Monday and Tuesday had gone by agonizingly slow for Julie. Her and her siblings had fallen into sort of a system, that worked rather well. Julie had gotten Billy and Max the books and materials they needed, Billy was taking over the school, and Max was awfully quiet, making Julie nervous for her.
By the time Wednesday afternoon rolled around, Billy was absolutely miserable. It was Halloween, and Billy was planning on going to Tina's party to stir up trouble. Julie was taking Holly trick-or-treating. Julie hoped that Max would go trick-or-treating with the boys, as she had explained to her that they had been stalking her.
At this moment, Billy and Julie were waiting outside of the Camero for Max to show up so they could go home. Julie was leaning against the car, her bag on top of it. "I'm leaving." Billy said out of the blue standing up off of the trunk.
Julie didn't even look over at him. "No, you're not. Give her a minute." she said, and Billy inhaled deeply, but sat back down.
Julie heard Max's skateboard roll up, and she removed her body from the car to smile at Max. Max didn't acknowledge her.
"You're late again." Billy said, and Julie took a deep breath.
"Yeah, I had to get catch-up homework." Max defended, moving to get in the backseat.
"Jesus. I don't care."
"Knock it off." Julie said to her brother, grabbing her bag and opening the passenger door.
"You're late again, and you're skating home. Do you hear me?" he said, climbing off of the trunk and walking to the driver's side.
Billy sped the car down the road as per usual, while he complained about everything. "God, this place is such a shithole." he said.
"It's not that bad." Max said from the backseat.
"No?" he said, looking in the rear-view mirror at Max, before he rolled the windows down on Julie and Max's side. He inhaled deeply, and Julie had the urge to throw herself out of the car. "Mmm! You smell that, Max? That's actually shit. Cow shit."
"Grow up, Billy. There are no cows." she said while rolling the windows up for her and Max.
"I don't see any cows." Max said, passing Julie a piece of paper.
"Clearly, you haven't met the high-school girls." Billy said.
Julie rolled her eyes. He wasn't totally wrong. "Can you please shut up?" she asked him, but he did not shut up.
Billy scoffed at Max. "So what, you like it here now?"
"No." Max shook her head.
"Then why are you defending it?"
"I'm not." she said, looking at Billy through the mirror.
"Sure sounds like it."
"Billy, just stop. It's not that hard." Julie said, leaning her head against the closed window.
"It's just we're stuck here, so..." Max trailed off.
"Hmm." Billy looked at Max, before he glanced at his twin. "You're right. We're stuck here. And whose fault is that?" Billy and Max both thought it was Julie's fault, leaving her alone to fight for herself.
"Will you get over it? It's on you." Julie whispered, but Billy heard it.
"What'd you say?"
"Nothing."
"She didn't say anything." Max tried, but stopped when Julie glanced at her and shook her head.
"Did you say it's my fault?" Billy asked, taking enjoyment in the fear he was creating.
"No."
"You know whose fault it is. Both of you do. Say it, Julie." Billy threatened, Julie refusing eye contact with him, while Max sat in the back quietly. "Julie... say it. Say it!" he screamed in Julie's face, Max lurching in surprise.
In retaliation for her silence, Billy pressed his foot on the gas and drove even faster down the empty road, his stupid music blasting. Julie noticed three figures in the distance, and when she looked back at Max, she knew that she saw them too.
"Billy, slow down." Max said, and Julie finally got a good visual. The figures were Mike, Lucas and Dustin biking home from school.
"Oh, these your new hick friends?" Billy taunted, Max's blue eyes wide in fear.
"No! I don't know them."
"I guess you won't care if I hit 'em, then? I get bonus points, I get 'em all in one go?" Billy teased, but neither sister could tell if was joking.
"Billy, they're kids. It's not funny!" Julie said frantically, keeping her eye on the middle schoolers.
Billy didn't say anything. He just looked at both Julie and Max, before speeding up even more and revving the engine.
"Billy, come on stop it."
"It's not funny, Billy, stop!"
Seeing no other option, both Julie and Max reached their hands to the wheel, steering the Camero out of the way. "Yeah! That was a close one, huh?" Billy laughed.
Julie and Max both looked back and saw that the boys would be fine. Max relaxed into her seat again, but Julie looked at her brother with wide eyes and her mouth agape. "What happened to you?" she asked in shock.
Billy looked at her with a deadly look in his eyes. "You."
