The next month was nothing but a whirlwind of events.

For the next two weeks, Jenna served her detention at school and helped her mom around the house with extra chores while she was grounded, which wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Some time during those two weeks, the Hollands held a funeral for Barbara, one that she attended, along with Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, Carter, Dana, and Janet (though Jenna was surprised Janet even agreed to come at all, but most likely did for the sake of being at Steve's house the night she disappeared). While it was hard to watch Barbara's parents mourn their daughter, Jenna was glad they got some closure, even if the story that was released explaining a chemical leak caused her death was far from the truth. At least now the Hollands could move on from this and maybe even sell their house like they had planned and get the hell out of Hawkins.

After that, Jenna spent more time at the cabin with Eleven after she and Hopper came to the agreement to let her drive Carter to and from work (Dana started getting a ride from Eddie) now that the cabin was no longer a secret to them. For the most part, they were the only ones there, as Hopper was working a lot more than usual, with Carter seeing Jonathan more often and Dana always hanging out with Eddie whenever she could. Nevertheless, Jenna and Eleven enjoyed sharing a newly formed bond with each other. Jenna was beginning to see Eleven as a little sister, which was nice, considering she was an only child.

The last thing Jenna did was talk to the biological family that Hopper told her about. Through many conversations over the phone, she learned that her dad's older sister, Judith Waters, lived in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, Travis. She was four years older than her dad and she married Travis a couple of years after high school once she found out she was pregnant with their daughter, Claire, who was currently going to college in Memphis, but often visited them, despite the long drive. After talking to them a lot, Jenna came to the conclusion that they sounded like nice people and they seemed to think the same thing about her as they expressed their interest in meeting Jenna very soon if she chose to stay with them for a while.

By the time December rolled around, Jenna had made up her mind, and it was a decision that she knew would be hard to tell her friends at first. While most of them seemed to take it well, understanding the situation with her powers being more of a risk than anything else, she was still worried about telling one friend in particular: Steve.

They hardly saw each other ever since he came to visit Jenna at the hospital, with him focusing more on basketball and swimming for the time being from what Janet told her. With her knowing what happened between them, she tended to bring it up, reminding Jenna that she was right about them all along.

"Look, just give him some more time," Janet told her one afternoon as they were leaving school for the day. "You know how stubborn he can be."

"So stubborn that he basically ignores me for over a month?" Jenna pointed out. "It's already halfway through December and still nothing from him."

"And you leave for Tennessee soon, don't you?"

Jenna sighed. "Yeah, right after Christmas," she confirmed. "My mom and aunt have my school stuff figured out once I get there."

Janet groaned in response. "I still can't believe you're leaving. I thought senior year was gonna be a walk in the park and we'd have nothing to worry about except college applications. But then more weird shit happens with Will and that monster and the other dimension it lives in, and now I have to spend the rest of the year dealing with Steve all by myself." She paused, turning Jenna's way. "Aren't you a little bit sad that you won't be finishing up your last semester of high school here?"

"Kind of," she admitted. "But leaving Hawkins for a while will be good for me. I know my mom will miss me, but she's also relieved that I'll be far from anything monster-related."

Janet scoffed. "Yeah, let's hope we don't have to deal with any more of those."

The two of them were making their way across the parking lot when they spotted Steve standing beside Jenna's car, much to their surprise. When he saw them, his eyes stayed focused on Jenna, which caught her off guard, as she thought her heart skipped a beat seeing him wait for them.

"Well, this is a surprise," Jenna commented once they were standing in front of him.

"Hey to you, too," he replied, then turned towards Janet. "And to you also."

"You literally saw me an hour ago," Janet pointed out.

"Well, I know in the future not to say hi to you anymore," he muttered, looking back at Jenna. "Anyway, Jenna...I, uh, wanted to ask you something."

She raised her eyebrows. "You do?"

"Yeah. Dustin has his Snow Ball dance tonight and he asked me to drive him. I was wondering if you wanted to tag along? Maybe we can grab some food from Leslie's, drop him off, then go hang out by the quarry while we eat and talk."

"Oh." She was kind of thrown off by his offer, almost making her happy that he thought about asking her. However, there was a part of her that was nervous when he mentioned talking, wondering if he wanted to finally have the conversation about them. But still, Jenna nodded her head. "Yeah, I'd love to."

"Cool. So, um, I'll pick you up at seven?"

"Wait, where's my invite?" Janet spoke up jokingly.

