TEENAGE NIGHTMARE
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE — PART ONE.
THE BIG BAD BILLY.

           JP felt his head spinning uncontrollably as he crashed to the floor with a groan, holding his hand to his nose, which was definitely gushing blood, the warm red liquid dripping down his fingers. Franny yelled her brother's name, but she had to push her concern for him to the back of her mind as Billy turned to Lucas, grabbing his collar and pushing him back against the wall, sneering down in his face.

            " Billy, stop! " Max shouted on repeat, watching in horror as he kept Lucas smashed between his body and the wall; Dustin and Mike moved to help JP stand as Franny pulled Steve's arm off her shoulders, eyes scanning the room to find something to use as a weapon.

            " Since Maxine won't listen to me, maybe you will. " He stated in a low voice, " You stay away from her. Stay away from her! You hear me?! "

            " Let him go! Lucas! " Mike yelled, and the collective screaming was too much for Franny's brain to focus on, so she ran towards the kitchen table, no longer seeing the big knife Dustin had used to cut the creature out of her hand, but it's slimy dead body still sat on the table. She frowned before she quickly picked it up, running over to Billy, meeting Lucas' wide eyes briefly before she reached forward and tapped on the teen's shoulder.

            " Hey, Billy, " She called, and the blond turned around with an annoyed expression as he cocked a brow at her; with a wide grin, Franny exclaimed, " EAT SHIT! "

            She chucked the slimy creature at his face, making him momentarily release his hold on Lucas as he smacked the thing off of his face. Franny stepped back instinctively as he whirled around, dragging his fingers down his face and flicking the slime to the floor as he turned back to Lucas with a heated glare. Lucas then glared right back at him and kicked his foot up, ramming it right between Billy's legs.

             Billy doubled over, and Franny saw a level of fury that she had never seen on anyone before sink in his eyes as he grimaced. JP was still attempting to keep Mike, Dustin, and Max back, one arm held out in front of them while his other hand stayed close to his bleeding nose. Franny felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned to see Steve near her now, pushing her behind him as he stood feet away from Billy.

            " YOU ARE SO DEAD, SINCLAIR! " Billy yelled, face turning red with anger as Lucas pressed his back against the wall, staring at him with fearful eyes. " YOU'RE DEAD! "

              " No, " Steve interrupted, roughly grabbing  Billy's arm and yanking him back, glaring at the blond menace as he cocked his head, " you are! "

              Franny jumped in surprise as Steve drove his fist right into Billy's face, a sickening crunch filling the air as he turned away, crouching down dangerously close towards the edge of the fireplace. Lucas ran over to the rest of the party, who engulfed them onto their arms as they stood behind JP, his hand lowered and coated in blood as he stared at Billy. Franny felt the urge to grab Steve's hand, but didn't, instead feeling frozen when Billy let out a maniacal laugh, throwing his head back and straightening with a wild grin on his face.

             " Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh?! " He gleefully exclaimed, pointing at Steve as the boy anxiously ran a hand through his hair, watching Billy with narrowed eyes. Billy gestured towards the lanky boy as he leaned towards him, loudly insisting, " I've been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody's been telling so much me about! "

               The atmosphere was still, no noise but heavy panting as Steve tightened his jaw, shoving two fingers against Billy's chest and articulating his words, " Get. Out. "

               Billy's grin faded and he took a small step back, just staring at Steve for a moment. The tension, for just those few seconds, was thick enough to cut with a knife. Then, Billy swung at Steve, who quickly ducked, then came back up just as fast to throw his fist at Billy's face again, landing solidly against his chin. Billy spun backwards, arms slamming into the kitchen table. From behind JP's arms, the kids all cheered for Steve. Franny hesitantly stepped back, feeling JP's bloody hand wrapping around her wrist protectively.

             " YES! KICK HIS ASS, STEVE! " Dustin yelled, the others nodding along as Billy looked up at Steve, chuckling as Franny noticed a small cut on his chin from the punch.

              Steve landed two more heavy punches to Billy's face, sending his back against the sink. Billy's inability to be fazed sent chills down Franny's spine, and his disturbing laugh only made it worse. Steve flexed his fingers, and Franny could see that his knuckles were split, a thin coat of blood shining on them as Billy's hand inched towards the clean dishes that sat on the counter. Franny's eyes widened in alarm, and she lunged forward, her hand easily slipping from JP's grip as she tried to warn him.

