CHAPTER ELEVEN ooooh
THE TRUTH
A tall, mullet-wearing boy and a petite brunette were walking hand-in-hand down Cherry Lane, their strides getting slower and slower as they came close to the only house on the street that was lit. Billy started to shuffle his feet, pulling on Jess's arm so that they could take their time.
Max was nowhere to be found; she hasn't come home from what they could see. The Camaro wasn't in the driveway or on the side of the street so the pair assumed that she was still out.
The walk back had been mostly quiet. Neither Jess nor Billy wanted to talk about what's happened back at the house. They'd rather forget about it entirely and move on. It was just a little glitch in their system.
A familiar rumble blared behind them. Jess was the first to turn around and see the blinding lights of the Camaro. With Jess's hand shielding her eyes from the high beams, Billy felt the tug of her arm and saw the sun-like glow coming from down Cherry Lane.
"Why the fuck is she using the high beams?" Billy squinted against the rays that bounced with every bump along the uneven pavement. As the car came closer, Jess could spot the top of Max's head that glowed with her fiery red hair.
"Calm down, Billy." Jess yanked on his arm some more to stop him from overreacting. "Don't make any judgments before you know the whole truth."
"Whatever," Billy approached the Camaro that slowed down to where the pair was standing. Billy tugged Jess along and slammed his hand on the roof of the car. "Hey, Shitbird! Get out!"
With a roll of her eyes and an audible sigh, Max kicked the door open and stood in front of her big brother with her arms crossed.
"Where the hell have you been?" Jess spoke up. Max gave the brunette a stunned look and her mouth hung open. She wasn't expecting Jess to be so angry and scared.
"I- I was..." Max shook her head as she tried to come up with a good lie. Billy stood frozen as he waited for Max's response. As grateful as he was for Jess to question Max with as much authority she could muster up, he still felt his anger boil violently underneath his stoic exterior.
"You." Billy snapped out of his shocked state and raised his brows at Max pointing at him. "You almost killed Steve so I had to take him to the hospital."
Jess smirked at Max's response. Tilting her head up to look at Billy, the brunette commented cooly, "What a damn good explanation."
The ground cackled under the weight of Billy shifting from one foot to the other, as if it were laughing at him too. Annoyed further, Billy just huffed out a grunt and grabbed the navy blue door, yanking it open to enter.
"He's just salty that you didn't have a worse explanation," Jess shook her head at the boy who glowered inside his car. Max shrugged and started to round the car with Jess leading. "Don't worry, though. He's just a little- " Jess opened the door and stuck her head inside the car to yell in Billy's ear. "- Broody Brood!"
"Shut up!" Max laughed at Billy seething in the driver's seat. The redhead snickered as she climbed into the back seat and Jess settled into the passenger's seat. It was only a thirty second drive up to the house but there was no way Billy was going to let Max drive another second.
Keeping up appearances, Billy and Jess walked inside the house with Max in front of them. The girl was ready to run to her room but a man stood up from the kitchen.
"Maxine," the man called out for the redhead. He emerged from the doorway and the trio realized that it was Neil. Bile bubbled up Jess's throat as the horrible sounds she heard while he beat Billy resonated through her head.
"I'm glad you're back home safely." The redhead look like she was a deer caught the headlights and she didn't know how to respond.
"Thanks..." Max fled the scene to her room and shut the door. Billy's grip on Jess's hand grew tighter as Neil approached the pair.
"You're lucky that Maxine came home before I went to bed." Billy's breathing labored and his back straightened. Neil stared at Billy with an intimidating glance for a minute. He then turned to Jess, tsked and then left.
Billy stared at his father's retreating figure and waited for him to close the door to his room before he turned to Jess.
"Why did my Dad tsk you?" Billy's head tilted to the side as he walked in front of Jess.
"What do you mean?"
"He only does that when he's ticked off." Billy narrowed his eyes to the girl before him. "What did you do?"
"Nothing!" Jess laughed and awkwardly fiddled with her hair. Billy kept on staring at her with a questioning gaze before Jess finally cracked. "Fine. I spat in his face."
"What?" Jess was expecting for Billy to be angry, but he instead plastered a giant smile on his face and stared at her in awe.
"Yeah. It was when he was done... beating you." Billy's smile didn't falter. He slung his arm over Jess's shoulder and brought her neck closer to him and leaned down to kiss her. Jess was surprised to find his lips softly molding onto hers, but she soon melted into his touch and found herself kissing back.
