Halloween is a special time in the Henderson house. Established as one of the top three holidays for the family, they go all out, and this year is no exception. Dustin is already dressed in his costume, which is a part of a group costume with the boys. He can't help but smile at how excited she looks while helping him put on his proton pack. "Now, your trap." She mumbles, handing it over, then squeals.

"You look so adorable!" Dustin laughs as she pulls him into a tight hug. While he's all decked out in his costume for tonight, Laurie is in more of an essence of a Halloween vibe. Orange sweater with a black knee-length skirt and bat leggings. Her look is topped off with white converse decorated in fake blood splatters. It's simple but something to help get her started for the party later tonight, after days of shopping around with Nancy. She finally got everything she needed to make her costume perfect.

Both Hendersons make their way to the living room, and Dustin is pulled to take photos as soon as his feet land in the room. Laurie enjoys the show as she pets Mews on the couch. "Oh! I want to see those pearly whites! Yeah!" Her mom cheers as Dustin happily shows off his front teegrowwhich finally grew in. She laughs as Mews meows at the scene in front of her. "Awe, don't worry Mew. You're still my favorite." She coos, kissing the cat's head before she's pulled off the couch by her mother.

Dustin hops on her back as their mother continues massive photos and a huge smile on her face as her two chilpicturesose for the photos. "Mom, we gotta leave soon, or else we'll be late." Her words come out in laughs as Dustin messes with her. "Okay, okay. Get going." Both of the kids kiss their mother's cheek then quickly head out with their stuff in hand. "Okay, you're riding on your bike with the boys, right?" She questions as she waits for her ride to pull up.

"Yep, I'll see you after school," Dustin says, getting on his bike. She kisses the top of his head and then sends him off. "Stay safe, Stanz!" She calls out, then leans against the brick pillar. Only a moment passes before the familiar blaring music makes an appearance. Billy called her late last night and asked if he could take her to school. How could she say no?

Billy stops at the end of her driveway as she makes her way to his car. "Well, aren't you all dressed up?" He teases her as she sits in the passenger seat. "Holidays are a big deal in my family, Halloween also happens to be on my top 3 list. " Good Morning, Max." She says as she looks back at the redhead. The girl brightens up when she sees that it's Laurie who Billy picked up, not some random girl. "Laurie!" She exclaims with glee as she leans up to hug the girl. Billy looks at the two as the ends of his mouth twitch before he pulls himself back into reality.

He slams on the gas which sends Max flying into the backseat, "Billy!" Laurie scolds as she turns to check on the girl. "Sorry, I don't wanna be late. Right?" He asks with a cocky smirk as he turns up the music louder. Once she knows Max is okay, she sits in her seat normally. Leaning her head against the window, she watches the slowly changing color of leaves pass by as the dew shines on the grass.

Feeling something on top of her hand, she looks over to see Billy resting his hand on top of hers. She smiles to herself as she intertwines their fingers. A small amount of blush appears on his cheeks as he continues down the road.

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"So you're telling me Barb's parents hired some PI to find out what happened to her?" Laurie asks as she unlocks her locker, Nancy and Steve on either side of her. "Yeah, some dude named Murray or whatever," Steve comments as she puts her things away before grabbing what she needs. "They spent so much money on him that they put their house up for sale." She looks at Nancy, shocked, "Some random dude is conning them out of so much money that they have to sell their house. God, this needs to stop. Nance, we gotta tell them." She pleads with her best friend only to be shot down again.

"We can't tell them! How could we give them any reasonable explanation?!"

"Anything is better than Mr. and Mrs. Holland giving this dude all their money just for him to give them some false hope that she might be alive!" Steve quickly moves to be between the two girls as their voices start to raise. "Okay, okay, okay. Look, you both need to calm down. Barb is a sensitive topic, and now this new information isn't making it much better." It's a rare sight for Steve to be the voice of reason, but someone has to be between those two.

"Laur, you have to understand. I want to tell them, they deserve to know, but how can we give them the truth without looking crazy." Nancy's voice is close to a plea while Laurie keeps her gaze on the floor. "I don't know, Nance. This whole thing just needs to be over with. It's been almost a year, and this damn thing is still haunting us." The warning bell rings, and she sighs, frustrated, "I'll talk to you two later."

Nancy and Steve watch her run off to class. Nancy rests her head on his chest then he wraps his arms around her shoulders. They both sigh before heading to the library.

