CHAPTER TWO
BABE ALERT
TWO WEEKS UNTIL DUSTIN'S RETURN
"YO, GUYS, LOOK, LOOK!" A Hawkin's Sophomore practically drooled as he slapped his friends frantically. "She's finally back from break.
His other friends turned their heads abruptly, trying to find the girl of their dreams so they could watch her assume her rightful position at the top of her lifeguard tower in all her babe-like glory.
"Holy—" they gasped as they watched Tulip Henderson strut from the girl's locker room, her brilliant smile taking away from the shining sun as she greeted everyone.
She seemed so full of life and beauty...
"Oh, my God I can't wait till my shifts over," Tulip grumbled to herself, dropping her smile as she passed a group of underclassmen boys, choosing to give them a small wave of acknowledgement when she caught their stares.
Every single day, same time, same place. Tulip wanted to laugh. Just like the moms to Billy...
Tulip glanced in the direction of the pack of moms and shivered, Gross. Never use that simile again. Like, ever again.
"Lookin' good, Henderson!" Billy teased from his spot across the pool from Tulip's own lifeguard tower. "Have you been working out lately?"
The women fawning over Billy immediately turned to glare at Tulip, upset she'd somehow gotten the attention of such a man when they were the ones deserving of it.
The high school boys sighed in defeat, envious of Billy Hargrove and his ability to charm the pants right off any girl who even looked at him.
Tulip rolled her eyes, she'd been working as a lifeguard for over a month and the asshole still couldn't take a hint, "Oh, shut up, Billy!" she called, groaning as she looked up at her high chair that gazed over the pool.
This was her least favorite part of the job. Climbing the high chair.
"Might as well get it over with," Tulip sighed to herself, grabbing the sides of her little ladder, taking a high step up in an attempt to climb to her chair quicker.
The reactions from the males, and a few females, currently residing in Hawkins Public Pool was upsetting as Tulip experienced various catcalls and yips of approval. Her face flushed angrily, you'd think people would be mature about her job, seeing as how she's quite literally being paid to protect them, but it was quite the opposite actually.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it," she huffed, letting her shades— correction, letting Steve's shades drop over her eyes once she finally took her spot in her chair, comfortably resting under her umbrella as she waited for the day to end. "Now just swim and try not to drown, please."
Her mother had told her a surprise would be coming within the next few weeks and Tulip could hardly wait! She had immediately gone to tell Steve, hoping he might have an answer to which he denied knowing anything. He said if he did know anything about a surprise, his big mouth would've already told Tulip.
Tulip felt her chest tighten at the thought of Steve Harrington.
It seemed like forever since the two had seen each other. They barely got to hang out anymore since they'd both been subjected to summer jobs. It had taken a few weeks to get into the swing of things, but every now and then Tulip would take the break in between her shifts to visit Steve at Scoops Ahoy and Steve vice versa.
Every time Tulip went to see Steve, he would have his scoop out and ready to serve her, her favorite treat. A chocolate and banana ice cream boat with sprinkles, waffle cone sails, extra cherries, and, of course, a compliment. His slinging skills had luckily improved since his first day of work, this proving to be a good thing for Tulip.
Though Steve would never admit it, he had spent extra time practicing Tulip's order so that he could make it better and better each time. It was definitely worth the long hours and threat of carpal tunnel once Steve saw Tulip's reaction to his masterpiece.
She nearly sighed in remembrance of such bliss. She needed to visit the boy again, and soon. Steve had also informed her that one of the original employees had finally gotten back from some sort of "band camp" and that the girl was a bit odd to say the least.
It made Tulip roll her eyes as they talked over the phone, she was sure Steve was just being Steve and judging a book by its cover, though he said it wasn't just the cover he was judging, it was, "the whole damn book."
Tulip then called him a drama Queen which thus started an argument that ended with Steve promising to take Tulip out for dinner soon. She truly loved winning sometimes.
Tulip's thoughts moved from Steve and his bright smile, to her mother's voice, reminding her yet again that she had a surprise coming soon.
Tulip had wondered what the surprise was; she had hoped it was Dustin coming back from his Science camp, but when she'd talked to him on the phone he had said he wouldn't be back for another few weeks. To which Tulip responded with a rant of disapproval, telling Dustin how boring and sad it was coming home to a quiet house every night.
Her mother had been picking up more hours for her own job recently, resulting in her coming home late and then going straight to bed only to be up and out of the house before Tulip could even tell her to have a nice day.
"What's up, dumb-itri?" A loud laugh could be heard following the insult. "You still working towards the world's biggest cannonball?"
Tulip was snapped from her daydreaming when she noticed the group of boys that had been staring at her earlier berating another kid for wearing a shirt while swimming.
"Who the hell wears a plain, white shirt when they're swimming?" A skinny, red haired boy scoffed. "What? Scared of a little sun?"
His friends laughed along, ignoring the kid Tulip had noticed came to the public pool alone most of the time. His name was Dimitri, he was a shorter boy who was chunkier than many his age, and he was also many shades darker than the kids he went to school with. This meaning he could never catch a break.
Not unless Tulip was around. She'd grown to have a soft spot for many of the younger, under dogs. There was a younger girl named Beth who struggled with a lisp and while Tulip thought it was the cutest thing ever, the surrounding middle schoolers unfortunately did not. There were multiple threats of calling parents and it had helped for the time being, but Tulip was one smart ass comment away from kicking said smart ass in the mouth.
