Lyn stumbles out of her room half awake to go to the bathroom. A picture hung up on the wall stopped her. She squinted at a grown-up Dustin and Susie with a bunch of little kids. She went to his room to see why he would fake a picture like that. She gasps when she opens the door. It was covered in a thick layer of dust. In the tank was a skeleton of a tortoise. She ran out of the room to notice that everything was dusty and faded. "Mom, what the hell is going on?" She asks the back of her head. She was sitting in the recliner.

"What are you going on about?" She didn't turn around.

"Where is Dustin? Why is his room like that? What's up with that picture?" She looks around to see the house in disrepair. The furniture was ripped up and stained. "What the hell happened here?"

"Dear, are you having one of your episodes?" She sighs.

"Episodes? What are you talking about?" She didn't have episodes. Her mom had episodes. With the screaming and crying every time the cat coughs up a hairball.

"I know you like to live in the past. But you have to face reality. Dustin leaving you was natural. Hell, so was Steve leaving you." She let out a bitter laugh.

"Steve left me?" She swore she went to sleep with him last night.

"Honey, you have to face reality." Her mom stood up. She let out a scream at her mom's decaying, maggot-infested face. "What are you screaming for? You're the one who didn't call the police despite me dying last month. So pathetic that to you a corpse is company." She backed up as the zombie got closer. "You thought you were so much better than me but look at you now. At least I got your father to stay long enough to give me two kids. You couldn't get Steve to put a ring on it. Who could blame him for leaving? You can't expect that handsome man to stay in this disgusting town with an ugly mess like you." She fell to the ground when she tripped over her own feet.

She flinched when the skeleton hand patted her head like she was a cat. "Such a pathetic creature. Not even I, your mother, wanted to care for you. So foolish to think Steve would stay, you couldn't even get that trailer trash to commit to you. Never ask you out and you let him feel you up. Such a dirty whore. Well not a whore, they can get people to pay for it. No one wants you."

"Leave me alone." She shoved her. She watches her half-dead mom fall apart. She screams as the bones and smelly flesh falls on her. She sobs as the maggots dig into her skin. The termites crawled up from the floor to help eat her alive.

Lyn falls out of bed, screaming as she scratches at her skin to try and get the bugs off. Steve woke up startled. He jumped out of bed to stop her. "Babe, stop. Rosalyn, you're breaking skin." He grabbed her hands.

She threw herself on him. "You didn't leave."

"Leave, what the hell are you talking about?" He picked her off the floor.

"Is Dustin here? Is mom alive?" She sobs into his chest.

"Lyn, you're scaring me." He put her down on the bathroom counter. He grabbed the first aid kit to take care of the scratches on her arms. "Crap, you did a number on yourself but I don't think it'll need stitches." He looked at the scratches that were more than surface level but it wasn't concerning.

She laid her head back on the cold mirror. Her brain was throbbing. "I need more pills."

"No way, you need to wait 12 hours before you take another. I'm not going to have you overdosing." He shook his head.

"But, it hurts." She grabs her head.

"You need to stop stressing yourself out. Just relax for spring break." He watched her with concern.

"I'm borderline in my classes right now. These finals are going to make or break me. I need to study." She hissed when he put rubbing alcohol on the cuts. She didn't realize how much harder college was than high school. It was triple the workload. After the mall fire, a lot of people moved away, so they lost half their staff. She had to work more. While keeping up with everyday life, it was all too much for her and her grade suffered. They recently were able to get more workers, so Penelope gave her the week off as a thank you for helping out.

"No, I'm hiding all your books." He stood firm.

"No!" She shouted.

"Look at what you're doing to yourself. You give yourself brain-numbing headaches and nightmares that make you maul yourself in your sleep." He was worried. She was studying to the point she forgot to eat, sacrifice sleep, and drink enough coffee for all of Hawkins. Yesterday, the headache started and tonight the nightmare.

"What's going on?" Dustin and Claude were standing in the doorway. They wake up to the couple arguing.

"The stress made her have a nightmare and look." He pulled out her arms for them to see. Dustin curses while Claude gasps. "She wants to keep going through spring break."

"No, dear." She shook her head.

"You guys don't get it. I need to pass with a better grade. I'm barely passing with D and C." She shook her head.

