Jenna's memory from the rest of the night was foggy, because the next thing she knew, she was waking up in her bedroom the next day. Sitting up, her head was spinning, which almost caused her to fall back down in the bed and pull the comforter over her head. The sunlight filled the room, almost making it to Jenna's face. For a moment, she closed her eyes and tried to remember what happened after leaving Jonathan's house. But the more she thought about it, the less progress she was making with it. Giving up, she slowly got out of the bed and made her way downstairs, already able to smell the bacon from the top of the steps. When Jenna reached the bottom, her mom was hanging up the phone, with a small smile on her face.

"Afternoon, sweetie," she greeted her.

Jenna furrowed her brows in confusion. "Afternoon?" she repeated.

"Yeah, it's noon," she replied, chuckling a little. "You had a rough night, so I figured I'd let you sleep in."

Nodding her head, Jenna went to sit down at the table with the plate of bacon in front of her. "So, uh...who was on the phone?"

"That was Nancy Wheeler," she responded. "She wanted to check on you and see if you were okay."

"Oh." She thought it was nice for her to do that, especially after the night they had fighting that monster at Jonathan's house. "Do you know how I got home last night?"

"Yeah, your friend Steve took you to the hospital," she said. "You had been there a while by the time I showed up. Do you remember any of that?"

She shook her head. "Not really. I must've been out of it."

She chuckled in response. "Yeah, you were. Your friends explained everything to me. Fortunately, the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with you other than exhaustion. He figured you partied too hard."

Jenna smiled a little at this. To him, he thought it was just a typical Saturday night for teenagers. If only that were the case. Too bad the doctor was far from right.

"Are you feeling any better?"

Jenna nodded in response. "A little." Pausing, she looked at her mom with curiosity and concern. "Mom, what happened after I left Hawkins Lab?"

Dorothy let out a sigh, sitting across from her. "Well, I got caught by Dr. Brenner, which I knew was gonna happen. He put me in a room and we talked about you."

Jenna bit her lip, reaching for a piece of bacon. "I guess he told you everything about our conversation, then."

"Yeah, he did," she replied. "And I can't believe you would agree to what crazy idea he proposed to you."

She looked up at her with guilt. "I was trying to protect you, Mom."

"I'm the one that's supposed to protect you. That's my job."

"I know," she simply said. "But I thought I was doing the right thing. You know, keeping you safe from Hawkins Lab for good."

Her mom let out a sigh, shooting Jenna a sad look. "Well, if there's anything we can confirm about them last night, it's that those people are liars, especially Dr. Brenner. He's a piece of work, that's for sure."

"Yeah," she mumbled, chewing on her bacon. "What happened afterwards?"

Dorothy leaned back against the chair, folding her arms. "When I refused to give you up for that program of his, he just left the room. I supposed he was trying to give me some time to change my mind. Of course, there was no way in hell I was gonna do that. Next thing I know, me, Joyce, and Hopper were..." Trailing off, she put her head down for a moment, then took a deep breath. "We went to rescue Will."

Jenna widened her eyes. "You guys went in the Upside Down?"

"Yeah," she replied, nodding her head. "He's fine, by the way. Joyce and Hopper took him to the hospital afterwards."

She felt relief at this, finding it hard to imagine the six days he had with being stuck in that awful place. "So, what was it like?"

Her mom remained quiet for a moment, looking as if she was trying to find the words to describe her time there. "It was dark and cold. I remember stepping in there and just..." She stopped again, shaking her head. "I can't imagine what that poor boy went through being stuck in there for so long."

Nodding again, Jenna grabbed another piece of bacon. "It's one hell of a place, that's for sure."

"So you have been there," she stated.

Reluctantly, Jenna exhaled. "Yeah, I have."

Dorothy briefly closed her eyes as her expression turned worrying. "Jenna--"

"Mom, it wasn't like I wanted to transport myself to the Upside Down. It just sort of happened."

"And that's what I'm worried about. You have no control over these powers of yours, and if you end up gone like Eleven--"

"Wait, gone like Eleven?" Jenna repeated, confused. "What are you talking about?"

Her face turned sad, sighing once again. "Eleven disappeared at the school last night. Not sure what happened, but those three boys were pretty upset about it."

Jenna eyed her mom, eyebrows raised. "You don't think she's in the Upside Down, do you?"

"I don't know, but I can't help but think that's where she went," she admitted. "I don't want you going back there ever. And as much as I don't want you using your powers, I guess neither of us can really stop you from doing that, can we?"

