your power || billie eilish

chapter three

The bell rang, dismissing first period. I bent down in my chair, pretending to tie my shoes while I waited for the classroom to empty of students. This was an old ritual. Once everybody was gone, I'd go over to Henry's desk, smile at him, talk to him in a way that a regular student might talk to a regular teacher. Even though Henry and I are anything but regular. 

I'm still trying to figure out if that's a good thing or not.

When both my shoes had been retied, I straightened myself back up in my desk. Oh, finally, the people are all gone--

"Hey, Juliette." A voice came from my side. I turned.

Billie.

She was still sitting down, facing me, her bag slung over one shoulder. Her lips and legs were parted. I caught a flash of silver from her grills and felt my stomach churn. 

"We have the next class together," she reminded me. "You take, like, a long-ass time tying your shoes. Did you just learn how?"

That last part was a joke, clearly. I shrugged, beginning to shove my binder into my backpack. Billie continued to sit beside me. 

When I was ready to go, I got up and left the room without waiting for Billie. I beelined down the hallway to my next class, praying she wouldn't be right behind me. Ducking into History class, I snagged a desk in the very back and watched as people poured in.

Seconds after I'd sat down, Billie came in. She very casually walked over to where I was and cleared her throat at the boy who had the desk next to me. 

"Yo. Lemme sit here." I noticed a faint threatening undertone in her voice--a hardness, a don't fuck with me kind of vibe. The boy must've noticed it, too, because he got up and moved to the front of the class in an instant.

Billie plopped down in her newly-claimed desk and grinned at me. I gave her a limp smile, then rested my chin on my forearms and closed my eyes. I was already exhausted, and second period hadn't even begun yet. By lunch I'd be asleep.

Just as I was starting to drift off, I caught whiff of a strangely comforting smell. A familiar one. And then I was being tapped on the shoulder. 

My head snapped up. Shit. Am I already in trouble, on the first day? Did the teacher see my sleeping and get mad? Fuck. If Mom hears about this she's gonna--

I laid eyes on the person who'd tapped my shoulder and frowned. It wasn't the teacher. It was Billie.

She had her brows raised, and there was an amused look plastered across her face. The kind of look you'd get when watching a toddler do some stupid shit at a Bounce-N-Play, the kind of look you'd get during a really heated episode of your favorite reality TV show. 

A look of interest, intrigue, fascination, and just the slightest bit of pity.

"Julie," Billie said in a syrupy, sing-songy voice. "Hey. Do you, like, have a phobia of people? You ran outta English. Ran."

"Sorry. I forgot you were there," I apologized. It was an obvious lie, and I knew she was aware that this was untrue because the second I said it the corners of her mouth twitched upwards and  her eyebrows knitted together.

"Wow. Thanks."

"I mean--not--it wasn't--like, I just had a lot on my mind. Y'know. Because of school."

Billie leaned forward so that her lips just barely grazed my cheek, and she whispered into my ear, "And 'cause your boyfriend teaches that class?"

*