"I don't care if you get straight F. I don't care if you drop out and go back later. I would rather have you healthy than anything else." She knew she put a lot of pressure on herself to be the breadwinner but now they had Steve bring in another income.

"Yeah, Lyn. It is a tradition for us to spend spring break together. You can't break that." Dustin said when the shock wore off. Sure, he saw her stress before. But, never to the point of hurting herself.

"Fine, if it'll make everyone feel better. But, I don't know if not studying is going to make me less stressed." She felt defeated.

"You will." Dustin was determined. He was going to give his sister the best spring break ever.

Steve and Lyn were driving Robin to school because she had to get there early for the band to set up for the pep rally. "This spring break is going to be great, babe. We can go to the pool, take Zoey on a playdate, oh you know what we could do, we could go on another road trip." He taps the steering wheel, clearly happy with the idea.

Despite her brain throbbing, it put a smile on her face. "Where would we go?"

"Oh, we can go to Indianapolis. We can visit our capital. We can go to the museum, the zoo, and a baseball game. We'll take everyone. I wonder how much an RV is to rent. Robin, you want to come?" He asked his friend who was putting on her makeup in the backseat. When she didn't answer, he yelled, "Are you listening, Robin?"

"Yes, I am listening." She closes her compact mirror when she realizes she was supposed to join the conversation.

"Then what did I say?" He challenges.

"Something about taking Lyn to the pool." She remembers the bits and pieces that got into her brain.

"No, to Indianapolis. I was trying to invite you on our road trip. What is your problem?" Since she got in the car she had been ignoring them.

"Cut me some slack please, it is seven in the morning. We have some stupid pep rally and I wake up looking like a corpse." She pushes her cheeks together with her hands.

"Oh, you're worried about a basketball pep rally. You expect me to believe that." He scoffed.

"Yes, what else could it be about?" She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, we all know what this is about, this is about Vicki." He mentioned her band crush. "I know things didn't go good with your last girlfriend, but it's time to get back out there."

"She moved on with a guy, it's no biggie. She was experimenting, nothing personal." She opened the mirror to check her lip gloss.

"So what, if she wants to look good for her crush?" Lyn shrugs.

"She's not my crush." She yelled.

"Okay, you only mention her every day, a couple of times a day but she's not your crush." She put her hands up in surrender.

"You want to know what I think?" Steve interjects.

"No, I really don't." She didn't need him ragging on her, she was already nervous.

"I think you have to stop pretending to be someone else when you're around her. You just got to be yourself." He gave his advice anyway.

"You're quoting me to me. You do realize that." She gave him that advice when he was trying to get numbers at Scoops Ahoy.

"That's kind of the beauty of it, isn't it." Lyn smiles over her shoulder at her.

"Look, I don't know how many times I'm going to say this to you. But, it's not the same. If you guys ask out of the opposite sex and they say no, it's not big deal. A bruised ego but that's it. I ask out the wrong girl and bam I'm the town parish. Or even worse. Gay bashing is a thing." She reminds everyone in the car.

"I know that, but Vicki is definitely not the wrong girl." Steve was certain that Vicki was into girls.

"We just don't know that." She spray the breath freshener in her mouth with her facial expression Lyn wonder if she got it mixed up with her perfume again.

"You saw her at the last game, she could not stop looking at Lyn's chest." He pointed at his girlfriend.

"She was wearing a push-up bra and shirt with a plunging neckline. Everyone, including Jason's priest, was staring." She was mortified that night when Steve shoved his girlfriend into Vicki. While her bandmate seemed flustered to talk to the pretty brunette she wasn't certain it was for the reason she hoped it was.

"Lucas said that if I come tonight then I have to wear a jacket." She remembers him being embarrassed.

"Yes, everyone stared when she walked by but Vicki's neck had to be hurting the next morning with how much she was turning to look at her." When he saw Robin's unconvinced face he went on. "She returned Fast Times paused on 53 minutes and 5 seconds. You know who paused Fast Time on 53 minutes and 5 seconds. People who like boobs, Robin." He yelled out the last part with much excitement.

"Ew, gross don't say boobs." Robin fake gags.

"It makes you sound like a 12-year-old." Lyn wrinkles her nose.