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After school, Laurie walks to Billy's car and sees him lighting up a cigarette. "Hey, where's Max?" She questions when she gets close enough and leans against his car. "No idea, god, sometimes she drives me fucking crazy with how much she doesn't care." His tone is dripping with annoyance, but she lets out a small laugh, "I understand, Dustin tends to be that way. They assume we wait on hand and foot for their every beck and call." Billy chuckles as he turns to look at her.

The sun makes her hair shine beautifully, and her skin is practically glowing. "They're good kids, though. They just need to be brought back to reality every once in a while." The sound of Max's skateboard gets their attention as the redhead makes her appearance.

"You're late again," Billy says as Max walks to the backseat door. "Yeah, I had to get catch-up homework." Laurie looks over at her, surprised at how different she's acting. "Jesus, I don't care. You're late again, and you're skating home. Do you hear me?" He questions, "Billy, come on. She's just trying to be a good student. Don't be too hard on her." Laurie says, squeezing his bicep lightly.

His blue eyes look down into her hazel ones. "Okay, okay." He chuckles before putting out his cigarette. She walks in front of him to get on the passenger side, then jumps when he squeezes the back of her thigh. He winks before getting in on his side.

Wango Tango plays on the radio as he drives down a road. "God, this place is such a shithole." She looks over at him, confused. "It's not that bad," Max says from the back, looking at him in the rearview. "No?" He rolls down the window, and the cool fall wind blows into the car along with the scent of the passing farms.

"Mmm! You smell that, Max? That's actually shit. Cow shit." Billy holds his nose, which distorts his voice a bit and makes Laurie laugh. "I don't see any cows." Max quips as Laurie rolls up her window, "Clearly, you haven't met the high school girls." He yelps when Laurie punches his shoulder.

"Watch it, Hargrove." She warns before looking back out the windshield. He scoffs before talking to Max again, "So what, you like it here now?"

"No."

"Then why are you defending it?" His gaze stays on the road as Max looks at him, "I'm not." A beat passes before he replies, "Sure sounds like it." Laurie stays quiet because it's not a conversation that she has to get involved in; as much as she'd like to tell Billy that, yeah, Hawkins isn't the best, it has enough stuff for you to do until graduation.

She tunes out their conversation until he screams at Max, "Woah! Hey, Billy, slow down!" She says loud enough to be heard over the music. He ignores her and starts hitting the wheel. "Max, what's going on?" She questions, turning to look at the redhead. "It's nothing, don't worry." She assures her before looking at the floor.

Laurie turns back and notices three boys on their bikes, and so does Max. "Billy, slow down," Max says, her eyes not leaving the boys. "These your new hick friends?" Laurie glares over at him, "No, I don't know them." Max shakes her head quickly. "I guess you wouldn't care if I hit 'em, then?" He questions.

"Billy, stop it! You need to slow down." Laurie says. "I get bonus points if I get 'em all in one go?" He asks, looking down at Laurie, but her eyes stay on the boys, trying to figure out why they look so familiar.

"No, Billy, stop. It's not funny." Max leans over to be in the middle of the two. He ignores both of them, keeping eye contact as he goes faster. "Billy, come on, stop it. It's not funny, stop!" Max yells as his car gets closer to the boys. He pushes down on the gas pedal, and it finally clicks. "Billy, move!" Laurie screams before grabbing the wheel and moving out of the way around Mike, Lucas, and Dustin.

"Yeah! That was a close one, huh?" He screams at her, "That was my brother and his friends, asshole! Pull over now, or I swear I will jump out of this fucking car!" She screams back in his face. His face doesn't change as he stops the car in the middle of the road. She quickly climbs out and runs to the boys, "Dustin, Mike, Lucas!" She calls out.

Once she reaches them, she pulls them into a big group hug, "Are you okay? Any scratches or anything?" She looks them over as they assure her they're fine. "Why were you in that dude's car? Why weren't you with Nancy and Steve?" Mike asks as he watches Billy continue down the road.

"Come on, let's go home." She says, helping them get their bikes back up. She sits on the back of Dustin's as they head down the road.

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Later that night, Laurie is at Tina's Halloween party. Dressed in a white corset top and long silk white skirt. She has on some white flats and her hair done half up, half down with wings on her back and light makeup. Her angel costume is one that she loves more than any she's done in the past couple of years.

