Armani stormed inside the house, she had left Jonathan behind since he seemed to be hesitating on whether to enter or not. She looked over peoples heads and spotted Sage, who was calling her from the back yard. As she approached, a drink in hand, the sound of people counting gave her indication as to what was happening. To her surprise, it wasn't Steve who was on the keg, rather Billy, who was withstanding more than what she would've assumed. "Forty! Forty-one! Forty- two!" Sage yelled along with the others, whooping and clapping as Billy screamed in victory.

"That's better than Steve!" Sage spoke loudly as she pulled Armani closer to her.

"Impressive" Armani nodded, as much as she despised him, she couldn't deny his feat was a big one.

"We got ourselves a new Keg King!" The boy beside him yelled.

As the crowd started cheering his name, Billy yelled "that's how you do it Hawkins! That's how you do it!" The intoxicated blonde saw Armani and pulled her towards him. She managed to grab Sage's arm and pulled her with them.

"See that, Princess?" Billy yelled in her ear.

"I can't say I'm not impressed." She nodded weakly, looking at his hand which gripped her arm. He pulled the two girls to a crowd of dancers, Sage danced eagerly, while Armani looked around. She hadn't gone to a real party in a while, Barbaras disappearance had hindered her liking of them.

As Billy led them through the room, Armani felt where he clutched her arm start to feel sore, although if she tried to pull away he only tightened his grip.

"Come on" he growled, much to Sage's liking. They made their way in front of Steve and Nancy, who were dressed in some sort of retro outfits, Armani tried to remain behind Billy

. A boy came up behind the three and mocked Steve. "We got ourselves a new Keg King, Harrington!" He yelled, Armani rolling her eyes as Billy puffed his chest out.

"Yeah, that's right!" Sage yelled, "Eat it, Harrington!" Another boy spoke. Steve took his sun glasses off, the two seemed to be in a stare off before he spotted Armani. Billy pulled her forward, causing her to wince at the sudden movement. Nancy left to get a drink, obviously annoyed with the whole confrontation.

"Is that any way to treat your date?" Steve asked, motioning to the two's violent contact.

"I'm not his date" Armani protested, feeling Billy's hand tighten in anger. She pulled once more and Billy finally let her go, sending her in front and into Steve. As Steve steadied her, the mullet wearing villain laughed.

"Don't be a sore loser, Steve" Sage spoke, leaning closer to Billy despite Armani's looks at her.

"Who said anything about losing?" Steve furrowed his brows, he looked down at Armani's arm, which was red and slightly bruised. "Come on" he put a hand on her back, leading her away from them to get some ice.

"She's not worth it, Harrington!" Billy called after them, laughing once more before taking Sage back to dance.

"Hey, Nancy! Woah woah woah. Take it easy. Woah woah," Steve put a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder as he tried to stop her from chugging her drink.

"Nancy, that's not a good idea" Armani said, holding her own arm.

"Take it easy. Nance. Nance, Nance" Steve repeated, Nancy turned and gave him an ugly look.

"We're just being stupid teenagers for the night. Wasn't that the deal?" She spoke before taking another drink and walking towards the crowd of dancers.

"Hey. Here" Steve grabbed a plastic bag from a counter and put ice into it, he held it on her arm. "Why'd he have you tugged around like that, anyways?" The boy asked, Armani shrugged.

"I have no clue, he just kind of took me and Sage with him. Sage, she's totally in love with him it's insane, I just don't want to leave her alone with him." She said, attempting to look over the heads of everyone.

"Hey, it's fine. People will look after her, but right now you need to look after yourself" he motioned to her arm.

"What about Nancy?"

"She's...she'll be fine." Steve assured himself more than her.

"Want to dance?" He asked her after her arm had stopped aching so much.

Armani looked at him, "what?"

"I said, want to dance? I mean, I doubt I can get Nancy back tonight. You can keep an eye on Sage while we're at it" he explained.

Armani nodded slowly. "Yeah. Sure."

The two made their way into the bodies that danced, as they felt the rhythm, Armani took another swig of her drink.

