CHAPTER FOUR
I HAVE... HOMEWORK

Joey was squeezed between Nancy and the crook of Steve's car door, hunched over a Walkman. Immediately after Joey and Steve pulled up to the high school, Nancy yanked her best friend out of the car and shoved a headphone pod into her ear.

"You're out of touch, you're out of time," the song serenaded through the girls' ears.

"Damn, Hall and Oates can get it!" Joey couldn't help the smile playing on her soft, pink lips. Nancy's eyes widened in shock, her head thrown back in laughter.

"They're like twenty years older than you!"

"Even better!" Joey flipped her dark chocolate hair over her shoulder. "The boys here are so immature. I need a man."

Nancy was about to answer when her eye caught something behind Joey. Her smile faded as it turned into one large, gaping fish. Joey's brows knitted together and she turned around, seeing none other than Billy Hargrove walking towards the school with nothing but a pair of jeans, boots and a leather jacket.

"Is he...?" Joey trailed, unconsciously letting her eyes follow his pecs as he passed her.

"I think so," Nancy said softly. Joey snapped out of her trance and turned back to her friend.

"Geez, wear a shirt! Is it really that hard to throw on a t-shirt, Mr. California?" Joey rolled her eyes.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you liked that." An audible gasp came from Joey as she grabbed Nancy and smacked her palm over her mouth.

"Shush!" Joey looked around to see Steve talking to some of his friends, glaring over at Billy who was stopped at the front doors of the school by a teacher.

Nancy licked Joey's hand and she retracted, cursing under her breath and wiping it on Nancy's thick, green sweater.

"Ew!" Nancy laughed as Joey shoved her. "Be quiet. Steve's over there."

"Oh please, I can't tell you how many times he just tunes us out. It probably started when I was squealing outside your car window and holding up the new Hall and Oates tape."

"He probably made an appointment with the ear doctor right after," Joey mused.

"Ear doctor?" Nancy quirked a brow.

"Isn't that what they're called?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Steve appeared next to Joey with his arm slung comfortably across her shoulders. Nancy gave Joey a knowing look, one that was filled with mischief and Joey tried to tell her to knock it off.

"Hey Nance," Steve greeted his ex.

"Steve," Nancy nodded, trying to contain her grin. Steve had a look of confusion and glanced over at Joey for an explanation.

"The bell's about to ring..." Joey quickly changed the subject.

"Right, we better get going; we need time to change before gym. See ya, Nance," Steve waved the brunette goodbye while leading Joey towards the school entrance.

"What was that about?" Steve asked his girlfriend once they were out of earshot. Joey clutched her biology textbook tighter in nerves.

"You know, just stupid girl stuff..."

"Right. Anyways, since tonight's Friday I thought we could hit downtown. I heard that they're playing Friday the 13th at the theater," Steve offered.  Joey shifted uncomfortably under his arm. It wasn't that the movie was too scary, she just didn't feel like going downtown tonight. Her mood was off and Joey knew it. She just didn't want Steve to feel like he's making her feel that way.

"Actually, I was going to spend the night alone. My aunt is going out on a random date and I rarely get a night alone to myself anymore. I hope you don't mind?"

"Oh, yeah, no worries," Steve looked down and ran a hand over his mouth. "Hey, maybe I could come over?"

Joey stopped walking towards the school and her lips drew a tight line. Her knuckles turned white with how harshly she was gripping her books.

"Steve, that's a really nice gesture but... I kind of wanted to spend it alone alone." Joey's heart broke watching his face fall again. He just nodded again.

"Right, right, sorry. We'll do something this weekend?" Steve looked at Joey hopefully.

"Yeah! We'll see," Joey nodded with a smile. The couple proceeded to the gym, neither said a word to each other even as they parted ways to the locker rooms.

After changing into her gym clothes, Joey made her way to the benches which were far away from the basketball court. She sat down and opened a book, Little Women. Unconsciously, she knew that there was some macho competition between Billy and Steve going on below her, but she was too engrossed in her book to care.

She felt eyes on her at various points of the basketball game, but she never peered over to see who it was. In fact, she already knew. Joey didn't want to give him the satisfaction that she knew he was staring at her, so she kept on reading.

