Billy's POV

I woke Maddie up in a rough manner because if I kept seeing her moan like that, completely stupid and totally inappropriate thoughts would start coming to my mind again. The worst part was when I clearly heard her moan my name. Hearing the sound of her voice moaning my name, something bad took over me again, heat invaded me once more and my pants were too tight around my crotch.

What the hell is wrong with you, Billy? With how disgusted you are... You're completely losing your mind...

As soon as I noticed she was waking up, I quickly grabbed one of the pillows scattered on the bed to cover my erection. I reminded her to get up and got out of there as soon as possible. To my astonishment, I received almost no objection to waking her up or any of her typical morning insults directed at me. That was really strange.

I didn't stay to find out the reason for that strange attitude because I ran the risk of her noticing the bulge in my pants, so I left the room as quickly as I could. I quickly had my coffee and brushed my teeth before Maddie occupied the bathroom to avoid running into her. Before returning to the kitchen, I went to my room to fix my hair and put on some cologne, one that I knew was irresistible to any woman since that was my only fun in high school: making all the girls swoon over me. When I got back to the kitchen intending to grab my backpack to go to school, only the youngest of the Mayfield sisters was there and ready. I told Maxine to go to the car, which she obediently did without a word. I let out a growl of frustration seeing that Maddie was still running late, but I still had this strange feeling that something odd was in the air between us that morning, so I shouted as I headed to the front door.

"Madeleine! You have 15 minutes or you're walking!" I yelled loudly and firmly to make her hurry up.

"Yes! I'm coming!" she replied from the bathroom while I stepped outside for a cigarette.

I would give her as much time as it took me to finish the cigarette, otherwise, I'd have to go and find her. If it were up to me, I'd leave her right there and let her figure out how to get to school on her own, but if my father found out that I neglected her or the little troublemaker Maxine, I'd be in for a few punches, and honestly, that was the last thing I wanted. Without realizing it, I had already finished my cigarette. I looked at my watch, and as usual, we were running late because of her, always taking forever to get ready to attract everyone's attention, which made us late. For what? I wasn't going to let any man lay a hand on her while we were living with Neil. If that idiot ever heard even a hint that Maddie was sleeping with some guy, I'd be the one to pay the price. According to Neil, Maddie was still a virgin "and should remain so while living under his roof and under my supervision." as he put it.

Of course, she was far from a virgin, and it was evident from the way she swayed her hips and knew how to charm men at her will. She even made a point of informing me when she lost her virginity, just to provoke me and make me furious. Naturally, she always made sure Neil didn't find out—she was really cunning, and that was something to recognize, though it only made me dislike her more.

One thing was certain: as soon as people found out I was her brother, they stayed away from her. My reputation precedes me, and at our previous school, I managed to ensure that no one approached her. Here, after what happened with Chad yesterday, I'm confident it won't take long to achieve the same result.

Tired of waiting, I decided to head to the bathroom, quite annoyed, ready to drag her out if necessary. When I arrived, I saw her laughing to herself. I tried to bother her and make fun of her, but it seems I missed the mark. She laughed even harder and whispered a "yeah, sure" just as I told her I'd finally be rid of her, thinking I hadn't heard her. That mocking laugh made me wonder...

There's no way she noticed my erection, right?

I rushed out, pulling out my cigarette pack for another smoke. The mere thought of her possibly having noticed it put me in a bad mood. I didn't want her imagining things that weren't true, and even less to use it against me. Luckily, I'd also seen her in a compromising situation, so if she decided to mock me with it, I'd have something to counter with.

**************************

We arrived at school after a rather calm and silent drive, only interrupted by my Iron Maiden cassette. One of the very few things Maddie and I had in common was our taste in music, and when I played one of my cassettes from our favorite bands, those musical moments were probably the only times of relative peace between us.

But all good things come to an end. As soon as we set foot in the school parking lot, Maddie noticed that I was about to reprimand Maxine, especially when I saw Sinclair and the others keeping an eye on her. She was probably the only girl who didn't seem impressed at all and wasn't afraid to confront me, even though she knew I was much stronger. However, even though I threatened and confronted her, I never wanted to hurt her, I didn't want to be like my father with women in that regard and I was determined never to cross that line. Except for that other day—I don't know what the hell got into me, but I ended up hurting her. I hate her, yes, but I didn't want to leave any more marks on her wrists like I did that day when I saw her with Harrington.

