────────────────────────────

-'ˏ Margo's Pov ˎ'-

╭ ╮

Margaret Henderson's House

Saturday , 4:43 p.m

╰ ╯

────────────────────────────

I slung my backpack over my shoulder before heading downstairs. I saw Dustin in the kitchen and decided to skip eating anything. Right as I was about to open to door he caught me.

"Margaret?" Dustin called out.

Shit.

"Hm?" I hummed back questioningly.

He popped around from the kitchen doorway and stared at me. "Who's shirt?"

"Mine. Thrift store find. Bye Dusty love you tell mom I'll be home before dinner!" I replied as I slammed the door escaping the situation.

I began walking down the street hoping it wouldn't rain. But of course with my luck the rumble of thunder broke out. I quickly speed walked down the barren path that cut right through the woods.

Finally hitting the main road that led into town I passed the arcade and headed towards the small town diner. Once inside I quickly sat down in a booth and tore off my now soaked jacket that left me in my lightly dampened shirt. A nice older lady asked me if I was ready to order so I got a small coffee and pulled out all of my chemistry homework. Sighing in frustration, I began to work.

Seven coffees and three breakdowns later a group of rowdy jocks came filing in and sat in the booth across from me. I rolled my eyes at the sudden outbreak of noise and continued working.

"Hey sweetcheeks." I cringed at the familiar nickname. "Whatcha working on?" The voice questioned as he snatched the paper from me.

"What the fuck?" I question looking up at the intruder in my booth seat. He suddenly rips my paper in half and I gasped in shock. Another dude sat down next to me. "Sorry babe guess you can redo it." He said smirking as he gripped my thigh. I scooted as far away from his reach as I could but this only angered him. Making him scoot closer, trapping me between him and the wall.

"What do you want?" I asked him trying to sound confident and angry but it came out as a small squeak.

The guy shrugged suggestively and got even closer to me, whispering in my ear. I faced away from him and tried to calm my breathing because nothing could happen in a small diner, right? Suddenly the guy was yanked back by his collar and onto the floor.

"Out." A familiar voice snarled. "You too." He said to the guy on the opposite side of the booth. "Beat it." He pointed towards the door. "NOW or I'll beat both of you into your fucking graves!" He spit out. The two boys and the rest of the group hauled ass to the door not turning around even once.

I breathed out a sigh of relief looking into Billy's angry face.

"We are leaving NOW." He stated as he carefully but firmly shoved my papers into a pile, being careful not to mess them up. He opened my backpack and crammed my binder in before shoving the last of books in on top of it. Quickly zipping it he threw it over his own shoulder. He grabbed my arm pulling me out of the booth before reaching out to grab my jacket. He slung his arm over my shoulder and walked us to the door.

"Terrible customer service didn't want to eat there anyways." He mumbled. It was still raining outside so in a weak attempt to save me from the water he shielded my face with his own hand before unlocking his car door one handed and shoving both me and my backpack inside.

"Thanks." I mutter weakly as he slams his own door shut.

"Yeah no problem it's the least I could do." He replied giving me a small smile in return. He leaned his head back against his seat and rubbed his face. "Where do you wanna go?"

"Home." He nodded his head and started the car. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the glass.

────────────────────────────

"Hey sleepyhead." Billy teased as he leaned against the open car door. "Glad you enjoyed your nap." He said grabbing my backpack and leaning over to unbuckle me.

"I can get out on my own!" I groan at him while stepping out of the car. He put his hands up in mock defeat before walking towards his house.

"Wait I need my backpack!" I said confused. He kept walking with my bag while dutifully ignoring my protests. Eventually I followed him since he wasn't listening to me.

"Well." He said unlocking the door. "I figured you wanted to study and since you didn't do it at home I'm assuming you need somewhere else."

"No I can-"

He shut the door behind me as I walked in before jogging lightly up the stairs to what I'm assuming was his room.

"You've got to be kidding me." I muttered to myself as I followed him. When he opened the door I expected naked girl posters and beer cans everywhere but it was surprisingly clean and tidy. There was a bookcase full of books and pictures and little league baseball trophies. In the corner was a large red surfboard and on the edge of his bed frame hung different colored beaded necklaces and a lifeguard hipbag. He placed my backpack on his bed and sat down in the chair in the corner with a Hawkins pool shirt and shorts lazily thrown over it.

"Sorry for the mess." He apologized looking at the shirt and shorts. He snatched them up and shoved them in the nearest drawer. "The thunderstorm means no work for lifeguards." He added sheepishly.

"You're a lifeguard?" I asked him incredulously.

He shrugged lightly and turned red.

"You a good swimmer?" I asked while staring and pointing at the surfboard in the corner.

"I guess so."

I walked over to the bookcase looking through the photos. I smiled looking at one with a young blonde headed boy smiling widely with the same surfboard tucked under his arm. Another one was of the same boy shoving a hamburger into his mouth eagerly. I giggled out loud before moving onto the next one, a picture of a very pretty women. She was in a white dress holding sandy yellow flip flops, clutching at her small bronze necklace and smiling widely.

"She's very pretty." I commented.

Before I could process what was happening the photo frame was ripped from my hands and slammed back onto the bookcase face down so I couldn't see it anymore. I looked up shocked. His expression was cold and hard but his eyes were wet and pained looking.

