Throughout the game, while Jenna was watching Craig play, she was thinking about Carter. She wondered about the many things that he could know about last night. From what he told her, it sounded like a lot. Did that worry her? Yes. But was she curious to figure out what he knew? Also, yes.

As Jenna continued to watch the football game, hearing the cheering from the stands and the whistle blowing from the referee, she was beginning to get impatient. At this point, she had to resist the urge to get up and leave the game. However, she was here for Craig, being supportive of him.

"Your boyfriend is really slacking," Steve commented beside her.

Jenna turned her head, pursing her lips. "And you can do better?"

He scoffed. "Well, yeah, I can do better."

"Then why aren't you on the team?" she pointed out.

"Because I have other priorities, that's why," he retorted. "I'm better at basketball and swimming, anyway."

Jenna rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

The rest of the game dragged out for quite some time. Once it was over, seeing the win we got, Jenna clapped in excitement. As people from the bleachers descended down with each step, she did the same, heading across the field to see Craig.

He smiled her way. "There's my girl," he said, wrapping one of his sweaty arms around her.

Jenna felt the stickiness cling onto her when she pulled away. "You were great out there," she told him, remembering Steve's comment from earlier.

"Thanks," he breathed, gulping down water from his bottle. "Me and the boys are gonna head out and celebrate. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Jenna nodded. "Yeah, see you tomorrow."

He gave her a quick peck on the lips before sprinting off with the other players.

Immediately, Jenna spun around on her heel and made her way towards the school doors. She spotted the rest of her friends and put her head down, not wanting to deal with their questions as to why she was in such a hurry. Hopefully, no one saw her leave so fast.

Carter was still in the hallway where she left him. Instead of standing, he was sitting on the ground, his head leaned back and eyes shut with his headphones on. As Jenna approached him, she waited for a moment, but he didn't budge, which resulted in her lightly tapping him with her foot.

He quickly opened his eyes and lifted his head up towards her, taking out his headphones. "Surprised you didn't kick me a little harder to get my attention."

"Well, you're helping me, so I thought I'd be a little nice," she replied, waiting for him to get up. "I can't believe you actually waited out here for me. Did it occur to you that I could've bailed?"

"No," he answered, standing up and stretching his arms. "Because you're curious as to what I know about Barbara and that picture of you."

"And you're not curious about what I know?"

"Oh, I'm very curious," he admitted.

Jenna nodded. "Okay, so let's get out of here, then."

Carter nodded his head. "Yes, before someone sees us being civil with each other. I'm sure you don't want anyone to catch us leaving together, anyway."

In an awkward fashion, the two exited the school and into the cool, evening air. The sun was beginning to set as they walked across the parking lot in silence. Eventually, it was nightfall. Things began to get a little tense for the both of them, with only the crickets making any noise around them. After all, Jenna was used to calling him names and taunting him whenever she could, and he was used to responding with some snarky comments.

"Want a cigarette?" he asked, lending her one.

Jenna looked at it before nodding her head. "Yeah," she replied, taking it and letting him bring the lighter up to the end as she stuck it in her mouth. Having a cigarette with Carter the Cutter was not what she had in mind today. "Since when do you smoke?"

"Since two years ago," he replied.

"I've never seen you smoke," she commented.

"That's because you're never around to watch me do it," he retorted. "After school is the best time for me. I can relieve all of my stress from one cancer stick. Isn't that fun?"

"It's not as fun as getting drunk," she told him.

He scoffed in response. "Like you and your best friends did last night?"

Jenna rolled her eyes, continuing to smoke her cigarette. "Speaking of last night, you finally want to talk about it?"

Carter inhaled again, puffing out more smoke as he looked at me. "Okay. Jonathan and I stayed for a while when he told me he wanted to take some quick pictures."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't ask. We're not that fucking close."

"So, why were you with him last night?"

"Because..." he trailed off for a moment, then continued. "I just wanted to get out, that's all. I like to take walks."

Jenna raised her eyebrows, but didn't press on.

As they were finally off school property and on the main road, she spoke up once again. "So, what about Barbara? Did you see where she went?"

He shook his head. "One minute she was on the diving board, looking down at the water. Next thing we knew, she vanished. Kind of strange, really." He paused, huffing a sigh. "What was with the screaming by the pool?"

Finishing her cigarette, Jenna folded my arms over her chest to keep warm. "It started yesterday morning, when I was in the bathroom after another one of my nosebleeds and headaches. One moment, I was there, then I was somewhere else."

"Right, when you were yelling."

Jenna huffed a sigh in annoyance. "Okay, yes, I was yelling," she confessed. "But I swear, it was like I left school and then came back."

Carter let out a snort. "Well, that's some story, Howard."

"Laugh all you want, but you asked for information."

"About Barbara, since that's the whole reason we're meeting up."

