56. Chapter 56

Chapter Fifty-Six

As planned, Jessica spent the night with Steve on Tuesday night. She learned that Dustin had actually asked if Steve would help him get ready for the Snow Ball. Steve had said yes, which made butterflies fill Jessica's stomach because Steve was going to help her brother get ready for a dance.

She loved Steve so much right then. The Snow Ball would be the first dance Dustin had ever been too. He had to be nervous. Steve would help him however he could.

She also let Steve know that Hopper had officially adopted El, but she also told him she didn't know who else knew, so she didn't want him saying anything to anyone else. She couldn't tell Dustin because he would just tell the rest of the Party.

She'd probably tell him before the dance, though, because he'd find out anyway once he saw El there.

Steve and Jessica did whatever leftover homework they had and settled in for a movie and make-out session after his mom went to bed. They stopped only when they were so tired they became giggly. She liked that they could just mess around sometimes and not feel like it had to lead to sex.

Sometimes just kissing and touching was enough for both of them.

Wednesday passed by smoothly aside from the fact that Jessica found out their new cat had decided he liked to use her bed when she wasn't home, so she had cat hair all over the place when she got home from school. She decided she'd just have to close her door when she wasn't there.

She saw a few of the people she knew from school at work. They were coming to see the new movie that was playing called "Beverly Hills Cop." It wasn't her type of movie, but she knew Steve wanted to see it. He usually waited for movies to come out on video unless he went to see it with Jessica or the kids, though.

Thursday morning she was surprised by Billy Hargrove calling out to her in the parking lot. She'd just gotten out of her car and had kissed Steve because he'd been waiting by her usual parking spot. She hadn't even noticed Billy until he'd called out her name.

Billy was leaning up against his car, which wasn't too weird. He did that a lot. What was weird was that Max was leaning up against it too, right beside him, her skateboard hanging down between them.

Steve sighed beside her and she smiled at his antics. She kissed him again just because she could and it seemed to make him feel better.

"I'll be right back. Something must be up if Max is hanging around him willingly."

"I'll meet you at the door," Steve said.

"Okay," she said gratefully. She was glad Steve wasn't making a big deal about her going to see what was going on.

They walked together until they reached the Camaro and then they branched off to go their separate ways for a bit. The closer she'd gotten to Max and Billy, the more she could tell something was wrong. Max seemed a bit timid, which . . . Max never looked that way . . . and Billy was standing up stiffly. His shoulders were basically up around his ears, he was so tense.

"So . . . what was so important that it couldn't wait until you got to class?"

"I'm not coming to class," Billy said. Then, looking decidedly uncomfortable, "I need a favor."

"Uh –"

"I need a ride home," Max said, voice not as timid as her expression had been. "Billy's not feeling great, but he had to bring me to school because Mom and Neil had to work."

"Oh. Um . . . okay. Well, sure." To Billy she said, "You could've just said that."

Billy clenched his jaw but didn't say anything.

"I gotta get to class," Max said. "I'll see you after school, Jess."

"Yeah, okay. I'll meet you at my car."

Once Max was out of earshot Jessica focused on Billy again. He was still tense and his eyes were kind of scary, but he didn't seem as unhinged as he had been that night at the Byers. Probably because he'd been getting his way so far.

"So . . .what's wrong?"

"What?"

"Max said you weren't feeling great. So what's wrong? You don't seem sick."

"I'm . . . My stomach hurts," he said. "I won't be able to make it to your house today."

"Well, I figured that since I'm gonna bring Max home." She bit her lip, cursing herself for caring so much. "You gonna be okay?"

Some of the tension left Billy's shoulders and his eyes softened just a fraction. "I'll be fine, Jess. I just – I'm gonna go home and sleep it off."

She nodded. "Okay. I . . . hope you feel better." She huffed a little. "You better get better. We have to argue in front of people next week. I can't have you at anything less than a hundred percent."

"Right." Billy shook his head, body even looser now. "Look, Max can give you directions after school, but can you just drop her off at the end of the street?"

"So people think she skated home?"

"Yeah."

"Sure."

Billy stood up straight, wincing as he did so, and turned to open the car door. He turned to her when he was in the driver's seat and said, "Thanks, Jess."

"No – no problem."

