The rest of the day dragged out like Jenna thought it would. She had a hard time paying attention in class, even though she tried her best in doing so. When lunch came around, Craig went on about dinner tonight, despite her being uninterested in it. She still made every attempt to be excited about it, but given how the last few times she had dinner at his house always seemed to be awkward, she wasn't looking forward to it. Not to mention that she was sure that his parents didn't care for her.

Jenna was in her bedroom, looking in the mirror at her outfit for dinner with Craig and his parents tonight. She went with a red sweater and jeans with her hair down like normal. She was glad that she would be driving herself to his house, as it gave her more time to get ready and dread this dinner even more.

"This is gonna be a long evening," she muttered.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," her mom said as she leaned against the doorframe with her arms folded over her chest. "You haven't had a bad dinner yet, right?"

"Not yet," she told her. "I'm just waiting for an episode to happen in the middle of dinner. God forbid my nose starts to bleed and I get blood all over whatever Mrs. Bennett is cooking tonight."

"I doubt that's gonna happen."

"You don't know that."

Dorothy furrowed her brows in confusion. "Are you okay? You seemed more frazzled than usual."

Smoothing out her sweater, Jenna let out a sigh. "I'm fine, Mom. Just stressed out about some things."

"You wanna talk about any of it?"

She shrugged. "It's just the normal stuff."

"Well, you're not exactly a normal teenager."

Jenna scoffed in response. "Thanks for the reminder."

Her face fell. "I'm sorry, Jenna. You know what I mean. Not many people your age have powers."

"Yeah, lucky them," she stated. "Anyway, it's not just my powers I'm worried about. All I can think about is school and college applications and Craig being difficult sometimes isn't helping."

"What's going on with him?"

Sighing, she sat down at the bed, giving her mom a sad look. "Everything just feels different between us ever since his party a couple of months ago." Pausing, she shrugged before continuing on. "I don't know. Either I'm just overthinking it..." She trailed off, closing her eyes for a brief moment while shaking her head. "Or maybe all of my friends were right about him."

As her face fell, Dorothy went over and sat beside Jenna on the bed. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I know how much happier you've been since you two got together."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure he can make Tina Miller happy, too," she retorted.

Dorothy raised her eyebrows. "There's another girl?"

"I have no idea. Janet noticed something and then I saw something today at school. I mean, I guess it was something, but I'm not sure what it was."

"What does your gut tell you?"

Jenna looked down at her hands in her lap. "That I might be better off without him, even though he makes me feel somewhat normal."

"Oh, honey..." Dorothy put her arm around Jenna and pulled her body close. "I think we've learned in the past year that there's no such thing as normal."

"I guess, but it's still nice to act as if things are normal around here."

"If only that was possible, given what we know and seen." Her mom let Jenna go and stared at her for a moment. "But if you feel it's the right choice to break up with Craig, it might be best if you do it soon. I don't think you two need to be dragging this out if it's only going to get worse."

Jenna nodded her head in agreement, standing up. "You're right. I just gotta get through tonight and Halloween before I figure out how to break up with him."

Her mom shot Jenna a sad smile as she stood up with her. "I still hope tonight goes well."

She rolled her eyes. "I hope it goes by quickly." With that, Jenna did some last minute touches on her outfit and makeup, then bid her mom goodbye before heading downstairs and out the door, quickly hopping inside the car.

Her nerves were starting to kick in as she pulled out of the driveway and started going down the street, already feeling her stomach do flips as she tried to concentrate on the road. Jenna gripped the steering wheel tighter for the entire drive, almost letting her nails tear into the leather as soon as Craig's house was in her sight. She parked in front of the house, taking a moment to compose herself before stepping out of the car and walking up to the front porch. She rang the doorbell and patiently waited a minute for someone to answer the door, which Craig ended up being the one to open it with a smile on his face.

"Just in time," he stated. "My mom made a chicken casserole."

"Great," she said, stepping inside as he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello there, Jenna!" Mrs. Bennett came strolling by, giving her a short hug. "I'm so glad you were able to make it tonight."

"Thanks for having me," she replied, smiling. "I always enjoy coming over."

Mrs. Bennett grinned her way, then turned towards Craig. "Now, you two get seated at the table and then we can get started with dinner."

So Craig took Jenna's hand and led her to the dining room, where Mr. Bennett was already at the head of the table, his glass of wine in front of him. He nodded her way as she took a seat, with Craig sitting in between them. The man hardly ever had anything to say to her, which she still wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. It was quiet for a moment as Mrs. Bennett approached the table with her glass pan of chicken casserole in hand. The smell of it made Jenna hungry, despite her stomach still being twisted in knots due to her nerves. She tried her best not to let it show, smiling at all of the food in front of her. Mrs. Bennett then offered Jenna a pop, but she politely refused and settled for water instead.

They were silent for a moment as they filled up their plates with casserole and salad, taking sips from their glasses and taking the next few minutes to start eating. So far, things seemed to be going okay as Jenna began to feel more relaxed the longer they all stayed quiet.

But finally, Mr. Bennett cleared his throat to speak. "So, Jenna, how's school going? Got those college applications sent in yet?"

Swallowing her water, she nodded her head. "Yes, I did. I finished them last week."

"Jenna applied to the University of Kentucky," Craig added. "It's her top choice."

Jenna briefly eyed Craig, annoyed that he even brought up where she wanted to go. "Yeah, it is my top choice," she repeated.

This intrigued Mr. Bennett, as he raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "That's a nice school. What do you plan on studying?"