"I'd expect you to love the sun, y'know? Seeing as how you're just about as dark as—"
Tulip was quick to press her whistle to her lips, blowing its shrill cry to turn everyone's attention on her, "Hey, red!" She yelled, gaining the bully's attention.
His face flushed to match his hair color and his eyes widened as he turned to look back at Tulip, "Y—Yes, ma'am?" He stammered nervously, flickering his eyes around the silent pool in embarrassment at being put on the spot.
"If I catch you, or any of your boys, picking on my friend Dimitri one more time, I swear to God I'm gonna ban every single one of you little shits for life!" She yelled, giving them each a stern look, "That goes for Beth too," she told them before glancing to Dimitri.
"Go up to the front and tell Sam our code word, Dee," she grinned brightly, her attitude taking a complete 180°. "Maybe bring me one too?"
Dimitri's crestfallen face had since lifted to give Tulip a smile only she ever saw, "S—sure thing, Tulip!" He said excitedly, hurrying past the bullies to get him and his friend their slushees. "Be right back, don't worry!"
Tulip laughed at his frantic steps. She could tell he wanted to run, but they both knew that was a bad idea, Dimitri wasn't very graceful. That plus the pool rules meant running was not an option.
"I'm serious, by the way," Tulip looked back to the rude boys, seeing them whispering angrily to one another. "And yes, I really can ban you guys. Forever."
"Oh, come on, doll!" Billy called from across the quiet pool, giving Tulip an amused grin. "I'm sure I could talk to them. I'm told I have a way with words," he told her, slowly turning his head to give the boys a dark look.
Tulip noticed the boys looked close to peeing themselves as Billy glowered down at them. She went to protest, but noticed how quick they responded to the older boy's threat.
"No, that's alright, Billy," she told him, ignoring how oddly bitter his name felt on her tongue. "These boys seem smart enough to understand when enough is enough... don't you?"
"Yes!" They all cried in unison, shaking their heads frantically as they went about apologizing to Tulip, some even offering her their allowance in exchange for her to not ban them.
"Good," Tulip nodded, leaning back into her seat smugly, "because I'd hate to have to tell your moms that you got banned from somewhere for bullying. Again."
They nodded hurriedly, grabbing their things, deciding they'd been at the pool long enough for today.
"Here ya go, Tulip!"
Tulip glanced down to see Dimitri halfway up her chair, her slushee in the hand that wasn't hanging on for dear life.
"Oh, you didn't have to climb up, Dee," she told him, quickly taking the drink from his hand. "Thanks!"
"You're welcome," he told her happily. "I got you your favorite flavor," he reassured.
She grinned, "Cherry?"
He nodded quickly, "Uh huh!"
She laughed, "You're amazing! Now, go have fun and let me know if you need anything else, alright?"
"Okay, Tulip!" He called, moving to find a spot for him to sip his drink for a few minutes. "You're awesome!"
"It's a gift," she called back, earning another grin in return.
Billy watched the interaction between the chunky kid and Tulip, suddenly wondering what it took for someone to get close to such a girl as Tulip Henderson. He'd been watching her ever since the two started working together; he just couldn't seem to stay away. He also loved bugging the hell out of her, so that was another reason he never strayed too far.
"You're staring, Hargrove," Tulip yelled from her side of the pool.
"I'm gazing," Billy called out to her. "Can't a guy look at a woman as beautiful as you?"
"They can when the woman's not me and the guys not you," Tulip was quick to respond, giving him a narrow-eyed look from behind her adjusted sunglasses.
Billy laughed at her retort, "You've gotten sassier this summer, flower girl," he said, enjoying the pout that was beginning to swell her lips.
"Maybe you slapped it into me," Tulip threw daggers at him as she spoke, noticing his face fall when reminded of what had happened last year. "What? Waiting for me to say 'thank you'?" She scoffed at his sudden silence.
Tulip still harbored feelings of resentment towards Billy after the fiasco from last year took place. It didn't help that Steve absolutely loathed the guy either. Perhaps she could have moved on sooner, if Steve didn't remind her how much of an asshole Billy was every second they spent together.
Steve also couldn't get over his and Billy's fight from last year. He claims it's because of how Billy treated Tulip and the kids, but Tulip knew Steve was still upset that Billy had pretty much kicked his cute ass into oblivion.
Billy's anger flared, not particularly at Tulip but at himself and the situation in general. He hadn't meant to hit her, it was his first reaction to what she'd done to him. It's what his father would've done...
Billy cleared his throat, abruptly moving to descend from his chair, "I'm taking my break early," he told Tulip. "If Heather asks, tell her... or don't, I don't really give a shit."
He stormed away from the pool once his feet finally hit the cement, and Tulip nearly cheered in relief, "Thank God," she sighed, taking another sip of her slushee before turning back to watch everyone swim. "Hey! No running!"
••••••••••
••••••••••
{AUTHOR'S NOTE}
WHAT IT DOOOO
I hope you all are well and have had some water a food today! I also hope you guys enjoyed this here chapter, there will be a couple more "filler" chapters before jumping into the plot :)
I'm so grateful to have peeps like you guys so thank you for following me throughout my writing journey and for supporting me when I couldn't (abs wouldn't) support myself.
You guys are AMAZING I LOVE YOU HOMIES NOW HAVE AN AMAZING DAY, ALRIGHT??