They ended up finding their way to Skull Rock, getting scratched up by branches and brush the whole way. Once they got there, Beth searched around the cave-like space; this was a well-known make-out spot, someone had to have left a blanket behind. Sure enough, they found one, braving the weird smells to wrap themselves up against the cold.

Beth was surprised to wake up under the blanket alone. Eddie sat near her, fiddling with a walkie-talkie. It wasn't the one Dustin had given them; Beth had tossed that one into the woods in frustration once she realized it would never be functional again. "Where did you find that?"

"I snuck out to a construction site and swiped it." Before Beth could protest, Eddie added, "I know it was a risk, leaving you alone and asleep, but we need to contact Dustin and the gang."

"It's more of a risk because you're a wanted man, but thanks," Beth muttered. "I'm also pretty convinced the Scooby-Doo gang has officially abandoned us." She scratched at her arms and her waist. "Ugh, this damn cheer uniform is going to kill me. It's dry clean only. It was never meant to be used as swimwear." Her mind flashed to her uniform jacket—gone, with everything else that had been in the boat.

Eddie tried the walkie-talkie. "Dustin? Can you hear me? Wheeler?"

Dustin's voice came through almost immediately. "Eddie? Holy shit, are you okay?"

Beth and Eddie looked at each other with barely contained agitation from Dustin's question. "Nah, man, pretty goddamn far from okay," Eddie replied as Beth suppressed her screams of rage in her hands.

"Where are you?"

"Skull Rock, you know it?"

"Steve definitely knows it," Beth said quickly. "In fact, I think this was his blanket."

"Hold tight, we're coming!" Dustin said. "We're coming!"

Eddie put the walkie-talkie down as Beth continued squirming in her now-uncomfortable uniform. It was still soaked from their plunge into the lake. The wool-polyester blend was developing a smell. She willed herself to stop, but this was getting unbearable. "I don't mean to be dramatic, but I really think I'm developing a rash."

"Here." Eddie stood up and took off his jacket, followed by his raglan tee. "It's...mostly dry. If you want it."

Beth was surprised and a little touched. "You really don't have to-"

"I kind of do. It's going to drive me nuts if you just keep scratching yourself."

Beth rolled her eyes. "Here I thought it was kind of romantic."

Eddie wandered out to the opening of the cave to give Beth privacy as she changed shirts. "So, speaking of which…what are we going to tell them?"

"Tell who about what?"

"The gang…about us."

Beth stared at him. "Are you seriously asking me if we're going to tell the Scooby-Do Crew that we made out in the boathouse?"

"No, I'm not a total idiot," Eddie protested. "But...It's not like it was just that. We cuddled a lot yesterday."

"First of all, it is so weird hearing you say the word cuddled," Beth said. "Secondly, are we seriously having this conversation? You're on the run from the law because you've been falsely accused of murder and you're asking me if we're boyfriend and girlfriend? I thought we agreed it was a really bad time for this."

"I guess I just want to know…what to expect. Are we pretending it never happened?" There was a tinge of sadness in Eddie's voice.

"Hey…you know I'm not ashamed of any of this, right?" Beth asked. "Because that's not it. At all. I just…don't know how to even bring it up. And honestly, why should we keep the gang updated at all? They weren't interested when Jason was breathing down our necks." She stood up and presented her new outfit to Eddie. "How do I look?"

Eddie turned to look at her and smiled. "I like you wearing my t-shirt."

Beth smiled back. "…This skirt has got to go. Relax," she said as Eddie sputtered. "I've got shorts on under here. The waistband on the skirt is just itching like hell…" She sighed, looking down at herself in green short-shorts and a D&D club shirt. "I look like crap."

"It's impossible for you to look like crap."

"Liar." She handed Eddie his jacket to put on and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You know, it's not like I'm going to stand there and pretend I hate you in front of them."

