Here's chapter 12, hope you enjoy! I do not own Stranger Things
By the way this chapter is going to be in 1979 (Tobacco purchasing age was not specified before 1980 in Indiana and California was unspecified before 2016)
Years earlier (July 1979)
The sun was setting over the ocean waters, casting golden light over the beach and over the only person there. Billy Hargrove sat on the sand in his swim shorts, not paying any attention to the tourists that were leaving in droves back to their swanky hotels. His dirty blonde hair was cut short, still wet from when he'd wiped out on his board earlier. His ears were still slightly waterlogged too. He shot a glare at a passing pair of girls, they were giggling over something. He returned his hard gaze back to the ocean and rested his elbows on his knees. His tanned physique started to feel cold as the air cooled over his damp skin. He still didn't move, his dad had broken four glasses that morning over the dishes being dirty. He didn't want to think about what he'd do if he went home before the booze had put him to sleep. Mom had left two years ago...and since then it had just been him and his old man. Billy had always known how to take a punch but currently his dad was getting worse. He was still scrawny for a 12 year old, not having hit his growth spurt just yet.
"You ok?" came a soft voice from behind him, he turned with his harsh glare ready when his eyes met a short skinny red head with a little smile on her cheeks. She was wearing a dark blue swimsuit and white shorts. Her red hair hung around her face in waves, making her look older than she was. He drops his scowl but still frowns at the girl. "I'm fine." He turns back to the ocean resolutely, keeping his eyes on the waves. He feels the sand move softly beside him as the girl steps over and takes a seat beside him.
"The sunset is so beautiful here" She sighs contentedly, apparently not feeling his eyes on her as he looks at her incredulously.
He scoffs slightly but doesn't move "You act like you've never seen it before."
"Not on the ocean." She brings her knees up to her chest and rests her chin on them. "I didn't think it'd make such a big difference."
"Tourist?" He grunts against his better judgement.
"Nope. My dad and I just moved here from Indiana...how old are you?"
"12" He grunts again, he turns his gaze once more to the crashing waves, his jaw set.
"Me too...I'm Petal" she's starting to sound more hesitant, definitely picking up on his distaste for her presence.
"What the fuck kind of name is that?" he lets out a short bark of laughter as he spoke
She shifts on the sand beside him, biting her lip before she answers. "My mom was kind of a hippie. She chose my name." Her voice is so low it's almost lost in the sound of the waves
"Tell her it's weird." He means it in a funny way but he loses the half smile he'd gained when he hears a sniffle from beside him. He looks to Petal and she's slightly teary eyed but still looking at the sunset. "Hey...it's not...I...don't do that!" He says slightly annoyed
"Don't do what?"
"Cry. You don't have to tell your mom it's weird." He rolls his eyes and looks pointedly back
"...I can't tell her anyway" Her own voice has finally gotten an edge to it, roughly wiping a tear off of her cheek.
"Why not?"
"Dead." She shrugs and ignores his slightly apologetic look. He nudges her shoulder with his own "Sorry"
"Whatever...what's your name?"
"Billy...Billy Hargrove" They sit in silence long after the sun has disappeared over the horizon, the moon lighting the beach softly. Finally she turns to him, "Are you going to go home soon?"
"Can't." He mutters, ignoring her questioning look. She stands and looks back towards the houses along the beach. "But you've been out here for...like ever..." She bites her lip.
"Been watching me? Creep." He grunts yet again, setting his face into a scowl once again.
"My house is right over there..." She points to a small blue house that had a set of stairs down to the beach. "I just...you haven't had dinner." She says after a long moment.
"I haven't had lunch either bitch. What's your point?"
"Don't call me that!" her voice is rising in volume as her cheeks redden in the moonlight.
"Then mind your fucking business!" He shouts back at her, finally turning to meet her grey eyes with his own blue ones. "I'm fine."
