The Neighbor's Cat (Billy Hargrove x OC // Stranger Things)

12. The Lead

Randy felt bad about the car, she really did.

Even though she had managed to hose off the mud before they left for school the next morning, Hargrove's usually sleek Camaro was still lacking its luster. And, oddly enough, so was Hargrove himself. She figured the car was just in need of a good wax, and the dent in the door could be pulled out with a little bit of elbow grease and a decent plunger. The mirror... Well, the mirror was a different story. It would take a good mechanic and probably a good dose of money to fix that mess. And Hargrove, as much as she hated to admit it, was making her feel awful about it. Not because of his grumpy attitude towards her or his sulking — those were normal, really — but because of his genuinely dejected expression whenever he looked at the car. It was like someone had just taken a childhood toy, one with great memories, and smashed it to pieces. Clearly he had a strange attachment to the thing, and seeing it in such a banged up condition was bothering him in more ways than his bad mood let on.

She had apologized. Truly. Even after he watched her hose off the entire vehicle in thirty degree, nippy morning air, leaning against his front porch with a stupid cigarette hanging out of his mouth and a bowl of Life cereal while she froze and risked frostbite, she didn't get annoyed. She was sincerely apologetic about the whole business (even though it wasn't really her fault to begin with) and was putting in genuine effort to fix it. Unfortunately for her, it was going to take a lot more than a hose-down, plunger fix, and apology to pacify Hargrove's temper.

Pulling her locker open, Randy stuck her head inside and leaned it against her books.

"Why does life have to be so complicated?" she muttered to herself, voice echoing against the metal walls.

"Andy, are you okay?"

Popping back out of the cramped space, Randy tried to look casual as Nancy peered at her from over her stack of books. Jonathan stood a short distance behind her, pretending to look interested in the sleeve of his coat.

"I'm fine," Randy lied smoothly, as if she hadn't just hid inside a locker. "How are you feeling?"

It wasn't necessarily meant to be a dig about the party – Randy wouldn't stoop that low with Nancy. Her friend's welfare was important to her, even though hers obviously meant little to said friend, who had become so intoxicated that she had left her non-intoxicated friend completely stranded at a party she hadn't even wanted to go to in the first place, only for her friend (Randy) to get stuck riding home with the resident bully and possibly dangerous school bad boy, Billy Hargrove, who nearly get them eaten by some unknown road-rage-monster-creature. Not to mention that said friend (Nancy) had broken up with her long-time boyfriend (Steve) who, incidentally, had just made a math-homework pact with Randy, and would be very, very angry about that pact not becoming what he hoped it would be, meaning life was going to be hell for a long, long time.

...Right. Well, maybe the question had been a dig.

"I'm really sorry," Nancy said, shoulders stooping and face stretched in a grimace. "I know what I did was... totally stupid, and I know you paid for it–"

"And Steve," Randy added, slamming her locker closed.

"Listen, I know I was total bitch. I shouldn't have done that. I was... upset, and I made a mistake, and I'm sorry." She hugged her books to her chest. "Please, Andy. I know you're mad, but I can't lose someone else because of another stupid mistake that I made. Please. I can't lose you, too."

Randy glanced at her. Nancy's eyes were glazed, and guilt was practically radiating from every inch of her. She didn't have to say the name of the first friend that she lost because of a stupid mistake. They both knew.