Memories of the night before came back to Jenna as she woke up the next morning, letting out a yawn as she sat up and felt her head pounding. The room was dark, much to her surprise, which was when she turned towards the window and noticed the dark clouds hovering over, along with the thunder rumbling and wind picking up. Jenna sighed as she got out of bed, feeling the soles of her feet hurting again once they touched the floor. With some hesitance, she stood up and carefully headed for the door and down the stairs, taking one step at a time, where she found her mom already in the kitchen.

"Morning, sweetie," Dorothy greeted her daughter, dumping scrambled eggs from the pan and onto the plate in front of her. "Rough night?"

You have no idea. "Yeah, very. What gave it away?"

"Well, for one thing, you're not wearing pajamas." She paused and glanced at her daughter with soft eyes. "And the beer stain on the front of your shirt is also pretty obvious."

"Mom, don't you think it's too early for a lecture about underage drinking?"

"It's almost noon, Jenna."

"What?" Looking over at the clock sitting above the sink and seeing that her mom was right, Jenna groaned, rubbing her temple. "Jesus Christ..."

"But we can have that talk later when you're feeling better. Want some breakfast?"

With a weak smile, Jenna sulked over towards the table and sat down, the smell of eggs, bacon, and toast becoming overwhelming to her nostrils. She was thankful that she could smell that over her dirty clothes from last night. But when she took a sip of the glass of orange juice her mom also gave her, she made a sour face as the hint of vomit and alcohol didn't help with the taste.

"I'm guessing you had fun at the party last night?" Dorothy asked, taking her seat across from Jenna with her own plate of food and coffee in hand.

"Uh, sort of," Jenna replied.

"What does 'sort of' mean?"

She shrugged, looking down at her plate. "It was an okay party."

"It must've been more than just an okay party if you're hungover."

Keeping her head down, Jenna sighed, poking at the eggs with her fork. "The night was...well, shitty at first, then it was fun, then it got shitty again."

"Did something happen?"

Yeah, a lot. "Everyone there was just surprised to see me," she answered. "And some were more excited than others."

Dorothy nodded in understanding, taking a sip of her coffee. "Well, you know who your true friends are. At least you had Janet by your side, right?"

Jenna swallowed hard as she put her fork down, taking a gulp of her orange juice in order to stall a response. The events after the party began to replay in her head, hearing Janet's drunken confession and hurtful words that felt like a knife to the heart all over again, with Jenna's chest starting to ache from thinking about it. She almost wanted to cry again, but stopped herself before her mom noticed.

"I don't wanna talk about Janet right now," she finally stated, leaning back in her chair.

"Is everything okay between you two?" Dorothy asked.

"We just got in a fight, that's all. But again, I don't wanna talk about it."

Dorothy's face fell. "Jenna--"

"Why did we stay in Hawkins?"

Dorothy furrowed her eyebrows at the question. "What?"

Jenna paused as she crossed her arms, staring at her mom. "After you adopted me, why did we stay in Hawkins? I mean, wouldn't it have been safer for us if we had left?"

For a moment, Dorothy was quiet as she looked at Jenna, then started her explanation. "Actually, I did think about it after I found out what happened to your parents at the lab. I wasn't sure if we could stay in hiding from those awful people. I had the money, but I was having a hard time figuring out where we could go and start over. I really wasn't prepared to just get out of here and raise you on my own." Pausing again, she sighed, her face falling. "So I enrolled you at Hawkins Elementary, and it didn't take you very long to fit right in with the other kids." She smiled and shook her head. "And that's when I had the idea that maybe we could make this place home and find a way to stay hidden from Hawkins Lab. Still not sure how we pulled it off, though."

"Well, they couldn't even find Eleven around town when she escaped," Jenna pointed out.

Dorothy chuckled in response. "Those people at Hawkins Lab really weren't all that bright, huh?"

A grin came across Jenna's face as she shook her head. "Definitely not."

The two laughed a little for a moment, and it almost lifted Jenna's spirits until they went quiet again. It wasn't even the thought of Hawkins Lab that killed her mood, but remembering when she met the little kids at Hawkins Elementary all those years ago and how simple things were as they grew up together. Now, everyone would part ways and become strangers again.

Well, almost everyone.

