Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 11

When we arrived at the party, it was obviously packed with teenagers. I let out a long sigh and climbed out of the car.
Billy was quickly walking infront me, so I had to jog to catch up with him. I grabbed his hand, which caused him to look down and smile at me.
"Kate!" I jerked my head in the direction of my name being called.
"Nancy!" I yell, letting go of Billy's hand to run over and hug her. I haven't seen Nancy since we graduated, which was a couple of months ago.
"How are you!" She says, looking me up and down. "You look great!"
"Thanks!" I say. "I feel pretty great! How are you?"
"I'm okay." She says.
"Nancy what happened?" I ask, concerned about her.
"Well I was fired, for starters. Then I also kind of got Johnathan fired and now he's not speaking to me! So I came here to get my mind off of things." She says, upset.
"Awe Nancy! I'm sorry I'm a terrible friend and I haven't been there for you!" I say, hugging her.
It was true, since I met Billy, I haven't been spending as much time with her as I normally do.
"No! No! You're a great best friend!" She says, smiling. "And that was Billy, right?"
I nod my head.
"He's definitely not from around here." She says, laughing.
"I know. He's something else." I say.
"I want to meet him!" Nancy says, all excited.
"Yeah sure!" I say turning around to get Billy, but he wasn't there. "When I find him, you can meet him." I say, turning back to face Nancy.
She starts to laugh. "He must've got tired of standing there, waiting for you."
I nod my head. "I guess."
"Want a drink?" Nancy asks me.
"Yeah sure." I say, forgetting all about what happened last time I decided to have a few drinks.
"I'll go get 'em." Nancy says, turning to walk off towards the kitchen.
I took the opportunity to look for Billy, who just up and left me. He wasn't in the living room where we were. He wasn't in the kitchen because hardly anybody was there. So I came to the conclusion he was outside.
"Here." Nancy says, returning.
"Thanks." I say.
"Fancy seeing you here again, Kate." A voice calls out.
I look to see and it's Steve Harrington, Nancy's ex.
"Hey." I say, as he reaches us.
"Oh, hey Nance." Steve says, finally noticing Nancy.
"Hi." She says quietly.
"I didn't think this was your scene." Steve says, talking to Nancy. I know that he desperately wanted Nancy back because he hasn't been the same since they broke up.
"It's not. But tonight its got to do. Since, I'm not old enough to go to a bar."
Steve nods. "I understand."
"Can we talk?" Nancy asks Steve.
"Sure." Steve says and together they walk off.
I wasn't sure if Nancy still had feelings for Steve or not.
So, now I was alone again and some guy took advantage of that.
"Hey." A boy that I didn't recognize said to me.
"Hi." I respond.
"So what's a pretty little thing like you doing all by herself?" He says, leaning against the wall beside me.
"Uh I'm here with my boyfriend. He just went to see some of his friends." I say, not knowing if that was the truth or not.
"Well he's a fool to leave you all by yourself. Anyways, what's your name?"
"Kate Hopper. What about you?" I say, smiling.
"Brandon Miller." He says, fixing his jean jacket.
"I haven't seen you around here before." I say.
"Yeah I just moved here from Chicago. Maybe if you're willing you could give me a tour around Hawkins some day."
I smile. "Yeah sure."
"That'd be great. How about tomorrow?" He says, returning the smile.
"Tomorrow I'm working during the day... But maybe at seven I could meet you at the mall?"
Brandon nods. "Sounds good."
Brandon was probably around six feet tall. He was a pretty tall and broad guy, compared to Billy who was a little shorter. He had dark short hair and hazel eyes.
"Hey!" Billy says, emerging from the crowd.
"There you are!" I say as he throws his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close.
"Here I am." He says, staring at Brandon.
"Billy this is Brandon. Brandon this is Billy, my boyfriend."
"Nice to meet you." Brandon says, sticking his hand out.
Billy just nods, ignoring his hand. "I want to introduce you to some people." Billy says.
I nod "Okay. See you soon Brandon." I say, walking away from him.
"Who was that?" Billy asks, when we're far away from Brandon.
"Just a nice guy I met." I say.
"There he is!" A guy yells, causing everybody to erupt into cheering.
"What's this for?" I whisper to Billy.
"Well I am the king of drinking competitions." He says, chuckling. "And you are my queen."
I start to smile as we walk over to Billy's friends.
"Kate this is Greg, Tony, Robert and Jenn." Billy says, pointing to each one of his friends.
"Hey." I say, receiving an eye roll from Jenn.
I recognized Jenn from the last party we went to. She was the blonde chick that was hanging all over Billy.
"So this is the girl that Billy's been raving on and on about for the last month." Greg says.
"Yeah." Billy simply responds, looking down at me.
"I'm going to get a drink." Jenn spits out.
"What's her problem?" Billy says, looking annoyed.
"She's probably pissed her man's got a girlfriend." Greg replys, chuckling.
Billy rolls his eyes. "It was a one time thing."
"Yeah but now she's attached to you. Kate, she's coming for you." Greg says, chuckling.
"Don't worry." Billy says. "Shes got a pretty good kick."