Friend
She wasn't really sure where she was heading. Eleven was still a bit new to school so the different turns and rooms still confused her, but she couldn't bring herself to care. In her mind, the more distance she put between her and the English class, the better it would be for her.
Her heart pounded loudly in her ears, drowning out the distant yelling of her name. Not her new one, Jane, but the one only her friends called her. El. Eleven.
But her friends didn't have soft and sort of high pitched voices. Their voices were deeper, rougher, in a way. She recognised the voice as the one that belonged to the redheaded girl. Max.
Eleven didn't speak to the girl much, even if she was in almost every single one of her classes, even if she was part of the gang. Eleven's jealousy still nagged at her, it would spark every time the new girl teasingly punched Mike on the shoulder and he laughed, every time she argued with him, using words El didn't understand, and then it would end up in loud laughter.
So, El didn't like Max very much.
She finally stopped running when she felt too tired, her breaths too short and quick to be counted as proper breathing. It was hard to breathe properly. Her mind flashed with tainted memories of her childhood; water tanks, empty spaces, small rooms, men and women in long white coats. Tears slid down her pale cheeks and she felt like screaming.
Hands covered the ones curled into fists by her sides. The touch was warm but not familiar. "Hey Eleven, calm down, take deep breaths," she blinked, her sight blurry due to the tears pooling in her eyes. The sight of a girl crouched in front of her, red jacket over a yellow top, red hair loosely falling down her shoulders was blurry and unfocused. Eleven didn't recognise her touch but she knew this girl. She knew her name.
"Max. Mike." She mumbled, small voice distraught. Max shook her head. "Eleven he's too far away. He's on the other side of school. Look, look at me and breathe in deeply, alright? No one's going to hurt you."
El shook her head, a stray curl of brown falling across her forehead. "El. Can I call you that?" Eleven nodded her head, her hands shaking in Max's softer ones. She didn't notice the panic slowly leave her. "Alright, I'm Max. You know me, right?" Again, Eleven nodded, following Max's examples. Deep breath in, deep breath out.
The shakiness of her hands slowly came to a stop, as did the flow of tears. "Mike is here, alright. He's just in another room. Do you want to go see him? We can go, but you have to come with me, okay?" Max's voice was soft, which was a contrast to the usual hard tone she used around the boys. It was comforting.
Eleven nodded. She stood, her legs shook but Max was there. Eleven allowed a small smile to tilt her lips as she looked at Max.
"Friend."
Friends would do anything for you. Max is a friend.
Originally, I was going to have Mike comfort her but I was in the mood for some Max and Eleven bonding.