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It happens a few weeks after the fight at the Byers.
Billy’s been on his best behaviour, hasn’t even spoken a word to Max or even looked at her little friends. He does everything that’s expected and more of him at home. But apparently that isn’t enough.
He knows Max hates him, everyone can tell. You’d need to be deaf and blind to not know and even then you’d be able to sense the tension between the two. So yes, Max hates him but he didn’t know she hated him this much.
Dinner at the Hargrove Mayfield house is always tense, Billy keeps his head down and finishes everything on his plate after being the last to be served. Says ‘no thank you, Susan’ when offered leftovers because he is not allowed to eat more than what he’s given. He answers when spoken to, never asks if someone could pass something to him. It’s a quiet ordeal most of the time.
“Billy was supposed to take me to the arcade today but he didn’t," Max says, stabbing a piece of potato with her fork.
“Is that true, Billy?” Neil asks, his gaze feeling like a loaded gun. Billy always has to sit directly across from Neil, always in perfect view to make sure he doesn’t misbehave.
“No, Sir,” Billy replies. He knows there’s no point in lying but it’s going to end the same either way. “I didn’t know Max wanted to go today”
“Yes, I told you this morning” Max is glaring at him from next to him. “Several times”
Billy pauses and fuck, she did mention it except he was distracted this morning because of a maths test he had to take in first period.
“She did mention it,” Billy says slowly. “I was just distracted this morning, I had a test”
“That’s not very kind of you” Neil takes a bite of chicken, chews thoroughly before continuing “Sounds like Max was excited to go”
“I was” Max pipes up “El was going to be there, you know, El? My only friend who’s a girl?”
Billy knows she only brought up El because Neil and Susan hate that she’s a tomboy and hate that she’s friends with boys. That they’d be even more lenient with her for being friends with an actual girl.
“So, Max was forced to not spend time with her friend because you were too distracted to pay attention to her?” Neil has a way of warping words into swords and viciously attacking him with them.
“Yes, Sir” Billy replies on autopilot because what else is he supposed to say? Anything he says will be twisted and used against him either now or in the future.
Neil dabs at his mouth with a napkin and stands up. Billy, frozen in his seat, doesn’t dare look away from his plate as Neil comes to stand behind him. He’s expecting a slap on the back of the head, maybe a hand on his shoulder pulling him up from the seat but instead he feels his dad’s hand in his hair and suddenly his face is full of pain.
He thinks Max screams and wonders why the fuck is she screaming. He gasps and chokes on blood that’s sliding down the back of his throat and brings his hands up to his nose, taking deep shuddery breaths when his fingers brush alongside it.
“My nose!” Billy manages to get out, still in a state of disbelief. There’s blood in his unfinished dinner.
Neil doesn’t say anything, just grabs Billy by the upper arm. Billy braces himself for more abuse but instead he’s led over to the front door and out to the truck. He doesn’t have any shoes on or a jacket and he’s cold. Neil has shoes and a jacket on.
They drive in silence to the hospital, Billy not daring to let out a groan of pain when his head moves along with the bumps in the road. Neil doesn’t turn his head to look at him once but he does catch his eye in the rearview mirror and Billy sees a warning.
The hospital is quiet on a Wednesday evening. There’s a woman coughing into her elbow and a man and a woman sitting with their arms crossed near the entrance. They walk over to the receptionist and she looks up in alarm at all the blood spread around Billy’s face.
“Oh my” she starts
“It’s broken,” Neil interrupts her. “Broke it playing basketball, boy wasn’t paying any attention”
“Yeah” Billy knows better than to tell the truth. He’d made that mistake before and he’s still here.
They clean up his nose and Billy bites his tongue so he doesn’t make loud noises. It’s crooked and they give Billy something to squeeze as they quickly snap it back into place. He does yell then, receiving a glare from his dad but he doesn’t care at that point. They clean up the blood once again that had been dislodged in the relocation and then place a thick wad of gauze from the tip of his nose to his forehead. He closes his eyes and grimaces as they stick it down with a beige bandage, one going across the bottom of his nose and onto his cheeks and the other across his forehead. It’s humiliating and Neil knows it.
The humiliation is an added part of the punishment.
He’s given a prescription for painkillers that will never get filled and they’re driving home. No comments had been made about his lack of footwear.
Max is still awake when he gets home. Looks at him with pity and he tries to glare at her and fails miserably. He walks past her and straight to the bathroom where he looks at himself in the mirror. There’s bruising around his eyes and on the gaps where the gauze isn’t.
Max is standing outside the bathroom, looking like she wants to talk to him but Billy doesn’t want to even look at her right now so he shoves past her and goes to his room. He carefully takes his tee shirt off, stretching the collar so it won’t brush against his nose and then he lies in his bed. He sleeps on his back so the bruises have no contact with his pillow and tries to sleep through the pain.
The next morning, he wakes up and gets dressed before facing the music that is breakfast. Susan is placing a cup of coffee in front of his father who says nothing. He folds it when Billy enters the room and looks at him.
“Max wants to go to school early today” he says calmly “You don’t have time for breakfast today”
“Yes, Sir” he says once again. Voice distorted from the way his nose is blocked and pulled. Max looks up from her bowl of cereal with an expression that this is the first she’s hearing about wanting to go to school early. “I’ll warm up the car”
He grabs his messenger bag from his room and the car keys from the bowl next to the front door and sits in the driver's seat. He pulls down the sun visor and tilts his head to get a better look at what he’s going to be dealing with today. The bruising is way more prominent today, dark under his eyes and purple in colour towards the edges. There’s a bit of dried blood and he grabs a tissue and dampens it with some spit to try and get it off. He hisses at the contact but grits his teeth and keeps going.
Max opens the door to the passenger seat and slides in quietly. Billy pulls out of the driveway and they drive silently to school, not even bothering putting a cassette in to listen to.
“I’m sorry” Max says quietly “I didn’t think he’d do that”
“Bet you’ll think twice now, won’t you” Billy doesn’t look at her. Keeps his eyes on the baron roads in front of him.
“I thought he’d ground you or something, not break your nose” She replies looking over at him. “I didn’t know he was that bad”
“Well, congratulations” Billy says dryly “You’re old enough to experience the real world now”