As Anna pulled into the parking lot for Hawkins High that morning, she found her usual spot next to Steve's BMW, seeing him inside along with Nancy and Becca, the three of them staring down at a piece of paper in Steve's hands as Steve ran a frustrated hand through his hair. As she shifted her car into park, killing the engine, the three of them noticed the girl's arrival, hopping out of the BMW to join her.

"Hey," Anna greeted, her smile flickering briefly as she noticed Steve crumpling up the piece of paper to shove into his backpack. "Everything going okay with your essay?"

"It will be," Nancy assured her, shooting Steve a reassuring smile as he finally nodded in agreement. "A little tweaking, but it's going to be great."

"If you say so," Steve murmured half-heartedly, the slamming doors of a vehicle pulling their attention from a few rows over, where Landon climbed out of the passenger side of Eddie's van, the long-haired boy in tow as Landon walked over towards them.

"Morning all," Landon greeted, a smile etched onto his face that Anna had been seeing more and more lately, though she couldn't quite put a finger on why.

"Morning," the others chorused, Anna's eyes finding that of the boy behind Landon.

"Hi Eddie," Anna greeted, the metalhead simply nodding in response.

"Henderson," Eddie greeted back before turning to Landon. "Alright man, I'm off to find my adventurers. I need to see one about a new character for a campaign we're starting next semester. Later,"

"Later, man," Landon nodded as Eddie bid the others goodbye, heading over towards where a group of boys stood by the front door of the school all adorned in matching Hellfire Club shirts, similar to the one Eddie wore.

"I take it your mom's date with Wayne went okay last night?" Becca guessed, eyeing Eddie's retreating form.

"Yeah, she said it went well," he agreed with a slight shrug. "She seems happy, and I no longer have to take the bus, so it's a win win."

Tires squealing echoed through the parking lot as an engine began to rev, and the teenagers all looked to where an unfamiliar blue Camaro was speeding up the hill, pulling into a parking spot and slamming to a stop. Anna's eyebrows pinched together as she looked at the car, trying to gauge who might be inside, but the only thing she could make out about the vehicle was a California license plate.

"California?" Becca asked, her gaze following Anna's down to the license plate. "Who's-?"

Before Becca could finish her sentence, the door flew open to the Camaro and out stepped a boy Anna had never seen before. He was adorned in a white tank top with a denim jacket and jeans, and had a blonde mullet that reached to just about his shoulders, a cigarette resting between two fingers. From the passenger side came a redheaded girl about Dustin's age in a red jacket and jeans, who skateboarded away from the boy in the direction of the middle school without so much as a goodbye. He glanced in her direction briefly before turning back towards the high school, tossing the cigarette in the grass and beginning to make his way down the hill towards the building.

"Who is that?" Becca spoke up again, studying the boy as he crossed the parking lot, nearly reaching the front doors of the high school.

Anna shrugged. "I've never seen him before." she said.

Becca smirked as the boy went inside, finally disappearing from view. "Well, we might have to change that."

"Gross," Steve sighed, rolling his eyes. "Let's keep this PG, Rebecca."

Becca chuckled, throwing one arm over Anna's shoulders and the other over Landon's as she led them back towards the school, bidding goodbye to Steve and Nancy, who still lingered in the parking lot. As the morning progressed at Hawkins High, Anna noticed the conversation splitting between two subjects: the new boy she'd seen outside that morning, a California native by the name of Billy Hargrove, and plans for tomorrow night's Halloween festivities. While she hadn't known yet where she and her friends would end up that evening, they'd already chosen their costumes, which were sure not to disappoint.

"Hey," Tina Miller's voice rang out from outside her English class once the bell rang, and Anna followed the group out in her attempts to reach the lunch room. "Party tomorrow night at my place, be there." As Anna reached the front of the crowd, passing through the doorway, Tina's gaze fell on the Henderson girl, shooting her a smile. "Hey Anna," she said, passing her a bright orange piece of paper. "See you tomorrow,"

"Thanks," Anna said, grabbing the paper as she finally broke apart from the crowd, glancing down at it as she made her way towards the lunch room.

The piece of paper was adorned with a drawing of a ghost drinking from a bottle, and at the top were the words Tina's Halloween Bash- come and get sheet faced! Anna chuckled to herself as she set the paper on top of her Trapper Keeper, holding them close against her chest as she moved through the throngs of students heading for the lunchroom.

