Unforgettable | Steve Harrington [1]

16 (THE SUMMER'S LAST HURRAH)

CONTENT WARNING: This chapter contains mentions of abuse.

August came by faster than Jenna expected, which meant there were two things happening this month that she was looking forward to: the last big summer party and the start of senior year.

Every year, someone always hosted one final party of the summer before school started. This year, Craig decided to do it, which everyone was excited about. It was weird knowing that this was probably the last summer this graduating class would spend together, seeing as everyone would do their best to get out of Hawkins as fast as they could to whatever college they were attending. While Jenna found it bittersweet to think about, it was still a good thing that everyone would move on with their lives and start new chapters, especially if that meant they weren't in a town that had monsters lurking in the night.

That afternoon, just a few hours before the party, Jenna went to Melvald's General Store to get some things. When she walked inside, she was shocked to see Carter Page walking down the aisle.

"Carter?" she called out.

He turned around and gave her a small nod. "Hey, Howard."

"What are you doing here?" she asked, walking towards him.

"I work here now," he replied, waving the scanner in his hand.

"Since when?"

"I started just a few weeks ago."

"My mom didn't tell me you were working here."

"That's because I asked her to not say anything," he explained.

"Oh, come on! I thought we were friends!" she exclaimed. "Or you know, at least heading in that direction."

Carter scoffed as he started to scan the items on the shelf. "Yeah, I didn't know we were considered friends, Howard."

"I mean, we worked together trying to find Barbara, ran away from some bad guys, fought a monster..."

"We had help with all of that," he pointed out. "And we hardly hung out after all that shit went down, anyway."

"That's not true. We hung out a lot."

"Yeah, after school, where none of your popular friends could see us."

"It wasn't like that, Carter."

Carter let out a scoff in response, shaking his head. "Whatever. Is there something you need or can you find your way around the store like the big girl you are?" he retorted, changing the subject entirely.

Rolling her eyes, Jenna leaned against the shelf. "You really need to work on your customer service skills."

"Well, if people like Bennett and Harrington stop being assholes whenever they come in here, then maybe I would."

"Wait, Craig and Steve were in here just now?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, they left just a few minutes ago with some food and drinks." Carter paused, finishing up with scanning the items in front of him. "That was a shitshow. One of them asked about you and the other got all defensive..."