"Remember when you first met Janet in school?" her mom questioned.

Jenna nodded her head. "Yeah." Really, they didn't meet until much later, but the first memory Jenna had of Janet was when she was walking into her kindergarten classroom, excited and nervous at once, and the first person she saw was a girl in pigtails sitting at a round table throwing crayons at a couple of boys. Jenna didn't approach her that entire year, but after being in the same class for the next few years, the two finally introduced themselves on the first day of middle school and became good friends, along with a boy that worried too much about having bad hair days. Little did they (or anyone else) know that Jenna Howard, Janet Attaway, and Steve Harrington would become inseparable, even though none of them had really considered themselves a best friend trio until last year

But the trio didn't expect to be caught in fighting monsters and big arguments over feelings about everything and everyone at this point in time.

"Listen, I'm sure you and Janet will get over whatever you two are fighting about. Just spend some time apart to cool off a little and don't worry about it too much. It'll all work out in the end."

Jenna didn't say anything, going back to her plate full of food, while Dorothy did the same. She was unsure if her mom was right about everything working out between her and Janet given how serious the argument was. There was still something that Janet spat out during the fight, and it was a thought that Jenna let linger in her head after Janet sped off.

What if I did go back to Nashville and stayed there for good?

"Mom?" she spoke up.

"Yeah, sweetie?"

Pressing her lips together, Jenna sat up straight and took a deep breath, staring at her mom. "Would you be upset if I decided to go back to Nashville?"

Dorothy shot her a puzzled look before smiling and letting out a chuckle. "Of course not. But you just came from there. Are you thinking about going back already?"

Jenna slightly shifted in her seat. "I mean...like...go back to Nashville for good."

The smile on her mom's face began to slowly fade. "Oh." She briefly put her head down, almost as an attempt to hide any tears that might fall. "Is there a reason why you don't want to stay here?"

She scoffed. "It's pretty obvious that I'm no longer welcomed back in this town."

Her mom's expression turned sad. "Do you really think that's true?"

"I know it's true."

As her face fell even more, Dorothy stood up from her seat across from Jenna and got in the next chair over, her hand reaching out and light placing it over her daughter's. "It's not true and you know it. In fact, it's bullshit."

Jenna shot her head up, eyes going wide. "Wha--"

"You and I both know there are people in this town that are happy you're back and want you to stay, even if certain people have a hard time showing it."

She almost rolled her eyes at her mom's response. "It's not just certain people, Mom. It's literally everyone I've talked to ever since I got back."

"If you're referring to the kids you saw at the party last night, then none of them were really your friends to begin with." Dorothy paused, sighing. "To be honest, Steve and Janet are the only friends of yours from that crowd that I actually like."

"Well, now they hate me, too, so..."

"For God's sake, they don't hate you, Jenna. I just think all of you need some time to process everything before you talk about whatever's going on with you three."

Jenna stayed silent, knowing that muttering the words, "it's complicated" wasn't going to mean anything. Maybe her mom was right, but Jenna was uncertain as to how long she could wait before it was too late to solve their problems. Besides, given many circumstances, if there was something Jenna didn't have to waste at the moment, it was time. She had always been an impatient girl, anyway.

Dorothy glanced at her watch and quickly finished her breakfast, which Jenna took notice of. She didn't take her eyes off her mom, chewing on a piece of bacon as Dorothy was now cleaning up her side of the table and heading for the sink.

"Why are you in a rush all of a sudden?" Jenna questioned.

"I'm supposed to meet up with Joyce and run some errands before our shift at Melvald's," she answered swiftly.

"Speaking of Melvald's, I called last night to see if you were still there, but no one answered," Jenna said. "Did you and Joyce close up early or something?"

"Uh, yeah, business was slow all day, so Donald let us go early and I just went to Wayne's afterwards."

There was something about the way Dorothy was picking up the pace that had Jenna a bit suspicious. But then again, it seemed like business downtown really was getting slow with how many people spent most of their time at the mall nowadays. It did worry Jenna that her mom could lose her job if she continued to close early, seeing the possibility that it would lead to hours being cut and then Melvald's closing for good shortly after. She didn't want that for her, as much as her mom enjoyed working at Melvald's for so many years, the one job that helped Dorothy provide for them over the years.