"I know it's stupid as shit to think about this stuff now," Eddie said. "It's just typical. I finally get a girl to like me right when my life is going down the drain…"

Beth sighed. Nothing about this situation was fair. Eddie should have been enjoying his senior year spring break like any other teenager—parties, friends, sleeping in all day and staying out all night. The puzzle of proving Eddie's innocence was still looming unsolved over her head. What were the odds of last night's experience making Jason realize the situation went beyond Dungeons & Dragons panic? That reminded her…"Can we talk about your little meltdown last night?"

Eddie looked away, a bitter look on his face. "Not much else to say about it. I'm a coward who runs." He pulled away from her. "I just watched as that guy died in the lake, and you can remind me all you want that he was trying to kill me, but that doesn't make it okay that I did nothing. Hell, it definitely doesn't make me feel innocent."

Beth crossed her arms. "Eddie, I endured a lot of indignities last night trying to save your ass. I don't want to hear how you think you're responsible for Patrick's death now when you know-"

"I know, Vecna, but…" Eddie ran his hands through his hair. "I don't really want to talk about it. I know you're trying to help, but…"

"You're being way too hard on yourself." Beth put her hand on his arm. "You made me promise not to blame myself for Chrissy…Now I'm going to insist you don't blame yourself for Patrick."

"Have you actually stopped blaming yourself for Chrissy?"

"I'm trying." Beth sighed and looked down at the ground. "I know it's hypocritical of me. And I'm upset about Patrick, too. He was a decent guy—or at least he was until he fell for Jason's bullshit about you. But for what it's worth…I think it's brave to keep going when you know the odds are stacked against you, refusing to surrender. You're not a coward to me."

Eddie didn't say anything for a moment. "I'm going to see if I can spot Dustin and the gang. Hopefully they get here soon."

Beth watched sadly as Eddie walked away from Skull Rock, climbing up on a boulder to get a better view of the surrounding woods. His doubts about his own courage worried her. This was not the time for either of them to lose confidence, not when shit seemed to be hitting the fan. Beth sat down against the wall of Skull Rock, wishing she could make him feel better. Maybe if we hadn't been completely left on our own, he wouldn't feel this bad. She wondered what the hell the Scooby-Doo gang had been up to that had distracted them enough to ignore Eddie's pleas for backup. Maybe Max did get attacked… Beth chewed her lip. But if Max had died at the hands of Vecna, this was information they should have shared. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Eddie's barely holding on by a thread, I had to try to hold off three jocks on my own, and not even Nancy Wheeler has the forethought to keep us in the loop? We could both be dead right now. Trust us, they said. We're your best bet, they said…

After what felt like ages, Beth finally heard Steve Harrington's voice, complaining to Dustin about something. And soon, she heard Dustin: "We thought you were a goner!"

"Yeah…me too," Eddie replied as Beth stood and slowly walked towards the entrance of the cave.

"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" Steve was asking him as Beth stepped out into the sunlight, watching everyone gather around. Dustin was fiddling with a compass. Nancy and Robin held grocery bags. Lucas Sinclair was accompanying a perfectly-intact Max, strolling along listening to her headphones like she was on a damn nature walk. Steve turned and finally noticed Beth. "Jesus Christ, why aren't you wearing pants?"

Beth fixed him with a murderous glare. "Do you think. I am happy. With my outfit right now?" she seethed, slowly approaching him. "Eddie and I had to swim across the lake to escape Jason and two of his thugs. Which you would have known if any of you had picked up the damn walkie-talkie."

"We didn't hear the walkie-talkie," Max said. "We were checking the Creel house for clues and-"

Beth whirled around, glaring at Max. "Maybe if your headphones weren't surgically attached to your ears, you might have heard something."

