Disclaimer: anything you recognise isn't mine.
I wrote a good 10 pages. Hope you enjoy!
…
Chapter 3: Road Kill
'I like the sad eyes, bad guys, mouth full of white lies. Kiss me in the corridor, but quick to tell me goodbye.' Halsey - Ghost
19th November 1984
He'd asked if I needed a ride home as I dried off with his towel, mine was now bagged up in a plastic bag, still sopping wet. Of course, I had said yes to the ride, it was almost pitch-black outside and there was no way my legs were stable enough after what we'd done to walk the entire way home.
I had asked what he was doing at the school so late. There wasn't any basketball on so what other reason could there be? He replied with a casual 'had detention', which of course did not explain why he was in the boys' locker room. But, I supposed I was done questioning him. He was being nice for a change, and I didn't want to annoy him with too many questions. Well, I thought, we've been intimate now, so why shouldn't he be nice to me? I didn't realise how naïve I sounded at the time.
And so, here I sat in Hargrove's car that smelt strongly of cigarettes and faintly of what I assumed was sex. I looked to the backseat, thinking of how many girls he must've done it with on that sinfully smooth leather seating. I wondered if I would now become one of those girls and if this thing between us had been a one-time only event or if Hargrove wanted more from me. I could imagine my naked back against the seating, my hands digging into the cool leather or his hair or his shoulders, as pleasure ripped its way out of my lungs.
But this was Hargrove I was daydreaming about. He was not boyfriend material at all. Not even friend material. And there was no way I was going to lose my virginity to him. It was bad enough with what happened earlier. I tried to tell myself that this was it, it would never happen again. It was a lapse in judgement, a stupid teenage lust fuelled mistake, my body too weak to resist his. I told myself to not be surprised when he acted like a dick and like nothing had ever happened the next time we saw each other.
"Something back there?" He had noticed me staring at the backseat. I cringed at being caught.
"No. I was just checking out your car." I held my breath as I hoped he believed my excuse.
"Really? Didn't know you were into cars." He glanced at me before returning his gaze to the road that he was speeding down. His tone of voice told me that he didn't believe me one bit, but I decided to continue to play along.
"There's lots you don't know." I said, inwardly cringing at how weird that sounded on my tongue.
"Like what?" He smirked, his interest sounding somewhat fake and mocking. It was as if he was making fun of the small-town girl. He probably thought that all I knew about was the countryside or cows or something stereotypical about us small-town types.
But I thought of all the things I knew about this small town where nothing bad ever happened. He had no clue what this town was really like, but neither had I until a month ago. I thought of the upside down, of demodogs, a bat with nails. Of Hawkins lab, of Eleven, of Barb. Of Steve's changing attitude, my parents that were scarcely ever home, of Hannah. My eyes glazed over as I thought of her.
I stayed silent, but Billy decided to carry on.
"Like how you like sucking boys off in the boys' locker room?" He said, smugly.
I sat there shocked, looking at the ash tray between us, my teeth grit together.
"Or how you like getting eaten out in boys' locker rooms? Or like how you're this weird loner chick, with no friends. You only have King Steve, right? I heard your mommy and daddy are never home. Does that bum you out?" He sniggered. "Poor little rich girl."
"Shut up!" For what felt like the hundredth time that that evening, I felt fat tears well in my eyes. "You don't know shit, okay."
"I think I know why you were looking in the back seat." Hargrove sped the car faster, I held onto the sides of the car seat, fingers digging into the hard leather. I stared intently onto the road, it was complete blackness that was separated by his headlights. I was worried we would hit something or someone. He leaned over to me, using one rough hand to grab my chin and jerk it to face him. "I think you were day-dreaming about how many fucks I've had back there."
"Hargrove! The road!" I panicked as I tried to struggle out of his grip.
"I know you were thinking about you and me fucking back there." He smiled, roguishly.
"I wasn't!" I deny, trying to get his hand off me.
"Say it," He demanded, grip getting harder. "Say you were thinking about me fucking you back there!"
"No! I wasn't!"
He stomped his foot the gas.
"Say it!" He shouted.