She couldn't help but to have noticed how gingerly Billy had moved getting into the car. She also couldn't help but think that his stomach probably wasn't really the reason he wasn't coming to class.

It didn't hit her until later that Billy Hargrove had asked her for something. He'd gone from not even letting her know what he wanted to eat to asking her to bring Max home. He'd obviously listened when she'd told him it was okay to let people be nice to him. Or . . . well, he at least thought it was okay to let her be nice to him.

To be fair, he'd seemed to have trouble asking her himself because Max had been the one to actually ask, but still . . . he was allowing it. He was trusting her to bring Max home and to do as he'd asked, to drop her off at the end of the street, which she would. She didn't want to destroy whatever small part of Billy that was opening up by making him think he couldn't trust her.

Once Billy got back home, he did as he'd told Jessica he was going to do and went to bed and tried to sleep. He didn't go to sleep right away, but it still felt nice just to be still and let the pain fade away.

His right side was pretty bruised up. His dad usually didn't get to his stomach at all . . . unless his dad got him on the ground, which he had this time. One well-placed kick had stolen Billy's breath away and made him want to throw up at the same time. He was pretty sure his ribs were bruised. It hurt to breath too deeply. He couldn't even enjoy a cigarette.

He shouldn't have opened his mouth at all, but he had, and his dad hadn't liked what he'd had to say. Neil didn't like that Max didn't dress or act like a 'proper' girl, what with her inability to be comfortable in a dress and her interest in skateboarding and all.

All Billy had said was "Yeah, but she's just a kid," and apparently that had been taken as a smart comment because his dad hadn't taken kindly to it even if it was the truth.

He'd spent the night with ice over the bruise his dad had left and he'd woken up not wanting to move. He had to take Max to school, though, so he had.

He wasn't completely sure that Max even knew what Neil did to him sometimes, but he suspected she did. She just never brought it up. Which was good, because Billy didn't want to talk about it. As long as she kept her nose out of it, she'd be fine. Neil didn't target her.

Max had been the one to suggest asking Jessica for a ride home. They had been in the car, and he'd been driving with one hand because it hurt to lift his other arm up to grip the wheel. He'd told Max his stomach was hurting as well. He didn't know if she believed him but she'd said she wouldn't mention it if he decided to stay home, which was . . . cool, he guessed.

He hadn't been sure Jessica would say yes to bringing Max home, but he was glad she had. He wouldn't have been able to take sitting up straight all day and he wouldn't have been able to handle P.E. or basketball practice. As it was, he would definitely have to get his dad to write an excuse for him until the bruises faded a bit. His dad would have no problem doing that, because he didn't want anyone seeing the bruises.

He should've known Jessica would help out, especially once she realized it was Max she'd be helping. She was always hanging around those kids. Okay, not always. But he saw her around town sometimes, eating with them or taking them to the movies or whatnot.

What he hadn't expected was for her to ask if he was okay. He didn't know why it surprised him – she'd done it before. She'd even checked on him the night he'd taken his anger out on Harrington's face. She'd taken care of him, which was just weird after what he'd done. Though he suspected that was more so she could talk to him without anyone else around more than anything else.

He remembered telling her his dad wouldn't be happy with him and Max getting home so late that night and she'd talked to Chief Hopper about it. The chief had talked to Neil and Susan about why exactly they'd been late – something about a kid having been at the hospital and Max not having had a ride home because of it - and it had saved Billy a beating that probably would have been a bad one. Neil had still given him a lecture about it.

Jessica had been all set to ignore him – he knew she had been – but he'd seen her struggling that first Monday back and hadn't wanted to deal with the guilt he'd been feeling, so he'd helped her with her bag that week while Harrington couldn't, couldn't because he hadn't been able to come to school.

He'd meant what he said. He never should've gone off on anybody the way he had that night. He knew he shouldn't have – and he really shouldn't have hurt Jessica because she was a girl and he never wanted to hurt a girl – but he'd been angry. He was always angry.

But there were moments now. Moments where anger wasn't the only thing he felt. The other emotions were stunted, but they were there. Moments where Jessica surprised him, where he felt like maybe she didn't . . . dislike him. Moments where he thought she didn't only tolerate him because she had to because they shared a class together.

Sometimes he even made her smile. She usually turned away like she didn't want him seeing it, but he always saw it. He didn't know why, but he felt a certain type of triumph when she smiled because of him. It was weird and not something he'd felt before.

