STICKS AND STONES ↝ S. HARRINGTON

[23]

The sound of Claudia's laughter echoed through the Henderson family's living room as Anna left her bedroom, following the source of the noise to see Claudia with her camera aimed at Dustin. Her younger brother was clad in a Ghostbusters uniform, giving a toothy smile as he aimed the proton blaster at the camera. Amidst the laughter, Anna could hear her mother humming the Ghostbusters theme music while happily snapping pictures of her youngest, and she looked over as her daughter entered the room.

"Aww, Annie, Annie, quick, get in there with Dusty!" Claudia exclaimed, gesturing for Anna to join the picture, and Anna obliged, hopping in next to Dustin and wrapping an arm around her brother's shoulders, giving her mother a smile.

As Claudia snapped the picture, the two sprang apart, Dustin in a hurry to meet his friends for school and Anna to place a piece of bread in the toaster while she finished getting ready. The past couple of days, all she could think about was the upcoming Halloween party at Tina's, the first time she and her friends had agreed to act like normal teenagers for a night where she felt like she could finally live up to her end of the bargain. For once, Anna was allowing herself to be fully immersed in the holiday season ahead, and to actually have a fun night.

When she finally walked through the entryway of the high school, making a beeline for her locker, she found Steve and Becca both standing further down the row, chatting while Becca grabbed her textbooks for her first couple classes. When they saw Anna at her own locker, Becca shut hers, the Harrington cousins walking over to join her.

"Are you ready for tonight?" Becca asked excitedly, leaning against the closed lockers next to Anna's.

"Costume's all hanging up and ready to go," Anna assured her best friend with an optimistic smile before her gaze landed on Steve. "Are you finally going to tell us what you and Nancy are going as? You've kept it a secret for months now, spill."

"No, no, no, you'll see it tonight." Steve chided. "It was a risk, that's for sure, but I think it'll be fun." he said with a wink.

"Okay, weirdo," Becca retorted, exchanging a brief glance with Anna before lowering her voice so as not to be heard by any of their classmates still lingering in the halls. "So anyways, how was your dinner with Barb's parents last night?"

"Not great," Steve admitted, his smile fading away. "They're not convinced in the slightest that Barb ran away, and claim the Hawkins PD isn't doing anything about it, since, you know, Hopper knows what actually happened." he explained, voice hardly more than a whisper. "They hired some guy to look into it, some reporter, I guess, but in order to afford him, they have to sell their house. Nancy's really freaked out about it."

"As she should be," Anna assured him. "But she can't tell them, right? Not without the lab people coming back."

"She can't," Steve agreed. "And she knows how much trouble we'd all get in if she did. Tonight'll help get her mind off things, hopefully, right?"

"Yeah," Anna said, though she didn't seem entirely convinced. "I'm sure you're right."

Anna noticed as Becca's gaze moved to something further down the hall, and she looked over to see Billy Hargrove walking down the hall, Trapper Keeper held under one arm on his way to class. As her gaze remained trained on him, Steve sighed incredulously, holding up a hand in front of his cousin's face and moving it back and forth in an attempt to get her attention.

"Becca," he deadpanned. "Earth to Becca."

"Hmm?" Becca asked, looking back at Steve as he rolled his eyes in response.

"Hargrove's in mine and Anna's gym class." Steve said, his own gaze falling on the newcomer, but there was a hint of spite in his eyes, rather than the daydreamy look Becca had worn. "All the girls are talking about him and how hot he is, but he just seems like a douche."