The babysitters club|| Steve Harrington

16

"Mamma?" Mateo couldn't help the way his heart lurched when someone picked up the phone, "Hello?"

"Matteo!" Came a voice.

It was suddenly as if a hot spike had been removed from his head, like he hadn't been aware of how much pain he'd been in until he felt the relief wash over him.

"Mamma" He repeated, "Where were you? Dad and I called you last night, even Uncle Patrick tried. We were worried. How is Zia Nicole? How are you? Did something happen? How long are you going to stay—"

"Matteo, Matteo, calm down" She said and just hearing her voice was all the confirmation he needed. She was fine. Her voice was a bit scratchy but that was probably the reception. The phone in the mall wasn't the newest model, but it did the job. "I'm fine, Nicole is fine too. We didn't get any calls yesterday, must have been the storm last night"

"Yeah, probably" Matteo played with his sleeve. There was something... off about her voice. She sounded sick, probably from trying to help Nicole as much as she could, "When are you coming back home? I think I'm going to stay over at Robin's tonight so don't worry about me"

"I don't know when I'll come back" She said, "Where are you exactly?"

"Uh— we're at the playground. Robin and a few friends, just meeting up after the shift." Matteo didn't like lying to her, but she would only worry if he told her he was still at the mall. "I'll be back tomorrow, don't worry. I'm glad you're okay, I thought something must have happened"

"No, I said I'm fine!" Lucia snapped, "Sorry, just... a little tired"

"You always forget to take care of yourself when taking care of others" Matteo snorted, "Is she there? Zia Nicole? How is she now?"

There was a shuffling of feet and heavy breathing before his mother's voice was replaced by someone else's.

"Hiya, kiddo"

"Nicole! How are you?"

"Just a bit of a fever, nothing for you to worry about"

"Okay, if you say so. Just don't let my mom tire herself out while taking care of you. You know how she gets sometimes"

"I know," The audio over the phone cracked a bit so Matteo wasn't sure what the woman was saying.

"Sorry, what? I didn't catch that"

"I was just asking you, if you knew someone called Billy Hargrove?"

Matteo frowned. He had never mentioned Billy at home, much less in front of zia Nicole. "Yeah, he's a— uh he was a classmate, why?"

"Nothing, he just... he showed up this morning. Poor thing, drenched in the rain, Lucia took him in" Nicole sighed, "He's staying over tonight, said you guys were friends"

Matteo's head swam. What the fuck was Billy Hargrove doing at Nicole's house? Also why the fuck would he say he was friends with Matteo when most of Matteo's bruises were his fault?

Billy Hargrove. Just hearing that name made a chill run down his spine. He'd shown up a year ago and the bullying had intensified. He didn't care much for Robin since he didn't know her. But for Matteo, he was the devil personified.

It wasn't rare to have Billy mock him in the hallways, push and shove him, and since he gained popularity quickly, a lot of people followed his lead.

It was once after school when he was lying— bloodied and bruised in a supermarket parking lot, that he met Max for the first time. Or rather, Max almost ran him over on her skateboard.