"No!" I shouted back, tears streamed down my face. "Please, stop the car!"
"I will when you admit it." He growled.
I felt the car pick up speed. I thought about how he could run down a cat or a dog. Or collide with another car. Or hit a person. Or a child. Maybe even one of the boys on their bikes. I couldn't stomach the thought of that.
"Okay! Okay! I was thinking about fucking you!" I shouted, defeated.
"Fucking me where?" Hargrove raised his eyebrows, demanding and answer.
"In the backseat!" I conceded.
"Whooh!" He let out a burst of adrenaline from his lungs as he let go of my chin with a harsh push, sending me back against the chair. The car slowed some but was still going dangerously fast. I panted as I looked out the window, thanking God that he hadn't hit anything. My breathing was heavy. I have to get out. I cant spend another minute with him.
Fuck the dark, fuck the demodogs; I'm walking.
"Stop the car!" I cried.
"What, Princess?" The engine hummed underneath me.
"You heard me." I wiped at the tears on face furiously. "Stop. The damn. Car, Hargrove."
"I knew you wanted to fuck." He laughed.
"Why're you such a dick?" I asked, though I did not want an answer.
Hargrove just laughed. He didn't care about me and that seemed more obvious than it ever had before. That was why he was acting this way right now. In the showers earlier, it obviously wasn't the first time Hargrove had done something intimate like that with someone. Hargrove knew it was a first for me. He knew he was the first to do something like that with me. He knew, and he didn't care. It was probably best just to go back to hating each other.
Just then, I saw a small round shape on the road.
"Hargrove, there's something on the road!" I pointed to where the thing was. "Stop!"
Hargrove noticed it too, he slammed on the breaks. I held onto the car as we both jerked forward. A small white shape was lit up by the headlights. It was completely still. I opened the car door, Hargrove did the same on his side. I stood shielded by the door as Hargrove took the first steps toward what could have been a small dog.
I thought of demodogs then. Of their terrifying flower shaped mouths full of razors for teeth. I thought about Bob, who I was told had been torn apart by them. I thought of Barb. I thought of how they could kill people, and even though Hargrove was a dickhead, I didn't want him to die – even if he did deserve it.
"Hargrove," I said, voice low with caution.
"What?"
"Be careful." I obviously couldn't tell him about the demodogs or anything else concerning the upside down.
Hargrove turned around then, and carried on walking. The figure still looked like an alien. It was a lump on the ground, covered in bright white light surrounded by darkness. It was almost like the head lights were a beam sent down from a space ship, like in E.T. or some other science fiction film that I had dragged Steve to go see with me.
He took a few steps forward, crouching as he got closer. I braced myself for something to happen. For the creature to snatch him up and eat him. But then Hargrove reached down and touched it. He started to smooth it.
"What is it?" I whispered, almost shocked that it hadn't eaten Hargrove. My curiosity caused me to walk over to where Hargrove was knelt.
"It's a dog." Hargrove said, he stopped smoothing it. I paused, exhaling as relief took over me now that I knew it wasn't something from the upside down.
As I walked over, I could see the fur clearly. It was facing with its back away from us, its hind legs stretched at an odd angle. I bent down to touch it, its fur wet in places. I moved out of the way of the headlights so that I could get a proper look at its legs. The fur would've been golden under natural lighting. I could see spots of chestnut brown, I hoped it was mud, but due to the awkward angle of the legs and the copper smell in the air it was undoubtedly – and unfortunately – blood. The dog's tail was also lying flat and crooked on the cold pavement.
"I think it's dead." Hargrove said, standing up.
I reached out to smooth the dog's mid back, a small static shock prickling my finger. The fur was cold and matted. As I moved my hand over its coarse fur, I felt something beneath my hand start to move a little.
Then, breaking the oppressive silence, the dog seemed to come to life and gave a sudden pained whine. It carried on crying, making helpless sounds at the back of its throat. Hargrove made a shushing noise as he stroked behind its head.
"It's hurt so bad." I said. It was probably run over by some reckless driver – someone who drives like Hargrove. But this bastard driver didn't stop to see the damage, not like Billy, who was now comforting the dog.