"Thanks for that," Billy said after they parted. "Really. That made you even hotter."
"Thanks for that." Jess rolled her eyes and pushed his arm off of her shoulders as she walked towards the door.
"So I'll see you Monday?" Billy called out to Jess as she opened the door of the Hargrove residence. She turned around, smiled at him and nodded. A sudden realization hit her: she was going to be grounded. Her stomach became uneasy with the thought of being grounded until the end of time.
"This was fun, we should do this again," Jess teased as she unlocked her car door. Billy scoffed and leaned against the doorframe of his house.
"Keep dreamin'." Jess's grin grew wider as she got into her car and buckled her seatbelt. Billy came up to her window and knocked gently, making Jess roll it down manually with the crank.
"We never really got our first date, huh?" Tilting her head, Jess shook her head.
"No, we really didn't," Jess slid her car key into the ignition. "Unless you count smashing a lamp over your head romantic?"
"Yeah, I think I have a concussion," Billy laughed softly as he leaned on the window sill.
"Aw my poor little Broody-Brood." Jess pouted and raked her fingers through his messy hair. She laughed when Billy glowered sinisterly and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He grabbed her hand and held it loosely as his eyes grew serious.
"How about I come by tomorrow night?" Jess clicked her tongue and shrugged slightly.
"If I'm not grounded." Billy laughed and patted the inside of the door twice before stepping away.
"Here's to hoping." Jess kicked her car into reverse and started to back out of the driveway. Once she was cruising down Cherry Lane, the uneasiness she felt at Billy's doorstep kicked in and settled in the pit of her stomach.
She found herself tapping her fingers on her steering wheel and slowing down on the main roads home; she actually stopped at stop signs.
Eventually, Jess couldn't outrun the inevitable. As she walked up the steps to her house, she could hear yelling and rapid pacing inside.
The noises became louder once Jess stepped inside. They ceased immediately when she closed the large oak door. Her parents' eyes fell onto her and she felt her stomach thrash violently. Her mother was the first to speak up.
"Jessica." The tone of Miranda's voice cut through the scared teen like a million blades. She knew she was dead. "Where the hell have you been?"
"I..." Jess stared at the floor, unable to conjure up a lie good enough to deliver.
"What's the matter? Just tell me where you've been." Miranda crossed her arms and leaned against the kitchen counter.
A nervous smile contorted Jess's features as she tried to think of a lie. Her eyes fluttered around the room and stared at the stupid mirror in the living room. She could see how sweaty and twitchy she had become.
"Out?" It was more of a question, but Jess hoped that her mother took it as a response.
"We have had to call every hospital within a five mile radius. We thought- God, we thought that you had another accident!" Miranda lowered her head and held her forehead with the tips of her fingers. Small tears fell from her flushed cheeks and onto the hardwood floor. "You were gone for fifteen hours. We went fifteen hours without knowing whether or not you were dead!"
"But I'm alright! Mom, it's all good." For a second, Jess thought that the conversation was over. For a second, she thought that she would get off scratch-free.
"No, it's not alright. Nothing about what had happened today was alright! In fact- " Miranda marched up to her daughter and grabbed her keys that were in her hands. Jess gasped are the sharp edges of the brass metal against her palms. "- you are grounded. No driving."
"But!- "
"Until you learn some responsibility, you are not allowed anywhere near that car." Miranda threw the keys at her unsuspecting husband. Paul snapped out of his daze when the keys hit his chest and fell at his feet. Rolling her forest green eyes, Miranda took a deep breath and faced her daughter again.
"One other thing- you are not allowed out of the house. For school, you leave at seven-thirty in the morning and come back and two-forty. No going over at whoever's house anymore." Refusing to cry in front of her parents, Jess barely nodded. "For a week."
"Fine." Letting out a shaky breath, Jess rolled her eyes. "Can I go to bed now?"
"Fine."
Jess stomped up the stairs in a fit of rage. Once she got to her room, all she wanted to do was to fall onto her bed and close her eyes. Maybe to never wake up. That was the only option that seemed better than being without her car and confined to the house all week.
Instead, Jess got into what she calls her 'jammies' which consisted of a soft button-up and pants. She then cracked open a book of poems, My Life and Hard Times. She was thinking of maybe giving it to Billy. He could use some of these poems.
The phone rang beside her bed, the annoying trill of a mechanical bell filling her room. She immediately grabbed it, not wanting to hear it ring one more time.
"Hello?"
