CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO.
2x09: The Gate

ONE MONTH LATER
DECEMBER 15

So Corey's parents were getting divorced, which was really fun.

(Sarcasm.)

After the events in the tunnels, after they'd all made it out and Billy's headlight had dimmed so that they could see again, Sam crumbled to the ground. It could have been a multitude of things that made her pass out—the fumes of the tunnels, the amount of running, the exhaustion, the anxiety, many things—but they took one look at her torso, and they quickly concluded that was the real reason.

Steve forced the kids to let him drive, claiming that one of them driving would never happen again (little did he know that Corey would be starting Driver's Ed soon). He rushed them all to the hospital, this time with Sam laying across the four boys' laps instead of Steve, and it was much more enjoyable considering how light Sam was and how clingy Mike was being since Corey saved him.

Corey knew Sam hated hospitals, knew the last thing she would ever want was let anyone bring her to one and be treated. But this injury needed attention—Corey had seen it when they picked Sam up from Hawkins Lab and rushed her to the Byers household. There was way too much flesh missing to be considered normal, and way too much blood for any sane person to handle.

Sam was definitely not sane, so Corey knew this would be a problem.

Corey also knew Stephanie being called from home, discovering her little sister was in the hospital—in the same place her parents had been when they'd gotten the news—would be a problem. He knew Stephanie's anxiety was serious, because she'd forced Corey's father to drive her to the hospital.

(The same uncle she hadn't talked to in two years since he called her a word that started with a d and rhymed with Mike.)

((Yeah, Stephanie hated him the most.))

So when she ran into the waiting room with Daniel begrudgingly at her side, Corey's eyes magnified greatly in shock. It was very hard to explain to Stephanie what happened without crying, telling her the truth, or convincing her Sam was going to die.

Then, when they realized Corey's father was a useless fucker who didn't know anything—the whole party realized it too, and it was very embarrassing to know that all of Corey's darkest secrets were being unveiled now—Corey's mother was contacted, all the way from Missouri away on a business trip.

Somehow, Corey's mother had made it back to Indiana by the time noon arrived the next day, which Corey didn't think was even possible. By then, Sam had finished with surgery, though she was still unconscious. She'd needed a "full-thickness skin graft," or whatever that meant. Sam would probably know if she was awake.

All Corey could notice was that Mike, Lucas, Max, Dustin, and Steve all stayed for Sam. They'd stayed. And when Will was no longer possessed, he, Jonathan, Nancy, and Joyce even rushed over the hospital, worried about Sam as well. None of them even seemed to care they'd been sitting in the hospital for eight hours. It all made his heart swell in a way that felt good, but he simultaneously hated. It was too much emotion for one emotionally stunted kid to handle.

Then, everything got even more hectic when Kathryn and Daniel Gray started going at it in the middle of the hospital waiting room.

It started when Kathryn yelled at Daniel, wondering how he didn't notice Sam and Corey were missing for five days, and how he let Sam get in this state. It ended with everything being hashed out—Daniel's treatment of the kids, what he called them, Kathryn's lack of involvement to stop this, Daniel's cheating on Kathryn, everything. In front of everyone too, so now everyone Corey held dear but pretended not to knew everything about his home life. Sam's too, by association.

It was embarrassing.

Then Kathryn screamed the final blow (I'M FILING FOR A DIVORCE!), and Daniel was escorted out of the hospital promptly after.

Corey had seen his father once since that night, but not in a month.

Stephanie had to maneuver around the many boxes around the house to even reach his room—Corey, Sam, Stephanie, and Kathryn were moving out of this house and going someplace else around Hawkins. The house was fine, only two blocks away from the high school and middle school; it was small, of course, but it was fine. They were actually supposed to move today, but Kathryn delayed the moving date for an event Corey had been dreading greatly.

The Hawkins Middle Snow Ball.

"I don't even want to go to this stupid fucking bullshit dance," Corey grumbled as Stephanie helped him get ready. Sam was getting ready at Max's house—the girl couldn't help herself from dishing out fashion assistance—so Stephanie was forcing Corey to let her help him. Fucking Hughes girls.