"Where's the vets in this town?" Hargrove glanced up at me in question before returning his gaze to the poor animal.
"Across town." I said. "I'll direct you."
…
Hargrove had carried the dog to his open boot, laying her down delicately onto the black fabric. I thanked God or whoever was listening that the dog went without a struggle and that she fit in the boot easily. She couldn't be that much older than a puppy.
We'd driven across town, it took only 5 minutes with Hargrove's driving. But I could tell he drove slower than normal so that the dog was comfortable. I couldn't figure him out. One minute he was screaming at me, getting off on how gross he made me feel. Then the next minute he's smoothing and shushing a dog; being kind to someone, even if that someone was only a dog. You'd expect someone like Hargrove to take advantage of an animal's vulnerability – like he does with people.
The only words that were said were by myself; left, right, keep going this way, slow down. Soon enough we arrived, I went inside to tell the staff what was going on. I held the door to the vets open as Hargrove carried the dog in.
Hargrove was told to place her onto the table in the surgery room, which he did swiftly. Two vets began looking over her while another vet asked us questions that we didn't really have the answers to. We told them that we had found her on the road, lying there and bleeding. And that we knew nothing else.
The vet asking us questions ushered us from the operating room before asking the final question.
"So, who's paying the bill?" She asked as she made a final note onto her clipboard before looking up to us.
Hargrove and I shared a single moment of looking at each other in utter confusion. Hargrove's wide blue eyes, almost gaping wide mouth and raised eyebrows would have been comical if not for the situation.
"Bill?" I questioned, eyebrows furrowed.
"Yeah, the bill." The woman in mint colored scrubs said in her rough voice. She was definitely a smoker, like someone else I knew. "Who's paying?"
"Oh. The bill." I'd completely forgotten about that. I think my parents pay health insurance, but I really don't suppose they have pet insurance. Why would they when we've never even had a pet goldfish? "I'll pay. How much?"
"Really?" She raised her eyebrows in a show of nonchalant disbelief. She looked at Hargrove like he was somehow the one that was supposed to pay.
I felt my resting bitch face take form as I said; "Yes, I'm paying."
"Um, okay." She looked at us with bug eyes. I could feel the judgement coming off her in waves. Did she think this was some fancy dinner date where the guy pays after the food? "It'll be $250."
Now it was my mouth and not Hargrove's that was gaping. There goes my savings for an Atari.
"Wait- hold on," Hargrove chimed in. "Look, miss, that's not even our dog."
'Miss'? I raised an eyebrow at his polite tone.
"Isn't there anything you could do for us?" he said, voice smooth yet still carrying a roughness that tickled like his stubble. The woman's full attention was on him and his coy smile. "I know I would really appreciate it."
He sounded like liquid honey. No wonder he already had a reputation with the girls in this town. But this grown woman wouldn't fall for it, I was sure of it.
"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do." Ha, I knew Hargrove's flirting tactic wouldn't work! Time to get my credit card out. Wait… Why was I so happy about having to pay money? I should have cheered Hargrove on. Maybe I just didn't like the fact that he was openly flirting with another woman when only an hour ago he was on his knees for me.
"Are you sure?" He leant in closer, eyes focused on hers. "I really need you to help me out here."
"Well," I saw her eyes flicker down to his lips, a look of feminine power taking hold of her face. I wondered how old she was. Damn cougar. "Maybe I could take the price down a bit. All things considered. I mean, it's not like the dogs yours, right?"
"Atta girl." He touched her chin with the second knuckle of his index finger, brushing the skin for a second. I could practically see her knees start to tremble.
I looked back and forth between them and the flirtatious smiles that seemed etched onto their faces. I took a deep breath, this was going to be a long night.
20th November 1984
It was a bright cold day at Hawkin's high school, I pulled nervously at the polka dot scarf that hid the hickeys from last night. I stood at my locker, going through my books and textbooks, trying to focus on what I needed for next period.
If you'd have told me last week that a) Hargrove was a good haggler, I wouldn't have given a flying fuck. If you'd have told me that b) Hargrove and I would save a dog, I would've said it likely only needed saving because of Hargrove. And, if you'd have told me that c) Hargrove and I had the closest thing to sex without actually having sex, then I would have called you a lying sack of shit. Then, I would have punched you. In the face. Then, I would've gotten Steve to join in.
