The Strangest Thing: Billy Hargrove x Y/N

Chapter 13: Dogfight

Hey guys! It's only appropriate that I address my 1+ month-long hiatus from writing. I could give you a long excuse as to why I wasn't writing but it's simply because I wasn't into it anymore.  Anyway, enough with the BS-ing you guys and making you wait for stuff.  I will channel my energy and creativity into continuing writing.  (Also sorry for any typos, my Grammarly isn't working.)  As always,

y/n = your name

y/l/n = your last name

*CURSING*

Enjoy!

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The following morning, you gnaw on a bagel while pulling into the school parking lot. You lie back in your chair and close your eyes.  You fumble through the radio until the static is broken by a song.  You recline your chair and stick another piece of bagel in your mouth.

Not even a minute into your pre-school relaxation, a tapping on your car window wakes you up.  On the other side of the glass is Billy, standing on the passenger side.  You unlock the car and put your head back down.

"Y/n?" Billy asks and closes the car door. "Are you good?"

You nod, rolling over in your seat to face him. You open your eyes and squint at Billy in the morning light.

Billy puts his hand on your shoulder and gets closer to you. "More importantly, are we good?"

You stretch in your seat and sit up. "We're good." You say. You move Billy's hand from your shoulder and put his hand in yours. "But I'm not the person you have to be 'good' with."

Billy scrambles for the right words while you gather your books. You open the car door when Billy shouts, "Wait!" and jumps out of the car.

You lock your car with a frazzled Billy trailing behind you. "Listen, just meet me in the gym during lunch, okay?" You say while Billy catches up to you.

Before Billy can respond, you simply give him a smirk and rush to math class.

---

In math class, Billy continually pokes you with his pencil to try to get your attention.  You try your best to ignore him yet can't help but laugh every now and then. You look over at him and he mouths "Tell me" and you just shake your head at him.

You finally think Billy's tormenting is over until you feel him throw something into your hair. It gets tangled in your hair, and you struggle to pick it out.  You take it out and find that it's a chunk of eraser, torn apart from the eraser sitting on Billy's desk. You toss the chunk on the floor but Billy throws another small chunk in your hair.  

You turn to Billy and shoot him a glare. "Quit it. I'm trying to pay attention." You say and toss the eraser bit back onto Billy's desk.

---

During your history class, some girl named Tammy is presenting a snoozefest-worthy current event about how music has impacted history.  You look over to Steve, who seems half-asleep like the rest of the class. Well, the rest of the class but one girl. 

What was her name? I know it was a bird. Sparrow? Dove? Oh, Robin!

You rip a small piece of paper from your binder and scribble out a note to Steve. You look over to see him sleeping with his eyes open, snoring lightly.  You crumple the paper up and the paper lands in his nest of hair.  He breaks out of his daydream and retrieves the piece of paper from his hair. He reads your note and gives you a confused look. You shoot him a thumbs up, to which he gives you a thumbs up.  You focus back to Tammy, who is now scowling at you while wrapping up her speech.

Great.

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During lunch, you pace from one side of the gym to the other in anticipation.  Almost like clockwork, two doors on opposite sides of the gym swing open.  Through one comes a confused Steve, still munching on his sandwich.  At the other, Billy stops short and crosses his arms.  You walk over to him and grab his arm, practically pulling him into the center of the gym.

"What is this, y/n?" Billy asks, gesturing to Steve. Steve puts his sandwich back into his bag and tosses the bag a few feet away. 

"I can't go on like this." You say, crossing your arms. "You two need to get along."

"I could have been eating my sandwich," Steve says, looking longingly at his discarded bag.

"Listen," You say and turn to Steve, "Lunch can wait. I'll be standing back while you two talk it out."

You step back a few feet and gesture for Billy and Steve to move closer.  Both take a few steps forward and stop about five feet away from each other.  Neither speaks a word, but rather just stare at each other.  The room becomes so silent that you can hear the faint ticking of the gym's clock.  The two are practically a foot away from each other and it seems like they're staring into each other's souls.

"Are you guys gonna kiss or fight?" You laugh, breaking the silence.  Both Billy and Steve shoot you a glare. "Seriously, the tension can go either way. But can we speed this up a bit? I could be more entertained by watching paint dry."

"Okay, um," Steve says and takes a step away from Billy. "You may be a scumbag, but you're pretty good at basketball, I guess."

"Good, good." You say and applaud Steve. "Now, Billy, what do you like about Steve?"

Billy says something, but neither you nor Steve could tell what he was saying.  You take a step closer to them. "What was that?" You ask.

Billy repeats himself, but you still can't quite hear him. "Still can't hear you!" You say and hold your hand up to your ear.

"I LIKE YOUR HAIR," Billy yells, rubbing his hand on his temple. You and Steve look at each other in complete silence before bursting into laughter.

"Okay," You say, pulling yourself together. "This is a good start. At least I know you guys can talk to each other without fighting." You grab Steve's lunch bag from the ground and toss it to him. "Continue on with your day."

---

By the end of the day, you're beaming at the thought of Billy and Steve getting along. Before you leave the school and head to the parking lot, you stop at Nancy's locker.

"Hey, Nance!" You smile at her and lean against a locker.

"What's got you so happy?" Nancy asks, closing up her locker.

"Oh, just that the two biggest assholes in school are finally getting along." You say and walk out the front door with Nancy.

"Steve and Billy?" Nancy asks.

"Yep. Well, maybe not fully getting along. Just tolerating each other for now." You giggle. "So, are you around today? Maybe you'd wanna hang out, catch a movie?"

"Sure, I think my parents have some old movies we could watch. Wanna come to my house at 3:45?" Nancy asks, trying to find her keys.

"See ya there." You wave and walk to your car.

I can't wait.

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Thanks for reading, guys! If you could take a minute, I made a quick survey for feedback for when I write in the future. Come back next time to learn what happens when you gossip with Nancy over movies!

SURVEY: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf6NE94kq2Bc2RXvZekIXft5lhJu-yh471hOT2v8ROeEcKYBg/viewform?usp=sf_link