"Becca!" Steve yelled through the open backdoor from the yard, where he was currently dragging a cooler full of beer out to the pool and away from the kitchen, where the girls were finishing getting everything else ready. "What time is it?"

"Almost eight!" Becca called back as she and Anna each grabbed a bowl of chips to place outside near the cooler. "Tommy and Carol should be here any minute, lucky us." she muttered to Anna. "But Barbara and Nancy shouldn't be far behind."

"How do you think they'll do?" Anna asked. "I don't know Barb that well, but I don't think Nancy's ever been to a party that wasn't just us eating pizza at their house while the boys played D and D in the basement."

Becca shrugged. "First time for everything, right? Maybe they'll surprise us."

"Well, well, well," Tommy's voice rang through the clearing as he and Carol walked into the backyard from around the side of the house, a six pack held in one hand to add to the supply Steve had already secured for the evening. "What do we have here?"

"Grab a seat, make yourselves at home." Becca said, gesturing to the open chairs gathered around the pool.

"Just not too much at home." Anna could hear Steve mutter under his breath as the doorbell rang faintly from inside the house.

"I think your girlfriend's here, Steve." Becca teased as he excused himself to go get the door, returning a few moments later with Nancy and Barb in tow.

"Looks like the party's here," Carol said sarcastically, shooting the girls a fake smile from where she stood by the pool.

While Nancy looked excited for the evening ahead, looking around at the others with a calm and collected smile, Barb looked as though she'd rather be anywhere else. Anna shot the girls a friendly smile as Nancy lay back in one of the pool loungers, but Barb silently sat down in a chair behind her friend, her eyes trained on the ground as she avoided eye contact with any of the others. Although, Anna could feel for the girl, for if it hadn't been for Becca, it wouldn't have been Anna's first choice to spend an evening with Tommy, Carol, and Steve, either.

"I'll be right back," Steve said, disappearing into the house, and Anna grabbed a can of beer from the cooler before sitting down in an open lounge chair next to Becca.

"So," Nancy said, looking over at where the two girls were sitting. "How do you think you guys did on Kaminsky's test today?"

"I think okay." Anna said with a shrug. "I've definitely done better, but I've also done way worse."

"Chemistry test this, chemistry test that, blah, blah, blah," Tommy chided with a smirk before rushing over to where Carol stood at the edge of the pool, picking her up and pretending to throw her in the pool and she began to scream in protest. "One!" he shouted, swinging her towards the pool before pulling her back. "Two! Three!"

"Stop it Tommy, no! Don't!" Carol shouted as he laughed, setting her down on her feet next to him. "You're such an asshole, Tommy," she said, playfully pushing him away from her.

Steve reappeared in the doorway with his stereo in his hands and a pocket knife held between his teeth, setting down the stereo and hitting play so music began to play through the speakers. As soon as he was satisfied with the volume of the music, he grabbed a can of beer from the cooler, grabbing the pocket knife from between his teeth and cutting a small opening in the can. He reached up, bringing the side of the can to his mouth and popping open the top, chugging it quickly before dropping it to his feet with a grin.

"Is that supposed to impress me?" Nancy asked as he plopped down in the seat next to her, pulling a cigarette out from where it was tucked behind his ear and placing it between his lips.

"You're not?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows together.

"Idiot," Becca mumbled from her spot next to Anna, chuckling lightly so Steve wouldn't hear her.

"You are a cliche, you do realize that." Nancy stated.

"You are a cliche," Steve retorted, grabbing a lighter from his pocket and reaching up to light the cigarette. "What with your... your grades, and your band practice."

"I am so not in band." she insisted.

"Okay, party girl, why don't you just, uh, show us how it's done, then?" Steve suggested, passing her the pocket knife.

"Okay," Nancy said, taking the knife and picking up a can of beer as she rose from her seat.

"You gotta make a little hole, right in-" Steve began, but Nancy held up a hand, cutting him off.

"I got it," she insisted with a sly grin.

"Yeah, she's smart, you douche!" Tommy laughed, reaching up to crush his empty can against the side of his head, letting it fall to the ground at his feet and causing Anna to roll her eyes at the triumphant smile on his drunken face.

"Idiot," Anna murmured back to Becca, and the girls watched as Nancy cut into the beer can, holding it up and beginning to drink.

"Chug, chug, chug!" Steve began to slowly chant, and one by one the others joined in.

"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!" the others echoed as Nancy continued to drink from the can, all except for Barb, who still sat quietly in a chair behind the others.

Nancy finished the can, letting it crash to the ground with a triumphant grin, and Anna and Becca reached up to clap as Tommy began to holler victoriously. Nancy took a bow, looking around at them with a smug grin until her gaze fell on her best friend.

"Barb, you wanna try?" Nancy offered.

"What?" Barb deadpanned, looking at Nancy incredulously. "No."

"Come on," Nancy said, reaching for another can from the cooler.

"No, I don't want to, thanks." Barb assured her, but Nancy was hearing none of it, already tipsy from the little alcohol she'd consumed that evening.

"Come on," Nancy repeated.

"Come on, yeah," Steve echoed.

"Nance, I don't want to." Barb said, frowning, and Anna exchanged a quick look with Becca as the girls watched before reaching up to take another drink of her beer, finishing what was left in the can.

"It's fun, just give it a shot." Nancy insisted, placing the can and the pocket knife in Barb's hands.

Barb sighed, standing up from her chair and looking down at the items in her hands. "Okay," she said, raising the knife and aiming it down at the edge of the can. "So you just..."