This was not going successfully.

"This is your last year of middle school, Core," Stephanie groaned, forcing Corey to keep his head straight. "You can tell the people who gave you shit for being held back 'fuck you' by looking better than them all."

Corey glared at her through the mirror. "I tell them 'fuck you' every day. This will not be different."

"Just cooperate with me. Please." Stephanie exhaled. "God, you're worse than Sam, and Sam is a nightmare to help get ready."

"I don't want to cooperate." Corey scowled, fidgeting with the tie that was way too tight around his neck. "I don't want to go to this stupid dance, and I don't want to do a stupid dance with a stupid girl I won't even be interested in."

Stephanie sighed, making eye contact with him through the mirror. "Come on. You can definitely have fun, whether you like someone or not. I mean, I'm gay, and I danced with a guy at the Snow Ball, and I still had fun."

"Yeah, well, I'd have fun too if I was dancing with a guy," Corey muttered under his breath without even realizing it.

Then, he did realize it.

Corey's eyes magnified. His head snapped up, looking at the mirror to see Stephanie's eyes were widened as well. Her hands had gone completely still on his hair, and she looked very unsure about what to do.

Stephanie blinked, fully taken aback. "Um—"

"I didn't mean to say that," Corey panicked. He spun around in the swivel chair to face Stephanie properly."I did not mean to stay that. Shit. Shit!"

"Corey—"

"I don't know why I said that," Corey rambled. "That didn't mean anything—"

"Corey?"

"Well. No. It did mean something. And that something is probably what you think that something is—"

"Core."

"Okay. Fine. I'm gay. You caught me. But no one knows, and I wasn't ready to tell anyone—"

"Corey Alan Gray."

"I just told you though, so I really hope you're okay with it, because if not, I might just throw myself out the window, and then I really won't end up going to the dance—"

"Corey!" Stephanie snapped, and Corey's mouth shut quickly.

He looked back up at Stephanie's face to see her face was gentle and soft, curtained by her artificially dyed pink hair. Sometimes he couldn't see how Sam and Stephanie were related, until she made faces like this, and they looked identical in his mind.

"Corey," she said kindly. "It's okay."

"It is?" Corey questioned timidly, trying not to sound small, but the fear crept into his voice anyway.

Stephanie laughed incredulously, shaking her head with almost a sort of fondness that had Corey even more confused. "Of course it is. And, well, you know I'm gay too, Core. I'd be a stupid fucking hypocrite to be like, weirded out or anything. I'm proud of you, okay? I know that took a lot, and I'm proud of you."

Corey had no clue why his throat felt so tight, why he had to screw his eyes shut to fight a certain stinging in his eyes. What was this feeling? Corey hated it. He also wanted more of it. He was also confused.

"Uh," Corey squeaked, and it was so high-pitched he cleared his throat to sound like a fifteen-year-old again. "Thanks, I... I'm proud—proud of you too."

And then Stephanie was hugging him, and Corey got really confused when something wet was running down his face at the action. It was warm, and he was feeling emotions he didn't want to feel, and he loved all of it the same.

He returned the embrace, and if he was squeezing Stephanie too tight, too awkwardly, she thankfully didn't say anything.

When she pulled away, there was an amused look on her face.

"God, Sam is gonna freak if she finds out."

"What?" Corey asked, terror flooding him. Sam? His little Sam would freak? "F-freak? What—what do you mean?"

Stephanie must have realized how that sounded, because she immediately retracted. "No, no! Not in a bad way! I mean that she'll be so excited and supportive. Really... really supportive." A traumatized look passed Stephanie's features as she thought of Sam's great kindness. "Like seriously supportive." But it wasn't actually traumatizing, it was kind of sweet, and it made Stephanie laugh. "She's still buying me rainbow pens and socks and shit and it's been four years."

Corey had to laugh at that too. That did sound exactly like something Sam would do, he didn't know how he didn't notice it before. And, honestly, Corey was 99% sure Sam already knew—she was smart, and she had eyes, and if Corey couldn't even hide his homosexuality from damn Stephanie, than he definitely wasn't hiding it well from his best friend.

