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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 immediately passed out. It could have been a multitude of things that made her go unconscious — the fumes of the tunnels, the amount of running, the exhaustion, the anxiety — many, 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 none of them driving would happen ever again (little did he know that Corey would be starting Driver's Ed after December). He rushed them all to the hospital, this time with Sam laying across the four boys' lap 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 is let anyone bring her to one and be treated. But this injury needed attention — Corey had seen it when they picked the unconscious Sam up from the hospital and rushed her to the Byers' house. 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 call — 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 Corey's dad begrudgingly at her side, Corey's eyes widened greatly in shock. It was very hard to explain to Stephanie — and to his dad — what happened without crying, telling them the truth, or convincing them Sam was going to die.

Then, when they realized Corey's dad 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 secrets were being unveiled right now — Corey's mom was contacted, all the way from Missouri, away on a business trip.

Somehow, Corey's mom had made it back to Indiana by the time noon arrived, which Corey didn't think was even possible. By then, Sam had been done with surgery, though 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 had all stayed for Sam. They'd stayed. After Will was no longer possessed, he, Jonathan, Nancy, and Joyce had 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 just got even more hectic when Kathryn and Daniel Gray started going at it in the middle of the hospital waiting room.

It started when Corey's mom 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 that Corey held dear but pretended not to, knew everything about Corey's 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 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 handing out fashion help — so Stephanie had forced Corey to let her help him.

It 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 that gave you shit for being held back 'fuck you' by looking better than them all."

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

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

"I don't want to cooperate," scowled Corey, 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 that I won't even be interested in."

His older cousin sighed, making eye contact with him using the mirror, said, "Come on, Core. 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'm sure I'd have fun, too, if I was dancing with a guy," Corey muttered under his breath, eyes glued to his lap, 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 magnified as well. Her hands had gone completely still on his hair, and she looking very unsure what to do.

Stephanie blinked, fully taken aback. "Um—"

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

"Corey—"

"I don't know why I said that," Corey began rambling. "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 was not 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 actually end up not 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.

Kindly, she said, "Corey, it's okay."

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

Stephanie laughed incredulously, shaking her head in an almost 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 tight, why he had to blink away a certain blurriness in his eyes. What was this feeling? Corey hated it. He also wanted more of it. He was also very confused.

"Uh," squeaked Corey, and it was so high-pitched he cleared his throat to actually sound like a fifteen-year-old again. "Th-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 it all of the same. Corey 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 Stephanie's face. She huffed, "God, Sam is gonna freak if she finds out."

"What?" asked Corey, a terrified look on his face. Sam? His little Sam would freak? "F-Freak? What — What do you mean?"

Then, Stephanie must have realized how that sounded, because she immediately took it back with, "No, no! Not in a bad way! I mean that she'll be so excited and supportive... really supportive," a traumatized look was on Stephanie's features as she thought of Sam's great kindness, "like super, super 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 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 until she continued, "Since you two have gotten so... close..."

It was jealousy on Stephanie's features, and an immense sadness. Corey knew Sam and Stephanie weren't as close anymore, and it wasn't fair to Stephanie, because they couldn't be as close anymore. Sam could not let Stephanie know about the Upside Down, and everything that came with it. Corey did know. 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 brush the whole situation off, but Corey couldn't help feeling terribly guilty. He's not used to guilt, or having a conscious, but he's had 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 the music, leading her son 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 one of Bob Newby's cameras.

Will smiled awkwardly when he accidentally stepped on his mom's foot. "Sorry!" he apologized, before looking up from his feet to find his brother. He blushed, still moving along to "Jingle Bell Rock" 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 his mom, 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 his brother.

Joyce sent 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 lense.

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!"

"All right, 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."

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

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

Karen cheesed. In a cutesy tone, she cooed, "You look so handsome."

"Mom!" carped Mike.

"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 wore a long-sleeve striped button down tucked into black dress pants; the pants were secured with a black belt. Lucas was hyping himself up, internally telling himself he looked good.

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

Lucas removed his hands from his hips, trying to make it sound more casual. He talked to the mirror cooly this time.