Steve rolled his eyes. "You told me about your plans for tonight, remember? Working on your college application for Hoover College with Dana?"

"It's Hanover, you dumbass," Janet corrected him. "And I just wanted to see if you remembered me telling you about it, which you sort of did."

"Mhm, sure," he said, his eyes fixated on Jenna again. "So seven's good?"

"That's perfect," she replied, smiling a little.

"Great, see you then." He flashed a small smile back at her before walking away from the two.

"You still haven't told him you're leaving, have you?" Janet asked once Steve was far away enough that he couldn't hear them.

Jenna felt my heart sink as she shook her head. "No, not yet. But I will tonight."

Janet nodded, exhaling loudly. "I have to say, it also sucks you're leaving because I was rooting for the two of you to get together once the monster was taken care of."

She chuckled. "Yeah, you and everyone else seemed to be rooting for us."

"Well, I did try to stray Billy away from asking you out the night he took me home from Tina's Halloween party," she said. "Of course, it only made him want to pursue you even more, and I bet it totally pissed him off when you rejected him."

"I think it actually pissed him off more that Steve intervened when he tried to ask me out," Jenna responded, grinning.

Janet smirked at this, scoffing as she shook her head. "I swear, I'll be dead by the time you two decide to get together." She paused, raising her eyebrows. "So, uh, just out of curiosity, is he a good kisser?"

"Janet!"

"What? I just wanna know!"

Jenna felt her face get a little hot at the question. "Well, he's a better kisser than Craig."

"That's good to hear," she said. "Have you thought about sleeping with him yet?"

"Oh my God, no, Janet!"

"Relax, I was just kidding that time!"

Jenna tried laughing it off, but knowing Janet, anything she had to say about her and Steve wasn't a joke, and thinking about all of the possibilities with him that would be shattered by her tonight only made the sinking feeling in her stomach even more unbearable.

*******

For the rest of the day, Jenna couldn't stop thinking about how the night would play out with Steve. There were many ways it could go, and that worried her as to which one would end up being the outcome.

She was pacing back and forth in the living room, waiting for Steve to come pick her up. Her nerves only got worse, trying to stay calm as she kept going.

"Jenna, will you just relax?" her mom asked me from the table. "You don't have anything to be nervous about when you tell him."

"Yes, I do," she said. "What if he gets mad at me for waiting so long?"

"I'm sure he'll understand."

Jenna huffed a sigh out of frustration and stopped walking, looking over at her mom. "I just don't want to lose him as a friend, especially after all we've been through together."

Dorothy gave her a sad smile as she stood up and walked towards Jenna, rubbing her arms. "It'll be fine, honey. Steve cares about you and wants you to be happy. He's always been a good friend to you, and I don't think you leaving for a while will change that."

She wanted to believe her mom's words. Maybe if things weren't so complicated between them at the moment, then she wouldn't have put it off until now to tell him. Their friendship was not like it was before, making this whole situation a lot more difficult than she needed it to be.

All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door, startling Jenna. Her mom went to answer it when she didn't move, and sure enough, Steve was on the other side, grinning as he gave Dorothy a little wave.

"Hi, Ms. Howard," he greeted her.

"Hello, Steve," her mom greeted him back, a smile forming across her face, then turned around to look at Jenna. "Your ride's here, Jenna."

"Great," she said, taking a deep breath before heading their way and grabbing her coat from the hanger. "I won't be out too late."

"Okay, have fun," her mom stated.

"Thanks. See you later." With that, Jenna walked out of the house, hearing the door shut behind her as she followed Steve to his car.

"I called in at Leslie's before I left the house and got us burgers and fries and Cokes under my name," he explained. "But we better hurry and get there to pick up the food before Dustin loses his shit because we made him late to the dance."

Jenna chuckled a little at that, spotting Dustin in the passenger's seat, with his curly hair all done up with a lot of hair gel and spray, something similar to Steve's hairstyle, wearing a teal button-down shirt, along with a plaid blue coat and a dark green bowtie.

"Looking good there, Henderson," Jenna stated as she got in the car, sitting in the middle so that she could see both boys.

He raised his eyebrows, giving her a weak smile. "You think so?"

"Yeah, you're definitely gonna be a hit with the ladies tonight."

"That's what I told him," Steve said, starting the car once he was settled in. "All right, so we gotta make one more stop..."

"Steeeve!" Dustin whined.

"We're just going to Leslie's to get food," he assured him.