After the argument, I waited a while to give her some distance. Even though I enjoyed taunting her and having these confrontations, things still felt off after this morning, and I preferred not to risk discovering if she had noticed my little morning slip-up.

After a reasonable amount of time, I headed to my locker. As soon as I arrived, Tina and her entourage of friends, including Carol, surrounded me to get my attention since they hadn't received it yesterday. I had no real interest in Tina, to be honest. She was an obvious, foolish, and excessively easy girl. It was clear she was desperately seeking my attention and would do whatever I wanted without complaint. That took all the fun out of it for me, as I preferred if they made a bit more effort to appear at least somewhat interesting.

However, I noticed that from a distance, Maddie kept her eyes on us. Thinking it over, it was Tina who had approached me the night before to tell me that Maddie was with some guy, so it was likely that Maddie was seething inside seeing this girl.

Was that it? Or was your real aim to make her jealous?

It was almost ridiculous how Tina was trying to flirt with me, rather than appearing as an older woman who had repeated a year, she seemed more like a fourteen-year-old. Nevertheless, I played along when I saw Maddie heading straight towards us, convinced she was going after Tina. She clenched the strap of her backpack tightly, her eyes filled with rage, and made her way over.

This was about to get interesting—really interesting. A mischievous smile spread across my face as I focused on watching my sister seek out a fight, ignoring Tina's incessant chatter. Just as Maddie was about to reach us, Harrington intercepted her to talk.

"Damn Harrington, always ruining the fun." I muttered to myself, intending to disrupt Maddie and Harrington's conversation.

"Billy? Are you even listening to me?" Tina's irritating voice interrupted again.

"What do you want, Tina?" I responded without looking at her.

"What's going on?" she asked, glancing in the direction I was looking. "Are you ignoring me because of your stupid sister?" she added, visibly annoyed.

"I don't like jealous girls, Tina." I said, looking at her with some disdain. "Stay out of matters that don't concern you. And she's not my sister, she's my stepsister." I corrected.

"I..." she trailed off, somewhat taken aback.

"You don't have to worry about Steve, if that's what you were looking at." Carol finally said with a hint of mockery. "Even though he's still popular, you're the first since you arrived." she winked at me provocatively.

I thought Tommy wouldn't like that one bit, which made it even more amusing.

"From what I understand, he's pissed because he knows you hit Chad because of him." she added, shrugging. "He's been in vigilante mode lately, so I guess he's gone to give him a good talking-to."

"I see you're quite the informant." I said to Carol, raising an eyebrow and giving her a mischievous smile. "And do you know why Steve isn't with Nancy? It's unusual not to see them glued together. And if he's looking for something with Madeleine, he already knows the outcome."

"I don't think he's after Maddie, Steve's become soft and is head over heels for Wheeler." Tina finally spoke up. "Nancy got incredibly drunk last night and hasn't shown up at school yet. She went home with Jonathan after a fight with Steve. They might not be in the best place, but even so, Maddie isn't his type." she shrugged.

"Better be." I replied almost threateningly, noticing that the conversation between Maddie and Steve had been anything but friendly.

The bell rang, signaling that we had to head to class and start another tedious day of lessons. Upon entering, I calmed my anger a bit when I saw that Maddie and Harrington had taken seats quite far from each other. Good, that saved me from having to punch Steve's face. Unfortunately, I also took my seat and couldn't shake Tina off for the rest of the classes. The only thing Tina was good for was making me see the sour expression Maddie shot at us.

By the second period, Wheeler had arrived at school, and it didn't escape my notice how Harrington was doing everything to avoid her. I stayed alert, just in case he tried to approach Maddie, but to my surprise, he was avoiding her as well. I couldn't help but laugh to myself—Steve was probably the first guy who had resisted Wheeler, and I had to give him credit for that, as I imagined Madeleine must be seething inside.