Jenna shot her mom a concerned look. "Is everything okay at Melvald's? Like, will closing up early become a regular thing?"

Dorothy let out a sigh, shrugging. "I don't know. I hope not. Maybe things will pick up soon." Her voice didn't sound very hopeful.

"Well, I'll go back to the mall and try finding a job this time," Jenna assured her, despite it not being a part of her plan for today.

"Yeah, you can go see if Scoops Ahoy is hiring."

"Mom."

She shot Jenna a playful smile before heading towards her and planting a kiss on top of her head. "I'll see you later. Take some medicine for that hangover."

"Got it."

After watching her mom grab her purse and keys then exciting the house, Jenna felt her stomach already do flips as the nausea was about to creep up on her. She stood up from the table, taking her plate to the trash can, dumping out what food was left on it, disgusted at the smell from inside, which caused her to quickly close the top and grab some medicine from the pantry, downing a couple of small red pills before cleaning up the rest of her mess on the table. Her eyes went towards the phone on the wall, and the longer she stared at it, the longer she thought about calling Janet. Though maybe it was too soon to call her after their heated argument only happened just hours ago. She was starting to think that her mom was right about giving her some space to cool off before talking about what happened. After all, it was exactly what she was doing with Steve (sort of).

But sometimes, Jenna wasn't very good at listening to her mom.

Once the table was cleared of her dirty glass and napkin, Jenna headed for the phone, stopping right in front of it and giving it another good look while she mustered up the courage to lift her hand and pick up the phone. Finally, she took a deep breath and quickly grabbed the phone, dialing her number and hearing the other line ring a few times before someone picked up.

"Hello?" the hoarse voice of James Attaway answered, and Jenna froze. "Hello? Who is this?"

Without a second thought, Jenna slammed the phone back on the hook and took a step back, her eyes glued to the phone for another moment before turning her body away and heading back up the stairs and into her bedroom again.

She found herself looking at the old and small vanity set still cluttered with things she left behind in Hawkins for six months. Despite everything still being a mess, Jenna managed to spot the tiny box pressed against the mirror, with the top collecting dust, one that she probably forgot to put with the other photos. Picking it up and wiping off the lint, she could finally recognize herself, along with her friends, at a party that she was certain took place before Will Byers disappeared. She noticed her dark brown hair that she was almost happy to have gotten rid of, as seeing it was a reminder of how terrible that person in the photo was, and she could say the same for Steve, Janet, Tommy H, and Carol surrounding her with cups of beer in their hands. She didn't miss that person, nor did she miss that life, even if she had one hell of a time living in the simple, golden days of high school. But staring at Steve and Janet in between Jenna, smiling as the flash went off, still made her heart tug a little.

Jenna took one last look at the photo before reaching for the box and opening it, placing the picture on the top of the other polaroids inside and closing it shut again, not ready to go through a box full of memories just yet. Deep down, she didn't think she'd ever be ready for that.

The next thing on her mind was getting cleaned up before going anywhere for the day. After taking off her dirty clothes, Jenna spent a while washing her body with a rag and brushing her teeth and hair. She then got dressed with a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt, grabbing a raincoat from her closet before leaving the bedroom and back downstairs, where she grabbed her keys and headed out of the house, closing and locking the door behind her. Jenna knew while getting into her car that she wasn't going to Starcourt Mall first. Instead, she went to the police station to talk to Hopper about what she and Janet witnessed last night at the mill. She had to tell him before anything else happened, before things got out of hand like they usually did. And to make Jenna more paranoid, it seemed like each threat was bigger and more dangerous than the last one. First the Demogorgon, then the Mind Flayer, now what was coming for Hawkins next?

Jenna felt nervous and confused when she pulled into the parking lot of the station as she noticed that Hopper's police car wasn't anywhere in sight. Turning off the engine and stepping out onto the hot pavement, she quickly walked inside and approached the small front desk, where an elderly woman everyone knew as Florence was stacking a bunch of papers and sliding them away from her when she looked up and saw Jenna standing there.

"Can I help you?" she asked Jenna in a monotone voice.

"Hi, do you know where Chief Hopper is?"

"No idea."

Jenna raised her eyebrows, leaning against the counter. "Well, do you know when he's gonna come in?"

