was playing some sort of sick joke on them or what.

She was planning on telling them, but neither Mike Wheeler or Hanlon acknowledged much of her, probably since she was very quiet, almost more than Will.

She laid back down on her bed, trying to forget about what she just heard.

It’s now the day after Easter Monday, and Mike decided to call up Dustin and Eleven to come up later on.

“Hello??” Dustin asked frantically, “There’s some guy parked in our driveway, just staring at us, at our house...what do I do??”

There was a long pause, as Mike didn’t know what to say, then Dustin laughs

“I’m only kidding you, Wheeler, happy April Fools!”

“Haha very funny.” Mike rolls his eyes, “You and Richie’s favourite day of the year.”

“What did Richard do now?” Dustin asks.

“Thought it would be funny to cover my door with saran wrap this morning, then put mustard under my sheets,” said Mike, “I hate April Fools, Richie is such a tool.”

“Hey that rhymed!” Dustin responded

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of Holly crying in the background, followed by “Daddy, someone took my Easter eggs!!”

Mike knew it was Richie, first Richie targeted Mike, then put sugar in Nancy’s hairdryer earlier that morning, followed by salt in replace of their mom’s sugar, and a whoopie cushion under their dad’s La-Z-Boy chair. Now Holly was the next one.

“Michael, I uh, mean Richard,” Ted could be heard saying, “Give your sister back those Easter eggs.”

Mike sighs to Dustin on the phone

“Can you and El help me get him back later?”

“We sure can!”

After a few more minutes of speaking to Dustin, Mike hangs up the phone, and stares out his window.

He noticed something weird in their backyard.

“What the hell?” Mike muttered to himself

There was a man in a suit standing in their backyard, a white bag over his head, staring in the direction of the house.

He couldn’t tell where It was staring, but was hoping it couldn’t see him in the bedroom window.

He heard Richie bring the stuff back into Holly’s room, then called out to him

“What is it, Michael?” he responded with a high pitch tone

“Shut up, Richie, can you see that out there?” Mike asked

He glanced back out the window, pointing it out.

“Yeah. Creepy guy in a suit. I’ve seen that guy before.” Richie replied smuggly.

“If this is another one of your fucking jokes, stop. It’s not funny, tell Bill and Eddie or whoever the fuck is down there to give it up.”

“It’s not me.” said Richie

“I’m sure it isn’t!” said Mike, now annoyed

“It’s not fucking me!!” said Richie, “I saw him too before!”

“Well, now I see a clown!”

“What the fuck, where?!” Richie gasped, always having that morbid fear of clowns, “If this is your way of getting me back you sicko-”

Mike huffed

“In our backyard you idiot, staring right at us! If this is your friends, tell them to fucking stop.”

“What the hell Mike! They’re not out there! There’s no fucking clown! All I can see is some creepy as fuck guy on our lawn!”

“That’s not what I see.” Mike shuddered, “If you can see some strange guy, and I see a clown -”

“Hello Mikey. It’s nice to meet four eye’s brother!” said the clown, while cackling, “Figured I’d get some sunshine! Us clowns love April Fools!!”

Mike gulped, unable to take his eyes off the clown he was seeing. But Richie did not see a clown, but heard a monotone voice and a man in a suit with a bag over his head.

They had both ran downstairs to get their dad to see whatever It was for himself.

By the time their dad got up to see through the backyard window, It was gone. Whoever was out there.

“Another one of your April Fools jokes? Very clever, guys.” said Ted, and laid back down on the couch

The twins just stood there, confused at what the hell they had just seen.

Both of them knew continuing to try and convince their father about what they saw would be useless.

They tried to play it off as their imaginations, but they knew for a fact it wasn’t. The two of them thought they were going insane.

They both saw the same thing. A different thing. They didn’t know what It was.

The two of them even heard different voices when It spoke. Mike had heard a clown-like voice, Richie heard an emotionless, monotone voice

All they knew was that night, they weren’t going to get a wink of sleep.

Needless to say, they ended up sleeping in the same room that night, with weapons by their sides.

