CHAPTER TWO
NIXON, COLLEGE, AND JACKASSES

FOUR MONTHS LATER
OCTOBER 27th, 1984

"Do you think that Nixon was bullied as a kid?" Aunt Wen asked as she read the daily paper. Joey grabbed her Pop Tart from the toaster and quirked an eyebrow at her estranged relative.

"What?"

"Nixon," Aunt Wen set the paper down and gestured to her nose. "Big bazonka and went like this- "

Aunt Wen held up peace signs and muttered, "I am not a crook!" through her breath.

"I know who he is," Joey set her pastry in a dish and grabbed her steeping chai and sat down at the kitchen table. "I'm just not sure that this is proper breakfast talk."

"Oh, well, sorry governor," Aunt Wen cackled in a cockney accent. She ended up needing more tea to drown her laughs and Joey decided to take her breakfast to go.

As the girl twisted her arms into her backpack straps, she started to laugh a bit, turning back to her Aunt.

"Y'know, the more I think about it, the more I think he probably was bullied," Joey laughed as a car honked outside her house.

"Right?" Aunt Wen giggled. "Oh! Is Steve taking you to school?"

"Yeah, like he does every morning," Joey sighed.

"I know, I just want to make sure you guys haven't broken up without my knowledge," Aunt Wen turned back to her own cup of chai as Joey poured hers into a to-go cup.

"Alright, well I'll be off. I'll be back around two, like you asked." Joey assured her aunt as she backed out of the house and locked the door, making her way down the rickety wooden steps and down to the grassy area where Steve was waiting in his car.

"Hey," Joey gave a goofy smile as she kissed her boyfriend's lips in a good morning greeting.

"Hey," Steve watched as she rounded the car and slid into the passenger seat. He took his gym back from the ground next to her feet and tossed it into the back.

"How's your aunt?"

"Same old. She wanted to contemplate the high school years of Richard Nixon." Steve laughed at this, backing out of the driveway.

"Yeah, he was probably made fun of a lot," Steve nodded.

"You think that's how he got to be such a... crook?" Joey thought out loud.

"Probably. He probably wanted to get back at them."

"Right..." Joey was lost in thought as she slowly ate her Pop Tart. She didn't even notice that they arrived at school until Steve suddenly braked and she lurched forward and almost spilt her chai.

"Steve!" Joey grumbled. "I could've gotten my tea all over your leather seating!"

"Calm down," Steve laughed as his arm made his way over her shoulders. "Besides, it's covered."

"Yeah, alright, tell that to your brown-stained leather," Joey set her chai on the dash and finished her Pop Tart.

"Okay, okay," Steve reached in the back and grabbed his backpack. "Here, can you read this over real quick?"

He handed her a thin pile of lined paper that was stapled together from the top corner. It was titled, Victory in the Face of Defeat.

"Oh, is this your college essay?" Joey asked him, quickly skimming the page to see if she was right.

"Yeah," Steve shrugged. "Finally got it done."

"Alright," Joey started to read. "I need silence."

Steve rested his hand on the steering wheel and turned away, nervous of how Joey would think his writing was. After a while, he couldn't take it.

"It's crap, I know," Steve sighed. He didn't want to see Joey's tell-tale face of disappointment.

"It's not crap, Steve," Joey shook her head and gave a nervous chuckle. "It just needs some work. Like, here- " Joey circled a sentence. "I just don't see why you need a whole paragraph about the war. I see that you're trying to tie it into your victory against Northern High, but you can just reference it instead of thoroughly talking about it."

"Yeah, I just want them to understand the connection," Steve nodded.

"Yeah, and I think they will without a mini history lesson," Joey gave Steve a reassuring smile but Steve just grumbled and took his paper and threw it in the back.

"Steve, what's wrong?" Joey tried to grab his arm gently but he just spazzed out.

"The dealine's tomorrow for early application," Steve grumbled. "Can you help me tonight?"

"No, we have that dinner at my Aunt's," Joey watched as Steve rolled his eyes.

"Goddamnit," Steve ran a hand down his face.

"Steve, I've been talking to you about it for months."

"I know, I know," Steve looked out his window at all of the other kids.

"Look, you don't have to go. You can work on it tonight and call me if you get stuck, okay?" Steve didn't say anything for a while but finally muttered an "Okay."

After a minute, Steve looked over at his girlfriend whose mood took a dip. He sighed and turned towards her saying, "Hey, look. I'm sorry about that. I just really don't want to work for my dad."

