18. No More Relationship Drama

Karmen woke up suddenly, shooting up in the bed with a gasp. She had been having her usual nightmare about Eleven being dead and held her head in her hands.

"Karmen" She heard someone whisper.

"Hello?" She questioned, as she looked around the room.

Her eyes widened as memories of last night came flooding back…kissing Jonathan, then kissing the new guy and then Steve brought her to his house.

"Steve?" She called out, thinking he must have been the one who whispered her name.

"Karmen?" The voice came again, distantly.

This time she was sure it was a girl's voice…it almost sounded like Eleven, she thought to herself.

"Great, I'm losing my mind" Karmen groaned, as she hopped off the bed.

"Karmen!" The voice shouted, making her heart stop for a moment.

"El?" She gulped, as she realised the sound was coming from the closet.

She rushed over and pulled open the doors to find…nothing. No Eleven. And no one else either. Shaking her head, she walked out the room. Eleven was gone. She titled her head when she walked into the kitchen and found that someone had made her breakfast and there was a note by it.

"Couldn't be late for practice. Thought I'd let you sleep in. The spare keys are on top of the letter, so if you can just lock up when you leave. See you at school" She read out loud, a small smile on her face.

Meanwhile, Steve was not having a good morning at practice, as Billy seemed to make it his goal to make his morning difficult.

"What the hell is your problem?" Steve asked, after Billy had tried to lunge for him for the tenth time.

"I'm just trying to get to know you, Harrington. See why everyone used to call you King Steve…before you turned bitch" Billy pointed out.

"Excuse me?" Steve grimaced, while trying to keep the ball out of Billy's clutches.

"You heard me. First it was Princess Wheeler, and now Little Miss Electric has you wrapped around her finger, huh?" Billy goaded.

"Little Miss Electric?" Steve frowned, raising an eyebrow.

"I have eyes and I know what I saw last night" Billy told him.

"Wow, were you dropped on your head at birth? You think Karmen has superpowers or something?" Steve laughed it off, hoping he seemed convincing.

"Laugh all you want, Harrington. She's peaked my interest" Billy informed him.

"You stay away from her" Steve warned him.

"Or what?" Billy smirked, as he tripped Steve up and took the ball from him.

Steve watched with a scowl as Billy then leaped up and shot the basketball into the hoop, making it look easy.

The game ended soon enough, as Billy had thrashed the whole team. Steve didn't think he's morning could get any worse after his heated conversation with Nancy in the middle of the game.

"Hey!" He heard someone call behind him as he was walking towards the showers.

"Hey, finally made it, huh?" Steve smiled when he saw Karmen walking towards him.

"Yeah, maybe not in one piece…" Karmen trailed off, as her eyes quickly looked over Steve's body.

She was amazed how any one could look good after playing a sweaty game of basketball, but Steve was proving her wrong. His hair looked better than ever, there was sweat glistening down his neck…she cut herself off mid thought as she realised she had been staring at him.

Steve's attention was caught by the giggles and catcalls behind him, as Billy walked into the locker room, a trial of girls not far behind him. Steve saw Billy looking over at the pair with a smirk but was surprised when he saw that Karmen's eyes were still squarely on him.

"I wanted to return these" She stated, pulling the keys out of her bag.

"No, it's fine. You can keep them" Steve shrugged.

"Seriously?" She frowned, as he nodded.

"Nancy came by earlier…I think it's officially over between us. For good this time" Steve admitted.

"Wow, really?" She said, surprised.

"I can't deal with her stringing me along anymore" He shrugged.

"Well I'm sure the right girl is out there somewhere for you" She told him.

"I doubt that. No, I've just got to stick my head down and finish school. No more relationship drama" Steve insisted.

"Right…" Karmen trailed off.

Karmen had been waiting outside the showers for a while now, after Steve had promised to drive her home from school. She wasn't surprised he was taking so long, as she knew that Steve probably took about the same time it took her or any other girl to get ready.

"Aw, sweetheart, I didn't realise you were waiting for me" Billy smirked, as he approached her.

"In your dreams" She huffed.

"Well you were last night" He mumbled, leaning into her.

"Ugh" She grumbled, as she pushed him away.

"What? You suddenly don't want me anymore?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I don't have time for assholes like you" She retorted.

"Oh please. Every girl likes a bad boy" Billy grinned.

"I don't see any around though. Just a lonely little boy" Karmen shrugged, a small smirk on her face when she saw she was getting a rise out of him.

"You and Harrington…you're like two peas in a pod, aren't you?" Billy suggested, making Karmen frown.

"I see the way you look at him…it's just a shame he clearly doesn't feel the same way about you. Like at all" Billy told her, as she gritted her teeth.

With a triumph smirk at getting the last laugh, Billy backed off, walking out of the gym.

"He's a dick" A voice came from up in the seats of the gym.

Karmen rounded the corner to see a young ginger girl had been watching the whole scene.

"Hey…aren't you like his sister or something?" Karmen frowned.

"Or something. His dads with my mum" She explained.

"Wow…that's rough" Karmen stated, as the girl got up from her seat.

"I was supposed to get a ride home with him, but I wanted to help my…friends out with finding their pet" The girl informed her.

"What does it look like?" Karmen questioned.

"Uh…kind of a lizard" The ginger shrugged.

"Who would bring a lizard to school?" Karmen frowned.

"Dustin" She answered, as Karmen laughed.

"Ah, I should have known. So, you've been accepted into their party then?" Karmen asked.

"Maybe…Mike doesn't seem to like me" She went on.

"The last girl he was friends with…well it didn't end well…" Karmen trailed off.

"He hates me" She insisted.

"Of course, he doesn't. I could talk to them all if you wanted" Karmen suggested.

"You think they'll listen to you?" She asked.

"It's worth a shot" Karmen shrugged.

"Are you sure? I mean you don't even know me" She pointed out.

"Alright, I'm Karmen. What's your name?" She queried, holding her hand out.

"Max" The girl grinned, as she shook her hand.

"I think you and I are going to get on just fine, Max" Karmen told her.

Karmen frowned when she heard the doors to the gym suddenly slam shut, and turned to see who was there, realising someone must have been watching them. But there was no one there. She was going to walk over and see if she could catch up with whoever it had been, but Steve arrived, and she forgot all about it.

"Woah…hey, what's going on?" Karmen asked, as she saw Lucas rush past them.

"It's Will! He's having another episode. It's bad!" Lucas shouted, running towards the field.

They all chased after him, bursting through the doors and seeing Mike was already standing beside Will, trying to shake him. Steve and Max rushed ahead to see what was happening but noticed that Karmen had stopped.

"Oh my God" She gasped, looking at something above Will.

"What? What is it?" Steve asked, clearly not being able to see what she could.

"It's…it's a monster" She gulped, seeing the black swirling mass enveloping Will.

Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Just in case it wasn't clear at the beginning of the chapter it was Eleven calling to Karmen, and at the end it was Eleven who had been watching her conversation with Max. Please leave a review:)

tazsgirl6969: That's alright:)

Micky-Moo: Billy is definitely interested in Karmen now, as he's not stupid and knows there's more to her than meets the eye. He'll be using her to get to Steve quite a bit. Thanks for the review:)

RebornRose1992: Thanks for the review, here's the new chapter:)