Next Chapter: Chapter Nine

#stranger things #it movie 2017 #it's strange crossover

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screensirenfic · 5 years

Text

Black Leather - Chapter 37

“Before you say anything; I’m not changing my mind...” Steve argued before I could even close the door behind us, having dragged him into what I guessed was Jonathan’s room; judging by the Bowie posters on the walls.

“Steve—“ I started, swinging the door closed and turning to face him.

“No; Lola. I’m serious about this. I don’t want you or anyone getting hurt—“ He continued; that same soft concern breaking through his anger.

“No one’s gonna get hurt, Steve.” I stated, walking over to him to see he’d already begun pacing the room like a madman.

“You don’t know that!” He interrupted; pointing a damning finger at me before resuming his vigil.

“And even if you did; your dad would kill me if—“

“Steve...” I petitioned, stepping into his path to take his head in my hands, cradling his cheeks between my palms.

“Calm down. Take some deep breaths—“

“Lola; I really can’t—“

“Just breathe.” I instructed, taking some slow steady breaths of my own as a demonstration.

“In and out. In and out. That’s it! You’re doing it!” I smiled as he caught on, following my lead even though his face said he felt far from compliant.

Still; he did as I asked, calming his frantic breathing and relieving himself from all that pent up stress.

“Feeling better?” I asked; noting how he’d managed to refrain from yelling at me for at least two minutes.

His deep brown eyes rose up to meet mine; a sense of tiredness in their depths.

“Yes...” He admitted with a sigh, pulling away from me to shove his hands in his pockets and walk tight circles in the room.

“But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m not letting you go through with this bullshit plan.” He continued to protest; that tension in his shoulders returning.

“If somehow you got hurt; I—“

“No one’s going to get hurt, Steve.” I reassured him again; my voice coming across unwaveringly confident.

“But how can you know that; Lo? How can you just say—“ He trailed off; his expression almost pained at this point.

“I don’t.” I admitted, staring at his tense posture; shoulders encroaching on his neck, worry lines creasing his forehead.

“But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do something when we know it’s right.”

“People are counting on us, Steve. People like my dad, and Nancy, and everyone in this whole damn town...” I explained; reaching up to rest my hand on his shoulder.

“I know; I know.” He admitted with a sigh, staring off down at something to his left, as if saying this actually pained him.

“But it still doesn’t change that I worry about you.”

“I know; and I appreciate that so much.” I reached up with my spare hand, cupping his cheek and turning his face to look at me.

“But I need to do this; Steve.” I confessed; his eyes searching mine and not finding a hint of hesitation.

I stared back; already knowing that despite his reservations, he wouldn’t argue with me anymore. He trusted me; knew I knew my own limitations.

He stared back with eyes full of sadness and pain and—

“Lo; I just—“ He began, then stopped with a sigh; an expression I didn’t recognise falling across his face.

“I need to tell you something.”

“Okay.” I nodded; already beginning to guess what it was.

He took a deep breath, opening his mouth to speak, when VROOOOM!

The roar of an all to familiar engine flooded the air, drawing our attention away from each other and towards the glaring headlights being reflected into the bedroom window.

————————————————-

Steve and I swept out of the bedroom at the sound of the engine, over to where the kids were already looking out the window; a look of alarm on their faces.

“What the hell’s going on?” Steve asked; already snapping back on his coach hat as quickly as he let it slip.

“Shit!” Max cursed for the first time tonight, and I could already guess what she was going to say next.

“It’s my brother.”

“What?!” Both Lucas and I blurted out at the same time; my stomach already doing flips at the revelation.

Shit! He couldn’t be here!

He couldn’t fucking be here!

“He can’t know I’m here! He kill me— He’ll kill us!” She panicked; looking frantically between me and Lucas as if we could somehow magically resolve this.

She was right.

Billy had a short fuse at the best of times, but if he found us all here together; I’m not really sure how he’d react.

It wouldn’t be good; that was sure.

I was meant to be waiting for him to pick me up at Charlie’s, and judging by the look on Max’s face, she was meant to be at home.

Billy didn’t like being messed about, and I’m pretty sure that when he found out we’d been doing just that, he’d explode.