Lucas stepped in between them protectively. "Hey, Max almost died-"

"So did Eddie!" she yelled. "While you guys were poking around a haunted house, Eddie and I had to escape from insane vigilante jocks armed with tire irons! I get that Vecna has to be stopped, but none of you seem to get that Eddie is in real world danger. Have any of you figured out how to prove his innocence? Because unless slaying Vecna brings his victims back to life, it's not going to help Eddie! He will go to prison for crimes he did not commit. His entire future is on the line, and somehow I'm the only one who cares!"

"That's bullshit," Dustin said angrily.

"Is it?" Beth rounded on him. "Where were you?"

"Okay, you're right!" Nancy Wheeler finally spoke, holding her hand out in an effort to calm Beth down. "You're right. We dropped the ball. We're sorry. We should have been more careful about staying in contact." Beth turned to her, Nancy's genuinely remorseful expression cooling her rage. "From now on, we don't split up. We're all a team. You and Eddie included."

Robin had reached into her brown bag and was now holding out a bottle of beer to Beth. "Olive branch?" she said, a cautious smile on her face.

Beth grudgingly took it. "…Bottle opener?" Robin's face fell, and she took a step behind Nancy. Beth took a frustrated breath as Eddie took the beer from her hands and opened it with a bottle opener on his keychain.

"You take that one," Beth said as he tried to hand the bottle back to her. She held out her hand expectantly to Robin. "I assume that was from a six-pack."

"What say you, Eddie the Banished?"

After Eddie had calmly explained the full story of last night's events and Nancy had connected the dots between the time of Patrick's death and an apparent surge of energy in the Creel house attic, Dustin had a brainstorm about why his compass seemed to be going haywire: an apparent gate to the Upside Down.

"The Upside Down?" Beth had repeated.

"Yes, the Upside Down," Dustin said, an annoyed edge to his voice. "That other dimension we told you about-"

"Oh gee sorry, I was too busy saving Eddie's life to remember your weird terminology for it," Beth shot back. Eddie was sitting next to her and nudged her, giving her a take it easy on him glance. She'd frowned but relented. "Go on." That's when Dustin laid out his plan to use his compass, which he theorized was now oriented to the alleged gate, to kill Vecna and save Max and Eddie. Beth attempted to remind him that killing Vecna wasn't enough to save Eddie, but once again Eddie stopped her, putting his hand over hers. She shot him a glance of reluctant surrender as Eddie pondered Dustin's plan.

"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor," he finally said. "Which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But…the Shire is burning..." Dustin hopped up and down, apparently excited to go into an alternate dimension that a psychic sadist called home. This kid is absolutely insane.

"What about you, Beth?" Nancy asked. "We're all a team now, like I said. So what do you think?"

Beth sighed and looked at Eddie. "You really think we should do this? I mean, God knows I want to make Vecna pay for what he did to Chrissy. And it's not like we have a boathouse to hide in anymore…" Beth shook her head. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but…maybe Dustin is right. We don't have a choice. We have to go into the Underworld."

"The Upside-Down-"

"Okay, whatever, Dustin! I just said you were right, take that as a win." Beth stood up and brushed herself off, joining the party as they set off in the direction of Dustin's compass.

Eddie eventually fell into step next to Beth, the three freshmen ahead of them and Steve, Nancy and Robin lagging a bit behind. This would be the closest they got to time alone together for a while, she guessed. Beth wondered if it would be noticed—or commented on-if she held his hand. He cleared his throat. "So, about your little tirade at Skull Rock…"

Beth rolled her eyes. "If you're going to say I was too harsh on them, I'm not taking anything back. They should have been better about staying in contact, even Nancy said so. And this whole Kill Vecna plan is only good for making the murders stop, which yes, is important, but it's not enough to clear your name. So what I'm saying is, we've all still got a lot of work to do and I'm not in the mood to cut them any slack." She looked at Eddie for his reaction. He was smirking. "What?"

"All I was gonna say is…it was very sweet of you to declare your love for me in front of the group."

Eddie cackled in his low, infuriatingly attractive way as Beth shoved him lightly. "You know, your bar is exceptionally low for what you consider declarations of love."

