"Friends don't lie." - Eleven

When I open my eyes the next morning my face is completely numb and the entire right side of my pillow is soaking wet where the ice I'd wrapped in a cloth has melted overnight. Groaning, I sit up slowly and stretch my arms out.

I'm slightly relieved when I remind myself that today is Monday so both my mother and Jim will have left already. But I snap back to reality when I gaze up at the clock and realise its nearly noon already. 

Shit, fuck, shit!

If I miss too many classes and manage to get myself in trouble, Jim might actually kill me for 'disgracing my mother with such disappointing behaviour'. Yep, he'd actually used that line on me before.

So without any further hesitation I scramble out of bed and hastily get dressed, grabbing the closest pair of jeans to me and a plain black t shirt. I stare at Billy's shorts and shirt for a few moments before I decide to shove them into my bag and then I run to the bathroom, slipping on my leather jacket as I go and begin to quickly brush my teeth.

While I'm there I do my best five minute job of covering the bruise that is slowly but surely forming on my right eye and along my cheekbone. There's nothing I can do to hide my split lip but I do grab a pair of sunglasses on my way out in the hopes that they'll help to conceal the black eye that makeup couldn't completely hide.

By the time I actually make it to school everybody is already outside for lunch. I sigh softly to myself as I note the many stares my car receives as I pull into the parking lot. I can only hope none of the teachers pull me up about the classes I missed earlier today. 

I snatch my bag off my front seat and head inside for my locker but before I can make it all the way down the hallway I'm forced to stop in my tracks as a familiar face stops in front of me. 

"Hey."

"Hi," I can't help but return Steve's genuine smile.

His face brightens when I smile back at him, I can't remember the last time we had a pleasant encounter in the school hallways like this and it actually feels pretty good.

"I was looking for you this morning but I didn't see you, is everything alright?" he asks gently. 

"Yeah everything is fine, I just slept in is all." I lie, not wanting Steve to have to bare the burden of the ugly truth. 

He seems satisfied by my answer, of course he has no reason to assume I'm hiding something.

"Oh, okay. Anyways ah- listen, I just wanted to thank you for- you know, the party," he says, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. 

"No need to thank me Steve, that's what friends do. You know? Help each other when the other is clearly upset."

"Either way, thank you. You were the last person I would've expected to care, Cassie."

I frown as he obviously misses my previous double meaning but quickly let it slide and shrug lightly, "I never stopped caring about you Steve. I just couldn't bare to see you two together."

His face drops and I can see the obvious pain behind his eyes at my casual mention of Nancy. So in a move that surprises the both of us, I grab his hand and hold it between both of mine. I look right into his eyes as I say, "Hey. You were my friend far before you were ever my boyfriend, so if you're willing to try and salvage whatever is left of that friendship then so am I."

The corners of his mouth lift ever so slightly and he pulls his hand from my grip and pulls me in for a tight hug. I find myself smiling into his shoulder, only now realising how much I've missed him.

"Okay look, I gotta go but I'll see you later, yeah?" he asks as he pulls back and I can see the uncertainty in his eyes.

"Yeah, see you later," I say lightly, quickly easing his fears. 

"I like the glasses by the way," he winks as I step out of his way. 

I grin back at him and watch as he jogs down the hallway and then out the door I came in through. And for the first time since Jim arrived, I was hopeful and my future no longer seemed so bleak.

After Steve is well out of sight, I continue onward to my locker and mechanically enter the combination. I've nearly finished collecting all the books I need for my next class when an all too familiar voice yells my name from somewhere behind me.

"Coleman!"

I sigh and turn around slowly, watching as Billy makes his way towards me. 

"Have you still got my shorts?" he asks bluntly. It seems that whatever ground I'd thought we'd made had disappeared as soon as we'd been apart. 

"No Billy, I took them off and burned them as soon as I got home last night," I retort, rolling my eyes. 

He gives me a pointed look and holds his hand out expectantly.

"What's the magic word, Hargrove?" I smirk, batting my eyelashes at him. 

He shoots me a glare and tries to reach past me into my locker but I push him away and shake my head at him, crossing my arms. 

