I was at school the next day putting my books in my locker when I felt someone stop and lean on the locker next to mine. I glanced over to see who it was and rolled my eyes.

"What do you want, Billy?" I asked not really wanting to know the answer.

"Did you hear about Tina's party tonight?" He asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, I'm not sure if I want to go now that I know you're going." I replied continuing to stuff books in my locker.

"So, Miss. Goody is going to a party?" He asked with mischief behind his eyes.

"Don't you have someone else to annoy?" I asked slamming my locker shut and heading to class.

"No, it's too much fun getting under your skin." He said glancing down at me. I rolled my eyes yet again.

"Listen, there are plenty of girls that would want your attention. I'm not one of them, so why don't you try talking to them? I'm sure Tina, Carol, or anyone else would love it." I said patting his chest and walking away. He continued to follow me, but I spotted Steve at the end of the hallway. I shot him a look that said help me and he saw it. He approached me with Billy still following me.

"Hey, Frankie, could I talk to you for a second?" He asked trying to get me out of this situation with Billy.

"What's up?" I asked as Billy waited for me to be finished with my conversation. "I'm sorry, could you give us a second?" I asked Billy and he glanced between Steve and I with a knowing look.

"Oh, I get it. You're into Harrington? I thought he was unavailable, but oh well." He said and walked away before either of us could reply.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into that. He just will not take a hint." I said annoyed.

"He's a dick. If he's still giving you trouble, let me know." He said trying to act macho.

"Didn't Jonathan beat you in a fight last year? Maybe I'll let Jonathan know instead." I said poking fun at him.

"Very funny. I was emotionally vulnerable and Jonathan was so angry." He said trying to defend his lack of fighting skills.

"Whatever you say. Anyways, thanks for rescuing me." I said grateful.

"Anytime. So, are you going to Tina's party?" He asked changing the subject.

"Unfortunately, Jonathan is dragging me along." I said not wanting to go.

"Byers wants to go?" He asked surprised.

"Yeah, he said something about us having to experience at least one high school party." I said as Steve continued walking me to my class.

"Well, he's not wrong." Steve said agreeing with Jonathan.

"Yeah, well I have a feeling that if I'm there tonight, Billy will still be bothering me." I said now reluctant to go because of Billy Hargrove.

"You can't let one person control whether or not you go to a party. Just avoid him and stick close to Byers. You should be fine." Steve suggested. "I'm gonna get to class, but I will see you at the party." He said before I could answer. I went to class frustrated with the whole situation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

School was finally over so Jonathan drove us home to get ready for trick or treating and the party. Bob was showing Jonathan how to use his video camera, but I couldn't take him seriously because he was dressed as Dracula.

"So you hit "T" to zoom in, and "W" zooms back out. See? Easy-peasy. Just make sure to turn off the power to save energy there." Bob explained and Jonathan nodded.

"Listen. Stay close to your brother and Frankie, okay?" Joyce asked Will and he nodded. "And listen, listen, listen... If you get a bad feeling or anything, you tell him to take you straight home. You promise?" Joyce asked scared to let Will go.

"Okay." Will said reluctantly.

"Are you ready, bud?" Jonathan asked Will as we were preparing to head out.

"Yeah." Will said excitedly.

"Be safe." Joyce yelled as we got in the car.

"I hope it doesn't suck!" Bob said imitating Dracula.

"I just don't get what she sees in him." Jonathan said referencing Bob.

"What?" Will asked confused.

"Bob." Jonathan clarified.

"I think Bob's great. Your mom deserves some happiness." I said defending Bob.

"At least he doesn't treat me different. I mean, I can't even go trick-or-treating by myself. It's lame." Will added.

"What? You think I'm lame?" Jonathan asked offended.

"No, but it's not like Nancy's coming to watch over Mike, you know?" Will said before his friends showed up.

"Will! Hey!" Dustin yelled to get Will's attention.

"Hey, listen." Jonathan said prepared to let Will go by himself.

"Yeah?" Will said.

"If we let you go on your own, you promise to stay in the neighborhood?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah! Yeah, yeah, totally." Will said excitedly.