"I know what I heard. You just have to read between the lines of a Beth rant," Eddie said. Beth smiled. "Also, you're blushing. Might want to get that under control before Steve Harrington gets jealous of me."

"Shut up," Beth laughed, looking away. "When you say shit like that, it makes me want to kiss you."

"So why don't you?" Eddie teased, looming close to her as they walked.

She smirked up at him. "I'm saving it for when I want to give Dustin a heart attack. You think the shock will kill him? Little know-it-all jerk…"

"He's not that bad," Eddie said. "You guys just got off on the wrong foot. With the whole Snow Ball thing. If I tell him to be nicer to you, will you be nicer to him?"

"At least tell him to give me a break on his whole glossary of terms for the Weird Shit in Hawkins."

"Your wish is my command." Eddie knocked his hand against hers before jogging to catch up with Dustin. Beth smiled as she watched him catch up with the freshmen. He towered over Dustin, who looked up at him like Eddie was the greatest hero he'd ever seen. Hopefully that hero-worship makes Eddie stop calling himself a coward…

"Hey." Beth was startled by Nancy, who had just caught up with her. "I never got the chance to say sorry. About Chrissy." Nancy looked at her cautiously. "How are you holding up?"

Beth sighed. "Not great? I mean, it would have been devastating enough if her death was normal. But now there's a whole added layer of being the only person who knows the truth. I can't tell anyone because they'd never believe me."

"I know what that's like," Nancy said quietly. "Barb Holland's death was like that."

Beth winced; she had almost forgotten Barb's strange disappearance three years ago. "She was your best friend, right?" Nancy nodded. "And it was…Upside Down related? I thought there was a whole exposé that came out about Hawkins Lab being responsible for Barb's death."

"They were responsible. And it was Upside Down related," Nancy said. "We just had to…water it down. For the public to accept the story."

Beth shook her head. "But I thought Hawkins Lab was government-run. Are you saying the government is aware of the Upside Down and they never did anything about it?" She was impressed by the implication that Nancy was directly involved in the exposé—not at all surprised, but impressed.

"It's a really complicated story, but yes. Did anyone tell you about Eleven?"

"The alleged superhero girl who conveniently doesn't have her powers anymore?" Beth said, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, I've heard tons about her and how everything would be fine if she was here. It's not the most comforting thing to have repeated over and over when there's nothing anyone can do about it."

"Well, she is real, and she was being used by a super-secret department of the government. That's why they swept everything under the rug. Protecting their asset."

"Meanwhile Hawkins just gets screwed?"

"Pretty much." Nancy sighed. "It's bullshit."

"Totally." They walked in silence for a bit. Beth cleared her throat. "Back there…I didn't mean to act like I don't care about Max. Is she okay?"

Nancy nodded. "Yeah. She's okay…for now. We just need to destroy Vecna as soon as possible. We don't know how long we can hold him off." She looked at Beth curiously, seeming to choose her next words carefully. "I didn't…expect you to get so defensive over Eddie. The way Steve described it, you were at each other's throats."

"Yeah, well." Beth crossed her arms and looked away. "Spending five days in a boathouse with someone after watching an invisible force murder a person…you start to bond. And I never wanted him to go down for Chrissy's murder. That wouldn't be right. Also, it shouldn't surprise you at all that Steve Harrington doesn't always know what he's talking about."

Nancy laughed. "You have a point there. I just mean it's nice. To see you go to bat for Eddie Munson, of all people."

"Someone has to," Beth said, then shot a look of apology to Nancy. "I swear I'm not going to harp on what happened yesterday anymore. I think I got my point across."

"You did."

"Eddie's just…I misjudged him. He's kinder than I ever expected. Kinder to me than I deserve. He literally gave me the shirt off his back," Beth pointed out, pulling at the Hellfire raglan. "And…he's a good listener. Empathetic, though he does have some blind spots. And he's funny. It's more of a sarcastic sense of humor than like, a regular sense of humor…"

"Wow." Beth looked over at Nancy, whose eyebrows were raised to her hairline. "That's a lot of…bonding over trauma."

