HERO ↠ ( BILLY BATSON )

six

LAINEY COULDN'T STAY INSIDE OF THE HOUSE ANY LONGER, SHE HAD TO GET OUT. Staring at a blank wall started to get boring and thinking more about the past just made it worse. It was so quite and the only thing making noise was the clock. She wasn't crying anymore, she was regretting everything. From asking Billy to crying to Victoria as if it was going to change what had already happened. Victoria had knocked on Lainey's bedroom door five times only to hear the teenager mutter a faint, "I'll be okay." And Victoria knew it will not be okay.

Not only was Victoria worried, Freddy was worried too. He had called four times and texted her nearly a billion times. It was getting so out of hand just because Lainey refused to speak to anyone.

"Stop hiding from everyone and keeping to yourself!"

Memories. Sweet memories of her mother turned into bitter memories of her. When she held her mother's hand when crossing the streets to her own mother letting her go to someone else who wasn't her father. Lainey didn't even remember her father because she only saw him once.

The brunette's phone rang again. It was Freddy calling for the fifth time that day. She stared at her phone for a bit but then picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Yes, it's you! Hi? Are you okay? I didn't see you at all today and even Billy was worried! I saw you in the car, were you crying?" Freddy's questions were endless because he was worried.

"I'm okay."

"Are you sure? Because I have the feeling you're lying."

"I'm serious, and I've gotta go..."

"Hold on! Wait–"

"Bye."

And then she hung up on him. She suddenly felt better, knowing that at least some people, besides Victoria, cared about her. But she still didn't feel much comfort, and sitting in her room wasn't helping at all. The brunette finally got up and left the house, headphones in and trying to get the thoughts out of her head. The first place she was headed off to was a local convenience store to get a cola.

As she neared the store, she noticed that it seemed as if the big glass window was broken and was being repaired. She opened the store's door and entered the shop, still kind of confused on what had happened there. The teenager took a small bottle of cherry cola from the fridge and went to pay for it at the cash register.

Ten minutes later, she found herself sitting on a bench which was surprisingly close to Freddy's house. She felt better seeing all the lights the city had on at night. It was at least 7 in the evening, but the cold winter made it seem darker.

"Why did you ignore me?" The brunette looked up only to see Billy staring down at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I was yelling after you, you just walked away," he sat down beside her, "did someone hurt you or..."

Lainey broke away from their eye contact and stared at the passing cars, "No..."

"You're not gonna fool me into thinking that you're fine. Let's go somewhere private so you can tell me what happened," he said, waiting for the girl to get up.

"I'm telling you, I'm fine."

"No. No, you're not. Now let's go before it gets too dark, okay?" Lainey suddenly felt warm inside. She was fine with Billy caring and all but she was also confused and a bit a creeped out. After all, Lainey barely knew Billy.

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

Lainey sat next to Billy on a tiny hill. They were silent in the beginning but after a few minutes, they began talking.

"Tell me what happened," Billy asked. Lainey almost felt ashamed, she felt as if she was using Billy as a therapist.

"You know, you don't have to act like a therapist or some-"

Billy silenced her by putting his pointer finger against the girl's lips, "Just tell me, Lainey."

His finger left her lips and Lainey let out a shaky sigh, "My mom. She left me when I was very little," she paused and looked at her shaky hands.

She could see the concern look on Billy's face.

Lainey continued, "There were these two guys who took me away, but before they did they asked my mom if she was sure about it. She said yes without hesitating."

There was a faint pause.

"Before they took me, she told me to 'stop hiding from everyone and keeping to myself...'"

"Not even a goodbye?" he asked.

Lainey shook her head, "Not even a goodbye," she concluded, fiddling with her thumbs.

"T-that was what I-"

"Yeah. You told me that I seemed like a person that would hide from everyone and keep to myself."

"Gosh...I'm so sorry, Lainey," he placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. The brunette almost flinched from his touch, but she felt relieved that she told someone this...who wasn't her guardian.

Suddenly, the voice of Freddy was heard, "HEY, YOU TWO! GET DOWN HERE!"

They both chuckled and rushed down the hill and caught up to Freddy.

"What's up?" Lainey was caught off by Freddy giving her a bear hug. She smiled, "Thanks."

"No problem. I'm just glad you're feeling better," Freddy pulled away and gave Lainey another smile.

Lainey looked to her side to see Billy, slightly angered but not too angry. He was...what seemed to be...jealous?

"Come on, let's go. I wanna tell you all about what happened after school," Freddy smiled for what seemed like the 50th time like a child.

Jealousy.