Good Riddance
Five
Billie and I seemed to have reached an agreement, I wasn’t going to complain when I saw him with other girls and he wasn’t going to try and hit on me. I seemed mildly surprised when he thought I would complain that I saw him with other girls, sure I thought he was cute and I was shocked that he wasting his time with me anyway, but it wasn’t my place to complain. As I a matter of fact I hadn’t actually seen him with any other girls in the week I was hanging with him, maybe he was putting his ‘past’ behind him. Or maybe everybody had overreacted.
So it was a week after I had first come to the school we found ourselves walking home after my ballet class on a Monday night.
“Do you want to come back to mine tonight?” Billie asked.
“What like all-night?” I asked warily.
“Sure, if you want” he said, “We’ve got plenty of space”
“As silly as this sounds,” I said, “I’d have to ask my mum”
“Okay” he grinned, “The rest of the guys will be there”
“Oh okay” I said, “Now I need to think of an excuse”
“Excuse?” Billie asked.
“Do you really think, after all I’ve told you about my mum she’d really let me spend the night at your house?” I asked him.
“Err, no maybe not” he said.
“Precisely” I said, “So for now, you have to stay at the gate and I’ll go make something up”
“Are you a good liar then?” he asked.
“I am an exceedingly good liar” I said and the after a pause, “Billie you are so sexy”
“But that’s not a lie!” he said.
I laughed at him, “Maybe not, but you know I don’t mean it”
He made a noise that can only be described as hrumph as I keyed the code into the gates and slid through the gap leaving him on the other side.
“You can come this side” I said to him.
“I’d feel contaminated” he said looking down the pristine clean street.
“Oh thanks” I said to him, “I’ll be back in a sec”
He didn’t say anything and I left him stood on the other side of the gates looking more and more like a prisoner but I soon lost sight of him as I went into my house.
“I’m home mum!” I called to the house.
“In here honey!” came a voice from the kitchen. I walked in and saw mum was with some other woman who I didn’t recognise.
“Hi Scarlett, this is Mrs Lewis from just down the road” she said.
“Hello” I said to her with a smile, “Mum is alright if I go stay with a friend tonight?”
“A friend?” she asked warily.
“Yeah, we’re going to do some chemistry homework that she’s struggling with” I said making up lies as I went along.
“Does she have a name?”
“Yeah it’s Billie” I said; well at least that part wasn’t a lie.
“Billie as in Wilhelmina?” asked my mum.
“Her full name is Wilhelmina–Josephine Armstrong” I said, “After her two grandmothers”
I couldn’t believe that if I trod carefully, these lies might actually be feasible.
“Well, that’s quite a mouthful” said my mum her eyes wide.
“Yeah” I mumbled apologetically as if I was feeling sorry for Wilhelmina-Josephine.
“Well you can go” said mum.
“Thank you –!'
“On one condition” my mum said as I turned to go.
“What?” I asked
“Don’t say what say pardon” said my mum, “On the condition I have a contact telephone number for her mother”
“Erm okay, I’ll ring you from hers because I don’t actually have one?” I asked.
Mum contemplated it for a while.
“Alright” she said, “But you have to promise me you’ll go to school tomorrow and you’ll be polite to Billie’s parents”
“Sure” I said. I refrained to mention that Billie didn’t have a dad, merely a mum and a step dad. The less my mum knew about “Billie” the better.
“Thanks” I said happily and left my room before going up the stairs to shove a few essentials into my schoolbag to go. I was back downstairs within five minutes and after shouting bye to my mum I left the house and was back at the gates.
“That was quicker than expected” said Billie as I walked up to him.
“Yeah,” I said, “As I said, I’m a good liar although your new name is Wilhelmina-Josephine. Just for the record”
“Could you have thought of anything worse?!” Billie laughed.
“You were named after your two grandmothers” I said with a face of all seriousness until I cracked up laughing too, “Well it fitted the Billie-Joe”
“I like that” he said as we walked back towards school.
“What?” I asked.
“The Billie Joe” he said, “I’m unique”
“Yeah probably” I said, “There’s nobody in the world with quite a bigger as ego as you have”
He just grinned and I shivered.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s cold” I said with a glance towards the clear dusk we were walking through.