Florence let out a chuckle. "He likes to make up his own schedule these days."

Trying to hide her annoyance, Jenna nodded her head in defeat, flashing the woman a weak smile. "Okay. Thanks." With that, she turned around and left the station, huffing a sigh once she got back inside her car, thinking that she'll just make a call to the cabin next time. She'd probably have butter luck reaching him there, anyway.

As Jenna drove out of the parking lot and back onto the street, the anxious feeling remained as she headed for Starcourt Mall, and she knew that it wasn't just because she continued to think about this new potential monster lurking around Hawkins. The last thing she wanted to deal with was seeing Steve again after their awkward time in the bathroom yesterday. Of course, she could just avoid the food court altogether and not have to worry about any more uncomfortable conversations with him and those close to both of them butting in with their unsolicited advice. Besides, if Janet wanted Jenna to leave Steve out of whatever the hell was going on again, then she was going to do just that. Though she couldn't help but think that Janet might've been onto something about risking Steve's life if he was involved in all of this, even if he was willing to help like the last couple of times. Still, if something were to happen, Jenna would forever blame herself for it. Not only would she lose one best friend, but actually two, as Janet would never speak to her again if they lost Steve.

But how would they feel if they lost Jenna? Would they even care given the rocky circumstances she was dealing with between the two of them?

Maybe Steve will realize that he doesn't like this new Jenna Howard and he'll finally get over you.

Jenna wondered if Janet was right about that, too.

The rest of the drive to the mall was filled with music blasting in the car as a distraction for Jenna. Though no matter how loud she had Tears for Fears singing through the radio, it didn't help any. And when she spotted the dark clouds drifting over the mall in the distance, she took it as an omen, which almost made her want to turn around and head home. Another reason she could leave was seeing that the mall would be even more busy with the gloomy weather and everyone would want to stay indoors. More thunder boomed as Jenna parked her car and got out, going at a quick pace towards the mall before any rain started to fall. She weaved through the crowd, not having a clue as to where she was going. Honestly, she hadn't given much thought about where she'd want to work at the mall, aside from anywhere that was far from the food court. She didn't think Carter wanted Jenna to work alongside him at the pretzel joint, even though it would be nice to have some decent company to pass the long hours. However, there was also having to see Steve across the food court slinging ice cream to customers and using his charm to try and woo any cute girls that came to Scoops Ahoy. And then Jenna had to worry about Carlie, who was most likely going to steal a glance or two whenever she got the chance, something that Jenna would attempt herself. But really, despite their complications at the moment, how could she not stare at Steve in that ridiculous sailor uniform? Now the idea of working at Hot Sam Pretzels didn't sound so bad.

Jenna glanced at stores that looked appealing enough to work at as she continued walking farther inside the mall. She didn't turn her head back to look straight ahead until she felt someone bump into her shoulder.

"Oh, sorr--" Jenna started to say until the face of Heather Holloway staring back at her, and she let out a gasp, taking a step back before freezing up completely.

"Help me."

Jenna's eyes went wide. "What?" But when she furiously blinked, some stranger she didn't recognize stood there instead, shooting Jenna an annoyed look.

"I said watch it," the girl snapped before turning around and storming off.

Jenna felt her body tense up, breathing heavily as she tried to compose herself. She didn't feel hot, which was a good sign so far, but she still prepared for it, waiting for the heat to rise inside and take over. But before there was a chance it could happen, Jenna spun around on her heel and was heading for the nearest bathroom, only to collide with another body.

"Oh, shit," she muttered, grabbing a hold of the person's arms, then looking up in shock to see who she ran into this time. "Steve."

"Hey, Jenna," he replied, his hands wrapped around her elbows to keep both of them steady.

Quickly pulling away, Jenna stepped back like before, smoothing out her raincoat. "Hey. Sorry about that."

"No worries."

Jenna took another look at Steve and his Scoops Ahoy uniform (minus the hat, which a part of her wished he had it on, for it would've been a good way to diffuse the awkwardness between them by making fun of him for it like she did yesterday), along with the binoculars in his hand. "So, um, shouldn't you be at work? I don't think your co-worker wants to be running the ice cream place by herself. Robin's her name, right?"