He didn't care if he made some girl smile. But Jessica wasn't just some girl. Max hadn't been wrong when she'd said Billy liked her. The thing was Billy wasn't used to liking anyone, not really. Not in the genuine I-like-talking-to-you type of way. But he did like talking to Jessica.

He wasn't sure why, exactly. He couldn't really get away with anything with her. She was . . . a challenge, and he wasn't even talking about the fact that she was with Harrington already. No, she was a challenge because she didn't fall for and never had fallen for his charm – and he could be charming when he wanted to be. But it was also refreshing, in a way. Knowing she wouldn't respond to his flirting didn't stop him from doing it, but he didn't feel like he had to do it to keep up appearances or anything like that. He flirted with her for the simple fact that he wanted to. He enjoyed it.

She was pretty much the only thing he enjoyed in this stupid town, and he was going to miss not having a reason to go over to her house after they were done with their project.

Jessica wouldn't say her thoughts were full of what had happened that morning, but she couldn't say they weren't either. She'd let Steve know she was supposed to take Max home after school, but she didn't say much about why other than Billy wasn't feeling great. She wasn't trying to keep it from him; they just didn't have much time to get into it on their walk to her first class.

She did mention it during lunch, though, about how Billy had seemed to be in pain even though there were no visible wounds to see. If whatever was bothering him was in his stomach area then there wouldn't have been anything to see anyway.

"Jess, he probably just got in a fight or something. He's come to school before when he's been in a fight, more than once even," Steve said.

"Yeah, those times he came to school. He didn't just ditch."

"Well, he didn't really know you those times. He does now, and he's letting you take Max home."

Steve's point was a valid one, but Billy still could have just dropped Max off and picked her up without staying for any of his own classes. Instead, he'd basically said he wasn't feeling well enough to do anything that day but go home and sleep.

They were sitting at their usual table with Nancy and Jonathan, so they had been listening too but they hadn't really weighed in on what they thought about it at all.

"Is it wrong to care?" she asked the group. "I mean, part of me feels like I shouldn't because . . . it's Billy and he can be awful. He threatened Lucas and he could have killed Steve."

"Neither of those things are good," Jonathan said. "Can I just say, though, that if I had a younger sister and I came across her hanging out with a bunch of boys and an adult male by herself – one that I didn't know – at a stranger's house in the middle of the woods, I might have found that a little suspicious myself. Not enough to, ya know, attack the guy, but enough to get her out of there any way I could."

"I was there too," Jessica said.

"Yeah, but he didn't know that at first. I can't excuse what he did to Lucas or what he did to Steve after he found out nothing was up, but before that . . . I get it."

Jessica didn't say anything, but she was pretty sure what had happened at the Byers' house that night had nothing at all to do with Billy being worried about Max and everything to do with the fact that she'd sneaked out on his watch. He'd admitted he'd been beyond angry that night because her sneaking out had caused an argument between him and his dad.

"I thought you were supposed to be on our side," Steve said, only half-serious.

"I am on your side. I can understand both points and still be on your side. The guy has serious issues."

Nobody could argue with that, so the conversation moved on to something more mundane, which was the dance coming up for the middle schoolers. Nancy was going as a chaperone and Jonathan was being used as a photographer.

It actually made Jessica feel a lot better knowing that Nancy and Jonathan would be there, especially since El would be going and it would be one of the first times she'd been around a lot of people at once. At least she would have people there that she knew and could get her out if it was too much for her.

They probably needed to know, though.

"Um, okay, so . . ." She leaned in closer to the table so she could talk more quietly. "Hopper has official papers on El now. She'll be going to the dance. But don't tell the others because Hopper hasn't yet, I don't think."

"Why wouldn't he have said anything?" Nancy asked.

"He said he didn't want to get anybody's hopes up in case it fell through. But he also needs to keep her under wraps for a while, just to be safe. This dance will be a one-time thing – at least for a while."

"It will also be a good surprise for Mike. He's not thrilled about going. He's only going because the others are."

It would be a good surprise then.

Steve nudged her a little. He was grinning when she looked at him.

"Remember our Snow Ball? The first year you got here?"

"Ugh, yes! Mom bought me a dress and I hated it."

"It wasn't that bad."