As Anna grabbed her lunch tray, adorned with that afternoon's special of spaghetti and meatballs, she took a seat at their table, already occupied by Landon and Michelle, who each already had an orange flier of their own, which they held up in her direction at her arrival.

"Yeah, Tina found me, too." Anna assured them, holding up her own. "Are we going?"

Michelle shrugged. "I'm in," she said. "It seems like that's where everyone in town's going, so I'm sure it'll be fun."

Becca stepped up from behind Anna, placing her lunch tray down in the open seat next to her. "Bosley, Angels," she greeted, nodding first at Landon, and then at Anna and Michelle. "So, Tina's tomorrow night?"

"We were just talking about that." Anna assured her best friend. "Tina's parties aren't so bad, with the exception of Tommy usually manning the keg stand."

"Guess that just means we're staying away from the keg then." Becca summed up with a grin. "So, what's everyone doing tonight? I need to get a headstart on my essay for O'Donnell's class if anyone wants to join me."

"I'm working right after school, so I won't be able to make it." Landon said apologetically.

"Yeah, I can't either," Michelle explained. "My mom's boyfriend Bob's daughter just moved back to Hawkins, so we're having them over for a big family dinner so Will, Jonathan, and I can meet her."

"Anna?" Becca asked, looking back over at the brunette.

"Yeah, I'm free," Anna agreed. "We can do it at my place."

As Becca continued to chat animatedly about the upcoming essay, and the few different topics she was torn between, Anna looked back around at her friends, noticing Landon's eyes seemed elsewhere. As he looked back from a point in the cafeteria behind her, they made eye contact briefly, and his gaze instantly dropped down to the tray in front of him, twirling noodles around on his fork and shoving them into his mouth. Anna glanced behind her briefly, though she couldn't see anything out of place at either the jock table, or the one full of partiers. Finally shrugging off Landon's weird expression, she turned back to her tray, allowing her mind to move towards her own essay, and any potential topics she may want to cover over the works of William Shakespeare.

"They're just all so depressing," Becca said as they sat in Anna's living room that evening, the stack of books for their required reading that semester piled up on the coffee table in front of them. "Did Shakespeare just look at any happy ending possible and go 'nah, I'm good?'" She traced the cover of Hamlet that rested in her hands before setting it back on top of the pile. "Do you know which one you're going with?"

Anna eyed the copy of Romeo and Juliet in the pile, removing it from the stack. "I feel like this one's a classic." she mused. "Though, if Romeo had waited maybe five more minutes, they could've had that happy ending you're talking about."

"That's true," Becca said as Mews crawled into her lap, and she instantly reached down to pet the cat as she began to purr in response. "What about A Midsummer Night's Dream?" she asked, picking that one up next and beginning to flip through it. "That's a happy one, right?"

"Happier," Anna said, nodding as she continued to flip through the copy of Romeo and Juliet. "I might stick with this one. Nothing quite like writing about two lovers in Verona."

Anna and Becca both perked up as a noise sounded from outside the front door, along with Dustin's voice in response. "Mews?" his voice called out, causing Anna's eyebrows to pinch together as she looked back at the cat still sitting in Becca's lap.

Anna rose slowly from where she sat on the floor, Becca following suit as she crossed to the front door. From outside, her brother could still be heard calling for the cat, who now wound herself around Anna's legs as she walked, pulling the front door open.

"Dusty?" Anna asked, leaning against the doorframe with Mews at her feet and Becca right behind them, eyeing where he stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking back in the direction of their garbage can. "Everything alright?"

"Hmm?" Dustin asked, turning around to look at his sister, though his expression flickered with a hint of curiosity as he spotted Mews at her feet. "Y-yeah, yes, everything's fine." he insisted. "I thought I heard Mews out by the side of the house, but it was probably just a squirrel or something."

Without another word, Dustin propped his bicycle up against the side of the house, leaping up the stairs and passing the girls at the front door, pausing briefly to scoop up Mews on his way inside. As he disappeared back towards his room, the girls exchanged a brief glance before shrugging off Dustin's antics, letting the door close behind them on their way back to their homework, the disturbance outside already long forgotten.