"FINE." She stomps away, stumbling slightly on her way back to her house, distantly he hears a door slam and he sighs slightly. He hadn't totally minded the company while it lasted...not that he could exactly have friends over. He allowed his mind to go blank, taking in the soft sounds of water and the birds in the distance. The calmness is slowly but surely lulling him to sleep when he feels the sand shift as someone steps up behind him. He turns to yell at whatever creep was there but it was only Petal. She was still glowering but she held out a plate and a coke. He looks at her strangely, not moving an inch.
"Eat." She sets the coke beside him and gently places the paper plate of a Manwich and chips on the sand in front of him.
"I'm not a fucking charity case"
"Eat it or don't you jerk. I just don't want you starving on the beach!" She turns to stomp away before she seemingly thinks better of it. She turns back and pushes his shoulder, hard.
"Fuck off!"
"Why are you so rude?" She almost growls, her grey eyes searing into him. He finally stands up and looks her in the eye "I don't need a prissy princess to take care of me!" He takes a step toward her, thinking she like any other kid at school would take a step back but she doesn't. She keeps her eyes on his "I'm not a princess"
"Could have fooled me" He grunts
"Just eat" She sighs and turns back to her house and trudges through the sand. He glared after her for a while but after he saw her close her back door behind her, he begrudgingly ate the manwich and chips as well as downing the coke. As the night went on he dumped the plate and empty can in the nearest trash can, not wanting to give Petal the satisfaction.
2 Days later
Billy kicked a can down the road as he trudged his way past the arcade to the corner store. Money burning a hole in his pocket, but he knew he'd get his ass handed to him if he spent his dad's cigarette money on something so fucking dumb like video games. "OW" A cry came from the alley between the arcade and the corner store. He peered in, only just allowing his curiousity to win over. When he spies in he sees a teenager...probably 16 or 17 with a hand wrapped around a girl's wrist. "Hand it over you little bitch!"
"Let go!" She screamed, when she pulled at her arm to try and escape the older boy's grip he saw her bright red hair almost shining in the shade of the alley.
"HEY" Billy didn't realize he had spoken until the two of them turned to him, he clenched a fist when he saw that Petal was still trying to pull her arm from his grip, crying as she did. "Let her go fucker" Billy strides into the alley with a boldness he only showed to his peers. The teenager was at least a foot taller than him but he thankfully looked to be on the skinnier side.
"Fuck off kid" The teenager swings for Billy to backhand him but he ducks it. He takes his newly formed fists and lunges for the older boy's gut. He met his mark and Petal was released with a cry of shock. He was about to hit him again when her small fingers snagged the front of his shirt and began to pull him along. They ran out of the alley and she pulled him into the arcade. Further she pulled him into the darkened room, through the crowds of kids waiting for their turn at the games until they got to the family bathroom. She pulls him in and shuts the door, locking it before she allows her tears to really fall.
"I...I can't be in a bathroom with a girl!" He whispers as he takes in the slightly grimy bathroom. She paid his words no mind and threw her arms around his neck, crying into his tanktop. "Thank you Billy!" She whimpered against his exposed skin.
"I...why are we in a bathroom?" He asks nervously patting her on the back, not quite used to affection anymore.
"What if he followed us into the arcade?" She is still holding onto him like her life depends on it. "He...he was mugging me. I walked past the arcade...I was just trying to get a pop...and he grabbed me."
Billy was now just oddly hugging her back, not sure what to do with his hands, keeping them on the small of her back. "It...it's ok. I...I guess we can stay here for a little bit..." He feels his cheeks getting very red as she continues to cry onto his shoulder. "Seriously...seriously it's cool...you're ok."
She finally sniffles and pulls away although she doesn't look happy about it. "Thank you"
"You already said that." Billy mutters, looking anywhere but her face as he feels his heart thumping like a jackhammer in his chest. She nods shakily and bites at her lip. "I...what were you doing?"
