Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Chapter 16, The Snow Ball (Ep. 9: The Gate)
A lot has happened since the gate was closed and the mind flayer along with its army were defeated. Hopper was able to get a birth certificate for El, Mike had finally accepted Max in the party, Nancy and Jonathan were officially together, and Gwen got into NYU.
Hopper, Jonathan, and Nancy were the only ones to know, which she made them swear not to tell anyone. Her acceptance was kept a secret, because quite frankly, she was uncertain if she'd even be attending.
With everything that happened, leaving doesn't seem like a good option. She'd constantly be looking over her shoulder, worrying that everything could come back and she wouldn't be able to do anything to keep her brother, friends, and Steve safe - another one of her reasons for not wanting to leave.
Now she was pondering on her decision while helping El get ready for her surprise appearance at the Snow Ball.
It took lots of convincing, but after a month of trying, Hopper finally gave in to let her out for one night of fun. Of course, he had to get some help since he didn't know much about girl stuff, so he called over Gwen for reinforcements.
"What's this?" El asked, and curiously stared at the eyeshadow palette that held various colors.
"This is makeup, more specifically, eyeshadow," Gwen began applying a light portion of purple on her eyelids. Mainly because it was the color El was the most drawn to when first seeing it.
She stayed very still while looking at herself in the mirror, "Will it make me pretty?"
"No," she said, causing El to look at her. "It'll make you look beautiful. Just like you've always been."
El smiled and turned to the mirror again. Now getting more excited as she was really looking forward to seeing Mike again.
After a few minutes of finishing up her makeup, Gwen walked over to her bag that was across the room. She was nearly reaching it when a sudden whiff of air was felt. Her bag had flown backward towards El, who thought it'd be funny to use her powers right now.
Gwen laughed, "You have to warn me when you're going to do that." Now walking back, she watched as El began taking out the dress she brought her.
It was a blue dress with ruffled sleeves that had small flowers printed all around it. The same dress she liked when seeing it all the way in the back of Gwen's closet last year.
With wide eyes and a surprised smile, she asked, "Is this for me?"
"Hell yeah. You liked it and since I'm definitely not going to be wearing it, you should have it."
El smiled excitedly and put on the dress. Soon walking back to the mirror and giving a quick twirl while extending her dress.
"Almost forgot." Now wrapping a pink belt around her waist, the finishing touches were done and El was ready for her first dance, "All done."
