Bea groaned as she reached over to turn off her blaring alarm. She was tired, for she had stayed up talking to her twin brother until three that morning. Billy was still snoring across their shared bedroom.
"Billy!" Bea called across the room. Billy didn't stir from his sleep. She threw a pillow at him, and he jumped in response, waking abruptly.
"What time is it?" He groaned, moving to sit on the edge of his bed.
"7:00. We have to get Max to school."
Neither of the Hargrove twins really cared about school. The pair were 17 year old juniors due to failing their eighth. They simply didn't try, and that had a negative effect on their grades. They would skip if it wasn't for their responsibility of driving their step-sister. Neil would never let them hear the end of it if they made the red head late.
The siblings always had a routine when they got ready for the day, and they stuck to it. Billy would blast Metallica or some other punk band and get ready first. The twins shared the same taste in music. Susan always made sure to correlate their music taste, and everything else about the twins for that matter, to jailbirds. Billy and Bea had big dreams, but they knew the dreams were unobtainable, as life handed them shit constantly.
Bea loved baseball. She loved to play and be a part of the sport. She was regularly on an old, dirt field with her friends back home in California. She hated that she had to leave.
Bea loved art as well. She took after her mother who loved to paint. She was grateful for art, as she knew she could paint wherever she was in the world, whether she was back home in California or in Hawkins.
As for Billy, he wasn't really sure what he wanted. He didn't know where he'd fit, but he knew that he wanted to do something that would make his mother and sister proud. Billy did know, however, that he wanted to take care of his twin sister and help her reach her dreams. Beatrice was Billy's happiness; he was nothing without her. The twins were inseparable.
"What are you wearing today?" Billy asked his sister. He was fully dressed in a jean jacket, wife beater, and jeans, but Bea was still in her pajamas, searching through her closet.
"I don't know. I want to be likable."
"Bean," he said. "You are likable."
Billy gently pushed past his sister, pulling a pair of high waisted jean shorts, a striped tee, and a jean jacket.
"Get ready. I'm going to go make us some breakfast."
"Feed Max too—don't give dad something to be mad about," Beatrice told him before starting to change. Beatrice didn't bother wearing makeup or doing too much with her hair. Her hair was too curly to bother with, and makeup was just a hassle to take off in the evenings. She slipped on her Converse and grabbed her backpack before going to the kitchen.
Neil was passed out on the couch, bottles of alcohol on the floor in front of him. Susan laid on top of him, snoring softly. Beatrice rolled her eyes and sat in a barstool.
"And we're the lowlifes," Bea muttered to her brother. He passed her a plate of buttered toast. Billy snickered and took a bite of his own toast.
Max came out of her lazily, not bothering to look at the parents on the couch. She opened the fridge, sighing at the lack of food.
"Billy made you toast," Beatrice told her stepsister, nodding to the untouched plate next to the toaster. Max nodded and started eating.
Before long, Billy was speeding into the school parking lot, coming to a squealing halt at a parking lot. Beatrice could feel all the eyes on her, and it made her feel insecure.
She took a long drag of her cigarette and opened the car door.
"We aren't waiting long for you after school," Beatrice told her stepsister before the redhead jogged towards the middle school. She ignored the older blonde.
"And we're the disrespectful ones," Billy commented. Bea shrugged. Max was probably struggling just as much as they were with the new change.
Bea took a look around at all of the students. Most eyes were on the twins; she didn't know how to feel about that. She took a long puff of her cigarette, blowing out the smoke dramatically. The twins didn't mean to smoke in sync, but it was intimidating to the onlookers.
"You ready, Bean?" Billy asked, tossing the cigarette onto the ground and stomping it with his boot. The girl nodded and the pair strutted together into the school.
———
Beatrice wanted to avoid introductions, so she rushed to sit at a desk in the back row of her first period class—literature with Mrs. Thompson. Most of the students were loudly talking with their friends as they entered, and they paid her no mind. They probably didn't realize she was there. Beatrice was okay with that. Unlike her brother, she didn't thrive off of attention. She was okay with being a fly on the wall, a nobody on the social totem pole. Billy, however, loved attention, whether it was positive or negative. Beatrice gained that attention by association.
Billy walked into the classroom just as the bell rang, sporting two girls—one hanging on each arm. The look on all of the other girls' faces made Beatrice struggle to hold in laughs. The girls of Hawkins loved a bad boy, and Billy was just that.
The boy walked to the taken seat beside his sister, shaking the girls off of his arms. He leaned down to the occupant of the seat, a girl dressed in a hot pink t-shirt with a teased high pony.
"Hey, darling," he said, smiling with his teeth. "Mind if I sit here next to my sister?"
The girl nearly melted with his words. She rushed to pick up her stuff from the desk and rush to another. Girls flocked to the empty desk beside him, shoving each other with hopes of getting there first.