Beth rolled her eyes. "Okay, so we're friends. You don't have to make a whole thing about it."

"Okay. Friends." Nancy had that prissy, knowing Nancy Wheeler smile on her face that made Beth want to trip her. The most infuriating thing, of course, was that once again Nancy Wheeler was one hundred percent right. Beth could tell the truth, as bizarre and awkwardly-timed as it all was. And she hadn't lied to Eddie—she wasn't ashamed of what they had. But there was a needling, pessimistic voice at the back of her mind, reminding her that she had been a bitch to him for so many years. Everyone will wonder why the hell he wants me, and they'd be right to. He's going to come to his senses any day now.

Eddie's going to realize I don't deserve him.

"Watch your step, big guy," Eddie said, grabbing Dustin before he walked straight into Lover's Lake.

Beth frowned. They'd been walking for hours following Dustin's lead looking for a gate, only to end up at the water's edge? "You don't think…the gate is in the lake, do you?"

"This is…confounding," Dustin said.

"The Demogorgon always left an opening when it attacked," Nancy mused. "Maybe Vecna is the same way."

"Patrick did die in the lake…" Beth murmured. She didn't like where this was going.

"Only one way to find out," Steve said, confirming her worst suspicions. "You said you brought the boat ashore, right?" Beth immediately began protesting, but Steve continued. "Nobody is making you go anywhere, Beth, you can stay ashore if you want. The boat'll only hold, what, four people, anyway? So me, Nance, Robin and Eddie will go check it out, and you can be the babysitter for once. Give me a night off," he added under his breath.

Now Dustin joined Beth in arguing against the plan. "What do you mean, you four will go?" he asked. "This was my goddamn idea!"

"And why are you deciding for Eddie that he wants to go out in the middle of the lake again? We haven't had good experiences out there lately," Beth pointed out.

"Eddie, which would you prefer," Steve said, turning to him with his hands on his hips. "Staying on shore where the cops could easily grab you, or being in the middle of a lake?"

Eddie looked conflicted. "I guess the boat makes the most sense…" Steve held his arm out and gave Beth a told-you-so face before leaving in search of the boat.

Beth grabbed Nancy's arm before she could follow. "I thought you said no more splitting up," she hissed.

Nancy sighed. "Look, it'll be fine. Eddie will be fine."

After a moment's hesitation, Beth said, "I'm not just worried about Eddie. Max is still in danger and Dustin's not going to listen to me-"

"Beth, I think you, of all people, can handle Dustin Henderson," Nancy told her before turning and following the rest of the group. Beth noticed Eddie had hung back, seemingly waiting for her.

"You sure you want to do this?" she asked him, cocking her head towards the lake as they walked. "Dustin's chomping at the bit to take the fourth spot."

"I'm not, but Harrington had a point about the cops. Besides, Max makes me nervous." Eddie frowned at the ground. "I don't have the best track record for being around Vecna-cursed people."

Beth rolled her eyes. "Not this again—look, by that metric, I don't have a good track record either." They walked in silence, Steve's voice carrying through the night as he discovered the overturned boat. Beth quickly grabbed Eddie's hand and squeezed, a quick goodbye and good luck before he joined the senior branch of the Scooby-Doo gang in the boat

Dustin was still complaining about this new development. "Are you seriously leaving us with her?" he asked, gesturing towards Beth.

"Compass, Dustin," Nancy said simply, holding out her hand. Dustin reluctantly handed it over. "Beth's in charge of you now."

"Says who?"

"Says Nancy," Robin stated. "And Nancy's the general to Beth's lieutenant." They pushed off from the shore as Robin called back, "Have fun, kids!" Dustin flipped her off in lieu of a salute.