That, and the fact Steve was here with me; well, it was a jury rigged grenade just waiting for the pin to be pulled out.

I made my way to the door, already knowing that out of all the people here tonight, I’d have the best chance at calming him down.

It would probably take a lot of grovelling and an obscene amount of sexual favours, but he’d take it easy on me.

Especially since he seemed pretty damn eager to get me back into his bed this morning.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Asked Steve, sounding a little too much like my dad as he pulled on my arm, stopping me in my tracks.

“To speak to Billy — he’ll listen to me —“ I began to explain; knowing now probably wasn’t the best time to throw my newfound relationship on Steve, but really having little choice in the matter.

“Uh; no! Not happening!” Steve objected, continuing to block my path to the front door.

“You think I’m gonna let that creep anywhere near you after the shit he pulled at Tina’s party—“

“Jesus; Steve! I can handle it; if you’d just listen to me —“ I argued; really not needing Steve’s White Knight instinct to rear its head now of all times.

“Uh; guys—“ Max attempted to get our attention, but Steve wasn’t ready to back down yet.

“Listen?! I saw the damn bruises! I’m not letting you walk out there like some fucking peace offering—“

“GUYS!!!” Yelled Max, drawing our attention at last.

“We don’t time for arguing. He’s here now!” She said, and she was right; now wasn’t the time for talking, now was the time for actio—

“Hey; what the hell are you doing?” I exclaimed as Steve began to drag me by the wrist towards the bathroom.

“Something I should’ve done ten minutes ago.” He muttered, suddenly shoving me into the room and shutting the door behind me.

I heard a click, and reached for the doorknob, turning it to open.

No dice.

“Hey; Steve. This isn’t fucking funny!” I complained, banging hard on the door.

“It’s for your own good.” He said from the other side of the wood.

“Steve; come on. This is stupid...” I argued, but I could already hear his footsteps retreating down the hall.

“Steve?” I called again, but I could hear the front door open and close, and knew it was already too late.

I sighed, sitting down with my back against the door and hoping beyond all hope that Steve wasn’t as much of an idiot as I took him for.

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screensirenfic · 5 years

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Black Leather - Chapter 27

“If that little shit says code fucking red one more time; I swear I’m gonna—“

“Woah, woah, woah; Lo! Cool your jets.” Soothes Steve, though at this rate I’d settle at punching him unconscious.

If it wasn’t enough that I spent a weeks worth of pay checks on diced beef, because despite having a wallet that cost more than my entire wardrobe, someone forgot to bring his allowance; I now was having to deal with all the joys of working with a twelve year old boy.

Sorry; thirteen, as he keeps reminding me.

Thank god Eleven was a girl!

But at least we had some semblance of a plan now; Steve’s BMW parked in the woods at the start of our carnivorous crumb trail that would eventually lead to the junkyard.

Steve popped the trunk of his car; rubber gloves already on hands, because of course; the pretty boy couldn’t get his hands bloody.

The scent of blood and death was strong within; the result of nearly ten pounds worth of prized sirloin chopped in buckets, because according to the little shit; his ex-pet was a fussy eater.

Steve did the honours; hauling out two heaping buckets of meat which were already beginning to smell thanks to the heat of the car.

“Jesus, Lola; do we really need this much meat? He asked; his nose wrinkled in disgust.

Apparently I’d forgotten that a pampered trust fund teen like Steve probably never even had to wash dishes; let alone do any meal prep with raw meat.

“Shut up and unload the trunk.” I ordered; not willing to take any of his crap.

It had been his damn idea to put his faith in the wild imaginations of a thirteen year old, not mine.

I would’ve been more than happy to stay at Charlie’s and finish fixing Marty’s truck, then go out with Bil—

Shit! I’d almost forgot!

Billy would be coming to pick me up in a couple of hours, and I was currently about to start traipsing through mulch and animal shit, spreading the contents of a corpse with Steve and some weird kid.

Of all the fucking excuses I could be giving him; this one really took the whole damn pie!

Even if I did manage to make it back in time; he’d never believe me.

