The chilly November morning air cut through the thin layers of Anna's PE uniform as she pushed herself to run faster, the finish line in sight to end the number of laps the girls were set to run during their class period. She crossed the line where Coach Jacobs waited with his clipboard, nodding approvingly at the girl as she slowed to a walk, instead heading back up the small hill leading to the gym.

"Well done, Henderson," Coach nodded curtly before turning back to the rest of the girls, blowing his whistle to signal they only had a few minutes left until the end of class.

Anna entered the gym to see the boys' basketball scrimmage still ongoing in the last few minutes of class, seeing a junior boy pass the ball to Billy, who caught it just as Steve moved to block him. As Billy looked up to see the Harrington boy standing across from him, he began to laugh, backing up a step and beginning to dribble the ball.

"Alright!" Billy exclaimed, Anna's eyebrows furrowing together at the sinister tone in his voice as his eyes wandered around to the audience now watching the two boys face off. "Alright, alright! King Steve. King Steve, everyone!"

Anna watched as Billy's voice lowered, unable to make out his next words, but she saw the angry expression cross Steve's face at his old nickname, the look on his face as he nearly spat the name at her the day before during their fight. "Jesus, do you ever stop talking, man?" Steve scoffed. "Come on,"

"What?" Billy chuckled, his voice nearly echoing through the gymnasium walls. "You afraid the coach is gonna bench you now that I'm here? Huh?"

Without another word, Billy lunged at Steve, his shoulder colliding with the Harrington boy's and sending him to the ground as Billy ran ahead, leaping up and tossing the ball into the net with a swish. The coach's whistle blew as Billy landed back on his feet, Tommy high fiving the boy before Billy walked back over to where Steve lay on the ground, catching his breath.

Anna watched curiously as Billy reached a hand out to help Steve up, which he took. Billy leaned closer to Steve, whispering something to him as Steve looked back with a stony expression, and instead of helping him the rest of the way up, Billy shoved his hand back down, sending Steve back onto the wooden floor as the blonde boy stalked back in the direction of the locker room.

"Something's really wrong with Steve," Becca's words from yesterday echoed in Anna's head as Steve pulled himself back up onto his feet, walking in the same direction back to the boys' locker room without so much as sparing a glance in Anna's direction after their argument the day before. As he'd also done yesterday after their fight, Steve was nowhere to be found at lunch that day either, nor were Jonathan and Nancy, who Michelle claimed had ditched for the day.

"They've all been acting weird." Michelle whispered to Anna and Sandy as the three girls pored over their homework in the library after school. "Everyone has, really."

"You're telling me," Anna said, her eyes glued on the clock counting down the hours until the team's basketball practice ended, when she'd planned to meet Jason out front for their date. "Dustin's been acting strange since Halloween. I thought it was just all the Three Musketeers from trick-or-treating, but if it's possible, he's even weirder now." she sighed. "And to make matters worse, we can't find Mews anywhere, and my mom's worried sick about her."

"I'm sure she'll turn up." Michelle assured her. "Will's been weird too, since his episode on Halloween. He had another one yesterday out on the football field, too, so my mom kept him home today."

Sandy watched the girls converse, jotting down her notes to study for Kaminsky's chemistry class, and Anna pondered over Michelle's words, careful of what to say around the Newby girl. While she was close to the Byers' family, seeing them nearly every day now that she lived in Hawkins with her father, Bob, Anna knew they weren't too keen to clue either of them in on what really happened the night Will got lost in the woods the year before, or the reasons for his episodes that followed.

"Poor kid," Anna said. "Maybe he just needs a rest day today after the episode, and he'll be good as new tomorrow."

Anna yawned as she spoke, reaching for the can of Coke in front of her and downing the last few sips, waiting for the caffeine to give her the pick-me-up she needed to get through the rest of her studying and her date with Jason that evening without feeling like a complete zombie after the sleepless night she'd had the night before. She hadn't dared gone back to Steve's to sleep following their fight, which had put her back at square one, with the belt around her doorknob and trying not to sleep until she'd finally tired her brain out, which had resulted in maybe fifteen minutes of shut-eye before her alarm had gone off in the morning.

