Summer passed in the blink of an eye, before they knew it, Mike and the party were starting high school. Bryce had come to learn all about the Upside Down, Hopper and Jane explaining everything to her the first night she stay with them. There wasn't much for the secretary of Hawkins PD to do, not many crimes were committed and nothing weird was going on since Jane had closed the gate. Bryce's job was mainly checking if there were any calls in the morning, if there were, she would stay and keep Hopper updated. If there wasn't anything by lunchtime, Hopper would let her go home, telling her he could handle it for the day. She would usually end up having to take Jane to someone's house or to the arcade where all the kids hung out. When she wasn't busy doing that, she was usually with Steve. Bryce had tried to get Billy to talk to her all summer, but to no avail. She eventually gave up and when Steve asked her out two weeks before school started, she happily agreed.

The first weekend of the school week, Max was planning on having a sleepover with Jane. Steve and Bryce drove the girls to the arcade for the night to hang out with the boys. Deciding to get dinner at Benny's Diner before heading to movie theater. But they never made it to the movie, their date was cut short by the kids finding them at the diner and trying to squeeze all six of them into the small booth that Steve and Bryce were occupying. Bryce finally suggested the kids move to the big booth in the corner, smiling at Steve brightly as the kids ditched them for their own booth.

"I'm sorry they ruined the night." Steve said sheepishly, embarrassed by the group.

"They didn't ruin anything, they love you to death. I think it's sweet how you're willing to take your time to be with them." Bryce replied honestly.

"Yeah well, they're pretty great kids. They've definitely grown on me," Steve smiled, looking behind him at the group, Mike and Jane were sharing a milkshake as Dustin and Will threw fries across the table at each other, "I meant to tell you, I joined the Hawkins Police Academy. I'm going to be a deputy for the city." Steve told her proudly.

"No way. Steve, that's awesome!" Bryce exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, Hop wants a guy on his team that knows about all the crazy shit that's happened and I guess I'm the guy." Steve shrugged.

"I'm so proud of you." Bryce smiled, leaning over the table towards him.

Steve leaned towards her as well, ignoring the ringing bell above the door as he captured her lips.

Billy walked into the dinner, seeing Steve Harrington leaning in towards an all too familiar brunette, kissing her gently. He stood there and watched as they pulled away, Bryce was smiling, he knew her well enough to be able to tell from even behind her that she was. Bryce leaned over the table once again, kissing Steve with more want. Billy looked away as he saw Steve's tongue slip into her mouth, wishing it was him that was kissing her. He sat down at the bar and ordered a soda and fries, looking past the happy couple he saw Max, she was with her normal group of friends. Sighing he looked back at Bryce, he could tell that she tried to curl her hair, no matter what she did it always end up going back to her straight locks of golden brown. She was wearing a white dress with flowers on it, she looked beautiful; and god did he miss her like crazy, his heart ached for her.

She knew he was there, she didn't have to look over at him to know it was him. She heard his car pull up, smelled his cologne when he walked past their booth; she had only seen him a couple times while dropping Max off at the arcade, he never looked at her like she secretly hoped he would. It killed her to realize that he truly wanted nothing more to do with her, but she was determined to move on and forget Billy Hargrove ever existed.

Billy finished up his drink and food, paying for it before getting up and going over to Max to see if she needed a ride home; he didn't want to come back here later to get her, he didn't want to have to see Bryce with Steve again either.

"I'm actually spending the night at Jane's, Steve and Bryce were going to give us a ride back to Jane's house." Max told her step-brother awkwardly, she knew he would eventually find out about Bryce seeing Steve; but she didn't want to be around for his inevitable outburst.

"Okay, call me if you need a ride home."

"Why are you being so nice?" Mike shot out at him, still not willing to forgive him for almost killing Steve and Lucas.

Bryce looked over at Billy talking to the kids as Steve went up to the cash register to pay for everyone's dinner. Getting up from the booth, she headed over to Steve.

"Hey, I'm gonna head to the restroom before we leave." She informed him before walking towards the ladies room.

"Sounds good." Steve replied as he shoved his wallet into the back pocket of his jeans. Looking over at his 'kids' Steve saw Billy talking to them, he hesitated before walking over to his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend; he wanted to make sure he wasn't giving anyone a problem.

"What's going on here?" Steve looked at Dustin, he would be able to tell if there was an issue right away from one look from the curly haired boy.

"Nothing Steve, Billy was just asking me if I needed a ride home." Max explained smiling, trying to diffuse the tension. She knew Billy had seen Bryce and Steve kissing, she was nervous for the outcome.

"I was just leaving Harrington. You better take care of her." Billy sighed as he turned to go.

"Since when is he so concerned about you?" Steve asked Max as he watched Billy head towards the door.

"He wasn't talking about me." Max exclaimed, giving Steve a look.

Just then, the decorations on the wall started to shake rapidly, the kids plates shook and they heard glass breaking from the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Jane asked worriedly

"Everyone get under the table, it's an earthquake!" Max yelled as the shaking intensified.

"Under the-" Lucas started

"Lucas shut up, this happens in California all the time, now under the table!" Max yelled at her boyfriend, Steve dashed under a booth to the side, grabbing Dustin and Will seeing that all six wouldn't be able to fit under the table.

"Wait! Where's Bryce?" Will screamed at Steve over the loud sounds

"Shit."

Billy was opening the door of the diner to leave when he saw the rocks shaking on the ground, turning around, he saw the glasses in the kitchen falling to the ground crashing loudly.

"Everyone under the table, it's an earthquake!" Billy heard Max yell to her friends. He saw Steve grab two of the kids as Max flew under he table with Lucas, Jane and Mike Wheeler.

"Where's Bryce?" He heard someone yell at Steve.

"Fucking hell Harrington." Billy spat as he ran towards the bathrooms. He saw Bryce with the bathroom door propped opened with a chair, standing under the doorway.

"What the hell are you doing?" Billy screamed as he grabbed Bryce's hand and dragged her into the bathroom.

"You do realize that was probably the safest placed right." Bryce shot at him
"Yeah, when it's a small one. This one isn't." Billy threw her into the handicapped stall at the end of the bathroom, locking the door securely before he sat behind her huddled form in the corner.

"What are you doing?" She questioned as he pressed his chest to her back

"I'm keeping you safe, something your boyfriend doesn't know how to do." He snapped back at her as the roof of the diner collapsed around them.

The last thing Bryce felt before her world went dark was Billy's head burying into her neck as he whispered a barely audible "I love you." as a giant piece of the roof fell on top of the pair, knocking them both out.