"And be back at Mike's by 9:00." I added knowing Joyce would want him to be home early.

"9:30?" Will asked.

"9:00." Jonathan said.

"Yeah." Will agreed.

"Deal?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah, deal." Will said ready to go.

"All right. Hey, Will. Don't let any of your spazzy friends use this, all right?" Jonathan said handing him Bob's video camera.

"Okay." Will promised.

"I hope it doesn't suck." Jonathan and I said impersonating Bob and Will laughed joining his friends.

"I hope he has fun." I said voicing my thoughts.

"I'm sure he will. It's trick or treating. What's more fun than that?" Jonathan asked rhetorically.

"Hopefully this party." I said sarcastically. Jonathan pulled up to the party to see drunk teenagers everywhere. "Is it too late to go trick or treating?" I asked hopeful.

"Come on, let's go inside." He said getting out of the car and I sighed following him. We entered the house and were met by loud music and dancing teenagers.

"I'm gonna find the bathroom. I'll find you later." I said venturing to find the bathroom. Jonathan nodded and got into a conversation with some girl. I was heading towards the bathroom when I heard a voice that I didn't want to hear call me.

"Frankie, is that you?" He asked and I reluctantly turned around to face Billy wearing a leather jacket over his bare chest.

"Billy." I greeted.

"What are you supposed to be? Hot tutor girl?" He asked getting closer to me.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I need to meet my friend." I said trying to push past him.

"Come on. I'm sure your friend can get by without you." He said blocking my path.

"Billy, I'm serious. Let me through." I said not in the mood to deal with him.

"Don't be like that. We can have some fun. Don't you know how to have some fun?" He challenged.

"Your version of fun is way different than my version." I said still trying to find Jonathan.

"I'm sure we can compromise." He said with a cocky smirk.

"Billy, I already told you that I'm not interested. Please, leave me alone." I said spotting Jonathan in the crowd of people.

"Fine, chug this and I'll let you past." He said handing me a cup of something alcoholic.

"Really?" I asked and he nodded. "Fine." I said downing the drink rather quickly. I grimaced at the bitter taste, but Billy looked impressed.

"Wow, tutor girl knows how to party." He said with a quirked eyebrow.

"Now, let me through." I said feeling a little tipsy.

"Fine." He said letting me past. As I was passing him, he grabbed my ass. I turned slapped him in the face.

"Don't ever touch me." I said as he smirked.

"You're feisty." He said holding his cheek, turning to return to the party. I returned to trying to find Jonathan. I couldn't see him anywhere. I walked outside and realized that his car was gone. Did Jonathan leave me here? I walked around the party to see if I could find anyone to give me a ride home. After a bit of searching, I saw Steve in his car. As I approached the car, I could see that he was upset. I knocked on his window which startled him.

"Hey, are you ok?" I asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He answered, but I didn't believe him.

"Did you see where Jonathan went?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, he took Nancy home." He scoffed.

"Shit." I said and he looked at me strange. "He was my ride." I admitted.

"I can take you home." Steve offered.

"Really? You'd be a life saver." I said releasing a breath of relief.

"Yeah, hop in." He said sniffling. I got in the passenger seat and buckled my seat belt.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked seeing that he was still upset about something.

"Nancy said that she didn't love me." He said facing me.

"Wow. Why did she say that?" I asked confused.

"She was drunk and just kept saying that everything was bullshit. Then I asked her if she loved me and she said it was bullshit." He said with tears in his eyes.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it. Maybe you could try talking to her when she is sober and thinking clearly." I said trying to comfort him.

"Well, they always say drunk words are sober thoughts." Steve said still upset.

"I think I can make you feel better." I said trying to get his mind off of the situation.

"How?" He asked desperately.

"I may have slapped Billy Hargrove in the face." I said chuckling. He looked surprised.

"You slapped Billy Hargrove?" He asked in shock.

"Well, he kept bothering me and then he grabbed my ass, so I slapped him in the face." I said shrugging.

"How did he react?" Steve asked curiously.

