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"I had no idea you were a professional badass." Billy laughs as he speeds away from the park. I glance at the forming bruises on my knuckles. "Well, you haven't known me for very long." I smile to myself. I just took down one of the school's biggest assbags. All by myself. "Why did you kick his ass, anyways?" Billy asks. "Not that he doesn't deserve it." I raise an eyebrow. "Isn't he your friend?" Billy rolls his eyes. "No one at this school is actually my friend because they want to be my friend." He then glances at me. "Except you." I snort. "Wow. I had no idea that we were friends." He smiles a bit. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe we aren't." I laugh. "So would you agree with me if I said that Tommy H is an asshole?" He shrugs. "What did he say to you?" Feeling insecure at the thought, I fold my arms over my chest and say, "It's kind of embarrassing." "Whitley. Tell me before I turn this car around and beat it out of him." He says seriously. I glance out of the window. "He said that I should go get a bigger bra to make my boobs look bigger so that I'll actually attract male attention." When he doesn't say anything, I glance over at him to see him gripping the steering wheel so hard that his fingers were turning white. "Billy." "I'm going to fucking kill him." "Yeah, what do you think I just did?" I say. I lightly touch his shoulder, trying to calm him down. "I broke his nose. He got what was coming to him. Now, just calm down." He loosens his grip on the wheel. "I'm still going to kick his ass at school on Monday." I smirk. "I'll cheer you on."
Monday
"Whitley, get moving! We don't have all day!" Collin snaps, waking me up from my daydream. I slip on sweatpants, a white tank top, and an unbuttoned red flannel to go over it. I don't care about how I looked today. I'm too tired to even try. Forgetting makeup, I throw on my white sneakers and tie my hair up in a messy bun. Collin raised his eyebrows when I entered the kitchen. "Going for the hillbilly look today?" Collin jokes. "Shut up, Collin. She looks pretty." Charlie defends me. "You're the best, Charlie." I ruffle his hair. The second bell rings when I arrived at school. Great. I have to run to class again. I make it to class a few minutes later. I slump into my seat next to Billy, panting from all the running I just did. "Trouble rolling out of bed this morning?" He jokes, noting my outfit. I roll my eyes in response. We don't speak for the rest of the period because of the teacher being on edge. After the period is over, he walks me to math again. "How are your knuckles?" He takes my hands to inspect them. "Still bruised." I say. We stop outside of my math class. "I'm sitting with you at lunch. So save me a spot." Billy says. "You know damn well Jonathan and I are the only people who sit at that table. I don't have to save you anything." I laugh. He smirks. "Well alright then." He walks away. In math, the two girls in front of me sneak looks at me the entire period. I hear their whispers about Billy and the party and how he flipped out on Steve for hugging me in the cafeteria last Friday. I decided that the next time they look at me I'd flip them off. And so I do. Their mouths dropped in shock. "Bitch." One of them hisses. I flash them a sarcastic smile. At lunchtime I see them go to Carol and whisper to her. The next thing I know the three of them are glaring at me. "Is it true?" Jonathan drops his tray at his spot in front of me. I frown. "Is what true?" "That you beat Tommy H's ass. People are saying that you broke his nose. And sure enough, when he walked into class this morning, there's a big ass bandage on his nose." He says excitedly. I shrug. "Well, he pissed me off." "Holy shit, so you did!" Jonathan laughs. "So, you a professional badass or what?" I grin. "You could say that." We chat for a bit about what I did. Jonathan talks about how Tommy beat him up in middle school when he looks up and mutters. "Uh oh." I frown. "What is it?" "Carol and her posse are coming, ten o'clock." Jonathan informs. I glance behind me to see that they are in fact walking straight towards us. From the corner of my eye, I see Billy enter the cafeteria. "What the hell is your problem, bitch?" Carol spits in my face. "I actually don't have a problem." I flash her a sarcastic smile. "But surely you do, which is why you brought your posse. So lay it on me, sugar plum." Jonathan is visibly trying hard not to laugh. "You know what? We do have a problem. You come into this school thinking that you're hot shit and taking the hottest guy in school!" Says one of the girls who has been whispering about me in math with her friend. Now Carol speaks. "And then we hear that you broke my boyfriends nose because you're so sensitive." I humorously laugh. "First of all, I broke your boyfriends nose because he's a body shaming sexist pig. Second of all, I haven't taken any guy. Whoever it is, you can have him. I don't care!" "Billy Hargrove, you bitch!" The girl from math basically shrieks. The entire student body was watching us now. This is the second school day in a row where I'm in the center of an argument. "You think I'm screwing Billy Hargrove?" I snort. "The hell is happening?" I hear Steve walk over and ask Jonathan. "The entire school knows you are!" Carol rebutted. "Leah, what the hell did I tell you about making accusations?" Billy steps into the argument. I guess that's the girl's name. Leah. "Whatever, Billy." Leah glares at me. "No, Leah, screw off. You and I never going to happen. Same goes for your friends. Understood?" There was no emotion other than pure annoyance in his voice. The girls stormed off, embarrassed. "What the hell just happened?" I mutter to Jonathan. "Okay, what freaking movie are we in because I'm pretty sure I've seen one where the same thing just happened." Jonathan laughs. I turn to talk to Billy, but he was already gone.
