Tim's home when they get back from school.
This surprises Billie. For as long as she can remember, Tim comes home just before dinner or after. Usually, it's the latter. But there Tim is; seated on the hideous floral sofa, the newspaper in his hands, his eyes following the words on the page, eyebrows furrowed slightly as he does.
Curly laughs loudly, causing Tim to look up from over the top of the newspaper. He doesn't say a word, watching the three siblings with an unreadable expression on his face.
"What a surprise seeing you home so early, grandpa? Is it time for your nap?" Curly teased, throwing his backpack beside the couch and walking into the kitchen to get a drink.
Tim gives Curly the middle finger and scolds him as he sees Curly grab a bottle of beer. "No drinking before seven." Curly protests, but Tim remains stern and eventually Curly gives up, putting the beer back into the fridge and grabbing the milk carton instead, drinking it straight from the carton.
Both Angela and Billie frown in disgust. "Other people use the milk too, you know," Angela comments.
Curly shrugs his shoulders, not caring, and lets out a disgusting burp in response. Angela mutters something under her breath that Billie couldn't decipher as she walks down the hallway and into their bedroom.
Tim is still seated on the couch, but the newspaper has been folded up and placed down beside him. He turns to face Billie and Billie suddenly comes to the realisation of how similar her brothers really were. Tim studies Billie carefully, before asking Billie how school was.
Billie shrugs her shoulders. "It was alright," she replies, leaving out the part where she was humiliated in the cafeteria by a Soc. If Tim ever got wind of that, Charles Minor wouldn't be showing his face around town for a long time.
"What classes are you in?" Tim asks.
"Advanced Placement classes. The classes are full of Socs though," Billie answers. As she says this, Tim turns to face Curly, who is now seated at the kitchen table, twiddling his thumbs.
"You could learn from Billie, you know," Tim tells Curly, his voice even.
Curly makes a point of not looking up at Tim, instead, looking down at the plaid cloth on the table. "What's the point? Bil's the smart one and I'm the dumb one. That's how it goes," he says.
"You know that's not true. If you put the effort in -"
"Stop tryna parent us, Tim! We haven't had one for years now and we've been just fine. We don't need one now," Curly exclaims, Tim's words having a deeper effect on Curly than Tim realised. He stands up, the chair legs screeching loudly against the floorboards. Billie watches as Curly leaves the room.
Tim sighs defeatedly and runs a hand through his dark curls. Billie watches as they bounce slightly as his hand runs through them. Billie feels sorry for Tim. She can see that he is trying. For as long as Billie can remember, Tim has been trying to hold the family together. Now that their father has run off with some young broad to Kansas, Tim has been working in overdrive to continue to hold this family together.
Billie wonders if that is part of the reason why Tim has now let Curly join the gang.
Billie opens her mouth and begins to tell Tim more about her day. As she does, she can see a small smile begin to form on Tim's face before he purses his lips to hide it. She tells Tim about the book her class is going to start reading, she tells Tim about her History class and how ironic it is that she seems to be scared of teenagers but is a high school teacher. She tells Tim about the book Angela got her. She tells Tim all about spies and undercover missions and the Cold War.
Billie knows that Tim appreciates what Billie is doing. She knows Tim won't thank her, but nonetheless, she knows that he is grateful. She figures that this a small token of her appreciation for everything he has done ever since she and Curly were born. She remembers countless nights when Tim has taken the blame for cutlery that either Billie, Curly or Angela broke. She remembers when Tim has stood up to their parents. All those times Tim has ended up getting a beating from their parents and yet he doesn't hesitate to step in.
That's the person that Tulsa doesn't get to see.
That's the person that Billie gets to see.
Billie knows that Tim is more than his criminal record, or his surname, or his gang. He's just a big brother, trying his best to look out for his younger siblings in a very cruel world. Sure, his methods may be unorthodox, but he's trying and he cares, and that's a lot more than their parents ever did for them.
Billie's drying the last dish when she hears Angela's voice carry down the hallway. Dinner was over twenty minutes ago, with Angela and Curly escaping back to their rooms and Tim going outside for a smoke. Billie was left to clean up after dinner, just as she does every day.
