"And what brings you back to Hawkins?"
Before Eleven could say anything, Mike and Lucas jumped in.
"Y'know, Christmas and stuff."
"And seeing Will."
"Yeah, that too." Dustin said.
"And she's going to be staying with Hopper."
"She's his daughter."
Mr. Clark was confused now. He knew the chief had a daughter, but someone told him she'd died. Then why were the boys making her out to be Mike's cousin?
"Isn't she your cousin, Mike?"
"Uh, I lied. Sorry. Her name is actually Eleanor though."
"Oh, well, OK."
They all went into the Gymnasium. There were several dozen kids here, but there would be more as the night went on. There was also a banner hanging from the ceiling: Snow Ball 1983.
"Eleven? Steve? I'm home."
Hopper opened the door to the empty trailer. Steve and Eleven were nowhere in sight.
"El?"
He cracked open her bedroom door. Empty as well. Not again. He almost certainly knew where she was right now. He got back into his truck and sped off towards the Middle School.
"Here, try this punch."
Jennifer handed a cup of punch to Will.
"Uh, thanks. For the punch I mean. So I hear you went to my funeral?"
"We all thought you'd died. Turns out you were just lost in the woods, right?"
"You could say that. I heard from Dustin you cried at my funeral?"
She punched him playfully before they made their way to the table. Dustin and Lucas had two huge plates of food.
"Did you try the pudding, El?"
"No."
"You should."
The dance had filled up with dozens of other kids coming inside. Before long the music started playing. Will and Jennifer got up to go dance. Dustin and Lucas were almost in a food coma by now, and Mike turned over to Eleven.
"Hey, do you want to dance?"
"Dance."
She'd heard that word before on TV.
"Yeah, wanna?"
"Yes."
They got up and walked over to Will and Jennifer.
Hopper got to the Middle School where he found a waiting Steve by the door. He walked up to Hopper.
"Chief. I can explain."
"Yes, please do."
"Just look in there, sir. What do you see?"
Hopper looked inside to see a bunch of kids dancing, including Eleven, who was smiling ear to ear.
"See her, Hop? I'm not saying what she did running away was right, but keeping her from her friends that make her smile is only going to make her mad."
Hopper could feel his stone-cold heart turn to mush.
"When'd you become a full-time parent, kid?"
They would wait together outside the school until the 2 hours were up.
"Dancing is fun."
"Yeah."
A slower song came on and Miked looked over to other kids kissing. He and Eleven looked at each other.
"No, Mike. Steve said no kissing. Later."
"Fine."
The dance wound down and other kids were going home. Dustin and Lucas were snoring in their chairs and Will was saying goodbye to Jennifer.
"Dustin, wake up!"
"Lucas!"
They both woke up startled.
"We're leaving."
They were all leaving and Eleven was looking for Steve when she saw the giant of a man who forbid her to go.
"Eleven. I'm sorry for banning you from seeing your friends. Seems it might take a while to get back into dad-mode."
The sentence took her by surprise.
"I'm sorry too."
Karen was pulling up to pick up Mike, so Hopper and Eleven had to leave or otherwise be seen.
"Bye El."
"Yeah, bye."
"See you later."
"See you."
Hopper rolled his eyes at how close these kids' bonds were with each other.
They were driving back to his trailer when she brought up the question.
"Why do you wear that?"
"What?"
"That blue bracelet."
"It was my daughter's. It was Sara's."
"Sara?"
"Yeah, she uh, died a few years back."
"Was she pretty?"
"Yeah, really pretty."
She sat back into the chair. He must have cared about his daughter a lot. He took the bracelet off and gave it to her.
"Here. You can have it now."
"For me? It was your daughter's."
"I know."
She slid it on and held his hand on the way back to the trailer. Hopper smiled a lot more after that night.
It was Christmas Eve, 1983. It was the big day. Eleven was awaiting Mr. Clark to show up.
"Do you have your wig on?"
"Yes. When will he come?"
"He's going to be here soon, OK?"
"When is soon?"
There was a knock at the door followed by an open.
"Hello Eleanor, Mr. Clark."