Bea leaned toward her brother. "So," she said, "Which one are you bringing home?"
It was then that the teacher walked in. Mrs. Thompson walked in, her heels clicking against the tile floors. She wore a pencil skirt with a flashy patterned blouse tucked in.
"Her," Billy said with a smile, pointing towards the middle-aged woman. Beatrice couldn't help but snort with amusement.
"Alright, class!" The teacher called out over the class. "Today I'm going to start by handing out the five novels I want you to read over the next few weeks for our novel study." She plopped a thick stack of books onto a student's desk, making Beatrice jump with the loud smack.
"Nevermind," Billy mumbled to his sister, leaning back in the desk.
Literature went by painfully slow, but Beatrice didn't want it to end. It was the only class, besides their final hour of PE, that she shared with her brother. So when it finally ended, Billy pulled Beatrice in for a hug, gently kissing the top of her head.
"Love ya, Bean. Good luck in your classes."
"Don't make anyone fall in love just yet," Bea joked with a smile.
"Oh hunny, they already love me," Billy winked, starting to leave the room.
The rest of Bea's morning classes went by quickly. She was deep in thought for the majority of them, and she didn't speak to anyone. She didn't feel a need to, but when lunch rolled around, Beatrice was worried. She had a different lunch period than her brother, and that was extremely worrisome for her. Billy wouldn't have a problem finding a seat in the cafeteria; he would sit with whatever girl he had his eyes on.
The cafeteria was crowded when Beatrice got there. No table was completely empty, so she was tempted to just go outside. The growling of her stomach led her to the lunch line where she placed a burger, fries, and chocolate milk. She quickly paid with the change she (quite luckily) had stuffed in her jacket pocket and began looking for a table.
"You can sit with us!" A girl called out to Beatrice. The new girl turned to see a table with two boys and a girl. The girl was sitting very close to a boy with a very full, styled head of hair, and the other—a skinny guy with a shaggy bowl cut— was sitting across from them. Beatrice put on a smile and sat next to the shaggy-haired boy.
"I'm Nancy Wheeler," the girl spoke with a smile, the sparkling of her wide eyes making Bea feel more comfortable. "This is Steve."
"I'm Jonathan," the boy next to Beatrice introduced. He was quiet, and Bea could tell that he was uncomfortable.
"I'm Beatrice Hargrove," she started, "but don't call me that. I'm Bea to you,"
The three greeted the girl and started chatting about random things that the Hargrove girl wasn't interested in. She ate her food, only slightly listening to the trio.
"What about you, Bea?" Nancy asked, drawing the girl's attention from her food.
"Huh?"
Steve laughed slightly and explained, "We were talking about what we're doing when we graduate—Nancy and Jonathan are into journalism, and I want to get a basketball scholarship. What about you?"
Bea shrugged simply. She had never thought about her future. She and Billy's only goal has been to escape their father. She's always loved to play baseball, but she wasn't even sure if Hawkins would allow a girl on the team. She could paint, but she didn't consider herself any good.
"You are a senior, right?" Nancy asked.
"Nope. Failed a year. I'm a junior."
"And your brother?"
Bea laughed. Word had gotten around that there were two new kids at Hawkins high.
She briefly explained, "We're both juniors. We do everything together."
"Everything?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.
Nancy elbowed him in the side. "You're disgusting, Steve."
Beatrice erupted with laughter. "No!" She explained, almost disgusted by the thought. "Almost everything."
When the laughter faded, the group went back to eating. Beatrice had pieced together Nancy and Steve were a couple. Steve was extremely touchy. The blonde would normally be grossed out, but she was almost saddened by the actions. She wanted something like that. She had seen Billy be intimate with many girls (obviously pulling away from her attention before it got too heated), but she never saw anything real or full of love and intention. She could almost sense Jonathan's jealousy beside her. Just as she had gotten a bit upset, Jonathan seemed to as well. Beatrice felt bad for the boy.
"So Tina is having a party tonight. It's supposed to be a real rager," Steve mentioned, wrapping his arm around Nancy.
"You should go," his girlfriend told Bea.
Beatrice couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I'm sure it's already on the Hargrove schedule for the night. Billy loves parties."
"That's great! Maybe you can help me convince Jonathan to come. He's lame and wants to trick or treat with his little brother."
"If the party is any good, it will last longer than trick or treating. But hey, if you go trick or treating, will you get me some bubblegum?" Beatrice asked with a smile.
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AHHHH! I'm so excited for this story. I need to rewatch season 2 for some refreshers, but I REALLY am loving this.
How do you feel about Bea?
Billy?
What do you think will happen to Bea and her relationships with others?
Thank you so much for reading! Please follow and comment and wait for more! I'll hopefully be updating soon!!
<3 Maddy