The two danced, Armani finally felt better, she felt like she was in the old days, no worries, no dad trying to fix the family, no Billy, no weird secrets. Sage came by, her speech slurred as she explained that Billy had gone off with some other girl, and soon after, Nancy joined back up with them. The four danced, but Sage left soon enough for another guy in a mummy costume.

—

, Armani looked towards the entrance and spotted Jonathan. She spoke quietly and motioned towards him, leaving Nancy and Steve to their own as she made her way towards the awkward teenager.

"Nice costume, doof. You took so long to come in, I thought you went home and changed" she spoke, her words mixed together as she took another drink.

"Haha. Atleast I have pants on" he said, Armani rolling her eyes.

"I have shorts on. Besides, this shirt is my dads, it's longer than some of the lingerie these girls are wearing. I'm not a slut" She looked around, no longer seeing Nancy and Steve in their dancing spot, she turned to figure out where they went.

"Why are you talking to me anyways? I heard you found yourself a date, drunkie" Jonathan spoke louder than usual to be heard over the music.

"No date. New kid from California did this though" she pulled up her sleeve and showed the bruise which had worsened since first receiving it.

"Holy shit. You know Bob's going to flip, right?"

"Just don't tell him" Armani made a shush noise as she put her finger over her mouth. "We're supposed to be with Will, I'll just say I fell."

Jonathan shook his head, "I can't believe I get along with you better when you're drunk."

"It's fuuuunnn," she smiled, taking a drink from a passing person's hand and pushing it towards Jonathan. "Oh wait, you're designated driver" she shrugged, before downing the whole drink.

"That's not a good thing to be doing, your head is going to kill you tomorrow" he said.

"No it's fine, I'm okay" she shrugged.

"Armani, I happen to know you can only handle your alcohol to a point. I think you're reaching that point."

"Oh sure, Johnny. Sure. You know that why? Because you stalked me and my friends, right? You took pictures of us. of me." Armani's words cascaded out of her mouth, she had no way to stop them as her mood suddenly changed. "I was exposed, you remember? My clothes were soaked from the pool, so were Jason's and Sage's? You remember? Sage left to grab more drinks and you snapped those pictures? Of Jason and I? Yeah? What about the ones of Nancy? Her and Steve? You know. It's your fault. It's your fault I got drunk that night. Trying to forget. Because I let him slip away, you know? It's your fault."

Jonathan stayed silent, feeling it was better to let her get everything out of her system.

Armani continued, "You know my dad wants us to move to Maine? With your family? It's your fault. My life is turning upside down."

Her words slurred together, she stepped closer and lightly hit the boy on his chest.

"It's your fault! Yours! You. Lying. Perverted. Invasive. Stupid. Byers!"

Jonathan tried to shush her, he was too shocked to say anything, people around them began staring in confusion to the event.

"It's your fault!" She continued hitting the boys chest, not enough to make it hurt, but enough to make him back into the door, people began to whisper around them.

Steve rushed down, his face flushed, unable to believe the things Nancy had said to him.

As he stopped at the doorway, he noticed it was Armani who he heard from the steps, "holy shit" he mumbled, looking around at everyone watching the ordeal between her and Jonathan.

"Mani. Mani, hey, hey. Quit," he pulled Armani away from Jonathan.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" He asked, Jonathan answering a simple "I have no idea."

Steve shook his head, "First Nancy, now you? For fucks sakes." He held onto Armani, "come on, Newby" opening the door and leading her out.

"It's your fault. It's your fault" she kept mumbling as Steve led her to his car and helped her into the seat.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's okay. I know" Steve spoke quietly, trying to comfort the drunk girl, who clearly didn't realize she had left Jonathan behind.

As they made their way through the dark, she kept mumbling blame. "It's your fault. Dad, Steve, everyone. Im a second choice and it's your fault."

Steve turned suddenly, "what? What do you mean?" He asked, confusion in his face as he tried to comprehend her intoxicated gibberish.

"You. Your fault" her head slumped down, her eyes were closed and her mouth barely moved, yet she kept speaking. "Nancy. Joyce. I don't matter when they're there. They don't get it. Steve doesn't get it. Dad doesn't."

Steve had to lean closer to her to understand, only stopping when her speech turned into soft, slow breaths.