"You alright?" Michelle asked, and Anna nodded, setting down the empty can.

"Didn't sleep well last night." Anna said nonchalantly, waving a dismissive hand. "I'll be okay."

"Probably just nervous for your date with Carver," Michelle teased, playfully elbowing Anna in the ribs as she began to smirk in response. "Who would've thought?"

"Not me," Anna said, shaking her head. "Especially after I've had to ditch him at two parties now. You'd think the poor guy would've gotten bored and moved on after both Steve and Becca dragged me away from him on separate occasions."

"Something tells me Jason Carver doesn't deter easily." Michelle retorted. "But speaking of Steve, is he doing alright? I haven't seen him since the Halloween party, and I know things didn't go so well with Nancy."

"I wouldn't know, actually." Anna admitted. "He and I had a... misunderstanding, I guess you could say. We haven't really talked in a couple days. I know he's taking the Nancy stuff hard, though, but he'll come around when he's ready."

Michelle nodded as Anna's eyes flitted back up to the clock on the wall, seeing that it was only a few minutes left until six o'clock, and she quickly closed her notebook and math textbook, shoving the items back into her backpack. "On that note, I need to get going." Anna said, exchanging the items for a small compact mirror she kept in her backpack and opening it, reaching up to smooth down a strand of hair that threatened to stick up. "Do I look okay?"

"You look great!" Sandy assured her as Anna nervously applied a coat of lip gloss. "Don't be nervous, everything's going to be great."

"She's right." Michelle agreed. "You look like a million bucks. Jason's a lucky guy."

"Thanks," Anna said, her cheeks tingeing pink as she placed the compact back into her bag. "I mean, for all I know, it's just dinner. It doesn't mean we're actually dating, or it could go absolutely nowhere and we never speak again, but I think I want this to go well, so I'm hoping it's not the latter." she began to babble. "And on that note, I'm gonna stop now before I keep rambling."

"Good idea," Michelle chuckled, playfully shoving Anna forward. "Go, have fun!"

"Bye!" the girls chorused as Anna waved back at them, hurrying out of the library and back towards the gym, where the team was beginning to file out towards their cars, duffel bags draped over their shoulders. At the front of the group walked Billy, a smug grin on his face as he was followed closely by Tommy, who already followed his new best friend around like a lost puppy.

Anna waited outside the gym as the rest of the team left, Steve among them, who gave the girl a curious glance for a brief moment before continuing to walk out towards his car. She watched as he left, not giving her a second glance back, but the gymnasium door opened once more with a squeak of its rusty hinges, and Anna turned to see Jason enter the hallway, his eyes lighting up in a smile as he saw her waiting.

"Hey," he said as he walked over to her, his duffel bag draped over one shoulder. He'd swapped his jersey for a pair of jeans and a dark blue jacket, and his blonde hair was damp from a shower, the scent of his body wash reaching Anna's nose. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," Anna nodded, smiling as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, leading her back down the hall towards the double doors at the entrance.

Anna let Jason lead her outside to the nearly-empty parking lot, where his Jeep waited near one of the streetlamps, casting a golden glow around the vehicle. She watched gratefully as he opened the door for her, and she climbed inside the car, fastening her seatbelt and waiting as he placed his duffel bag in the trunk before climbing into the driver's seat next to her.

"So how was practice?" Anna asked as Jason turned the key in the ignition, the engine roaring to life as a Duran Duran song began to flow through the speakers.

"Yeah, it was alright." Jason assured her as he pulled onto the main road leading out of Hawkins, following the signs detailing the miles between them and Cartersville. "Coach thinks we might have a shot of playing pretty well this year. We might not make state, but there's a chance. Now that we have Hargrove on the team, that guy's a beast."

"Yeah he seems pretty... something," Anna trailed off, glancing over at where Jason tapped his fingers lightly against the steering wheel in time to the beat from the radio as he drove. "This is a really good song," Anna noted, changing the subject as Jason began to smile at her approval, reaching over with his other hand to turn the volume dial up enough to hear the words clearly through the speakers.

"It's one of my favorites." Jason admitted over the sound of the music. "I saw them in Indianapolis last summer with a couple of the guys from the team. Audrey's dad used some of his connections and got us in. The show was awesome."