Jenna flicked her cigarette on the ground and went on. "I brought that up, because the same thing happened last night, and..." She paused, taking a deep breath. "I saw Barbara."

Carter stopped in his tracks, staring at me. "What do you mean by that?"

Jenna halted on walking as well, standing in front of him. "I mean, I saw her getting dragged down in the depths of Steve's pool that looked like the pit of hell," she explained. "She was calling for Nancy, but her best friend was a bit occupied with Steve upstairs, so I was the only one that heard her."

"But you were too late, weren't you?" he questioned.

Jenna nodded. "Yeah, I was. Janet and I went out looking for her, but we ran into a dead end." She watched her breath in front of her as she exhaled. "I just don't understand. First Jonathan's little brother, now Barbara?"

"And that camera," Carter added. She shot him a funny look. "That was pretty fucking crazy, Howard, and totally not normal. I mean, it just exploded out of nowhere. Tell me, how does a camera just explode like that?"

"I have no idea!" Jenna shouted out of frustration. "But I can tell you that things have been pretty weird for me ever since Will Byers disappeared and I have no idea why."

Carter put his hands in his pockets, eyeing her, almost like he was observing her facial expressions to see if she was lying. "There's something strange going on in Hawkins, and it's probably going to get worse for more people if someone doesn't do shit about it."

Jenna scoffed. "Wow, something we can agree on."

Before Carter could say anything else, sirens erupted in the air. Speeding down the road was Chief Hopper's Chevrolet, heading in the same direction they were going.

"Something's wrong," Jenna stated.

"Well, how about we stop standing here and go see what's up?" Carter suggested, taking off on his feet.

Jenna followed him, letting the sirens guide them as the whaling continued to ring in their ears. She could feel her heart pumping and the smoke from the cigarette fill her lungs, making it more and more difficult to keep going. However, while she was struggling, much like Carter, she didn't give up.

Chief Hopper's car led them all the way to the quarry, where there was nothing but lights from other police cars, an ambulance, and the fire rescue, where four kids stood behind, their bikes on the ground. It made Jenna's heart drop.

"What the hell?" she muttered.

"This is definitely not good," Carter said.

"You think?" she retorted.

He shot her a serious look. "This really isn't the time to make smart-ass remarks, Howard."

Jenna shut her mouth as they hid behind the trees, watching as two state troopers picked someone up out of the water and placed them on a gurney, being dragged onto land.

"Oh, no," Jenna mumbled. "It's really him."

Carter's breath became shaky. "I don't know about you, but I think it's time we take this shit seriously and get down to what's going on here."

Jenna nodded, feeling a little anxious. "Sounds like a good plan."

Today seemed like the only day that Jenna Howard and Carter Page would actually agree on something, and with everything that was going on, it was obvious they needed each other more than ever if they wanted to get to the bottom of this one big mystery.

"So Will disappears on Sunday night, then you begin to experience things such as nosebleeds, headaches, and fainting, which you decided to tell me right after we witness a dead body being pulled out of the quarry--"

"Okay, yeah, my bad," Jenna cut him off, getting irritated with Carter as we walked away from the scene. "Continue."

Carter inhaled out of annoyance, then went on. "Anyway, so then you supposedly travel to other dimensions or some shit, then you watch Barbara cry for help before she's dragged away by something in Harrington's pool, which was not in our world, like you keep saying..." He paused, taking a breath. "Well, it's a lot to take in, but it's definitely useful information."

"It better be, considering everything that's happened to me since Sunday," she retorted.

Their pace when walking down the dark road was a bit quicker than before. Given what they just saw, while Jenna was unsure how Carter was doing, her heart was racing, feeling herself tremble as her nerves got worse.

"I need another cigarette," he stated, pulling out the pack and lighter from his coat pocket. "I'm assuming you want another one, too?"

Jenna shook her head. "No, I'm good."

He lit the cigarette, his shaky hand bringing the stick up to his lips. "This whole thing is fucking crazy," he commented.

"Yeah, really," she mumbled.

They continued to walk in silence, letting their surroundings of the night take over. The cold air was beginning to take a toll on Jenna's body, and she groaned just knowing the walk home was going to be bad.

Home. Mom.

Jenna was sure that she was worried about me.

Before she could even give another thought about her mom, Jenna felt a headache slowly coming upon her. She groaned a little at the slight pain, not enough for Carter to say anything about it.

"'So come on and let me know...'"

That was when Jenna froze in place. Was that--

"'Should I stay or should I go?'"

And then it happened again. Jenna was no longer standing beside Carter in the middle of the road. Instead, she was back in this other dimension that she had become familiar with. The pavement below her was dirt and the trees that surrounded her were twisted with vines, along with small particles of something white floating all over.

"'Should I stay or should I go now?'"

"Hello?" Jenna called out. "Who is that?"

"'Should I stay or should I go now?'"