"What's the verdict?" Jess smiled softly at the voice from the other end.
"Grounded. For a week. And the worst part: no car." The brunette slightly closed the book over her thumb to keep her place.
"How are you going to school?" Jess gently shrugged at Billy's question.
"Walk? I don't know." A sigh rang through Jess's head. She forgot to ask her mom how she was going to get to school in the midst of her anger.
"I can take you." Jess made a face when she heard what she thought she heard.
"Really? That would be awesome." It wasn't like Billy to just offer rides left and right, especially after Max took his car and all that.
"Beats walking in the freezing cold."
"True," Jess laughed. "Hey, so you found my number."
"Yeah, a crumpled piece of paper in my jacket pocket was kinda suspicious." Billy's laugh was like music to Jess's ears. He rarely laughs, but when he does, it's like a gift in it of itself.
"Well, I'm glad you found it. At least now I have a ride to school."
"Is that all I am to you?"
"Yes."
"Ouch." Jess giggled softly, not wanting to draw attention from her parents.
"I'm kidding," she bit her lip at the awkward silence that soon loomed over her. "Goodnight, Billy."
"Night, Jess."
-
At seven-thirty sharp on Monday, Billy's blue Camaro zoomed down Jess's street, stopping right before he could hit her on the curb.
Jess barely flinched. She knew that he wouldn't hit her on purpose, and he looked sober enough.
"Kinda reminds you of the first day of school, huh?" Jess referenced when Billy almost hit her two weeks ago. Billy shook his head as Jess climbed into the front seat.
"You were stupid enough to walk in the middle of the road." Jess let out a big scoff as she buckled her seatbelt.
"The pedestrian always has the right of way! Besides, it was your loud music that prevented you from driving straight," Jess raised her brow and crossed her arms.
"Wanna bet?" Billy reached for the knob of the radio that was softly playing some rock music and turned it all the way up to a hundred. Big City Nights immediately invaded Jess's ears and made her jump in fright. "Whoo! Yeah, that sounds great!"
Crossing her arms and rolling her eyes, Jess gave Billy a disapproving look. After realizing that she wasn't amused, Billy turned the music down to eighty. Jess eyed the volume and Billy just shrugged.
"Compromise," Billy went back to thrumming his fingers against the leather material of his steering wheel. Jess ignored him after that, lying back into her seat and basking in the warm air that blew onto her face from the heater.
"Hey, Jess," a voice greeted her from the backseat. Twisting her whole body so that she could see who called out to her, Jess spotted Max squished in the back.
"Oh hey, Max."
When the trio arrived at school, Delilah was sitting at one of the tables in front of the building, trying to catch up on some homework that she procrastinated on.
Her head popped up from her essay and she saw Billy's blue Camaro zoom into its parking place next to Jess's empty spot.
Where is she? Delilah wondered as she watched the arrogant ass, mullet-wearing boy get out of his car like he owned the school.
To her surprise, Jess was next to get out. Soon, everyone in the parking lot stared at the brunette who leaned back into the car to prop the seat forward so that a redhead could get out.
Slinging her sack of a backpack on, Jess barely noticed anyone looking at her as she started walking towards the school with Billy by her side, keeping a small distance. Delilah could spot the small smile that played at the corners of her best friend's mouth as Billy spoke lowly to her.
"Hey, don't get your panties in a twist," Jess laughed at Billy who was still on the fact that his music wasn't too loud. Billy was about to respond to her "panties" comment, but she beat him to the punch. "But you know that I could win any argument if it weren't for school starting in five minutes."
"I'd like to see you try and fail," Billy smirked and his hand snaked to Jess's back jean pocket. The warmth from his hand seeped through the jean material and made Jess's heart beat faster and her face redden.
The flustered teen was about to address the fact that Billy Hargrove was grabbing her ass nonchalantly, but it was in that moment that Delilah decided to make herself present.
"Jessica." The tone of Delilah's voice made Jess's attention snap back to her friend. Billy's hand immediately retracting and the girl by his side was left with a cold feeling of where his hand used to be.
"Delilah, hey," The wind whipped Jess's hair onto her chapstick-layered lips. Using a finger to pull it away, Jess gave the blonde a nervous smile. "H- Hey. How have you been?"
Delilah stayed silent and she stared at Billy who was awkwardly hanging around Jess like a fly that just wouldn't shoo. This continued for a good few seconds before Jess cleared her throat and caught the denim-clad boy's attention.
"I'll catch up with you later, yeah?"
