GONE GIRL » Billy Hargrove

0.13 » running

New chapter, yay I made it haha
Hope you'll all enjoy it & thanks for reading and commenting!♡

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"So you're saying he could have just easily killed you, right then and there?!" Steve exclaimed, throwing his hands over his head. "Shh! He didn't, okay?" I insisted, yawning.

"BUT HE COULD HAVE!" By now there were a few people staring at us, probably wondering what Steve was getting so riled up about. Shaking my head I wrapped my jacket around me and continued staring at the floor.

"We'll sue him. We will try to get Cameron as my legal guardian, that would be the best of course. I have more than fifty cases of abuse and assault, and those are the ones I can remember enough to explain them further if needed. Once the charge has been made the police will find him, I don't know how but they will, I'm trying to be positive here."

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him and said yes, although every fibre of my body was screaming no. I wouldn't bother him with this. He had enough trouble going on himself.

If I opened up to others too much, if I let people in, I would break. I would have to admit to myself that all of this was happening and that I was not okay but I refused to accept that. I was already broken enough.

One small crack and everything could just fall apart.

And I was just too scared of that.

The rest of the break was spent in complete silence and when the bell rang we got up and headed for the locker rooms. The weather was better again, so we would resume doing track, which meant running half the time, sitting around the other half.

I'd have to go and check up on my makeup every now and then, just to be sure everything stayed in place.

∞

Most of the girls were already done changing and I quickly followed them, joining in on the warm-up exercises a bit later. After that we were sent off to run five laps minimum, free to run more if we wanted.

About one and half a lap later the boys poured out of the side door, jogging towards the basketball court outside.
I quickly glanced at Steve who was already busy getting into a fight with Billy. Again.

Focusing on my breathing I turned away. I pushed myself forward, falling into a comfortable and relatively fast pace by the third lap.

The fresh air was rushing through my lungs, I felt my heartbeat resonating all through my chest up to my neck, imagined it pumping the blood through my veins.
Keeping me alive.

I was alive.
Physically, at least.

Shaking my head I banished any thought from my head and just took in the here and now. The patter of the other girls' feet all around, the hollow thud of the ball against the blue tartan, the cold November breeze rustling through the treetops.

Little by little the group around me grew smaller, at some point even the last girl sat down and I was the only one left running. I had always been a strong runner; the teacher even tried convincing me of participating in competitions but I could never agree, since a possible win and the local press coverage would help my dad find me.

But now all of that didn't matter anymore. He had found me. He knew where I was. And I was still alive.
Physically, at least.

Suddenly I felt pain piercing through my thighs and my lungs felt like they were about to burst. I hadn't noticed I'd started to run faster. I slowed down, almost walking now, trying to breathe properly. Finishing off the last lap I dropped down onto the tracks, staring up into the sky. The others were busy watching the guys play basketball, when the coach walked up to me.

"You okay, Lockwood?" I nodded, taking deep breaths. "Too bad you didn't participate last month, I'm sure we could have won that thing with you on our team."
When he noticed he wasn't going to get a reply out of me he turned around again, after telling me to relax for the rest of class seeing as I had spent more than half an hour just running.

I sat back up after a while, a few strands of hair that had escaped from my ponytail falling into my face. Sighing I picked up my water bottle at the side of the tracks, walking over to the bleachers to sit down and watch the boys a bit.

"Come to see the show, huh?" A shirtless Billy asked while walking past me, winked and I rolled my eyes at his remark. There it was; the asshole.

The remaining class was filled with relatively high quality plays, some bickering between Billy and Steve, which by now seemed to become something regular, and soon enough I went back to the locker room to shower before everyone else showed up. I hurried putting on my makeup and just as I finished drying my hair the door flew open and the other girl's poured in, and I left, heading outside right away.

Steve and I had decided to have lunch outside, by my car, just so we could talk. A few minutes later I heard him mutter a couple of swears under his breath as he walked towards me and I sat up straight in the drivers seat.

"Is everything okay?" I asked as soon as he arrived, looking more annoyed than ever.
"Do you know where Jonathan or Nancy are?" He snapped and I shook my head.
"Why?" - "They seem to be out of town. Together." - "Who said that?"

"Tommy," Steve mumbled, sliding into the passengers seat. "And you believe that? I mean it's Tommy, he's a dick." - "He is but ... ah I don't know man. By the way, have you ever talked to that Billy guy? He's a massive asshole as well."

I raised an eyebrow. "What'd he do?" - "He's just being childish. And dumb. He's just a rude douchebag."

Slowly nodding my head I scanned the parking lot for any signs of my father. "Yeah I guess so," I muttered and longingly looked at the pack of cigarettes on the backseat.

"Anyway people are assholes sometimes and we can't change that, now can we?" I concluded, leaning against the headrest.

But maybe it is worth trying to at least bring out the good, that's probably somewhere in there deep down...