BILLY STALKED OUT OF HIS CAR, EYES SET ON THE COUPLE IN FRONT OF HIM.

Carla and Steve both stood on the front deck, eyes watching the mullet wearing boy carefully.  Steve's eyes were trained on him, almost threatening him to try and enter the house.  Despite the seriousness they were facing, the Wheeler enjoyed seeing this more protective Steve.  The Steve who cared for the kids and what could happen to them.

"Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?" Billy asks as he leans against his car door, cigarette dangling in between his fingers casually. 

"Yeah, it's me. Don't cream your pants." Steve replied in an almost casual town. If it wasn't for the fact Billy was right in front of her, Carla probably would have laughed at the witty comeback.   Instead, she bit her lip to stop the smile that was appearing at his words.

Billy wasn't fazed, and took off his jean jacket to show off his unbuttoned shirt and bare chest.  Why? Carla wasn't exactly sure; it wasn't like Steve or Carla were impressed by the sight.  Steve narrowed his eyes at the action, before giving a small glance towards his girlfriend, "Stay here."

The two boys that walked up to one another, meeting a few feet away from each other in the middle of the drive way.  Billy was quick to start small talk, "What are you doing here, amigo?"

"I could ask you the same thing...." Steve's voice was hard, and not as playful as Billy's tone.  He mimicked the boy's choice of wording, though it didn't run as smoothly off his tongue.  "....amigo."

Billy replied, cigarette dangling in between his lips, "Looking for my stepsister. A little birdie told me she was here." As expected, Steve denied that Maxine was here, causing Billy to continue on, "Small? Redhead? Bit of a bitch."

Carla let out a small scoff at the way he spoke of Max.  The way he called her a bitch really got on her nerves; it really showed a lot about who Billy was as a person. Steve seemed rather upset too, but he didn't show it at all, trying to keep a good composure, "Doesn't ring a bell. Sorry, buddy."

"You know, I don't know, this.....This whole situation, Harrington, I don't know.  It's giving me the heebie-jeebies." the Hargrove stepped forward, getting even closer to Steve than he previously had been.  A little too close for comfort, to the Wheeler girl, but she didn't want to step in the way.

"Oh, yeah? Why's that?"

Billy took a drag of his cigarette, "My thirteen year old sister goes missing all day. And then I find her with you....in a stranger's house." He paused a moment, accusingly pointed fingers at the Harrington, "And you lie to me about it."

Steve tried to recompose himself, turning his head away nervously—he'd never been the best liar. "Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what? I don't know what you don't understand about what I just said. She's not here."

Billy let out a dry chuckle as he spoke, before leaning in close, pointing his cigarette towards the window, "Then who is that?"

Carla and Steve both looked at the window he was pointing to, noticing the four tweens peeking over the couch, Max clearly visible, even from afar.  Noticing the three elders looking towards them, the four quickly duck down, but it was already too late.  Billy had seen her.

Before Carla could even try to explain something to the blonde, he shoved Steve onto the ground, causing the boy to let out a soft groan at the contact.  Billy stepped over the brunette, having the advantage point, saying,  "I told you to plant your feet," before proceeding to kick him in the stomach.

Watching as the boy made his way to the door, Carla's eyes darted back and forth between her boyfriend—who'd gotten the wind knocked out of him from the blow of Billy's foot—and the Hargrove.  She wouldn't let him in without a fight, whether or not she was weaker in all ways.

"You're not gonna hurt those kids, Billy." Carla tried to hide the small amount of fear that was in her voice.  She tried to sound strong, but she was sure that Billy could sense how little she felt compared to him. "I can negotiate something with Max, but I am not going to let you in there."

"I didn't ask for your permission." Billy snapped back, staring her down. "Either you're gonna move yourself, or I'm gonna do it for you." He clearly wasn't afraid to put up a fight with her, but Carla wasn't ready to give up either.  She'd stall for as long as she could.

Carla didn't budge, she just kept staring him down. "I'd turn around. I'm not gonna let you in there."

Billy let out a dry chuckle, "What? You think I'm afraid to hit you? I knocked your boyfriend—or whatever the fuck he is to you—down, and I can take you just as easily. Move."

When Carla didn't budge for the second time, Billy sighed, "You've always been difficult, haven't you?" before grabbing a hold of her wrist rather tightly—probably leaving bruises, if she were honest.

