Helpless » Fillie

| afire love |

The second Millie entered the bleak, humming corridors of Cabot Springs High, she was on the lookout for a tall, lanky boy with a knitted beanie atop his dark, wavy hair.

Deciding to go right to where Finn was supposed to be, she made a beeline for their homeroom. Checking there first would cause her to be marked tardy for transfer orientation, but she didn't care. She'd grown to develop a soft spot for Finn, though before last night at the library, she had never giving him as much romantic thought.

Yes, every once in awhile, she'd catch herself wondering what it would be like to kiss him or hold his hand beyond a platonic sense, but she always dismissed it. And even though he was one of Sadie's best friends–one of the popular kids–she knew Finn had always been reserved, withdrawn, and ever the observer.

Nonetheless, he'd always been there and Millie started to see Finn, really see him. He had been there for her like no one else ever had. He'd helped her, supported her, and comforted her when she had needed it.

"Millie! Hey! Where are you off to?" Sadie asked.

After their mall day, when Sadie had confessed the secrets their pack had spared Millie the burden of knowing, she was surprised how quickly she got over it. It was almost comical now how she thought the incident had almost plagued her mind with such disappointment for her new friends. She had only wanted to feel accepted, truly welcomed into the group, and their actions the past week had easily compromised for their previously sketchy behavior.

"Have you seen Finn?" Millie asked.

"Yeah. Earlier this morning, I saw him jogging." Sadie's eyes shifted away from her as she caught a glimpse of Caleb leaning on his locker, eyeing her from top to bottom. Flustered, she shuffled her feet from side to side.

"Like, before school started?" She cocked an eyebrow and shook her head when Sadie nodded. "Around here?"

Sadie nodded absent-mindedly then glanced at her watchless wrist. "Well, look at the time," she said. "Got to get to homeroom before the tardy bell. Bye Mills. I hope you find him!" She took off in the opposite direction. Millie shrugged.

When she reached their classroom, she peered inside, but he wasn't there. She pulled out her phone and sent him a text.

Where are you, Finn?

And here she was, late, but she didn't care. Maybe being a little bad would do her some good, especially when it came to Finn. She'd broken a rule with her mother and stayed out almost all night drinking slushies and giggling over various ambiguities with him, to which she couldn't regret–despite her tiredness–considering how fun that had been.

Wanting to relive it, she closed her eyes, and recalled what it felt like to have his face guzzled in her neck, his lips teasing her and his hands moving up and down her back to spots she didn't even know would make her jump until he laid his ghost-like touch on them.

Lost in thoughts of him, she hadn't realized a small white paper plunged from the gaping rectangular holes of her locker when she had hardly opened it. Millie kneeled to pick it up and to her shock, it was a card. She furrowed her eyebrows in curiosity, opening it. In sloppy black ink, the words written on the piece of paper read–

Meet me at the empty classroom in the North Wing, third left from the water fountain.

– FW