"Picking up a pack of smokes for my old man...he's going to be pissed if I don't get home soon." He looks at the clock on the bathroom wall a little nervously. She does too then gives him a very hesitant smile "We could tell him that you stopped a mugging? That would help I'm sure..."
"Probably not" Billy mutters before taking a peek out the door after a few moments he turned back to her. "I don't see him...we can probably go." He opens the door and lets her walk ahead of him. "I...I guess I can walk you to the store...if you want."
"I would...if that's ok" when he nods she gives him a wide smile. The two make their way through the dimly lit room, the sounds of kids arguing and beeping machines fills their ears as they backtrack their way to the door. Instinctively he surges ahead, opening the door first and looking around suspiciously "I don't see him" She follows him out the door and they begin the short walk to the corner store when there's a crash from the alley. She grabs his hand in fright, only to see that the owner of the corner store had just thrown a crate through the side door to the alley. She breathes a sigh of relief as she blushes. "Sorry..." She lets go of his hand only for his fingers to holdfast to hers. "It's ok." He gives her a small smile of his own before heading into the store. She keeps her hand in his as they pass the clerk. "You go ahead and get your dad his smokes..." She blushes and lets go of his hand in order to head to the back of the store. "Billy!" The balding clerk behind the counter gives him a knowing smile. "Got a little girlfriend do ya?"
"I guess...she's pretty" Billy mumbles, pulling the 20 dollar bill out of his pocket and hands it to him. "Dad's usual..." He takes the bill and breaks it, handing Billy two packs and his change. He counts the bills and shoves them into his pocket along with the cigarettes just as he feels someone standing next to him again. Petal places two large slushies on the counter with a grin, pulling out a small blue sparkly wallet. She hands over the money for the sugary drinks with a smile "Keep the change." She turns to Billy and smiles shyly again "Cherry ok?"
He looks at her, almost shocked. "Yeah..." She hands him one of the slushies and slips her hand into his. "Walk me home?" He nods stiffly, looking at the cup of bright red ice like it was an alien. "Have a nice day!" Petal grins at the clerk, taking a sip of her own bright red drink. As they leave the store he takes a tentative sip before looking at her. "You didn't need to-"
"I wanted to...as a thank you to my knight in shining armor." She grins. They walk down the street, not so subtly looking around for the attacker but finding no sign as they closed in on their neighborhood. "So where's your house?" She asks conversationally, her lips and tongue stained red from the food coloring.
"On the corner...you don't have to go." He feels his cheeks pinken a little at the idea of her seeing his house. He knew it was a wreck, it didn't really tickle his father's interest to keep it up well at the moment.
"I'd like to meet your dad...I want to make sure you don't get into any trouble."
"You don't really want to meet my dad. He's a dick." He grumbles taking another swig of his rapidly melting drink. "You can just go home and I'll...I'll drop off my dad's stuff."
She takes a thoughtful sip of her drink, looking ahead of him but still happily holding his hand in hers. "Well...if you don't want me to meet him...you could always just come over to my house after you give him his smokes." Her thoughtful look turns into a smile as she turns to him. "My dad left pizza money..."
Billy bites his lip thoughtfully, eating pizza with some chick certainly beat sitting on the beach doing nothing all day. "Ok...just...stay outside?"
"Sure" They finally walk up to the walkway of his house. The yard is overgrown and littered with car parts, the windows were dark and the roof was in definite need of reshingling. He hands her his slushie and walks into the house carefully, he steps inside and shuts the door hurriedly. He looks around the living room to find his dad passed out on the couch, he breathes a sigh of relief and dumps the cigarettes and the change onto the coffee table before heading out. He closes the door gently, not wanting to wake the monster within. When he turns back he sees her smiling at him, waiting just at the end of the walkway where he'd left her. Her smile seemed to make the shitty yard a little less shitty...he let her have a genuine smile back.