Not even when I stunk like a butchers shop and felt half as dead.

Steve was gonna fucking owe me for this—

“Lo; you still with me?” Steve asked; breaking through my mental rant to try and play the reasonable friend, and I wanted to fucking read him out, because I’d lost out on a good damn night for this and maybe even lost my chance at being with Billy for good; but fuck, Steve didn’t know that.

And I couldn’t blame him; not really.

“Nothing. Just forgot if I’d left the stove on.” I replied; the absurdity of that statement going straight over Steve’s pretty head as he pulled his rucksack out of the boot, alongside several cans of gasoline, unknowingly kindly donated by Charlie’s auto repairs.

Steve pulled out his nailbat; a post-apocalyptic beast of a thing that actually had belonged to Jonathan, before it was valiantly commandeered by Steve in the demogorgon attack last year.

Now it seemed the enigmatically named nailbat man was to make a reappearance; all for the sake of avenging some dumb kid’s cat and a half eaten candy bar.

I, however, liked to keep things more practical; having made time to stop home during our little errand to pick up a most vital supply.

I pulled out my dad’s sawn off shotgun from the trunk; making sure this baby was loaded with the finest buckshot, before cocking it.

Steve can wave round that little tennis racket as much as he liked; meanwhile I’d blow this bitch to smithereens with pure homegrown American lead.

Steve looked at it with a mixture of apprehension and awe, still not comfortable with me bringing a loaded weapon, despite me having learnt how to shoot before I could even drive.

He’d get over it.

Fuck; he might even be thankful once we bring this overgrown slug down without even breaking a sweat.

I let him slam the trunk closed, and by the sounds of it, E.T. was finally done phoning home; Dustin pushing down that ridiculous antenna at last, before the Venusians tried to contact us on it.

“You gonna actually help any time today kid, or is your plan just to play operator whilst we do the real work?” I queried; picking up the first of the heavy metal buckets in front of me.

“Alright, alright; hold your fucking horses. I’m coming.” The kid placated, and maybe I should’ve said something about the language, but then again; I wasn’t exactly a saint, and I wasn’t the kid’s mother, so why the fuck should I care?

Instead, I stood back as he picked up the lightest of the buckets, leaving the heaviest for Steve, but you know what; let him.

It was Steve’s damn sympathies that got us into this mess; so let’s see him feel so sympathetic when he’s done spreading meat for the next two hours.

———————————————————

So maybe playing pied piper to a B movie creature feature wasn’t as mind numbingly boring as I’d thought it would be.

I mean; the company was decent, me and Steve wasting the time away by playing twenty one questions and talking with the kid.

Think of it as community service; us near adults taking the time out from our busy lives to give back to the younger generation.

Of course; I’d also forgotten how blatantly dumb boys of the younger generation could be.

“All right; so let me get this straight...” Drawled the voice of Steve as he trailed behind keeping pace with the kid; after refusing to keep step with me.

It’s not my fault; really. He’d dropped a question on cannibalism on me, and I’d rose to the challenge beautifully; managing to both freak him out and educate him in one answer; a finer achievement than any teacher at Hawkins High had ever managed.

“You kept something dangerous in order to impress a girl... who you just met?” Steve asked with such incredulousness, you’d almost forget this is the same kid who took up football in freshman year just to impress Kathy Williams; an absolute disaster which ended with him getting tackled by a senior quarterback and him spending two weeks in Hawkins Med with a broken arm.

Still got that date with Kathy though.

“Alright; that’s grossly oversimplifying things...” The kid objected, because pigheaded stupidity was a primarily male trait with symptoms that included complete denial when it came to pursuing the fairer sex.

“I mean; why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?” Steve asked; the question perfectly rational, but clearly absurd in the eyes of a thirteen year old.

“An interdimensional slug?! Because it’s awesome!” Dustin exclaimed, and I swear the nerd levels here were sweeping off the chart.

“Lola; would you like it if I showed you a slug?” Steve called ahead to me, finally breaking his selective silence to ask an actual female about their kind.

Still; didn’t mean I was gonna give him all the answers.

