L
Before putting the plan into action, Eleven takes a few days to observe her target. This way, she quickly discovers that her best bet is to approach Billy on one of the days he comes to pick up Max shortly before the end of classes.
So, ten minutes before dismissal, she gets up from her seat and approaches the English teacher. "Um... Mrs. Grabowski, I feel... sick," she says, handing over her notebook. "I've already written down the whole lesson... Can I leave early... to go to the nurse?"
Although the teacher is somewhat strict, the fact that Eleven always remains quiet and doesn't cause any problems is enough to earn her trust.
"Oh, you poor thing. Yes, of course; here, don't forget the hall pass. Take care, Miss Ives."
With her backpack in hand, as part of her lie, Eleven drags her feet out of the classroom.
As soon as she puts a little distance between herself and the classroom, she runs down the hallway.
As planned, she finds Billy leaning against his car, arms crossed. A girl his age is striking up a conversation with him. He looks at her with an arrogant smile that Eleven immediately dislikes. However, she takes advantage of the distraction his companion creates to sneak around to the other side of his car without being seen.
From there, she stands up carefully and extends her hand towards Billy's back.
She closes her eyes.
And makes contact.
Suddenly, she's on a beach, the sun shining down on her. In the distance, a blond boy with a surfboard under his arm runs towards the sea, scaring the seagulls in his path.
"Mom!" the boy shouts with joy. "Look at that wave, it must be at least seven feet!"
On the beach, next to Eleven, a woman with blonde hair laughs as she watches her son. She wears a long white dress with a red and blue flower embroidered on it, her hat is decorated with a blue ribbon, and her yellow sandals are filled with sand.
She barely has time to absorb all of this when thick black clouds invade the landscape and everything... distorts.
The boy is no longer on the beach, but sitting at the table, demanding between shouts to be left alone.
The woman is no longer laughing, but screaming, crying, defending...
In front of her, a man raises a threatening fist.
"STOP IT!"
Billy's visceral shout is the last thing she hears before opening her eyes.
"UGH!"
Eleven, sitting next to the car, tries to catch her breath while wiping the blood dripping from her nose with the sleeve of her shirt.
"You okay?" the girl next to Billy asks, sounding worried.
"Ugh, yeah, I think... it was just a migraine. Argh." Billy's voice, on the other hand, betrays his clear exasperation. "And I just remembered... Never mind. What a pain in the ass."
"Does this happen often? Because I should have some meds in my bag and—"
"Nah, no need, I'm feeling better already."
"You sure? If you're feeling bad, we can—"
"I said I'm fine!" he snaps at her with excessive aggression.
"Hey, no need to react like that!" the girl responds, clearly offended. "I'm just worried about you!"
Eleven takes advantage of the impending fight to walk away from the car and return to the school building without anyone noticing.
Just as Henry had predicted, invading someone's mind without their knowledge requires much more energy than their joint training sessions.
That's why, as soon as she arrives, Eleven heads straight for the stairs, determined to collapse onto her bed.
"Eleven?" calls Henry, who has undoubtedly heard her footsteps from the living room.
"I'm... tired," she murmurs as he comes into view, walking towards her. "I'm gonna take a bath and then I'll come back... to train." She doesn't know how she'll manage to survive said training, but she'll deal with it later.
"Alright, I'll be waiting."
Eleven smiles at him before going up the stairs.
She doesn't notice the way Henry's always perceptive blue eyes slide down to the sleeve of her shirt.