Something in the Way - Finn Wolfhard

Why Does He Deserve This?

It was currently 8th period science. This was one of Finn's least favorite classes, and not because of the subject. It was because of all the talking you had to do with a lab group or lab partner. Also because the teacher wasn't nice to him, always calling on him and always assigning him with the people who picked on him, while chuckling at the bullies. Finn nervously walked into the classroom, keeping his head down, and took his seat in the back.

He noticed the teacher, Mr. Gerald, whispering to the popular boys and looking over at him. Finn quickly looked away and thought of what they would do to him today. He didn't even notice Millie come in the classroom and take a seat next to him. He was too busy worrying.

"Hey Finn!" Millie greeted. Finn jumped and looked over at her. When he realized it was just her, he waved. Millie smiled at him and started talking. "I loved science at my old school. It was my favorite subject. It's just so fascinating and so cool! What about you? Do you like science?" She asked. Finn shook his head. "You don't like science? Why not?" He pointed at the teacher and the popular boys talking to each other. Millie didn't understand what he meant, but she didn't pressure him to speak.

Then Mr. Gerald called for everyone's attention. "Okay class. Today we will be working in groups of four, working on lab 9 in our science folders. I will assign groups," he said. Finn became even more nervous, as he knew who he was going to be paired up with. He assigned most of the kids groups before coming up to other groups.

"Group 6 will be Sophia Lillis, Maddie Ziegler, Grace Vanderwaal, and Millie Bobby Brown." Millie had no idea who those girls were until she saw them waving her over. She took her stuff and went over to their table. Finn watched her go, wishing that he could be paired up with her instead of who he was going to be paired up with.

"Group 7 will be Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, and Finn Wolfhard," the science teacher said, smirking at the three boys. Finn's eyes widened as the three boys came up to him and sat down at his table. They had cruel looks on their faces as they looked at him, making Finn wish he could just disappear. He felt uncomfortable with them looking at him so he pulled his sweatshirt hood over his face more, causing Noah, Gaten, and Caleb to laugh at him.

"The little loser! No wonder he doesn't have any friends!"

"I bet he's too scared to even look at us straight in the eye!"

"Who would want to be his friend anyway? Look how retarded he looks!"

They said more insulting things, causing Finn to start shaking and sweating like crazy. His anxiety was starting to take over. He couldn't take it anymore as he picked up his stuff and ran out of the classroom. All of the kids stopped what they were doing to stare at him. Noah, Gaten, Caleb, and Mr. Gerald laughed the hardest as some of the other kids chuckled to themselves. Millie was in shock that everyone was laughing at Finn, even the teacher. She turned to her group, who was also chuckling a little.

"Why are you guys laughing at him? What did he do to deserve this treatment?" Millie asked them. The girls stopped laughing and looked over at her.

"It's really hard to explain him. Your new here so you don't know him very well, but he's, well, strange," Maddie said.

"Apparently he suffers from social anxiety from what we've heard. But he is just so weird about it. It's not normal. I mean, people with social anxiety can still talk and at least try to be friendly!" Grace said.

Sophia shrugged. "Rumors go around saying that he can't even talk. Also, it's said that he was once in a mental institute for going crazy. It's said that one day, he just snapped and went crazy so his parents had him locked up in the hospital. Then he got sent to a mental institution for a long time. This was when he was very little too," she explained.

"And every since that day, he's been made fun of, and we admit it. We make fun of him too, but he's kind of asking for it due to how crazy he is," Maddie said.

Millie was shocked by everything she just heard. "He can talk, first of all. He told me his name with words. And you shouldn't believe in all rumors. In my old school, rumors went around about this one girl, my best friend, and it destroyed her life. I was there for her and gave her comfort, but she ended up committing suicide because of all the rumors. So maybe you should think twice before believing in stupid rumors like that," she said. Then she excused herself from the class to go find Finn.

...

Finn walked over to his locker to put his stuff away and pack up. 8th period was the last period of the day and he wasn't returning to that class for the rest of the day. So he just decided to pack up to be ready to go home, even though he didn't want to go home. As he opened his locker, more hate notes fell out of his locker. With trembling hands, he picked them up and read them, each one saying something super awful that he teared up. He shoved the notes into the back of his locker and packed up his stuff. 

Before he could close his locker, Finn noticed another note that he didn't pick up. He picked it up and read it. It said, "Go kill yourself you piece of shit! No one fucking wants you here and you should never have existed in the first place! I hope you get cancer and die!" Finn teared up more at the note and let a couple of tears drip down. He shoved the note into the back of his locker and slammed it shut, sobbing.

Finn hated his life. He just wanted it to end so badly. No one wanted him here anyway. Everyone hated him and bullied him, making him way more depressed than he already was. Pretty soon, Millie would join everyone and bully him too. He could guarantee it. He had no reason to be here, so why was he even here in the first place?

The boy looked down at his arms and rubbed the cuts that laid there. These weren't cuts caused by kids at school or even his family. No, this was caused by him. Finn wanted to leave the world. His life had no meaning and he didn't deserve to be existing. What was the point anyway? He covered his arms back up with his sleeves and walked away from his locker. He sat down on a bench in the hallway, crying into his hands.

That was how Millie found him.

Her heart broke when she saw him cry. He didn't deserve any of this bullying that seems to happen to him. He seemed so... broken. She wanted to help him and make him feel better, possibly saving him from what her friend did to herself.

Millie walked up to him and sat down beside him. "Don't cry, Finn. It's going to be okay," she said to him. Finn looked up at her and wiped away his tears, embarrassed that she saw him cry again. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder before talking again. "You can talk to me. I promise I won't make fun of you. I'm not like that. I wouldn't bully someone at all," she reassured. "No one deserves to be treated like shit. And I mean no one. And that includes you. You can always talk to me if something is wrong."

Finn looked back down at the floor. He mumbled something to himself, which Millie couldn't make out, and he started to tear up again. He then looked up at her and removed his sweatshirt hood. Millie had seen his face fully before, but what she didn't see was a small bruise on his forehead. She gave him a sympathetic look before he looked down again.

"You're just going to make fun of me..." Finn said quietly.

Millie shook her head. "No I won't. I promise you," she said.

Finn looked back up at her and shook his head. Then he looked back down before saying, "You will. Everyone does," before getting up and leaving. He put his sweatshirt hood back on as he walked away. Millie didn't go after him this time. She knew he needed space for a while. So she got up and went back to class, thinking only one thing.

"Why does he deserve this?"