.HARD TIMES.

.ONE.

-Months previous to the move to Hawkins- 

The sound of a car pulling up in the driveway made her freeze up and listen. She then realized it was the neighbors car, coming home from work. So, she continued strumming away. 

S I K E.

Minutes later, the front door opened and Eleanora stopped strumming her guitar, she automatically pushed it under her bed in a hurry. Her ears listened closely for the movement of her father's footsteps, if they were staying down or coming up the stairs.  The things is, she heard three pairs of footsteps. 

What the fuck.

She heard voices talking, one of them being her father's and the others being a woman's. 

That's not mom's voice. This bastard.

Eleanora's blood boiled and she tip-toed to her door and peaked through it, her curly hair bouncing as she did so. Turns out she wasn't the only one doing the same thing as her blue eyes met Billy's. They both quirked an eyebrow at each other as their eyes wandered to the talking below. 

"They can take you, Max. You'll be fine with them." Neil, their father spoke. Her thick eyebrows became twisted with confusion. 'They're back from their trip already?' is what Billy mouthed and she gave a sarcastic thumbs up. 

"Billy, Eleanora!" Neil yelled, his voice echoing through the halls upstairs. At the sudden yell, she almost fell over, but caught herself. Billy held back a smile as she glared at him. When they both got up to start walking downstairs, the curly-headed siblings bumped shoulders and Billy snarled,

"Watch it, twit."

"Same to you, twat." She scrunched up her face as Billy stuck out his tongue at her, mockingly.

"Jackass."

"Bitch." 

"We're WAITING." They both sped down the stairs at that tone their father used. [zoom zoom bitch] The pairs of blue eyes saw the two people standing in the entry way and anger flooded through Eleanora's brain. Their stepsister had freckles dotting her face and she looked very un-amused and didn't want to be here. 

Me too.

 "Can you guys take Max to the beach for a couple of hours?" He said, gesturing to the red headed girl and then his two children, they both gave a nod and Elea reached into her pocket to pull out the keys to the dark blue Caramo.

"Give me those. God knows you'll kill us all, twit." Billy snatched the keys from her grip and she scoffed at him with a straight face.

"Mhm. I'm sure you'll kill us all, if you drive." Eleanora just grabbed them back in one swift motion with a smirk as she threw an arm around Max's shoulder.

"C'mon kid, let's bounce to the shore!" She chuckled at that remark and followed Billy out, as he stormed in front of the two.  

"Wait, Eleanora, Billy." Billy gripped the doorway out of the house, turning his head back to him and she turned around to watch her father very cautiously. Neil opened his mouth only to be cut off by the phone ringing,

-"I got it."

-"I'll get it." The curly headed siblings said at the same time with a sigh. The two of them held an intense glare for 2 seconds before they both dashed for the phone. 

"I said I got it, twerp!"

"Sure, you twat!"  A muffled chuckle came from Max as Billy knocked Eleanora into the wall, but she grabbed him by the back of his collar then slid under his outstretched arm. Her hand curled around the phone and she leaned against the wall,

"Hargrove residence." Billy grabbed her arm and rung it, she gritted her teeth and yanked it away from him. 'Asshole!' she mouthed to him and he scoffed like a pouty child.

"Hello, is Neil Hargrove there by any chance?" Eleanora's eyes moved to her father,

"Yes, he is, one moment," She covered the bottom half of the phone.

"It's for you." He stalked over and took the phone from her as she walked to the side. Who in God's name is calling? Think, think, thi--- A flick to her cheek brought her out of her thoughts, 

"She asked you a question, twerp." Eleanora rubbed her cheek while glaring daggers at her older brother.

"Thanks. Sorry, what did you say?" She answered while looking in the direction of the two females. Susan spoke up,

"How well do you guys know the area?"

"Very well, don't worry. We used to go down to the shore many times." She answered with a small smile, Max looked only slightly annoyed by us two just standing there and not leaving for the ocean.

"Yeah, we know it well." Billy said while crossing his arms over his chest, Eleanora rolled her eyes at his gesture. Eleanora grinned even wider for a moment because it reminded her of the times with her biological mother. 

"So, where--" Max began but was cut off my Neil.

"That was the real-estate agent--" 

"Real estate agent?" Billy and Eleanora questioned together. Neil gave them both a warning look and they both shut up, becoming stiff where they stood. 

"We've been cleared." He finished and Susan beamed. Max simply rolled her eyes and looked mopey. Eleanora took a step forward,

"Cleared for what?" She asked and Billy's eyebrows shot up, looking at his father. Neil just smiled at all of them,

"Our new home in Indiana." The two teenagers eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as the stared at Neil.

-"New home?"

-"We're moving away from California?!" They both blurted out at their father. 

If looks could kill...Eleanora and Billy would be long dead. 

"Yes. Now, you are to take Max to the beach while we discuss this. Do you both understand?" He gave a look to both of them which made them both say,

"Yes, sir." In a monotone voice that could be laced with anger and fear toward the man in front of them. He nodded and shooed them out, Eleanora re-attached her arm around Max's smaller shoulder and lead her outside, almost shielding her away from Neil. Once the door was shut, Billy stood right at eye-level with his sister, hand stretched outward.

"Keys. Now." Eleanora sighed and sadly gave him the keys. When they got into the car, Max was in back with the two older siblings up front,

"Max, seat belt or you will die." 

"That's lovely." Billy only scoffed like a child.

"You're not gonna die--"

"Yeah, sure, B. You just always get out of speed tickets because of your 'charm'." She said while using air-quotes on the last word. He only smiled and punched on the gas, soon when they were out of their neighborhood, Billy went 10 to 20 to 30 miles over the speed limit. Eleanora only held onto her seat-belt over her chest and kept a straight face, Max's eyes were wide as she gripped onto the seat for dear life. [This is the first time Max has driven w/ Billy btw.]

"This is why I drive, Billy." Eleanora groaned, he waved her off with the 'stop your whining' card. 

After a while of just speeding around, Billy said to Elea,

"Do you wanna just go to pier instead?" Elea gave a thumbs up over the loud rock music and yelled it back to Max, she gave the same response.

chapter one, what ya think?? OKAY. So, I realized that after watching episodes 6 and 7 that Billy and Max met when Billy was a preteen. I had to change this up and the other chapters will have to change as well. So sorry, but thanks for reading!! :)