"Hey! You don't get to fucking touch me!" Carla screeched out as she fought against his grip, which ended in her body getting slammed against the front of the house.  She suppressed the urge to let out a cry and looked out towards her boyfriend, who was slowly getting on his feet again, hand pressed against his chest.  He was lucky to not have a broken rib—or maybe he did indeed have one and just hadn't felt it yet.

"I'm sorry, I have to go get them!" she called out, holding on to her shoulder as she shuffled away inside. 

"Go help them!" Steve called back.

When the Wheeler opened the door and entered the house, Carla's eyes immediately spotted Billy charging at Lucas.  In the blink of an eye, Lucas was being held up against one of Joyce's shelves by his collar, the items on it—and the shelf itself—shaking and eventually falling off as Billy slammed him against it.

The three leftover tweens screamed and yelled for Billy to stop his antics.  Hurting Steve and herself was one thing, but Carla was not about to let him hurt Lucas like that.  He'd done nothing wrong, and Billy clearly couldn't see that.

"Get off of him, Billy!" Carla brushed right past the three preteens.  Billy continued to hold on to the squirming Sinclair boy, causing Carla to try and shove his shoulder as hard as she possibly could.

Billy turned around, jaw tensing. "You gonna try and hit me?"

"I did it once." Carla snapped back, showing that she was afraid to threaten him, even if he'd play them off. "And I am not afraid to hit you again."

The Hargrove, who'd become rather annoyed with her games, tried to shove her out of the way again, but Carla was quick to slap him, just as she'd threatened.  Then, without giving him a moment to recover, she kneed him right in the groin, causing him to grunt in pain. "Don't underestimate me."

Billy glared her down after he recomposed himself, anger boiling within him.  "You are so dead, Wheeler! You're dead—" Carla tried to prepare herself for the impact of whatever Billy was about to do, but it never came.  Instead, the voice of her boyfriend did.

"No, you are!" Steve grabbed Billy's shoulder, swinging him around before taking a swing right at the blonde boy.  As the boy flew to the side from the blow, Steve pushed Carla backwards, towards the group of preteens.

Carla was quick to grab Lucas from the shelf where he was frozen, pushing him right into his friends open arms, where Max wrapped her arms around his neck, the boys doing the same to his shoulders.

Billy comes right back, more riled up than he had been.  He let out an amused chuckle, shouting, "Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh? I've been waiting to meet this 'King Steve' everyone's been telling me so much about." Blood started to fall from his nose as he stared at the boy, waiting for him to throw another punch.  

"Get out." Steve demanded, a finger slightly nudging Billy away as he spoke.  There was a small pause, but Billy wasn't about to lose a fight to Steve Harrington, so he came right back at the boy. Luckily for Steve, he ducked the blonde's flying fist and sent on flying back almost out of instinct.  Steve managed to punch Billy another few times to the point he was stumbling against the kitchen sink.

But, he didn't get too much of a victory. Billy was slick to grab a plate from the counter, smashing it right against Steve's head before anyone could even yell out. Carla cringed at the impact, the kids screaming still.

Billy came right over to where Steve had stumbled, throwing another punch in which he misses, almost hitting Dustin right in the nose, if it wasn't for Carla yanking him back just in time for Billy's fist to swing past.

He passes the floor towards the brunette boy, grabbing him by his jacket, just as he did to Lucas.  He said, "No one tells me what to do." before headbutting Steve, the Harrington flying right to the floor.  Steve doesn't even get a chance to fight back this time, instead, Billy get's on top of him, throwing punch after punch to his face.

Carla stood with a wide eyed stare, trying to think of something, anything, she could do to stop him.  Steve was long past the point of fighting back and if this continued, Carla was sure Billy would end up killing him.

So, when her eyes landed on the handgun she'd been using earlier, Carla didn't hesitate before grabbing it.  With the gun in hand, Carla took a breath and aimed it right at the back of Billy's head, cocking it in place.

At the sudden sound—one you couldn't really disguise as something else—Billy stopped, and turned in his head in the direction of Carla.  When seeing the gun pointed at him, he didn't show any sense of fear.  He seemed rather amused, actually. "You really have a lot of nerve, Carla Wheeler.  Pulling a gun on me?"

"Get off of my boyfriend—" Carla's jaw tensed, and she kept her eyes set on the boy. "—and get out of this house."

"You think I'm scared of you?" the Hargrove asked, "You're just his little bitch. You're not strong enough to shoot someone, Carla.  I know you."

Carla shook her head, "You don't know anything about me." 