            " Watch out! " Her warning was useless, seeing as Billy already had the plate in his hand and slammed it over Steve's head, shattering it on impact and making Steve scramble backwards, hands going to his forehead. Franny heard herself scream, but she didn't remember opening her mouth.

           " Holy shit, " Mike whispered as Max screamed her brother's name, pleading with him to stop. Franny rushed to Steve, tilting his head up as he groaned in pain, her fingertips gingerly touching the gash on his forehead as blood trickled from it. It wasn't deep enough to cause serious damage, she concluded, but that was all she got to check when Billy came bounding over again.

           " Steve! " Dustin shouted, and JP gripped his shirt, yanking him out of the way as Billy swung his fist again, the impact so hard he crashed into the bookshelf, and their proximity so close that it slammed into Franny's jaw right after it collided with Steve's.

           She instantly placed her hand against her cheek as it burst into pain, like a hundred, white hot pricks all over the side of her face. JP's eyes flashed to her as Steve moved further out of the kitchen, shoes squeaking against the floor as he nearly tripped, staggering back into the next room with his hand still pressed to his head. Billy wasted no time approaching him again, grabbing Steve by his arms and forcing him to look up at him while the lanky boy kept one arm against Billy's chest to give him some distance. Franny quickly recovered, lifting her head to see Steve staring at Billy with hazy eyes, blood dripping from the wound at his hairline.

             " No one tells me what to do. " Billy told him just before he slammed his head into Steve's, the latter going tumbling to the floor full of Will's drawings. The kids began screaming at Billy from behind JP, who seemed frozen as he watched with wide eyes as the boy marched over to Steve. Franny felt panic racing in her veins as she glanced around the room to find anything that could make enough damage to stop Billy.

              Billy yelled loudly and then straddled Steve chest, slamming another punch to his face. Franny's eyes fell on the shattered window, and she saw a piece of the wooden frame sticking out from the side. She quickly ran over to it and pulled it as far down as she could, eyes flickering over to see Billy continue to punch Steve, completely out of control. She could hear the kids' screaming, too, and her brain felt like it was going to explode, but she managed to get the piece of wood down, and she lifted her foot, bringing it down on the plank to break it off of the frame.

            She picked it up and ran back to the room, where she could heard Dustin's screams over all of them, " STOP IT! YOU'RE GONNA KILL HIM! "

             And that was all she needed to swing the broken wooden plank into Billy's back, her hands trembling with the impact as his attack on Steve ceased. He slowly turned around, rising to his full height, standing over Franny as she held the piece of frame over her body. As intimidating as he was, Franny wasn't going to cower away or pretend to be scared, because she wasn't. She wasn't scared of Billy Hargrove, of all things she had to be afraid of in their situation. Flashes of the Halloween party passed her mind— him purposefully letting her get drunk, manipulating her into sleeping with him, leaving her there— it made her knuckles whiten around the wood, scowling at the memory. Billy had already done his damage to her, she wasn't scared of him. So, she proved it, and spat right in his face.

        
             Billy scoffed at her act of defiance, eyes glancing down at where it landed on his cheek, and he lifted his finger to wipe it off. Franny had to admit, he did look pretty terrifying, looming over her with the violent, wild look in his electric blue eyes, blood dripping from his nose and coating his teeth as he grinned at her. He looked like something straight out of a horror movie. That was when she decided that, if she hadn't done anything, he would've beat Steve to death.

              " You've got some balls, Walker, more than your pathetic boyfriend over there, " He remarked, suddenly gripping her arms, nails digging in to the material of her jacket as he walked forward, backing her into the wall, the wooden board the only barrier between their bodies as Franny's head hit the wooden wall with a small thud. " But just as fucking stupid. "

              Franny willed her hands not to shake as she glared up at him, taking her chances and questioning, " You wouldn't hit a girl, would you, Hargrove? "

               Billy simply smirked down at her, his bloody smile sure to be embedded in nightmares to come, and he answered, " No, but I'll hit a bitch. "

               Franny's eyes widened before they hurriedly squeezed shut in anticipation, but his fist didn't come near her face, his hands still tightly gripping her arms. She nearly opened her eyes in confusion, but then he pulled her forward an inch just to slam her back against the wall, the crown of her head cracking against it and sparking a new pain. He released her and she managed to stay on her feet, albeit wobbly, reaching a hand behind her to feeling the burning spot. She withdrew it to see blood on her fingers, feeling a coppery taste in her mouth.

