CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
SOCCER BALLS

Two days had passed since Kimmy's walk with Aaron, and since then she had been filled with nothing but stress and worry.

The second she had returned home, she had made sure to call Max, not wanting to rush over to the family home the day after a member of the four had passed.

Despite not particularly liking her older brother, Kimmy could tell her best friend was an emotional wreck after what had happened. The redhead had told her that she just needed time to come to grips with it all. That she needed some space.

Kimmy understood that Max needed some space, she had told her so. However she had also told Max that she would be there for her whenever she needed anything.

To add on to the worry she felt for Max, she had then also found out that Hopper had also passed that same night Billy had.

The day before, Kimmy, Aaron and Lucas had all gone to the Byers household together after Lucas had found out that's where El was staying after what had happened to Hopper.

Kimmy was incredibly saddened to find out what had happened to the man and she could tell Aaron and Lucas were too.

They had gone from store to store before heading over to the Byers household to get her stuff they thought would cheer her up a bit seeing as the mall was evidently closed at the moment.

The trio had ended up getting her bags of candy, eggos, cards from each of them as well as practically half the store.

The three ended up having to just give the huge bag and cards to Jonathan, seeing as El was too upset to come and see them.

Understandable, El had finally gotten a family figure who cared about her like she should have been cared for from the start and he was ripped away from her without the chance of a goodbye. Of course three cards and a bag of food and toys, magazines and they'd found wouldn't bring her dad back.

Despite the worry for her friends that were tearing her apart, Kimmy was out with Aaron again. She was doing all she could to get out of her house.

The night she had returned home after several days, her parents were furious with her. However it wasn't due to her being technically missing for almost three days. It was because of the time she had returned home.

Steve had dropped her off just after one in the morning, apparently that time just wasn't good enough or acceptable.

She'd had to resort to wearing jeans, despite the fact that it meant she was now practically boiling in the summer heat. It didn't matter, she had too many bruises over herself to do anything else.

Her parents didn't even know she had broken her forearm, she didn't even think with the drunken state of the man that night that he had even noticed the cast.

Kimmy had been waiting for the bill from the hospital to come through and for the girl to be punished for it, she knew well that her parents wouldn't be able to afford any kind of bill that could be up to thousands of dollars from the hospital.

That had been why she hadn't wanted to go to the hospital to begin with. She knew her parents wouldn't be able to afford whatever bill would be thrown their way for her broken arm and she knew she'd be faced with the repercussions.

However that said bill never came, it never arrived. She might have had an idea who was behind it. She couldn't be sure, but she was almost positive that the blond boy who had caused her injury as well as his brother had some sort of role to play in the matter.

She would be right.

Kimmy didn't know why Aaron had felt the need to take care of it for her, but she had an idea it was because of how bad he had felt over it all. Well, that was her speculation, she didn't even know if it was him who had done so, for all she knew the check would be mailed to her house any day.

The brunette was glad that Aaron was willing to do something, meaning she had a distraction from both the worry about both Max and El, as well as the worry of what would happen to her if she went home.

She was also glad to see Aaron because she needed to talk to him about the details of their date which was now in two days time.

Kimmy couldn't help but feel bad going on a date with Aaron because of the circumstances regarding what Max and El were currently going through.

The girl had actually thought about asking the boy if they should maybe push the date back, but after some thought she didn't actually know what good that would bring.

She wanted to go on the date with the blond and they'd already had it pushed back due to other circumstances, it wasn't like she was going to rub it in anyone's faces however she couldn't find it in her to push it back. It wouldn't change anything whether they went on a date or not, if anything it would just upset herself and Aaron - the two people who were actually going on the date.

Kimmy really didn't think there was any point of them pushing it back also due to the fact that it wouldn't make any sense, the girl was well aware that she and the boy acted far too close to convince anyone that they were just friends or that they didn't like each other.

The two were sat at the park, sat on the grass as Aaron ate a popsicle and Kimmy trying and failing to make a daisy chain next to him.

It was proven a little difficult for Kimmy to do so, seeing as she had limited movement of her fingers on her forearm which had been cast.

There wasn't anyone around them because they weren't actually sat at the park, they were in the grassy field behind it, nevertheless, she knew Aaron had chosen to sit there for one reason only.

He was embarrassed. Embarrassed of all the bruises and cuts all over him, he didn't want people to see them and Kimmy understood that. She too was embarrassed of her bruises and cuts - that's why she covered them.

However unlike when she viewed herself, Kimmy didn't think Aaron looked bad at all. Yes he had a bruised cheekbone, a bruise on his jaw as well as one on his temple. All his bruises a clear deep purple color. He also had them all over his legs and arms as well as cuts all over, some big, some small.

Although Kimmy wasn't lying - she really didn't think Aaron looked bad at all. Yes he was covered in bruises and cuts but that didn't make her like him any less.

He was very clearly in pain, but that wasn't what he was worried about, he was worried about people looking at him or what people might think when they seen him so beat up.

"Do you know what time the movie is showing?" Kimmy asked Aaron quietly, not looking away from the daisies in her hands. "Just so I know what time I'll need to be ready."

"Um... I'm pretty sure it starts at like five." Aaron replied, although it sounded more like a question than an answer. "We can just walk to the fair straight after it's over."

Kimmy hummed in response, nodding as she focused on the flowers in her hands. "Okay, that's fine."

It wasn't long before Kimmy was lost in her thoughts again, stressing over things she couldn't control.

She was worrying about Max and El profusely, however, her mind couldn't help but astray back to her parents. Kimmy felt selfish for doing so, but she couldn't help but worry for herself.

The girl was worried about what may possibly happened to her before her and Aaron's date. She was worried what would happen to her full stop.