So as Steve drove off down the street, heading towards downtown, Jenna watched the way he stayed focused on the road, while Dustin remained nervous, fidgeting with his hands. None of them said a word as they made their way to Leslie's Diner first, with Steve pulling into the parking lot right at the entrance.

"Be quick, Jenna," Dustin told her in a firm voice. "I can't be late."

Jenna rolled her eyes, taking some cash from Steve's hand. "I'll try my best." Slamming the door shut, she jogged inside the diner, heading for the front register, where a waitress was already standing there. "Hi, picking up an order for Steve Harrington."

The waitress nodded and went to fetch the order for her. As Jenna waited, she turned to see a blond-headed boy that went to Hawkins High, whom she recognized as Landon Roberts, leaning his elbows against the bar as he was talking to Carlie, the waitress that Steve and Jenna had the one time they were here together.

"Oh, come on, Carlie!" he called out to her. "All I'm asking for is just one date with your sister. One date."

"Forget it, Landon," she replied, pouring some pop into his cup.

"What, am I so repulsive that she wouldn't even consider going out with me?"

Carlie scoffed, shaking her head. "Believe me, you're not the problem."

Once the waitress came back with the food and drinks, Jenna handed her the cash, letting her keep the change, then headed out back to the car.

"See? That was pretty quick, right?" she said to Dustin.

He let out a sigh of annoyance. "Yeah, whatever. Let's just get to the dance."

As Steve drove off again, Jenna could hear her stomach rumbling, leading me to steal a few french fries out of the bag. There was a chuckle from the font, and she looked up to see Steve staring back at her through the rearview mirror. She grinned back, continuing to take more fries.

By the time Steve pulled up in front of the middle school, Dustin was staring at the doors, looking more anxious than ever to go inside as he watched the other middle schoolers with their dresses and skirts and suits on head inside to where the music was blaring and the white and blue lights were shining, with balloons and streamers hung all over the gymnasium.

"Okay, here we are," Steve said as he put the car in park. "So, remember, once you get in there..."

Dustin took a deep breath, looking back at Steve and nodding his head. "Pretend like I don't care," he said.

"You don't care."

"I don't care."

"There you go. You're learning, my friend. You're learning."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Jenna was tempted to tell Steve that was the dumbest piece of advice she had ever heard in her life. But seeing the way Dustin adjusted the rearview mirror to get another good look in, she decided against it for now.

"Hey," Steve stated, fixing the mirror.

"What?" Dustin asked.

"Come on. You look great, okay? You look...you look great. Okay?"

"Yeah, he's right," she spoke up. "Seriously, you're gonna slay 'em dead in there."

"Exactly," Steve agreed. "Now you're gonna go in there..."

"Yeah."

"You look like a million bucks."

"Yeah!"

"And you're gonna slay 'em dead, like Jenna said."

"Like a lion." Dustin then began to purr, which made Steve and Jenna shoot him an odd look.

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

"Okay."

Steve held out his hand, to which Dustin grabbed it, giving a short squeeze. "Good luck," he said, nodding.

Dustin nodded back, then turned towards Jenna, where she put my fist up, and he bumped his with hers. He then got out of the car and headed inside the school with confidence in his khaki pants and white tennis shoes, which led Jenna to moving herself and their dinner up to the front seat. As she got inside the car, Jenna noticed Steve looking inside through the doors. At first, she thought he was looking at Dustin talking to a teacher, but then she glanced inside the gymnasium and saw Nancy standing there, talking and smiling at the other students approaching her as she poured punch into little plastic cups, which caused her smile to fade.

Jenna cleared her throat, turning to face Steve. "You, uh, ready to go?"

Quickly snapping out of his trance, Steve glanced back at her for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, let's get out of here." He put the car in drive and sped out of the parking lot, heading towards the quarry.

While her nerves weren't as bad with Dustin in the car, the anxious feeling at the pit of her stomach returned, and Jenna knew it wouldn't go away once she got her announcement over with.

"Do you remember who you went with to our last Snow Ball?" Steve asked, breaking the silence.

Jenna chuckled a little before answering the question. "Yeah, it was Todd Wallace. Remember him?"

"Oh, yeah," he stated. "Didn't he lose a front tooth playing football a week before the dance?"

"Oh my God, he did!" she exclaimed, laughing. "Everyone made fun of him for it, too."

"And everyone made fun of you for being his date," he reminded her. "He moved away two years later, right?"