"I- I'm sorry." I apologized not knowing what had set him off. I looked away from his gaze and noticed the same necklace that was on the lady in the picture was now around Billy's neck.

He winced looking at my hurt expression and sighed rubbing his hand along his jawline.

"Yeah I use to live in California so I can swim pretty well." He replied trying to change the subject.

"Mhm." I simply answered as I stood there awkwardly.

He pulled a chemistry textbook off the highest shelf and handed it to me.

"Test this Monday right?" He said as he took off his boots and sat on the bed. I nodded and stood at the edge of the bed still wet from the rain.

"Too good for the bed or?" He questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"Don't want to ruin your bed with wet clothes." I sarcastically answered.

He slowly nodded and got off the bed, digging around in a drawer before pulling the lifeguard shirt back out and throwing it at me.

"Sorry I forgot you don't like changing in front of people." He said as he turned around to face the wall.

I stood there trying to process how nice he was being. I quickly ripped off his old shirt along with my jeans and put on the new shirt that was long enough to be a dress. I sat down cross legged on the bed and opened up the book. He slowly turned around and sat back down on the bed doing the same to his textbook.

────────────────────────────

Getting frustrated I slammed my pencil down on the worksheet and groaned. He looked up and twisted the paper around to look at it himself.

"It's a lanthanide." He simply answered before turning back to his almost finished worksheet. I stared at him in shock. He looked back up at me through the blonde curls that were falling into his eyes.

"Cuz of the atomic number. It has to be in one of the bottom rows which only leaves you with two options and because of its ions-" He said trying to explain it to me before I cut him off.

"Since when have you been so smart?"

His cheeks turned a bright pink. "It's just a simple problem which you would know if you paid any attention."

I laughed at him and leaned over to punch his arm. "Okay nerd!"

"I am NOT-" He tried protesting.

"Sorry don't want to ruin your bad boy reputation!" I said poking his nose before he laughed.

"Maybe you just happen to be stupid." He said smiling widely at me.

"Billy?" A female voice called out followed by a sharp knock on the door.

"Yeah I'm a little bit busy in here Susan!" He replied back clearly annoyed.

"Open the door RIGHT now!" An angry male voice called out.

Billy rolled his eyes and slammed the textbook shut before walking towards the door and opening it. "What's wrong?" He asked. He had one hand behind his back that was nervously fidgeting.

"I don't know why don't you tell us?" The man, who I'm assuming was his dad, asked.

"Because I don't know!" Billy answered.

"We can't find Maxine." A nervous looking women told him.

"And her window is open." The man added on. Billy looked away and back nervously.

"Where is she?" The man interrogated.

"I don't know!" Billy asked stepping in front of the door completely blocking the view of his room.

"You don't know?" The man scoffed.

"Look I'm sure she just, I don't know, went to the arcade or something! I'm sure she's fine." He calmly stated but I could still see his hand nervously tapping on the door.

"You were suppose to watch her." The man stated.

"I know dad, I was but you guys were three hours late. I picked her up after school yesterday and brought her home and I had to work today."

The man slammed the door fully open.

"I'm sorry alright?" Billy said as he shifted his weight.

"So that's why you've been sitting here in my house with a whore instead of watching your sister?" He questioned as he nodded his head towards me.

"I've been watching her ALL WEEK DAD!" He roared back irritated. "If she wants to run off then that's her problem alright? She's thirteen years old and she shouldn't need a full time babysitter! And she's NOT my sister!" He added angrily before the man quickly stepped into the room and slammed him up against the bookcase by his collar. Both the woman and I gasped loudly at the sudden action.

"What did we talk about?" The man lowly asked Billy as he inched closer to his face. Billy didn't answer and received a hard backhanded slap to the face in response. I winced as the women made an uncomfortable sound before looking away, clearly uncomfortable with the scene unfolding in front of her.

"What. Did. We. Talk about." the man asked again as he gripped Billy's chin harshly.

"Respect.. and responsibility." Billy choked out.

"That is right. Now apologize to Susan." He demanded. Billy stared back at him defiantly as he took deep labored breaths.

"I'm sorry Susan." He muttered.

"It's okay Neil really!" She replied trying to diffuse the situation.

"NO!" He yelled. "Nothing about his behavior is OKAY!" He screamed in Billy's face while pointing at him accusingly. "But he's gonna make up for it." He said letting go of him.

"He's going to take his whore home!" He said pointing at me. "And then he's gonna go find his sister like the good, kind, respecting brother that he is. Isn't that right Billy?" Billy just stared back at him, his hand still nervously fidgeting. "ISN'T THAT RIGHT?" The man screamed stepping closer to him.

"Yes sir." Billy weakly said as he winced from the sudden outburst.

The man sighed. "Sorry I couldn't hear you?" He said while stepping closer threateningly.

"Yes. Sir." Billy spits out still making challenging eye contact with the man.

"Find. Max." The man said as he stepped out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him.

As soon as he was out of sight. Billy's face crumbled and he turned around to stare at the bookshelf. The picture frame he ripped out of my hands earlier was now broken and the glass shards were loosely scattered. He quickly dug the picture out of the glass, cutting his finger in the process and held it to his chest before beginning to cry.