Jenna thought about what she was saying, and in a way, maybe she was wrong. All she needed was control, to keep herself from letting her emotions get in the way that would trigger the powers. If she could manage that, then there was nothing to worry about concerning Jenna using her powers and putting herself or anyone else in danger.

"I'll figure something out," she told her mom. "I promise."

Dorothy gave me a warm smile. "We'll figure something out. I'm not letting you go through this alone."

Jenna nodded her head. "Okay."

"Hey." She reached over the table and grabbed her daughter's hand. "We're gonna be okay. You know that, right?"

Jenna smiled back. "Yeah, I know, Mom." Just by looking into her eyes, she felt some reassurance come over her, almost like a weight was lifted off her chest, and that was something they both needed at the moment.

It was quiet for the rest of the afternoon. While her mom left to handle some things with Hopper regarding last night, Jenna stayed in the house, trying to relax. As much as she wanted to not think about what went down at Jonathan's house last night with the monster, it was all she could think about. While she wished the thing was dead and gone, there was no way that was the case. She was certain it went back to the Upside Down to lick its wounds and wait until it was strong enough to attack again. Although, she doubted Hawkins Lab wanted another fiasco on their hands with her and Eleven.

Jenna was getting used to the lack of noise when someone knocking on the door broke that silence. Getting up from the couch, she went to answer the door, looking surprised to see Steve and Janet standing there.

"Hey, dudette," she greeted her. "I have to say, you don't look as shitty today."

Steve scoffed, turning to face her. "You really have a way with words," he said sarcastically.

She narrowed her eyes in response. "I mean, she looked terrible after attacking that thing last night."

"You're definitely not wrong about that," Jenna muttered.

"So, uh...speaking of last night..." Steve spoke up. "You said you'd tell us everything."

She nodded her head, motioning the two to step inside the house. They went to sit at the table while Jenna quickly headed upstairs to grab her Hawkins Lab folder. She felt nervous about showing them this. While she thought Janet would believe me, Steve was a different story. What if he hated her after this? What if he went and told the entire school that she was some kind of freak? It wouldn't be a lie, but her chances of staying somewhat normal after all of this would be gone if he turned against Jenna and took Janet with him.

Descending down the stairs, Jenna strolled in the kitchen and sat down with Steve and Janet. She took a deep breath and placed the folder down on the table. "What's in here is gonna be a lot to process. It all might seem crazy, but just read through everything before you freak out. Okay?"

When the two exchanged looks and then nodded their heads, Jenna slid the folder towards them and watched as they opened it and began to read.

Keeping her hands on the table, Jenna started to get more and more anxious as she continued to look at Steve and Janet shuffling through the papers, their eyebrows going up and down every now and then. It was hard to read their expressions, which was the main cause of her worries as they were reading everything over.

Finally, after a few more minutes, they put the papers down and looked up at her again.

"Wow," was all that came out of Steve's mouth. "This is...wow."

"Yeah, exactly," Jenna replied, nodding her head, a little relieved at his reaction. "It's some messed up shit."

"Uh, yeah, definitely," he stated, letting out a scoff. "How long have you known about this?"

"A few days now. My mom wanted to wait and tell me when it was the right time."

"Not sure when it's ever the right time to tell your kid that you were some lab experiment with superpowers before being adopted and having your name changed to hide from some bad guys."

"Well, they ended up finding me," she told him. "They were after me yesterday. I was running away from the lab when you were driving by to go to Jonathan's."

Steve leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. "So last night, with the monster, were you using your powers then?"

"Yeah, I was."

"Well, that explains why you looked the way you did afterwards," he muttered.

"So when you told me about going to some other dimension..." Janet started to say.

Steve furrowed his brows. "Hold on, did I miss something?" He started to look through the papers again. "I didn't see anything about another dimension anywhere in here..."

"That's because Jenna brought it up to me the night of your party," Janet pointed out.

Steve raised his head and gave both of us confused looks. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"It was after we left your house, when you and Nancy went upstairs to hook up," Jenna explained. "I saw Barbara..." She stopped for a moment to compose herself, then continued. "Barbara was taken to another dimension. Nancy's brother and his friends call it the Upside Down. I've kind of been there a few times."

"And that's where the monster lives."

"Yeah. It makes sense the more you think about it."

Steve stared at her for a moment, his mouth still open to speak. "Holy shit." He then shook his head. "I can't believe you didn't tell me this earlier. I thought we were friends."

"Oh, yeah, because you would've totally believed me if I had said anything to you," she pointed out sarcastically.

