▸ Whip It - Devo

M A D M A X

"Son of a bitch! Son of a bitch!" I heard Dustin curse from the other room. Danny and I were in the living room watching the news with Mom, who was cuddling with Mews.

"A police chase rocked downtown Pittsburg earlier this evening," the newsman informed on the television.

Dustin ran into the room, momentarily blocking our view of the television. I groaned and spread myself on the couch, my feet falling on top of Danny's lap.

"Not a chance." Danny scoffed and shoved my legs off.

"Danny!" I whined, no longer feeling comfortable. "I was comfortable."

"Yeah and I don't care." Danny remarked. Dustin ran towards the both of us and stopped, breathing heavily.

"Get off the couch." Dustin grabbed a hold of both of us and tugged at our arms. Danny and I glanced at each other, not moving an inch. "Guys, please!"

"Why?" I perked an eyebrow.

"I gotta check for change." Dustin let go of our arms and shoved me off the couch. I yelped as I stumbled forward.

"Dustin!" I turned around and glared at him.

"Danny, please?" Dustin begged as he tried to push Danny off the couch.

"What's in it for me?" Danny smirked.

"Nothing?" Danny gave Dustin a look. Dustin groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'll do your dishes for a week."

"Sounds like a deal, little brother." Danny beamed, getting off of the couch and flicking the tip of Dustin's hat.

Dustin grumbled under his breath and started to flip the cushions off the couch in search of change. Danny walked over to stand next to me and chuckled.

"He could have just asked for some quarters."

"Yeah, but he also knows that we're saving every penny in case the band back fires on us." I whispered back, a frown etching on my face.

"Well, you wanting to be a vet is a great back up, Dawn." Danny nudged me. I sighed and looked up at him.

"Another stupid penny!" Dustin threw the penny aside. Mews let out a meow.

"Dusty, watch it! You almost hit Mews." Mom warned, scratching the orange cat's head.

"Can I please check under your cushions?" Dustin asked Mom.

"Dusty." Mom softly let out, looking too comfortable in her seat.

"Dustin." Danny scolded.

"Mom, please? It's an emergency!" Dustin begged. Mom moaned, giving Dustin a look. Dustin mocked her as Mom stood up from her seat.

"Who's your buddy? Who's your buddy?" Mom whispered to Mews.

"Dustin!" I chided. As he went to flip the cushion of Mom's seat, Dustin looked at me. I gave him a pointed look, before pointing at Mom.

"Sorry Mom." Dustin muttered before grinning as he held up a quarter. "Love you, Mom."

Dustin patted Mom's shoulder before he rushed out of the room. Huffing, Mom sat back down cooing at Mews.

"Danny, what time are you going to pick up Rebecca?" Mom asked. She glanced at the television in worry.

"At seven thirty, why?" Danny questioned.

"It's seven thirty." Mom sheepishly informed him.

"Shit!" Danny scrambled towards the kitchen to grab the car keys.

"Good luck explaining why you're late." I laughed as he tripped over his own feet, crashing into the wall.

"Shut up, Dawn." Danny continued to curse under his breath.  I sat back down on the couch and laid back, placing one leg over the arm of the couch. He grabbed the keys and bolted for the door.

There was a thud. Looking towards Mom and Mews, I saw the orange cat sitting on Mom's lap staring at a wallet that now laid on the ground.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting your wallet?" I called out.

"For fucks sake!" Danny cried out, coming back into the living room to pick up his wallet.

"Daniel!" Mom scolded.

"Sorry, Mom." Danny pecked her cheek. He rushed past me, pushing my leg off of the arm of the couch before sprinting out the door.

"Hey!" I complained, before looking towards Mom. "Mom!"

"It was very unlady like, Dawn." Mom shrugged. I groaned and leaned back against the couch with my arms crossed.

"Okay, Mom, I'm heading to the arcade!" Dustin yelled as he walked passed us.

"Hey, Dusty!" Mom stopped Dustin. My little brother turned to face her. "Why don't you take your sister?"

"What? No!" Dustin immediately shook his head.

"No! Why?" I scrunched up my nose.

"Dawn, you're gonna be here while your brothers are out having fun."

"I'm not going to hang out with Dustin and his friends, Mom." I sighed.

"Yeah! She's too old." Dustin nodded in agreement. I narrowed my eyes at him. He beamed back at me.

"Then go hang out with Amanda or Chad." Mom suggested.

"They're also on a date Mom." I groaned, rubbing my temple.

