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-'ˏ Margo's Pov ˎ'-

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Margaret Henderson's House

Monday , 4:32 p.m

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"Oh." I replied. "With who?"

"Me. We were drunk. You were drunk. Too drunk to remember."

"It was with you?" I asked again.

"Yes Margo with me." He replied in an upset tone.

I shrugged at him. "You should have told me earlier."

He nodded his head vehemently. "I know."

"If it was consensual I don't know why you are beating yourself up about it."

His eyes popped open in disbelief. "Are you mad?"

"A little. Healthy relationships talk things out. But I'm not going to yell." I replied as I started walking towards the kitchen.

Billy followed me. "No yelling and no secrets?" I asked him as I turned around with my pinky out. He quickly reached out with his own pinky.

"No more yelling, no more secrets." He repeated.

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I have never been so excited for school in my whole entire life. It had been two weeks and I was finally cleared to resume low risk activities. I hadn't told Billy or any of my friends so it was a surprise.

I quickly tugged on a light blue crewneck and faded out overalls. "Billys favorite color" I thought to myself smugly. I grabbed up all my stuff and dashed out the door applying lipgloss as I went.

The walk wasn't so bad when I was actually excited to be there. I was rolling up the crewnecks sleeves to my wrists so I could use my hands when I walked onto campus. I was halfway through the entrance door when the familiar sound of a loud car came rushing down the street. It came to a rough stop in a parking spot. A large section of paint was missing from the front but it looked otherwise intact from the crash, like he had fixed it himself. Billy stepped out looking as good as ever. His jaw was clenched in a hard line, eyes unseeable because of the dark sunglasses. Almost everyone had stopped to stare. The anger rolled off him in waves. Max meekly got out of the passenger seat and all but ran to the middle school.

I see why people think he's mean.

He glanced around quickly before leaning back on his cars hood and throwing his sunglasses off. "Where is he?" Billy yelled across the lot. Everyone still stood frozen. "Josh. I want to talk to him." He said with a slick smile on his face. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place who it was. Everyone glanced around before someone pushed, who I assumed was Josh, forward.

He looked nervous as he walked towards Billy from his own car.

He lit a cigarette and rolled it between his fingers as Josh continued to walk over.

"What's up man?" Josh asked trying to sound confident.

Billy let out a forced chuckle as he caught his bottom lip between his teeth angrily. He threw the cigarette down and stomped on it. Suddenly he reached forward quickly and shoved Josh to his feet. Everyone gasped as they watched. It felt like my heart had dropped out of my body as I watched with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"What the hell?" Josh yelled as Billy towered over him. He tried scrambling to his feet but Billy connected his fist with his face. Josh cried out and grabbed at his nose.

I stood there absolutely horrified. Is this how he always acts?

Suddenly all hell broke loose as Josh reached up to try and punch him back. He was in no position to win and I was scared Billy was actually going to send him to the hospital.

I started pushing past people and they looked at me like I was crazy as I ran towards the spectacle. Billys back was facing me as I walked up.

"Billy? Billy!" I yelled as I got closer. My voice was drowned out amidst the cheers for both sides to win. I was only a couple feet away now. I reached out to grab his free arm and he shoved me back roughly.

A gasp rippled though the crowd as I landed on my butt a few feet away from where I had once stood. He whipped around to see who he had pushed. His face was unrecognizable. His eyes were dark and he had his face set in an angry tight lipped grimace. A couple curls were sticking to his forehead and his right fist was busted up. When he recognized me his body language changed. Billy quickly dropped Josh's shirt and let him fall back down to the ground.

"Hi sunshine. I thought you were suppose to be at home?" he asked me softly. An even louder wave of whispers rippled through the growing crowd.

I scoffed at him as I stood up and dusted off my pants. Shaking my head at him as I began to walk away. I was making my way through the crowd towards the school entrance when I heard him punch Josh one more time.

"Look at what you fucking did Josh." He commented before walking away too.

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"Hargrove has been looking for you." Nancy told me as she sat down on the top row of bleachers.

"I know." I said rolling my eyes as I looked down at the empty gym.

She sighed as she popped another grape into her mouth. I continued working on math homework that was due next period and began planning how to avoid science, and Billy as well.

"Like he has been terrorizing people into telling them where you are."

"I know." I answered again flatly. "I'm not here in the gym for fun."

The bell rung and I sighed as I rested my head on the cold brick wall of the gym behind me.

"We can skip." Nancy lightly suggested as she neatly packed everything away.

I laughed at her. "Nancy Wheeler skipping? No way!"

She gave me a small smile and looked expectantly towards the boys locker room door. I finally clicked the puzzle pieces together.

"You want to watch Steve suck at basketball?"

Nancy blushed as the door slammed open. The whole seventh period pe class walked out. The gym teacher that was clearly past his retirement age walked out and began to start a game of shirts and skins. Unfortunately for Nancy, Steve was chosen to stay in his shirt. The boys who were told to take off their shirts groaned, it was clearly a punishment. A loud bang echoed through the gym as the door slammed against the wall. The final boy walked out angrily.

I recognized the stupid confident way he walked the second he was on the court. The gym teacher gruffly told him he was a skin and unlike the others, Billy didn't complain. He tore off his shirt with ease and pulled his Saint Christopher necklace back down before walking onto the court.

"Well. You are screwed." Nancy commented. There was no way I was leaving this building unnoticed by him.

I groaned and turned my head so no-one on the court could see my face. In reality I was avoiding having such an awkward conversation but kept playing it off like I was mad.

"He knows." Nancy muttered. "Margo just give it up he's flat out staring."

I reluctantly turned my head to look at him. He didn't appear angry. His tongue lolled out of his mouth as we made eye contact.

Halfway through the game the teacher blew his whistle and signaled for them to take a break. Nancy walked out of the gym tensely after beckoning for Steve to follow her. Leaving me all alone.

Billy wasted no time as he walked up the bleachers. He took them two at a time and came to a quick stop at my feet. He bent down like you would with a child and placed his hands on either side of me. I felt locked in place as he looked me up and down.

"You've been avoiding me." He stated. I nodded my head curtly at him and leaned back against the wall trying to make a space between us.

Billy leaned in closer. "I'm sorry." I didn't bother to reply. He sighed and took a seat on the next bleacher down from mine. Even though I was one row higher than he was, he was still at eye level with me.

"How's your head babydoll?"

I gave the him the nastiest look I could come up with.

Billy ran his hand down his face like he was collecting his thoughts. "I'm really sorry for shoving you. You know I wouldn't have laid a finger on you if I knew who it was."

"Why don't you just I don't know. Not beat people up." I told him angrily.

His mouth began to quip up into a smile but he held it in. "He deserved it."

"No." I told him flatly.

"No to what sunshine?" He asked as his hand reached up towards me. I smacked it away quickly. Billy leaned back and looked at me. "Whatever we can talk about this later." He said as he stood up to walk away.

"No."

I could practically feel him roll his eyes at me. He turned back to face me. "Ask around about what he was saying and maybe you'll have a different view." Billy told me as he shrugged in a lazy and nonchalant way.