Happy- A Noah Schnapp fanfiction

13-Table read

   Noah and I walked back to the big room for the table read. Sadie jumped up when she saw me and ran over. "Are you ok?" She whispered. I nodded. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't exactly the truth. Everyone thought Noah liked me, but he doesn't. He would have said something. She smiled. "You'll tell me everything later," she winked as she walked to her assigned seat.
By this time, everyone was there and making their way to their seats. I hadn't even looked where my seat was. I saw a name card that read: "Paige Teller- Bailey". I looked next to my card and saw "Finn Wolfhard- Mike" and... oh god... why? "Noah Schnapp- Will"
     I looked at Sadie with puppy eyes and she saw the name card. She frowned and sat in her seat which was across from me. At least she was close. The Duffers got everyone to settle down and began to introduce the pilot episode.
     "The pilot episode will focus on Mike and Eleven's life after El's return," Ross explained. It sounded cool. "We will also be introduced to Bailey, who is a girl at Hawkins Middle school who is going to befriend the boys." Sadie raised her hand.
     "Yes, Sadie?" Matt asked.
     "You said there's a plot twist, you wanted to tell us about...?" She prompted.
     "Oh right!" Matt exclaimed. "Thanks for reminding me!" He looked over to me. "So during the season, there's going to be a bit of a feud going on with Will and Bailey because of an argument they get in," He explained. Noah and I nodded. That wasn't too bad... but he wasn't done. "But in one of the last episodes, they're going to dance at the snowball together and kiss."
     My eyes grew wide and I looked at Noah. He was blushing, and by the burning feeling in my cheeks, I could tell I was too. Finn and Gaten "oohed" But Sadie slapped Gaten who was sitting next to her.
"Guys calm down, everyone has kissing scenes," she laughed. God I love her so much. I smiled at her.
"Yeah," I added. "A-and it's just acting, right?" Noah nodded.
"Yeah..." he smiled. "It's just acting."

Timeskip

     We were about 20 minutes into the table read when I had my first scene. "Hey, Bailey," Noah spoke in character.
     "What do you want zombie boy?" I responded.
     "Well, you don't have a group for the project, so I was wondering... do you wanna join my group?" He asked. I scoffed.
     "Sure, But you don't need to act like you're doing me a favor," I snapped. "I don't need a peer mentor or anything to guide me through 8th grade."
     "I didn't mean that," Noah sighed. "It's just... you seem pretty nice, I just wanted to know if you would join our group."
     I shrugged. "Well, I will," I spoke. "But don't think this makes us friends." Finn smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up. It was an awesome first read! I could really relate to Bailey. Especially with the part of her that will fall for Will.
     A few minutes later, I had another scene. "Will," I spoke. "Aren't we meeting at your house after school for the project?"
     "Oh," Noah sighed. "I don't think my house is gonna work today."
     "Why?" I asked annoyed.
     "It just won't... I'm sorry," Noah whispered. In the script it said Will stormed away, but since we were sitting, we couldn't really do that part.
     "What's up with him?" I scoffed.
     "It's his dad," Finn sighed.
     "What?" Gaten asked.
     "He told me his dad came over the other day and basically destroyed the house. He and Mrs. Byers got into an argument or something."
     "What are you talking about?" I asked.
     "His dad's a real jerk," Caleb shook his head. "And jerks and alcohol don't mix, if you know what I'm saying."
     "He left the family a few years ago," Finn said. "It was too late though... it's been upsetting Will ever since." I frowned.
     "Can I talk to him?... or will he like explode or something?"
      "You're good," Gaten said giving a thumbs up. I nodded. In the scene, Bailey joins Will in the A.V room.
      "Will?" I whispered.
     "Go away," Noah groaned.
     "Come on, I wanna talk," I replied. Wow, this is ironic.
     "I don't wanna talk to you right now, just leave me alone!" Noah growled.
     "Will, I get what you're going through!" I assured.
     "No you don't!" Noah exploded. "You don't know what I'm going through because you don't have a dad that hates you! When everyone thought I was dead, he just wanted to use me to sue the town and get money. Probably to buy alcohol or something!" Noah had a tear running down his face. God he was so good at acting.
     "Will, I..." Noah cut me off.
     "Bailey, shut up! Until you have the problems I have, please, just leave me alone."
     "Ok," I said.
     "Why aren't you leaving?" Noah asked sniffing.
     "Will, do you realize you barely know who I am? You know nothing about my life!" I exclaimed. Noah shrugged.
     "Ok," he sighed.
     "No," I shook my head. "I don't have YOUR problems, but I have my own. My younger sister died from cancer last year... did you know that?" Noah shook his head. At this point, I had a tear rolling down my face too. "Did you know, I moved here because I used to live in a homeless shelter, and this was the cheapest option?" He shook his head again. "And did you know, my dad is an alcoholic and beats me almost every night, and my mom does nothing about it?!" Noah just stood still. "Exactly. You don't know me."
     "That was amazing!" Ross exclaimed highfiving me and Noah. "Probably one the best first read-throughs I've ever seen.
"Ross," Matt whispered. "We're not done, there's still a few more scenes." Ross winced.
"Right, Sorry."

We finished the table read and it went super well. Everyone is such good actors. We began to stand up when Sadie tapped me.
"Hey, Im inviting everyone to go get ice cream after this, do you wanna come?" She asked.
"Is Noah going?" I winced. She looked at the floor.
"Yeah..."
I wasn't going. Not if Noah was going. I wouldn't be able to. But i saw the look in Sadie's eyes. She wasn't just inviting me to be nice, she really wanted me to come. I had to get over this.
"Sure," I spoke. "I'll come."