Finally, the last and only class of the day that I actually enjoyed arrived: basketball practice. Besides being a sport I loved, it helped me release a lot of pent-up anger and kept me from thinking about my stepsisters or my idiot father. After warming up and taking a few shots, we split into two teams for a short game. A few minutes in, Wheeler walked into the gym, catching Harrington's attention and causing him to momentarily abandon the game.

"Seriously, is Harrington really ditching us for that loser? As if they didn't have time to hook up outside of class, he has to leave in the middle of the game." I grumbled while we took a short break to drink some water before resuming.

"I don't think they're exactly going to hook up..." Tommy laughed almost ironically.

"Then why the rush?" I asked directly, not liking the tone of Tommy's response.

"Yesterday, Steve caught Jonathan in Nancy's bed." Troy, another guy on the team, replied. "With that innocent-looking Wheeler. Maybe it's true that the quiet ones are the worst."

"Exactly." Tommy chuckled again. "So whatever it is that's got her calling him, I think Nancy Wheeler just lost Steve Harrington as her boyfriend." he mocked, and everyone else laughed.

"Speaking of Steve." Jason interrupted the laughter, "Isn't that your sister?" He pointed towards the entrance of the gym.

"I don't think so. Since I've been living with her, she hasn't come to any of my practices." I said without even turning to look. It was impossible that it was Maddie, I knew her taste in sports well. "And I actually appreciate it. I already have enough of her at home and in class without her showing up at my practices." I said, squinting my eyes.

"I don't know, Billy... There are few redheads at the school. And the only explosive and hot redhead here is your sister." George stammered.

"Hey! Watch what you say!" I warned him, pointing a finger threateningly. "You'd better keep your hands off my sister if you don't want the same thing to happen to you as to Chad. My sister is off-limits. Am I clear?"

"Very clear," he replied, fear evident in his eyes as he raised his hands, intimidated.

"Well, it seems Harrington isn't aware of that."

I observed as Tommy flashed a mocking smile.

"Maddie is walking into the gym with him."

"That idiot..." I muttered to myself as I finally looked toward the door.

Indeed, there was Maddie with Steve. He didn't look too bad after his breakup with Nancy, it was obvious he was trying to flirt with my sister, and the idiotic girl was responding with a fifteen-year-old's smile. Despite being warned about Harrington, she had the audacity to flirt with him in front of me. Jason called out to Steve to get back on the court, which brought me back to my senses. I shifted my focus from Maddie, who had taken a seat in the front row of the bleachers, and concentrated all my attention on Harrington. I was only going to warn him once more, I hoped he finally got the message. The game resumed, and I quickly went straight for Harrington, attacking him as much as I could.

"Well, well. The King Steve, isn't it?" I said once I managed to cover him.

"As if you didn't know my name, Hargrove." he growled without looking at me, focusing on keeping me from stealing the ball. "I don't believe you were so drunk last night that you forgot my name. Besides, I'm sure you've talked about me with Maddie."

"Oh! I see you're a fighter." I said with ironic laughter, though I hated the way he pronounced Maddie's name with a hint of mockery.

"What do you want, Billy?" he growled, finally turning to face me.

"I don't want my sister's name coming out of your filthy mouth again." I responded curtly.

"I don't know what you're talking about." he replied firmly, but his footing faltered.

In that moment of distraction, I managed to steal the ball from him with a shove that sent him crashing to the ground. I sprinted towards the basket, scored, and then returned to Harrington, who was still lying motionless on the floor. I approached him and extended a hand.

"Keep your feet on the ground." I said, staring him down with a grave and threatening tone. "I don't want to see you near my sister or I'll break your pretty face, got it?" I pushed him back to the floor before he could respond.

The game continued for a few more minutes until the coach called an end to practice. For the rest of the game, Steve and I exchanged nothing but unkind glances. Once we were done, all the players wiped the sweat from their brows with towels before heading to the locker room to shower. As I was about to go in, Maddie suddenly appeared out of nowhere and shoved me hard with a slap to my chest.

"Are you an idiot or what's your problem? I mean, more of an idiot than you normally are."she said, clearly irritated.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I replied calmly, draping the towel around my neck.

"Steve is your teammate. What exactly are you trying to achieve by shoving him around like a bratty kid?" she asked, her irritation obvious. It was clear she had too much interest in Harrington.

