"Hey, Mom?" Anna asked, looking up from her bowl of cereal to where Claudia was bustling around the kitchen, getting breakfast ready for Mews. "I'm going to head over to Becca's after school to study for a big test coming up, and we figured since we'd probably be done late, I could just stay over there tonight so I wouldn't be driving home after dark. Is that okay?"

"Oh," Claudia mused, silent for a moment as she pondered over her daughter's question, and Anna tried her best to keep up the facade of a straight face, and not let her mother see through her words, even going so far as to take another bite of cereal to avoid looking Claudia in the eye. "Well, I suppose that's a smart idea to stay in after dark. What's the test for?"

"Chemistry," Anna explained quickly. "Mr. Kaminsky's class, he's about as tough as they come so we just want to make sure we're prepared."

"Well, study hard." she said encouragingly. "And you're driving Dusty to school this morning, right?"

"Yes," Anna confirmed, glancing over at her brother. "But you have a ride home with your friends after school, right?"

"Right," Dustin said, nodding. "We're going to Mike's, and Mrs. Wheeler's taking me home after dinner."

"Well, in that case I'll see you both later." Claudia said as the two siblings dumped their dirty dishes in the sink, heading for the door where their backpacks waited on the floor.

"Bye Mom," they chorused as Anna grabbed her keys from the hook near the front door, stepping outside into the chilly morning air.

"Huh, that's odd." Dustin mused as Anna unlocked the car doors, and he slid into the passenger seat.

"What's odd?" she asked, turning the key in the ignition and allowing the engine to roar to life as she quickly turned the knobs for the heat to move through the air vents.

"I could've sworn you said the other day that your chemistry test was on Tuesday, which is this morning, not tomorrow morning." Dustin said, eyeing his older sister with a teasing grin.

Anna's face fell as she backed out of the driveway. "Shit," she murmured. "Tell Mom and I'll end you."

"A dollar for the arcade and my mouth is shut." Dustin offered, causing Anna to roll her eyes at her little brother. "Deal?"

Anna looked over at Dustin for a moment as she drove, pondering her choices, or rather lack thereof. She knew her brother could be relentless, and while there was always the chance that he could be bluffing, she wasn't sure she could afford to take the risk that this would be the one time he finally told their mother.

"Fine, deal," she huffed. "It's in my wallet, you can grab it later."

"Pleasure doing business with you." he said, grinning satisfactorily. "So where are you really going tonight?"

"I wasn't outright lying to Mom, I really am staying at Becca's tonight." Anna explained. "We just aren't studying. Her aunt and uncle are out of town, so they're having a few people over for a small party."

"And I wasn't invited?" he asked, feigning offense. "Sorry, Anna, but I'm much cooler than you."

"You really want to spend your evening with Steve Harrington and his friends?" Anna asked, narrowing her eyes at the younger boy. "Steve and Tommy are douchebags, but Becca's my friend. And besides, I don't think their idea of a fun party is sitting in the basement playing D and D."

"I guess you're right," Dustin agreed as Anna turned into the parking lot for Hawkins Middle School, taking her spot in the dropoff line to bid her brother goodbye, and once he was out of the car did she finally make her dash for the high school parking lot, a few minutes behind her usual schedule.

Anna walked in through the doors, her backpack slung over one shoulder as she caught sight of Becca and Landon waiting by her locker. She shot them a smile, quickly moving the dial to undo the lock holding her locker shut and tossing her bag inside.

"Hey," Becca said, "There you are."

"Here I am," Anna echoed. "Sorry, Mom wanted me to drive Dustin this morning, with everything happening with Will, and the dropoff line for the middle school was endless."

"That's okay," Landon assured her, looking around to make sure nobody was listening before lowering his voice. "Did they find anything last night?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "He got home around the same time we did, but when I asked him about what all they saw, he just said they rode their bikes around for a little while to go check out Mirkwood, and when it started to rain they went back to Mike's for a bit before going home. But Will wasn't out there, and they didn't find anything."

"Damn," Landon muttered. "I don't think the cops found anything either during the search party. It's like he just vanished. But how does that even happen?"

"He has to turn up." Becca insisted. "Right? I mean, where could he possibly have gone that your brother and their friends wouldn't think to look?"

"I don't know," Anna said, shaking her head as she closed her locker, and from around the corner she could see Steve approaching with Tommy Hagan and Carol Perkins not far behind him, as well as Nancy and Barbara Holland.

"Well, that's my cue," Landon said, his gaze following Anna's to see the approaching group as he quickly bid the girls goodbye and began to leave in the other direction.