He was right though. Carla couldn't do it, whether or not it was her boyfriends life on the line.  She wasn't strong enough to end someone's life like that, especially not in front of the kids, or his sister. 

Without warning, Billy grabbed the gun out of her hands, allowing to clank against the floor.  Ge grabbed the gun, putting it in his waistband. "Now, you're gonna stay right here or else I'll shoot.  I don't want to see you move."

Carla closed her eyes, listening as Billy continued beating Steve senseless, gun in his waistband if  Carla attempted to fight back once more.  She wasn't going too, though.  It was useless.

  He didn't get too much beating up in thoguh, as his step sister came through, needle drawn in hand.

Max drives the item right into Billy's neck, thumb injecting the medication inside into Billy's system.  At the sudden jab, the blonde stopped and stood up, yanking the item from his neck.  He stalked towards his step sister, "The hell is this? You little shit, what did you do?"

His eyes slightly flutter, and before he can try and fall against something, his back is slamming against the floor.  He starts to laugh, but Max finds nothing of the situation funny as she holds Steve's nail bat right over him, "From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?"

"Screw you." Billy muttered. Max wasn't about to take that crap from her stepbrother, and slammed the bat down right between his thighs, showing how serious she was about this. Prying it from the boards, she yelled at him.

"Say you understand! Say it. Say it!" Maxine screeches, trying to show some sort of dominance over the older boy. 

"I understand." Billy replied quietly, half out of it as he spoke.

"What?"

"I understand." the Hargrove repeated himself before finally falling unconscious, just as Will had before. Carla let out a shuddered breath, but that was all she gave herself before kneeling down beside her boyfriend. 

She could worry about her own injuries later, all that mattered right now was Steve.

Cupping her hand around one side of his face, Carla tried to see if he'd awake or not—based on his injuries, she was sure it would be a no.  His features were littered with bruises, blood was splattered everywhere, especially out of his nose.  Carla hated the sight.

"Hey, Steve?" Carla lightly spoke, her voice weak and full of emotion.  The boy she was speaking too gave no reaction to her words, his face limp against her hand. "Steve, can you hear me? I'm here now."

With no response, Carla pressed her fingers against his neck.  Even though the Wheeler knew Billy hadn't fully killed him, she just had to finalize it.   She had to make sure he was actually still there with her.

"Let's get out of here." Max bent down, grabbing Billy's car keys from his pockets.  Max then softened her features, looking down at Carla and Steve, "Only if you want too, though..."

Lucas nodded, "It's your call. If you wanna stay we can."

Carla shook her head, "No, no, we need to get out of here."

"Good call." Mike walked over towards the door.  The other teens followed, and Carla gave a narrowed eyed glance at the four.  They weren't planning on leaving Steve....were they?

"Hey, what about Steve?" she asked.

Max shrugged, "I thought we were just gonna leave him."

Carla shook her head at the idea, "No, he's going with us. If Billy wakes up, I'm sure he won't hesitate to actually kill Steve; he won't have anything or anyone stopping him.  I can't let that happen.  So, help me get him in the car."

Once they'd gotten Steve settled in the back of the car, Carla watched in confusion as Max hopped in the front seat, twisting the keys into the ignition as if she owned a car herself, "Hey, Max, what are you doing?"

Max shrugged, "Well, I assumed you'd want to stay back there with Steve, so I decided I can drive."

"You're thirteen, no way." Carla shook her head, crossing over to the drivers seat and holding out a hand to help the preteen out, "That's illegal."

Dustin piped up from the back, "He'll need you, Carla.  Please, let Max drive."

"I can't—"

"Carla, I promise I know how to drive." Max gave a serious expression, "Please.  I promise I won't crash the car."

Carla hesitated a moment, looking back at her bloodied and bruised boyfriend in the backseat.  She let out a sigh, shaking her head. "I can't believe I'm about to say yes to this."

mara's misc

hey!

sorry for the semi-short chapter, but there was nothing more to really include.  steve got his ass handed to him and carla tried to fight back....that was literally all this chapter included.

also, yes, i am keeping the plot line the same when it comes to driving.  most authors have their oc drive, as it's actually legal.....but i don't think it adds as well to the chaos of it all.  having max drive made the scene great, so i'm gonna keep it that way.

carla was totally against this idea, but the craziness of the situation was getting to her and she somehow said yes.  idk.....i just really wanted to keep max in the drivers seat because that scene is pure chaos.

anyway, hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter seventeen!