Other Friends

Chapter 19 - Snowball

A week has passed since the chaos that surrounded the town of Hawkins and haunted the Byers family, not that the town knew anything. And a new monster has come upon them, the Middle school Snowball. Windy, Lizzy and Bella sat in the Henderson home listening to Dustin's panic throughout the day about 'wanting to look good for the ladies'.

Bella promised Joyce to volunteer to be a chaperone seeing as Will insisted his mom not go, so here she sat allowing her friends to make her up as they saw fit. "Are you sure you two aren't going overboard?" she asks the duo, her back to the mirror the whole time.

"Trust us. You're gonna look amazing." Liz tells her with a smirk as she continues with her eyeliner.

Windy laughs, "You're gonna knock their socks off." she adds on as she helps with her hair.

If Bella could roll her eyes she would, "Who's socks? The 13 year old boys?" she scoffs. Unbeknownst to her the two share a look knowing who they were helping her to impress.

"Who knows. Maybe you'll meet someone there." Liz teases earning a light shove from Windy, silently telling her to keep the surprise a secret.

Bella sighs, "Are you done yet?"

"Almost...and I'm done. Touch nothing." Liz says as her friend opens her eyes.

"I'm done, ready to see?" Windy says as they remove the shirt they used to block any makeup from falling on her dress.

"I've been ready for the last 10 minutes." she tells them before standing and turning to face the full-length mirror. "What the hell? Are you two witches?" she says as she steps closer to see her reflection. She rarely puts on much make-up so seeing herself done up so much was a surprise.

The two laughed a little, "So you like it?" Windy says with a smile.

"If I could hug you two I would but Liz would yell at me." Bella tells them, turning around with a big smile. Her blue dress swished with the motion.

Liz huffs crossing her arms, "I just don't want you to smudge my masterpiece." she jokes making them all laugh. "Come on, let's go see if the dork is ready to go."

They all make their way out of the teen girl's bedroom, Windy walks over to her brother's door and knocks. "Dustin hurry up."

"Just a second!" he shouts in return, a bit muffled.

Bella walks with Liz to the living room to see Mrs. Henderson sitting in a chair with her new kitten. "Oh, Bella, you look lovely. Thank you for chaperoning. I know most teens would rather be doing something else." she says with a soft smile.

"Thanks Mrs. H. I don't mind." she replies with a shrug.

"Oh, your ride is here. He knocked before you girls came out." she told the two.

Bella looks confused before looking at Liz, "I thought you were our ride?" she says.

Liz smiles, "Something came up. But we got you two a new ride." she tells her lightly pushing her towards the door.

Continuing to be confused she walks to the door and opens it only for her eyes to go wide seeing Steve there. "Oh... Hi." she greets.

He looks at her in surprise, expecting Dustin or Windy to open the door. "Bella, hey." he says before taking her in. "You look..." he didn't know what compliment to give her.

"Too much?" she asks, insecurities coming up at his silence.

Steve shakes his head, "No. No, you look amazing." he says, getting out of his own head, giving her a smile. "Those tween boys will be all over you." he teases her.

She rolls her eyes, "Shut up Harrington."

"Ready!" Dustin shouts as he rushes over to them, stopping seeing the two. "Woah."

"Woah, what?" Bella questions, taking in Dustin's new hair.

He looks her up and down a bit more obviously then when Steve did it. "Since when are you hot?" he questions, making Bella's face flush.

His words make Liz and Windy burst into laughter. "I'll be in the car." Bella mutters, moving past Steve and going outside.

"Dude." Steve tells him before following the girl.

"What? She's hot!" Dustin repeats following after the two, making the two teens continue to laugh.

The drive was quieter once the two teens told the boy etiquette of when to tell a girl their hot, which the sentence should never be 'since when are you hot'.

Pulling up to the school, Bella relaxed a bit. "Thanks for the ride Steve." she tells him softly. "See you inside Dustin." she says before getting out of the passenger seat and strolling to the gym.

Steve watches her walk away, missing Dustin getting out and hopping into the passenger seat until he blocked her view of her, "Dude when are you going to ask her out?"

"Ask who out?" Steve questions earning a look from the boy, "Who? Bella?" He scoffs and laughs a bit awkwardly.

"If you don't ask her out, I'm going to." Dustin threatens earning an actual laugh out of Steve. "Dude, I mean it. She's hot now. She's funny. She plays D&D with us. She's the package." he argues with the teen boy.

Steve rolls his eyes, "She's always been hot, you're just realizing this now cause you want to date Max." he argues.

Dustin huffs and crosses his arms, "I don't want to date Max."

"Uh huh."

In the dance, Bella moves to her assigned station which was a snack table. She gives some small talk to the pre-teens who recognize her. She waves to Nancy who was at the punch table next to her, the two finding the dance a bit silly. A few songs go by before a slow song starts playing, "Can you cover me?" Nancy asks her.

"Yeah, 'course." Bella replies confused, as she watches the teen girl weave her way through the dance floor. She looks away to help with some punch before looking back over and seeing Nancy dancing with Dustin. "Smart move Nance." she whispers to herself seeing all the tween girls look on with envious looks at the two.

Maybe the Snowball wasn't all that bad after all.