"I understand. Just talk to me, though," Joey gave him a smile and leaned in to kiss him. As they were kissing, a loud thud came from Joey's window. Nancy stood at the door, waiting eagerly for her friend to come out.

Joey gave her a goofy smile and she opened the door a bit and stood in the crook of the car door and the body of the car.

"While you guys sucked face," Nancy teased. "I talked to Jonathan and apparently, there's a new kid at school."

"Oh, yeah," Joey placed her hands on her back jeans pocket.

"Wait," Nancy tilted her head. "Did you already know about this?"

"Yeah, that's why mom is hosting that dinner. It's for that family right next to us," Joey nodded. She ducked back into the car and grabbed her bag and tea, coming back out with a smile.

"Oh," Nancy sulked. "Well, if I'm not the news bearer, then what do I bring to this relationship?"

"You're pretty," Joey shrugged and pinched Nancy's rosy cheeks.

"Stop that," Nancy playfully swatted her hands away. "The amount of times my relatives do that to me... I should be dead. Dead from being pinched. Damn, that's a bad way to go."

"Peeled to death," Joey chimed in. "That's another bad way to go."

Steve watched their interaction and rolled his eyes. He would never get them.

Slowly, rock music started to play. Joey heard it first and completely forgot about Nancy as she looked around to see who was creating such a nuisance.

It started to come closer and Nancy caught on, trying to find its source. Joey turned around and saw a dark blue Camaro roaring down the road and into the parking lot. It jerked into park in a space and both girls waited in anticipation to see who was the new troublemaker at the school.

Two boot-clad feet stomped on the ground as the person cut the engine and emerged from the sleek machine.

He was wearing fitted jeans with a ribbed, beige shirt underneath his worn denim jacket. His dirty-blond hair was done in a messy mullet that only he could pull off.

His eyes immediately latched onto Joey's when he turned around. He continued to look at her as he inhaled his cigarette and blew out the smoke.

Joey gave him a look asking, Why are you staring at me?

He left as soon as Joey gave him that look, throwing his cigarette away onto the grass, not caring about it anymore.

"Jesus, can you get any more like a jackass?" Nancy scoffed. Joey didn't respond to her at first, focusing on the left cigarette that singed some of the grass in a fiery anger.

"Joey?" Nancy asked, judging her shoulder a bit.

"Uh, yeah, jackass," Joey smirked. She wasn't crazy that this guy was the one living next door, and her assumptions were right once she saw the California license plate, but she must admit, he was good looking.

But once Steve came back into her view, she snapped out of it and decided to focus on him for the rest of the day.

---

"Did you get a good look at the new kid?" Aunt Wen asked when she set up plates around the long table. Joey passed her in the hallway as she came out to put glasses on the cloth-clad table.

"Yeah," Joey said vaguely. She didn't really want to get into it in case she says something she shouldn't.

"Okay..." Aunt Wen looked at her and waved her hands, gesturing to give her more information.

"I don't know, he's cute, I guess," Joey shrugged. As she folded the napkins nicely on the plates, Joey noticed her aunt gasping audibly.

"So he's cute?" Aunt Wen wiggled her eyebrows. Joey rolled her eyes and playfully threw a napkin at her.

"Stop it, I can't think like that! I'm with Steve."

"Or are you?" Aunt Wen wiggled her brows more vigorously this time and started to poke her niece's sides.

"Stop it!" Joey laughed as she and her aunt fell onto the ground. "Stop! You're hurting now!"

By Joey's giggles, it didn't seem like it hurt at all, and Aunt Wen kept on poking her well into the doorbell sounding.

"Aunt Wen, the door," Joey screeched when Aunt Wen gave her a last poke before standing up.

"Fine, fine," Aunt Wen fixed her shirt and went to the door. The phone then rang at the same time and Joey picked it up. It was Steve needing help so Joey raced to her room with the cord wrapping around the wall and through her doorway.

"Neil," Aunt Wen gave him the best smile she could muster up.

"Hey, Wendy. This is my wife, Susan, her daughter, Max, and you remember Billy." Aunt Wen said hello to the corresponding people and showed them inside.

"Sorry about Jolene's absence. She's helping her boyfriend with his college essay." She started to tour them around the house but Billy broke off from a group a bit.

"Billy..." Max whispered to her step-brother.