"Psychology," she replied. It was a subject that Jenna had only thought about recently, seeing as it made sense with my past that she would want to possibly pursue it once she went to college. It was after looking at a few other schools and their programs that she applied to the University of Kentucky, and now all there was left to do was wait to hear back in the next few months. She did everything she could to try and not think about it, as she knew it would be a while before she got a letter.

"Oh, how interesting," Mr. Bennett exclaimed. "That's a very respectable field to get into." He turned to look at Craig. "We're hoping our son here gets a football or basketball scholarship from his top school."

Craig grinned at this. "Let's hope Indiana University sees my potential and offers me one of those."

"And they will," Mrs. Bennett chimed in. "Isn't that right, Jenna?"

She was picking up her glass of water when she asked her that, to which she looked over at Craig and nodded. "Yeah, they definitely will."

Everyone was silent again as they went on with eating. By the time they had their share of the chicken casserole and salad, Mrs. Bennett went back to the kitchen and brought out a plate that was piled up with brownies. As Jenna took one and began to eat it, Craig spoke up this time.

"So I saw the Hollands had a 'For Sale' sign in their front yard," he said. "What's that all about?"

Jenna froze, turning towards Craig. "The Hollands?" she repeated. "As in, Barbara Holland's parents?"

"Yeah, they live just down the street," he replied. "Apparently, she went missing right after that Byers kid from what I've heard."

"Such a shame," Mrs. Bennett added. "She was a sweet girl."

Craig shrugged. "Jenna and I hardly knew her."

"Right," she said, remaining calm. "So why are they moving?"

Craig's parents eyed each other for a moment before turning back towards the teenagers.

"According to Marsha Holland at our book club meeting the other night, they've hired some former investigative journalist to look into their daughter's disappearance," Mrs. Bennett explained. "I believe his name's Murray Bauman."

"Neither her or her husband were very impressed with how Chief Hopper and the rest of the police department handled it when it happened," Mr. Bennett spoke up.

"That still doesn't explain why they're selling their house," Craig commented.

"Well, they gotta pay for the man's service somehow," Mr. Bennett stated. "He's gonna squeeze out every last penny from those two with all the false hope they have that their daughter is still alive after all this time."

Jenna dropped what was left of the brownie on her plate, feeling her hands shaking a little and her head spinning. All of a sudden, the room felt stuffy, along with her head already getting hot that would eventually spread to the rest of her body. Breathing heavily, she tried to stay calm, but it was becoming obvious to the Bennetts that something was wrong.

"Jenna?" Mrs. Bennett questioned, sounding concerned. "Are you alright?"

"I think she's having another one of her episodes," Craig told her, standing up to help Jenna, placing his hands onto her arms to get her out of the seat. "Come on. Let's get you to the bathroom."

So as Craig took her down the hall and into the bathroom, Jenna saw a glimpse in the mirror at the blood starting to drip out of her nose. She sat down on the edge of the toilet, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. She could tell once Craig let go of her that he was hesitant to hold me any more with the way her body temperature was going up. Looking at Craig, he looked worried like he usually did whenever he was around her during her episodes. But this time, something felt different to Jenna with him being here, and she was certain it was because their relationship was no longer the way it was before his party two months ago.

Jenna took another couple of minutes to get herself back in order. But the more she thought about Barbara's parents, the more she thought about that night at Steve's house when she was taken by that monster. Then, she could hear her conversation with Nancy replaying in her head, the guilt creeping up on her again. It was as if she'd never be able to escape it, and after hearing the Bennetts talk about Barbara's parents and their plans to do everything they could to find her again, she didn't think it would ever leave her.

"How do you feel now?" he asked.

Looking up at him, Jenna sighed. "A little bit better," she admitted, already feeling her body cooling down and her head no longer making her dizzy. "I think maybe it's time I get home and try to sleep it off. That helps sometimes."

Craig nodded his head and gave Jenna another minute to clean her face before getting her back on her feet and leaving the bathroom. Mrs. Bennett was already in the hallway with her glass of water from the table, handing it to Jenna with a worried look on her face. While finishing the glass, Craig told her that Jenna wasn't feeling well and that she had to leave, to which she was sad but understood and gave her a brief hug. On the way out, Jenna bid Mr. Bennett goodbye as Craig walked her outside and towards her car on the street.

"Well, that was kind of a bust," she said. "And embarrassing."

He shrugged in response. "You can't help when your episodes happen."

"Yeah." Jenna wanted to tell him that she was trying, though she'd rather not have him ask her any more questions about it. "So, you have your Halloween costume all ready for tomorrow night?"

"Yup. Everything's all ready for Tina's party," he replied. "I'll pick you up a little after seven, okay?"

Nodding her head, Jenna forced a smile. "Sounds good." She paused, taking a hold of his hand. "I love you, Craig."

Furrowing his brows, he hesitated before letting out a small chuckle. "I love you, too." He leaned in for another peck on the cheek, giving her a weak smile. "Goodnight, Jenna. I'll see you tomorrow." With that, he turned around and headed back inside the house without any reluctance.

Her face fell as she got inside the car and drove away, noticing the "For Sale" sign in the Holland's front yard like Craig mentioned at dinner, along with Steve's car in the driveway. Once Craig's house was no longer behind her, it was hard to see anything at all with her eyes tearing up and getting to the point where she started crying and she just couldn't stop.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Well, things aren't looking too good for Craig and Jenna, are they?

Comment, vote, the Halloween Party is coming up and it's a chapter I've been excited to write for a while!

-A