But I guess I may as well live in the upside down, because a, b and even c did happen. I do feel disgusting after what I did with Hargrove, but if we hadn't done what we did then maybe we would not have found that dog. Maybe she'd still be there suffering on the road. Or maybe she would be dead by now.
Hargrove ended up haggling the price down from $250 to $130, which was pretty impressive and quite entertaining to watch. The way that lady threw herself at him though, shamelessly flirting with someone clearly much younger than herself. It was gross to say the least. I kept telling myself that I wasn't jealous or mad at Hargrove for flirting with someone else, convinced that I would brainwash myself into believing it.
I found the book I was looking for, and put it in my bag. Just as I zipped up my backpack, my locker door slammed shut. My head sprung up to find the ever-smirking Billy Hargrove. His blue eyes looked down to my scarf before tugging at it slightly.
"Nice scarf." He touched the sensitive skin of my neck with rough fingertips.
"Thanks." I said gruffly as I slapped his hand away.
Just then, Betty and Gloria passed us to go their lockers which unfortunately was almost directly across the hallway from us. They sent Hargrove and I smug looks. Fuck. Us being seen together would do nothing to help the rumours. Neither would sucking Hargrove's dick, I thought. I was obviously my own worst critic. Also, Hargrove was an asshole. He proved that by being a bully to Max, pushing Lucas against the wall, beating up Steve, etc. Maybe I should have thought about how much of an asshole Hargrove was before I let myself get carried away with the feel of his tongue last night.
Hargrove snapped his fingers in front my face, bringing me away from my thoughts.
"What?"
"I said, how do you think the doggy is?" He leant against the locker, hand on his thick leather belt.
"Did you just say 'doggy'?" I tilted my head slightly, a smile pulling at my lips.
"How's the dog?" Hargrove said, voice deepening in annoyance. My smile disappeared.
"How I am supposed to know?" I asked, not expecting an answer. "I was going to go visit her after school maybe."
"Her?" He queried.
"Yes." I say, nodding my head. "It's a girl."
"I thought it was a boy." He said.
"I've been thinking of it as a girl." I shrugged. "I don't know though. Could be a boy, could be girl. If it's a girl I win."
"Well, now. What if the dog's a boy?" He leaned in closer, licking his lips. "What do I win?"
"How about a kiss?" I said before my brain had a chance to keep up with my mouth. I can't believe I said that! What was I thinking? But the thought of kissing those lips made my mouth water. He hadn't kissed my mouth yesterday, he had only kissed the corner of it. I wasn't sure if that counted as a kiss or not.
His eyes darkened.
"Deal." He licked his lips, draping himself against the lockers.
I cleared my throat, trying to regain my focus.
"I'll drive us there." He declared, leaving no room for argument. "We'll discuss more terms of the bet on the way up."
"…Sure." My voice came out in an embarrassing squeak. "What about Max though? Aren't you picking her up after school?"
"I'll drop her back at the house, then we'll go to the vets."
Just then, a particularly loud giggle bubbled over from where Betty and Gloria were stood by their lockers. They caught me looking at them, so I ducked my head. Hargrove followed where my eyes had been to find Betty and Gloria giggling into their hands.
"Worried about what they're going to say?" It was as if he had read my mind.
"No," I said. His smirk grew. "Yes." I conceded.
"Look, don't worry about it." He shrugged from his place against the lockers.
"'Don't worry about it'? Easy for you to say." My voice became bitchy in an instant. "You're Billy Hargrove! The new Keg King! What do you have to worry about?"
His looked almost betrayed as he stared me in the eyes. Then he gave a snigger as he shook his head in disbelief, as if saying; 'you don't know shit about me', before walking away. He trod down the hallway not caring about the people in his path, before turning left around the corner. All the while I stood next to my locker trying not to feel guilty for something I had no clue about, and wondering why he seemed so hurt.
"You alright?"
