For an assignment Mike has to write to a pen pal out of state, he expects it would be an easy A. What he didn't expected is someone on the other side of the paper to change his life forever.
(Being continued by @mileven_forlife )
"Dad! Come on! We need to go!" El yelled at her father.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Hopper responded as he walked into the living, patting down his pockets to make sure he had everything. "Ok, I think I'm good. Got my wallet, keys, my suitcase is in the car. How about you?"
"Suitcase and purse are in the car along with the gifts for the party," El racked her mind to make sure she remembered it all, "and I think that's all I need. No, wait! I lied."
Hopper chuckled as El went back to her room to pickup a very special Christmas present she almost forget.
"How could I almost forget," El giggled to herself, careful as she picked it up. She walked back to meet Hopper. "Okay, this is the last of it."
"Good," Hopper nodded contently, "now get in the car because we're already fifteen minutes late and I want to stop and get something to eat for the drive."
El laughed and shook her head as she started to head to the passenger seat of the car. Getting into the car this time around to go to Hawkins was a lot easier, in El's opinion, than last time. Last time she was nervous to meet the party and worried it wasn't going to work like she hoped it would. This time if felt like she was going to see an old childhood friend. She was happy and excited. What made the entire thing even better was that it was Christmas time, and she was going to be spending it with Mike and the party.
What a way to spend a holiday!
She sat in her seat as Hopper put the car in reverse to start backing out of the driveway. She decided to try to get comfortable due to the long drive ahead, but she could only hope to contain her excitement long enough to fall asleep. Though she wasn't much of a nap person, she thought it would be the best way to make the time fly by. It wasn't too long until she felt herself drifting off, falling asleep as Hopper turned onto a busy road.
***
"Mike, stop pacing. It's not going to make her get here any faster," Max rolled her eyes as Mike looked out the window for the hundredth time that hour.
"But she should be here soon," Mike sighed, not seeing the truck anywhere.
"You said that an hour ago," Lucas said, shaking his head at his friend who began to pace again.
"Maybe they're just running late," Dustin shrugged, going back to playing rock, paper, scissors with Will.
Mike sighed once again, going back to check the window as a black car passed by the house.
"Mike, seriously!" Max threw her hands up angrily. "You're getting even more ridiculous than usual."
Mike rolled his eyes turning back to the window just in time to see Hopper's truck pull into the parking lot.
"She's here!" He announced quickly before running to the door as everyone was quick to follow him out of the house.
By the time they all gathered outside, El was stepping out of the truck with a bright smile on her face. She spotted them coming towards her and she gave them a small wave as she shut the truck door behind her.
"You're late," Mike shook his head jokingly as El walked up to the party.
"We had to go drop off the Christmas gifts," El shrugged. "I didn't want you guys snooping around."
Mike nodded in approval. "Good choice," Mike chuckled as they all gave El quick hugs, welcoming her back.
El stepped back and had a smile small on her face. "But I do have one gift that I need to give today. Where is she?"
"I'll go get her," Mike replied quickly before speed walking in the house.
Max's eyes grew wide as she immediately knew what they were talking about. "Did you get it?"
El could only giggle and nod her head in response due to her excitement.
"El!" The voice of Holly cried as the little girl ran up to her and wrapped her arms around her legs. Last time El had visited she and Holly had talked twice but got along like they were close sisters.
"Hi Holly!" El greeted, gladly returning the hug before squatting down to Holly's eye level. "So, I have a little surprise for you."
El smile grew a little wider as she watched Holly excitedly bounce on her feet. "What is it?"
"Well, the other day one of Santa's elves came to me saying that I needed to help them deliver a present to you. It's an early Christmas present and it can't wait one more day because it is so important."
"What is it? What is it?" Holly asked barely able to contain her excitement.
"I'm gonna go get it, okay? I'll be right back. But you have to stay here."
"Okay!"
El stood up straight and looked at the other's, noticing Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler coming out with smiles on their faces, knowing what was happening.
El quickly walked over to the truck and carefully grabbed a box, making sure to put on the lid before walking back to Holly and setting the box on the ground if front of her.
"Open it," El nodded toward the box.
She watched as Holly quickly grabbed the lid and ripped it of the box. She gasped and squealed at the puppy that was in the box.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"It's a puppy!" Holly squealed, carefully picking it up out of the box.
"Merry Christmas," El smiled at the sight of Holly being so happy.
"Thank you!" Holly giggled.
"Don't thank me, leave some extra cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve."
"Okay!" Holly said before taking off with the puppy towards the backyard. "Come on puppy! I need to show you around."
"Be careful!" Mrs.Wheeler called after her. She quickly turned turned towards El, thanking her for picking up the puppy, before rushing off after Holly to make sure the dog's okay.
The party exchanged glances laughing at the squeals from Holly and the yelling from Karen.
"Come on," Mike said to El, grabbing her hand and started to lead her inside the house. "We have secret Santa to do."
Authors note Wow...I finally wrote another chapter for this book. For those of you who kept this in your library, thank you for being so patient with me. Hopefully now that I'm getting some ideas, more chapters might be out soon. We'll see though. But until then...