“Come here” he said. I looked warily at him and he just rolled his eyes easily so I walked over to him and he put his arm around my shoulders so I was snuggled into his side. He was very warm and my head just came up to his shoulder so I half leant on him.
“Billieeeeeee?” I asked childishly.
“Scarleeeeeett?” he asked mimicking me.
“How far is it to your house?” I asked.
“Not far” he said with a grin, “K and J should still be there”
“K n J?” I asked.
“Kiera and Jess stupid” he said.
“Oh!” I said as we turned into a street. We walked down it and it was the fourteenth house on the left we turned into. I had a retentive memory when it came to remembering pointless bits of information. We in the front door but before I had the opportunity to take in anything of my surroundings I was steered to a basement door and we went down the steps. I was surprised that it wasn’t cold down here but it was insulated and there was two beds down there.
“This is your room?” I asked Billie looking around the large space under what seemed like most of the house. One of the beds was a double and I supposed that this must be Billie’s, there was a sofa and the other bed was quite a distance away, I thought that might be Mike’s and I briefly wondered whether he paid Billie rent but then I thought about the strength of their relationship and thought that was probably not right.
“Yes, cool isn’t it?”
“It’s very big” I said.
“All mine” he said, “Except for that which is Mike’s shit”
“It’s not shit” came a voice from behind me making me jump. I spun around to find that there was another sofa against another wall and this had a T.V in front of it. On the sofa was Mike and Kiera and Tre and Jess. Jess was sat on Tre’s lap to make space for everyone.
“Hey” I said to them.
“Did you guys straighten up in here?” asked Billie looking around the room.
“I did” said Jess, “It was an absolute tip B.J”
“I know” he said, “Mother”
Jess stuck her tongue out at him and he just shrugged before flopping back on the double bed. He patted the duvet next to him and after a moment’s hesitation I sat down next to him. Why was I so afraid of him trying stuff on? I should be amazed that he was paying attention to me at all, a fifteen nearly sixteen year old girl, I still hadn’t quite fathomed it.
I barely noticed the others getting up and leaving the room, claiming they were going to go get some pizza. Whatever. I lay back on the duvet next to him and he smiled at me. A moment passed in silence as I slowly released that maybe I wasn’t so opposed to lying on his double bed next to him, on our own...
“Billie...” I said after a moment and sat up again only to have Billie sit up next to me.
“Scarlett what is your problem with this? With me?” he asked.
“There is no problem with you” I said quickly.
“Then why are you so scared of being close to me?” he asked looking at me so I quickly looked at my hands.
“I’m not” I said, “It’s more that I can’t see or understand why you want me”
“Scarlett we’ve been through this” he said, “Call it circumstantial”
“Circumstantial?” I asked.
“If you hadn’t been sat at our table on that first day then, yes, I probably never would have noticed you,” he said, “But, you were, so I did, Kiera spoke to you as she did and I felt bad about it so I found you after school and extended that hand of friendship to you, you took it and we spent that lunchtime getting to know each other and since then it’s been as it has”
I smiled at him.
“And also all the other girls in my year are really ugly” he said pulling a face. I laughed at that and shook my head.
“Thank you” I said to him, “That kinda puts a little bit of my doubt to rest, I was just amazed that you had bothered with me in the first place. I was having issues getting over the whole Senior, Sophomore thing”
“I am just Billie and you are just Scarlett” he said.
“Just Billie, Just Scarlett” I repeated with a grin.
“Now you’ve got to tell me why you were so bothered by it” Billie said.
“Just because of the near two year age gap and the fact that you’re a guy –'
“That fact that I’m a guy?” he asked cutting me off, “You’re not a Lesbian are you?”
“No!” I said with a giggle, “Fool. No it was just I’ve never had a boyfriend before or a close guy friend for that matter”
I cut off at that and blushed deeply.
“You’ve never had a boyfriend?” Billie asked with a smile. I shook my head a looked at my hands.
“The boys at your old school must have been really stupid” he said.
“Or my mom really strict” I said, “Every time I even mentioned I had a crush on a boy she would find a thousand reasons why I couldn’t go out with him and why he wasn’t attractive at all and that dating was for ‘when you reached the age of 21 or over’”
“21?!” Billie asked in shock, “Fuck off!”
I rolled my eyes at his language.
“She’s just like that” I explained with a shrug, “She means well.”
“Yeah and I’m your Aunt Sally” he muttered.