"How about Steve?"

"No." I blurted out. "He's dating Nancy and it's awkward."

"But you are friends with them, right?" Mom questioned, being oblivious to the situation between Nancy, Steve and I.

"They're having some weird love triangle thing, Mom. Just find her a boyfriend or something and she will be over Steve." Dustin flicked his wrist. He went to Mom and kissed her cheek. "Anyways, I gotta go meet the guys. I'll be back home before ten."

With that being said, my little brother ran out the front door slamming the door behind him. Sighing, I got up and locked the door.

"My love life sucks." I grumbled, walking back to the couch and picking up Mews. Mews protested as I cuddled him, trying to settle the ache and loneliness in my heart

▷

I slammed the door to the car, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. Danny followed suit, already scanning the school parking lot for our friends.

"They're not here yet." Danny sighed, leaning against the passenger door.

I bit back a sigh. It's always boring to wait for the gang to drive up to school. Typically, this was the time that Steve came over to talk to us, more like Danny, to waste the time away. However, since he started to date Nancy, he has rarely hung out with Danny. Steve hasn't talked to me since Christmas.

"You never told me how Becca reacted last night." I gently told Danny, scared to hear what he had to say.

"She was pissed." Danny groaned, taking a frustrated hand through his curls. I frowned and hopped onto the hood of the car, leaning my back against the car's windshield.

"Did you explain what happen? How did the date go?" I asked.

"Yeah I basically told her that I was stupid to not keep an eye on the time, which, weirdly, she accepted." Danny furrowed his brows in confusion. He turned to look at me. "The date went great after that. Lots of kissing-"

"Okay!" I quickly cut him off. Danny chuckled at my reaction. "I don't want to know about that part of your date, geesh."

"Hendersons!" Chad bellowed a few cars to our left. He had his arm around Amanda. The two walked our way with smiles on their faces.

"Are you ready for Hell?" Amanda smirked, standing in front of me.

"As if." I rolled my eyes with a smile tugging at my lips. "I'm just ready for practice after school."

"I think my Mom is picking up some pizza for us. You guys cool with that?" Chad questioned.

"Dude, it's pizza." Danny deadpanned. "Of course we're cool with that."

A loud blue car drove passed us to pull into an empty spot in the parking lot. I frowned, noting that I haven't seen this car before. The four of us glanced at each other before staring at the new car.

"New kid?" I asked my brother and friends.

"Maybe. Or someone could have gotten a car." Danny shrugged.

The driver's door opened quickly revealing a guy mostly dressed in denim stepping out of his car. He closed the door with a cigarette between his lips. His back was facing us while he took a drag of his cigarette. The guy turned around to lean against the car.

"Woah," Amanda whispered to me. "Hottie alert."

The passenger door opened and a red headed middle school girl climbed out with a skateboard in hand. She quickly closed her door and skated off towards the middle school. 

"New kids." Chad muttered.

As the teen started to turn toward the high school, his eyes meet mine. His eyes gleamed with mischievousness as he studied me. He gave me a smirk before tossing his cigarette to the ground.

"Who is that?" Rebecca walked up next to Amanda, eyeing the new guy. "And why was he checking you out, Dawn?"

"I have no clue." I breathed out, watching the teen head to the high school.

"I do." Danny scoffed, grabbing my hand and helping me off of the car. "He checked you out like a piece of meat. Stay away from him, Dawn."

"Aw, come on, Danny." Rebecca wrapped her arms around one of his. "Let her have some fun. She needs to get over Steve anyway."

"As much as I want to agree with that," Chad started, "I'd rather her go back to dating Michael than that asshole."

"You don't even know if he's an asshole, Chad." I rolled my eyes. We all started to head to the school.

"Oh, I know. Us guys know when other guys are assholes. He is an asshole." Chad stated.

"Yeah, why did you think I still allowed you to hang out with Steve even though he acted like an asshole?" Danny nodded in agreement.

"Because he's your friend?" I replied with uncertainty.

"No, well yeah, but no." Danny shook his head. "Steve truly isn't an asshole. He just wants to act like one to be friends with Tommy and Carol."

"Whatever." I sighed. "I guess I will be single for the rest of my life and live with tons of cats."

"Ugh, how can you even deal with cats?" Amanda scrunched her face in disgust.

"They're cute and cuddly...when they want to." I defended.

"You're just saying that, Manda, because you're allergic to cats. You love them deep down." Rebecca chuckled.