She got a ride to the party with Nancy and Steve and filled them in on what happened earlier with the boys and Billy that day. Shout at the Devil is playing as three are talking against the wall. She looks around, and her eyes catch Billy. He's wearing a leather jacket with no shirt, dark jeans, and fingerless gloves. He smirks when he sees her outfit and then makes his way to her. "Billy's on his way." She mumbles to her friends, and Nancy quickly acts. She links their arms as Steve wraps an arm around her shoulder. Their eye contact never breaks as he makes his way over with Tommy and his crew behind him. "We got ourselves a new Keg King, Harrington," Tommy says, and his friends start to tease him. "Wow, isn't that super? Very manly of you, Billy." She teases with a fake smile as Steve chuckles, and Nancy walks off to grab another drink.

"So this is Steve? You could do better, Henderson." The tension is obvious between Steve and Billy. "Why don't you just leave her alone, huh? You've already done enough." Steve pulls her close to his side, and she doesn't miss the quick death glare they give each other. "Why don't you go check on, Nance?" She asks him, "Are you sure?" She nods, and he reluctantly leaves.

Billy holds out his hand, "Dance with me?" She looks at the boys around him, and he notices how uncomfortable she is. "Hey, scram. I need some alone time with the angel." The boys leave, and he keeps his hand out. "One dance, Hargrove." He smirks as her hand holds his. He guides her to the dance floor, and once they find a spot, they start moving to the music.

"I'm sorry about earlier. That was a major dick move." He says close to her ear so she can hear. She turns around and leans up to be by his ear while still moving to the music, "Yeah, it was. They're kids, Billy." He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her close while she holds onto his biceps. "I know, things have been really crazy since we moved here, and I don't know what came over me." She shivers as his hot breath hits her neck.

"You have to understand that those boys mean the world to me. They've been through a lot and to see you make some sick joke out of trying to hit them was awful." He looks at her blankly. The song ends, and she pushes him off of her, "I'll see you later," and disappears through the crowd as Girls on Film plays.

Quickly finding a punch bowl, she fills her cup and watches the party in front of her. She nods to him while she notices Jonathan walking into the party while raising her cup, then looks back to the dance floor. Billy is nowhere in sight, but she quickly spots Nancy and Steve.

Jonathan talks to some girl as her attention is drawn to the couple stumbling into the kitchen. "No, no, no," Steve says, trying to keep Nancy away from the punch bowl. "Get off." Nancy protests, and Laurie quickly moves in. "Hey, hey, hey. Nance, you okay?" She asks, looking her friend over. "She's had more cups of that punch than I can count," Steve says while trying to keep his girlfriend away from the bowl.

"Nance, I think you've had enough. You're not acting like yourself." Laurie tries to calm her down, only to get yelled at, "Screw you! Both of you!" She makes her way back to the bowl and gets more juice. Steve grabs her arm as Laurie tries to get the cup out of her hand, "Nance, I'm serious. Hey. Hey. No, I'm serious." He tries to keep her away while the girl just keeps fighting.

A moment later, the cup spills all over Nancy. People make shocked noises as Nancy glares at Steve, "What the hell?" She quickly storms away to get cleaned up. "What am I doing wrong?" He asks, looking over at Laurie, "Nothing, go make sure she's okay and try to talk to her." He nods and quickly follows Nancy.

Someone soon comes up next to her, and she rolls her eyes when she sees who it is, "You just don't know how to take a hint, do you?" Billy chuckles as he grabs a cup of the punch. "You never told me if you forgave me or not. I can't let that eat at me all night, Angel." She raises an eyebrow at him as her cheeks turn red. "You're not fully forgiven, but I won't hate you anymore." He grins before gulping down the rest of his drink.

She jumps when he pulls her close to him by her waist, "What are you doing?" She asks nervously, looking up at him. He shrugs before leaning down and softly kissing her neck. Her eyes blink rapidly at the new sensation as his mouth continues to move softly along the sensitive skin. Her hands hesitantly move to his hair and then squeeze when he nips the skin. "Don't tease me, Angel." He mutters against her neck. His tongue licks up her neck as a soft whimper escapes her.

Before he can do more, Steve goes through the house with no Nancy and looks upset. "Hey. Hey. Billy, stop." He leans back and looks at her, confused. "I need to go check on something; I'll be right back." She quickly heads in the direction Steve went, leaving Billy confused.

She's led to the backyard and notices that it's only them. "Steve, what's wrong?" He's quiet, keeping his gaze on the grass with his hands on his hip. She places a comforting hand on his back as a soft sniffle comes from him, and her heart breaks. "Hey. Hey, no crying. It's Halloween. We don't cry on Halloween. It's my one rule, you know this," His eyes are filled with sadness as he finally turns to her.