"Whatever," Billy grumbled his response as he left the pair to catch up.
"Finally," Delilah guffawed at the boy who strutted away. "What the fuck's up with him? Why is he stuck to you like a creepy Siamese twin?"
Jess nibbled on her bottom lip as she shyly fumbled with the buckle on her backpack. "Maybe it's because I kissed him... twice, in one day?"
"Ew!" Delilah stick her tongue out and made excessive gagging noises.
"Why "ew"?" Jess's mouth hung open as she stepped over some split oil from an old car. That person is not gonna have a fun day.
"'Cause love is gross!" Delilah tried to force bile to spill out of her mouth but ended up dry heaving on the pavement. People turned to stare at her on the ground, gagging like a psychotic girl.
"What do you mean? You don't like love?" Jess yanked the blonde back upright and they continued to move through the crowd of teenagers.
"Not that type of love." A slight moment of silence fell over the duo as Jess tried to interpret what Delilah was trying to say.
"Straight love, Jessica, I don't like straight love." Delilah rolled her eyes at Jess's innocence.
"Oh," Jess's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She had always thought that Delilah wasn't straight but she didn't want to assume.
"Look," Delilah stopped her friend from waking further as she planted her feet and turned to face the brunette. "If you don't want to be friends with me... I guess I understand. I mean, you wouldn't want to associate yourself with a dyke like me."
"Hey." Jess's heart clenched at Delilah's use of that word. "Don't call yourself that. And who cares if you like girls or not? I still love you."
"No homo?" Delilah teased. Jess snorted, not expecting her to make a joke so quickly.
"Definitely a little, c'mon, it's the 80's," Jess brought Delilah into a tight hug. "So are you gay? Or..?"
"Bi. I lean towards girls more, though." Jess nodded and they soon fell back into step.
"Cool. So what's your type? Tina? Carol? Tammy?" Delilah gave a hearty laugh followed by a snort.
"God no," the blonde shook her platinum hair. "Tammy is such an airhead. More like... a girl who thinks everything's lame."
"So a girl like you?"
"At least I'll know I'll like her," Delilah shrugged. "Ah, to be cynical with someone."
"That's love right there."
"Mhmm."
When Jess and Delilah walked through the school doors, they both parted different ways. Jess to Stats and Delilah to her study period.
Billy sat next to Jess during Stats and they both watched Mrs. Kameyer instruct the class on a new topic. Math made Jess sleepy, so her lids started to droop until they rested comfortably closed. She shook herself awake, only for her eyes to close again. It was a never-ending circle of tiredness.
Jess tilted her head towards Billy to see what he was doing. He had his head down and his jacket off, hanging on the backside of his chair and showing off his muscular arms that made a make-shift pillow under his head. Reaching out to poke him with her pen, Jess bit her lip in excitement as Billy stirred.
"Go away." Billy grumbled as he swatted the girl's hand away.
"Billy." Jess's whispers went ignored as Billy stayed in the same position. "Billy!"
"What?" He finally turned his head towards her and laid his cheek on his forearm.
"I'm bored."
"Too bad."
"Billy."
"What?"
"Can I draw on your hand?" Billy gave the brunette a look that said, 'Are you serious?' Jess pouted and tried to make herself too cute to resist. "Please?"
"Fine," Billy hung his hand over the table as he watched Jess from where he was lying down. She grabbed his hand and turned it so that his palm faced up.
"So, there's this little mouse with- " Jess drew the tiniest mouse on the edge of Billy's palm, whiskers and all. "- a long tail."
At her last sentence, Jess drew a line from Billy's palm to the crook of his elbow. He stared at the long line of ink that trailed up his arm for a while, fighting back a groan.
"What the fuck?" It was meant to come out as intimidating, but it was more like a whine. Jess laughed at Billy's face; he looked like he was done with everything.
"Aw, come on, it's a cute mouse!" Billy shook his head and stared at the small mouse that slept soundly on the palm of his hand.
-
Lunch came and Jess sat across from Delilah outside on one of the sitting areas on the side of the school. She watched as the blonde stared at an apple that sat patiently on her plate.
Guilt rode up and took form in bile in Jess's throat. She has basically ignored her best friend all weekend the day after she told her that her father has passed away.
"Are you okay?" Delilah stopped staring at the apple and instead looked at Jess. She shrugged and bit into the red fruit anyways.
"Fine. Why?" Jess rested her head on her fist and picked out the cherry tomatoes that littered her sad salad of dropping lettuce leaves.