"Uh, yeah, Robin," he confirmed, nodding. "I was just taking a break."

"With binoculars?"

Steve let out a nervous chuckle. "It's kind of a long story." Pausing, he cleared his throat. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just--"

"Steve!"

The two turned their attention towards the sound of Dustin's voice, where the curly-haired boy and Carlie came sprinting their way. And suddenly, the jealousy that Jenna felt the day before came back to her, like an itch that she thought was gone for good but only for it to come back more irritating than ever. First Nancy, now Carlie? Jenna wondered if Carlie was anything like her sister when it came to boys, which just fueled the envy inside her even more.

"What is it, Henderson?" Steve asked in annoyance.

"They cracked it," he answered.

"What?"

Dustin raised his eyebrows, glancing at Jenna, then back at Steve. "The code," he whispered. "Robin and Carlie cracked it."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, we did," Carlie piped up in a cheerful disposition. "I mean, it was so obvious the entire time and we didn't even realize it."

Jenna watched as Steve's eyes lit up at Carlie speaking, and it made her heart sink. But the more she stared at the two, the more tense she became, finally looking away before she could get out of control again. Clenching her fists, she took a deep breath, trying to tune out the noise around her, trying to tune out Carlie Cunningham.

"Hey, Jenna!"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Jenna whipped her head around when Steve said her name. "Huh?"

"I asked if you were okay," he said. "You kind of zoned out for a moment."

"Oh," she stated, quickly nodding her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just remembered that I gotta stop at Melvald's to give my mom something. I'll see you guys later." With that, she spun around on her heel, picking up the pace as she headed for the exit.

"Jenna, wait!" Steve called out, which only made her go faster. "Jenna!"

She did her best to ignore him, despite hearing the way he almost sounded desperate for her to turn around and talk to him again. Although it didn't stop her from being curious as to what he wanted this time, curious as to why he was chasing after her. But she continued to walk faster, pulling up the hoodie of her raincoat once she stepped outside.

"Jenna!" Steve shouted once more as he followed Jenna outside, panting as she came to a halt. "What's going on with you?"

Rolling her eyes, Jenna turned around to face him. "Nothing. I said I was fine."

"Yeah, well, I'm not buying it," he retorted. "I know you better than that."

"Do you, really, Steve?"

He let out a sigh, letting the door close behind him. "Is this about what happened yesterday?"

"What? No." Jenna shot him a confused look, already starting to get annoyed with him. "It has nothing to do with that."

"Then what is it?"

"I told you it's nothing."

"You're lying."

"I'm not lying."

"Jenna."

"Steve."

His face fell the longer he kept quiet and stared at her, and thankfully, no one was around to see the tension build up between the two. "Look, I'm just worried about you, that's all."

"Oh, really?" Jenna scoffed, growing irritated at his words. "Well, I don't need you worrying about me."

"Jenna--"

"I have to go." She turned around to face the rain, about to take her first step in the downpour.

"Wait, don't be like this. Just talk to--"

"Dammit, Steve, leave me alone!" Spinning around again, her hard eyes landed on his, and the heat shot through her body and towards the boy before she could even stop it, resulting in him letting out a cry of pain.

"Jesus Christ!" Steve yelled, clutching his head and squeezing his eyes shut. "Jenna, stop!"

With wide eyes, Jenna gasped and broke contact with Steve, glancing at the ground as she heard him sigh in relief. She noticed a few drops of blood fall onto the sidewalk, mixing with the puddles of water for a moment before disappearing. When she looked back up, she saw Steve still standing there, though his expression was no longer soft.

"Oh my God," she whispered, staring at him as he was panting.

"Shit," he mumbled, his breathing getting more stable while leaning against the wall.

"Steve..." she began to say in a low voice, stepping back under the shelter and shaking her head. "I-I didn't mean to--"

"You should go," he quickly said, averting his eyes away from her.

"I'm so--"

"Just go, Jenna."

She felt her eyes water up as she took one last glance at him before backing away and turned her body again and rushed across the parking lot towards her car, not looking back at Steve and letting the tears fall. By the time Jenna got settled inside the safety of her car, she realized how hot her face was from all the crying she had already done in such a short period of time, her vision now blurry. But once Jenna could see clearly again, she started up the car and sped out of the parking lot and onto the street, her tires screeching against the wet pavement.

