Secrets and Lies ||mildie/sillie||

Chapter 1

Sadie Sink stood outside her new school, Hawkins High School, in her new home town, and sighed. She'd already clocked the main groups, the jocks, the nerds, the geeks, the freaks, emos, goths, so many people trying to fit in. Then she saw them, the group she'd been dreading. Every school had one. They weren't the cool kids everyone secretly wanted approval from, no, they were the bad kids everyone secretly envied because they didn't follow the rules and got away with it...most of the time. This particular group consisted of 4 guys and 1 girl, an interesting dynamic, thought Sadie. Usually there were lots more girls hanging around swooning at the bad boys, but in this group the 1 girl seemed to be the focal point, the leader. Sadie vowed to stay away from them at all costs.

She found her way to the student office and was given her timetable and some nerd to be her buddy for the first day. She forgot his name almost immediately knowing she'd never speak to him again. God, the sooner I can ditch this guy the better. The only useful thing he did was to point out who to avoid and why. Top of the list was a girl called Millie Bobby Brown, and, just as she'd pegged them at the entrance, she was leader of the bad kids. According to school gossip she'd been expelled from school in England and came to live here about 2½ years ago.

Her first few classes were uneventful, she kept her head down, only raising it to do the obligatory introductions the stupid teachers insisted on every lesson. At lunch her buddy wanted her to sit with him, he was trying to make the most of being seen with a pretty girl, but luckily one of the girls from her first class rescued her. "Hey, new girl, Sadie right?", she nodded, "ditch your nerd and sit with us" she said, beckoning her to their table.

Sadie looked at her buddy, trying to look apologetic, and joined them. "Hi, I'm Maddie" said the girl who called her over, "this is Grace and Marina" she said, gesturing to the other girls.

"Good to meet you" said Sadie, glad that she'd met some seemingly normal people early on.

They chatted for a while about where Sadie had moved from, her family, and life before. The girls then started given Sadie the real lowdown, as opposed to the nerd version, on life at their high school. Maddie stopped mid-sentence to look at the entrance and rolled her eyes, "ugh, here they are, fucking bitch."

Sadie was shocked at her sudden change in demeanor and looked over to see who she was talking about. She saw 5 people enter the cafeteria, 4 guys and 1 girl, a girl who she now knew to be Millie Brown.

Someone she wanted to avoid.

Someone she had inadvertently just locked eyes with.

For some reason, she couldn't look away. And seemingly neither could Millie, who had stopped in her tracks and was staring at her, mouth slightly open as she had stopped talking mid-sentence.

Her friend with a mop of curly hair nudged her to get her attention and she looked away and resumed her conversation. As they made their way to their table Sadie saw her glance back at her, narrowing her eyes slightly as if trying to work something out. As Millie turned away, the tallest guy in the group, who had dark wavy hair and brown eyes, looked over at Sadie with what looked like a concerned expression.

"Uh oh" said Grace.

"Uh oh?" asked Sadie.

"You've been here less than a day and she already looks pissed at you" explained Maddie. Sadie looked confused. "Better watch your back is all I'm saying", and with that the 3 girls got up and left Sadie alone at the table.

Once they'd gone, Sadie felt pretty isolated, a feeling made all the worse by Millie standing up and making her way over. As she did so many of the students still left in the cafeteria decided that it was a good idea to leave the rest of their food and go. Millie's friends stayed seated and, if Sadie could read the situation at all, looked a little confused as to what she was doing.

She sat down opposite Sadie, "hey."

Oh fuck! "Hey" answered Sadie, keeping her head down.

"I'm Millie" she said.

"Er, Sadie" she answered, noting Millie's cute British accent, what? She finally lifted her head upon noticing Millie's hand stuck out for her to shake, which she did hesitantly. As she did so she was finally able to look at her up close. She was slightly built, but looked quite strong, her short hair was slicked back with gel, her make-up bold, she had slightly wonky eye teeth giving her a cute smile, her eyes were an amazing color, stop it Sadie, what the hell are you thinking!

"You're new here, how are you finding it?"

"Fine" she answered. She really had no clue what was going on, and clearly Millie's friends didn't either as they were obviously debating what to do.

"I saw you talking to the 3 witches" said Millie, "I presume they told you to stay away from me." Sadie nodded. "Hmmm, will you listen to them?" she asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"Depends" said Sadie, boldly.

Millie smirked, "oh yeah? Depends on what?"

Sadie just shrugged, which made Millie laugh. "I like you Sadie, do you want to come hang out with me and my friends?"

"Okaaay" she replied. Sadie was convinced this was all some elaborate trick that they were waiting to pull. Ugh, may as well get it over with she thought.

Millie beckoned her friends over. "That's Gaten with the crazy curly hair, he's a bit of a joker but lovely. The short one is Noah, most loyal guy you'll ever find. Chocolate daddy here, she said rolling her eyes as they arrived, is Caleb, he'll defend you no matter what. And last but not least is Finn, coolest guy in the world" she said, laughing and pulling him into a hug. He just smiled and shook his head, putting his arm around her shoulder protectively. "This is Sadie" she said, introducing her to the gang. "She might join us later, depending on if she's up for it" she added.

They all nodded and said their hellos.

"Millie" said Finn, "we'd better go."

"Yeah, ok. See you Sadie" she said, giving her a wink.

"Yeah, bye" she replied, having no idea what just happened. Wait, did I just make friends with the bad kids?

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Sadie made her way to her final class of the day, Math, where joy of joys they had a surprise test. She closed her eyes cursing whatever gods were responsible for pop quizzes, and set to it. She had a quick glance around halfway through and was surprised to see Millie and her friends all heads down, writing furiously. She had assumed they would be sat back in their chairs, trying not to look bothered, or messing around. As she was looking at them, Millie glanced up at her and, upon seeing her looking, winked. Without wanting to, Sadie blushed and looked down, but not before seeing Millie smile to herself. God, she's confusing.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*