The mere fact that Billy Hargrove was staring at her was enough to make the words on the page jumble up into one long blurb that went in one ear and out the other. It continued like this for the rest of the period.

-

Joey hopped out of Steve's car and turned to close the door but stopped when her boyfriend started to speak.

"Hey, if anything changes in your night can you call?"

"Yeah, sure," Joey nodded and smiled at him. "I'll see you Monday."

"Monday?" Steve's eyebrows shot up and his expression turned sour. "Why not tomorrow?"

"I need to study tomorrow," Joey explained.

"Study? Joey, it's the weekend. I want to be able to hang out with my girlfriend outside of school; we're not in middle school." Steve said from the driver's seat.

"Geez, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal, I do this all the time." Joey finnicked with the metal of the car door. The feeling of being yelled at by her boyfriend was enough to cause tears welling in her eyes. It wasn't obvious enough for Steve to notice but her eyes were definitely glassy.

"We haven't been doing anything together for a while, Joey. When are we going to go on an actual date?"

Joey stood still for a minute. She didn't realize that they haven't, in fact, been out on a date in a while. Explanations varying from how busy she was to the fact that she was tired flew around in her head, but none of them formed into words.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize— "

"You know what? Save it. I'll see you at school," Steve drove away quickly, giving Joey a split second to close the door.

"Are you still picking me up for school?" Joey yelled after him. He was already halfway down the street so she mumbled to herself, "Probably not."

Joey trudged back into her house and set her backpack down by the door. She was too drained to do any schoolwork at the moment. After making a small snack, Joey sat down on the couch in the living room after tuning it to a tv show. After that, she started to work on her homework.

Reading through her schoolbooks, Joey pulled out her pencil bag to grab a highlighter. She dug around for a bit, her eyes never leaving the printed pages as she used her sense of touch to search for her highlighter pen. When she never found it, her eyes finally left the page and she started to seriously rummage around her pencil bag. She even dumped everything out and sorted through it all.

Nothing.

"You've got to be kidding me," Joey sighed. She had a system and if her system was disrupted, she couldn't continue. Now, her system was thrown for a loop. The brunette begrudgingly got up and grabbed her fleece and denim jacket from the coat rack as she walked out the door.

Walking to the nearest stationary store, she passed by the Hawkins Movie Theater. On the announcement board it read; Now Showing: Friday the 13th. A wave of guilt washed over Joey for a split second, but the sight of the stationary store ahead of her snapped her out of it.

-

Joey emerged from the store with a bag in her hand and a book in the other. She may have gone a little overboard and bought more than a highlighter. She also bought The Graveyard since she thought it was fitting for Halloween that was right around the corner. She started flipping through the pages while walking back home.

A figure slid right next to her suddenly, falling in step. Joey let out a yelp and her bag fell from her hands. "Geez! Wear a bell," the girl huffed in annoyance when she saw who it was.

Billy Hargrove bent down and bundled her bag in a ball in his hands. "What's all this?" Billy peered into her bag, much to Joey's dismay.

"Stop it, give it back!" Joey clawed at the air in an attempt to get her things away from the brute.

"There's a shit ton of pencils..." Billy commented, rifling through the plastic bag.

"What is your problem?" Joey crossed her arms. "Why are you doing this? Are you trying to be the most disliked person in town? Because if so, you are succeeding."

"No, I just wanted to talk." Billy turned to look at anywhere but Joey, stuffing the hand that was empty into his jacket pocket.

"Talk?" Joey quirked a brow.

"Yeah," Billy nodded. "About the other night... I just wanted to say sorry for bailing."

"Thanks..." Joey nodded, unsure if what he was doing was a joke of some sort. "But I'm not the one that needs to hear that."

Billy nodded. "I'll tell her when I see her."

A moment of silence passed.

"I wanted to say sorry too," Joey chirped. Billy gave her a blank look. "For the other day, I mean."

"It's fine," Billy said quickly.

"No, it's not. I made a complete fool out of you!" Billy coughed uncomfortably and Joey noticed, but she didn't let up. "I mean, it must've been really embarrassing.