"You should tell Sam," Stephanie started, now that Sam was brought up. Corey didn't understand the sad look on her face. "Since you two have gotten so, you know, close..."

It was jealousy on Stephanie's features, mingled with an immense sadness. Corey knew Sam and Stephanie weren't as close anymore, but it wasn't fair to Stephanie, because they couldn't be as close anymore. Sam refused to let Stephanie know about the Upside Down and everything that came with it. Corey did know about the Upside Down and everything that came with it.

So, now Corey and Sam were close like Sam and Stephanie used to be.

With a note of guilt, Corey tried, "Steph—"

"No, Corey, it's—it's fine," Stephanie cut him off, trying to convince herself. "I mean, I'm happy. I know Sam was upset when you two... grew apart, so..."

And she shrugged, as if trying to dismiss the whole situation, but Corey couldn't help feeling terribly guilty. He wasn't used to guilt, or having a conscious, but he's had to deal with one ever since he joined the party last year. Instead of an angel and devil on his shoulders, he had a tiny Sam on one side and his own self on the other.

So. Wow. Corey had just come out and felt guilt for the first time. What a day.

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"Yeah, you got it, see?" Joyce smiled, holding onto both of Will's hands as she twisted and moved to the beat of "Jingle Bell Rock," leading him to do the same. She laughed. "Wow!"

The two of them danced in their small living room, Jonathan laughing either with them or at them as he recorded his mom and baby brother with Bob Newby's camera.

Will smiled awkwardly when he accidentally stepped on Joyce's foot. "Sorry!" he apologized, before looking up from his feet to find Jonathan. He blushed, still moving along to the music with his mother. "Do you always have to be filming everything?"

"No, no." Jonathan playfully shook his head. He teased, "Just the good stuff."

"Are you sure people still dance like this?" Will asked Joyce, one hand to the side holding hers, the other wrapped around her waist.

Joyce shrugged her shoulders casually, nodding confidently. "Yeah. It's just what's happening."

Doubtfully, Will looked back at Jonathan, at the camera.

"Is it what's happening?" he questioned.

Joyce shot him a pointed look and Jonathan responded, "Yeah, yeah, it's what's happening."

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Mike stood at the bottom of his stairs miserably, hearing the camera shutter click again and again. Apparently his mother couldn't refrain herself from getting mediocre polaroids of Mike glaring into the lens.

A bright smile stayed on Karen's face as another polaroid fell out of the camera and to the floor. She scrambled to pick it up, said, "Oooh, wait!"

"Alright, that's enough," Mike groaned, hand gripping the wooden banister of his stairs.

Karen shook her head, stuffing the picture she'd just taken in her pocket. "One more, okay? Just one more."

His mom held the polaroid camera back up to her face to take another, and Mike's face screwed up in displeasure.

"Why?" he whined embarrassingly, very grateful Corey wasn't here to witness this. He'd have kept a hundred of the polaroids by now, just to make fun of Mike.

"You look so handsome," Karen cooed in a cutesy tone.

"Mom!" Mike snapped.

"Mike." Karen grinned right back, unaffected by her son's attitude.

She took another picture. Then another. Then another.

Each one Mike looked more miserable than the last.

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"Hey... wanna dance?"

Lucas grinned in front of his mirror, practicing for what to say at the Snow Ball. He was hyping himself up, internally telling himself he looked good.

But he shook his head with his hands on hips. "No," he muttered. That definitely didn't sound right. It needed to be perfect.

Lucas removed his hands from his hips, trying to make himself sound more cool. He talked to the mirror casually this time.

"We should, you know, get out there like, do our thing—" Lucas cut himself off, cringing. "Stop."

He tried again—one hand on his hip and the other pointing at the mirror. Lucas opened his mouth to talk and...

And nothing would come out.

Lucas groaned frustratedly. He tried shaking out all his nerves, rubbing his cheeks to get them working properly.

You can do this. You can do this.

"I love this song!" Lucas tried again with a friendly smile. "You—?"

"Yeah, I love it," Erica teased from his doorframe, having been watching her older brother embarrass himself enough to have years' worth of blackmail. "But not as much as I love you, Lukey."