Steve glanced over at Anna and Becca, taking a drag of his cigarette before they turned back to watch Barb. As she went to make the indent in the can, the knife slipped, slicing into her thumb, and Barb gasped, dropping the can at her feet and looking down to inspect the damage, where Anna could already see the blood beginning to drip from her thumb onto the pavement.

"Gnarly," Tommy mused, chuckling softly.

"Are you okay?" Nancy asked, leaning down to help Barb, but the other girl stood up straighter, cradling her hand to her chest.

"Yeah," Barb said.

"Barb, you're bleeding." Nancy said.

"I'm fine," Barb insisted before turning to Steve. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Oh, it's, uh, down past the kitchen, to the left." Steve said, rising from his chair and pointing back in the direction of the house.

"Here Barb, I'll show you." Becca offered, rising from her chair. "I can grab you some Band-Aids too."

Anna watched as Becca disappeared inside the house with Barb, rising from her chair and standing next to Nancy, eyebrows pinched together in concern. It wasn't hard to see that Barb was becoming increasingly more and more uncomfortable as the evening progressed, and would have gone back home in the first thirty seconds had Nancy not still been present and wanting to stay, and Anna couldn't help but still feel bad for the way her night was turning out.

Anna turned to look as Tommy slowly snuck up behind where Carol now stood looking out at the woods past the pool, and he reached out, pushing her into the water as she fell in with a scream.

"Oh my god, what the hell, Tommy?" Carol shrieked as she surfaced from the water, and Tommy laughed as he dove into the pool after her, causing Carol to duck out of the way to avoid being hit in the process.

Nancy was too busy laughing at Carol and Tommy to see Steve sneaking up behind her, and a surprised shriek emitted as he pushed her into the pool after them, and then jumped in with a cannonball. Anna watched as the four swam in the pool, and Steve surfaced from the water, his eyes landing on her.

"C'mon in, Henderson, the water's fine!" Steve shouted, but Anna simply shook her head.

"Y'know, I think I'm good," Anna said, taking a step back, but she instead collided with Becca, who rested a hand on each of her shoulders as she reappeared from inside the house.

"Oh, no you don't!" Becca yelled, shoving Anna forward, and she tumbled over the edge into the pool, breaking the surface of the water as the others began to laugh.

Becca jumped into the pool after Anna, and Anna resurfaced, pushing her hair out of her face and splashing her best friend. Becca splashed Anna in return, the two girls waging a water war against the other while Tommy and Carol began to make out next to them, causing Steve to send a splash in their direction, forcing the couple apart.

Anna lost track of the minutes while the teenagers continued swimming and splashing each other in the pool, until the chill of the November night air began to set in and they began to shiver despite the heated water. Becca was the first to pull herself out of the pool, water dripping from her shirt and jeans onto the pavement as she pulled off her soaking wet Converse, setting them on the ground to dry.

"Come on, Anns," Becca said as the other girl pulled herself out of the pool. "I'll grab us some towels and we can get changed."

Anna bid the others goodbye as she followed Becca, reaching up to attempt to wring out her soaking wet hair before she went inside. Barb was still shut inside the downstairs bathroom, so the two girls trudged up the carpeted stairs to grab towels from the linen closet. Becca handed her a towel, and she wrapped it over her shoulders in an attempt to warm up before following her into her bedroom where the rest of her stuff waited.

Becca shut and locked the door behind them as they quickly stripped out of their wet clothes, changing into their pajamas, and Anna wrapped the towel around her hair, squeezing it to get out as much water as possible. Through the bedroom door, she could hear the sound of the sliding glass door shutting from outside, and voices as the rest of the group came in from the pool, notably Tommy's voice at a higher volume than the others.

"I hear his mom's room has a fireplace." She could hear Tommy's voice, accompanied by the sounds of footsteps starting to make their way up the stairs.

"Are you kidding?" Steve's voice joined Tommy's. "Okay, well, you know, you are cleaning the sheets."

Anna and Becca exchanged a look as the blonde began to fake gag, quickly moving for the stereo on top of her dresser. "Nope," Becca said, rummaging through her cassettes and picking up a random Blondie tape, shoving it inside the device and hitting play so the music was now moving through the speakers. "Absolutely not," she said, turning up the volume so they could no longer hear any voices from outside the room.

"Gross," Anna agreed, rummaging through her backpack and pulling out the math homework she still needed to do for Mr. Mundy's class the next day. After all, if she wasn't going to be getting any sleep anytime soon, then now was as good a time as ever to get it finished rather than attempting to copy off Landon's at lunch the next day, on the off chance that the boy had actually done his homework.

"What'd you get for question number seven?" Becca asked, taking a seat next to Anna on the floor and pulling out her own work from her backpack. "I couldn't figure out what to do after the second equation."

The two girls worked through their math homework as the stereo continued to play, and by the time they'd finished, Becca pulled aside the window blinds, peeking into the driveway to see if Tommy and Carol were still there; though, to both Anna and Becca's relief, the only cars in the driveway were Becca's, Anna's, and Steve's, with Tommy's car gone from its usual spot down the street whenever the Harringtons threw a party. Anna wasn't sure where Barb had parked, but there was no sign of her car either, letting the girls know that the guests had most likely all left for the night.

"Finally," Becca said, shutting off the stereo and cutting off the sound from the Blondie tape, leaving the two girls in silence. "In that case, I think it's time to call it a night. Agreed?"

"Yeah," Anna said, fighting off a yawn as she nodded. "Agreed."