Secrets and Lies ||mildie/sillie||

Chapter 4

When Sadie left school that day she could see Millie's gang hanging around the school gates, watching as everyone left for the day. She saw Gaten whistle to a smaller kid who duly went over to the group, Noah reach for something in his backpack and hand it to Millie. It seemed to be some sort of plastic box, Millie bent down to the kid's level and showed him the contents, smiling. She gave him the box, which he took almost reverentially. They both held on to the box while she talked to him, he nodded a few times and smiled when she finished. When she let go, he furtively looked around and put it in his own bag and made his way out of the gates. Are they, like, dealing drugs?

Sadie was stood still watching them, nonplussed, when she heard her name being called "Sadie!" She turned to find Maddie, Grace, and Marina heading towards her.

"Sadie, come join us, we're off the mall to hang out, no excuses this time!" said Maddie. Before Sadie could protest Maddie linked arms with her and started walking her to the gates.

"We'll take my car" said Grace.

As they approached the gates Sadie locked eyes with Millie, and saw her looking on in amusement. "Hey Sadie" she called as they all passed the gate, "off to the mall?"

"Er, yeah" she replied.

Maddie rolled her eyes, "what's it to you?"

"Nothing at all" she answered, looking amused at having annoyed Maddie.

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

They ended up at the coffee shop first, needing a caffeine hit after another boring school day. "Come on Sadie, what'll it be?" asked Marina, bumping her shoulder in a friendly way, more sincere than Maddie or Grace.

"Oh, just a flat white, thanks" she replied.

"Sure thing, go grab a seat, I'll bring it over." Sadie nodded and made her way to a table at the back, her first instinct was to sit out of the way and not be noticeable.

"Sadie, no, grab that one, at the front!" called Maddie. Sadie looked over and saw the table she was pointing at, right at the front so they could see everyone passing, and be seen of course. As they got their coffees they made their way over, "we never sit at the back, this is our table" explained Maddie. Sadie just smiled and nodded, uncomfortable at feeling so exposed. She sat there quietly, using her coffee as an excuse to not join in whilst the others made comments about virtually every girl that walked past, not complimentary ones either. I just need to get through this then go home...they're even bitchier than I thought they'd be. Marina caught Sadie's eye and gave her a quick awkward smile, she's just doing it to fit in too...why can't people just be themselves.

After coffee it was shopping, Sadie inwardly groaned and suppressed her desire to roll her eyes. She felt like a small child, dragged around the mall by her parents on a never ending tortuous shopping trip for clothes she neither liked nor wanted.

"Hey, there's that party next week, at Wyatt's house, you coming Sadie?" asked Maddie.

"I, um, haven't been invited" Sadie replied, meekly.

"Don't be stupid, everyone is invited. Anyway, if you're with us, you're invited to every party" Maddie said smugly. Sadie nodded, defeated, unable to think of a valid excuse not to go. "Yesss! In that case, you'll need a new outfit. Come on, we'll help you choose something suitable" she said, looking Sadie up and down, not exactly masking her disdain at her current outfit.

At the fourth shop Sadie was starting to feel tired and extremely fed up. Nothing she picked was good enough for the girls, and whatever they picked made Sadie feel exposed and uncomfortable. Finally, they picked an outfit that wasn't entirely awful and she agreed to try it on. She looked at herself in the enormous mirror outside the changing room, trying to not laugh and cry at the same time at the situation in which she had found herself. Sadie Sink, trying to impress the popular girls, how the fuck did this happen? she thought.

"Nice" she heard, "not quite your style, though, is it?"

She whipped around to find Millie leaning against the wall, smirking at her surprised expression. "What the fuck are you doing in here?" she asked.

"It's a funny story, I was just passing by with my friends and heard some bitchy girls picking on a couple of kids from school. Lo and behold, your new besties are surrounding 2 girls, making them feel shit about themselves."

"So...what did you do?" she asked, genuinely intrigued.

Millie shrugged in response, "nothing, we just watched...from a couple of feet away...they stopped pretty quickly for 'some reason', I think they're waiting for you in the coffee shop now, but who can say."

Sadie didn't really know what to make of what Millie said, and was starting to feel awkward about the situation she found herself in. "You know, it's a bit weird" she said, trying to sound confident.

"What's weird?"

"You," Millie raised her eyebrows, "being in here. If I didn't know better I'd say you were following me."

Millie choked and laughed at the same time. "Ok, you keep telling yourself that. So, you buying this clown suit?" she asked, gesturing at the outfit Sadie was trying on.

It was her turn to laugh, a real, genuine laugh, something she'd missed doing. "No! I guess I'd better get changed." With that she retreated back to the changing room and closed the curtain behind her.

As she was changing, she heard Millie say "tell me, Sadie, why are you so keen to avoid us 'bad kids'?"

"Honestly?"

"Yeah, wouldn't ask if I didn't want an answer"

"One of the reasons we moved is that fuckers like you" god, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that "made my life hell in my last school when they found out...well, that doesn't matter." Sadie closed her eyes, cursing herself for almost revealing more than she wanted. Shit, she's not gonna let that drop. She opened the curtain and came out with her real clothes on, prepared to say sorry for what she'd said.

Millie surprised Sadie with her response, "I'm sorry, that must have been rough...it won't happen here, I promise," and with that she gave her a quick hug. "See ya round, Sadie" she said, walking off.

What the fuck just happened? Sadie was conflicted, she really didn't want to spend another minute with the bitches currently waiting for her at the coffee shop, but was too shy to just walk out without saying something. I'll just say my mom called... "Hey, Maddie, guys, I've gotta go, sorry, my mom called and needs me home."

"Oh, we'll drive you..." started Marina, thoughtfully.

"No! no, it's fine, I can get the bus, honestly, don't waste the rest of your afternoon on me" Sadie said hoping they'd agree.

"Ok, well, we'll see you Monday at school then, and Sadie?" said Maddie.

"Yes?" she replied, worried.

"Do try and get an outfit ready for the party, bring it next week so we can check it."

Ugh "yeah, no problem...bye." With that she practically ran out of the mall, sighing in relief.

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