HERO ↠ ( BILLY BATSON )

seven

THE NEXT DAY WAS FAIRLY INTERESTING. Getting up without having the feeling that it was going to be a terrible day was new to Lainey. The brunette had arrived at 9:30 the other night and got scolded by Victoria but laughed it off anyway. Falling asleep wasn't difficult, leaving Lainey shocked as she woke up from her good sleep.

She arrived at school just in time for her first class of the day. The teenager was excited to see Freddy and Billy in her class but when she entered her smile dropped quickly. Billy wasn't there. Not only that, but Freddy just sat there with a frown on his face while doodling on a crumpled piece of paper.

Lainey walked up to him, "Hey, Freddy," she greeted him but all she got back was a quick glance.

She instantly felt embarrassed but continued talking anyway.

"Where's Billy?" No answer. Freddy just continued scribbling on the paper. The brunette sighed and walked to her seat.

Maybe he's late? She thought, but she thought wrong. The look on Freddy's face told her something was up. After class, she hurried over to Freddy again and asked the same question, only to receive a shrug. He walked away, leaving Lainey confused. Yesterday they were all so happy and yet now they're all gone their separate ways. How?

School ended and Lainey decided to go look for Billy, seeing that no one wanted to tell her where he was. Not knowing Billy too well, she really didn't know where to search besides going to his house and asking Rosa, she said he would be coming home shortly but Lainey knew he wouldn't be.

She walked down the street with thoughts rushing through her head. Maybe he got hurt? Or maybe he got lost? Wait, no...how could he get lost? He can fly, goddammit! She kept walking like everyone else was. She had been walking for a good five minutes before she was the only one walking. Everyone else had turned around and stopped.

Lainey stopped in her tracks. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. Why did everyone stop? Five minutes ago everyone was walking and minding their own business and now they've stopped and are looking at one specific thing. She gulped, knowing something was wrong and swiftly turned around. And what she saw made her gasp.

A bus. It was a bus that was upside down; but someone was holding it up. Lainey's eyes lowered and then she saw who was holding it...

"Billy?" she mumbled under her breath. No one heard, and no one should. She didn't know what to do or what to think. Should she do something? Should she help him? But what would she do and how could she help him?

She was so deep in thought that she hadn't even noticed that everything was fine now. Everyone in the bus had now exited and thanked Billy for saving their lives. The weight on Lainey's shoulder had left and she now felt way better but still couldn't believe what she just saw.

Lainey still didn't know what to do or where to go. It would take her thirty minutes to get home by walking since she already missed her bus but she needed to talk to Billy, it was the least she could do at that point. The problem was that she didn't where he went.

She sighed in defeat. She couldn't do anything now really. Lainey bit her lip, deciding whether she should call Victoria or not. Her phone was in her hand and the debate whether she should call Victoria or not was really tough. Victoria didn't know she was there, she thought that Lainey was on the bus on her way home.

"Lainey?!" someone exclaimed from behind her.

The brunette immediately turned around and who she saw made her jaw drop. It was Billy in his superhero form, "Billy?"

"Lainey! Did you see that? Did you see me? I was the one who saved all the people on that bus. Sure I caused the problem in the first place but-"

Lainey cut him off, "Billy, just stop."

His smile dropped to a frown.

"Of course I saw you because I came looking for you in the first place." she continued, "Where were you today at school?"

"Wait...so you're not proud of me?"

"Answer the goddamn question, Billy!" she shot back, the anger and frustration really building up on her.

Billy scoffed, "Why does it even matter?"

"Because, Billy, for once today I got out of bed thinking it would be a great day at school and I was so excited to see you and Freddy but when I got to school I saw Freddy angry and couldn't find you anywhere and..." she stopped and didn't finish her sentence. It was pointless arguing with Billy. Pointless. She sighed in anger but decided to skip all the arguing and cut straight to the truth, "I was excited because I thought you guys were my friends now."

He opened his mouth to speak but he didn't have any words to say, "I..."

"But why should I be friends with you two if you guys can't be friends with each other?" Lainey was no longer angry, she was upset.

Billy looked down at the ground in shame.

"Goodbye, Billy."

Goodbye.