"Yeah, to Wisconsin," she said. "Your date moved away after the dance that year, didn't she?"

"I think so," he replied. "Mary Tucker was her name."

Jenna pinched her eyebrows in confusion. "Mary?"

"Yeah, Mary. Her dad was in the Army and he was stationed somewhere else so they moved a few months after the dance."

It took Jenna a minute to realize who he was talking about. "Her name was Cynthia, not Mary."

"What? No, it was definitely Mary. She told me herself."

"I'm pretty sure that was her middle name, Steve."

"Listen, Jenna, I think I remember my date to the Snow--" He stopped mid-sentence, giving some more thought, his expression changing once he realized it. "Holy shit. Her name was Cynthia."

"Told you!"

"And I was calling her Mary the entire night!"

"That explains why she stopped talking to you after the dance."

"Yeah, really," he mumbled, shaking his head. "Her name was fucking Cynthia..."

Jenna laughed at him as he kept driving, seeing him grin a little in embarrassment out of the corner of her eye.

It didn't take long for them to reach the bottom of the quarry, where Steve parked his car a few feet away from the water. As they started eating their food, Jenna tried to not let her nerves prevent her from throwing this food back up before she could tell Steve about her leaving Hawkins. She didn't let it show on her face that she was nervous, but it didn't matter, as Steve didn't seem to notice while he was eating, which meant she still had some more time before breaking the news to him.

"These burgers always hit the spot," Steve commented, wiping his face with a napkin. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, they're really good." Jenna was going to miss Leslie's Diner once she left, hoping Nashville had something that was just as good.

They spent a few more minutes finishing up their food and drinks, then cleaning their faces and fingers with the rest of the napkins. For a moment, the two of them just sat inside the car, looking out at the water, with the music from the radio at a low volume. But Steve reached over and turned it off, turning to look at Jenna.

"You're lucky I didn't like that song," she said in a joking manner, despite her not knowing what song was even playing.

Steve gave her a weak smile before adjusting his body towards her. "Jenna, I've been going over everything we talked about at the hospital. To be honest, that's all I can think about." He chucked a little, then continued. "Anyway, I kept wondering if our kiss meant something more. Like, maybe I was actually falling for my best friend." He took a deep breath, gazing at me. "And now I know for sure that's the case."

Jenna's face fell, along with her heart. "Steve..." she whispered.

Before anything else could be said from either one of them, Steve leaned in, cupping her face with his hand as he kissed Jenna. As much as she wanted to enjoy this moment, feeling the desire to stay like this for as long as she could, the horrible feeling in her stomach was telling her to pull away and just spit out what she needed to tell him.

And so Jenna broke the kiss, letting out a gasp. "Steve, I...I have to tell you something," she said, her voice cracking as a lump was already forming in her throat.

"What is it?" he asked, confused. "Jenna, what's wrong?"

She was struggling to get the words out, feeling the tears getting ready to fall down her face. "I'm so sorry for doing this right now, but..." Jenna trailed off, attempting to remain composed long enough to break the news.

"You're sorry? Sorry for what?" He shook his head, still puzzled. "Jesus Christ, I made you throw up the last time we kissed and now you're crying this time around..."

"No, that's not it," she said. "It's..." Still no luck with my words, she got frustrated with herself, opening the door and hopping out of the car, having no more control over her emotions.

"Jenna!" Steve called out, running until he reached her, placing his hands on both sides of her face. "Hey, what's the matter? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you didn't," she told him, shaking her head.

"Then what is it? I thought..." Steve stopped talking for a moment as his face fell. "I thought maybe you felt the same way."

"I do, Steve," she stated. "But the problem is that I'm leaving Hawkins."

The way Jenna managed to blurt out the words made her wish that some relief would come over her now that he knew, wanting him to understand why she was leaving once she told him the reason for doing so.

"What?" he mumbled. "Where are you going?"

"Nashville, Tennessee. My mom and Hopper were looking at some leads for my biological family and found my aunt on my dad's side there." Pausing, Jenna took a deep breath before going on. "My mom thinks it'd be best for me if I stayed with her for a while after everything that's happened with me and my powers these last few months."

"How long is a while, exactly?"

She bit her lip. "Long enough to finish up senior year."

Steve huffed a sigh, his expression turning slightly irritated. "When are you leaving?"

"Right after Christmas."