"Alright, that's enough," Billy glowered at the brunette and she laughed.

"Hey, tell your dad thanks for making you apologize." Joey meant that statement as a joke, but Billy's whole demeanor changed and the air around him felt ice cold. Joey's smile faltered at this, not knowing what she said to make him upset.

Billy sniffed and lifted her bag high in the air, his emotions buried and his playful manner remergred. Joey sighed at the height in which her bag was suspended. "Billy, give it back!"

"C'mon, let me walk you home," Billy smirked, enjoying watching the girl struggle for her school supplies.

"No, I want my bag back now," Joey pouted.

"It's not that big of a deal, we live right next to each other." Billy and Joey started to walk in the direction of their houses, bickering and joking along the way.

What neither of them noticed was a girl with fiery red hair and her minions flanking her side, watching their every move.

"Check it," Carol laughed. "The Hottie and the Geek, who knew?"

"I bet Steve would be mad," Sarah, one of her friends, commented. Carol turned back to her and gave her a sly smile.

"I bet he would."

-

"Okay, we're here," Joey said, stepping up to her porch. She turned and faced Billy who still kept a firm grasp on her bag.

"Yes we are." Billy nodded but kept his eyes on the girl before him.

"Which means you have to give my bag back."

"Says who?"

"Says me."

"I don't think so."

"Billy!"

"Fine," Billy's mouth turned up in a sly smile. "But only if I get a tour of the house."

"You could've gotten that the other night," Joey shot back.

"Touché, but I'm not the one without their bag." Billy felt an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach as he watched Joey's eyebrows furrow in annoyance. The crinkle above the bridge of her nose was more pronounced and she nibbled on the inside of her cheek. Her mannerisms were completely hers, yet Billy felt himself mimic her.

"Fine, but I want it on the record that I'm completely against this." Joey turned and unlocked the front door, allowing the dirty-blonde in.

Once inside, Billy looked around at the kitschy foyer. He soon realized that the whole house was decorated in such a manner. He found this amusing because Joey seemed like such a neat freak. Walking past the foyer, he entered the living room which had a rerun episode of The Golden Girls on. In front of the television was a coffee table that was littered with school books, notebooks and a pile of stationary.

"English Six," Billy hummed as he looked at Joey's labeled folder. "Impressive."

"Thanks..." Joey said quietly, unsure of how to respond.

"That's a class for seniors. I'm not even in English Six."

"Why not?" Joey asked, walking closer to Billy. He lifted an eyebrow as he brought a copy of Romeo and Juliet closer to his face.

"Why not, what?"

"I mean, you're so smart," Joey rambled.

"What makes you say that?" Billy set the book down and fidgeted with the little ceramic figurines on the fireplace mantle.

"I've seen you read, for one," Joey watched as Billy looked at a photo of her from middle school. Middle school Joey's pigtail braids were pulled away from her head by her own hands as she made a silly face.

"So?"

"So, it wasn't a kindergarten level book. It was Shakespeare."

"Freshman learn Shakespeare," Billy looked at her with amusement.

"I know, but you were reading for pleasure." Joey watched Billy's back straighten as he came in front of her. He was very close to her, she felt very aware of that now.

"What do you know about my pleasure?" Billy's voice dropped and Joey swallowed a lump in her throat. She couldn't fight the red-hot blush that rippled across her cheeks.

"O-obviously nothing," she tried to laugh it off. Billy caught a laugh that demanded to be released.

"Obviously?"

"You know what I mean, I don't really know what you do for fun." Billy nodded and started to wander over to Joey's room.

"Beer, cigarettes, lifting, beer again," Billy listed off without any interest. "Why do you have so many stuffed animals?"

"I could never bring myself to get rid of them," Joey smiled at her collection. It was obvious she preferred bears and dogs over any other animal as they were the dominant species in the pile. A lone, odd unicorn laid in the back and Billy dug it out.

"Really? Seems like you want to hide this one real bad," Billy commented, turning the unicorn to face the brunette.

"Steve won that for me at a carnival. It was one of our first dates." Billy immediately dropped the stuffed animal back down on the bed.