"BOOBIES. It is not a big deal. I like boobies. You like Boobies. Vicki likes Boobies. Definitely." He nods eagerly. For a minute, everyone was silent as Object of My Desire by Starpoint took over the car. "Boobies." He yelled out.

They pull up to the school. Once the car was in park Robin jumped out to run over to Vicki. "She's hopeless." He sighs.

"She is right. Her situation is different. It is a lot to risk. Robin isn't comfortable telling Dustin or her parents. You can't expect her to tell a stranger. She doesn't talk to Vicki outside of band practice." She did worry for Robin's life if it got out that she was a lesbian.

"Robin deserves to be happy. It sucks that she has to put so much on the line but I think happiness is worth it." He looked at what he believed was his happiness.

"Well, hopefully, we'll make it to a time that she can live in a house with the woman of her dreams and not have to live in fear." She smiled, thinking about Robin's dream world. He reached across to grab her hand as he thought about his family dreams.

It was lunch at Hawkin High. Lyn was dropping off a large detailed diorama of ancient Egypt, there was even water in the Nila river. "Hey," Dustin opened the passenger door of the car to take a seat. "I got something amazing for you, an invitation to Hellfire's grandest campaign yet, The Cult of Vecna."

"When is it?" She didn't enjoy playing but she loved watching the boys be excited about it.

"Tonight." He smiled, thinking he found his replacement.

"I can't and neither can you. And, don't think of asking Steve either." She glares.

"I already called him. He rejected me. He is so jealous of Eddie. And, why can't I go?" He wondered if she found out about his D in Latin.

"Because Lucas's game is tonight." She yelled.

"Oh I know, that's why we have to find a replacement. He rides the bench, why does he need to be there?" Dustin threw his head, groaning.

"It's the championship game and he wants you there. Why can't you move your game?" She grips the steering wheel despite not driving.

"We tried but Eddie refuses." He sighs.

"Then make him. Tell him that you and Mike aren't going to play, then he'll have to move it." She didn't know how her brother didn't think of that.

"A few people did that before and in the next three games, Eddie killed us all in the first twenty minutes. He is the game master, we can't mess with him." Dustin didn't have any other options.

"Lock Darling up if I don't make it back in time." She got out of the car.

"LYN, LYN WHERE ARE YOU GOING? ROSALYN!" He screeched at her back.

She marches through the woods to get to the clearing. She was surprised to see Chrissy sitting across from Eddie. She let out a scream. "It's okay, it's just Lyn. She won't say anything about seeing you here." He reached across to squeeze her shoulder.

She nods her head before looking at Lyn. "It ain't my business." She shrugged.

"Thank you." She got up. "I think it's sweet that you show up for Lucas. You congratulate him after every game even though he didn't come off the bench."

"It's nothing. Lucas is a great kid." She was surprised that anyone noticed. They share a weak smile before Chrissy leaves.

"You are here to buy." He froze when her glaring eyes landed on him.

"Yes, but I have something else to discuss with you too." She threw some cash at him to take a bag of weed. "I want you to move the Cult of Vecna."

He let out a loud laugh before slamming his fists down on the table. His face turned serious. "I'm not moving a game for one person."

"Then what about three? Lucas wants Dustin and Mike to be there. Don't you want to be there?" She pointed at him.

"Why would I want to be at a basketball game?" He tilts his head.

"You can't tell me that you haven't grown attached to him. It's impossible. I know, he won't say it but it would mean a lot to him if Hellfire came. Lucas shouldn't have to choose between his two friend groups." She didn't think it was too much to ask.

"Maybe he shouldn't but that's the way the world works." He shrugs.

"Eddie, you are 20 years old, grow the fuck up." She got up to go back to her car.

"You should be nicer to your dealer," Eddie yelled at her back.

"I can't believe those little shits. I have half a mind to drag their asses here." Her legs were bouncing as she was trying to calm down. Her headache wasn't helping her mood either.

"I agree, they should be here. But, you're here and should be smiling because you don't want Lucas to think you're miserable." Steve put a hand on her knee to stop her movement. She forced a large smile that showed all her teeth. "Okay, that's scary."

"I'm disappointed. Before Mike and Dustin would have never done something like this. To purposely hurt Lucas." She rubs her heart. The basketball players made their way onto the court to start their warm-ups. When Lucas turned his gaze to her, she smiled and waved at him. Steve gave him a thumbs up. He smiles and waves to them before focusing on his coach.