"Come on Cassandra, I don't have time for this," he warns. 

Unfazed, I lift one hand and pretend to be checking out my nails and Billy makes an annoyed sound. This time I'm not quick enough when he launches himself at me and he successfully shoves my body out of the way but the action causes my sunglasses to come flying off. 

I vaguely notice Billy laughing behind me, obviously at what he thought was a playful move. 

But I ignore him and swiftly reach down and grab my sunglasses, desperately trying to put them back on before I rise but when I see Billy's face I realise I was too late, the damage has already been done. 

His gym shorts suddenly forgotten, Billy snatches the glasses off of my face and his expression falls. I try to grab them back but he keeps his arm well out of my reach. 

"What the fuck happened, Andie?"

I'm momentarily taken off guard by his sudden use of my actual name and not some stupid pet name and I find myself not being able to speak. 

"Was it Jim? Did Jim do this to you?" he tries again, this time more gently. 

He's never spoken to me so nicely before and it irks me to think that it's probably just because he feels sorry for me. I quickly gain back my ability to speak and after reaching inside my locker and throwing his shorts at him, I dismiss Billy's concerns. 

"Nothing Billy. Nothing happened, now if you'll excuse me I have to get to class," I mutter. 

I attempt to squeeze past him but Billy doesn't move from where he's standing, successfully blocking my hasty escape. He grabs my upper arm when I try to move again but snatches his hand back just as fast when I let out a yelp of pain. 

Without a word he slips my jacket down my shoulder and slowly rolls up my t shirt sleeve to reveal the dark bruise still forming from Jim's too tight grip on me last night. His expression darkens at the bruise and I yank away from his gentle hands before he can ogle my arm any longer. 

I reach behind me, quickly grab my books and then slap my locker door shut just as students begin to refill the hallways. I somehow feel ashamed at how personal of a secret has just been revealed and I can't meet Billy's eyes as I brush past him. 

"You don't have to pretend to care, Billy. I've got it covered."

* * *

The rest of the day passes in a blur, I do my best to stay focused in class but my mind can't seem to stop working. I find myself continually thinking back to Billy and how quickly his moods can change.

Sometimes he speaks to me so harshly and then other times when he gives me that intense look like he can see right into my soul, and he says things that make it seem as though he cares. But he couldn't could he?

During my daydreaming I had come to the final conclusion that Billy is more than he originally wants you to see and appears to be, whether he was better or worse I wasn't sure of yet. But no matter how rudely he had spoken to me at times, I was determined to understand him. 

I was expecting Billy to stay away from me after my not so kind words to him at my locker so I'm quite surprised to see him leaning up against my car at the end of the day, as everyone around us is beginning to leave. 

Before I can open my mouth to ask him what exactly he's doing, he finally notices me and steps forward. 

"Take a drive with me," he says simply. 

I open my mouth to reply but he starts speaking again, "Before you say no just- can you just give me a chance? I want to show you something and.. talk, that's all."

I find it interesting to see this sudden nervous side of him that seems too have appeared out of nowhere. I give him my best poker face, trying not to seem to eager to spend time with him again.

"I wasn't going to say no, Billy. I was going to say that I can't because I have to go do a shift at the diner with my mother."

"Oh- ah, what about after? I'll pick you up, what time do you finish?" 

"Midnight," I reply, smiling lightly.

"Right. I'll see you then." 

And he's gone before another word can leave my lips. 

* * *

okay just a few quick things I wanted to point out, so obviously steve & andie have a history together both as friends & lovers but i wanted to make it pretty clear that steve knows almost nothing about jim and especially about what andie has been going through since jim turned up. 

keeping that in mind, this is why i purposely made steve & billy's reactions to seeing her drastically different. obviously because steve is so in the dark he would never even imagine the things andie is hiding whereas billy is a completely different story. i wanted it to be obvious that billy was worried because he knows about jim & he's experienced something similar himself

overall, the point of this was to explain sort of why the relationship between andie & steve could never be the same as that of andie & billy

whew that was a rant & a half, anyways hope you're enjoying the story! xx