67. Chapter 67

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Jessica was a little nervous when she went to school the next day. She still didn't really want to face Billy because she didn't know how he would react to her.

Steve met her in the parking lot, as he usually did, and they walked in together, as they usually did. She stopped by her locker to get her things together. This would usually take only a minute, but this morning Jonathan and Nancy stopped to talk to them. Well . . . Nancy did. Jonathan was just along for the ride, for the most part.

Nancy was curious as to where she and Steve had been the day before. If one of their group was going to miss a day, they tried to let the others know so they wouldn't worry. It had honestly slipped Jessica's mind to let anyone know.

"I can't get into it right now," Jessica said. "We can talk about it at lunch."

"Are you okay?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah. I think so. Just something happened the other night and I didn't feel like coming to school yesterday." She looked at Steve and smiled softly. "We went to Indianapolis for the day."

"Is the something that happened something we need to worry about?" Nancy asked.

"No." Jessica knew Nancy was wondering if what had happened was Upside Down related. "It's nothing like that. I promise I'll explain at lunch. I . . . have to get to class."

She shut her locker and then pulled her bag over her shoulder. Steve wrapped an arm around her as they began walking and she leaned further into his side.

"You really don't wanna go, huh?" he asked.

"Nope. I can't miss another day, though."

When Steve walked her to her first period class at the beginning of the day, he usually stopped outside the door and they would hug or kiss each other quickly on the lips or the cheek – or Steve would sometimes kiss her on the forehead or even on the top of her head – to show proper public affection. Steve didn't stop at the door this time. He walked right in with her and followed her to her seat.

Billy was already in his seat beside hers; he was watching as she walked in. He looked like his usual uninterested self – though Jessica had come to realize that was just a façade he put up for the world.

Once Jessica put her bag down on the floor Steve said, "I'll meet you at the cafeteria for lunch."

"Okay."

He pulled her closer and kissed her longer and harder than he normally would have in school, which surprised her, but she didn't mind.

What she did mind was the wolf whistles the other students let out; what she did mind was when the teacher said, "Mr. Harrington, Ms. Henderson!"; what she did mind was the look on Steve's face when she pulled away from him at the teacher's admonition. He wasn't looking at her. He was looking at Billy. He was looking at Billy with a look on his face that was reminiscent of his King Steve days.

He had followed her to her seat so he could kiss her in front of Billy. That wasn't okay. It was possessive and made her feel like a prize he was showing off.

And he'd been so good about it the day before.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Get to class, Steve."

He honestly looked confused at her dismissal. "What?"

"Class. Don't be late."

She'd have to explain later about how annoying his macho display had been. He obviously had no clue. And then there was Billy, now also smirking because of her sending Steve away. At least he was trying to hide it, though, by turning his head.

When she was finally in her seat, Billy looked at her and said, "That wasn't dramatic at all."

"Don't even start," she said, barely even looking at him. "It's all your fault, anyway."

"You . . . obviously told him what happened."

"Did you think I wouldn't? I didn't want him finding out from you."

"I wouldn't have said anything to him," he said. Then less confidently, "What else did you tell him?"

"Just that you stayed the night because you and your dad argued. And I did say argued. I told you I wouldn't say anything, and I meant it."

Billy nodded. His way of saying thanks, she guessed.

"You didn't come to school yesterday," Billy said.

"Nope."

"Because of me?"

"Yup." To change the subject she said, "Can I ask you something?"

"What?" he asked.

She leaned a little closer and said, "Does your dad argue with Max?"

Meaning did his dad hurt Max.

Billy clenched his jaw briefly but answered anyway. "No. I told you she's always getting me in trouble."

"Oh, that's –"

Billy suddenly reached over and pushed her hair away from her neck, the side that had the bruise – or bruises – on it. He let his thumb play over the skin there.

"I got you good, didn't I?" he asked, grinning and effectively changing the subject again.

She yanked away from his touch at his words.

"Why do you have to be such a jerk?"

Having found out what she wanted to know – whether Max was in danger or not – she turned her focus to the front of the class, deciding it was best to ignore Billy for now, at least until he learned how to behave.