She wraps her arms around his neck as he wraps his around her waist and cries into her neck. "I think Nancy just broke up with me."

"What?"

"She said that we were just pretending to be in love and that our whole relationship is bullshit. She called me bullshit, Laur." She can feel more tears fall as she hugs him tighter. "I'm sorry, Steve. I don't know what to tell you." She mumbles against his hair as he slowly pulls away.

"She's been acting weird lately, and I don't know what to do. I've tried, I really have, but she just doesn't want to be with me anymore." Laurie wipes away some tears that fall as he talks to her. He looks at her, and her eyes are soft and comforting. Looking up at him and waiting to help in whatever way she could.

"She's drunk, that's not a good excuse, but it's something. She's been stressed and didn't mean what she said. Give her some time and talk to her at school tomorrow. You both need time to calm down and-" She squeals when she's interrupted by Steve grabbing her by the back of her neck.

"Sometimes you need to just stop trying to defend people, Henderson." He says before leaning in and kissing her.

Her eyes went round as the feeling of his warm lips connected to hers. She stiffens for a second before her body gives him and kisses him back. Her arms wrap around his neck as his hands move from the back of her neck to her waist, pulling her closer. She deepens the kiss as she runs a hand through his hair as their bodies mold against each other, almost as if they were puzzle pieces. Steve moves his lips from hers to her cheek, then to her jaw, and continues to kiss down.

A bashful smile appears on Laurie's face before reality sets in, and she quickly pulls away, "No, no, no. Stop it, stop it. This is wrong. This is so fucking wrong!" His eyebrows rose at her words, "Really? Is this wrong? Why is this wrong, but Nancy can go and run off with Jonathan?" He yells, making her eyes squeeze shut. "I'm not saying it's right for her to do that, but your girlfriend, my best friend, basically broke up with you not even twenty minutes ago, and you're out here trying to make out with me!"

"I thought you wanted this? You know how I feel about you."

"I do? Because as far as I know, you are totally in love with Nancy, and I'm some rebound you're trying to get." He scoffs at her words as he runs a hand through his hair. "God, Laurie. Sometimes I wonder how oblivious you can be." Her jaw drops as she crosses her arms.

"Oblivious? How am I oblivious? I see the way you look at Nancy. You love her." Her voice breaks slightly as he puts his hands on his hips. "She's right about us pretending to be in love. I did love her, but someone else caught my eye, and I felt so stupid for not noticing it earlier." He walks to her slowly.

Grabbing her chin with his thumb and index finger, her tear-filled eyes find his sad ones. "I like you, Laurie, and I know you like me too. I wanted to try us last year, but you were adamant about keeping Nancy and me together."

"Steve, you're sad and heartbroken. You don't mean-" Her words are cut off as he grabs her cheeks and kisses her again. He breaks away and then walks off as tears fall down her face.

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Arriving at her house, her tears had stopped a few houses ago, and now all left is her running makeup and puffy eyes. "Laurie?" She looks up to see her brother walking home with a big smile on his face when he sees her. His smile quickly goes away when he sees how messed up she looks. Dropping his bag of candy, he runs over and hugs her tightly.

"Who do I have to fight?" He questions, making her laugh as she pets his head of curls that are resting against her abdomen. "No one, Dusty. It's been a very hectic day." His eyes shine as he looks up at her, which melts her heart. "It's Halloween. We don't cry on Halloween. It's our one rule! Someone hurt you." She gives him a half-heart smile before wrapping her arms around him. "I'll be okay, Dusty. Let's go inside; I'm getting cold."

He grabs her hand, and they walk to the house together. He grabs the bag he dropped, and as they walk towards the entrance, chirping, and growls can be heard from behind them. They both turn around and look at the trashcan, "Mews, is that–?" Dustin tries to ask but is cut off by a loud thud coming from the trash can, and it thrashes around.

Dustin drops his bag again, and Laurie pushes him behind her. He pulls off the makeshift gun from his proton pack, and she looks at him, "What's that gonna do?" He shrugs before they slowly walk forward. Dustin mutters, swearing to himself as the sounds continue from the trashcan, and Laurie tries to stay calm.

She stands on one side of the trashcan and he on the other. They both scream as he throws the top off the trashcan before looking down into it, "What the fuck?" She asks in confusion, looking down at the thing inside. It chirps at them as Dustin gazes at it in awe, "Holy shit-"