Billie places the plate in the cupboard before folding the teatowel neatly on the bench. As she does this, Angela comes into view, storming into the living room, hands on her hips. Billie sees that she is dressed for a night out.
"You're not going out," Tim tells Angela.
"Why not?" Angela challenges.
"Because it's a school night," Tim replies.
"Who cares! That doesn't stop you from going out and it's not like I'll be at school tomorrow anyway," Angela replies, hands still on her hips as an act of defiance.
Tim opens his mouth to respond but soon closes it, having nothing to say. "See? You got nothing," she says. Looking at Billie, she says, "night, Bil," before walking out of the house, the fly screen door slamming behind her.
Tim sighs defeatedly for the second time today, worn out from arguing with his siblings. As Tim makes eye contact with Billie, she gives him a small smile. "Go do your homework or whatever you kids do at school, kiddo," Tim tells Billie, morphing back into his facade.
Billie nods her head and walks to her bedroom, not having the heart to tell Tim that she's already completed her homework.
Closing her bedroom door, she sits on the bed and grabs The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and opens it up to the page she last read.
Billie doesn't know what time it is when she wakes up. In the darkness, she can hear Angela stumbling around the room, most likely changing so she can climb into bed. Billie lays still trying her hardest to make it look like she is still asleep. She tries to not wrinkle her nose at the smell of nicotine and alcohol on Angela as she climbs into bed, pulling the sheet over the two of them.
The next time Billie wakes up to the sun peeking through the curtains. The sun creates an ethereal glow in the bedroom as it is covered in gold rays, signalling a new day. The sun creates a halo around Angela form as she sleeps peacefully, letting out soft breaths as she does.
Billie slowly rolls out of bed, careful to not wake Angela. She paddles down the hallway quietly, avoiding spots in the floorboards that creak. When in the kitchen, she begins to prepare breakfast, routinely grabbing bowls and spoons for her siblings like she does every morning.
Billie's halfway through her bowl of cereal when Tim walks in, looking fresher than Billie has seen him these past few weeks. Billie thinks that last night was the first full night of sleep Tim has gotten in well over a month.
Tim mumbles a good morning to Billie as he pours Sugar Stars into his bowl before dousing the cereal in milk.
"Do you know what time Angela got in last night?" Tim asks Billie, breaking the silence.
Billie shakes her head. "No, I fell asleep before she got back," she answers.
Tim nods his head in reply before eating a spoonful of Sugar Stars, crunching loudly on the cereal. After swallowing, Tim opens his mouth, "Angela! Curly! Get the hell up!" he yells, startling Billie as she jumps in her seat.
Curly soon walks in, half asleep as he takes the seat Billie was seating in seconds before. "The whole neighbourhood doesn't want to hear the sound of your voice first thing in the morning, you know," Curly mumbles as he grabs a bowl with a chip on the rim and pours Sugar Stars into it.
Billie is now standing at the sink, rinsing her bowl and placing it in the dish rack. She opens the curtains to let sunlight stream into the house. She can see that her neighbours have left open their window all night as her neighbour is asleep in the reclining chair with the television still blaring.
Angela still hasn't made her way out of the bedroom so Tim yells out once again. "Angela! Get up!" This time, Tim startles Curly and Billie watches as he drops his spoon into his bowl. Curly mutters something under his breath that Tim ignores as Angela finally makes her presence known.
"Fuck off, Tim. It's too early to deal with your shit," Angela grumbles as she takes a seat next to Curly. She pinches her temple, clearly hungover from partying the night before.
"Everything doesn't stop for you just because you're hungover. If you want to party on a school night, you have to deal with what happens afterwards," Tim tells Angela, showing zero sympathy towards his sister.
"Alright," Angela snaps, pinching her temple even tighter. Billie feels sorry for her.
Tim stands up and walks over to the sink. He places his bowl in the sink before walking over to the couch and grabbing his leather jacket.
"I'm meeting with Wesley. Stay out of trouble, alright?" He aims the last sentence to Curly and Angela, before looking at Billie. "Don't worry about dinner for me. Have to meet the Brumly leader over the turf war with the River Kings and some other gang," he tells Billie, who nods her head in response.