“I’m not going anywhere near you or your slug, Steve.” I retorted; still not managing to contain a chuckle. Yes; that was an innuendo, and Steve was probably rolling his eyes right now, but fuck; if I didn’t like winding him up.

“Well; even if she thought it was cool, which she didn’t... I... I just... I don’t know.” Steve reasoned with a sigh, forgoing all attempts to get me on side, because I was a petty bitch and still wasn’t quite over when he asked me about bra size.

“I just feel like you’re trying way too hard, man.” Steve confessed, chucking down another handful of meat with resigned indignation.

“Well; not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright...” Dustin griped, and I could barely contain my laughter, because was I the only one who fucking remembered?!

“Perfect?!” I scoffed; the word half hidden in a bout of laughter. “You should’ve seen him in the eighth grade! He looked like the fourth Beegee!” I exclaimed with thunderous laughter, because it was true; goddamnit!

Steve’s hair had been so goddamn hilarious, and just remembering it now brought back flashbacks of the Snow Ball; memories of crisp white suits straight out of Saturday Night Fever, and a much younger Steve Harrington busting a move on the dance floor like a barely pubescent John Travolta.

Steve didn’t find it funny, shooting me daggers that clearly said “shut the hell up”, despite the fact his embarrassment would only rile me up further.

“Anyway; it’s not about the hair...” He returned his attention to Dustin, clearly understanding that giving me evils was getting him nowhere.

“The key with girls is just... acting like you don’t care.” Steve bestowed his worldly piece of wisdom, and I could barely keep myself from rolling my eyes.

Yeah; because of course the girls liked Steve because he acted like a total douche, and not because they thought he was dumber than a sack of dirt and didn’t know any better.

The hair was a bonus though.

“Even if you do?” The kid asked innocently; and it was hard to believe that all twelve year olds took advice so easily.

“Yeah; exactly. It drives them nuts.” Steve said; and I had to stop them there.

This kid was no Steve Harrington and would probably end up dying alone if he followed Steve’s example.

Fuck; Steve might end up dying alone with a shovel to the back of the head if he kept pissing me off like this.

“Or he could just tell this girl how he actually feels, rather than acting all emotionally constipated about it; Steve...” I interrupted; offering an realistically sound piece of advice, which might end up with the girl actually liking the kid, rather than mistaking him for the douche of the century; who was clearly already walking among us.

“Don’t listen to her...” Steve dismissed my advice with a wave of the hand, and this time, I really did roll my eyes.

“Why? Because I’m a girl?” I countered smartly; as if sound logic ever meant more to Steve than macho grand standing.

“No; because you’re a psychopath...” Steve replies, tossing a handful of meat at me, as if I was a mischievous bitch that could be fended off with a scrap of food.

“Hey!” I exclaimed; nimbly leaping out of the line of fire before I could amass another interesting stain on my jacket.

“You know; I liked you better with your headphones on, Blondie...” Steve drawled; his attention fully averted from counsel giving, to our usually programmed showing of me and Steve acting like complete jackasses around each other.

“And I liked you better in Wham!; George...” I retorted; knowing how much Steve hated the smarmy pop band, despite Nancy’s insistence that they were gorgeous.

“Why don’t you come back here...” Steve began to bluster; picking up another handful of bloody meat with a mischievous smile on his face, but it was too late.

I was quicker than him, already dancing away further along the track, before slipping on my headphones; because despite being a slippery bitch, I was a good girl and sometimes decided to appease our noble king; if only for an easy time.

I hit play on my Walkman; happy to hear the starting notes of Heart Of Glass chiming into my ear canals.

I turned it up loud and proud to sing along; resolved that if Steve and the kid wanted boy time, they could have it, but I would be as much of a nuisance as possible.

“Once I had a love and it was a gas

Soon found out he had a heart of glass

Seemed like the real thing, only to find

Much of mistrust; love’s gone behind.”

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screensirenfic · 5 years

Text

Black Leather - Chapter 28

The junkyard was pretty much what the name implied; a big stretch of land heaped up with shit that was better left forgotten by time.