"What's up, Trailer Trash?" Tommy called in Landon's direction as he retreated, but the boy kept walking until he rounded the corner, refusing to spare a glance in their direction before he was out of sight.

"Really funny, Tommy." Becca greeted the boy sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "What do you want?"

"Just the girls we were looking for, actually." Steve said. "We were just about to tell Nancy and Barb about tonight."

"Tonight?" Nancy asked, her eyebrows pinching together as she looked back at Steve.

"My dad has left town on a conference and my mom's gone with him, 'cause, you know, she doesn't trust him." Steve began.

"Good call," Tommy added.

"So are you in?" Steve asked, looking down at Nancy expectantly.

"In for what?" Nancy asked, still looking confused as she looked to Steve for confirmation.

"No parents?" Carol suggested, waiting for Nancy to get the hint. "Big house?"

"A party?" Nancy guessed.

"Ding, ding, ding," Carol muttered as Tommy laughed.

"It's Tuesday." Nancy pointed out.

"It's Tuesday," Tommy mocked. "Oh, my god."

"Come on," Steve pleaded. "It'll be low key, it'll just be us. Becca and Anna will both be there too, right, Anna, you're coming?"

"Yeah," Anna said, nodding. "I'll be there."

"What do you say?" Steve asked, turning back to Nancy. "Are you in or are you out?"

Nancy looked around uneasily as she began to shrug, but she was soon cut off by Carol. "Oh, god," she said, her eyes moving past Nancy to the other end of the hallway, and Anna followed her gaze to where Jonathan Byers stood in front of a bulletin board, stapling a piece of paper to its surface. "Look."

Anna couldn't make out much about the poster from where she was standing, but one thing was clear: the top of it was covered in pictures of Will. She could only guess the family had made missing posters to hang around town, to get more word out about the young boy's disappearance, and her heart fell slightly at the lost look on Jonathan's face, not even beginning to be able to imagine what was going through his mind. All she knew was, if the roles were reversed and Dustin had been missing, she wouldn't rest until she'd found him, even if she had to turn over every surface in Hawkins with her bare hands to do it.

"God, that's depressing," Steve said as the others turned to look in Jonathan's direction.

"Should we say something?" Nancy asked.

"I don't think he speaks." Carol retorted.

"How much do you want to bet he killed him?" Tommy asked, causing Anna's glare to narrow in the boy's direction as Steve gave him a slight push into the lockers.

"That's not funny, Tommy." Anna hissed as Nancy began to walk over towards Jonathan.

"What?" Tommy asked. "All I'm saying is we shouldn't rule it out as a possibility. I mean, that shit happens, right? Psycho older brother loses his shit and becomes a murderer?"

"Come on, don't be an ass." Becca said as Anna turned back towards Nancy and Jonathan, following her over to where he was still stapling the poster to the board.

"Hey," Anna said, joining them as her eyes fell on the missing poster, the words Have You Seen Me? now visible at the top of the page.

"Hi Anna," Jonathan said. "Michelle mentioned you, Landon, and Becca came out for the search party last night to look for Will. I just wanted to say thanks, it meant a lot to my mom."

"Glad we could help." Anna said. "I'm just sorry we didn't find anything. Is Michelle here with you?"

"She's hanging some posters around town." Jonathan explained. "I offered to come here while she dropped some off on Main Street, but I'm going to meet up with her after this so we can keep looking."

"I'm so sorry," Nancy spoke up, her eyes still trained on the poster. "It sucks."

"Yeah," Jonathan and Anna both agreed.

"I'm sure he's fine," Nancy said assuringly. "He's a smart kid."

Anna nodded in agreement, but they were cut off as the bell rang, signaling that they only had a few minutes left to get to class that morning. "Looks like we have to go," Nancy spoke up again, glancing back over at Anna. "Chemistry test."

"Yeah," Jonathan nodded as the girls bid him goodbye, turning back to the group waiting for them as they watched them with curious glances.

"Think we're failing?" Becca asked as they reached Kaminsky's classroom, separating from the three upperclassmen as Steve, Tommy, and Carol headed towards their morning math class.

"No way," Anna scoffed as she slid into her seat, though the confident demeanor she attempted to present quickly faded away. "Well, maybe, but there's nothing we can do about it now. And then tonight, we forget the whole thing ever happened, right?"

Becca chuckled as the bell rang, and Mr. Kaminsky rose from his chair, a pile of tests in his hand ready to pass them out. "I like the sound of that."