Chapter Two: Oh No

This Strange Effect - The Shacks

Millie's P.O.V

I walked into my house filled with empty beer bottles spread all over the living room. Used up cigarettes were all over the place. The TV in the living room was left on with my dad knocked out on the couch with a beer still left on his hand. I tiptoed toward the TV and turned it off hoping not to wake him up. I walked up the stairs without making a sound and making it to my room. Thank god he was knocked out. It's been a struggle for me to live with just my dad. A couple of years ago my mom passed away causing my father to grow exceedingly depressed and angry. He pushed all his anger on me causing my life to get worse. But I can still handle him, hopeful.

I walked into my small room that was at the end of the hall. My room was surrounded by pictures Sadie and Noah and drawings that Sadie mostly made since she's the artist in our little group. My room was a pretty big mess but it's really the only place that I have where my father doesn't go and I love it. I grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and slipped them on. In the corner of my room, I have all my instruments sitting bunched together.

I used to take piano lessons until my father took me out of it since we couldn't afford it anymore. But I had enough lessons to know everything that I needed to know. My father hates it when he hears me play the piano, he used to love it when my mother was still alive. My mother and he used to dance together whenever I played the piano in the living room. There used to be a piano in the living room until he started beating the hell out of it. I was at school when he did that and when I came back home I saw broken wood and piano keys all over the front yard with the bat that he used broken in half. I really don't know how he broke that baseball bat, it meant everything to him. I'm glad I kept my electric piano.

Four years ago my grandfather gave me his old guitar and ukulele before he passed away. I then started teaching myself how to play different chords but not enough to know how to play the guitar. I want to take lessons but my dad won't let me. Music has been my passion for a really long time and it still is. I'm hoping to make a career out of it. I've written several songs on the piano but none of them are worthy to share with anyone. So I just keep them all stuffed in one journal kept to myself. I walked into my bathroom, still trying my best not to make any noise, brushing my teeth and rinsing my face and head to bed.

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The foggy mist outside quickly hits me once I walked out of my house. A cold breeze instantly hit my face once I was standing on the sidewalk at my house. Everyday Sadie usually picks me and Noah up before school. Not a single sign of Sadie so I silently waited on the sidewalk. I pulled out the stereo Billy let me borrow and slipped the tape inside. Music started blasting through the headphone. Calpurnia started playing another cover of a different song. It's also another one of my favorite songs. I heard a car beep loudly, I looked up and see Sadie's yellow Volkswagen parked in front of me. Music was blasting out of her car as I jumped into her car. Sadie has one of those vintage cars that I'm in love with.

"MILLIE!!" Both Noah and Sadia say in unison.

"Hey, guys!" We started our usual conversation about random things until we made it to the schools parking lot.

"I found the perfect parking spot!" Sadie yells. A perfectly empty parking spot caught Sadie's eyes. What was perfect about it was that it was right in front of the school's entrance and at the same time very close to the exit of the school. Sadie was ready to park until a red sports car was parked right in that spot Sadie was aiming to get causing Sadie to hit the breaks as fast as she could.

"What the hell!?" Noah yells. A tall blonde and two other brunettes got out of the red sports car in unison. The blonde, who was the driver, turns around flipping her wavy locks over her shoulder giving us a mocking wave. Of course, it had to be Iris. I couldn't help but roll my eyes and looked around for another parking spot. Another parking spot was open on the next row.

"Sadie, forget it there's one over there," I said while pointing to the parking spot. The three of us got out of Sadie's car and headed our way inside the school.

"I hate that bitch!" Sadie says while glaring at the blonde from a distance. I look at Iris's direction and see her and her friends standing outside of her car with a guy trapped in her arms. I squint my eyes a little seeing the familiar curls on the guys head and his tall figure towers over Iris. I scrunch my nose in disgust as I see her lock her lips against the guy that's trapped in her arms and followed Sadie and Noah inside.

"Language!" Noah says as he shoved Sadie. She only rolled her eyes and shoved back.

"Out of all the girls in this school, why did Finn choose Iris?" Noah says irritatedly.

"Who?" I asked.

"Iris's boyfriend!" He says as if it wasn't obvious enough.

"I know right it's so annoying, he could do so much better than that," Sadie says while we follow her to her locker.

"He went to the shop yesterday," I said while pulling out my earbuds. Both turned to me in shock as if they saw a ghost.

"What?" I asked.

"Finn Wolfhard?" Noah asks excitedly.

"If that's his name then yes," I say with a confused look on my face. Both Sadia and Noah looked at each other worriedly.

"Do you think he went to that shop on purpose?" Noah asked with a panic flowing through his face. I roll my eyes, that's a really stupid idea.

"He probably wanted to buy music, just like every other customer that enters that shop!" I said with a sarcastic tone.

"Millie, you don't understand he's like the hottest boy in this school!" I scrunch my nose when Noah emphasizes the word 'hottest'.

"So you think he's interested in me?" I asked with an eyebrow raised as I point to myself. Both Noah and Sadie nod vigorously. I only laughed at how stupid they're both acting.

"I dought that," I said as I crossed my arms over my chest. Both Sadie and Noah suddenly start to explain how Finn is one of the most popular guys in this school and how he's one of those rebellious boys.

"He's dangerous Millie!"

"Dangerous?"

"Yes!" Noah and Sadie say in unison.