As promised, Steve met Jessica at the entrance to the cafeteria when it was time for lunch. He'd spent the last four classes going over exactly why Jessica had sent him away so quickly that morning, and he just didn't get it.

He was allowed to kiss his girlfriend in front of other people. He was allowed to show other people that she was his girlfriend by kissing her. He was allowed to show Billy Hargrove that. He was allowed because Billy had stayed at her house and had kissed her when he shouldn't have. He had to let Billy know that she wasn't available, that she was not there for him to try and seduce.

He just had to explain to Jessica why he had done what he'd done and then everything would be okay. He hoped.

Jessica didn't seem angry or upset when she met him at the door. She even kissed him on the cheek like she normally did. Maybe she had realized why Steve had kissed her that way on her own and was okay with it now, because she didn't mention it at all. They just did what they normally did and went to the table where Nancy and Jonathan were already seated. They put their bags down to save their places – not that anyone had ever tried taking them – and went to stand in line to get their food.

"You . . . okay?" he asked hesitantly, because even though she didn't seem upset she hadn't spoken to him since she'd reached him.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Uh . . . this morning you sent me away because I kissed you."

Jessica shook her head and sighed. "I didn't send you away because you kissed me. I sent you away because you kissed me for the wrong reason, and I don't want to talk about this in the lunch room. We can talk after school."

"Okay. But you don't seem mad."

"I'm not mad. I was more annoyed than anything else. Like I said, we can talk after school."

They made it through the line and went back to the table to sit with Nancy and Jonathan. It didn't take long for Nancy to ask about their absence the day before. She wanted to know what had caused Jessica to not want to come to school.

Steve was surprised when Jessica led with, "Billy Hargrove kissed me."

Steve and Jessica were both surprised when Nancy and Jonathan let out a loud, "What?" which caused the neighboring students to look at them funny before turning back to their own business.

"Not so loud," Jessica said.

"Sorry," Nancy said, settling down a little. "How . . . did that happen?"

"He . . . stayed at my house the other night."

"That makes even less sense," Nancy said.

Steve let Jessica explain everything the way she had explained it to him. He was happy to see that she didn't get as upset this time.

Both Nancy and Jonathan found it weird that Billy's dad had kicked him out without any form of transportation on a night that was below freezing, and they seemed to understand why Jessica had let him stay when she'd found him hanging out in her garage. Jonathan got even quieter than he normally was when he found out that the reason Billy had been kicked out of the house was because he and his dad had argued. It probably reminded him of his own dad. Everyone knew Lonnie Byers had been a jerk.

After Jessica explained how the kiss came about Jonathan asked, "So, what are you gonna do about it?"

"What d'you mean?"

"About Billy . . . since he kissed you?"

"Oh. Uh, I already told him it couldn't happen again. That I'm with Steve and that I love him, so Billy isn't allowed to do that. You know? As long as he doesn't do it again, I'm not gonna do anything."

"You actually trust him not to do anything?" Nancy asked. "He's not one for . . . resisting his urges."

"Then I'll get Hopper involved. I don't think Billy would want that. Hopper's probably enough of an incentive to behave."

The rest of the day went by uneventfully aside from the fact that the gym teacher was making them start their annual gymnastics training. It was what they would be doing throughout the rest of the month of February and into the month of March. Jessica still thought that unless you were going to go into gymnastics that you didn't need to have gymnastics training.

It was the usual stuff, cartwheels and handstands, things like that. She hadn't practiced those since the last time she had to do them for gym, so she still wasn't great at them, but Steve spotted her like he did last time so she wouldn't hurt herself. It slightly made up for the stunt he pulled that morning . . . but only slightly.

When the school day was over Steve met her at her locker like he normally did. She offered him a smile and a kiss like she normally did. As she'd told him earlier, she wasn't really mad at him, she was more annoyed and didn't want it happening again, which was why they were going to talk about it as soon as they could . . . which just happened to be as soon as they got to her car.

She gestured for him to get in the passenger side and he did. He put his bag on the floorboard, between his legs, and then waited for her to start.

"Okay, so . . . I don't like what you did this morning."

"What? Kissing my girlfriend?"

"No. Not kissing your girlfriend. Kissing your girlfriend to prove a point to another guy. It's not okay."

