Knock knock knock
"Sadie! Answer the door please!" called Sadie's mom from the kitchen.
"Yeah, I got it!" she called back. She jumped down the last few stairs and skipped to the door. She opened it to find Millie, suddenly looking pretty unsure of herself. Sadie couldn't help but notice her appearance, looking like she did the day before...wow, she looks gorgeous like that...fuck...and felt flustered.
"Hey."
"Er, hey."
"So...I was just wondering...do you want to come for a sleepover? My guys are all busy tonight...D&D" she said, leaning in conspiratorially and whispering the last part, like it was a big secret.
"What's D&D?" asked Sadie, looking confused.
"It doesn't matter, trust me. All you need to know is that it takes a whole day and I am not interested" she tried to explain. "So, you in?"
"Um, what are we gonna do?"
"Shit, I don't know" she said, shrugging. "What do people normally do?" she asked. "Film? Talk? Erm, mess about?" she guessed.
Sadie was surprised at her lack of knowledge, but seeing that Millie looked genuine she replied "if you don't know what people do, why do you want one?" Millie looked uncomfortable for a second. Every now and again, Sadie noticed that Millie's façade seemed to slip, revealing a part of the real person underneath. It was the real Millie that intrigued Sadie, and kept her from saying no.
"Well, isn't that what us girls do, when we're friends?" she said looking at Sadie...almost for confirmation she thought.
"I guess so..." Sadie answered.
"Great, see you at, what, 5?"
"Er, ok, I guess so...do you want me to bring anything?"
"Nope, just yourself." Millie smiled, "see you."
*~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Sadie approached Millie's house nervously, pausing for a moment when knocking. The door opened to reveal Millie's mom holding Ava on her hip. "Oh, hey...Sadie isn't it?" Sadie nodded shyly. "Well, come on in then. Millie!"
"What!?"
"You friend Sadie's here!"
Millie came running downstairs to meet her, looking a little flustered, "hey!"
"Hey" replied Sadie, standing awkwardly in the hall.
"Come on up. Mum, call us when food arrives, ok?" The walked upstairs, Millie leading the way, "I ordered Indian, our favorite when we lived in England" she explained. "Oh, is that alright? You don't, like, have any allergies or any of that shit do you?" she asked.
Sadie couldn't help but think Millie was nervous, the speed at which she was babbling. "No, Indian's good, my mom never orders it, it'll be a treat" she said happily.
When they reached Millie's room, Sadie was surprised at how nice it was. She had been expecting some dark décor, instead she was met with a bright room, walls decorated with pictures of her and her family, lots of her with Ava, a couple of her and Finn posing stupidly.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~*
"That film was so bad" Sadie said, laughing. "I had a good time tonight...thanks for inviting me."
"No problem...I mean, I had to give you an alternative to hanging around with the 3 bitches, right?" she replied.
"What?"
Millie shrugged.
"Is that what this is? I'm just here so you can piss them off? I'm not some fucking pawn in your game, Millie!" she said, whisper shouting. "Why the hell did I agree to come here?" she said, more to herself. Getting no response, she looked at Millie, and narrowing her eyes asked "why are you being so nice to me?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Millie said.
"Oh, come on, kids at school are terrified of you..."
"Really? Are they? Or is it just those kids that should be scared. Have you once seen us do anything to any other kids at school?" said Millie, her turn to look annoyed.
"No, but I've heard about you fighting other kids, you and those guys you hang around with. And what's up with them? Letting you do all the fighting, getting hurt, all those bruises, I'll bet that's where you got that ugly ass scar on your arm from too. Some kid finally standing up to their bully, I'll bet they got what was coming to them too!"
Her hand subconsciously raising to cover it, Millie looked genuinely hurt at that last comment, causing Sadie to falter in her anger. "I...I didn't..."
"Don't try and tell me about bullying kids at school, I've never bullied a single one, I use my reputation so I don't have to, and if we see any then we step in and stop it, quietly. Didn't know that, did you? I bet you think we skip school, miss lessons, cause trouble...yeah?"
"People told me..."
"Fuck other people, Sadie...you know, you can't always trust what you see...everyone in my group is a straight A student, never in any trouble, I'm not about to let them fuck up their lives because they choose to protect me this way."
"What are you talking about, Millie, protect you?"
"You know, Sadie, we all have secrets, all of which seem important else we wouldn't keep them" stated Millie. "You remember I asked you why you avoid the bad kids and you told me how you were bullied?"
Sadie nodded, remembering quite clearly but surprised Millie did in such detail.
"I don't know what your secret is, but I know they found out, and they made you pay for it."
Sadie flinched at the memory, and how accurate Millie was being about what happened.
"They found out your secret and threatened to tell everyone, didn't they?"
She nodded, rendered mute by Millie's words.
"And when you didn't do as you were told they made you pay, didn't they?" she spat.
Sadie was starting to get a bit scared by Millie and the way she was talking, "h...how do you know all this?" she stuttered.
"You're not the only one who's paid. But there are different forms of payment, different types of punishment, did you know that? Depending on the people that find out, they set their own price, and they can be pretty fucked up let me tell you!" she said, her voice rising in volume.
"Millie, keep it down, you'll wake your sister."
Millie glanced at the door, "yeah, Ava" she said, more softly, listening for any sign that Ava had woken up.
Sadie took this opportunity, this lull in their argument, to find out what Millie was talking about. "Seriously, I have no idea what you're talking about...yeah, those kids found out I was..."
Millie looked at her expectantly, but Sadie just wasn't sure whether she could trust her 100% like she had her old so called best friend, who had blabbed her secret the next fucking day, hoping to be accepted into their group.
"It doesn't matter what they found out, but they fucking loved it, they tried blackmailing me for money, assignments, stupid pranks, anything those idiots could think of. Eventually I got sick of it and said no, and that's when the real bullying began. They beat me, spread rumors, even threatened me at home, so we ended up moving our entire life here to start over, all because my bitch friend couldn't keep her mouth shut."
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Whilst each of them didn't regret what they'd said, they did regret the way in which they'd said it.
"I wish you trusted me, Sadie" said Millie, sadly, "you can, you know...I'd never do any of those things to you."
Sadie looked into Millie's eyes and for the first time in years really did feel like she could trust someone.
"Anyway..." said Millie, shutting down the conversation.
"Anyway" repeated Sadie, looking away. "We'd best get some sleep, school tomorrow."
"Yeah" agreed Millie. She set up some blankets and pillows on the floor by her bed. "...you comfy down there? I could grab another pillow if you like."
"No, I'm good" replied Sadie. "Millie?" she said a few minutes later.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry...maybe I can tell you in the morning?"
"You can tell me anything, anytime...but you don't have to, only if you want to" she said softly.
Sadie smiled to herself in the dark, the thought of trusting someone made her feel strangely happy, especially if that someone was Millie...shit, stop thinking like that!
*~~~~~~~~~~~~*