"Ah," Billy hummed. After a minute, he looked at the girl before him. "I'm hungry. Want to order food?"

"You're staying?" Joey asked.

"Why not?"

"I have... homework," Joey rubbed her arm in discomfort.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that," Billy said, walking past her to pick up a phone.

-

"I'm serious, we used to trench Old Man Milton's front yard all the time!" Billy laughed as he chewed on his side of pizza.

"No you didn't! How did you not get arrested?" Joey snorted as she added red pepper flakes to her pepperoni slice.

"Who says I didn't?"

"Oh my God, how many times have you been arrested?" Joey's eyes widened.

"Not counting here?" Billy stopped to look at her reaction.

"Billy! No way..."

"Only three times here for minor infractions," he rolled his eyes. "Vandalism and disturbance of peace. But in total, ten times."

"Wow, isn't there a limit?" Joey watched Billy throw his crust down on his paper plate.

"Probably for major crimes. The ones I did just had me spend the night at the station at most."

"Who bailed you out?" Joey asked. Billy sucked in a breath.

"My buddies usually," Billy nodded. After a minute, he asked, "Would you bail me out?"

Joey paused to look at him. "I don't know, what's the crime?"

"Hmm," Billy thought as he grabbed another price and bit into it. "Trespassing."

"Where?"

"Seriously?" Billy sighed.

"Hey, I gotta know all the details before I bail you out," Joey raised her hands in surrender.

"Alright, in this fake scenario, I trespassed onto... your property." Joey burst out laughing but Billy was serious.

"Oh," Joey stopped laughing. "Well, yeah. I mean, you're right next door. But pick a different scenario, I would never call the cops on you."

"Maybe not, but your aunt would definitely like to see me hauled off to the clink." Billy shot Joey a knowing look.

"Untrue," Joey feigned hurt.

Both teenagers threw their crusts down at the same time and sighed, looking at two empty pizza boxes.

"Glad you talked me into getting two," Billy laughed. "I did not think you could eat this much."

"It's a gift and a curse," Joey smiled at the boy. They looked at each other for a moment, neither sure of what was wrong with their hearts. They seemed to... speed up.

A loud banging on the door made Joey jump with surprise. The noise wouldn't stop so Joey got up and made her way to the door. Opening the door, Steve stood on the other side with anger in his eyes.

"Where the hell is he?" Steve shouted.

"What? Steve, what are you— " Joey stumbled over her words as Steve pushed past her.

"Billy," Steve seethed. The name dropped off his tongue with a bitter taste.

"Wait!" Joey closed the door as she chased Steve to the kitchen where she and Billy were eating.

Billy stood there, one hand on the back of the chair where Joey sat. Steve looked at the distance between the chairs and jealousy clouded his judgement.

"What the hell are you doing with my girlfriend?" Steve asked Billy in a calm tone.

"We were just eating pizza, man, honest," Billy held his hands up.

"Steve, this is ridiculous," Joey tried to push him away from Billy.

"You wanna know what's ridiculous? I have a girlfriend who would rather hang with the town's lowlife than with her own boyfriend." Billy let out a snort but quickly tried to bite his smile away.

"Oh, you think this is funny?" Steve asked him, but Billy looked away.

"Steve, I do want to hang out with you," Joey tried to calm him down.

"Then what the hell are you doing, Joey?! What the hell are we doing?"

Steve was out of control and way too close to Joey. Too close for Billy's comfort.

"Look, I harassed your girlfriend, okay?" Billy said. "I'm the one who grabbed her bag and didn't give it back to her until we were here. She didn't plan this, dude."

"Billy," Joey looked at him with an unreadable emotion.

"It's what happened," Billy said to her. He then looked back at Steve who puffed his chest. Yet, he still looked so small compared to Billy. "He has no reason to yell at you for something that you didn't do."

Billy grabbed his leather bomber jacket from the back of the chair that he sat in. He made his way to the door and Joey watched him turn the knob. Before Billy stepped out, he turned to look at Joey with a small smile. Then he left.

"Jesus, Joey. I don't know what to do," Steve leaned against the table with his arms crossed.