I turned around, caught by surprise twice in the space of five minutes. Only this time, the person who'd shocked me was someone nice and not annoying.
"Hi, Jonathan." I breathed in relief, glad that it was him.
"Hi." He said meekly.
"How's Will and your mom?" I asked. Jonathan's family was so broken. I kind of missed Joyce, she'd been kind of a second mom to me when I was younger. Jonathan and I were friends when we were 5 and 6 but after he had started Middle school we'd drifted.
The Byers' were good people, but them being good or not didn't stop the upside down from trashing up their lives so that it was even more crappy than before. I knew enough about Jonathan's asshole deadbeat dad. I thought of my own father then, and realised that having an absent father must have been better than an abusive one.
"Oh uh," He tried to smile at me, before his head bent down several times. Each time his head came back up he tried to look me in the eyes. "They're dealing, you know."
After a quick catch up, the bell rang obnoxiously reminding us of our next period. Jonathan had said he had his next class in A block whereas I was all the way over in C. I prepared to say goodbye, when he started talking again.
"I saw you with that new guy, Hargrove." I panicked. When had he seen us? Last night in the shower?
"What? When?" I spoke, trying to play it cool.
"Just then." He looked over to where Hargrove had walked, then back to me as if I were an idiot. "He looked… angry."
I let out a relived breath, he hadn't seen us in the showers.
"That's how he always looks." I tried to joke, to bring some levity to the forever brooding Jonathan Byers.
"Just… I don't know… just be careful around him." His forehead wrinkled. What he had said all at once shocked me, scared me and made me feel like I was cared for.
"Okay. You got it." I gave him a hesitant smile. "Thanks, Jonathan."
We said our goodbyes and headed off to class. I really did need to watch myself around Hargrove. Last night couldn't happen again. He was an animal in the car, shouting at me, grabbing my chin to force me to look at him. But then we found the dog and he was so gentle with her. One minute he was a brute, then the next he kind.
Why couldn't I figure him out?
…
Once school finished, I went and picked up my camera from my locker. If Billy and I were still going to the vets, then I'd take a picture of the dog and make lost posters.
While I walked toward the parking lot, I clusters of students and cars which hadn't left already. My eyes found blue, a blue Camaro. Hargrove's was parked in the middle of the lot and the orange sun shone off the blue metal. My eyes found his figure, lean and more muscled than the other boys at this school, and I looked away. I didn't want to go over there. I didn't want to talk to him. I didn't want my stomach to heat up whenever I saw him.
And so, I stopped, bit my lip, and took a calming breath. In, out. One… two… three. In, out.
My eyes surveyed the rest of the lot and found something I hadn't hoped I find again. It was the boys all stood with their bikes at the edge of the lot. Each of the gang wore wrinkled brows as they spoke discretely and pointed fingers at one another. I walked over to them, fingers wrapped tightly around the strap on my bag. If they needed help, I'd do it. Especially if they needed someone to help with something like what happened a few weeks ago with Will and the lab.
In, out.
I took my final steps, unnoticed by them and spoke.
"Hey, guys." They jumped when they saw me. "What's wrong? Looking for Steve?" Steve was probably half way to the grocery store – this week, it was his turn to get groceries.
"No-uh-um, we were-" Dustin said, startled, mouth flapping.
"We were electing a speaker to go talk to Bully." Lucas said. "Max asked us to go talk to him."
"Bully?" I asked, head tilted.
They all pointed with boyish fingers behind me to where another boy had draped himself against a blue Camaro with his leather clad back facing away from us.
"Oh, Bully as in Billy." I laughed a huff of air as I turned back around to face them. "Smart. Very punny of you."
"It was Lucas' idea." Will said with a small smile on his pale face. Mike rolled his eyes from behind him.
"Look," Said Mike as he brought his hand down in a chopping motion. "Max wasn't feeling well or something and she's been in the bathroom crying since lunch."
"Crying?" I asked, eyebrows drawing together.
"She wasn't crying!" Dustin said.
"Yes, she was." Mike shot back.
"She said she had something in her eye!" Dustin said.
"You believed her?" Mike crossed his arms.
