That weekend, Sean and Dave drove the kids to the arcade. It was a popular hangout, besides the mall and the roller rink. The arcade was packed with teens, with a clear divide by delineated cliques.
The burnouts hung out at the booths along the wall, in the dark and shadowy part of the room. The nerds and geeks were all glued to the arcade machines or hanging out by the snack bar. Then there were the rich kids and the jocks who took over the booths in the center of the arcade. Kat scanned the room, there was something almost symbolic about it, as if the cliques knew that their place, both literally and figuratively.
Kat, Scott, and Scott's girlfriend Kelly, found a booth in the middle of the room, within the rest of the popular kids from school. Scott and Kelly took one side of the booth and Kat took the other.
Kat quickly fell into a conversation about clothes with Kelly. She could see Scott shooting her glares, out of the corner of her eye. She knew he was annoyed with her for having to listen to two girls chatting away.
She was just in the middle of telling Kelly about a cute red top she'd seen last week, when she caught sight of Billy. He was across the room, hunched over an arcade game, thrusting the joystick about and muttering under his breath.
Kat smiled. He looked so adorable, with his attention so fixed on the game. A crowd surrounded him. Kat realized that she'd completely dropped her conversation with Kelly, but it seemed Scott had taken advantage of her momentary distraction to recapture his girlfriend's attention.
Kat shifted her gaze back to Billy. She watched as Billy flipped the joystick back, and then softly call over his shoulder to a guy in the crowd behind him. Another boy stepped up and took over for Billy. Billy laughed and said something to the guy taking over, and then gave him a slap on the back before stepping away. Kat found herself enamored.
With a quick turn of his head, Billy caught Kat's eye's staring at him. She cringed. Her face flushed and she looked away. She twisted her hands together in her lap and hoped he hadn't noticed. He was going to think she was some kind of creepy stalker.
She stiffened. Billy was walking straight towards her. She tried to push away some of her embarrassment and panic. She sent a smile his way, and he returned it, along with a wave.
When he reached the side of her table, he looked down and asked, "Can I sit down?"
"Sure," Kat replied. She lifted her purse, moving it out of the way to make room.
"Hey Scott," Billy said. He reached his hand over the table and shook Scott's hand.
"Hey." Scott said uncaringly.
Then Billy settled down next to Kat. "Hey Kelly."
"Hi Billy," Kelly happily replied.
Kat caught a glimpse of Sean and Dave hovering at the edge of the room. She frowned. Sean was engaged in conversation with some friends. His back was turned to them. But she caught Dave's eye staring at her. Dave leaned against the wall crossed his arms in front of his chest watching them. She knew it was only a matter of time before he notified Sean. She had no idea what would happen then. Hopefully, he wouldn't embarrass her.
She turned her head to see Billy smile as he watched her scoping out Sean and Dave. Billy nudged her in the side with his elbow.
"Gees, you really have a security team," he joked.
"Yes," Kat sighed. She looked down at her hands nervously. "They go everywhere with me. It isn't my choice."
Kat was a bit embarrassed that her brother and his friend were lurking at the edge of the room.
She couldn't imagine what Billy must think about it. But at the same time, she was grateful for their presence. There was a big part of her that liked having them around. It made her feel safe. That fear of being along at the foster home, bullied and the unknown of ever coming home, was still raw.
Kat had just finished telling him about something funny her math teacher said, when he blurted out the question he'd been wanting to ask her since he sat down.
"Can I get your number?"
Kat's eyes widened, and her mouth popped open. Her heart sped up. For a moment, he looked nervous as if her pause mean she was going to turn him down, but it was just surprise. She smiled softly and blinked a few times.
"Sure," Kat said. "I'll give you my number."
She reached into her purse, and dug around for a moment, finally retrieving a small spiral notebook and a blue pen.
"Good luck getting through," she added, as she scrawled her number on the notepaper. "You know...the security team. I don't really answer the phone. So you might have to try a few times."
Only the boys knew the answer for not answering the phone. Hopefully, her brothers would tell her Billy is on the phone or that he called. The last thing she wanted to have to do is answer the phone, just in case that certain person called.
"Thanks for the tip," Billy chuckled. "Do you want to go to a party with me tonight? It's at Sweeney's house."
"You guys can come too," Billy invited. Looking at Scott and Kelly across the table at them. He toted an apologetic smile.
Scott nodded.
"We're actually already going." He said.
"Great," Billy replied. He turned back towards Kat, "You want to catch a ride with us? Jim's brother is going to drive us." Billy offered.
Kat shifted in her seat, looking away and chewing at the corner of her lip.
"No," she said slowly. "That's okay. Sean will drive us."
"Okay," Billy said.
"What are you guys doing the rest of the weekend? I mean tomorrow?" Billy hopped up backwards, out of the booth dragged by his jacket and pushed to the side.
Everyone's eyes from the table shot up to see Sean letting go his grip from Billy's jacket. He then gave Scott and Kat an annoyed look. He had obviously seen enough.
"Come on, let's go. We're leaving." Sean pointed to the door. They scooted out of the booth. Sean stood between Kat and Billy. Dave walked out of the arcade first and Sean followed everyone out to head home.
Billy strolled back to his friends with a huge smile, they had been watching it unfold.
"So how'd it go?" Jim eagerly asked.
"I got her number." Billy had a full smile and looked down at the paper with her name and number scribbled across the center. He held it up. Showing every bit of his adorable smile and his obvious infatuation with Kat.
"Alright!" Jim congratulated. They high-fived.
"Sean kicked me out though. Her brothers are serious." Billy looked at Jim with a smile, almost proud he was pushed around by an older Stafford brother.
"Yeah, we saw, dude. I told you, she's going to be a hard catch." Jim grinned and pointed at Billy.
"Yeah, I don't care if she's tough to get, I like her."
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