"Your dad died and I haven't talked to you about it since it happened." Delilah rolled her eyes and took another bite of her apple.
"It's fine, I don't like talking about it anyways," the blonde scratched her chin and threw her apple on the grassy ground after only two bites. "You know, my mom tried to get me to 'talk' to her. She's thinking about sending me to therapy."
"Really? That sucks." Delilah threw her arms up in the air in agreement and nodded.
"Right?- "
Suddenly, Jonathan Byers sauntered over to the pair, sitting down at the table as if he hasn't been gone in a week. He coughed slightly, digging into the chocolate pudding that sat in front of him.
Delilah stared at him with an open mouth and Jess glowered at his hunched-over figure. The silence that wrapped around the trio was so suffocating that the blonde had to say something.
"What the fuck?" Jonathan's head snapped to the girl who's mouth still hung open. "Where have you been the past millennium?"
Jonathan opened his mouth to respond but Jess held up a finger to stop him. "Let me help you finish that, Jonathan- " The brunette turned towards Delilah with a sly smile dancing across her lips. "- He has been ditching school to fool around with Nancy."
"Ugh, you disgusting fuck!" Delilah leaned away from the boy and Jonathan scoffed, dripping his spoon.
"That's not true. That's just a rumor. You know how rumors are, Jess..."
The angry teen wouldn't let his words get to her. She knew what he was trying to do. This situation was completely different than hers.
"Yeah, they have some truth." Jess got up to walk away and Jonathan followed suit. Now that they were gone, Delilah leaned back onto the stone bench, laying out in the grey sun.
"Jess, wait up," Jonathan pulled on the brunette's sleeve. She turned around and gave a disapproving look at his hand touching her sweater. He let go and awkwardly stood in front of her.
"Listen, I know you wanted answers and I blew you off- " Jess scoffed at the bowl-cut wearing boy, looking off into the field where some kids played football. "- and I wanted to finally tell you the truth."
Jess's sneer faded away as she processed what Jonathan had just uttered. Jonathan licked his lips as he waited for her response but when it didn't come, he started to explain.
"Look, my brother didn't disappear. He got kidnapped." Still in the dark about how this was connected to her, Jess crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.
"See, there was this... creature. We called it the Demogorgon. It created portals into our world from his, which we call the Upside Down. Now, it's gone now thanks to a girl with mental abilities, but she's gone too. The world still exists, though and is run by what we call the Mind Flayer. I think that's what's in you."
Shocked by the amount of interdimensional information that was thrown at her, Jess stood frozen. After a while of processing it and concluding that she was crazy and that Jonathan was crazy, Jess finally spoke.
"A 'Demogorgon'? 'Mind Flayer'? Come on, Jonathan. You can make up a lie better than that." Jess turned to walk away, but Jonathan stopped her by grabbing her sleeve again.
"Wait, no! It's the truth. Ask Nancy or Steve," Jonathan pleaded. "They'll tell you."
"You know what? I think you're making this up so that you can be friends with Delilah and I again. Guess what, Jonathan? I want nothing to do with you anymore." Jess turned to walk away and to her lunch table, leaving the bowl-cut boy alone on the field.
"What was that about?" Delilah asked the brunette, not bothering to get up from her position.
"He's trying to lie back into our group." The blonde snickered and sat up, scratching the back of her head.
"Tough luck."
"Yeah..." Jess mumbled, not really hearing her. She was too busy thinking about what Jonathan had told her. Suppose it was true, that means that she is being taken over by another being. That means she's slowly losing her mind and losing control over her autonomy.
The feeling of dread settled in the pit of Jess's stomach. She would never talk to Jonathan about this again, but his story may have some truth to it after all. Even if he were telling the truth, the whole Byers family wouldn't tell her anyways. Joyce ghosted her and Jonathan wouldn't talk to her before just now.
Slowly, Jess brought out her empty journal that was supposed to be for Stats but was just filled with doodles. She then started to write.
She wrote about the accident, her seizures, that one eventful Friday, Jonathan's story, anything and everything she could think of from the moment of her accident up until now.
Filling a journal with torture takes guts. It takes emotional strength. Jess didn't feel that she had it in her. She definitely doesn't want anyone to see this, they could label her as crazy. But what was she supposed to do? Roll over and play dead?
No. She won't take this lying down. Not anymore.
[BARELY EVEN EDITED]
a/n sorry for the long delay haha. also, new cover!