state of grace | fillie

chapter two | the school project.

the chapters will get longer and more interesting as the story progresses. thanks for all the support!

***

finn fidgeted with his small orange pencil and tapped his foot on the ground. he really disliked having to sit at a small desk all day and not be able to move freely. finn had always been a very fidgety boy. sometimes he'd bring a small marble or something that he could fidget with in class, unfortunately the teachers would take it away if they noticed it in his hand. he didn't know why they had to take it. it really annoyed him especially considering they didn't return the marbles.

"alright class, you are going to work in pairs for this project." the science teacher, charlie heaton, said. charlie was one of finn's favorite teachers. there was something kind of weirdly interesting about charlie. he always seemed spaced out.

but finn absolutely hated partnered projects, he despised them with a burning passion. usually he ended up doing most of the work while his partner was horsing around. he would honestly rather just work alone.

"these pairs were chosen at random." mr. heaton announced. finn crossed his fingers and hoped that he would get his best friend, jaeden lieberher.

it's actually quite an interesting story of how jaeden and finn met. jaeden is pretty much the reason finn stutters, as jaeden was the one who threw the ball that hit finn's throat. jaeden felt really awful after he injured finn, so he visited the ill boy in the hospital every single day. they got to be very good friends over that time period.

the curly haired boy made sure to pay complete attention when mr. heaton listed off all the different names.

"mike and elanor"

"lucas and max"

"richie and eddie"

"jaeden and sophia"

"finn and millie"

finn's entire face went wide. he recognized the name but he couldn't remember exactly who millie was. he looked around the room and saw a girl with short hair, she looked kind of familier. he waved quickly and she flashed a small smile.

she looked like a very nice person. "maybe this won't be so bad." he thought.

~~~

"mih-millie! w-way-wait up!" finn yelled as he ran out the school exit towards the brunette girl. she sighed and halted all movement.

"i'm f-f-fih-f-f-finn." the tall boy said anxiously. whenever poor finn got nervous, his stuttering got even worse.

millie bit her lip and reached out to shake his hand. "as you already know, i'm millie."

they walked besides eachother for a brief moment. neither of them knew what to say or do.

"d-d-do you w-wanna c-come over to my huh-house to w-w-work o-on it?" finn asked the rather short girl. millie was quite relieved that he invited her to his house, as her father would never allow her to bring a friend home. especially if that friend was a boy.

"sure." she answered, slightly nodding her head. finn started to pick up the pace and he led the way as they walked to his home.

"b-by the w-w-way, i'm s-s-s-sorry for my s-s-s-s...SHIT! st-stutter." he tried to say. millie chuckled at his outburst in the middle of his sentence.

"please don't be sorry." she responded. finn was glad to know that she didn't mind his constant stumbling when he talked. most people found it extremely annoying, but millie found it kind of sweet in an odd way.

after around five minutes of walking, the two teenagers had arrived at finn's house. it was quite a nice house. it had a big beautiful wooden door, stone around the front porch, and butterscotch colored siding. finn pulled a small silver key out of his pant pocket as they stepped onto the front porch. the tall boy inserted the key into the slot on the door knob and unlocked it with a click. he pushed it open and they walked into the house.

"m-mom! i'm h-h-home! me and a fr-friend are gonna st-s-st-study!" finn shouted. millie held back a laugh and follow him to his bedroom.

"didn't y-y-you have l-long h-h-hair?" he added as he quietly shut the bedroom door. poor millie exhaled. she tried to keep her calm but she just wanted to cry.

"yeah... i uh, i got it cut yesterday." she lied. finn nodded his head, satisfied with her answer.

"g-g-g-g-go to page 353." the curly haired boy stated as he plopped down onto his bed. he patted a spot next to him. "sit d-d-down."

millie smiled, grabbed her science book, and took a seat next to finn. they worked on their project for over half an hour. they had made a lot of progress on it and they were actually having a decent time. millie looked down at her watch and noticed it was 4:15. her eyes widened and she hopped off the bed, finn was confused.

"i gotta get home." she blurted out.

"o-okay." he replied. finn also got off the bed and walked millie to the front door. they said their goodbyes and she started to run home as fast as she could.

~~~

millie's heart was thumping out of her chest as she slowly and carefully walked into her house. she glanced around the room and saw her father sitting in a beat up old leather chair, his eyes were closed. she thought he was asleep so she began to walk past the chair on her way to her bedroom, but he suddenly grabbed her arm firmly.

"where the hell have you been?" he said softly yet harshly. the girl whimpered. she wanted to start crying but she tried to stay strong.

"i was studying with a friend, sir." she muttered. her father grunted and squeezed her arm even harder. she knew she would have a rather large bruise later.

"was this friend a boy?" he asked. millie quickly shook her head.

"no sir."

he shoved her to the ground. he laughed as she swiftly tried to get back onto her feet.

"i don't fuckin' believe you. get to your room slut."

tears started to run down her cheeks. she ran into her room and slammed the door. she didn't know why her father treated her the way he did. she just wanted to have nice, loving parents.

she just wanted to feel loved.