            Her vision was blurry for a moment as she recovered from the dizzy feeling in her head, but she saw JP step forward from the kids, shouting, " Hey, asshole! "

             Billy turned sharply to look at him expectantly. JP glowered at him, the blood having stopped pouring from his nose, a thick trail of it stained to from his nostrils to his mouth, even running down his chin. He cocked a smirk at him, insisting, " You're the fucking idiot here. "

             " Oh, yeah? " Billy replied in amusement, wiping his nose of his own blood as he looked at JP; Franny glanced at him, eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. They both knew that if Steve was beaten that badly by Billy, JP wouldn't stand a chance, albeit being more built than Steve, he had the coordination of a fish on dry land. Then, he side eyed her, and his eyes flickered to the floor briefly before he turned back to Billy. " How's that? "

           " Let me just tell you from experience, when you're fighting Walkers, you gotta double tap. " JP said, and Franny's eyes darted to the ground, quickly seeing what he meant. She ignored the aching feeling in the back of her bleeding head and grabbed the wooden board that laid between her legs. She cautiously stood, moving ever so slowly behind Billy as JP flashed him a grin. " 'Cause we don't go down after round one. "

              Confusion crossed Billy's face a second before Franny slammed the board into the back of his head, making him stagger backwards as he clutched at his skull. Max ran over to him and stabbed a syringe from the hospital into his neck, pushing the plunger and injecting the rest of the anesthetic in to his system. Billy turned around, his hand moving towards his neck as he yanked the syringe out. He glanced down at it, and Franny could see the haziness in his eyes as it was already taking effect.

           " The hell is this? You. . . you little shit, what did you do? " He asked, his words slurring as he attempted to step towards his sister, JP grabbed the redhead's shoulder, pulling her to stand behind him as he glared at her stepbrother. He could see him losing his balance and he placed a single, bloody finger to his chest.

             " Call her a little shit, bitch, or anything ever again. . " JP muttered, pushing his chest, making the blond fall backwards almost immediately; JP leaned his head over his body, tilting his head at him, " I'll fucking cut your dick off with a spoon and hang it on that dumbass car of yours. "

             Billy laid sprawled out on the floor now, clearly defeated, but he continued to laugh. His eyes were disoriented and glazed over as he they struggled to stay open. Max walked over with Steve's bat full of nails tightly gripped in her hands. She held it in front of her as she glared down at her stepbrother, ordering, " From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand? "

             " Screw you. " Billy murmured, and Max swung the bag down into the floor, landing right between Billy's thighs as her nostrils flared in anger. Billy lifted his head to look at the bag before he looked at Max with a shocked expression. Even Franny and JP wore similar looks of pleasant surprise.

            " Say you understand! " She demanded, " Say it! SAY IT! "

              Quietly, Billy obeyed, " I understand. "

              " What?! " Max questioned sharply, and he groaned loudly before he repeated himself.

              " I understand. "

               Then Billy fell unconscious, his head falling against the floor. Franny moved to stand by her brother, looking down at the blacked out teenager as JP held up his fist to her. She bumped it with her own, then nodded gratefully to Max. Even with her head pounding just as loudly as her heart had been, Franny turned to check on JP, smacking his hand away as he tried to stop her from touching his nose.

            " Franny— "

             " It doesn't look broken. "

              " It's not broken— "

               " It could be broken. " She insisted worriedly, and JP sighed at her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her hand from his face, placing his own bloodied hand to her forehead, unintentionally smearing his blood to her skin as he gave her a serious look.

             " I'm okay, are you okay? " He asked, and she slowly nodded, then he gave her a tight lipped look as he said, " Okay, then, I think the person you should really be worrying about is Harrington over there. "

             Franny's eyes widened slightly at his words, whipping her head around to the boy who laid unmoving on the floor. She ran over to him and kneeled down beside him carefully, frowning as she saw all the blood covering his face. Both of his eyes were turning a dark shade of purple, and dried blood was crushed underneath his nose, accompanying the unsightly yellow and purpling bruises on his chin and near his cheeks, along with split lip and his face swelling in multiple places. He looked awful, and Franny could only imagine how badly it would hurt when he woke up. She felt slightly better when she saw the soft rise and fall of his chest, reminding herself that he could've been dead, and bag was far worse than getting a little beat up. She gently placed her hand against his cheek and tilted his face away from her to see drying blood has trickled down the side of his head.

