LIFEBOAT ✧ billy hargrove

THREE

The next day at school, everything felt off. Emily walked through the halls with her head down, her normally perfect looking hair up in a messy bun. She had a killer headache, and was too lazy to even put in her contacts that morning, settling with her thick rimmed glasses. Emily was hoping that seeing Nancy and Steve do cute couple things would maybe cheer her up a bit, but when she saw the two on opposite sides of the hall, she furrowed her brows and walked up to her best friend.

"Hey, Steve, what's up?" She asked, seeing the saddened look on his face. Yes, she already kind of knew what was going on, but she wanted to hear him confirm it.

Steve closed his locker with a very deep sigh and turned to her.

"Nancy and I fought last night, Em. She said our whole relationship was bullshit, and we weren't really in love. Honestly, I don't really know what to do."

The curly haired girl nodded slightly and looked down, feeling sorry that she hadn't stayed at the party to comfort her best friend.

"I'm sorry, Steve. I know how much you cared for her, but if she can't see that, then I'm really sorry for her."

Don't get her wrong, Emily liked Nancy, but her best friend came first, and she hated seeing him so hurt. He helped her through so much throughout her life. When they were in fifth grade together, Emily had gotten picked on by the girls because she didn't like bows, or pink things like the rest of them did, and when all she wanted was to sit with Steve at lunch, one of the boys scoffed and pushed her away from the table, saying something about her being a girl, and that she couldn't sit with them. Needless to say, that boy went home with a bloody nose, the girls no longer said a thing about her, and Steve ended up with a two-day suspension.

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault." Steve told her as he started walking to their first class, and she walked by his side.

In the classroom, everything seemed fine, right up to the moment that Emily looked to the back of the room to see the blonde boy from the previous night. The Sinclair girl rolled her eyes and took her seat toward the front. Steve sat on the left of her, leaving her right side open. Unfortunately, it didn't stay that way for long. Mullet boy sat down beside her, and Emily made the terrible mistake of acknowledging his presence by looking over at him.

"Hey, pretty lady." He gave her that same stupid, charming smirk from the party, and she once again wanted to get rid of it herself. Instead, she stared ahead and ignored him.

"Oh come on, princess, I'm trying to talk to you," he said. "I don't think we had enough time together last night."

Emily remained silent, looking at her nails, acting totally bored.

"Hey, listen to me." He leaned over and tried to grab her hand to pull it from her gaze.

Emily flinched away from him and got up, moving to the seat on the other side of Steve. When she glanced back over at the boy, she thought she saw something in his eyes that looked like hurt, loneliness, but she just looked back at the board as the teacher began class.

Billy had gotten stuck in the front since there were no other empty seats, but man, he didn't mind too much. At least he could look over and see her face.

That face, though beautiful, held so many mysteries that he could only imagine, weren't as beautiful as she would've liked him to think.