"You know, I'm pretty sure Eddie would like us to get along," Beth told him as they stood and watched the boat drift farther out to the center of the lake. "And I think I've more than made up for the things I did in seventh grade. Eddie forgave me, why can't you?"

"You accused me of not giving a shit about Eddie's life," Dustin reminded her, already peering through binoculars at the boat's progress. "And I repeat: that's bullshit."

"Okay, so I shouldn't have said that," Beth conceded. "And I shouldn't have been so callous about Max's situation either. I was just upset because-"

"Because of what happened at the boathouse, we get it-"

"It's not just that, Dustin. Eddie's kind of worrying me." Dustin finally put the binoculars down and looked at her. "He's got it into his head that he's a coward because he didn't stick around when Patrick got attacked. He said he should have stayed behind and helped Jason."

"Jason?" Dustin repeated. "Jason, who was trying to kill him?"

"Thank you!" Beth said. "That's exactly what I told him!" She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling the night's chill. "I just feel like he's losing hope that he can make it out of this unscathed. He needs support. Not just answering walkie-talkies, but real moral support. And I'm sure you'll agree I'm not the one to do it solo."

"When Mike and I started high school, Eddie was the only person who was nice to us," Dustin said. "I feel like I owe him every non-miserable day I've had this year."

"Wait, Mike's Nancy's brother, right?" Beth asked. "Why isn't he involved in this right now?"

"He's in California for the break. Visiting El. She's his girlfriend."

Beth raised her eyebrows. "Nancy Wheeler's awkward little brother is dating the superhero?" she scoffed. "Yeah, you guys really know how to make her sound believable…"

"Ugh," Lucas groaned. "When'd Steve get so hairy?" The boat crew had stopped, right in the middle of the lake. Robin had radioed that the compass had gone wild, and now Steve Harrington appeared to be preparing to dive in.

"Right?" Dustin exclaimed. "I keep telling him he needs to tame that jungle but he claims the ladies dig it."

Beth pulled a face. "It scares me that Steve is close enough with a freshman to discuss personal grooming habits."

"Who else is going to give us girl advice?" Lucas countered. "Eddie Munson?" Beth managed to hold her rebuke by smirking over the irony.

"Let me see," Max suddenly interjected, looping the binoculars' strap off Lucas's neck. She stood and stared through the binoculars for a markedly long time, Lucas looking more and more put out as the minutes ticked by.

Beth snorted. "Tough break, Sinclair."

"Maybe Eddie can date Robin," Dustin thought out loud. "Since Steve refuses to…"

"What?" Beth sputtered, "No, he's—he's on the run from the law, Dustin. Eddie doesn't have time to date!" Her face burned knowing she barely avoided blurting out he's mine.

"What, you don't think Eddie deserves a cool, funny girl?"

"I didn't say that, I just said the timing-"

"Guys, shut up!" Lucas interrupted. "Cops!" The four ducked down, Dustin turning off the walkie as Robin started radioing in. Beth felt the panic rise in her chest as the police's flashlights bobbed towards the shoreline. If the cops spotted the boat, Eddie was done for.

"I have an idea," Max whispered. She stood up and yelled, "Hey, I found the killer! This way, follow me!" as she sprinted off into the woods, Lucas and Dustin on her heels.

Beth was rooted to her spot in the brush in fear as she watched the cops' flashlights turn in pursuit of the freshmen. She heard indistinct yells from across the water, and turned to look. Her breath caught. There was suddenly only one figure standing in that boat. Eddie. She watched in horror as he put one foot on the boat's edge and dove in. Beth suppressed her scream with her hand.

"Hey!" Someone grabbed Beth's arm and pulled her up—a cop that hadn't been led off by Max's diversion. He dragged her towards the other policemen, where Chief Powell had caught Dustin. "Look what I found, Chief."

Chief Powell panned his flashlight over to where Beth stood, arms pinned against her back. Tears welling in her eyes. Wearing Eddie's Hellfire shirt.