Her breath hitched. "Will?" She spun around frantically, trying to find where his voice was coming from. "Will, is that you?"

"'If I go there will be trouble.'"

At the word "trouble," the trickling down of the blood from her nose came. Jenna quickly wiped her nose, making it the least of her worries at the moment, dashing through the trees. "Will!"

"'If I stay it will be double.'"

"Where are you? Will!" She kept shouting, struggling to continue standing. Tripping over the vines, Jenna fell to the ground, grunting. "WILL!"

"Howard!" Carter cried out from a distance.

Jenna snapped her head up with a gasp, realizing that she was back in Hawkins. "Will," I whispered.

"There you are," Carter said, almost relieved when he approached her. "What the fuck happened to you?"

Jenna slowly got back on her feet, still feeling the shock of what just happened moments ago. "I...I went back."

"Went back where?"

"To...to that other dimension..."

"Oh, shit," he mumbled. "Um...fuck, okay, wow, that's--"

"Crazy, I know," she finished for him, leading them out of the woods. "And Will was there."

Carter froze. "You saw Will?"

Jenna shook her head. "No, but I heard him. He was singing..." As she was remembering the lyrics in my head, that was when she realized that she heard the same song not too long ago. "The Clash. It was that song playing on the radio when I was in Craig's car the other day."

"And how is that relevant to any of this?"

There was a wave of relief when they got back to the main road. "Because he tried changing the station a few times and it just kept going back to that song. Then there was nothing but static. I had no idea what happened, but I wonder if Will had something to do with it."

He raised his eyebrows. "Like he was trying to contact you through the radio?"

Jenna shot him a deadpan look. "It sounds ridiculous when you say it like that."

"Two days ago, yes, I'd say it's ridiculous," he admitted. "But now, maybe you're actually onto something."

Before she could respond, a pair of headlights came their way, blinding them temporarily. The car slammed on brakes beside them, followed by the window rolling down, revealing a familiar woman with her wide eyes staring at me.

"Shit," Jenna muttered.

"Who is that?" Carter asked.

She sighed. "That would be my mom."

*******

"When I got the call from Chief Hopper that they found that boy's body, I was beginning to wonder if yours would be discovered, too," Dorothy told Jenna once they got home after dropping Carter off at his house. "Seriously, where have you been? I was worried sick."

"I went out after the game," Jenna explained, getting a little bit away from the truth.

"In the woods? What were you doing out there?"

In her mind, Jenna was trying to string the right words in order to come up with the perfect lie, something to hide everything that was so complicated about the whole situation. Because the truth was anything but logical.

"It's a long story," was what she came up with.

"Oh, it is, huh?" her mom questioned, crossing her arms over her chest, raising her eyebrows. "Care to explain?"

Jenna sat down on the couch. "Carter and I went out looking for Will after the game." She paused, thinking more of what she could say that was believable. "No one else wanted to go with me, and I just happened to run into him." Her heart raced fast, hoping her mom would fall for it.

Dorothy's stare lingered, but she finally sighed and let her posture relax. She sat down beside Jenna, her arms falling down on her legs. "I went by Joyce's house today on my break, just to check on her and see how she was doing."

"And?"

"And it was...interesting." She took a breath, then continued. "She had lights strung up everywhere. Karen Wheeler was there, too. You know her daughter, Nancy, right?" Jenna nodded. "Anyway, her youngest daughter wandered into Will's room and must've seen something, because Joyce just..." She shook her head. "She went frantic over it."

"What was it?" Jenna asked, getting a little bit nervous.

"Well, she thinks something was about to rip out of the wall."

Jenna widened my eyes. "Holy--"

"Yeah, I know," Dorothy cut her off. "But while I appreciate you going out and looking for him, a search party already went out the other night with the police and they took over from there." She paused. "Another thing is that I don't want you wandering all over Hawkins late at night. Something really could've happened to you, Jenna."

Jenna nodded sheepishly. "I know. I'm sorry, Mom. Really, Carter and I were just trying to help, especially with Jonathan being stressed out about his brother and all."

Dorothy gave her daughter a small smile, rubbing her back. "I'm sure he is grateful for that." After a kiss at Jenna's temple, she stood up. "We should go ahead and get to bed. Goodnight, Jenna."

"Goodnight, Mom," she replied, watching her ascend the stairs.

The guilt of lying to her weighed on her, but how was she supposed to tell her mom the truth without her thinking she was crazy or without getting herself into trouble? There was no way around it. It was a terrible thing to do, yes, but in the end, Jenna did it for her.

Because whatever was going on in Hawkins, it was not good, and Jenna was sure as hell wasn't going to have her own mom get involved in it.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Well, things are getting interesting now.

Comment, vote, PLEASE COMMENT. Seriously, it's beginning to frustrate me that some of y'all are being ghost readers.

-A