Lucas glared daggers at his sister. He marched for the door. "Get out of my room!"

The door closed with a slam.

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Sam had to stand on a stool to see over Max's head, since she was taller than her. Max didn't like a lot of girlish stuff, which was fine—Sam wanted her to feel comfortable with how she looked. She wore a sweater and pants, and Sam put product in her hair to hold tight waves. She was currently doing one Dutch braid at the side of Max's hair; her intention was to pin it down with a cute clip when the braid reached over Max's ear.

In typical Sam fashion, she rambled on and on throughout the process.

"So then I heard from Donna who heard from Andrew who heard from Dylan who heard from Karen who heard from Carrie that he wants to—"

"Ow, ow," Max winced, tilting away from Sam's hand as she stabbed Max's head with the barrette. "That hurts."

Sam hadn't even realized she'd been hurting Max. "I'm sorry," she worried, quickly moving the barrette. "Didn't mean to do that."

She clipped the barrette in Max's hair—gently this time—and Max sent her a forgiving face through the mirror.

"Anyway," Sam continued, "so Jay said he was going to ask me to dance, and now I'm freaking out, because I don't know how to dance, or how to talk to him, or how to do anything, because he's weird and scary!"

"Sam, you're rambling again."

Sam immediately took in a deep breath, hopping off the stool now that she was done with Max's hair. "Sorry," she muttered.

She moved closer to the mirror so she could see what she was doing as she situated a thick, white headband in her hair.

"Also, I don't get why you're scared," Max said. She watched Sam as she did her own hair now that Sam finished with hers. "Just go in there and dance with the guy. It shouldn't be that confusing."

Sam groaned, because it was confusing—or, at least, it was complicated. And she didn't like complicated. She just wanted things to be easy. She liked having things figured out, clear for her to know.

"If I go in there, then Jay's going to know I like him... and I do."

"And he likes you too," Max said earnestly. This had been an ongoing conversation between the two girls since they met. Sam still had yet to believe her.

"We don't know that, Max," Sam stressed, avoiding Max's eyes as she purposely took an absurd amount of time to put on a headband. "If a girl like me lets on she likes a guy like him, then he usually ends up laughing in her face."

Max reached forward and took Sam's headband from her hands. Sam turned to face Max in shock, and looked even more taken aback when Max started putting the headband in Sam's hair for her.

"If he did that, he'd miss out on the best thing that will probably ever happen to him," Max said quietly. Then she was putting in the headband, so she turned Sam around to face the mirror again. Max smiled at Sam encouragingly through the glass. "See? It's not that hard."

Sam smiled back at Max. Although the grin was small, Max could tell it was genuine. Her fingers fidgeted on the bathroom counter, sliding back and forth.

"You know," Sam started, glancing to the side to actually face Max, "I've never really... had any friends who were girls. And I do now. And it's... pretty cool."

Max's grin grew, and so did Sam's. It seemed that cool was an inside thing of their friendship that only they really seemed to understand. Max liked having a girl best friend; she could relate to what Sam had just said, she'd never actually had friends who were girls before, so this friendship meant a lot to her.

She stared at Sam, wearing the golden B necklace she refused to take off. Sam had turned fourteen seven days ago, and even though she was one of the older members of the party, she looked so young.

Max was just about to open her mouth to respond when she saw a blur of blue out of the corner of her eye. In unison, Sam and Max turned to see Billy standing in front of the bathroom door, just staring at them.

Sam stared back, thinking of the Byers house—thinking of holding Billy at gunpoint, thinking of Max taking him down.

When her green eyes met his brown ones, Sam hoped Billy was afraid.

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"Son of a bitch! Son of a bitch!" Dustin yelled, running around his house frantically.

His mom watched him on their rocking chair, Mews 2 tiny in her hands. "Where did you see it last?" she asked.

"Right here," Dustin gestured to the kitchen counter, "where I put it."

"What's in there that's so important anyway?" Claudia shrugged. She watched Dustin push past a MeowMix cereal box. "You look fabulous, baby!"

Dustin ignored her, picking up a brown, paper bag.

