Chapter Forty-Three: Prom Night

I stood in front of the mirror in our bathroom, staring at my reflection as I released nervous, shallow breaths. I looked down at the pair of scissors in my hand, glancing at the hair in my other one. This whole thing seemed crazy. I've always had long hair, always even when I was a kid, I'd never tried anything different with it. I didn't even know if it would look good if it was short.

And yet, I found myself desperately wanting to cut it off, the reason being that I didn't want to stay stuck in the past anymore. Tonight is the night of my Senior Prom, and then a week after that I'll be out of high school and still trying to figure out what the heck I want to do with my life. But I don't want to do it stuck in the past of the traumatized girl trapped in the Upside Down. I want to reinvent myself and truly move on, and as small as it is...just the slightest attribute that will separate me from that girl will make me feel like I'm making progress.

Before I could second guess it any longer, or even begin to talk myself out of it, I lifted the scissors and cut off half of a huge chuck of hair. I gasped, dropping the scissors in the sink as the realization set in of what I had just done. I pressed my hands over my mouth, suddenly feeling very emotional as I stared at the now chin-length section of hair in the mirror. It wasn't about the hair, it was more than that. It felt like I had just cut away a piece of myself, and the person that I had been the past two years, and I was looking at a new version in the making. I smiled, liking the feeling and picking up the scissors again, continuing to cut. I snipped carefully, trying my best not to botch it and make myself look like a Chia Pet.

Within about ten minutes, all the hair was trimmed off and lying in the kitchen sink and I was staring at the new and improved Riley Hopper. I opened the medicine cabinet, grabbing a can of Mousse and weaving it into my hair, maneuvering it until it had a naturally messy look that I instantly fell in love with. I noted that it made me look older, which I appreciated as I fished my make-up that I hardly ever wore out from the drawer.

I put on dark green eye shadow to match my black and green prom dress, as well as some bright red lipstick. Once I had done that, I slipped into my dress and my shoes and surveyed my reflection in the mirror again.

I didn't even look like me, with my new hairstyle, along with the unusual sight of me wearing make-up and a dress, but weirdly enough, I liked it. I liked the way I looked. Who knows, maybe this really is a new chapter of my life.

"Riley! Steve's here!" Dad called. I took a deep breath, quickly spraying some perfume on myself before walking out into the living room. Eleven was there too, sitting on the couch with an amused smile on her face as Dad stood with his arms crossed, staring Steve down while Steve glanced around the room uncomfortably. Eleven glanced up as I came in, being the first one to see me.

"Your hair!" She pointed out. The sound of her voice caused the two men to turn around and look at me. I nervously tucked my now-short hair behind my ear.

"Did you...did you cut your hair while you were in the bathroom?" Dad asked. I nodded.

"Why? Does it look bad?" I asked. He shook his head.

"No, it just surprised me, that's all."

"You look beautiful." My eyes travelled back to Steve, he was adorned in a sleek black tux with a green bow-tie and cummerbund that matched my dress perfectly. He had on a white Rose boutonnière, and had a plastic box in his hand that contained a corsage. 

"Thank you." He made his way over to me, Dad staring him down with every step, watching intently as he opened the box and took out the corsage, gently sliding it onto my wrist. 

"Ready to go?" I nodded, taking his hand and allowing Steve to pull me back towards the door.

"Have her back by ten." Dad told him.

"Dad, Prom goes until midnight." I pointed out.

"Fine, then one thirty. Bring her straight home afterward, don't get any ideas. I still have that military assault rifle and I'm not afraid to use it." Steve swallowed, nodding.

"Yes, sir."

"Bye, Dad." I said dryly, kissing him on the cheek and ruffling El's hair before letting Steve pull me outside and shut the door behind me.

"Your Dad seriously scares me," He said, "I swear, ever since our dinner the other night, the guy hates me."

"He doesn't hate you. Its just that your my first boyfriend, and he wants to make sure I don't get hurt."

"Well you might on the walk back to the limo. Do you know how hard it was trekking five miles through the woods in a tux?" He asked. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"A limo?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Its the prom thing to do, and my Dad insisted on it." He answered, glancing at me. "You really do look beautiful, by the way. I love the haircut. Its got a kind of Madonna vibe to it, very hot."

"Hot?" I asked.

"What? Only Billy Hargrove is allowed to call you that?"

"Billy Hargrove isn't allowed to call me anything ever again." I said. "But I don't know, I've just never thought of myself as being hot before."

"Are you kidding? You're totally hot." He replied. "Seriously, back when you weren't talking, if it hadn't been for that guys would have been hitting on you all the time. They always talk about you in class." I laughed, shaking my head. "What?"

"You are so full of it."  I said.

"I'm not! Honestly, I'm not. You know how I always come out of History in a bad mood?"

"Yeah, you hate History." I pointed out.

"Well yeah, but aside from that, I sit in front of Sam Warner and Jack Fields, and literally, that's all the do every class time is talk about 'how hot you are' and 'how smokin' you look today', and 'too bad she's hooking up with Steve Harrington'."

"Yeah...too bad." I said, smirking at him.

"But seriously, you're a gorgeous girl, and everyone notices. Unfortunately for them however, they noticed two months too late." He wrapped an arm around my waist as we reached the Limousine, and I turned around to face him, leaning against it.

"Don't forget, you had a different girlfriend two months ago. What would you have done if one of them had decided to ask me out?" I questioned, tilting my head to the side.

"They wouldn't have, they talk a big game but they can't actually talk to girls." He said, taking a step towards me. "But I really don't want to talk about that right now."

"Then what do you want to talk about HAIRington?" He shook his head.

"I don't want to talk about anything." He put a hand on my face and wrapped his opposite arm around my waist, pulling me against him and pressing his lips against mine. I laughed against his mouth, wrapping my arms around his neck, prompting him to wrap both of his around my waist as I leaned back against the limo and pulled him with me. Suddenly the window rolled down and the driver stuck his head out.

"Sorry to interrupt, but if we don't go now, you're going to be late."

"Its called being fashionably late, Tim." Steve answered, going to kiss me again. I turned my face so that they landed on my cheek before pushing him away from me.

"No, Tim is right. Fashionably late is really not my style." I said. "Come on, Harrington. Take me to the Prom."

~~~

Prom night was magical. Steve and I spent the whole night dancing together, regardless of the song, and Steve one Prom King. Carol was the Prom Queen, so when the King and Queen's dance came up, he walked off the floor and pulled me from the crowd and started dancing with me instead. Carol and Tommy were livid,  but they're kind of terrible people so neither of us really felt to bad about it.

When he dropped me off and I laid down in bed, I couldn't stop smiling, and despite how late it was, Eleven demanded that I tell her the whole story down to every last detail. So I did.

After Prom came Graduation, and Steve and I both had no idea what we wanted to do with out lives. I knew I didn't want to go to college, because El was becoming a teenager with a boyfriend, and my Dad would need all the help he could get and Steve...Steve didn't get into college. His grades weren't high enough. I think that really bothers him.

But instead of going to work for his Dad, like he'd talked about, Steve decided to be his own man and get his own job, and I decided to join him in being two of the first people to apply for a job at the brand new Hawkins StarCourt Mall. We got the job, and started working there as the summer began, along with another girl named Robin a year below us. It finally seemed like everything was falling into place, and maybe I actually could move on with my life.

Right?

~~~END OF PART TWO~~~