"Shut up," Billy swatted the red-haired girl away and left them as they traveled upstairs. Billy took his time as he looked at all of the photos lining the walls and tables of Wendy and her niece.

A soft voice traveled from a room near the kitchen and he noticed the phone cord straining against the doorframe. With curiosity, Billy peaked into the room and found it small and quaint with a tiny twin bed off to the left with a quilted comforter in deep blue. It had stuffed animals sitting next to the pillow and a shelf of books above it. He noticed that the whole room was lined with books.

The soft light from the lamp on the desk highlighted the girl's hair and made a halo around her head. This was Wendy's niece, probably.

"Okay," the girl nodded into the phone. "Okay, talk to you later. Bye."

No 'I love you'? Billy thought as the girl pressed a button on the phone to turn it off. She turned around and jumped at the sight of Billy lingering in her doorway.

"Oh, hi," Joey chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry, I didn't hear you."

"That's okay," Billy shrugged as he looked at her bed some more, memorizing her stuffed animals on it.

"Um," Joey stood up and started to walk back to the phone stand. "You must be Billy."

"Yeah," Billy nodded, letting her pass. The smell of jasmine followed her as she hung the phone up.

"I'm Joey," she gave him a genuine smile and Billy couldn't help but give her half of a smile.

"Nice to meet you," Joey extended her hand for Billy's and he was about to shake it, but then his father cleared his throat behind them.

"Jolene, it's nice to finally meet you," Neil smiled at her. Joey turned around, not wanting to be impolite, and gave Neil a firm handshake.

"You too, Mr. Hargrove," Joey didn't have the heart to tell him that she preferred to be called 'Joey', so she didn't say anything. Once the adults went back to the dining room, Joey approached the redhead and gave her a smile.

"Hey, I'm Joey." The girl gave her a weird look.

"I thought your name was Jolene?"

"Yeah but I think 'Joey' is more kickass," Joey smirked and the girl gave an approving look and nodded.

"I'm Max. Not Maxine, just Max," Max said in an authoritative manner. Joey nodded and turned back to the boy she saw before, but he wasn't there. She noticed that the fridge looked to be ajar and she walked over to it, opening it to see what he took.

There seemed to be one beer missing from the six pack that sat on the higher shelf and Joey rolled her eyes. She heard a thud outside and opened the back door and walked onto the porch to see Billy go around the corner.

"Hey," Joey stopped him from going any further. "What are you doing?"

"Just needed some fresh air," Billy said as he opened the beer.

"Does the food really smell that bad?" Joey joked. "I told my aunt not to make the enchiladas."

"No," Billy cracked a smile at her joke. "When my whole 'family' is in one room, it can be annoying."

Joey noticed how he said the word 'family' but decided against commenting on it. Instead, she leaned against the railing of the porch and looked out in the road before them, taking in the crisp, October air.

Billy offered her a sip of his beer but Joey declined. He shrugged and chugged the rest, crumpling the can like a piece of paper and tossing it aside. Joey stared at the can and fought the urge to tell Billy about the environment, figuring he wouldn't care.

The boy reached behind him and pulled something out of his back jeans pocket. It was a rolled up book and he flattened it and started to read where he left off.

Joey looked at him in surprise. She didn't mean to jump to conclusions about him, but she didn't peg him to be the reading type. Billy felt her eyes on him and he turned to her and held up the book.

"What? You've never seen a guy read before?" Joey shook her head in disgust.

"I didn't mean to, geez," Joey turned around and walked back inside, done dealing with him. Aunt Wen was looking through the fridge when she came back inside.

"Am I going crazy or was there a full six pack in here where I last left it?"

"You're not going crazy," Joey fiddled with the string on her sweater. Aunt Wen looked up, then gasped.

"Did you drink it? Did you finally drink beer?" Aunt Wen started to get excited, but Joey quickly diminished her excitement.

"No, it was that guy, Billy," Joey bit. Aunt Wen caught onto her niece's bitterness and shrugged.

"Eh, he's slowly killing himself with that anyways. C'mon" Aun Wen brought out the drinks and Joey followed her.

Throughout dinner, Joey looked at the kitchen, waiting for Billy to walk back in. She had a few choice words for him. But alas, he never did. She wasn't surprised about that either, he was a true jackass, like Nancy said.

a/n sorry for the long wait, but here's chapter two!! also, i get huge inspiration from gilmore girls so if there are any similarities, just know that but i am also not trying to say that i own that. i only own this plot line since it is also pretty different from gilmore girls.