I came here with Charlie sometimes to find scrap parts for old cars; usually just found scrap instead.

Everyone knew that the decent scrapyards were out Wyoming way.

Still; the kid had done an alright job, all things considered.

It was pretty defensible as a base, and the school bus looked like it could hold out against nuclear war, and probably was designed that way if the history books were anything to go by.

I could already see some decent scrap we could use as a barricade, and with a little elbow grease; we might even be able to improvise some traps.

“Oh yeah; this will do. This will do just fine.” Steve spoke my thoughts out loud, clearly on the same wavelength when it came to finding a defensible home base.

“Good call; kid.” I praised Dustin, earning me one of those toothy smiles, and I hoped some of my dad’s hero worship wasn’t rubbing off on me.

——————————————————

The best of half an hour was spent spreading round the rest of the meat; only a minimal amount of it ending up being flung at each other, because as much as I liked horsing around with Steve; I valued my innards more, and didn’t want to come across as a tasty snack for a hungry demogorgon.

Our efforts ended with us heaping the dregs of our buckets in a pile in the middle of the junkyard, creating what we’d hope would look like an all you can eat buffet to any unsuspecting monster, and the perfect ambush spot to us.

“I said medium-well!” A voice yelled from across the junkyard, and Steve, Dustin and I all looked in its direction.

Two kids and a shiny new racer bike were heading our way with painfully eager expressions, and I wondered when me and Steve signed up to be counselors at Camp Shitstain?!

“Who’s that?” Steve asked, because he was still painfully dumb, and we were probably gonna have to fix that, but not till I sorted out that look on Dustin’s face.

Steve may have been an idiot, but to me it was glaringly obvious that the redheaded girl on the back of that bike was the object of his affections.

And if the way his face sunk harder than the Titanic was a signifier of his feelings; it looks like Red was already smitten with her speed racer.

“Hey kid; you wanna talk with your friend for a bit? Cos if you want I can keep Red busy?” I asked, giving Dustin an out if he wanted, because there was clearly a discussion that needed to be had here, and it was probably best if the lady in question was out of the picture for that.

“Yeah; that would be good, actually.” Dustin replied, probably sounding the most grown up he had since I’d joined this this party.

“Alright. You just leave this to me.” I reassured him, giving him a hard pat on the shoulder, before approaching the young redhead girl.

“Hey Red; can you give me a hand?”

——————————————————-

So Little Miss Lovetriangle was actually a big help, but maybe it was because at least someone around here wasn’t worried about getting her hands messy.

It did also help that I knew all about unwillingly being the rope in a testosterone filled game of tug of war.

The kid didn’t even seem to have an interest in the boys; and I was really gonna have to start learning names, because Dipshits One and Two and Red were really not suitable names in a crisis.

Right now; me and Red were busy melding corrugated metal sheets to the bus in a last ditch attempt at armour playing against demogorgons, whilst the two boys were still playing therapist, and Steve was off god knows where doing god knows what.

It was almost poetic; really. The two females of the group doing all the heavy lifting whilst the men were too busy bickering and being emotional.

Still; someone had to do it, and me and Red were down to our last sheet.

“On the count of three. One. Two. Three.” I instructed, before we managed to bend sheet metal around the front corner of the bus by hand.

It took some elbow grease, but we still managed to do it, and fuck; if I wasn’t proud of our work, creating our own Firt Knox outta scrap metal and chicken wire.

“Great work; kid!” I praised her; reaching out for a fist bump, which she eagerly returned.

I wiped the beading of sweat on my forehead, taking in what would hopefully hold us safely until Steve and I could figure out a way to kill a mutant lizard.

“You know; I never actually got your name?” I asked the girl; because it was probably rude of me to just call her Red this entire time.

“Max. Max Mayfield.” The girl replied, holding out a sweaty palm to shake.

“Lola. Lola Hopper.” I offered the same in return, taking her hand and shaking it firmly.

“You know; it’s funny...” Max smiled with withheld laughter, still shaking my hand.

“What’s funny?” I asked, letting go of her hand with a smile.