"Got it!" he cheered with a smile. He ran back out the kitchen and right for his room in a rushed manner.

There was a doorbell ring at the door.

"That's your ride, Dusty!" Claudia called.

Out from the brown bag, Dustin pulled out a can of Farah Fawcett's hair spray. Then, he got to work.

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Sam was hissing for her friends to be nice as Max began teasingly poking at Dustin's hair in an attempt to locate the bird's nest Lucas claimed was hiding in there somewhere. Corey choked on his bland lemonade with a cackle as Will pat his back. Mike was laughing too. Sam just continued telling Dustin he looked great, and not to listen to them, despite how huge his hair may be.

"I worked hard!" Dustin snapped over the sound of snickers.

Sam nodded softly. "I'm sure you did, Dustin. You look handsome."

"Thank you, Specks," he said her nickname loudly and passive-aggressively. "The only one with respect."

His other friends let out laughs, and Sam shrugged apologetically at Dustin. She'd tried. He did look handsome, though that hairstyle reminded her a lot of Steve Harrington. Sam worried that Steve was corrupting the poor boy.

Then, they all stopped joking around when "I'm Not In Love" by 10cc began playing.

All the smiles the party wore washed off as they stood together awkwardly. They looked at the dance floor, where it was beginning to fill up with young couples wrapped around each other.

"Well," Corey began, and all their heads snapped to him, because he was the only one who didn't seem awkward, "I'm not gonna be the freak who asks my fucking cousin to dance, so... Mayfield, you're looking rather dashing tonight."

Max raised an amused eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Oh, come on, am I not charming?" Corey teased, holding a hand for Max to take.

The two had gotten closer ever since Kathryn filed for a divorce, since Max heard Daniel relay his opinions on his son and his nieces. Max knew all about divorce, especially the complicated ones when you end up stuck living with just your mom. She knew what it felt like, and she didn't want Corey to go through it alone. She also knew Corey hated people besides Sam being emotional or too kind with him, so Max was there for him in her own obscure way that didn't freak him out.

"You're insufferable is what you are," Max shot back, but she grabbed his offered hand anyway. "Come on."

So Max pulled Corey out into the dance floor, and Sam was happy to see that Corey didn't seem upset, that he was actually happy. She worried about him coming here tonight, in fear he wouldn't have a good time as he kept saying. Luckily, Max Mayfeild was awesome and really easy to have fun with.

        "It's just a silly phase I'm going through..."

Next, Lucas was opening his mouth to speak. Until a certain dirty blonde came walking up to the five remaining. Sam turned, and she was surprised beyond reason to see Justin Zimmerman's tall frame staring down at her.

"Hey, Hughes," Justin greeted, and Lucas took a defeated step back. Sam didn't even notice Mike, Will, and Dustin giving Lucas comforting pats.

        "Don't get me wrong, don't think you've got it made..."

She stared back at him, and Max's voice was like a faint echo in the back of her mind she tried focusing on. She was right—it shouldn't be this confusing.

"Hi, Jay," Sam forced herself to say. "What's up?"

        "I'm not in love, no, no..."

"Uh," Justin gestured to the dance floor, "I wanted to know if you, you know—if you would dance with me?"

Sam grinned back at him, an expression she couldn't refrain from making even though she tried. She it gave her the courage to grab Justin's hand with a nod.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."

Justin's face broke out into a charming grin that made Sam's chest tighten. He grabbed Sam's hand back smoothly.

"Alright," he muttered. "Awesome."

        "I like to see you, but then again, that doesn't mean you mean that much to me..."

Justin was pulling Sam out onto the dance floor, and Lucas was being left behind. Sam and Justin had smiles on as they faced each other. Sam could only vaguely remember she had no clue how to dance; as Justin wrapped his hands around Sam's waist, Sam looked around to see what the other girls were doing. Max had her arms around Corey's neck, already looking at Sam with a proud look. Sam sent her an excited grin before glancing at Justin, throwing her arms around his neck. She was a little too short, and had to stretch up as much as possible, but she hadn't necessarily failed at anything, yet.

        "Don't tell your friends about the two of us..."

