the month following their crazy adventure down into the tunnels, hawkins becomes a hub for reporters and news photographers trying to get good stories on the events.

all they see on the news is things about the experiments leading to the monster invasion and the results of all the bullshit those scientists had created.

the air around hawkins gets colder as december falls, but it's a normal cold, now, as apposed to the one brought on by unknown creatures trying to destroy the town.

steve and tj grow closer and her fondness for him grows, but she keeps it to herself, as she's certain steve doesn't feel the same way. regardless, she's just happy to have him as her friend. steve seems to have no hard feelings from billy kicking his ass back at the byers' house.

steve and tj spend a lot of time with dustin, as steve had taken a shining to the kid. with the hawkins middle school dance approaching, dustin relies on his older friends for advice on girls, which usually leads to arguments.

on the night of the snowball, tj helps susan do max's hair.

"ow!" she groans as susan puts another clip in.

"it's gonna be worth it, i promise."

tj sits on the toilet, watching. billy passes by, and max and tj both turn to look at him. in the time since max had attacked billy for attacking steve, tj and billy's relationship, although already bad, had been almost nonexistent. tj had completely given up hope on ever having a relationship with her own twin again and had, instead, decided on being there for max.

max and tj get along well and tj had been very cooperative with taking over babysitting duty; she can tell max is grateful, too.

billy says nothing and max and tj turn away again.

"see?" says susan, completely unaware of the previous exchange. "pretty."

"you're beautiful, max," tj says. susan smiles delightedly, but max glares at her reflection before rolling her eyes. "ready to go?"

max nods and tj leads her out to the bronco. the two girls get in and tj starts the drive to the middle school.

"you think he'll ask me to dance?" max asks, referring to lucas.

"he totally will," tj nods. "you're adorable. who wouldn't ask you to dance?"

max groans. "who knew having an older sister would be this annoying?" max is teasing, but tj shakes her head.

"hey, I'm just telling the truth."

"aren't you obligated to?"

"maybe blood sisters," tj says. "we're not blood, so I get to choose to lie to you and make you feel bad about yourself. i am choosing to be honest."

tj pulls into the parking lot. "well, thanks," max says and she smiles at tj. "you're cool."

"i know," tj smirks. "always have been."

max rolls her eyes and undoes the seatbelt. "thanks for the ride."

"have a good time!" tj calls and max slams the door shut. a car pulls in behind tj and she immediately recognizes it to be steve's. tj throws her bronco into park and cuts the engine before getting out and climbing into the backseat.

"hey!" she greets. dustin has his hair all done up and he's looking super cute. dustin looks at himself in the mirror on the sun visor.

tj and steve both reassure dustin that he looks great.

"you're gonna go in there," says steve. "look like a million bucks."

"yeah," dustin nods.

"slay 'em dead," tj agrees.

"like a lion," dustin says. he does his weird purr thing and tj cringes.

"yeah, don't do that, okay?"

"okay."

dustin and steve shake hands. "good luck."

tj gives dustin a pat on the back as encouragement. dustin sends both his friends a smile and climbs out of the car. steve turns to tj.

"you wanna come over?"

tj grins. "sure. you driving?"

"meet there?"

tj groans before climbing out of steve's car. she follows behind him to his house and parks on the street. together, they walk in. the house is totally empty.

"what do you want to do?" tj asks him. steve grins at her and turns on some music.

"we could have our own snowball."

she shakes her head. "i don't own any dresses."

steve shrugs. "you look fine in that."

tj looks down at her sweatpants and her hoodie from her california high school. steve places his hands on her waist and tj wraps her arms around steve's neck.

"you're not a bad dancer," steve comments, sounding surprised.

"hey, i know my way around a dance floor."

steve smiles as they dance around. "you think you'll go back to california after graduation?"

"who knows," tj says. "this place might be growing on me."

"hope you don't mean literally," steve jokes. "i want to be totally over that shit."

"no kidding."

the music fades into a new song, one not even meant for slow dancing to. they stop dancing and tj looks up at steve again.

"what now?"