The two continued to converse about music as the miles separating Hawkins and Cartersville began to dwindle, and Anna watched as a neon sign in the distance reading Gil's Diner came into view as they passed over a hill, Jason slowing the car down as they reached the building.

"Here we are," he said. "Best burgers this side of Indiana."

Anna followed him inside the restaurant, the two teenagers in a hurry to get out of the chilly night air, and the bell hanging over the door jingled to announce their arrival. Inside, the diner was about half full, mostly older workers coming for a bite to eat after the end of their shift. At the counter near the front door waited the hostess, a woman who appeared to be in her late forties and wore her auburn hair in a tight bun on top of her head.

"Table for two?" the woman asked, watching them expectantly as they nodded in return, and she picked up two menus, stepping out from behind the counter. "Follow me."

Anna followed behind Jason and the hostess, whose name tag read Rhonda, and she seated them at an empty booth, between one full of men in dusty work clothes laughing loudly at a joke one of them had recently finished telling, and another table filled with a family of five, including a fussy toddler.

"Your server will be right with you." Rhonda said as they thanked her, and Anna instantly picked up the menu once she was gone, beginning to scan through the options.

"So I hear the burgers are pretty good," Anna joked as she scanned through the list, and Jason nodded as he did the same.

"The best I can find after Benny's." he promised her, mimicking himself crossing his heart as she began to smirk. "But if you try it and it totally sucks, I'm not responsible."

"Well, we'll see about that." she retorted, the two falling into a comfortable silence as they continued to look over the menus, only interrupted by the guffawing laughter of the men in the other booth.

"You kids ready to eat?" another voice interrupted them, and Anna looked up to see a blonde woman in the same uniform as Rhonda's, the nametag adorning her shirt reading Clara.

"Yes, ma'am," Jason assured her, looking back at Anna for confirmation, and she nodded in agreement.

"I'll have a Coke to drink, and a cheeseburger and fries, please." Anna said.

"And I'll have the same," Jason agreed, shooting the waitress a smile as she collected their menus.

Jason and Anna watched as Clara disappeared from sight back into the kitchen, and the Carver boy fiddled with the hem of his jacket for a moment before looking back over at Anna. "It's nice to see you outside of the parties," he confessed. "Neither of the Harringtons are going to pop out from the other side of the room and drag you home, are they?" he joked, playfully craning his neck to look back towards the other side of the room.

"Happy to say you don't have to worry about that." Anna admitted, chuckling as he began to smile. "Just me and you."

"Good," he smiled. "You look really pretty, by the way."

"Thank you," she said, a slight blush tingeing her cheeks pink. "You don't look so bad, yourself."

As the Cokes were delivered to their table, Anna trying hard to pace herself despite her brain nearly begging for the caffeine inside the plastic cup in front of her, Anna watched as Jason began to tell her a story from that night's practice, which was only interrupted by the cheeseburgers being set in front of them. Once they were gone and the bill was paid, Jason took Anna's hand in his, leading her back in the direction of his Jeep and their drive back to Hawkins.

"Take a left here," she instructed him as they reached the end of Elm Street, the Henderson house coming into view on Cornwallis. Anna noticed a lamp was still on inside, along with the television in the living room, alerting her that her mother was likely still up, watching the news and waiting for Anna to come home. "This house right here," she said as he pulled the car to a stop in the driveway, putting it in park.

"I had a really great time tonight." Jason said, and Anna nodded in agreement.

"I did too." she said as he leaned forward, kissing her swiftly on the cheek, and Anna was suddenly grateful for the darkness hiding the heat flushing her face.

"Goodnight, Anna," he said, and she smiled, unbuckling her seatbelt and grabbing her backpack where it lay on the floor in front of her.

"Goodnight, Jason." she said, opening the door of the Jeep and hopping outside, heading for the front door of the house.

Anna paused outside the front door and turned back to see the black Jeep backing out of the driveway, catching a glimpse through the window of the blonde boy inside waving goodbye, which she returned. She watched as it grew further and further away down the street, turning a corner and vanishing from view, and only once he was gone did she finally open the door, disappearing inside and shutting it behind her.