He threw his hands up in the air out of frustration. "And when the hell were you gonna tell me this? You didn't think to let me know before I asked you out here tonight so that I could finally tell you how I feel? Before I kissed you and was sober this time?"

Jenna raised her eyebrows. "Oh, well, excuse me for giving you some space so that you could figure things out," she retorted, starting to get angry with him. "I thought it was obvious that you liked me with all that stuff you were saying about how awesome I was and it was great with how close we had gotten the last few months."

"And I meant it when I said those things. I really do care about you, Jenna."

She scoffed. "Really? You care about me, huh? So why did you tell Dustin that he needs to act like he doesn't care to get girls? Did that work for Nancy for a while before that relationship went to shit and then you thought it'd work on me?"

"Don't bring her into this."

"Why not? I saw the way you were looking at her at the dance before we left. She's the reason you couldn't make up your mind about your feelings for me." Her face quickly dried up as the tears stopped and Jenna began to breathe heavily. "Especially since you told her about our kiss before you told me that you lied about it."

"At least she didn't lie to me. I owed her that much after the way I blew off her feelings. At least she's not selfish like you are, just packing up your shit and leaving your whole life here behind, even though you have so many people here who want to help you with controlling your powers after what happened."

"Oh, I'm the selfish one? Maybe I don't need anyone's help. Maybe I just need to look out for myself from now on. And if caring about my wellbeing makes me a monster, then--" Clenching her fists, Jenna shook her head, trying to stay in control while thinking about the illusion of Steve that she talked to in Chicago, seeing that the real Steve was starting to sound just like him. "You know what, it doesn't matter. It will never matter, because whatever I say won't change anything. It won't change the fact that you still love her. You will always love Nancy-fucking-Wheeler, and I'm the girl who will come in second place no matter what I say or do."

Steve remained silent, the look on his face already telling Jenna that there was no arguing this, that she was right. Despite having no hard feelings towards Nancy, there was still some jealousy towards her, knowing that she couldn't compete with her when she still had Steve wrapped around her finger, even if the girl didn't realize it.

In the Kingdom of Hawkins, King Steve had a damsel in distress, but it wasn't Jenna Howard. Nancy Wheeler was his one true queen, and Jenna would one day become the villain in their eyes. That was how it was meant to be.

"Jenna..." Steve spoke up, reaching out to grab her hand.

She snatched it away, though her fingers swiftly brushed against his for a quick second. "I'm walking home."

"No, you're not," he protested. "Come on."

"I said--"

"Jenna, as pissed as I am right now, just let me do this one last decent thing for you," he said almost in a desperate tone.

Huffing a sigh, Jenna reluctantly followed Steve back to his car, getting inside without another word. Once he did the same, he drove away from the quarry and back to her house, leaving the radio off.

The tension inside the car was thick as they stayed silent during the drive home, so thick that it made Jenna even more upset that it escalated to this. She couldn't remember the last time her and Steve ever got into a big fight like this. Most likely, it was probably when they were kids. But this argument...the things they said...neither one of them couldn't take it back, whether they meant to say them or not.

When Steve pulled into the driveway, Jenna opened the car door as fast as she could. "In case what you said was true and you actually do care about me, I'm leaving the day after Christmas."

"Okay," was all he said. "Enjoy your new life in Nashville."

"I will. Goodbye, Steve Harrington." With that, Jenna slammed the car door shut and stormed towards the front door, hearing the tires just about screech across the cement as he left. The door already opened up before she could even knock on it.

"You're back early," her mom stated, sounding surprised. "I thought you and Steve would be out late."

Sniffling, Jenna felt the tears forming in her eyes again. "I-I told him that I was leaving Hawkins," she croaked, giving her mom a sad look. "He hates me."

Dorothy's face fell. "Oh, sweetie..." She pulled Jenna in for a hug, rubbing her back with one hand and her hair with the other. "Steve could never hate you. He'll come around before you leave."

Jenna cried harder on her shoulder, holding her mom tight. "No. I don't think he will." And it was at that moment she accepted the fact that she had lost Steve Harrington for good.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Well, that didn't go as planned.

Did I write this in a day because yesterday was also the same day this chapter takes place on? Yes, I did. Do I get a gold star?

Anyway, Landon Roberts and Mary Tucker (jk, it's actually Cynthia) are characters from Sticks and Stones, a Steve Harrington fic, and Foolish Believer, a Robin Buckley fic, both written by justanillusion! Go check those out!

Comment, vote, only 1 chapter left!

-A