"Stay out of it, redhead. You've never cared to watch any of my practices, so you have no idea how I play." I began raising my voice, now irritated myself.

"If I'm interfering, it's because I'm fed up with you sticking your nose into my life, Hargrove. Totally fed up." she shot back, nearly shouting. "I'm not an idiot, and you know it. I know exactly why you did it, and let me repeat: Steve doesn't interest me. Forget about it, and leave him alone. Don't meddle in my business again."

"Do you think I'm blind or something? Or maybe stupid?" I was completely fed up and pressed my chest against hers, glaring at her with eyes full of fury. Even though I knew this wouldn't intimidate her, I wasn't going to let her mock me right in front of my face. "I saw you laughing like two lovesick teenagers. That's the exact opposite of not being interested, Madeleine. And I warned you. If you get close to Harrington or he gets close to you, he's a dead man." I pressed my forehead against hers to make sure she couldn't look away from me, wanting her to understand I was dead serious.

"I'm just trying to make friends, Billy. But with you being my shadow, it's impossible." She raised her voice and pushed her forehead harder against mine. "LEAVE ME ALONE AND LET ME LIVE MY LIFE!"

"YOU'LL LIVE YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU GET OUT OF MINE!" I yelled, completely exasperated.

"Fine, I'll do everything I can to make that happen as soon as possible." She stepped back, putting a significant distance between us. "I'm walking home, I can't stand being around you for another second." She turned and headed toward the exit of the gym.

"Great! That saves me a tedious drive home! And take your little sister with you!" I shouted, but she didn't turn around. She simply raised her arm and gave me the middle finger.

I knew I was risking my father's wrath by not bringing Maddie and Maxine home in the car, but today she had completely exhausted my patience. I couldn't stand her for another second. Besides, I knew Neil would be getting home late from work and Susan wouldn't be back until well into the evening, so no one would find out I hadn't taken the Mayfield sisters with me.

Finally, Maddie was out of sight. I exhaled a sigh of frustration and headed to the locker room. I really needed a shower now, I think the argument with that idiot of a sister had made me sweat more than the workout. How can one person contain so much explosiveness and bad temper in such a small body?

Damn it, I hated her more than ever.

Once I reached the locker room, I stripped off and stepped into one of the showers. I noticed Tommy was there with Harrington, so I walked over to them. As I showered, Tommy continued to use that mocking tone to talk about the breakup between Steve and Nancy. He kept it up until he finished his shower and left, without receiving any response from Harrington.

When Tommy left, it was just Harrington and me. I started to talk to him, but he kept ignoring me while he lathered his hair. Realizing this wasn't working, I decided to turn off the shower and demanded his full attention. He heard me, but didn't give me a single glance, whether out of cowardice or because he still saw himself as the king of the school.

"What the hell do you want now, Hargrove?" he grunted wearily.

"Seriously, are you sulking just because the demure Wheeler went off with the photography geek?" I asked, smirking cynically. I just wanted to give him one last warning, in a more controlled manner with at least some auditory witnesses since everything could be heard in there.

"What the hell does my relationship with Nancy matter to you?" he finally looked at me.

"I couldn't care less." I said, laughing ironically, but quickly wiping the smile off my face. "But it means you're back on the market. And do you know who else is on the market?"

"Hmm, let me guess... your sister, maybe?" he snorted, letting out a small, ironic laugh.

"Bingo! Seems you're not as stupid as you look, you catch on quickly. And since you're not so dumb, I assume you know you can't get close to her, right?" I gave him a light pat on the back.

"And is she okay with that? I mean, she has a say in this, doesn't she?" he looked at me defiantly, raising an eyebrow.

"She knows exactly what's good for her. And you should too." I responded seriously.

"You're really worse than a kick in the balls, Hargrove." he snorted and turned the shower back on. "First, Maddie is an adult and can decide what to do with her life. Second, for your peace of mind, you can be sure, Maddie doesn't interest me, she's not my type."

"So, if you could just leave me alone for once, you'd be doing me a favor." he said, turning his gaze back to rinse off.

"Fine. And for your sake, it better stay that way," I finished before stepping out of the shower to dry off.