Her mind went back to what just happened with Steve, what she did to him with her powers. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. Jenna remembered when she talked to an illusion of Steve in Chicago, not wanting to believe that version of Steve was just in front of her. He told her once that she wasn't a monster, but now, maybe he thought differently. Maybe he'd see her differently, something that she was afraid of happening.

Jenna cried harder as she kept driving, her head pounding and chest aching. Instead of heading home where she could hide in the comfort of her bedroom for the rest of the day, she found herself turning into the empty high school parking lot, taking the first spot she laid eyes on, even though it was nowhere near the building. She cut the engine off and got out of the car, despite the rain coming down harder than ever, and dashed towards the school, stopping once she was under the shelter and in front of the main doors. Jenna wasn't sure why she even came here, why she wanted to visit a place filled with good and bad memories of someone she used to be, of someone she wanted to bury six feet under if it was possible. Maybe she thought the sentimental attachment to this school was no longer there until she stared at the locked doors, wondering if breaking in to take a walk down the halls one last time would give her some closure, or even some kind of distraction from her incident with Steve. But it only made her think of him more, going back to the time when they both attended Hawkins High and stuck together, the time where he was her best friend and she was his. The time where he didn't hate her.

Why did things have to get so fucking complicated between us?

"Jenna?"

Startled, Jenna jumped as she turned around to find Eleven and Max standing there with bright red and yellow raincoats over their clothes. "El? Max? What are you two doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Max countered.

"I-I was just stopping by to see the school," she quickly stated, sniffling and wiping her face. "But I'm actually about to leave and get home before the rain gets any worse, so--"

"Wait," Eleven cut her off, almost in an urgent manner. "Come with us."

"Come with you?" Jenna furrowed her eyebrows at the girls in confusion. "Why, what's going on?"

Eleven and Max exchanged concerned glances before turning to face Jenna again, and the redhead was the one to respond this time.

"We need your help."

*******

Jenna didn't know what to expect when she followed Eleven and Max to the Hargrove house.

In all honesty, before he started acting weird, she never gave much thought to Billy Hargrove in general, much less what kind of house he lived in. Although she couldn't help but wonder how many girls he brought over, assuming it was enough for him to make a habit out of it that resulted in Max getting used to the routine, which annoyed her to no end. Jenna tried to get the image out of her head as she pulled up to the empty house, stepping out of the car and making a dash to the front porch just as the two teenagers hopped off their shared bike and did the same.

While walking through the house, Jenna barely had time to look around at anything before Max led her and Eleven to the bathroom (though it wasn't hard to miss his bedroom with the door cracked open that let some of the cigarette smell linger in the hall). When they entered the bathroom, Jenna glanced at the blue seashells plastered on the off-white wallpaper before averting her eyes to the bathtub filled with water and plastic ice bags floating at the top.

"Billy works out like a maniac, so I didn't think about it at first," Max explained.

Jenna stared down at the tub in confusion. "I mean, what else is there to think about?"

"Jenna," El spoke up. "He likes it cold."

It took a moment for Jenna to figure out what she meant by that, and when the realization hit her, it just about sent chills all throughout her body.

The Mind Flayer.

"Wait, you think...it's back?" Jenna's eyes went wide just saying it out loud, almost finding it hard to believe that it was the same monster from before, one they thought was long gone after she almost died trying to get that thing out of Will and Eleven closed the Gate to the Upside Down.

"I don't know," Eleven replied, shaking her head.

"There's more," Max added. "El found a fanny pack and a whistle covered in blood. We went to the pool and the guy said it belonged to--"

"Heather," Jenna mumbled, turning to see the blood-stained sink cabinets that only made her more worried for the lifeguard, knowing that she and Billy most likely didn't show up for their shifts at the pool.

"You and your friend saw them last night," Eleven stated.

Jenna narrowed her eyes towards Eleven. "How do you know that?"

"From her powers," Max spoke up. "We were just messing around and wanted to...well, to spy on the boys, and then that led us to spying on Billy and seeing him with that Heather girl."

"And you saw something attack her?" Jenna inquired, staring at Eleven.

"I just heard screaming," she clarified. "Not happy screams."

