CHAPTER TWO
— the hottest —
"it's crap, i know." steve looked at his car mirror. he hoped the two girls in his car were going to say "no steve, it's great!" and "wow steve, i'm actually impressed". however, both nancy and amelia read his paper with strong furrowed brows and thought "what the hell is going on?"
although steve specifically asked for his girlfriend's opinion, nancy just had to hear amelia's say in the rather.. unique college entry essay.
"no, it's not crap." nancy uttered. it was obvious she was trying to make him feel better. steve shook his head. "it's not good." he countered.
"it's going to be," amelia squinted her eyes at the paper. "what does that word say?" she pointed at a word. "it's just need some reorganization," nancy went on. she looked down to the paper and read the word amelia was pointing at. "i–.. i don't know."
steve sighed pressingly and pressed his fingers in his eyes. he was stressed. college is stressful and the boy wishes he actually did something to prepare for it. "can i mark on it?" the brunette asked. steve shrugged. "yeah, i guess.."
"so, in the first paragraph, you used the basketball game versus northern–" amelia groaned with a wide grin as she threw herself on the back seat. she clasped her hands together. "best game that i have ever seen played by steve harrington!" she cheered. "colleges should just fight over you for that shit!"
steve smiled widely, and watched as amelia went on about the game. "but then number 21 from north was like 'uh? what are you doing?' and then steve was like 'gonna steal the ball because i can' and then he passed it to joel and then joel passed it back to steve and BOOM!" amelia even exploded in the back seat. "steve made the wining point! and the crowd went wild, like ᵃʰʰʰʰ! ᵃʰʰʰʰ!!"
the boy laughed at amelia's description of the game. he glanced at nancy, who was patiently waiting for him to let her continue with what to fix for the essay. he glared at amelia before clearing his throat and facing nancy. "uh, go on."
"well, you used the basketball game as a metaphor for your life, which is great." amelia agreed in the back with a nod. she pulled herself back behind nancy's seat and watched her mark the paper over her shoulder again. "but then, around here, you started talking about your grandad's experience in the war. and i..." she stammered. "i don't see how they're connected."
"it connects because..." steve shrugged, thinking of why he made the two connect in the first place. however, amelia thought of something. "because they both won." she wore her infamous leisure and easy smile. the smile that she used to say with 'what's a sport?' and 'what's an orgy?'
gosh, those were the days.
steve laughed at her. "do you think i should start from scratch?" he suggested with a faint smile. the two girls looked to each other. "yes–"
"no!" nancy beat lia to it. amelia leaned on the back seat. "i mean... when's the deadline?" nancy asked, turning back to steve. "it's tomorrow for early application. can you come and help me tonight?"
amelia cleared her throat and continued looking out the window. "we have our dinner tonight, remember?" she said softly. steve groaned and threw his head back. "oh my god!"
"we already cancelled last week." nancy pointed out. steve groaned again. nancy didn't know what to tell steve whenever he'd get frustrated or annoyed. it was something amelia has seen all year in their relationship.
"you don't have to go." amelia suggested, scooting up. "just work on this."
"no, no, no. what's the point?" steve grabbed his paper and began crumbling it. "hey, calm down." amelia said with a light chuckle, grabbing onto his paper, and his hand. "i'm calm, i'm calm." steve babbled. "no. you aren't.."
"i'm just being honest, you know. i mean.. i'll end up working for my dad anyways." steve turned to the two girls. "that's not true." nancy said.
"i don't know, guys. is that such a bad thing? there's insurance and benefits and all that adult stuff." steve was actually sounding serious. he turned to nancy. "and if i took it, you know, i could be around for your senior year." nancy rolled her head. "steve..."
"just to look after you a little bit. make sure you don't forget this pretty face." steve peered at amelia sitting quietly in the back seat with the smallest frown ever. "and of course you too. don't get all butthurt." he nudged her knee. "i'm serious."
a short pause came in with a longing look between steve and nancy. they leaned in for a kiss.
this was the slap of reality that steve harrington wasn't amelia cruz's and will never be hers. the noirette promised herself to not get too hurt like this, so she left the car with a heavy sigh.
nancy always thought that it meant amelia was jokingly annoyed by the two, but steve knew the real meaning of the dramatics.
amelia walked across the lot, sliding steve's sunglasses down to her eyes to see if he notices that they're gone from under his own car seat. the teenage girl was too in on her own head and completely ignored the tires screeching and the music blasting out of the radio in a car that almost ran over her.
she scoffed and turned as she pushed steve's glasses up. the hood of the car was only inches away from her hip. "yo!" she shouted. "watch where you're going, dude! what the hell!" she went off.
the driver stepped out of his car. he didn't answer but kept on chewing his gum as he checked out amelia's figure. the tight red, slightly–cropped long sleeve shirt and black jeans gave her all the justice in the world to make someone like billy hargrove rather infatuated with her.
"r'you deaf too or??" the boy held up his chin at her. amelia didn't give a crap if those jeans looked nice on him, or that fact that he looked like he needed her to breathe.
she was this close to getting ran over.