"Yes!" Dustin waved his hands in the air.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked, trying not to get annoyed with the boys squabbling.
"We don't know." Will answered. "We were going to talk to Bully, but we were scared he might think one of us-"
"Lucas." Mike interrupted.
"-one of us might have done something to her." Will carried on.
"Are you sure you don't know what's wrong with her?" I asked, wondering what could make Max cry. She had always seemed tough. She'd been hanging out with a group of all boys, and skateboarded around, and was a tomboy in general. And the way she handled Hargrove the night of the fight was, well, bitchin'.
"She wouldn't tell us." Lucas said, head shaking as a frown pulled at his lips.
"What bathroom is she in?" I asked.
"The one by the gym." Dustin replied.
"Okay," I said. "Uh, I'll go talk to Hargrove if you guys want. And I'll check on Max."
"Thank you." Lucas said in an exasperated way as he let out a long sigh.
"Thanks, Clare Bear." Dustin sighed as he hugged me.
My shoulders raised to my chin as his arms wrapped around me. I patted his shoulder twice before I said; "Don't call me that."
Dustin stepped away, still smiling in gratitude. Will thanked me (but this one was quiet and sweet and wasn't weird like Dustin's), then Mike begrudgingly thanked me as well before I told them to go home before it got dark.
I turned to start my journey over to 'Bully' as the kids sped away on their bikes. I saw smoke drifting away from Hargrove. As I got closer, I could see that his shoulders were tense.
"Hargrove?" I called out.
His head spun to where I was, cigarette falling out of his mouth. He fumbled around, trying to catch the cigarette before it fell to the ground. It was unlike him to be clumsy. What was going on with the Hargroves' today?
I walked around to his side of the car, and saw his cigarette was now in a puddle next to the car tire, sizzling at one end as wisps of smoke left it.
"Shit… my last one." He muttered to himself before looking up at me, his brow creased. "So, you still wanna visit the dog?"
"Yeah." I nodded. "But-"
"But we have to wait for my sister." He said. "I have no idea why she's taking so long. I'm gonna kick her ass when she comes out."
"About Max." I said before biting at my lip.
"What about her?" He said, eyes trained onto mine.
His were not the only eyes I could feel melting away at my flesh. Some heads had turned and watched as I got closer – or at least I thought they had – and I hoped Betty and Gloria had left school. I would hate to add fuel to rumour-fire.
"The boys… her friends told me that she's in the bathroom." I said. "And that she's been there since lunch. Crying."
He stepped away from the car, closer to me as a storm brewed in his eyes.
"Crying?" He said, head tilted upward. "What'd they do?"
"The boys? Nothing." I said.
"Why not tell me themselves then?" He said, stepping closer again, head jerking and shaking slightly as he talked. He seemed convinced that they'd done something to her.
I could smell his scent – cigarettes mixed with something distinctly him.
Breath. In, out. Don't panic.
"They were scared of you." I stepped forward. "Like a lot of people around here."
He blinked.
"I'm going to go help her. And find out what's wrong. Are you coming? You are her brother, after all."
Hargrove's anger seemed to peak then, but the only indication of this was the tensing of his jaw.
I turned and made quick steps to the bathroom. About 5 steps in, I heard Hargrove start to walk behind me, easily keeping up. But he didn't walk beside me; and the distance between us felt immense, and as vast as the ocean. It was probably best from now on to do just that - keep our distance.
…
Thanks for reading! Drop a review please :) reviews validate my existence lol
When writing this/watching the show I wasn't sure if the middle school and high school are on the same plot of land or not, (I'm not American but in this story they are.
John Horvath: Cool! I'm really glad you enjoyed the chapter! And thank you for reviewing!
Yourneonbunny: thank you! I'm so happy you love it!
Starlight-x-A-x: this review made my day! Thanks!
DelilahBunny: it's so cool that you think my characterisation is well thought out. I was beaming when I read your review! Thank you!
3CHOES: thank you so much! I'm so happy you're hooked! And I had intended for that whole dream/blood scene to be freaky. I'm kind of aiming for a Gothic Victorian genre vibe. Its good that you want to find about her power lol. I think I might have given it away already...
