Billy stood outside of the school, cigarette in hand and heavy metal playing through his headphones. A full month of living in Hawkins and it was already driving him insane. Sure, some of the girls were cute and most of the guys already worshiped him. But... he couldn't help but feel like an alien to them.

The bell for next period rang, but Billy ignored it. He could skip math.

As it finished ringing, a few people trickled out of the school. The ones with spares who were going to grab a snack or stop by their homes before their next class. One girl left the school through the side doors he was standing besides, rather than the front doors like her other friends.

"Oh." She seemed a little surprised to see someone there. "Hi." She obviously recognized him, but he just nodded at her and returned to his music. He didn't know who she was, and he expected her to just go to do whatever she was leaving the school to do.

Instead, she leaned closer, listening in to his music. "I love Metallica." She said, momentarily catching Billy off guard.

He turned down the music, thinking he misheard his classmate. "Sorry?"

"I said." She repeated herself, an almost cheerful note to her tone. "I love Metallica. It..." She gestured vaguely to his headphones. "You have good taste in music."

She laughed somewhat awkwardly, like she wasn't used to speaking to people she didn't know but did it anyway because she genuinely cared about the subject. He chuckled at both her and her words. "You like Metallica?" He hadn't expected that from her but was honestly a little impressed. Being so used to his schoolmates only playing the Top 100, both here and in California, he was glad that there was someone here who understood his liking of more intense music.

"Yeah." She replied, singing along to the words being yelled through his headphone speakers. Proving to him that she wasn't lying about her taste in music. "I love 'em."

He was about to say something back, but another girl – probably her friend - called (Y/N) away.

"Holy shit..." He was grinning almost in disbelief as she left, even though he was honestly a little disappointed by her leaving. This one little interaction made him wanting to talk with her more. But despite that desire, it was days before he actually got to speak to her again.

During that time, he at least learned who she was. The girl wasn't exactly popular, being a member of some game club ("Hellfire" was apparently what it was called). But, she seemed to escape the usual torment he associated with geeks because of her friendliness and her ability to blend in with most crowds. She mostly sat with her club at lunch, all boys who Billy and his friends raised a slight eyebrow at, as well as sometimes sitting with some girls she was friendly with.

It took going to some shitty party for Billy to catch the girl alone. One of the boys on the basketball team, Jack, had parents who were out of town and invited people over. But he had slightly underestimated how many people came to these shindigs and Billy amused himself by watching the boy nervously trying to figure out how to get more beer.

Until, however, (Y/N) went up to him. "I asked Sarah to grab more drinks on her way here. She'll be here in a few minutes."

The younger boy breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Thank Christ. You're a lifesaver... Um?" Apparently he didn't remember her name.

"(Y/N)."

"You're a lifesaver, (Y/N)."

She just laughed warmly, seemingly uncaring that she was practically invisible to most people Billy knew at their school. "No problem. Just don't forget to grab your wallet."

The boy seemed confused. "My wallet?"

"To pay back Sarah when she arrives." (Y/N) helpfully responded. "For the drinks?"

"Oh, yeah." Realization hit Jack, and Billy chuckled at the boys former assumption that (Y/N) was going to give Jack drinks for free. The audacity of these rich kids, honestly. "I'll go grab that.." He trailed off, leaving to go find some cash.

As soon as Jack was gone, he made his way over to her. "Glad you didn't let him off scot-free." He called out to the girl, who quickly turned to him.

When she realized who it was, she smiled at him in greeting before shrugging. "Of course. I'm nice, but not that nice. Besides, it wasn't even my money to give away."

"Fair." He replied. "And it's not like he's strapped for cash. Look at this place." He gestured to the house, which was indeed very nice. He momentarily imagined himself living in a place like this, but quickly banished that thought. His dad couldn't afford anything like this.

"All that money and he couldn't even get enough drinks to get through the night." (Y/N) half-mused, half-joked, pulling a laugh out of Billy.

"Absolutely, not even enough to get you one." He nodded at her empty hands.

(Y/N) shook her head. "No, I'm... I'm actually designated driver tonight, so no drinks for me."

He took in that information, disappointed since it meant he couldn't offer to drive her home. "Who you driving?"

"My friends Gareth and Eddie." She told him, looking around to see if she could catch a glimpse of them. "But they're off somewhere getting high or something."

"Shame." He remarked, a little disappointed in those guys for leaving a girl like her alone at a party. "Still, it means I get to talk to you."

That obviously surprised her, as she tilted her head at looked at him bemusedly. "You wanted to talk to me?" Completely unaware how their original talk intrigued him.

"Of course, its not every day that I meet a cute girl with the same taste in music as me."

"I mean, I like a lot of music." She shrugged once again but failing to hide a smile at his words and compliment. "Metal is just one of the genres I listen to."

"Still, its pretty cool." He told her. "You know, maybe we should hang out some time. Talk about all that music you like?"

"Like.. like a date?" She asked suspiciously.

Smirking, Billy leaned closer to her. "Do you want it to be a date?"

"I, I just." He obviously caught her off guard. "You said I was cute and I just assumed..."

"Sweetheart, sweetheart." He interrupted her, trying to put her out of her misery. "Of course I wanna go on a date with you." He had just avoided the word in case she wasn't interested in him.

"Oh." She looked relieved. "Cool, I'd like to too. I..." She got momentarily distracted by two boys behind Billy. "Shit, those are my friends. I gotta..." She looked up at Billy apologetically.

"Don't worry about it." He reassured her. Gently taking her arm, he pulled a marker out of his pocket (one that he saved just for phone numbers, although the last few days he only kept it around out of the hope that he could get hers) and wrote down his contact info on her. "Call me okay? I wanna talk to you again."

"Ok." (Y/N) smiled, trying not to seem too excited. "Bye."

She started to leave, but in a split second turned back to give him a quick kiss before rushing off after her friends.

He could still remember the feeling of her lips on his all throughout the party, where he spent the rest of the night unusually happy and grinning all night. Billy wondered if he was going to leave every interaction with (Y/N) with this smile.

He certainly hoped so.