Monday came around quickly, and Nicole was back to carrying herself with a high head. Her hair was perfectly curled on her shoulders, lips glossed with her signature lip gloss. She wore a flowing cream dress that only hugged around her upper body, with a cropped white cardigan to cover her dainty shoulders.
She had finished her breakfast quickly, getting ready to rush out of the house before she would be late to school. However, when she exited the house she was met with quite a surprise. Steve stood, leaning on his car while his fingers nervously fidgeted around.
"Good morning, Nicole." He greeted, tone teetering only slightly due to the nerves.
"Morning Steve, what are you doing here?" She asked, gripping her book bag strap tighter.
"I think we need to talk.. about a lot." He cleared his throat, gesturing to the BMW behind his body.
She paused for a moment, before sending a small smile toward the boy, "fine, I guess."
Nicole almost skipped to the passenger side of the car, but not before sneaking a glance at 4819 Cherry Lane. Stood next to the bright blue Camaro was a boy, who's jaw was clenched so hard the girl could see it from yards away. She gulped, ducking her head as she placed herself into the passenger seat, waiting for Steve to drive off and begin their talk.
"I know what Nancy did." He spoke up after some time, hand clenching the steering wheel.
"Yeah?" Nicole's hands tightened in her lap, scrunching her dresses soft cotton material.
"She got drunk, spilled a whole bunch of secrets. How she was jealous of our friendship, how you had an obsession with me, how our relationship was bullshit.." his voice wavered as he neared the end.
"What?" Nicole gasped, snapping her head in the boys direction.
"She told me she never loved me. How she only stayed because she thought it would make you jealous." He chuckled bitterly, swiping the fallen hair out of his face in a haste.
"Oh my god, Steve.. I'm so sorry." The blonde shot her best friend a solemn look, just as he pulled into the school parking lot.
"No, no it's fine! Really, I'll get over it." He smiled, though it didn't meet his eyes.
"Well, you've always got me Steve, and I mean it." She showed her bright teeth, placing a hand on the boys shoulder.
"I know. I love you, Nic'." He grinned, pulling her into a hug from across the seat.
"I love you too."
The roaring of an engine cut the moment off, as the pair pulled away from their sentimental hug. Billy's car raced into the parking lot, carelessly swinging into his signature parking spot where the other populars would park. Nicole's attention was now on the car as she exited Steve's, book bag slung perfectly over her shoulder.
Steve stepped out of his car as well, noticing his best friends gaze set on something. So, he too turned toward it. He realized that she was staring at Billy, and rolled his eyes. Steve knew the type of guy Billy was, and he didn't want Nicole to be a pawn in any of the games he would play.
"Cmon, we're gonna' be late to class." He nodded toward the school, catching the girls attention who only nodded.
Meeting Steve's side, they began to walk into school. However, it was Steve and Nicole. The two people who were sworn to never be granted a break from the cruel reality of high school. Nicole just wasn't expecting the words to fall from this certain persons mouth.
"Harrington! You and Wheeler break up and now you're public with Moore again? Wouldn't you hate to hear what a dirty girl she's been when shes not getting your attention." Billy taunted, a big, fat smirk plastered upon his face.
"What are you talking about?" Steve furrowed his eyebrows, annoyed by the boy opening his mouth.
"You wanna tell him or should I? Can't keep poor little Stevie in the dark for long, can we?" The blondes eyes shot toward the girl who stood next to the defensive brunette.
"Billy.." she warned, trying her hardest to keep eye contact.
"Pick a guy, won't you? That's three in less than a week, fucking slut." He sneered, staring the girl down.
"C-come on Steve." Nicole quickly tugged on the boys jacket, wanting to leave the scene.
Seeing the panicked look on her face, he quickly obliged. However, Steve wasn't going to hold back on the questions he had to ask. Now just obviously wasn't the time.
.·:*¨¨* ≈☆≈ *¨¨*:·.
Nicole was stood in front of the bleachers, chewing her finger nails as she waited to watch her best friend emerge from the locker room. She knew he would bombard with questions, and she wasn't sure how to share the news. Billy made the situation seem a lot more disgusting than it actually was, and she was beginning to loathe him for putting her in such a position.