"No, I'm just a dog person. Dogs are great." Amanda shot back. Chad held open the door for all of us.

"Sure." We all said to her. She huffed and stuck out her tongue.

"Let's just get to class." Amanda grumbled. We quickly stopped at our lockers to empty our bags and grab our Chemistry textbook.

As the five of us entered the classroom, the students muttered to each other. The teen boy from the parking lot was standing near the teacher.

"Looks like we're about to find out who the new kid is." Rebecca smirked and nudged my arm.

"No. Stop that." Danny frowned. "Don't encourage her to talk to him."

I chuckled at my brother and sat down on my assigned seat next to Amanda. The bell rang and everyone quieted down, their eyes locked on the new student.

"Everyone, as you have already noticed, we have a new student with us today. This is Billy Hargrove. Be nice and show him how nice Hawkins is to the new folks." Mr. Kaminsky nervously coughed when he saw some of the students smirk mischievously. "Why don't you go ahead and find a seat, Mr. Hargrove and we'll get started with today's lesson."

Billy nodded and walked down one of the aisles. He sent me a wink as he walked passed me. My checks flushed as I lowered myself into my seat. Billy let out a small chuckle and sat a few desks behind.

Danny and Chad glared at Billy who only grinned in response.

▷

Lunch had passed and I was on my way to my locker. Fifth period was one of the periods that I did not share with Danny and our friends.

Hearing a shriek, I turned around to see Nancy in Steve's arms. An ache grew in my chest, watching them. Johnathon was standing awkwardly next to them. Steve chuckled and let go of his girlfriend.

"Oh, my God!" Nancy slapped Steve on the arm. "Take those stupid things off."

"I missed you." Steve said with a grin as he took off his sunglasses.

Johnathon averted his gaze from the sight, his eyes meeting mine. He gave me a small smile with pain in his eyes. Not wanting to be rude, I gave him a smile back.

Quickly turning around, I picked up my speed to try and get away from them. My mind kept flashing Steve and Nancy laughing in happiness.

"Yo, Henderson!"

I turned around, thinking that it was Steve. Hope fluttered in my heart only to fall when I faced Billy.

"Oh, hey. Billy, right?" I sent him a friendly smile.

"Yeah. And your Dawn." Billy grinned as he walked along side me.

"Yup, that's me." I chuckled.

"So, I've heard that you're in a band." Billy said.

"Yeah, the February Rockers Effect." I nodded, stopping at my locker. Putting in my combination, I unlocked the door and started to exchange textbooks.

"That's pretty gnarly. What type of music do you guys play?" Billy leaned against the closed locker next to mine.

"Mainly rock."

"And what do you play?"

"Rhythm guitar." I replied, zipping up my bag and closing my locker.

"You play rhythm?"

"What? You expected me to be the singer or what?" I perked an eyebrow, challenging him. When FRE started playing for the public, everyone thought I either was the main vocalist or played the keyboard.

"No, I thought you would play like the drums or bass." Billy shrugged.

"Oh." I flushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, it's just a lot of people usually think I'm the lead singer."

"No problem, babe."

"Babe?" I looked at him in confusion.

"So are you guys playing at that Halloween party?" Billy continued, ignoring my question. We started to walk away from my locker. "Are you going to the party?"

"Not this time." I shook my head. "Who told you I was in a band anyways?"

"Pretty much everyone I've talked to. They also said your brother is in the band?"

"Yeah, Danny. He's my twin." I smiled.

"Twin." Billy slowly nodded. He chuckled and glanced at me. "He was the curly hair dude that glared at me earlier today, huh?"

"Yup." I laughed, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear. "The other guy is one of my best friends. Chad is also in the band."

"They think I'm an asshole, huh?" Billy grinned. I opened my mouth to lie. "Nah, it's okay. I am an asshole."

"Oh, um." I nervously trailed off, not knowing how to respond to that. Looking at the open classroom, I stopped. "This is my class."

"Alright. So, I'll see you at the party, babe?" Billy smirked already starting to walk away.

"Wait, I never said I was going!" I exasperated. Billy only gave me a wink. I huffed and stomped into my class. "Asshole."

Looks like I was able to finally update.

Sorry it's taking me so long, I've been super busy still and life in general.

I'm hoping to finish part two before the college semester starts since I'm going to be really busy during that time.

And excuse any typos or weird random words. I typed this up on my phone and it keeps autocorrecting some words.

How many of you are still in school? What grade?

Until then
Much love,
Lux