Billie watches as Tim leaves in his usual fashion; slinging his too-small leather jacket onto his frame before slamming the fly screen door behind him. Billie hears the sound of Wesley's souped-up car through the fly screen door and she hears Tim greeting Wesley before Wesley drives away, the car's engine becoming distant as Wesley drives away from the house.
"Why are you smirking?" Curly's question causes Billie to turn and face her other siblings. True to Curly's question, Angela was smirking as she stirred her cereal with her spoon.
"Just remembering about the times I went out with Todd Fitzgerald," Angela replies, her lips still turned into a smirk.
Curly pulls a face of disgust as he groans, "I don't want to know."
"Then why'd you ask?" Angela counters back.
"Why do I bother with you?" Curly asks himself.
"Because you love me, that's why," Angela answers for Curly, leaning over and giving him a hug.
"No, I don't," Curly denies, trying to wriggle out of Angela's hug.
"Shut up," Angela says as she lets go of Curly, who fixes himself up.
"Are you skipping today?" he asks Angela, changing the subject.
"Do you actually expect me to go to school?" Angela responds, raising her eyebrows.
"I'm meeting up with the guys at The Dingo. Apparently, there's going to be a fight," Curly replies.
"When isn't there a fight at The Dingo?" Angela snorts in reply.
Billie's only been to The Dingo a handful of times, but on the rare occasion that she has been, she's witnessed a fight there every time. She remembers one time when Tim and Angela took her and Curly for their birthday and a girl got shot. After that, Billie hasn't been to The Dingo since, preferring to go to Jay's, which is safer than The Dingo but not by much.
"No you're not," Angela tells Curly shortly.
"Why not?" Curly demands.
"Because you're coming with us," Angela answers, pointing to herself and Billie, who was still standing by the sink.
"What? No!" Curly protests.
"It's fine, Angela," Billie intervenes. "Curly can go to The Dingo."
Curly gives Angela a see! face and crosses his arms. "Fine," Angela relents. "But you stay safe, alright? Tim will give me an earful if anything happens to you."
"When am I not safe?" Curly responds and Angela opens to mouth to list all the times Curly has been irresponsible and anything but safe, but Curly interrupts her. "Alright, alright. I'll be fine. I promise." Curly then gets up from this seat and walks down the hall, disappearing from sight. Angela sighs before leaving the table too.
Billie grabs her siblings' bowls and cleans up after them, as she washes them and places them on the dish rack with her and Tim's bowls. She looks at the time on the grandfather clock on the wall opposite the television before she too heads down the hall and gets ready for school.
Angela stops as they arrive at the school gates. Already there were groups of students lingering around the school, conversing with friends as they talked about whatever friends talked about. Billie felt like a fish out of water and having a target on her back did her no favours whatsoever.
Angela seemed immune to Billie's apprehensiveness as she tells Billie, "I'll be back to pick you up from school. I don't want you loning it." Billie nods her head. She knows it's not safe for a Greaser to be walking alone, let alone the sister to Tim Shepard. "But if I'm not back in time, some of the boys from the Curtis gang are here. You can trust Two-Bit, Steve and Ponyboy," Angela tells her. Billie nods her head but hopes that Angela comes back in time.
Angela stares at Billie for a moment before pulling her in for a hug. "Have a good day, Bil," she tells Billie before letting her go.
Billie watches as Angela walks away, smiling flirtatiously at Greaser and Soc boys alike who walk past her. Billie watches as Angela changes to the girl Billie sees at home to the girl the East Side sees.
Billie wishes that her siblings wouldn't feel the need to put on a facade, but she knows that life is too good to be true.
a/n: I'm sorry that it took a whole month to update! I know I've been slackening when it comes to updates so I'm trying my hardest to plan ahead so you guys don't have to wait a month until the next chapter.
that being said, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and get to see what billie, tim, angela and curly's personalities. it's been really fun writing them four.
if you did enjoy this chapter, don't forget to leave a vote and a comment :) xx