"He smirked. It's weird I think he actually liked it." I said grossed out.

"That guy has some problems." He said. "Wait, he grabbed your ass?" He asked just registering what I said.

"Yeah." I said rolling my eyes.

"I'll kick his ass." He said protectively.

"Woah, down boy." I joked. "It's not worth it. Can you please just take me home?" I asked.

"Yeah." He said reluctantly starting the car. It only took a few minutes to get to my house. Once we got there I turned to Steve.

"Do you want to come in and talk?" I asked knowing that he'd been through a lot.

"I don't know. I kinda just want to forget about everything that happened for a little bit." He admitted.

"We could watch a movie? I love scary movies, but Jonathan hates them so I never get to watch them." I said using my puppy dog eyes.

"What scary movie?" He asked giving in. I smiled excitedly.

"How do you feel about Halloween?" I asked with a smirk.

"Halloween is cool." He said trying to act cool. We walked to my front door and I unlocked the door. To my surprise, my dad was still awake.

"There better be a good explanation for you coming home so late without a phone call." He said before he noticed I had Steve with me.

"I'm sorry. Jonathan and I went to this stupid party and he left me there, so I had to get a ride home with Steve." I said gesturing to Steve who was still in his costume.

"Hey Joel, where's Lana?" Dad asked getting up from his seat crossing his arms with a protective look.

"Dad-" I started, but he cut me off.

"No, it's ok, I just want to have a little word with Stew, here." Dad said patting Steve's back.

"It's actually Steve, sir." Steve corrected politely.

"I don't care. Take a walk with me, Steven." He said leading him to the garage. Oh no I knew where this was going.

"Dad, stop this is ridiculous." I said trying to get Steve out of this.

"It'll only take a minute." My dad defended.

"It's ok, Frankie." Steve reassured.

"No, Steve, you don't understand." I said trying to warn him. By the time we were in the garage it was too late.

"You see this, Steve?" My dad asked gesturing around the garage.

"Yeah, it's a garage." He said nervously.

"Yes, but come take a look at this." My dad said getting his revolver out.

"Dad, stop." I begged.

"Would you look at that. That's a nice piece of hardware, Mr. Edwards." Steve said laughing nervously.

"Yeah, I take good care of it too." My dad said aiming it across the garage.

"I can see that." Steve muttered.

"Now if you don't take care of Freddie, you'll see this again." My dad threatened.

"Dad, Steve and I aren't dating, we're just friends." I informed him beyond embarrassed.

"Oh, well." Dad said putting his guns away. "You can never be too careful." He shrugged patting Steve on the shoulder.

"Come on, Steve, let's go watch the movie." I said grabbing Steve's arm to drag him to the living room. "I'm so sorry about that. My dad is really overprotective." I said putting my face in my hands. 

"No, it's ok. It wouldn't be the first time someone pointed a gun at me." Steve said referencing the time Nancy pointed a gun at him. I laughed still mortified. "Let's go see what old Mikey Myers has to say about it." Steve said ready to take his mind off of what happened tonight.

"Alright, I'll get the popcorn and Twizzlers." I said heading to the kitchen to get my favorite movie snacks. "You can start the movie." I said pointing to the tape that was sitting on top of the coffee table. He inserted the movie and began playing it. I reentered the room with all our snacks. 

"Twizzlers?" Steve asked confused.

"It's kind of a tradition to eat Twizzlers on every movie night for me. They are the best candy." I shrugged. Steve nodded as I gave him a soda and handed him the Twizzlers and I grabbed a huge handful of popcorn and shoveled it into my mouth.

"That's very impressive." Steve joked referencing my full mouth of popcorn. I scoffed and threw some popcorn at him. "Oh, that's it." He said taking the bowl of popcorn from me and tackling me to the ground. He began tickling me. 

"Truce. Truce!" I begged laughing hysterically. Steve stopped and accepted the truth returning to the movie. Tonight with Steve was the first night since all the shit with the upside down happened that I was finally able to forget about everything that happened this past year and act like a normal teenager. It felt nice.