"You didn't have to wear it."

It wasn't that it had been hideous, but there had been frills on the sleeves and the material had been itchy.

The night hadn't been horrible. She'd met up with Steve there, neither of them having had dates – mostly because they hadn't been interested in dating at that point – and they'd had their first dance. Steve had kept her by his side that night. She'd still been relatively new and hadn't gotten to know a lot of people yet.

This had been before he'd become a jock and before he'd become friends with Tommy and Carol.

Now he wasn't really either.

High school got out about twenty minutes earlier than middle school did, so Jessica and Steve hung out in her car until Max got there. They were actually in the middle of a great kiss when Max knocked on the passenger side window, causing them to jump apart. Max was just outside the car, giving them an unimpressed look while still being able to show amusement. She wouldn't have liked to hear it, but Max was pulling off an expression Jessica had seen on Billy many times before. Max wouldn't appreciate hearing that at all.

"Guess that's my cue to get out," Steve said.

"Yeah, guess so," Jessica said and grinned. "Call me when Carol is gone."

"Yeah, definitely. I hope it doesn't take too long."

He kissed her one more time before getting out to let Max in and Jessica watched him walk off towards his own car.

"You guys are, like, grossly in love," the red-head said.

Jessica smiled brightly as she started the car. She couldn't deny what Max had said; it was the truth – though she wouldn't call it gross. She wasn't even embarrassed that Max had caught them. Plus, Max wasn't exactly teasing her about it.

"Well, you'll find someone someday that you will get to be grossly in love with too."

"Ew, not to where I'll want to suck face like you guys were doing."

Jessica couldn't help but laugh at that. Lucas was going to have his hands full with this one.

"So . . . where do you live?"

"It's on Old Cherry Road."

Jessica knew where that was only because of all the time she'd spent cruising around with Steve, when they would drive just to drive.

"Why does Billy want me to drop you off at the end of the street? I mean . . . why would it be bad for people to see me dropping you off?"

"Basically, Neil is a control freak. If he doesn't know you, he doesn't want you dropping me off or coming over at all, really."

"He's a real people person, then."

"Something like that. He thinks I need constant supervision. He leaves Billy in charge and he kind of resents me for it, even though it's not my fault. Although he hasn't been complaining as much lately."

Jessica sighed and bit her lip before saying, "Should I . . . come over some time to let Neil meet me? I mean, I sometimes hold movie nights and take the guys out to eat and all. If you can't come because he doesn't know who I am –"

"Wait, I would be invited to these Party things?"

"Of course, you're part of the group now even if it's not official yet. Steve and I are honorary members just because we helped out. You helped out, too, so . . . yeah, of course you are."

Max tried not to let it show, but Jessica could tell she was pleased to be part of the group.

"What kind of movies do you guys watch?"

"Mostly horror and sci-fi, which are the boys' choices, and then Nancy and I like things like The Outsiders."

"I was Michael Myers for Halloween."

"See, you'll fit right in."

"I actually scared the boys. Lucas screams like a girl, by which I mean he sounds like a girl when he screams."

Both girls laughed, Jessica because she could imagine, and Max because she'd been there so she didn't have to.

"Anyway, should I meet him?"

"I mean, you are one of the designated babysitters, so it's probably a good thing if you do. I'm – I'm just not sure Billy would want you to."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not asking him then," she said to Max, conspiratorially. "Anyway, are you going to the Snow Ball?"

"Yeah. I'm meeting Lucas there. Well, I'm meeting all the guys there, but . . . I'm especially meeting Lucas. It'll probably be lame, but . . . ya know?"

"It's a school dance, so it will definitely be lame, but you can still have fun."

They continued back and forth in that manner as Jessica continued to drive. Max didn't live that far from the school, but she still hoped the girl never actually had to skateboard home because one of the roads they went down was surrounded by trees. Anything could happen in an isolated place like that.

She let Max pick the music, which was something Max said Billy never did. Jessica could see why. Max listened to the popular music that was on Q94, so it was mostly bubbly pop music. She could imagine Billy wanting to bang his head against the steering wheel if he had to listen to that for more than a few minutes.

She pulled onto Old Cherry Road and put her car in park.

"Okay, so . . . let Billy know I can do this again tomorrow if he's not feeling better. You shouldn't have to skate home."