•••
There was an eerie silence in the house that night. Billy was locked in his room blasting his music, and Max was enlisting Julie's help with her Halloween costume. She wanted to be Michael Myers, but Julie refused to let her leave the house with a real knife. As Max finished with her homework in the living room, Julie was at the kitchen table making a knife.
When she was done, the knife didn't look bad. "If you kill someone with this, it's not on me." Julie called to Max, who snickered quietly. Julie stood from the table and delivered the knife to her sister, who took it with a smile.
"Thanks. When are you leaving?" Max asked, putting her papers into her backpack. Julie was enlisted to take little Holly trick-or-treating so her parents could some alone time. Mike was going to be leaving at the same time as Julie and Holly, and Nancy was going to the Halloween party.
"Like, ten minutes. I was gonna stop at Tina's party to see Nancy for a little bit after, is that okay?"
"Yeah. Just don't get drunk." Max clearly remembered all of the times Billy had come home drunk and angry throughout their lives together, so Julie had sworn off alcohol for as long as needed.
"You know me." Julie said, ruffling Max's red curls as she walked past the couch to get to her room.
Julie pulled on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved Queen shirt, throwing her jacket on over it. She laced her converse and left her hair down in all its glory.
"I'm out. I'll see you tonight." Julie said, grabbing her house keys and kissing Max's head as she walked towards the front door. "Be safe."
"You too." Max teased, smiling at Julie as she left the house.
It was still light out as Julie began her walk to the Wheeler's house, but kids were already leaving their houses and scouging for treats in the late October air. She saw plenty of kids dressed as monsters or villians, and could only hope that Karen had dressed Holly decently.
When she did arrive at the Wheeler's house, the door was open, so she walked in. "Hello?" she called, hearing Karen's voice by the stairs.
"Come in!" Karen called, so Julie did just that. The teen wiped her shoes and shut the front door, following Karen's voice. She found Karen taking countless pictures of Mike, who was complaining immensely.
"You look cute, Mike." Julie said, sitting on the couch.
Mike rolled his eyes." Our costumes are ruined because Lucas was supposed to be Winston, but he took Venkman." the boy said, and Julie failed to see the problem.
"So?" she asked.
"I'm Venkman. Now we have two Venkmans!" Mike said, stepping away from his mother.
"No one is going to look at your nametags, okay? Where's your sister?"
"She's somewhere around here." Mike shrugged, walking away. Julie rolled her eyes and turned to Karen.
"She is upstairs with her sister," Karen said, turning back to the stairs. "Holly! Come down here, sweetie!" she called for her youngest child. "Do you want me to get Nance to come down? I think she's getting ready."
"No, it's okay. I'll see her later." Julie said, as little footsteps came padding down the stairs. Little Holly was dressed up as Smurfette, with a shy smile on her face.
"Hi." she said, walking up to Julie and waving at her.
Julie knelt down to Holly's level. "Hi. You wanna tell me what you're dressed up as?"
Holly giggled. "Smurfette!" she said, trying to get the word out correctly.
"Very cool." Julie said, lifting Holly into her arms and standing. "What time do you want her home?" she asked Karen, who was watching their exchange with a smile.
"Around eight." Karen said.
"Okay. Say bye-bye, Holly."
"Bye-bye" Holly said, waving at her mother.
"Thank you for doing this." Karen said to Julie, following them to the door.
"Oh, you're welcome. It's no trouble, really." Julie assured the woman she thought of as a mother, before exiting her house with her kid. "You ready to have some fun?" Julie asked Holly, putting her down on the ground and handing her her candy bag.
"Yeah!"
•••
At five after eight, Julie was leaving the Wheeler's house after dropping a sleepy Holly Wheeler back at home. Her new mission was to walk to Tina's party quickly, stay for a half hour, and go home to Max.
The walk was very short, and she heard the music blasting from down the street. Cars lined the road, and drunk teenagers were everywhere. There was chanting and cheering in the back of the house, and by the sounds of it, someone was doing a keg stand. Probably Billy, Julie thought.
Julie discovered she was right as she saw Billy spewing out beer, Tommy at his side. She tried to slip into the house past Billy without him noticing her, but she failed miserablely. Billy grabbed the back of Julie's jacket and pulled her back, a smirk on her face.
"And this is my sister, Juliana!" Billy shouted, the stench of beer promiment on him. His cigarette was hanging dangerously close to Julie's face, so she took it from him and snuffed it out, lighting a new one for herself.
Julie gave him a sarcastic smile, removing his hand from her. Tommy spoke up from next to Billy. "It's Julie!" he mocked her words from class the other day.