The girl was quickly snapped out of her thoughts as a gentle hand planted on the small of her back, flipping around to face the culprit. Standing in front of her, with a wide smile was Michael Fraser. The boy she happened to make out with on Halloween, almost going further in her drunken state.
"Hey, stranger." He greeted, while Nicole released a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.
"Hey, Michael."
"You been avoiding me?" He lightly joked.
"No- no. I'm sorry." She smiled, softly.
"It's alright.. I've just been missing your pretty little face." Nicole sucked in a breath.
Such a pretty little face.
The words echoed through her mind, they were hostile yet his voice dropped with lust.
"Are you alright?" Michael asked, now looking concerned.
"Yeah, sorry. I'm just- I'm not feeling well today." Nicole quickly fibbed.
"You should go to the nurse then." He suggested, concern never dropping.
"Already did, no fever so I've got to stay." She lied further.
"Well, how about I bring you some soup later? My grandma has the best recipe, I could have it dropped off by dinner time. Maybe.. maybe we could hang out, watch a movie?" The boys hand flew to the back of his neck, scratching nervously.
"That.. actually sounds quite nice. Thank you." Nicole smiled, "meet me after class, I'll write you my address."
"Okay, okay yeah! Cool, I mean.. totally cool. I'll see you." He bounced on his heels as he turned away, leaving Nicole to giggle.
During the interaction she completely missed Billy being rough with Steve, or that they even walked out of the locker room to begin with. Steve was benched for the rest of the game, sulking. He was going to speak to Nicole, but when he saw she was occupied by someone else, he backed off.
The rest of the class went by quickly, Nicole sitting by herself because she was still avoiding the conversation she would have to have with her best friend. When the coach dismissed the class she quickly walked toward the locker room, wanting to change out of the tight, short clothing.
Meanwhile...
Steve and Billy were showering away the sweat that built up during their rough game of basketball. Tommy was in the showers as well, smirking over to Billy who had informed him prior that he was about to ruin Steve's day.
"Don't sweat it, Harrington." Tommy taunted, starting up the conversation.
"Todays just not your day man." Billy smirked, rinsing the soap from his body.
"Yeah. Not your week." Tommy snickered, while Steve stared at them both with a confused look plastered on his face.
"You and the princess break up for a couple days, she runs off with the freaks brother." The boy added.
"And the girl you secretly liked, during your entire relationship, has moved between two guys over the past weekend." Billy added, feeing slightly bitter as the words rolled off his tongue.
Steve stopped scrubbing his hair for a moment, staring at the two. The boys gave each other a look and suddenly burst into laughter.
"Oh, shit! You don't know!" Tommy nudged Billy.
"Jonathan and the princess skipped yesterday, still haven't shown," Billy shrugged, figuring he should start with the lighter news, "but that must just be a coincidence, right?"
"What are you talking about? With Nicole?" Steve gave himself up, Billy never mentioned Nicole. Only a girl he'd been in love with, hinting toward the girl, but that only confirmed his suspicions.
"So it is Nicole, huh.. well, I'd shut it down man. She almost gave herself to Michael at Tina's, had I not stepped in the way. Then, over the weekends guess who she let in her pants?" Billy's eyebrow rose, staring at the boys face which slowly contorted as he spoke.
"Me." He whispered, "and by the looks of it, she's back all over Michael again."
Steve didn't say anything, only stared off for a moment. Tommy cackled, slapping Billy's shoulder as he walked away.
"Don't take it too hard, man. A pretty boy like you's got nothing to worry about. Plenty of bitches in the sea, am I right?" Billy lowly chuckled, shutting off the water.
"I'll be sure to leave you some." He winked, slapping the boy on the shoulder before he wrapped a towel around his waist, waltzing out of the showers.
Steve stood still for a moment, before growling and turning the showers back on to finish rinsing himself of. He couldn't let Billy into his head, but it was so hard.
The boy had a way with words.
___
A/N: I imagine Rob Lowe as Michael, but feel free to imagine anyone you'd like!