"Yeah, sure. Thanks, Jess."

"No problem."

Max got out of the car, grabbed her bag and board, and started walking down the street. It didn't take her long to put the board down and begin skating instead.

Jessica watched until she reached what must've been her house. It was a white one-story with a screened-in deck for a porch. She didn't leave until she saw Max go inside.

Steve, Carol, and his mom were seated in the living room of his house. Carol and his mom were 'catching up' as if Carol hadn't been there two day ago.

Steve's mom was not like Jessica's mom. She was not going to fix Carol food just because she was there. There were snacks, of course, but his mom wasn't going to go out of her way for the girl. Steve wasn't going to either. He really just wanted to get everything done and over with so Carol could leave.

How had he put up with her before? Even her voice was giving him a headache now.

When his mom finally left them alone, Steve spread the things he would need out on the coffee table. Carol was just leaning back onto the couch. She probably wasn't going to be much help. He knew she hadn't really read the book and probably hadn't paid attention when they had discussed it in class.

"Are we gonna do this or not?" Steve said. "If not, you can just leave and I'll do my part on my own."

"We'll get to it," Carol said. "I'm still getting used to the fact that last year you wouldn't have been caught doing any of this."

"My actual work?"

Steve couldn't say she was wrong. He hadn't gone out of his way to get school work done. As long as he did well enough to stay on the basketball team, he hadn't really cared if he got an above average grade.

"Yeah. I mean, you would do it, but not like this. All organized and stuff."

"Well, I have a reason to do good now." He sighed. "Anyway –"

"You wanna go to college with Jess? Stay on level with her, maybe?"

"I mean, that was the plan. It probably won't happen now."

Carol sat forward, eyes squinted at him, a not-at-all-friendly smile on her face.

"It must kill you that Billy Hargrove is spending his time with Jessica while you're forced to hang out with me."

"It's not like Jess is exactly happy about it. And he's not spending time with her at all today. He went home sick."

"Hm. You know if Jessica shows even an ounce of interest, Billy will move in, right? He doesn't care that you're in the picture."

Honestly, Steve thought that unless it came to making him miserable that Billy didn't even register Steve on his radar.

"It's a good thing she won't show any interest then," he said. "Now, come on. You're gonna look awful stupid if I'm the only one who knows what we're talking about."

"Fine. Jeeze, you're no fun anymore."

Around five Jessica got a call from Steve letting her know that Carol had gone for the day.

"How did I put up with her last year, Jess? I mean, she's so annoying."

Jessica pressed her lips together to stop from laughing, but she couldn't help it. She'd known from the minute she'd met the girl that Carol was annoying.

"Well . . . you weren't that great when you were hanging around her either, and I put up with you."

"Yeah, but you love me. I have definitely never loved Carol."

"I would certainly question your taste in girls if you had."

"Hey, I'm dating you, aren't I?"

"Exactly. You have great taste." There was a pause and then she said, "So I mentioned to Max maybe doing a movie night. Since there will be six kids running around, do you think we can have it at your house. If your mom doesn't care, we can do it while she's here. If she does, we can wait until later."

"I mean, I don't care. I think Dad is coming in for Christmas at least, but they'll probably leave after. Mom doesn't really have a reason to stay after Christmas. Her fundraiser thing will be over and I don't really have any other appointments or anything, as long as nothing else happens."

"We'll try and make sure nothing does."

Steve went back to complaining about having to work with Carol, and Jessica found it mostly hilarious.

Closer to the end of the conversation, Steve said, "So . . . our anniversary is coming up. We'll have been together a whole year on Christmas day."

"I am aware," Jessica said, voice soft and fond. "Sometimes it feels like we've been through enough for a lifetime, but yes, it will have been a year."

"Do you have any idea about what you want to do?"

"Are you kidding? I haven't even begun Christmas shopping yet. I thought we could celebrate it the weekend of though, since we'll be with your parents for a bit that day and then with my family the other bit."

Christmas Day was going to be on a Tuesday that year, the Tuesday right after they got out for break, so they would have the rest of the week to plan too.

"Okay . . . Uh, do you want to go out? Stay in? Give me something to work with here," Steve teased.

"If you want to go somewhere other than Hawkins, it would be cool to go somewhere."

"A'right. I'll look around. Love you, Jess."

"Love you too, Steve."