"Besides, you and Nancy were too busy making googly eyes at each other to worry about anything else," Janet added.

Steve scoffed. "Please. She was hanging out with Jonathan Byers more than me this week. Just like Jenna over here was spending all her time with Carter the Cutter and not with Craig."

Jenna rolled her eyes in response. "First of all, don't call him that anymore. Second, I was just as worried about Barbara like Nancy was, and Carter Page just happened to catch on about it. We had a mutual understanding that we were only working together to find Barbara."

"Does Craig know that?" Steve inquired.

"How am I supposed to tell him about all of this?" she retorted. "I can't tell him. He'll think I'm crazy."

"Well, it is crazy," Janet spoke up again.

Sighing, Jenna shook her head. "Too many people know about this already, anyway. And I like Craig a lot, I really do. But he won't understand. I mean, I'm kind of surprised you guys are taking it so well now that you know everything."

Steve and Janet's expression turned soft as they exchanged a look, then turning their attention back towards Jenna.

"I mean, we've been through a lot over the years. Why not add more crazy shit to the list?" Steve gave the girls a small grin.

"You really thought we'd bail on you after what we saw last night?" Janet asked. "Come on, dudette. You can't get rid of us that easily."

There was comfort in knowing that Steve and Janet had no plans on leaving Jenna in the dust with this new information. She was glad that she could trust them no matter what. Of course, they did fight a monster together. It already felt like they were closer than ever.

"So you two promise to not tell anyone about all of this," she said, raising her eyebrows at them.

"We promise," Steve assured her.

"Your secret is safe with us," Janet added.

Jenna sighed in relief. "Thanks, guys."

All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door.

Jenna got up and went to see who it was, opening the door and locking eyes with a certain blond-haired boy standing there. "Craig."

"Hey, Jenna," he greeted her sheepishly. "Can we talk?"

Startled, it took her a moment to give him a response, but she quickly nodded my head. "Yeah, sure." She turned back around towards Steve and Janet, motioning them to leave.

"Well, this was a nice visit," Steve stated as he stood up and headed for the door, followed by Janet right behind him. He gave Jenna a small wave as he got closer towards her.

"See you tomorrow, dudette," she told Jenna as she and Steve moved past Craig and down the driveway towards Steve's car.

Craig entered the house, to which Jenna led him towards the couch for the two of them. Once she was comfortable, he plopped down next to her.

Sitting up and facing him, she cleared her throat before speaking. "So, uh, about what happened at the bonfire Friday night and in town yesterday--"

"Jenna, hold on," he cut her off, shaking his head. "I came over to apologize."

She furrowed her brows, puzzled. "What?"

Taking a moment, he let out a sigh, then started talking again. "I couldn't sleep last night. I kept thinking about what happened at the bonfire and the alley. It was confusing, because I thought you liked me."

"I do like you, Craig," she assured him.

"So why did you ditch me for Jonathan Byers and Carter Page? And don't tell me that it's complicated again."

But it was complicated. It became frustrating that she couldn't tell Craig about what was going on, about her past that was now catching up with her. She couldn't tell him about any of this. He was the only one that made her feel normal, and she wanted to keep that sense of normalcy for as long as she could.

"I was helping Jonathan look for his brother," she finally said, knowing it was the easiest thing to tell him and not a total lie. "With his brother missing, I felt bad about it. So I offered to help."

"Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?"

"Because I know how you feel about him and Carter," I answered, even though it was partially true. "I'm sorry for not telling you."

Still, it was enough to convince Craig, as he nodded his head and chuckled in response. "Yeah, you have a point there." Pausing, he focused on Jenna again, taking her hand. "I'm sorry for being an ass to you. It was shitty of me to act that way."

She squeezed his hand. "Well, let's be honest, it's been one hell of a week for everyone in Hawkins."

He scoffed. "Yeah, totally." Craig sighed, then continued. "I really like you, Jenna, and I really want to make this work between us. You think we can put this behind us and start over?"

Grinning, Jenna nodded her head. "Yeah, I'd like that." She leaned in to kiss Craig, closing her eyes and letting the moment sink in.

She couldn't help but wonder as to how long her life would stay quiet until something else came up. But until that happened, Jenna was ready to get things back to normal, whatever that might be now.

END OF PART ONE

~~~~~~~

A/N: Omg it took almost five years but I finally finished writing for season 1! I have so many ideas for season 2 and I'm excited that I'm finally getting to write them!

What did y'all think of part one? Let me know in the comments as I need the validation LMAO (pretty please? I'll love you forever).

Comment, vote, see you in part two!

-A