“Really?” I asked with mock incredulity, “I wondered what that faux floral smell was”
“Hey!” he said and he shoved me so I fell off the bed. I giggled as I lay on the floor and I heard the basement door open and shut.
“Hey Scarlett,” I heard Tre’s voice from somewhere behind me, “Hasn’t he got round to molesting you yet?”
“Nah” I said with all seriousness, “Mine and Billie’s relationship there’s a strong non molesting policy going on”
Billie laughed at my straight face.
“Meh whatever” said Tre sitting back down on the sofa and opening the pizza box he was holding, Jess grabbed several pieces and proceeded to scurry out of Tre’s way when he tried to tackle her for the largest slice. Mike and Kiera seemed to be able to share their pizza in a much more civilised way.
“Didn’t you get me one?” Billie asked from the middle of the bed where he’d retreated to again. I was still sat on the floor and looked musingly at Tre and Mike.
“Where you evidently aren’t getting any” said Mike.
“That’s because you didn’t buy me one” said Billie confused.
“Billie it was a sexual innuendo” said Kiera acting bored while she finished her slice of pizza and went for another one from the box on Mike’s lap.
“Okay” Billie said and I was surprised he didn’t fight it out, maybe he couldn’t be arsed or something. I sat back up on the bed and I winced as I sat down.
“I bruised my tailbone when I fell on the floor” I complained rubbing the base of my back.
“That was so gay it was unbelievable” said Mike.
“She’s a girl!” Billie said.
“Where is this conversation going?” I asked.
“Nowhere that’s the point” said Tre with a shrug finishing off the last slice of Marguerite pizza he was sharing with Jess, apparently Jess didn’t like many pizza toppings so whenever they bought it from the store it was always Marguerite.
“Billie Joe!”
There came a male yell from upstairs. Billie rolled his eyes and there was an extremely long pause before he sat up and went to the door and up the stairs. There was a heavy silence in the room before I rolled onto my side to look at the others.
“What was that?” I asked Mike.
“You should ask him” said Mike.
“Do I want to?” I asked, “Or will I get my head bitten off?”
“Pick your moment wisely” said Mike with a shrug. I rolled my eyes at him.
“Hey” said Kiera.
“What?” I asked turning back.
“You’re getting better” she said.
“In what?” I asked.
“That’s the second time I’ve seen you roll your eyes today” she said. I laughed with her, why had she even noticed?
So it was a week after I had first come to the school we found ourselves walking home after my ballet class on a Monday night.
“Do you want to come back to mine tonight?” Billie asked.
“What like all-night?” I asked warily.
“Sure, if you want” he said, “We’ve got plenty of space”
“As silly as this sounds,” I said, “I’d have to ask my mum”
“Okay” he grinned, “The rest of the guys will be there”
“Oh okay” I said, “Now I need to think of an excuse”
“Excuse?” Billie asked.
“Do you really think, after all I’ve told you about my mum she’d really let me spend the night at your house?” I asked him.
“Err, no maybe not” he said.
“Precisely” I said, “So for now, you have to stay at the gate and I’ll go make something up”
“Are you a good liar then?” he asked.
“I am an exceedingly good liar” I said and the after a pause, “Billie you are so sexy”
“But that’s not a lie!” he said.
I laughed at him, “Maybe not, but you know I don’t mean it”
He made a noise that can only be described as hrumph as I keyed the code into the gates and slid through the gap leaving him on the other side.
“You can come this side” I said to him.
“I’d feel contaminated” he said looking down the pristine clean street.
“Oh thanks” I said to him, “I’ll be back in a sec”
He didn’t say anything and I left him stood on the other side of the gates looking more and more like a prisoner but I soon lost sight of him as I went into my house.
“I’m home mum!” I called to the house.
“In here honey!” came a voice from the kitchen. I walked in and saw mum was with some other woman who I didn’t recognise.
“Hi Scarlett, this is Mrs Lewis from just down the road” she said.
“Hello” I said to her with a smile, “Mum is alright if I go stay with a friend tonight?”
“A friend?” she asked warily.
“Yeah, we’re going to do some chemistry homework that she’s struggling with” I said making up lies as I went along.
“Does she have a name?”
“Yeah it’s Billie” I said; well at least that part wasn’t a lie.