August 1979
School had just started back and Billy was excited to find that he shared a handful of classes with his unofficial girlfriend. They hadn't talked about the hand holding they did. Or the movie nights. Or the trips to the beach. Or the trips to the arcade. They seemed to just be enjoying themselves, that was until the first day of school came. He found himself battling a little green monster inside of his chest right away. In their first period they were assigned lab partners and hers was far too...touchy for Billy's liking. He tried too hard to make her laugh. By the end of the period Billy wanted to tear the boy's arm off. But that all ceased when she'd packed up her bag and come over to him to walk her to her next class. Billy had shot the other student a smirk as he guided Petal out of the classroom and down the hallway.
"So first class of the year, easy peasy" She smiles, although she has a slight edge of nerves still in her voice.
"It's too bad we're not partners in there..." Billy says quietly, allowing the little green monster to grow again. Petal blushes a little "Yeah that kind of sucked. He was nice enough though. What about your partner?"
"Fucking boring" A passing teacher chastises him for his language causing him to roll his eyes. He feels her fingers slide into his "Cool it, you don't need detention on the first day Billy"
He smirks slightly and runs his thumb along the back of her hand. "Yeah, who would walk Princess Petal all the way home?" She gives him an amused but also annoyed look. "Don't call me princess Billy, unless you want me to do the whole Sweet Sir Billy thing again." She giggles at his groan, remembering her teasing him with that a few weeks earlier. "None of that! I've got a rep to uphold." He smirks at her, his white teeth gleaming under the ugly florescent lights. They get to her next class, right across from his.
"Doesn't holding hands with some random girl ruin that rep already?" She leans against a locker, their hands still joined.
"Not if she's my girlfriend." She glances down at their hands with a shy smile "So are you asking me out? Or are you gonna let go of my hand?" He looks around, not a teacher in sight and joins their lips clumsily. She kisses him back, although giggling at their fumbling. She's bright red and mumbles "I guess that answers my question...I'll see you after class"
"Duh" He grins at her, feeling his heart skip a beat as he watches her walk into the classroom.
December 1979
Billy sat awkwardly in Petal's bedroom as she searched for something in her closet. "I swear if dad moved it!" She growls as she throws yet another dress onto the floor by his feet. "What are you even looking for?" Billy sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Got it!" She steps out from the closet, her hair ruffled and her cheeks pink. She's holding a small flat box and grinning from ear to ear. She holds it out to him "It's an early christmas gift!" He feels himself blushing "I didn't get you anything though..."
She shrugs and gives him a grin "It's not much. Open it?" He begrudgingly does and finds a small painting. It was of the beach at sunset with two figures sitting on the beach side by side. One with dirty blonde curls and red swim shorts, the other with red waves and a blue one piece. He runs his finger along the side of the painting, taking in the little details.
"I know it's a little corny...I'll understand if you don't like it...I made it and...it's no masterpiece" She's starting to ramble nervously the longer he's silent. He finally looks up and smiles at her "I love it Pet...honestly it's awesome" Her cheeks redden still further "Really?"
"Really. You've got talent kid" He gives her another roguish grin before returning his eyes to his present. Suddenly feeling like total shit that he'd not gotten her a thing. She awkwardly begins to pick up the dresses she'd thrown all over the floor, letting him bask in his feelings of self doubt it seemed. But once the last dress was put away she finds her voice again. "Have you thought about it anymore?"
"Thought about what?" He asks distractedly
"The winter wonderland dance? Mindy was on the planning committee and it looked pretty fun..." She steals a glance at him as he thinks about it. "All those people suck Pet"
She bites her lip "I just thought it could be fun...I don't think I've ever gone dancing before." She turns to him "Pretty please?" He sighs, sitting on her bed with a look of slight annoyance "You really wanna go?"
"Yes!" She sits next to him with a hopeful smile "And...it'd be a little sad to go without my boyfriend." She lays her head playfully on his shoulder "Please go with me?"
"Fine" He groans a little but shuts it when their lips meet. He smiles into the kiss, breathing in her scent of honeysuckle and vanilla.