"We should, you know, get out there, like, do our thing—" Lucas cut himself off, cringing. He told himself, "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. She mock-cooed, "But not as much as I love you, Lukey."

Lucas glared daggers at his sister. Marching for the door, he yelled, "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, who was taller than her. Max didn't like a lot of girlish stuff, which was fine — Sam just wanted her to feel comfortable in how she looked. Max wore a sweater and pants, and Sam had put product in her hair to make it really wavy. Now, she was 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. Sam talked and talked as the process went on.

"So then I heard from Donna who heard from Andrew who heard from Carol who heard from Karen who heard from Carrie that he was going to—"

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

Sam had zoned out while talking, not even realized she'd been hurting Max. She quickly moved the barrette, said, "Sorry. 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.

"Anyways," 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 dance, or how to talk to him, or how to do anything, because he's weird and scary!"

"Sam, you're rambling again," Max pointed out.

Sam immediately took in a deep breath, hopping off the stool now that she was done with Max's hair. "Sorry," she muttered, no longer rambling now. Sam moved closer to the mirror, so she could see what she was doing as she situated a big, white headband in her hair.

"Also, I don't get why you're scared," said Max. She watched Sam as she did her own hair now that Sam was done 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.

Still staring at the mirror, Sam worried, "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," stressed Sam, 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 ever happened to him," said Max 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, said, "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," started Sam, glancing to the side to actually look at Max, and not Max through the mirror, "I've never been one of those girls who... had any long-term friends who were girls. And I do now. And that's... pretty cool."

Max's grin grew, and so did Sam's. It seemed that "cool" was an inside thing on 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 four 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 him.

Sam stared back, thinking of the Byers house — thinking of holding Billy at gun point, 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 whole house frantically.

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

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

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

Dustin ignored his mom, picking up a brown, paper bag folded over.

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

There was a doorbell ring at the door.

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

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 chortles.

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

"Thank you, Specks," he said her nickname loudly, fist bumping her followed by synchronized snaps. "The only one with respect."

His other friends only let out laughs, and Sam shrugged apologetically at Dustin. She 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 "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper began playing.

All the smiles the Party had washed off as the group 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 that asks my cousin to dance. So... Mayfield, you're looking rather dashing tonight."

Max raised an amused eyebrow. She pretended to be upset, asking, "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 had his back in her own, obscure way that didn't freak him out.

"You're insufferable is what you are," Max joked back, but she was grabbing his offered hand anyways. "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.

"Lying in my bed, I hear the clock tick and think of you..."

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

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

"...Caught up in circles, confusion is nothing new..."

She stared back at him, and Max's voice was like a faint echo in the back of her mind she tried zoning in on. Just go in there and dance with the guy. It shouldn't be that confusing. And he likes you, too. It's not that hard.

"Hi, Jay," responded Sam, with a cool, casual smile. "What's up?"

"...Flashback, warm night. Almost left behind..."

"Uh," Justin gestured back to the dance floor to help him continue, "I wanted to know if you, you know — if you wanted to dance? With me?"

Sam grinned back at him, and Max was right, it wasn't so hard. She even had enough courage to grab Justin's hand with a nod. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."

You're doing it, Sam. You're doing it, Sam. You're doing it, Sam.

Justin's startled look burst into a beaming grin that made Sam's stomach squeeze. He grabbed Sam's hand back happily.

"All right," he cheered. "Awesome."

"...Suitcase of memories. Time after — Sometimes you picture me, I'm walking too far ahead..."

And then Justin was pulling Sam out into the dance floor, and Lucas was being left behind. Both Sam and Justin had smiles on as they faced each other. Sam wasn't even worried about the fact she couldn't 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 mom 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.

"...You're calling to me, I can't hear what you've said..."

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 Will to dance.

"...Then you say, 'go slow,' and I fall behind..."

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

Sam had to bark out a laugh incredulously. "Me? I thought I was being totally obvious I wanted to!"

"I'm dumber than you, Hughes, remember?" teased Justin. "It's not obvious to me."

"...The second hand unwinds..."

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

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

Reiterating her own words, Sam said, "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 twirling her around under his own arm. Sam laughed out in surprise, not having expected him to pull that move.

