The following weeks of school had been unbearable. Nothing had really changed, aside from Louise now having to take the bus with Vickie. Sarah's dad drove her, and had graciously offered to take them, but they'd declined. Mornings were bad enough without sermons, and Louise didn't have it in her to listen to one every single day. She didn't know how Sarah constantly put up with it.
After everything that had happened, she was still a nobody at Hawkins. Being a part of the yearbook hadn't been the exciting adventure she'd believed it would be. She was as overlooked as she'd always been. Instead now she got brushed off by Fred, since she'd forgotten to get the pictures she'd taken to him. He believed her to be an airhead, which had always been a fear of hers, but she found that she didn't care all that much. She'd helped stop two major catastrophes in Hawkins. The world would never know, but she would. Still sucked that she lost her car in the process.
The only big change in day to day life was that Max was more of a frequent house guest, which meant that Billy became more of a presence in her life. Not during school hours though, he had a reputation to uphold. Jonathan spent less time with her at lunch now. His new relationship with Nancy was the talk of the school, aside from the rumors that swirled about Steve and Billy. Both showed up to school with matching sets of bruises, and neither admitted or denied the stuff that was said. There was even a rumor that Billy tried to steal Nancy from Steve, but they'd both lost out to Jonathan. This turned out to be the year of change, just not for her. She couldn't even get mad, Jonathan deserved it.
She felt bad for Steve though. He was a real gentleman about it all, and only gave Nancy longing looks from afar every once in a while. One day he'd find someone that matched him. A flutter in her chest betrayed that she hoped it would be her.
Louise never had a crush on Steve Harrington when everyone else did, instead she'd found him lacking. He only cared about his hair and what his stupid friend group thought of him. At least that's what she'd thought. Now that she'd gotten to know him better, and he'd protected everyone as best he could from the demodogs? He'd even gotten his ass kicked by Billy, all to protect a kid he'd only just met that night. She started to have second thoughts. Louise would be a liar if she said that when he caught her as she fell down the hole, that it hadn't sent flutters through her chest. She now knew what all those romance novels she had tucked away on the bottom of her bookshelf were talking about. She'd just thought they were exaggerations, but suspected otherwise now.
With a sigh she grabbed the camera from her locker, and wrapped it around her head before she reshuffled the order of her text books. Now that she didn't have her car, she had to rely on the school lockers for her everyday stuff. She didn't have the funds to replace it, and the insurance would go up higher than what her mother deemed the car to be worth, in order to submit it for damages. She'd have to save up, and hope that the local mechanic wouldn't overcharge her.
She'd been lost in thought as she made her way down the hallway, and hadn't taken note to avoid the popular pose that took up the side of the hallway. Instead it was when her books were suddenly slammed out of her hands that she realized they were there. Tommy H with his merry band of assholes standing around him, as they pointed and laughed at what he'd done. Billy was amongst them, the ever present smirk still on his face. Business as usual for him.
Louise crouched down, and started to reassemble her things, annoyed to all hell. She'd thought… she doesn't know what she thought. She'd fought demogorgons and demodogs, and yet here she was, still bullied by assholes who had nothing better to do. And Billy, she thought that maybe he'd lay off after everything that had happened. That they'd reached some kind of understanding. But no, he carried on as if nothing had happened. And to think that she'd started to feel bad about punching him at the Byer house.
No.
With a huff, Louise slammed her books back on the ground and charged forward.
"Hey, Tommy!" Before he could fully turn, she took Billy's tips to heart and used her whole body to punch. Tommy H's head snapped to the side, a spittle of blood following the arc. Her fist ached upon impact, and she was sure she hit a tooth.
A crowd had formed, with various students creating a roar as they laughed and cheered her on.
Tommy had staggered towards the crowd, before he'd been shoved to the floor by someone in it. He'd started to get up, when a teacher called out for them to disperse. It was Mr. Young, who just stared at the scene that lay before him. His eyebrows were raised, and he looked between her and Tommy who had only just regained his stance.
"You, get to the nurse. A month detention afterwards!"
"But she start-"
"Go!" Mr. Young dismissed him, and Tommy shot her a glare before he headed off.
"Now for you, I'm shocked Ms. Henderson. Detention, after school." He turned to leave, but Louise couldn't leave well enough alone.
"For how long?"
He turned back around and gave her a small smile. "Just today, but I don't want to see that behavior from you again. I am proud of you for sticking up for yourself, but try less violent ways from now on." With that he continued on, and chased off any stragglers still left in the hallway.
The grin on Louise's face as she picked up her things didn't fade for the rest of the day, not even during detention when Tommy H continued to glare at her from the back of the room.
Her grin did subside after detention, when she was left outside in the dark, as she struggled to fish quarters out of her book bag. She'd have to use the payphone to call her mom for a ride, since it hadn't occurred to her to ask the front office to do so before school hours ended.
The beep of a car horn startled her, and caused her to lose what quarters she had found back to the bottom of her book bag. She glared at the blue Camaro that sidled up next to her as the driver side window lowered. It revealed the (mostly healed) smug face of Billy Hargrove. His hair was still perfectly curled in the front, and his pendant swung beneath his jean jacket when he leaned out. He was as perfectly styled as he had been the first day of school.
"How was detention?"
Louise ignored him and walked right by his stupid car. He continued to follow her, his speed at an even pace with her walk. "Come on, Henderson!"
"What do you want?"
"To give you a ride home."
That stopped her in her tracks. She turned to fully face him; the confusion evident on her face if his developing scowl was anything to go by. "I'll just ask my mom to pick me up."
"Come on, I didn't drive all the way back here for nothing. Get in the car." He refused to look at her, and just stared ahead.
"Don't you have anything better to do? A date or something?"
"It's a school night, I only go out on the weekends."
Louise stared at him and blinked a few times. "That's…..surprisingly responsible of you."
"Just get in the damn car. You've hopped in so many times without permission, that now that you're invited, what? You're not interested anymore?" He genuinely sounded offended. Possibly annoyed. He always sounded annoyed.
Louise hesitated, which only seemed to piss him off more.
"Come on, Henderson, it's freezing out here. My offer won't stand for much longer."
Louise rolled her eyes, before she made her way to the passenger side door. She slid in and buckled up. "Only someone from California would think this was freezing."
Billy huffed out a response that she didn't quite hear and sped off away from the school. The sun set in the rearview mirror, the school faded in the distance, and Billy moved her hands away from the radio station when she tried to change it.
Louise had been wrong. Things had changed, or more accurately, things had started to change. Maybe this was the new beginning she'd waited for.