Sam and Justin started swaying back and forth, taking a bit to fall into a smooth rhythm. Eventually, they did, and Sam was doing it! She looked to the side for a second and noted that Will was dancing with Carol, who was in their grade. Sam didn't think the two had ever interacted, but she was happy to see someone asked him to dance.

        "Big boys don't cry..."

"You know," Justin caught her attention again, and Sam's head faced back to him, "I was worried you weren't gonna want to dance with me."

Sam had to bark out an incredulous laugh. "Me? I thought I was being totally obvious!"

"I'm dumber than you, Hughes, remember?" Justin teased. "It wasn't obvious to me—you're so hard to read."

        "I keep your picture upon the wall, it hides a nasty stain that's lying there..."

Sam tilted her head at him, internally reprimanding him for calling himself dumb. "Well I did. I do. You're... okay," she teased.

"Wow. 'Okay.' I can always rely on you to strengthen my ego, Hughes," Justin mused sarcastically, repeating what he'd said to her that day in the hall.

"That's what I'm here for. Reminding the jocks their actual place in society."

Then, Justin was grabbing Sam's hand, pushing their arms out, and turning her around under his own arm. Sam laughed out in surprise, not having expected him to pull that move.

        "I know you know it doesn't mean that much to me..."

Justin pulled Sam back in, and they defaulted back to dancing normally, swaying to the music.

        "I'm not in love, no, no, it's because..."

Sam's attention turned to what everyone else in the gym was looking at. Nancy was pulling Dustin from the bleachers and out onto the dance floor. She was dancing with him, when no one else would. It made the corners of Sam's mouth tug up, grateful Nancy was kind enough to do that for him. When Dustin looked anxiously around, finding Sam's eyes in the crowd, she winked back at him, and all the confidence rushed back into Dustin at once.

        "Ooh, you'll wait a long time for me...
        Ooh, you'll wait a long time
        Ooh, you'll wait a long time for me
        Ooh, you'll wait a long time..."

And everything was going great, it was all going really, really great.

Until it wasn't.

Swaying in Sam's arms, Sam noticed that Justin's attention was no longer on her. Originally, she'd thought Justin was staring at Dustin in bewilderment that he was dancing with a high schooler, but now that the attention was off of Dustin and Nancy, Sam knew it wasn't that. She followed where Justin's gaze was settled on in the distance...

Carrie Cunningham.

She was sitting on the bleachers, alone, looking really upset. She looked so sad that even Sam began to feel bad for her, even if Carrie had been tormenting her since the second grade. She still couldn't help but hurt that no one was dancing with her.

        "I'm not in love, so don't forget it
        It's just a silly phase I'm going through..."

The song was ending anyway, Sam reasoned as she sucked in air through her nostrils. Though her heart broke at the thought, she managed, "Go."

Justin's head whipped back down at Sam in confusion. "What?" he wondered, but Sam had a feeling he already knew what she meant. He wasn't that dumb. His face was flaming up, as if caught in the act by something.

"Cunningham," Sam clarified, nodding in Carrie's direction. "Go to her."

Justin blinked rapidly, face turning more red. "What? No, I—"

"Jay," she broke in softly, forcing an unaffected smile onto her face, ignoring the pain in her chest, "I know you want to. It's okay."

"I... Are you sure?" Justin asked, staring down at her warily.

"Of course," Sam lied. "She deserves to have a good time."

        "And just because I call you up
        Don't get me wrong, don't think you've got it made..."

"We had one good dance together, didn't we?" Justin said, aiming for consoling her and making himself feel better.

"We did," Sam agreed.

Justin took his arms off of Sam's waist. He walked away, towards the direction of Carrie on the bleachers.

        "I'm not in love
        I'm not in love..."

Sam stood alone on the dance floor as the song faded out. She watched as Justin moved to sit with Carrie on the bleachers.

The music transitioned into a more upbeat one now that the slow one was over. Sam nearly instantly recognized the chords of "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey.

"Hey, Sam?"

Sam whipped around in a jolt, hoping that no one had seen the frown on her face. She'd been so zoned out on Justin and Carrie that the person standing behind her scared the crap out of her.