"It's not any worse than him leaving a mark on you to prove a point to me."

Jessica scoffed. "What point would that be exactly?"

"I don't know, Jess. That you let him in that night. That he was able to get to you."

Jessica felt her hackles rise. "He wasn't able to 'get to me', Steve. You made me feel like I was a trophy you were showing off this morning, and I didn't like it. It's not a competition, so don't turn it into one. Please."

She took a deep breath, releasing any annoyance or anger she was feeling, before continuing.

"Steve?" she said softly. "Have I . . . have I ever given you a reason to think I would leave you for Billy? Or for anybody?"

"What? No!"

"Then why do you feel the need to prove anything to him? We've talked about this before. It doesn't matter what he's doing or feeling. It's more about what I'm doing and feeling. And . . . and I have come to care about Billy, in a way, but I definitely don't want to be with him.

"What you did this morning reminded me of something you would have done back when you were hanging with Tommy and Carol."

"Oh," he said, apparently realizing – finally – just how much she hadn't liked his behavior.

"Yeah. Oh."

She let that settle in before continuing.

"You were – you were so good about it yesterday. I mean, I came to you thinking you were going to be mad or think that it was my fault – because I thought it was my fault – and then you said it wasn't –"

"It's not," Steve said. "It's not your fault. Don't think that."

"But you just said it, Steve. I let him in. He was waiting for me to get off of work. He didn't go in when I wasn't there. He waited because he wanted to know I was okay with him being there. And I let him in."

"Yeah, okay, but it's still not your fault that he took advantage and kissed you."

"Okay. Then what was this morning about?"

"Nothing, I just . . . I was fine with everything until I saw him this morning. I know you probably didn't really notice, but his eyes were following you to your seat."

She had noticed that, but it hadn't really bothered her.

"Remember that time he called your house looking for me, and I told you it was probably him trying to get a reaction out of you? And that you shouldn't let him? That's the same thing here. Okay? Billy lives to pull reactions from people. He craves the attention. Don't give it to him."

Steve sighed. "He's kind of hard to ignore."

"I know." She also knew that Billy liked it that way. "Anyway, I have to go home and get ready for work, but I didn't want to leave this until later. I'll see if I can come over and stay the night since your parents are home. Okay?"

"Yeah."

Steve seemed relieved that she wasn't more upset with him.

She smiled softly, turning her body to face him more fully. She beckoned him closer so she could kiss him and he didn't need anymore of an invitation than that.

"I love you, Steve."

When their lips touched it was so much better than the kiss they'd shared that morning. It was still a long kiss, but it wasn't a hard kiss. It was passionate but not possessive and Jessica was glad. Steve being protective was one thing; him wanting to show ownership was something else.

"Now that was a kiss," she said when she pulled away.

Jessica made it home in time to take a shower and get dressed for work. She even had time to pack an overnight bag so she could stay with Steve that night. She was still going to ask her mom, but her mom always said yes when Steve's parents were home.

Dustin was already home when she went back downstairs and he was talking about something they had learned in science class that day. Apparently a man had had an artificial heart placed inside him and he had made it through the procedure fairly well. He'd been able to leave the hospital. It was a big deal, because this was the first patient to have received an artificial heart and to have survived long enough to be released from the hospital.

He had watched news coverage of it in science class.

It was interesting but not something Jessica would have ever learned about on her own. There had only been one time in her life when she had followed the news and that had been after the first time she'd encountered the Upside Down nonsense. She'd wanted to keep an eye out to see if any weird occurrences had been reported.

Now the gate was closed and she didn't have to worry about it. She knew Hopper still kept a check on things, and she trusted him enough to know that if things started back up again that he would let them know.

So, no, she didn't watch the news anymore.

She had things to worry about that were closer to home – like Steve not being bothered by Billy. And other things like school and SATs, college applications, grants, and scholarships. Things that could greatly affect her future.

At the moment, however, she had to worry about getting to work, so she asked her mom if she could go to Steve's after work. As expected, her mom said yes.

She kissed her mom on the cheek to say goodbye and then ruffled Dustin's hair when she went by him.

He mumbled his complaint, but she just grinned as she left the house, knowing it didn't really bother him.