"You heard Billy, that's what happened," Joey reasoned.

"Yeah, sure you didn't plan it, but did you tell him to leave as soon as you got your shit back?" Steve asked with a tone that made Joey feel small and mocked.

"Well, no," Joey mumbled.

"I'm sorry?" Steve leaned his ear closer.

"No, okay?" Joey sighed. "I'm sorry, Steve."

"Yeah yeah, you've been sorry for a while now."

"Not everything's my fault!" Joey let out a forced laugh.

"Oh yeah? What's my deal?" Steve raised a brow.

"N-no deal," Joey turned away from her boyfriend and rubbed her temples.

"Then what is it, Joey? What repulses you so much that you can't even look at me?"

"Nothing!" Joey broke. Tears ran down her face as she lost her composure. "Nothing is wrong! Steve, you're a great guy and a great boyfriend. You deserve so much better than what I've been giving you, but you're acting like I'm the one acting irrational!

"Steve, you've been getting mad at me over the stupidest things! It's tiring, I'm so goddamn tired," Joey collapsed on the chair that she was sitting in. Everything was quiet for a moment. She felt Steve look at her and contemplate whether or not he should reach out to touch her. He decided against it.

He grabbed his jacket and stood up straighter. "I need to go. I'll call you."

With that, he left Joey crying at the dining table. Even though she just had the worst fight with Steve, Joey couldn't help but think of Billy and how different she felt when he was here.

-

Reading helped ease Joey's mind. She pulled out her new copy of The Graveyard and started to read. She was so engrossed in the writing that she didn't notice the first two pebbles that hit her window beside her.

The third one clanked against the glass and Joey turned to look down at the ground below. There stood Billy Hargrove with his bomber jacket half zipped up his exposed chest. She saw that there was a sliver of a button-down shirt underneath.

Joey scoffed at this trope as she put a bookmark between the pages she was on and closed the book. She unlocked the window and pushed it open.

"What?" She whispered down as she leaned out.

"Come here," Billy whispered back.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Joey!"

"Oscar!" Joey threw in the Oscar and Felix joke to watch Billy give a small laugh. He shook his head at her and motioned her down.

Joey looked around her room for something to wear outside. "Let me get my coat," she whispered to him. She grabbed a flannel jacket and slipped it over her long sleeve. She decided to keep her long plaid pajama pants and instead slipped on her sneakers.

Joey lifted a leg to put through the window. Once she shimmied her whole body through, she grabbed a hold of a tree that leaned over the roof. Joey started to climb down it slowly, making sure to not fall. Billy was under the tree, ready to catch her if she did fall.

Once she hopped onto the ground, Billy said, "Couldn't have used the front door?"

"My aunt came home late and she's sleeping on the couch," Joey explained. "What's up?"

"Just came by to see if you were okay," Billy said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah," Joey nodded, bringing her jacket together and crossing her arms. Her chest was out of view and Billy looked away. "You could've called me."

"I don't have your number," Billy mumbled. "And... I just needed to see for myself."

"What do you mean?—" Joey realized what he was getting at. "Oh."

"Do you blame me?" Billy scoffed. "He was out of control."

"He was mad," Joey shook her head. "Steve would never lay a hand on me."

"Sure," Billy nodded sarcastically.

"I'm fine," Joey told the boy in front of her. "The only things that are in pain are my feelings."

"What happened? Are you guys still together?"

"I don't know, to be honest," Joey sighed. "After I started yelling back he left and said he'd call me."

"Don't tell me that you're nailed to the phone all night," Billy grimaced.

"You'd be happy to know that I was reading before you summoned me." Billy nodded at this.

"Oh okay, so you're not pining?" Billy asked. Joey scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're not too concerned if he calls or not?"

"Um, yes I am. I would like to know if I have a boyfriend after all this," Joey laughed, expecting Billy to laugh along.

"Ah," Billy said simply. An awkward silence loomed over them before he said, "I gotta go."

"Wait, Billy," Joey called out as he turned around. He looked at her, waiting. "Are you mad at me?"

"No," Billy left Joey standing in front of her house, confused. At least he said he wasn't mad at her.