GONE GIRL » Billy Hargrove

0.3 » it's nothing

"Can you please shut your mouth for one second? I just need to finish this call and I'm all yours," I hissed at my cousin, pressing my hand onto the phone so that the other person wouldn't hear. Cam finally stopped his attempts at talking to me, or rather trying to get me to come to the party with him, and I put the phone back to my ear.

"Yes ... Yes I am very well aware of that. I'll be careful, sure." - "Good. If I hear anything suspicious I'll let you know. For now I have to take care of some pumpkin business it seems. But I'll keep an eye out." - "Thanks Jim. Have a nice day."

I hung up and Cameron immediately proceeded talking about how convenient it would be to have me at the party. "I mean, for one you could make sure I don't drink way too much. Then I won't have to call you to pick me up, you'll just be there already. You also like dressing up, so that would be perfect, wouldn't it?"

With a sigh I picked up my bag and car keys, slipped into my boots and smiled at him.
"I've got to go now. School, remember? See you later, love you." - "Okay but you should really think about it."

Laughing I left the house and before the door could fall shut I heard him yell a quick "Love you too!".

∞

As I pulled out of the driveway and into the street I took a moment to realise how I had just thought things were going great for once, and then Hopper calls and tells me somebody said they had seen my father around here.

Him, out of all people. The reason I was here. The reason I ran away from home. The reason I was this miserable, pretending to be okay.

"Now's not the time to get upset. Get your shit together Lucy, that's not who you are anymore. You've left that person in Seattle."

I kept repeating that mini pep talk to myself the entire way to school, until I suddenly pulled into the parking lot and noticed people staring.

Right. The car.

With one last look into the rear-view mirror I made sure my facial expression looked neutral enough, then I got out of the Impala, locked it and walked over to the building.

"Okay when did you get a car? And such a nice one on top of that," Steve greeted me, joining me halfway up the stairs. "Got it from Cameron, he got a Harley and gave me his old car as belated birthday present." - "How come I don't get to give my best friend a birthday present, and that dude can give you a goddamn car?!"
We walked to class and he kept throwing his arms around, making me shake my head continuously.

"What?" He asked as we sat down, only a few other people in the room so far. "It's nothing," I quickly replied and opened my binder, starting to draw again.

"Come on Luce, don't do this." - "I'm not doing anything." - "You're avoiding. What's wrong?"

A bunch of people entered the room, mainly girls surrounding the new kid and Tommy H. trying to keep up. I choked back a laugh.

"Steve?" - "Yeah?" - "I'll tell you later."
He nodded, a worried look plastered all over his face which made me look back down on my drawing. He had so much trouble with Nancy right now, maybe I shouldn't unnecessarily bother him with my own problems. I should figure something out myself, and keep everyone else out of this, as always.

∞

"Hey, nerd!" Tommy threw another paper ball at my head and I clenched my fist around my pencil, as I turned around just to smack him on the head with my maths book. Over the years I had tried to get by just with ignoring people, but Tommy was a very special kind of dipshit. "Ouch?" - "Shut it," I snapped and turned around, but I felt an enraged gaze pierce through my back for the rest of class.

As soon as the bell rang I jumped up and left, before anyone else could. Hurrying over to the English classroom I disappeared at the seemingly perfect timing, as nobody appeared to be following me.

Taking a few deep breaths I sat down at the back and stared at the empty spots around, contemplating whether I should make a '$1 per note' sign, until the teacher came in and immediately started the lesson.

Already after a few minutes I had to pass a note over to Billy; if it continued like this I'd be a professional note-passer in no time. No need for artwork or anything, I could make a living just from- no. I interrupted my own thoughts and decided to take a nap right when I got back home.

I picked up the note once it was set down on my desk, handed it over to the side and erased the hands for the fifth time.

"So are you coming to the party today?" An unfamiliar voice suddenly asked and I figured that Billy must've still been looking at me. "Nope," I replied, reattaching the fingers to the sketch.

"You're not even gonna look at me although we're talking?" He continued and I rolled my eyes, let out a sigh and looked up at him. It was silent for a moment.

"Happy now?" - "Very." The cocky smile returned to his face, making me cringe on the inside.

"Lucy Lockwood, right?" - "The one and only," I scoffed, finally somewhat content with the way the hands were turning out.

"Having a bad day?" His questions were irritating me; not as in I couldn't understand what he wanted but rather the fact that he was talking to me at all. Maybe I had been too quick to judge, at least he was trying to be friendly. If only there wasn't that goddamn smirk - it really started to annoy me.

"I guess." He let out a chuckle at my response. "Just another reason to come to the party, you see." - "Just another reason to stay at home honestly. The point in avoiding further trouble is to not do anything that could provoke complications of any sort." I looked back up at him, faking a smile. "At least that's my way." - "Your way sounds pretty boring." - "Well it's always worked out for me, so," I explained, vaguely gesturing into the air before setting down my pencil again. Billy turned around without another word, I quickly noted down another fact the teacher repeated again and again, and like this the lesson, and luckily the entire day, soon came to an end.