           " He's gonna be okay, Fran. " JP assured her as he, Dustin, Lucas, and Mike walked over to the two teeenagers, sympathetic expressions on their faces. She didn't ask where Max went, mainly because it wasn't her priority. She offered the boys a small smile before turning back to Steve, his bruises skin radiating heat against her hand as she remembered the hard kick he'd endured earlier. She lowered her other hand to the hem of his shirt, lifting it slightly to see a dark bruise forming on his ribs.

         " Unbelievable. " She breathed, a saddened smile on her face, brushing his hair back as her eyes suddenly fell to her own hand, where the gash had seemingly healed to just a thin, red line on her palm.

          " He, uh, " JP clenched his jaw as he stood beside his sister, his eyes glued to Steve's unconscious body. Franny was listening to him, but she didn't turn away from Steve, rubbing her thumb against the bruised skin of his forehead in an attempt to comfort him even in his unconscious state. JP found it impossibly hard for him to say what he was trying to say, clearing his throat and swallowing hard, " He. . really cares about you, Franny. Whether it's been a week since he was a douchebag or not, he's. . he's different. "

             " Yeah, " Franny quietly agreed, softly smiling to herself before glancing up at JP, feeling a small amount of tears untimely gathering at her eyes, " he's a good guy, JP. "

             " I know. " Her brother confirmed, nodding solemnly as he squeezed her shoulder, offering her a half hearted grin, " That's why I haven't kicked his ass for holding your hand, like, a dozen fucking times. "

           Franny lightly laughed, making JP's smile widen, and he finally finished with a small exhale, insisting, " Not that it's any of my business. . well, yeah, it is, 'cause your my sister, but. . if you actually like him, like, like-like him, then I approve. "

             " Thanks. " She answered, eyes drifting back to Steve's swollen face as she chewed on her bottom lip, her thumb still absentmindedly rubbing at the dried blood on his skin. Franny looked back up to JP, lips falling to a frown as she said, " Billy. . he. . at the party, after we fought, I. . "

             JP's brows furrowed as she suddenly became choked up, tears filling her eyes as she had to stop herself, her breath hitching as she paused, averting her eyes to the floor. He crouched down in front of her, squeezing her shoulder again, and she turned her head back to him, shaking her head lightly as she whispered, " I'm sorry, JP. "

             He gave her a confused look before he wrapped his arms around her, his sister leaning her head on his shoulder as she quietly sniffled. JP's mind stirred as he tried to understand what she was apologizing for, then he glanced back at Billy's knocked out body, and it clicked. Although a newfound anger lit a flame underneath his exhausted ass, JP didn't raise his voice, but Franny could feel his muscles tense around her.

            " Don't. " He quietly said, pressing a blood stained kiss to her head, " You don't have to apologize. It's okay, Fran. "

             With one hand still gently laid against Steve's torso, she grabbed her brother's arm with the other and muttered into his shirt, " I love you, JP.

              " I love you, too, Fran. "

               The kids had seemingly disappeared out of the room and were now walking back in, Dustin carrying a small first aid kit and clutching a handful of bandaids (the kind with little characters on them, these ones specifically had the Incredible Hulk), Mike was carrying an ice pack, and Max held up a pair of keys that she must've dug off of Billy.

             " Let's get out of here. " The redhead insisted, and JP started shaking his head, Franny leaning away from him as both Walker siblings gave them an incredulous look.

            " Are you fucking kidding me? " He questioned, then gestured between the three teenagers, one of which that groaned painfully in his sleep. " We barely account for one person right now, maybe one and a half, we can't drive. "

            
             He wasn't wrong. Even if the three teens hadn't had their worlds completely rocked and flipped upside down to the point of uncoordinated and possible brain damage, Franny didn't have her license, Steve was out cold, and JP had only ever driven a motorcycle. The boys all shared an uneasy look before they glanced to Max, who jingled the keys with a cocked eyebrow, asking, " Who said you were driving? "

X X X

note.

my face actually hurts from watching Steve get the shit knocked out of him this scene

also I'd just like to say JP is the big brother Max deserves 

&& we'll be seeing Charlie again next chapter!

as always, all comments, questions, predictions, and feedback are greatly appreciated!