"i apologize." he simply spoke. amelia ignored the smirk he wore and just nodded. "yeah," she slid steve's glasses down from the top of her head. "just try not to run over me next time."
˚⁎⁺˳✧༚
the first bell rang for first period. amelia groaned as she just made it to her locker. the girl just had to give herself the triple look in the restroom. that stare that the boy from the lot earlier made amelia second guess why he did.
"is my ass too big?" she asked herself with furrowed brows. she looked at her body through the school mirror as she fixed her jeans. "shit, did steve's glasses look funny on me?"
the students in the hall were buzzing to their first class while amelia didn't really seem to care. footsteps walked up to the noirette's locker as she finally opened it. assuming it was steve, being late like her because his hair comes first, she said, "sup, dickbag." as she grabbed her history book.
amelia closed the locker door and came to the beautiful surprise of her (almost) killer smiling right in front of her. well, it wasn't more of a smile, but an amused grin. slightly amused grin. hot guy.
"hey, asshole." he leaned on the locker next to hers. amelia scoffed. "it's actually 'hey, shithead' for me but i'd rather you not call me that." amelia strutted away. she didn't plan on being more late because of a boy.
amelia's rather had a low self esteem when it came to boys. after steve, she's always thought that she wasn't worth something to chase. however, this kid chased after her.
and even though it was only down a couple of lockers, amelia's self esteem jumped up a couple of levels.
"hope you didn't take what happened at the parking lot personal." the boy charmingly said. he walked by her side. "i'm billy."
"cool, i'm late. gotta dash."
billy chuckled. "well, late, can you please show me.." amelia sighed sharply and stopped walking as billy did. she turned to the boy who was looking at his crumbled schedule. "room b119?"
"of course," the girl slightly scoffed in amazement. "follow me."
the two shared homeroom together. what a cliche. at least it's not like steve and amelia's first run in—and she isn't drooling like last time too.
"what's your actual name?" billy asked as the two stood outside the classroom door. amelia didn't even stop turning the doorknob to answer his question. "late is fine."
she opened the door and walked into her junior class. she smiled as she saw nancy seated in her usual seat and was glad that no one took hers. "late again, amelia." mr. berry groaned as the noirette walked past the desks.
"sorry, sir. i was helping california get to his homeroom." amelia spoke cooly. the entire class averted their attention to the stud in the front of the classroom. he saw a few blushing cheeks from girls and felt the jealous ooze from boys. mr. berry reached for billy's transcript and read his name aloud. "billy hargrove."
the untamed boy nodded as he held a glare at amelia. 'california, huh?'. just as he retorted those two words to himself in his mind, amelia scrunched her nose teasingly before opening her history book.
"well, thank you, miss cruz, for helping a new student. that was sweet of you." the class turned to the girl. "no problem, mr. berry."
billy glared charmingly at the noirette as she rested her chin on top of her knuckles. "you can take a seat there, mr. hargrove."
billy nodded and walked to the empty seat in front of amelia. "okay, class. 1939. world war two..." the teacher began his lecture.
amelia caught billy looking at times. it was funny because in a matter of five minutes, she was able to get a whole intel. amelia was what mostly consumed his mind, but also this certain sense of control.
starting school is scary. amelia's known that first–hand recently. and she was scared shitless that day. however, billy wasn't. not one single bit.
he also thought of amelia only wearing those sweet jeans, but that was nothing special.
˚⁎⁺˳✧༚
"hey, lia! saw you and billy talk after third period. pretty hot right?" tina gave nancy a flyer to her halloween party and then amelia as she asked the question.
amelia scoffed with a smile. "if you have a thing for wannabe edgy douchebags, then yes." tina laughed at her reply as nancy turned back to her. "oh, could i get one more?" she asked tina. "yeah, sure."
nancy gave the flyer to jonathan, who was walking between the two girls. "you're coming to this." nancy said. amelia arched a brow. she knew he wouldn't be into it, but her and nancy enjoyed egging jonathan to go to a party.
"come and get shitfaced." he read aloud. amelia furrowed her eyebrows. "what does shitfaced mean?"
jonathan chuckled lowly. "basically you after every party," he answered. nancy nodded, but amelia still looked quite lost. "like, you drink so much that your face looks like.." nancy shrugged, "shit."
"and here's an example:" jonathan quipped. he looked to nancy. "no, i am not getting shitfaced."
"i can't let you sit all alone for halloween! that's just not acceptable." the brunette argued. "well, you can relax, i'm not gonna be alone." amelia rolled her eyes at jonathan. its what he always says when the girls invite him to do something on a friday or saturday night. "i'm going trick or treating with will."
"all night?" amelia asked. "yeah." he shrugged. nancy shook her head. "no. no way. you're gonna be home by 8, listening to talking heads while reading vonnegut or something." jonathan shrugged again, "sounds like a nice night."
