Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 29

I woke up to my alarm blaring in my ear.
"Shut up!" I mumble, pressing the 'off' button. I lay in bed, my eyes wandering the room. This was going to be the last time I would be waking up in this room, and it was kind of surreal.
I walked out of my room to wake El, so she'd be ready for when Joyce comes to get her.
"Hey." I say, gently shaking her so she would wake up.
She groaned and rolled onto her back. "Hi."
"It's time." I say. "I'll quickly make breakfast if you want?"
She nods her head as I walk out of the room and into the kitchen.

After we had our triple-decker eggo extravaganza and got ready, we heard a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" El asked.
I look out the window. "Billy and Joyce." I say, walking over to open the door. "Hey!"
"Hey sweetheart!" Joyce says, pulling me into a hug. I haven't seen her since that heartbreaking moment when she gave me the look to tell me that he was gone. We had arranged for El to live with her over the phone.
"How are you?" She says, letting me go.
I smile. "Okay."
"Hi." El interrupts, emerging from the kitchen.
Joyce ended up talking to El so I used the time to bring Billy inside, who was just awkwardly standing there.
"You ready?" He asks me, sitting down on the corner of my bed.
I shake my head. "Not at all." I say, being completely honest.
He lets out a chuckle. "It's all going to be fine."
I sigh and pick up a box. "I hope so."

About an hour later, the whole house was packed up. All of my stuff was in Billy's car and all of El's things in the back of Joyce's car.
I look back at the small cabin we had. I've decided I wasn't going to sell it because I couldn't bring myself to do it and I know deep down that dad wouldn't want me to.
"Oh my gosh! I'm going to miss this place." I say as Billy walks up and stands beside me.
A car pulling into the driveway startles the both of us, causing us to turn around. It was Steve, Nancy and Jonathan.
"Hey!" I say, running up to them to greet them.
"I can't actually believe you're leaving!" Nancy says.
"I know it's crazy!"
We ended up talking for a few moments before Steve pulled me aside.

"Hey." He says, finally getting to speak to me without Nancy and Jonathan.
"Hi." I simply respond. I could see Billy glaring at us from the corner of my eye.
"This is kind of surreal." Steve started. "We've always dreamed about leaving to go to college. It's weird that it's actually happening." He says. Steve and I were best friends up until he and Nancy broke up. From there on, we grew apart. Growing up, we would always talk about how we would leave Hawkins, find someone we love and have kids. We always joked that we would be neighbors and our kids would be best friends, like we were.
I smile at him. "I know. I'm actually going to miss you, Harrington."
He smiles back and hugs me. "I'll miss you too."
"Kate we're ready!" Billy yells, obviously jealous of me hugging Steve.
"I guess that's my cue." I say, letting go of Steve.
He nods. "I guess so. I hope to see you on a holiday!" He calls out as I walk away.
"I'm sure you will!" I yell back.

"Got a little jealous there, eh?" I say to Billy, smirking.
"Yeah right." Billy chuckles. "Look at him then look at me. I have no reason to be jealous."
I start to giggle. "I like it when you get jealous. It's cute."
He rolls his eyes as I meet El who was standing at the car. I could see she had tears in her eyes.
"I'm going to miss you!" She runs up and hugs me, almost knocking me off of my feet.
"Oh El," I say, hugging her back. "I'm going to miss you too."
She begins to cry into my shoulders.
"Remember," I start. "You can call me whenever you want, okay?" I say, looking her in the eyes.
"Really?" She responds, sniffling.
I nod my head and smile. "Sisters don't lie."
She smiles back. "Sisters don't lie."

I said all of my goodbyes and we were now on the road. I looked over at Billy, he was driving with his sunglasses on and his arm out the window. I knew for a fact that he was going to be one of the toughest goodbyes.
"What?" He says, catching me staring.
"Nothing."

We finally arrived in the city where I was staying.
"Where are we going?" Billy asks as I pull out a map.
"It's on Wilson Street and it's the second apartment complex." I say. I found out about the apartment through a newspaper. I didn't know much about the place I'd be staying, but I knew I would be sharing it with a boy who was a year older than me. I had my own bedroom and bathroom and we shared the kitchen and living room.
Typically, it wasn't my ideal living situation, but I figured I wouldn't spend a lot of time in the apartment, due to school and hopefully a job.
I also didn't know anything about my roommate other than his age and name, which was Tyler. I know that if dad was still alive, he would have done a full background check to make sure he was safe for me to live with.
"I think you turn right here." I say, looking up from the map.
Billy nods and does what he's told. "Here's Wilson Street up on the left." He says, pointing.
"Yeah I guess this is my new street!" I say, kind of excited.

We got all of the bags and boxes out of his car and walked up to the front doors.
"Wow." Billy says as we walk through the front lobby. "I was expecting a complete shithole but this is kind of nice."
"Yeah it's alright." I agree, looking around the lobby.
I look at my notes to see which floor I'd be staying on. "I'm on the first floor." I say, relieved.
"Thank God! I am not bring all of your shit up the stairs."
I laugh. "It's not all shit!"
"Whatever it is, it's heavy!" He says, sounding out of breath.

We walk down the long and winding hallway, but finally I see the number to my new home.
"Here we are." I say, stopping in my tracks.
"Finally." Billy groans.
I take a deep breath and knock on the door, since I didn't have a key yet. Nobody answers so I knock again.
"I'm coming!" I hear a deep voice from inside yell.
"Then hurry up." Billy mumbles under his breath.
The door finally swings open and it reveals a tall, handsome man.
"Hi." I say, thinking I was at the wrong apartment. I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't this.
"Hey!" He says. "You must be Kate."