“Billie as in Wilhelmina?” asked my mum.
“Her full name is Wilhelmina–Josephine Armstrong” I said, “After her two grandmothers”
I couldn’t believe that if I trod carefully, these lies might actually be feasible.
“Well, that’s quite a mouthful” said my mum her eyes wide.
“Yeah” I mumbled apologetically as if I was feeling sorry for Wilhelmina-Josephine.
“Well you can go” said mum.
“Thank you –!'
“On one condition” my mum said as I turned to go.
“What?” I asked
“Don’t say what say pardon” said my mum, “On the condition I have a contact telephone number for her mother”
“Erm okay, I’ll ring you from hers because I don’t actually have one?” I asked.
Mum contemplated it for a while.
“Alright” she said, “But you have to promise me you’ll go to school tomorrow and you’ll be polite to Billie’s parents”
“Sure” I said. I refrained to mention that Billie didn’t have a dad, merely a mum and a step dad. The less my mum knew about “Billie” the better.
“Thanks” I said happily and left my room before going up the stairs to shove a few essentials into my schoolbag to go. I was back downstairs within five minutes and after shouting bye to my mum I left the house and was back at the gates.
“That was quicker than expected” said Billie as I walked up to him.
“Yeah,” I said, “As I said, I’m a good liar although your new name is Wilhelmina-Josephine. Just for the record”
“Could you have thought of anything worse?!” Billie laughed.
“You were named after your two grandmothers” I said with a face of all seriousness until I cracked up laughing too, “Well it fitted the Billie-Joe”
“I like that” he said as we walked back towards school.
“What?” I asked.
“The Billie Joe” he said, “I’m unique”
“Yeah probably” I said, “There’s nobody in the world with quite a bigger as ego as you have”
He just grinned and I shivered.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s cold” I said with a glance towards the clear dusk we were walking through.
“Come here” he said. I looked warily at him and he just rolled his eyes easily so I walked over to him and he put his arm around my shoulders so I was snuggled into his side. He was very warm and my head just came up to his shoulder so I half leant on him.
“Billieeeeeee?” I asked childishly.
“Scarleeeeeett?” he asked mimicking me.
“How far is it to your house?” I asked.
“Not far” he said with a grin, “K and J should still be there”
“K n J?” I asked.
“Kiera and Jess stupid” he said.
“Oh!” I said as we turned into a street. We walked down it and it was the fourteenth house on the left we turned into. I had a retentive memory when it came to remembering pointless bits of information. We in the front door but before I had the opportunity to take in anything of my surroundings I was steered to a basement door and we went down the steps. I was surprised that it wasn’t cold down here but it was insulated and there was two beds down there.
“This is your room?” I asked Billie looking around the large space under what seemed like most of the house. One of the beds was a double and I supposed that this must be Billie’s, there was a sofa and the other bed was quite a distance away, I thought that might be Mike’s and I briefly wondered whether he paid Billie rent but then I thought about the strength of their relationship and thought that was probably not right.
“Yes, cool isn’t it?”
“It’s very big” I said.
“All mine” he said, “Except for that which is Mike’s shit”
“It’s not shit” came a voice from behind me making me jump. I spun around to find that there was another sofa against another wall and this had a T.V in front of it. On the sofa was Mike and Kiera and Tre and Jess. Jess was sat on Tre’s lap to make space for everyone.
“Hey” I said to them.
“Did you guys straighten up in here?” asked Billie looking around the room.
“I did” said Jess, “It was an absolute tip B.J”
“I know” he said, “Mother”
Jess stuck her tongue out at him and he just shrugged before flopping back on the double bed. He patted the duvet next to him and after a moment’s hesitation I sat down next to him. Why was I so afraid of him trying stuff on? I should be amazed that he was paying attention to me at all, a fifteen nearly sixteen year old girl, I still hadn’t quite fathomed it.
I barely noticed the others getting up and leaving the room, claiming they were going to go get some pizza. Whatever. I lay back on the duvet next to him and he smiled at me. A moment passed in silence as I slowly released that maybe I wasn’t so opposed to lying on his double bed next to him, on our own...
“Billie...” I said after a moment and sat up again only to have Billie sit up next to me.
“Scarlett what is your problem with this? With me?” he asked.
“There is no problem with you” I said quickly.