"Everyone please rise for the national anthem." The principal was in the middle of the court. They stood up. "Singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest. All the way from Nashville, our very own Tammy Thompson."

Steve and Lyn's jaws dropped when they saw her walk onto the court. They look at Robin, who was also shocked at seeing her old crush. The first few tones were okay before it went off the rails. Being high-pitched and squeaky made her sound like a cartoon character. "Told you, muppet." Steve mouths to Robin.

"Okay, she does sound like a muppet." She admits. The couple watch with glee as Robin and Vicki seem to share a moment about it.

"How long is this song?" Lyn let out a whine when she hit a pitch that would make dogs cry.

"Too long for her to be singing it." Steve was resisting the urge to put his hands over his ears.

The game went on. "I don't know why but I want to punch his face." She whispers to Steve about Jason.

"You say that at every game." Steve found her unknown rage for the star player funny. "He's a little preachy and loves his image but all these jocks do. I did." He spoke about his experiences with Jason and his experiences when he was the captain.

"You had a pretty party boy image. That's different. You didn't make like you were holier than thou and pretend you have a perfect life. The thing that annoys me the most is he's a selfish player. He always wants to take the game-winning shot. That's why they lost a few games." She rolled her eyes when he made a big display of blowing his girlfriend a kiss. A player from the other team slammed into one of Hawkins, sending them to the ground hard. "Oh, I don't think he's coming back. Lucas might get to play." She cheers.

"Shit. Not so loud. You don't know if his family is around." Steve looks around to see if they were getting glares.

The coach pointed at Lucas. "Sinclair, you're in." Lyn jumps out of her seat to cheer, making Steve sink in his.

Soon, he was on his feet yelling out tips. With the points being close together and ten seconds left, Jason called a time-out. When the game was back on, Lyn scoffed. "Surprise, surprise Jason hogging the ball." She watches him struggle to take the shot with three guys guarding him. "All these open players are in a better position than him." She let out a laugh when he missed the shot. If they had to lose she didn't mind as long as it was Jason's fault.

Lucas was able to grab the rebound and break free from the pack to pivot and take a shot. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." Steve and Lyn scream when the ball leaves his hand at one second. She was biting her nails when it hit the rim and bounced on the backboard."Fuck, yes." She screeched when it went in.

"I train that kid. I trained him." Steve screamed as Lucas got lifted by his teammates.

"Lucas! Lucas! Lucas!" They chanted with the crowd.

Lucas was on cloud nine being praised by everyone he came across. He was deflated in an instant when he saw Dustin, Mike and his sister come out with HellFire cheering. To know that they went to something that could have been moved and missed his big moment broke his heart. He was tackled into a hug by his old babysitter. "Oh my god, a buzzer-beater. I can't believe it. Don't forget me when you're in the pros." She squeezed him tight.

He let out a laugh. "I got lucky." He shrugs.

"You keep that humble attitude." She pinches his cheek.

"You did amazing man. I told you practice is hell but it's all worth it." Steve pulls her away to give him a bro hug.

"Thanks. You were right." He smiles weakly.

"Don't let them ruin this for you." She knew them not being there had to take the wind out of his sails.

Patrick McKinney ran over to grab Lucas by the shoulders. "Come on, party at Benny's." He looks up to see Steve there. "Hey, Steve, glad you came. You guys should come. It's kind of like your championship too."

"What? NO!" He shook his head.

"You work a lot with us. You train Lucas here. That was your shot he took." He recognized Steve's form.

"I wouldn't want to cramp Lucas's style." Lyn smiles fondly at the young teen.

"She probably would." Steve teases.

"Well, it's still great to have the support." Patrick shook Steve's hand before they got into Jason's car.

"Nothing is lamer than going to a high school party when you're out of high school." Steve sighs in relief.

"I hope Lucas doesn't end up in the corner by himself." She watched the car leave the parking lot.

Steve laughed. "He scored a buzzer-beater in a championship game. He's going to have a hard time going to the bathroom by himself."

Her eyes got big. "Do you think I should have given him a condom…. Oh god, I'm turning into my mom." She hides her face in her hands in horror.