"Oh," Sam's voice cracked, and she had yet to clear her throat. "Hey, Lucas. Sorry. I didn't... see you there."

"I know," Lucas said a little sadly. "That's okay."

Kids were started to group up and sing along to lyrics at the change of song, and Sam figured Carrie and Justin were out on the dance floor now, but she let that fade away for the sake of never missing sight of Lucas again. She hated the idea of him being upset on a night everyone should be happy.

"You like Journey?" she asked, and it sounded like some sort of reconciliation.

Lucas gave a shaky smile, though grateful for Sam's way of smoothing them along. "Anyone who doesn't like Journey should be locked in an insane asylum."

Sam began full out cackling at the comment: that was something her dad always used to say. It was kind of just good to hear fond things of him and laugh rather than cry. She would always be grateful for Lucas Sinclair and his effect.

"I forgot my dad forced his music snobbiness onto you guys too," Sam said.

Lucas's grin was genuine this time. Then, the real horror began. "He took the midnight train going anywhere!" he sang.

Sam's face lit up, but it was send Lucas a look that was almost scared, her eyebrows raised and her mouth both smiling and gaping at the same time.

"Oh God."

"Come on, Sam," Lucas said, starting to bop his shoulders and motion for her to do the same.

"Lucas!"

"I know you want to!" he shouted as the music started building up, dancing like a crazy person. "A singer in a smoky room!"

Lucas held out his hand toward Sam in a fist, like it was a microphone. Sam was too busy laughing to react, but she didn't have to. Dustin appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Lucas's microphone-hand for her, singing, "A smell of wine and cheap perfume!"

Sam was still cackling, but she disregarded that for the sake of singing with all her friends.

"For a smile they can share the night! It goes on, and on, and on, and on!"

All three of them were jumping up and down to the music now, and Sam thought this was much easier with friends. She was glad Lucas had come up to her, had made her feel better.

Max and Corey reunited with them soon, because maybe they could hear the trio's collective butchering of the song. They were both very judgmental people, but just this once, they joined in on the chaos.

"Strangers waitin' up and down the boulevard, their shadows searchin' in the night!"

Sam was surprised to find that El showed up to the Snow Ball, as she was pretty sure Hopper was hell-bent on keeping her safe and sheltered, but she obviously wasn't going to complain. She wanted El here, and she didn't want to ruin this moment—El joined the singing group with Mike, and Will appeared not long after.

The party of eight jumped and danced as crazily as every other kid on the dance floor. They kept swinging each other into wild dance moves, cackling as they did so, and Lucas trying to twirl Sam was no exception. She felt so light-hearted, this wasn't awkward like it was with Justin. She smiled at him, and he smiled back, and it just felt easy.

Sam gave him a twirl of his own too, and they erupted into giggles again.

"DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'! HOLD ON TO THAT FEELIN'! STREETLIGHTS, PEOPLEEEE! DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'! HOLD ONNNN! STREELIGHTS, PEOPLEEEE! DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'! HOLD ON TO THAT FEELIN'! STREETLIGHTS, PEOPLEEEEEEE!"

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Published: January 15, 2024
Re-published: October 30, 2025

BAILEY YAPS...

And that's a wrap on Season 2! Hope everyone enjoyed, this season will always be my underrated baby.

I'm so excited for Season 3. I had so much fun writing it, and Sam has a lot of revelations that will probably answer questions y'all have about her character

AND UNCLE DAN IS GONE FOR GOOD FOLKS!!! NO ONE MOURNS THE WICKEDDDDD!!!

COREY FINALLY GETTING THE HUG HE DESERVES!! CONGRATS ON COMING OUT KING WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!

I literally HAD to include all the kids getting ready for the Snow Ball. those scenes are just so cute. And I wanted to make Lucas's hurt a million times over when you read the scene at the dance. Sorry

I feel so bad for Lucas man and he's in store for a lot more heartbreak in the season to come. But so is Sam. So they're even? And I have a lot of thoughts on this? Because I will defend both of them until my last dying breath?

So this is basically what happened after the end of the last chapter right