"You remember what to do?" I ask Steve. We were in front of Nancy Wheeler's house. I had talked Steve into apologizing to her, even though he shouldn't be the one to say sorry. He nods. "Yeah." He takes a deep breath and steps out of the car with the roses in his hand. He walks up to the Wheeler's front door. He was about to knock when Dustin comes out of nowhere. "Steve," Dustin walks over to him. "Are those for Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler?" "No?" "Good." Dustin snatches the roses from Steve and heads over to the car. "Hey! What the hell!" Steve chases after him. "Nancy isn't home," Dustin says. "Where is she?" "It doesn't matter! We have bigger problems than your love life." Dustin opens the door and slips into the backseat. "Hey, Whit. Steve, you still have that bat?" "Bat? What bat?" "The one with the nails!" "You have a bat with nails?" I frown. "Why?" Steve groans. "I'll explain it on the way." "Now?" "Now!"
"Wait a sec, how big?" Steve asks Dustin. "First it was like that," Dustin used his hands to show the size. "Now it's like this." "I swear to god, man, it's just some little lizard." "It's not a lizard!" Dustin protests. "How do you know?" Asks Steve. "How do I know if is not a lizard?" "Yes, how do you know if it's not a lizard?!" "Because it's face opened up and it ate my cat!" Dustin rebutted. Steve shuts up, believing Dustin. Steve pulls up to Dustin's house. The three of us hop out of the car and get Steve's bat from the back. "Wow. You seriously have a bat with nails." I say. "It comes in handy." Steve shuts the trunk and heads over to the bunker. "For what?" I frown, but I don't get an answer. We walked to Dustin's outdoor basement. Steve pauses before opening it up. "I don't hear shit." "Well, it's in there," Dustin fires back. Steve hits the door with his bat to hear if there was any movement inside. Steve turns to Dustin and flashes the flashlight in his face. "Alright, listen kid, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead." "It's not." "Alright?" Steve raises his eyebrows. "It's not! It's not a prank! Now get the light out of my face!" Dustin winces. "You got a key for this thing?" Dustin unlocks the doors, and Steve opens the doors wide open to look inside the basement. "It must be further in there or something." I said. "I'll stay up here in case he tries to... escape." Dustin said. "Me too," I quickly added. Steve gives us annoyed looks, probably still thinking this was a Halloween prank. Steve shakes his head before walking down into the basement, the flashlight lighting his way. "Steve?" We ask after he'd been down there for about a minute. "Steve, what's going on down there?" Steve jumps into the view and flashed the lights at us, giving Dustin and I mini heart attacks. "Get down here." Steve orders. Dustin and I share a look before we go down into the basement together. "Aw, shit." Says Dustin when Steve shows us a slimy skin that he held up with his bat. "Ew." I frown in disgust. "Oh, shit!" Dustin says again when Steve flashes the light to the newly dug hole in the wall. The damn thing escaped.
The next day the three of us had buckets of cow meat, walking on the train tracks and trying to lure the lizard thing. We tossed the meat on the ground in a trail so it would follow us. "So let me get this straight," Steve says. "You kept something that you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress some girl who you just met?" "Ok, that's grossly simplifying things." "I mean,what kind of girl likes a nasty slug anyways?" Steve cocks his head. "An inter-dimensional slug," Dustin corrected him. "And because it's awesome." "Well even if she thought it was cool— which she didn't, I just feel like you're trying way too hard, man." Steve clarifies. Dustin rolls his eyes. "Well not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright?" "It's not about about the hair, man." Steve glances at him. "The key to a girl is... just acting like you don't care." "Okay, woah, that is so not true!" I barked at Steve. I turn to Dustin. "You're taking advice from the guy who just broke up with his girlfriend because he acted like he didn't care." Dustin laughs. "Look, Dustin, the key to a girl is to be yourself, and don't try too hard, because she'll want you to give her space." I explain. "And then what?" "You wait." Steve adds. "You wait until you, uh, you feel it." Frowning, Dustin asks, "Feel what?" "The electricity." He replies. "Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere—" "No, no, no. Like a— like a sexual electricity." "Oh." Dustin's eyes widen, as do mine. "Now, when you feel that," Steve begins, "you make your move." "So that's when you kiss her?" Dustin glances up at Steve, a questioning look upon his face. "Woah woah woah, slow down, Romeo." Steve jokes. "Sure, ok, some girls, Yeah, they want you to be aggressive, strong, hot and heavy, you know, like a lion. But others you got to be slow. You gotta be stealthy. Like a... ninja." "What type is Nancy?" I smirk to myself, excited to hear Steve's response. "Nancy's different." Steve hums. "Different than the other girls." "She seems pretty special, I guess." "Yeah. Yeah, she is." "But," Dustin continues. "This girl's different. You know, there's something special about her." "Woah, hey, you aren't falling in love with this girl, yeah?" Steve stops walking. "No," Dustin remarks. "No." "Ok, good." Steve continues on his trek. "Don't. She's only going to break your heart and you're way too young for that shit." He pulls some meat out of the bucket and tosses it in front of him.