"Guys! He just went to the shop to buy a record, it's not like we're friends or anything." I said frustratedly. Hopefully, that calms them down. The bell finally rang, I've never wanted to go to class this badly.

"You two are overreacting," I say to them as I start to head to class.

"He's dangerous!" Noah shouts again. I quickly ignoring him and plug in my headphones.

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You know those really annoying teachers that always say 'the bell does not dismiss you, I do', well I have one of those teachers. My English teacher is one of the most annoying teachers in this school. I have no idea why she teaches if she hates kids so much. So today Ms. Flarna held us in for half an hour just because we all stood up when the bell rang. I plugged in my earbuds to make time go faster. She finally let us out after those long thirty minutes. I quickly ran out of the class and into the halls. I can't stand that class anymore.

I felt a pair of eyes on me, I looked around and didn't see any. I shrugged it off and continued walking until someone knocked my feet, literally. I shut my eyes as I feel gravity pull me down. I feel a pair of arms wrap around my waist. The cold hard cement was against my hands with the rest of my body against someone else's body. A painful moan came out of my mouth and someone else's. I open my eyes and see a pair of familiar chocolate brown eyes. I blink a couple of times realizing where I'm at.

Finn?

His face only an inch away from mine. His big brown eyes looked straight into mine. What do I do? Out of all the people in this school I had to fall on why did it have to be him. I look away seeing that I'm laying right on top of him.

"You okay?" He asks with his arms still wrapped around me. The feeling of his arms gave me a strange feeling yet comforting. My shirt lifted a little causing his soft fingers to press against my skin giving me goosebumps. I shook my head back to reality. "Yea, I-I'm fine, I'm j-just really clumsy," I said while quickly getting up from the floor.

"You sure?" He asks while getting up too.

"Yes I-I'm sure," He placed his hand out for me to take. I gladly take his offer and helps pull me off the ground.

"I'm really sorry, my clumsy self can't help but just fall," I said as I brush myself off.

"It's all good," He says with a smirk played on his lips. The bell suddenly rings causing me to panic even more.

"Shit, I have to go, sorry again!" I said as I ran to my next class.

That was terrifying, why did I keep on stuttering? The feeling of his arms gave a really strange effect on me, but I kind of liked it, what am I saying, I probably sound really stupid right now. Hopefully, no one saw that.

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It was finally lunch time. I reached the cafeteria filled with idiotic students. I was with Sadie at our usual table that was next to the cafeteria window. Sadie started a conversation about a deadly insect that can probably affect the human population, but I wasn't really paying much attention to her. My head was still kind of stuck at what happened in the hallway.

"MILLIE!" I look up and saw Noah running toward our table.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Noah made it to our table out of breath.

"TELL ME EVERYTHING?" He says while grabbing the seat that was closest to me with an eager expression.

"What did she do?" Sadie asks.

"What did I do?" I ask while looking at Noah confused.

"Don't act like you don't know." I still felt confused.

"Do you really not know what I'm talking about?" Noah asks frustratedly. I only shrugged my shoulders, clueless to what he's talking about, as I take a sip of my water bottle.

"What did she do?" Sadie asks.

"Let me explain, Sharle told Sara who told Amanda who told Jack who told his girlfriend who told Justin who told Amanda who told Jennifer who told Iris that you've been flirting with Finn!" My throat was suddenly chocking from the water that was running down my throat. My lungs were in so much pain that my coaching sounded like donkeys. I turn to Sadie with her jaw also dropped.

"What makes them think I was flirting, I don't even know how to flirt!" I said angerly. I don't want to deal with high school drama right now, in fact, I never wanted to deal with high school drama.

"What did you do, twirl your hair, bat your eyes, stare straight into his eyes from a distance, tell me your secrets, please?!" Noah has been wanting to get a guy for a while and I'm not surprised that he's asking.

"Did you not hear what I just said? I can't flirt to save my life, and no I didn't do any of that."

"She's right she can't flirt, I've seen her try and get a guys attention and it didn't turn out so well," Sadie says while taking a bite of her sandwich. My first ever crush happened in third grade. I was very eager to get his attention so I did the worst that anyone could ever do. I asked him to be my girlfriend which made him very uncomfortable.

"Then what did you do?" Noah asked.

"I don't know! Or maybe it happened during passing period." Noah and Sadie's attention was quickly stuck on me. I rolled my eyes and continued to explain.

"As usual Ms. Flarna held us in for half an hour. Once those thirty minutes passed I ran out of the classroom bumping into Finn," Both Sadie and Noah didn't seem surprised.

"That doesn't sound so bad," Noah says calming down. "Well to be exact I kinda fell on top of him," Noah jumped off his seat sending out a short yet loud scream causing Sadie and me to jump also. Noah started pacing back and forth.

"NOAH!!" He stopped his pacing and looked at me.

"Stop freaking out, it's not like it's the end of the world," Noah looked at me dead serious.

"How are you not freaking out right now?"

"Because it's not that big of a deal! Right?" I said.

"Iris is gonna be haunting you down right now!" He says while pulling me into a tight hug. I pat his back awkwardly.

"You don't need to worry Noah, I can handle her,"

"Like how you let her walk all over you?" Noah asks. He's right, I don't know why I let Iris walk all over me. I'm strong enough to be on my own. So I should be strong enough to stand up for myself.

"We just want you to be safe," Sadie adds. The bell rang.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," I said trying to calm them down, mainly Noah.

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hi, it's me just editing over and over nothing changed much in this chapter just the grammar

- Abby