• Chapter Two: Truth or Dare •
• Chapter Two •
Truth or Dare
SOME TIME AFTER their crazy pillow fight, the group of six sat in a circle at the very centre of the fort, conducting ideas on what to do next. Max had suggested Truth or Dare in an outburst, and when the others eagerly agreed, they agreed to play it. Will went over the rules for Eleven, who seemed pretty scared of the game, but after a few reassurances from Mike she started to look a little less afraid.
It was Max who wanted to go first, so Dustin did the favour of asking the question.
"Max... Truth or Dare?"
The redhead picked dare as her challenge, and after a minute or so of pondering, Lucas nearly exploded with an idea.
"I dare you to ride down the hand rail by the stairs on your skateboard!" the boy nearly yelled with excitement. Accepting the dare, Max went to retrieve her skateboard while the rest of the group sat in anticipation, wondering whether or not the tomboy would pull it off. But as they watched her glide effortlessly down the banister without flaw, it became clear - the task was simply too easy for her. Everyone clapped when she'd finished, especially Lucas, before she rejoined the circle.
The game journeyed from person to person, each picking dares while becoming more hilarious as they went on. Dustin had to sing a very powerful ballad; Lucas had to steal one thing from Mike's parents room without them noticing (he took a hairbrush successfully), and Will had to do a pufferfish impression. All of it was horrendous, and when Mike's turn came around, he was tempted to pick dare also. However, the word 'truth' spilled out accidentally and he realised too late what he'd done.
"Hmm..." It was Dustin who wanted to ask the highly anticipated question, after discussing it in private briefly with the others. After a moment's hesitation, he asked (in a voice so quiet it could've been a whisper),
"Are you in love with Eleven?"
The silence that followed was unbearable - it stretched on with an unmistakable feeling of awkward lingering in the air. The tension strained the atmosphere in the basement as Mike thought long and hard about his answer, before he eventually replied:
"I guess so?...Yes. Yes, I am."
It seemed as if the whole room would explode out of joy and celebration, while Mike's face turned as red as a tomato. He found Eleven's hand and held onto it, while the girl laughed quietly by his side - for she did not know what the word love meant, but she understood its purpose: to confess just how much you liked someone. She knew that Mike liked her, and a lot - her feelings matched his entirety.
When the room had finally calmed down, only one person who had not been asked a question or given a dare remained: Eleven herself. When Mike asked her 'Truth or Dare', she closed her eyes in thought, wondering which to pick. After a silence that seemed to stretch on torturously for hours on end, she lifted her head, opened her eyes and whispered with a dangerous smile:
"Dare."
The room of people were a little shocked at her reply, certain that she would pick truth. Wondering what to dare her took longer thought, because, they questioned, what on earth do you dare a girl with powers? After a while, however, Max came up with something.
"Okay. There is a plate of cookies upstairs on the kitchen worktop," The girl elaborated to the other, "Staying here, try to use your brain to bring it down for us all to share. You got that?" The short-haired girl smirked in agreement, accepting the all-too-simple challenge.
Closing her eyes once again, Eleven cleared her mind to focus, imaging the plate of cookies. She balanced it so that it wouldn't sit on of the worktop anymore, and instead float perfectly in mid-air. She channelled everything within her to keep the plate afloat and bring it down the steps, the task proving harder to her than she originally thought.
Once it was at the base of the stairs, Eleven used her mind to lower the plate and land it gently. Feeling a trickle of blood running from one of her nostrils, she opened her eyes and wiped the blood on her sleeve without much thought. A little exhausted, the girl wearily leaned back into the cushions and rested, while Max (who had never seen the other girl use her powers before) let her jaw drop to the ground in amazed shock. The rest of the gang whooped in delight, hugging and congratulating Eleven for doing it.
"Here El, you can have two cookies cos that was soooo cool." Dustin smiled, offering them to the girl. She took them from his hands and timidly nibbled on them, a lack of energy limiting her slightly.
The group sat in a comfortable silence while they ate their cookies, relishing the moment of peace. Although it was not said, everyone felt a wave of relief wash over them now that things were back to the way they were - and that, in the end, was all that mattered.
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