"Yeah, it is. You do have a memory. Shocking." she said to Tommy, ducking around Billy and walking into the house to find Steve and Nancy.
"Look who it is!" Steve said from behind her, and Julie turned to see Steve in sunglasses with Nancy beside him.
"It's 'cause your future's so bright, right?" she teased Steve with a smile on her face.
"Hilarious."
"I thought it was." Nancy pipped up, giving Julie a hug. "How was Holly?"
"She was good. I'm not staying here for long, considering this whole place reeks of alcohol and Billy." Julie said, taking a drag of her cigarette and blowing it away from people.
"Speak of your devil." Steve said, nodding at Billy who was making his way over to them with a new cigarette in his mouth, and Tommy right behind him.
"We got ourselves a new Keg King, Harrington." Tommy announced to his former best friend.
"Yeah, that's right!" another kid said.
"Yeah. Eat it, Harrington." said a third.
Steve said nothing, just took his sunglasses off and stared at Billy, as Nancy slipped away. Billy turned to Julie. "What?" she asked, leaning her back against the door Steve was leaning on.
"Know your place." Billy said, gritted teeth and clenched jaw, his mouth extremely close to Julie's ear.
Julie placed her hand on his beer soaked chest, pushing him away. "Take a shower." she said, earning laughs and sounds from all of the teens around as she placed on a faux smile and walked off towards Nancy, Steve behind her.
"That was pretty badass." Steve marveled.
"Why, thank you." Julie said, standing close to Steve to avoid being shoved into.
"Hey, why didn't you tell me you were back? With some luggage." the boy said, and Julie had to laugh.
"Maybe I wanted to surprise you." Julie shrugged, finding Nancy taking a large gulp of whatever drink was in a large bowl. "She's all yours." she said, stepping back and pushing Steve forward in the direction of his girlfriend.
Julie stepped away and hung out in a corner, by choice, until she saw Jonathan walk in. She walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, stranger." she said, giving him a quick hug.
"Hey. I didn't know you'd be here." Jonathan said.
"Yeah, well..."
"Do you know where Nancy is? She kinda forced me to come here." he asked, looking around.
"She's somewhere, I'm not sure. Did you run into any of the guys on your way in?" Julie asked, following Jonathan's lost gaze to Nancy and Steve dancing.
"No, but I heard them. Your boyfriend's a dick."
Julie furrowed her brows. "Who?" she asked.
"Billy. Isn't he your boyfriend?"
Julie wanted to puke. "Jonathan! He's my twin brother! That's disgusting!" she said, watching as Jonathan's eyes widened.
"Oh, God."
"It's okay." Julie giggled, looking back to where Nancy and Steve used to be. "I'm gonna go find Nance. I'll see you, okay?" she said to Jonathan, who nodded.
Julie started walking down the hallway completely lost, until she saw Steve leave the bathroom in a huff. "Hey, hey. You okay?" she said, walking up to his and slowing him down.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Whatever." Steve said, pushing past Julie, but not before she grabbed onto his jacket and turned him around.
Julie looked into his sad brown eyes and saw the answer she needed. "Something happen with Nance?" she asked, but Steve's silence as he looked at the girl was enough of an answer. "Okay. Give me your keys."
"What?" Steve asked, pawing off Julie's hands as she searched his pockets.
"I'm taking you home." she deadpanned, shoving her hand into the back pocket of Steve's jeans and pulled his car keys out, lifting them up and taking Steve's hand, pulling him with her.
"You can't drive." Steve reminded Julie, but she just shrugged.
"Well, you're not driving." was all the reason that Julie gave, continuing her walk, still dragging Steve.
When the pair came upon Jonathan, Julie was quick to think of her best friend. "Take care of Nancy." she instructed, brushing past her former roommate.
Julie had to pratically shove Steve into the car, before getting behind the wheel and starting the car. They drove off into the darkness, Steve silent beside Julie, his eyes looking out the window. They both got out of the car.
"Thanks. For everything." Steve thanked her, taking the keys she held in her outstretched hand.
"Anytime." Julie smiled, turning to walk home, before Steve stopped her.
"How are you getting home?"
"I'll walk. It's not far."
Steve shook his head, approaching Julie. "Absolutely not. It's late, and there are drunk people all around. Take my car."
"What?" Julie said, looking at the keys Steve held in his hand.
"Take my car home."
Julie would've argued, but she really didn't want to walk all the way home. "Fine. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning." She said, and Steve nodded.
"I'll be looking forward to it. Goodnight, Julie."
"Goodnight, Steve."