Confusion came over Jenna's face. "Happy screa-- Oh." When she started to understand what Eleven was referring to, she held back a grin, trying to keep it together, as this wasn't the time to burst out laughing over it. But hearing the innocence in Eleven's voice made it hard to do so.

"Anyway, she heard you and Janet and wanted to know if you two saw anything," Max stepped back in before they got too sidetracked.

Jenna's amusement faded as she slowly shook her head. "We didn't." The sound of her best friend's name pulled at her heart a little. But then she remembered that her dad answered the phone when she called earlier, which meant she was probably at the pool and that Eleven and Max saw her. "Was Janet at the pool?"

"No, she wasn't," Max spoke up, which caused Jenna to worry. "But are you two okay? El said she saw a fight or something."

"Yeah," Eleven added. "Lots of yelling."

Jenna sighed, pressing her back against the wall. "Well, we're not really on speaking terms, so no, we're not okay." She paused for a moment, glancing at the girls. "I'm kind of surprised you two didn't go to the boys with this."

Max scoffed. "Screw them. Boys are idiots."

"Piece of shit," Eleven piped up.

Jenna raised her eyebrows in response. "Does it have anything to do with why you came over yesterday, El?"

"Yeah, Mike lied to her, that's what," Max said.

"I dump his ass," Eleven added bluntly.

"You what?" With wide eyes, Jenna's mouth dropped in shock.

Eleven's expression remained unchanged as she looked up at Jenna. "I give him the medicine."

Jenna shot her a puzzled expression, then glanced at Max, who simply shook her head as a way to continue with the issue at hand.

"Okay, so what are we gonna do about Billy? I mean, he's still somewhere with Heather, who's definitely in danger right now."

"One-four-three-eight," Eleven muttered.

"What?"

"One-four-three-eight. White mailbox. Red door."

Jenna took a moment to process what Eleven said. "Is that where you saw Heather?"

Eleven nodded. "In a bathtub. She said, 'Help me.'"

Help me. The same words Jenna thought she heard today at the mall.

"That's gotta be her house, then," Max said. "We should go check it out."

"Oh, no." Jenna pushed herself off the wall and shot both girls a serious look. "Neither of you are going to her house. If she really is over there, then that means Billy's over there, too."

"Exactly, which is why we're coming with you."

"It might be dangerous."

"He's my step-brother."

"Max--"

"Look, we've all been through some crazy shit, and if this is the same thing as last year then we know what we're up against and we know how to save them. El and I won't let you go alone."

Jenna saw the looks of determination on their faces, making it clear that neither one of them were going to back down from this. But despite both of them being a part of whatever the hell was going on with Billy and the possible return of the Mind Flayer, she couldn't let any more people get hurt and have it be her fault if something were to happen. She'd never forgive herself for it.

"I can't let you two come with me," she finally said in a firm tone. "It's too risky."

Max scoffed, rolling her eyes. "If this is about that bullshit Janet said to you about Steve--"

"That's none of your business." The mention of his name caused the memory of her with him earlier popped back into her mind, which made Jenna tense up. "I'm gonna check out Heather's place tonight by myself and that's final."

"Jenna--"

"Just let me handle this." She paused and glanced over at Eleven. "And no more spying on me or anyone else, got it?"

When Eleven didn't respond, that was Jenna's cue to head out of the bathroom and back down the hall, reaching out to open the front door.

"You lie, too!"

Jenna stopped in her tracks and turned around when she heard Eleven's voice, finding her and Max coming out of the bathroom. "What?"

"You said you'll always be by my side," she stated. "Together. Always. Like sisters."

The longer Jenna stared at Eleven's heartbroken expression, the more sad she got, and hearing her words didn't help. Finally, Jenna's face fell as she shook her head.

"Not this time. I'm sorry, El." With that, Jenna turned the knob to open the door, hurrying out before there was any more protesting from the girls. Thoughts began to swirl around in her head as she shut the door, and while it was easy letting the rain drown them out, there was nothing the bad weather could do about the uneasy feeling that began to settle in her stomach.

~~~~~~~

A/N: OOP, well, this was very angsty, but here we are!

What do we think?

Comment, vote, very excited for the next chapter (prepare for some soft and angsty Stenna hehe).

-A