"...If you're lost you can look and you will find me. Time after time..."

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

"...If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time
If you're lost, you can look, and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I will be waiting
Time after time..."

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 that 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.

"...After my picture fades and darkness has turned to gray,
Watching through windows, you're wondering if I'm okay
Secrets stolen from deep inside
The drum beats out of time
If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after 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 had thought Justin was just 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 begun to feel bad for her, even if Carrie had been tormenting her since the second grade. Sam still couldn't help but feel bad that no one was dancing with her.

Sam sucked in air through her nostrils, realizing no good thing of Sam's could ever last. Although her heart was breaking, Sam decided to say, "Go."

Justin's head whipped back down at Sam in confusion. He wondered, "What?" 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. Then, "Wh-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?" asked Justin, staring down at her warily.

No. No, I'm not sure. No, I want you to stay here, with me. I want you to want me.

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

"...If you're lost, you can look and you will find me..."

Justin was taking his arms off of Sam's waist.

"...Time after time..."

He was walking away, towards the direction of Carrie on the bleachers.

"...If you fall, I will catch you, I will be waiting..."

Sam was standing, alone, on the dance floor as couples swayed around her.

"...Time after time..."

Justin was taking Carrie's hand, and walking back onto the floor.

"...Time after time..."

"Hey, Sam?"

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

It was Lucas.

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

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

And kids were still dancing around them, and Sam knew one of those pairs were Justin and Carrie, but everything was really fading away around her. Sam and Lucas stared at each other, about a foot apart, and Sam wondered if Lucas was going to speak again. She hoped so, because she didn't really know what to say.

"I just... I saw Zimmerman, you know? I just didn't think that was cool," said Lucas, a twinge of anger in his voice. "And... I like this song, and... i-it's nice, right?" Sam slowly got more confused the more Lucas talked on. Then he sighed, exasperated at himself, and just started talking from his gut. Honest now, he confessed, "I was wondering if you were okay, so I came over here to cheer you up. Do you... still want to dance?"

Sam's whole face lit up, surprise etched on her face. Her eyebrows rose, mouth parted slightly, and Lucas was asking if she still wanted to dance; making sure she was okay.

"Of course I do," Sam responded, a smile finding its way back onto her face, this one much more genuine than the last. It was soft, and it was still caught off guard, and Lucas thought those were his favorite smiles of hers.

He was so mesmerized by her smile, by the fact she'd said yes, that he had yet to move from his spot. Sam walked up to him, closing the distance between them with a huff. This was much easier with a friend, with Lucas.

Sam placed her arms around Lucas's neck, and it wasn't awkward like it was with Justin. Lucas was the perfect height, not too tall, and Sam wasn't too short. She let out an amused huff when Lucas hesitated, hands moving up stiffly and resting on her waist. Eventually, he calmed enough to let Sam start swaying with him, and then they were dancing. He smiled at her, and she smiled back, and it just felt easy.

"...I've got a suitcase of memories that I almost left behind
Time after time
Time, time, time
But you say to go slow but I fall behind
Time after time after time..."

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and that's a wrap on season 2! what were your thoughts on it?

i can't believe we've made it to season 3 personally! i honestly never thought this story would see the light of day. season 3 is written completely so i could get it published in a day but the thing is season 4 is NOT so idk if i drag out the updates for s3 or what?

either way, i am SO excited for everyone to read s3. i had SO MUCH fun writing it and sam has a lot of revelations that will probably answer questions you had about her character

AND UNCLE DAN IS GONE FOR GOOD FOLKS!!!

COREY FINALLY GETTING THE HUG HE DESERVES!! CONGRATS ON COMING OUT I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!

i just HAD to include all the kids getting ready for the snow ball. those scenes are just so cute (and lucas's hurts a million times more when you read the scene at the dance)

i would not count this as a win for hughclair nation... despite them dancing together in the end... poor lucas is in store for a lot more heartbreak in the season to come. but so is same so they're even???

let me not spoil too much...

what couples are hughclair variants of?

what couples are colorwheel variants of?

what characters is sam a variant of?

what characters is corey a variant of?

what'd you think?