"jonathan, just come. i mean, who knows, you might even, like, meet someone." the trio met nancy's locker. as nancy said that, amelia and jonathan shared a glance. amelia knew jonathan had a thing for nancy, as amelia still did for steve.
amelia always put a little more effort with hanging out with jonathan than nancy did. throughout the year, when amelia wasn't being the biggest third–wheeler ever, she'd catch up with the byers. she got to know will a lot more and learned some domesticated tips from joyce. the byers and the wheeler were both second families to the girl.
out of nowhere, steve came running up to nancy and carried her from behind. nancy shrieked as steve was laughing. she turned to him and saw the ray bans over his eyes. "oh, my god! take those stupid things off!" she shoved him with a grin.
"no! lia said i looked good in them and i'm taking her word." steve turned to amelia. the two nodded as a quick hello. "and speaking of words, i missed you." steve pulled nancy towards him. "it's been like an hour." she chuckled. "tell me about it."
steve and nancy shared a kiss. that was the cue to leave.
"okay. okay, god." nancy smiled as she pushed him softly off her. she pushed her hair behind her ear. "sorry." nancy stepped to her locker and looked to the right.
jonathan and amelia were walking away. jonathan looked straight forward as amelia was looking at him while she was talking.
˚⁎⁺˳✧༚
later that night, steve, nancy, and amelia had an important dinner to attend.
as they walked up to the house, they noticed a 'for sale' sign out on the front yard. amelia, being amelia, didn't think too hard about it, but steve and nancy had their heads turned to the sign.
"okay. ready?" the trio reached the doorstep. "yeah." nancy nodded.
amelia always felt weird when having dinner with the holland's. she didn't know barb well. funny that with her gone, she's learned more and more things about her. the noirette sighed deeply before looking away from steve. "okay." she rang the doorbell.
˚⁎⁺˳✧༚
"i'm so sorry i didn't get to cook." marsha, barbara's mom apologized. "i was gonna make that baked ziti you guys like so much, but i just forgot the time, and before you know it, oh my god, it's 5 o'clock."
amelia was the only one that chuckled as she drank from her water. steve kicked her foot softly under the table with a small smirk. amelia glared at him as she put her glass cup down.
they've been playing footsies since the first dinner.
"it's fine. it's great." nancy shook her head. "right," steve nodded with his food in his mouth. "i love kfc." amelia nodded as well and played with her mashed potatoes on her plate. the girl wasn't a fan of chicken. "kfc is totally.." her voice trailed off. "awesome."
steve kicked her again softly before she did the same.
"so!" nancy got the attention of the other two. "i noticed a for sale sign out the front in your yard. is that the neighbors' or?"
barb's parents looked to each other. "you wanna tell them?" marsha grinned. "go ahead." barb's dad said. mrs. holland turned to the teens and began explaining. "we hired a man named murray bauman." amelia grew bug–eyed. "have any of y'all heard of him?"
she started choking on her potatoes.
they all turned to her. steve began patting her back as she was coughing. "um... yes, actually." she spoke uneasily. she grabbed her water and took a short sip before patting her lips with her napkin.
"uh, he comes by the police station all the time and bothers the officers with ridiculous questions," amelia said. "i just... i just didn't know you hired him to maybe find barbara."
"well, he was an investigative journalist for the chicago sun–times." mrs. holland nodded carefully. she found amelia's reaction to the man they hired odd but she brushed that aside. "he's pretty well known." mr. holland gave steve the card. amelia looked at it too.
"yeah. that's.. that's him." she grabbed the card and read off it. "anyway, he's freelance now, and he agreed to take the case." marsha continued. "awe," steve grinned. "that's.. that's great."
lia kicked his leg under the table. steve looked to her slowly with a small smile. however, she wasn't looking too giddy about it.
"no, that's really... that's great, right?" steve repeated again, teasing amelia. she stuck her hand under the table and released her clenched fist, making his chair become wobbly for a quick second. he grabbed onto the table, startling the adults.
"um, what exactly does that mean?" nancy asked, ignoring steve's random 'burst of energy'.
mr. holland looked away from steve and amelia to nancy. "means he's gonna do what that lazy son of a bitch, jim hop–" amelia raised an eyebrow.
marsha cleared her throat, stopping her husband from finishing that sentence. "sorry," mr. holland apologized. "he's working on it. and what the hawkins police haven't been capable of doing." he then turned to the noirette. "means we have a real detective on the case."
steve kicked her leg, but this time she didn't kick back.
"it means... we're going to find barb." marsha said with a shaky voice. "if anyone can find her, it's this man. he already has leads. by god, he's worth every last penny."
nancy furrowed her eyebrows. "is that why you're selling the house?" she asked them.
"don't worry about us, sweetie, we're fine. more than fine. for the first time in a long time, we're hopeful." nancy looked down to her plate and nodded slowly. "excuse me. i'll be right back." she stood up to walk to the restroom.
it was just the two teens and barb's parents. it was quiet, which made amelia feel awkward. she reached for her water and started drinking it.
"it's finger–lickin' good." steve nodded. amelia spit her drink out and began laughing loudly.
author's note,
i hate this whole chapter 😜😎 but that's okay