“My older brother goes on and on about this girl he knows called Lola...” She continued; that smile turning into a full on smirk, that sparked my curiosity.

“Well; what’s his name? Maybe I know him?” I asked, my interest officially peaked, and my mind now scanning for any fiery redheads I knew of.

“Billy.” She stated; and I felt the bottom suddenly drop out of my stomach.

She couldn’t be talking about him; could she?

“Billy? Billy Hargrove?” I asked; the question a near mimic of his own introduction to me, though with far more apprehension.

“Yeah. Know him?” Max nodded; clearly not picking up on my uneasiness with the topic, because did Billy really talk about me at home?

“Yeah. I know him.” I replied, not giving anything away with my answer, as there was no real way of knowing what bullshit Billy spurted about me behind closed doors.

“But you can’t possibly be that Lola...” Max scoffed; a small smile of incredulity crossing her face. “You’re not—“

“A dumb blonde with tits bigger than my head?” I asked; having already perfectly painted a mental picture of Billy’s usual type, and knowing that I didn’t fit the bill in the slightest.

“You are that Lola! Jesus; Wow!” She exclaimed; and for once I was hopeful that the gossip Billy was saying about me might at least hold a slither of truth.

“You are so not what I expected.” Max stated, leaning down to help me pick up another piece of metal, and I began to wonder what exactly she’d expected me to be like?

Probably a stuck up, slutty bitch who’d look more in place on a poster in Billy’s room then digging through trash in a junk yard.

Hope I wasn’t a disappointment.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I shrugged, deciding that if she’d expected what I think she expected; I was glad I was a big fucking surprise.

“Oh; yeah, totally!” Max nodded in agreement; clearly getting exactly what train of thought I was riding on, and deciding I was the polar opposite of it.

“I mean; I just can’t quite believe it...” She continued; her face a mixture of awe and disbelief as we continued to work on our barricade. “You seem so cool, and Billy’s a—��

“Total dick.” I finished off the sentence for her, not at all surprised that find Billy’s own sibling thought he was a douchebag.

Maybe I really was the first to see a different side to him.

“Hey; you said it, not me.” She held up her arms in surrender, as if she was worried the shadow of Billy would fall over her at any given minute.

But still; it wasn’t denial.

Then we both started laughing, because sometimes it was so damn refreshing to spend some time around another woman; budding as she may be, and I began to think maybe I should introduce her to El.

Of course; that would open a whole new can of worms with dad’s trust issues and secrecy laws.

“Hey; but aren’t you and Billy supposed to be...” She halted our laughing, creasing her red eyebrows in confusion.

So Billy did talk about me.

That, or maybe we were louder than I thought; in which case, I probably owed this kid an apology.

And some ear plugs.

I shook my head in refusal, trying my best to keep from smiling, because dick or not; thinking of Billy made me a little giddy.

“No. Nothing serious; we’re just...”

“Oh my god! You are!” She exclaimed; and I was becoming very aware that Steve could be back at any minute.

“We’re not even dating...” I continued to explain, but kids heard what they wanted to hear, and this one wanted some sort of decent payoff for putting up with a shitstain of a brother.

“You are far too cool for my brother; Lola Hopper.” Max praised, and somehow, her brand of hero worship was one I didn’t really mind.

“Hey; are those shitbirds helping you?” An uncharacteristically severe voice of one Steve Harrington interrupted our female bonding; the man in question coming into view with two folding chairs in hand.

“Steve; really, we’re fine...” I began to excuse, really not finding the idea of playing troop leader for a misfit troop of Boy Scouts appealing, but Steve was already well on his way marching over to the car the boys were not so subtly hiding behind.

“Jesus; is he always like this?” Max asked, chuckling at a rather fatherly Steve Harrington, busy lecturing two rather somber looking surrogate sons; completed with a complimentary hand on hip and finger waggle, as if he couldn’t take the metaphor far enough.

“You know; believe it or not, he’s actually pretty chilled normally.” I commented, smiling at how the boys suddenly started working double time under their “dad’s” direct supervision.

Daddy Steve.

Jesus; what a joke!

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