𝑷𝑯𝑶𝑻𝑶𝑮𝑬𝑵𝑰𝑪 // Michael Afton x Reader//

||4||

A/N: I know it's been a while. Sorry about that. I've been doing high school shit. Not fun, at all. But anywho, I kind of hated the way the story was going and my goal with this book is not to have a repeat of my last one, so I decided to delete the chapters I didn't like and rewrite them, so here's the update!

----------------

The wooden steps creaked as I climbed up to the porch, twisting around to wave at Luna and Alex as they passed, continuing on the road toward their houses.

"See you on Monday!" I called, fishing through my pockets for my keys with my nearly numb hands. I didn't envy Luna and Alex for their long walk home.

"See ya!" Alex.

"Have a great weekend, (Y/N)!" Luna.

I shoved the keys in and pushed the door open, relishing the cloud of heat that spread across my body. My cheeks tingled and I felt goosebumps race down my arms as I defrosted.

Shutting the door, the distinct, heavy smell of cigarette smoke burned into my nostrils. I wrinkled my nose bridge. I hate the smell of cigarette smoke, but unfortunately, it's a common smell in my household. I coughed, waving the air around me as I moved towards the stairs, plopping my backpack down at the base.

"I'm home!" I called out, surprised to hear a response from downstairs and not upstairs.

"Welcome back. We're in the living room," My mother's hoarse voice called back faintly through the wall.

"Oh," I said, "Sorry for shouting. I thought you were upstairs." I rounded the corner into the living room, spotting my mother and younger sister, Kell, sitting on the couch, something like the Flintstones playing on the TV. The lights were shut off and cigarette smoke was thick in the air.

"It's fine. Can't really hear anything over the TV anyways," My mother responded as she shrugged. She snuffed out her cigarette on the ashtray and turned to look at me. "So, how was school?"

I shrugged. "Same old. Pretty boring. I'm just glad it's finally the weekend," I said.

My mother scoffed at that. "Aren't we all," she laughed as I bent down to ruffle Kell's hair – who was too entranced with the TV to even acknowledge me.

I shrugged and walked back over to the stairs, grabbing my bag and lugging myself up the stairs. "I'm gonna do homework and such. See ya."

"Alright."

When I got to my room, I definitely didn't do homework and such. I let my bag fall to the carpet, shoved off my shoes and coat, and flopped onto my bed, groaning into my bedsheets. I adjusted myself so my face wasn't smushed against my mattress and sighed, staring at the patches of sunlight that danced across my sheets.

My mind was running wild, and in all honestly, I didn't know why. Nothing had really happened today, though I guess the events of earlier this week were pretty strange. Who knew a simple, insignificant photography assignment could turn into you meeting and photographing the popular guys at school?

My eyes began to feel heavy so I closed them as I pondered. Maybe they thought I was weird for asking to photograph them, maybe they didn't care, or maybe they were just annoyed by my question. Either way, I began to cringe as I thought back on the memory, thinking that they probably didn't like me and thought I was some stalker or creep for taking that picture - even though I had consent.

At some point, I must've fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew there was a knock on my door and I shot up, suddenly alert. The sun was lower in the sky, casting an orange hue across my small room. I rubbed my eyes and croaked out a groggy, "Yeah?".

"Can I come in?" Mom's voice asked, muffled through the door.

"Yeah," I responded faintly, feeling a bit feverish from the sudden wake.

Mom pushed the door open and leaned against the doorway, looking me up and down, arms crossed. "You do a lot of homework?" she asked, sounding amusing, her eyebrow cocked almost mockingly.

I squinted suspiciously at her attidue and quickly looked over at my dresser's mirror, eyes widening at my reflection. My hair was a mess, my eyes were barely open, and my clothes were askewn. In short, you could tell I had just woken up.

I patted down my hair as I turned to my mom and said, "Yes, of course my dearest of mothers."

She just laughed before finally getting to the point. "So, I was wondering if you could run by the supermarket? I was going to make dinner but then realized we had nothing to make dinner with, so...." she trailed off scratching the back of her head. "I mean, I would do it but I have taxes to do, bills to pay, work to get done, blah, blah, blah. Adult stuff, you know?"

"No, I actually don't know because I'm fifteen and haven't experienced the great world of responsibilities yet, but yes, I will go to the supermarket because I would rather not starve to death," I said, smiling as I stood from my bed and retrieved my coat and shoes that I had earlier discarded.

As I attempted to simultaneously shove my couldroy coat and shoes on - which proved to be a bad idea as I almost fell flat on my face several times - my mom tried to hand me her wallet, to which I immediately took as soon as I physically could. "Thanks," I said, standing up straight and putting the wallet in my pocket.

Mom sighed. "Don't use up all my money," she muttered, half joking and half serious.

"I won't," I laughed.

"Alright. The grocery list in on the fridge. I'll be in my room." With that, she was gone, rubbing her temples as she disappeared down the hall.

I did the same, traveling the opposite direction, down the stairs, and to the kitchen. As I passed the couch, I noticed Kell, and with a smile, crept towards her and snuck a kiss on the top of her head. She jumped and turned around, her face brightening when she saw me.

"Hi, (Y/N)!"

"Hi, bud!" I ruffled her hair. She giggled, swatting at my hands. "I'm gonna go to the store, alright? I'll be right back," I told her as I stepped into the kitchen and unclipped the grocery list from the fridge.

"Oh!" I heard her exclaim from the living room. "Can you get me something while you're there?"

When I came back into the living room, she was bouncing with excitement on the couch. I laughed. "Reece's?" I asked and she nodded eagerly. "Alright, I'll get you some. See you in a bit."

"Bye!" She waved just as I stepped out of my house into the chilly afternoon air.