“Then why are you so scared of being close to me?” he asked looking at me so I quickly looked at my hands.
“I’m not” I said, “It’s more that I can’t see or understand why you want me”
“Scarlett we’ve been through this” he said, “Call it circumstantial”
“Circumstantial?” I asked.
“If you hadn’t been sat at our table on that first day then, yes, I probably never would have noticed you,” he said, “But, you were, so I did, Kiera spoke to you as she did and I felt bad about it so I found you after school and extended that hand of friendship to you, you took it and we spent that lunchtime getting to know each other and since then it’s been as it has”
I smiled at him.
“And also all the other girls in my year are really ugly” he said pulling a face. I laughed at that and shook my head.
“Thank you” I said to him, “That kinda puts a little bit of my doubt to rest, I was just amazed that you had bothered with me in the first place. I was having issues getting over the whole Senior, Sophomore thing”
“I am just Billie and you are just Scarlett” he said.
“Just Billie, Just Scarlett” I repeated with a grin.
“Now you’ve got to tell me why you were so bothered by it” Billie said.
“Just because of the near two year age gap and the fact that you’re a guy –'
“That fact that I’m a guy?” he asked cutting me off, “You’re not a Lesbian are you?”
“No!” I said with a giggle, “Fool. No it was just I’ve never had a boyfriend before or a close guy friend for that matter”
I cut off at that and blushed deeply.
“You’ve never had a boyfriend?” Billie asked with a smile. I shook my head a looked at my hands.
“The boys at your old school must have been really stupid” he said.
“Or my mom really strict” I said, “Every time I even mentioned I had a crush on a boy she would find a thousand reasons why I couldn’t go out with him and why he wasn’t attractive at all and that dating was for ‘when you reached the age of 21 or over’”
“21?!” Billie asked in shock, “Fuck off!”
I rolled my eyes at his language.
“She’s just like that” I explained with a shrug, “She means well.”
“Yeah and I’m your Aunt Sally” he muttered.
“Really?” I asked with mock incredulity, “I wondered what that faux floral smell was”
“Hey!” he said and he shoved me so I fell off the bed. I giggled as I lay on the floor and I heard the basement door open and shut.
“Hey Scarlett,” I heard Tre’s voice from somewhere behind me, “Hasn’t he got round to molesting you yet?”
“Nah” I said with all seriousness, “Mine and Billie’s relationship there’s a strong non molesting policy going on”
Billie laughed at my straight face.
“Meh whatever” said Tre sitting back down on the sofa and opening the pizza box he was holding, Jess grabbed several pieces and proceeded to scurry out of Tre’s way when he tried to tackle her for the largest slice. Mike and Kiera seemed to be able to share their pizza in a much more civilised way.
“Didn’t you get me one?” Billie asked from the middle of the bed where he’d retreated to again. I was still sat on the floor and looked musingly at Tre and Mike.
“Where you evidently aren’t getting any” said Mike.
“That’s because you didn’t buy me one” said Billie confused.
“Billie it was a sexual innuendo” said Kiera acting bored while she finished her slice of pizza and went for another one from the box on Mike’s lap.
“Okay” Billie said and I was surprised he didn’t fight it out, maybe he couldn’t be arsed or something. I sat back up on the bed and I winced as I sat down.
“I bruised my tailbone when I fell on the floor” I complained rubbing the base of my back.
“That was so gay it was unbelievable” said Mike.
“She’s a girl!” Billie said.
“Where is this conversation going?” I asked.
“Nowhere that’s the point” said Tre with a shrug finishing off the last slice of Marguerite pizza he was sharing with Jess, apparently Jess didn’t like many pizza toppings so whenever they bought it from the store it was always Marguerite.
“Billie Joe!”
There came a male yell from upstairs. Billie rolled his eyes and there was an extremely long pause before he sat up and went to the door and up the stairs. There was a heavy silence in the room before I rolled onto my side to look at the others.
“What was that?” I asked Mike.
“You should ask him” said Mike.
“Do I want to?” I asked, “Or will I get my head bitten off?”
“Pick your moment wisely” said Mike with a shrug. I rolled my eyes at him.
“Hey” said Kiera.
“What?” I asked turning back.
“You’re getting better” she said.
“In what?” I asked.
“That’s the second time I’ve seen you roll your eyes today” she said. I laughed with her, why had she even noticed?