Well, she was beyond worried she was scared. Scared of going home.

Kimmy couldn't wait until the end of high school and it hadn't even started. She wanted nothing more than to leave the awful town that left her with nothing but haunting memories.

Of course she loved her friends and she would miss them, however she knew that her safety was more important. She just had to make it four more years.

Maybe if she and Aaron ended up working out in the long run she could ask him if he wanted to go with her.

The girl scrunched her face up and stopped the thought at that - she was getting ahead of herself.

However with that said, she would be lying to herself if she said she hadn't been worrying about Aaron these past few days. The brunette had been worried about him ever since he had let it slip to her that his parents didn't care about him - that they hated him.

Hearing him be so confident in the fact even while he was heavily drugged made her heart break for him.

She didn't know how the two couldn't like him, how they couldn't see how lucky they were to have a kid like him.

But then again, it puzzled Kimmy how anyone wouldn't like him. The girl was left perplexed at how he could fly so under the radar at school, or how others thought he was weird or unlikable. Kimmy could not understand at all.

She glanced up to watch him then, a slight frown on her features as she caught sight of the bandaid on his jaw.

He wasn't watching her, his head turned away from her as he looked down, messing around with the grass with his free hand as he ate his popsicle in the other.

Kimmy felt sorry for the blond boy, it was as if he second guessed everything he did. As if he was scared he would be a problem or something. She got the impression that he sometimes felt as if he wasn't liked or something, she didn't really know.

Kimmy knew the boy needed reassurance, however she also knew that he didn't want to have to ask for it or bring up his feelings. She understood feeling like that.

Which was exactly why she intended on reassuring him without addressing it, just like he had done for her.

The two flinched when a soccer ball landed next to Aaron, the brunette glancing behind her with a puzzled expression.

There were a group of kids quite far back, far enough away that Kimmy couldn't make out their faces. But she could tell by their heights that they must have been about two years older.

"Hey, come on, kick it back!" One of the boys yelled, cupping his hands over his mouth as he did so.

Aaron shuffled to turn to Kimmy, handing her his popsicle stick silently as he stood, grabbing the soccer ball with both his hands. He looked down at it hesitantly for a moment, not sure if he should try kick it over in fear he'd miss the ball or something.

The boy was not athletic. sure, he played hockey. He was actually really good at hockey. But that was it. There wasn't another sport on the planet that he could play, he'd never played soccer in his life.

Reluctantly the boy threw it up and kicked it over. Luckily for the blond he hadn't missed the soccer ball, however he had kicked it so harshly and with such force that instead of landing somewhere near the groups feet, it hit straight off one of the boys faces roughly.

"Shit." Kimmy heard Aaron gasp, sounding terrified as he watched the older boys.

Kimmy's eyes widened as she watched the older boys surround their friend who was now clutching his nose painfully. Soon, they turned to the two fourteen year olds with furious expressions, beginning to make their way over.

Aaron took a step back, clearly panicked. He instantly reached down and grabbed the popsicle from Kimmy's hand and dropped it to the floor before he grabbed her hand with his own instead and pulled her up.

The older boys began yelling then and picked up their pace, Aaron practically dragging the brunette behind him.

The two then began running, the older boys beginning to run also. Kimmy glanced behind her and was physically incapable of keeping her laugh in at the sight of their angry faces.

"What's so funny?" Aaron asked her, sounding as if he wanted to laugh himself. He wasn't looking at her, but Kimmy could see the way his lips were tugging into a slight grin.

Kimmy didn't know how to answer, only laughing harder as she allowed him to pull her along behind him. 

Aaron laughed too, simply because she was. He didn't even know why he was laughing, the situation wasn't funny at all.

The sound of the blonds laugh only caused Kimmy to laugh harder, the girl almost crying with laughter as her stomach began to hurt.

Kimmy and Aaron soon arrived at the blonds house, the blond still clutching on tightly to her hand despite the fact they both knew he didn't need to.

"That's great." Aaron scoffed as he shut the front door behind him and kicked off his shoes, only then letting go of her hand. "I haven't even started high school and those dickheads probably hate me."

"Hate might be an exaggeration." Kimmy joked, shrugging her shoulders as she fought back an amused expression. "Maybe really don't like is a better way to put it."

The boy rolled his eyes at her words, unable to stop the small grin tugging on the edges of his lips.

Kimmy sent him a small grin in return and that seemed to be enough to fluster him, he looked down to his watch before looking back at her with a slightly nervous expression.

"Do you want to stay for dinner?" Aaron blurted, looking to her with a deadly serious expression.

Kimmy raised her brows in surprise, silent for a moment as she was unsure what to say in response. She would have liked to stay for dinner, she just hadn't been expecting him to ask.

"Um, okay." Kimmy replied after a brief pause, trying not to show the boy the way she was unnecessarily flustered. "If you're sure it's-"

"It's fine." Aaron nodded, forcing a small smile as he walked past her and made his way to the kitchen.

Kimmy hesitantly followed him, taking her shoes off before doing so.

The two searched the kitchen for some sort of food - more like Aaron rummaged through every drawer while Kimmy watched, the boy insisting that nothing in the house was good enough.

The two ended up trying and failing to make lasagna, Kimmy confused on how they had ended up butchering the simple dinner so badly.

Aaron was a good cook usually. However he had the tendency to get distracted when he was in the company of the brunette.

They ended up trying to salvage it however it was no use, instead they opted for ordering a large pizza for the two to share.

...

This is the most boring chapter I've probably ever posted but the next one is their date!!!!!!! YAY

I'll be posting the mood boards soon!!

Hope everyone had a great day!!

- AJ :)