loyal | hargrove

1

"Come on, I don't think you've gone to one party since sophomore year," Steve says, running a hand through his hair.

"Which is all the more reason why I shouldn't go to Tina's party tonight," Kaia replies, rolling her eyes and turning her attention back to her textbook.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride there and back."

"You know I'm just going to be DD-ing for you on the way back," Kaia smiles, writing something down on the paper next to her. 

"Wow, Kai, just because it's true doesn't mean you have to say it out loud," Steve scoffs, laying back in his chair dramatically.

Kaia's real name was actually the male name Kyle, and Kai to the closest people around her. The supposed "closest" people pretty much only encompassed Steve Harrington, her best and only friend, and her dad, the famous actor Jake Gyllenhaal. 

"Fine, I'll go to Tina's party with you. Just don't expect me to be able to find you when you inevitably hook up with some random girl. I'm taking your car and driving it back to my place, you can call me in the morning."

"Thank God! I almost felt like you for a second, struggling to find friends to go to social things with," Steve snarked, earning a punch in the arm from his brown haired friend. 

All of a sudden, the classroom door slams open, making Kaia jump a little bit. A tall boy walks in, about six feet, with a dirty blonde mullet, jean jacket, and an annoyed expression on his face. 

Kaia could almost hear the mutual gasping sound all the girls in the class made in unison. He was pretty, but still a common bad boy, no less. As he passed by and took the only open seat next to Steve and Kaia, Kaia could smell the faint smell of cigarettes and cologne that seemed to follow him wherever he went. 

He propped his legs up on the desk and saw that Steve and Kaia were staring at him. Well, the whole class was staring at him.

"What are you looking at?" he huffs out, mentally rolling his eyes. 

"You must be the new student, William Hargrove, is it?" the teacher says aloud to the class.

"It's Billy."

"Alright. Do you want to tell the class a little bit about yourself?" the teacher prodded a little more.

"Not really."

The teacher eased off, letting the teenagers work on their assigned classwork. Although, only a couple people were really working on it. Billy examined his nails for a minute before leaning over to Kaia's desk.

"So, babe, are you going to that party tonight?" he asks. 

Kaia's taken aback for a second.

"I am, actually. Babe," Kaia replies, a light tint on her cheeks. She smiles slightly as she turns the page in her textbook.

"Who are you going with?"

"Oh, just this idiot over here," Kaia replies, pointing at Steve with her pencil, who's carefully watching the two of them. 

"Are you guys, like, a thing?"

"Oh, God no," the two of them reply. 

They'd known each other since they were kids and hardly saw each other as a potential significant other. They were, as her dad put it, the best of friends anyone could have. Steve was the handsome, stupid one with a good heart. Kaia was the reasonable smarty pants with a nice life. Together, they were inseparable. 

"How about you, what's your story?" Billy asks, directing the question at Steve.

"I don't know, I'm on the basketball team here?" Steve says, almost stating the statement as a question.

"Bet I could outshoot you," Billy says cockily, his eyes flickering back to Kaia for a second before looking back at Steve.

"Yeah, right. Play me sometime, I'd beat your ass," Steve replied. 

"Fine."

The bell rings and Kaia closes her textbook.

"See you tonight, sweetheart," Billy rasps, pushing his chair out roughly and leaving the classroom. 

Kaia shoves her book and notes into her backpack, wanting to leave the classroom at once. She could feel the girls' glares burning into the back of her skull the whole time Billy spoke to them. She already had the misfortune of being on King Steve's good side, and she really didn't need to be on the good side of this Billy Hargrove. 

He was handsome, not as good looking as Steve, but he had that bad boy attitude. Girls loved that. And he was clearly no stranger to flirting with girls, as Kaia had seen in the conversation she had with him two minutes ago. 

As she left the class, she caught Carol and Tina staring at her and cracking their gum, rolling their eyes.

-

"Kai, Steve's here!" Jake, Kaia's father yells from downstairs. 

She had just finished changing her outfit into a pair of jean shorts and a reasonable black crop top. She didn't want to look like a prude, but she also didn't want to stand out too much. She leapt down the stairs and saw Steve at the front door, looking normal as well. He had on a silver jacket and jeans. 

"Thanks, dad."

"Wait, where, exactly, are you going again?" Jake asks. He's a pretty laid back parent, not too overbearing. 

"Um, Tina's party?" 

"Will there be, um, alcohol?" he asks, emphasizing the 'um.'

"Yes?"

"Well, um, drink responsibly! And if both of you guys drink, make sure to call me so I can give you guys a ride back," He offers.

"Okay dad," Kaia says, rolling her eyes. Steve gave Jake a little salute and waited for Kaia to put on her shoes. 

"Stay safe!"

"Dad!"

Steve had a red BMW, a "pretty sweet ride" as he liked to call it. It might have been sweet on the outside, but the inside was dirty. There were old cans on the seat and school papers everywhere.

"God, what is this, a pigsty?" Kaia groaned as she got into the car, Steve starting the engine.

"You use the Lord's name so much I'm starting to think that you're a believer," Steve snaps back playfully.

"Does any trash ever leave this place?" Kaia asks, picking up a condom wrapper up from a pile of trash.

"Don't touch that!" Steve says, slapping her hand and making the piece of plastic fall out of her hand. "You don't know what could be on it."

"I wasn't thinking of what was on it until you said that... ew," Kaia replies. 

"So, that Billy guy, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, I saw the way you were looking at him."

"How?"

"You know, like you're all in love and stuff," Steve said in a little sing-songy voice. 

"And what would you know about love? The only girl you ever dated dumped you and moved to a different state," Kaia said, referring to his ex, Nancy Wheeler. 

She was also perfect. A lot more perfect than Kaia could ever be. She had a legitimate perfect life; her parents were caring and her family had financial stability. And she was leagues smarter than Kaia could ever be. 

"I thought we agreed that we don't talk about her. At least I had a girlfriend. I don't think I've so much as seen you speak to someone with a Y chromosome before," Steve says back. 

That might've been true, although Kaia had obviously spoken with her dad, Steve, maybe Jonathan Byers a couple times, and a couple kids on the swim team. You could say she was one of those quiet types. 

Steve pulled up to Tina's house, and Kaia felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.