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"𝙄'𝙈 𝙂𝙇𝘼𝘿 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙆 𝙄 𝙃𝘼𝙑𝙀 

𝘼 𝙉𝙄𝘾𝙀 𝙉𝙊𝙎𝙀."

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"𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐘, 𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐀 𝐂𝐔𝐏 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐄𝐀?" Mollie yelled from the kitchen whilst buttering a slice of toast for herself. She heard some sort of grunt that she assumed was just him agreeing and began to set up the mugs when a knock sounded at the door.

"Who the hell is coming to our door at half seven in the morning?" Cory shouted from upstairs, confusion in his tone.

"Dunno. But wouldn't it be great if there was a way of finding out?" Mollie's voice dripped with sarcasm as she shouted back up to him and walked through the cluttered hallway towards the front door. Opening it up, she was filled with shock at the sight of her PE teacher on the doorstep. "Mr Bell? What you doing here?"

"Mrs Carter, she's asked me to fetch Jordan. Just to, uh...make sure he's alright, you know. Keep an eye out in case there's any trouble." He informed the girl with an unconvincing smile.

"Sorry sir, he's already gone." She told him plainly, just as confused to her younger brother's whereabouts as he was.

He sighed but gave her another polite smile before heading back to his car. "Alright, cheers Mollie."

She closed the door behind her, shaking her head in confusion as Cory came down the stairs and followed her to the kitchen. "Was that Mr Bell? What the hell did he want?"

"He wanted to know where our kid was, said Mrs Carter sent him."

"Weird." Cory muttered while fiddling with his tie. "Speaking of Jordan, has he said anything to you about that bruise by his eye? Unless he got elbowed by a Year 7 like you did, I have no idea how he got it."

"Firstly you need to shut up about that or I'll break your nose." Mollie fired at him, since he'd been teasing her relentlessly for it. Luckily, the purple bruising had died down and it wasn't anything that she couldn't fix with a bit of concealer. "But no. Jordan hasn't said a single word to me."

"Me neither. I just wish he'd talk to us sometimes. Let us know what's going on in that head of his." Cory admitted with a sad tone and his sister hummed in agreement. After a moment of thoughtful silence between them, Cory let out a frustrated sigh and threw his tie at Mollie. "I'm useless at this. Will you do it for me?"

"Only if you promise to stop making fun of me for getting elbowed by a Year 7?" She reasoned with him, pointing at him accusingly.

Smirking, he held his hands up in defense. "Fine, I promise. Only because I'm the best brother in the world."

"You wish." She rolled her eyes at him jokingly, but deep down she couldn't deny how appreciative she was to have Cory as her twin.

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"𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐓 𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋." Missy complained, shaking her head as she stood with Mollie and watched some of the boys playing football in the quad. "Do you reckon Kieran could set me up with someone he works with? I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted a real man. Maybe a builder or something."

"I can ask him if you want. He has plenty of fit colleagues." Mollie shrugged with a smile, completely oblivious to the football that was heading in the direction of her head and only just skimmed past her. Glaring at the boys who had kicked it, Mollie let out a frustrated huff. "I will sue, swear to God!"

Missy cracked a smile at the Wilson girl, but it was cut short when she saw a group of girls heading towards them in the corner of her eye. One of them being Nas. Rolling her eyes at the girl she once called her best friend, she let out a dry laugh.

"I sneak out to go drinking, but I want to make sure everyone in the school knows that I'm a good girl."

The leader of the pack, Alya, gave the two girls a dirty look before turning to Nas. "You're right shot of those slappers."

Mollie' mouth hung open at her venomous words and she grabbed Missy's hand protectively. Even though Nas didn't say anything, it was hurtful that she didn't even try to defend them. "I thought she was our friend."

Missy took a breath to regain her composure, before her face hardened. "Well she ain't, is she?"

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𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐕𝐈𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐓 as she made her way to English. Taking it out, her heart stopped when she saw who was calling her and snuck into the nearest empty classroom.

"Dad?" She answered hesitantly, but he was already shouting down the phone.

"I've just had school on the phone! Jordan's skipping school and he won't answer any of my calls." His voice was full of anger and fury, and it would be a bare faced lie if Mollie said it didn't scare her. "The stupid boy is asking for a slap. Where is he?"

The Wilson girl's protective instincts kicked in and she knew that once more, she had to help her brother out and save him from the wrath of their Dad. "I'll find him, Dad, and I'll get him to school. I'll sort it."

She hung up quickly before he could shout at her anymore and quickly dialed Jordan's number instead. He picked up after a few rings, causing Mollie to let out a breath of relief.

"Mollie?"

"Jordan, what's going on? Where are you?" When he didn't reply she spoke up again, but this time with a gentler tone. "Are you in trouble? Whatever it is, we can sort it. I can-"

"It's nothing. I'm fine." He interrupted and tried to reassure her, although his voice sounded shaky and unsure.

The Wilson girl pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, knowing that there was no point pushing Jordan any further. If he didn't want to tell her what was going on right now, there was clearly a reason for that and she'd need to respect that. "Look, Jord, I love you. But just get to school, alright? If not for dad or the teachers, then for me at least?"

He was silent for a minute before letting out a sigh. "Alright, fine." He said before hanging up.

Taking a deep breath, Mollie ran a hand over her face- she hadn't been to a single lesson but she was already exhausted. She left the room and started walking to English, trying her best to come up with an excuse as to why she was so late but her attention was quickly taken away from that by a scene she never thought she'd see. Ever.

Cory and Nas. Kissing.

"What the hell?" She exclaimed in confusion, trying to wrap her head around it. They broke apart instantly, but it was too late as Missy suddenly appeared and began shouting at Cory. "Stop! You slimy, seedy, lying-"

"What?"

"Half the school knows what I told you! Didn't think you were gonna do it!"

"Course you did!" He tried to argue back, but Missy wasn't having any of it. "You shouldn't have done it!"

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on right now?" Mollie looked between the three of them.

"I told him to get you so he could have me." Missy turned to Nas, pointing at Cory.

"Because she's a psycho-" He began, earning a glare from his sister. Even if Missy was in the wrong, Mollie wouldn't let anyone insult her best friend. "But just then, she kissed me!"

"Yeah right!" Missy scoffed, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "You're lucky if you ever shake my hand, let alone anything else now!"

"Missy, what kind of twisted screw up are you? Trying to get me off with the walking STD!" Nas fired back.

The brunette knew it wasn't the time to be laughing, but she couldn't help but snicker a little as Cory's face dropped in offense. "Oi!"

Nas, however, ignored them and only stepped towards Missy even closer and with even more anger. "And that's somehow gonna make you any less of a slag?"

"Alright would ya both pack it in and stop acting like little kids?" Mollie raised her voice, trying to get between them, but they just ignored her and kept screaming at each other.

"Why are you not in class?" The sound of Mrs Carter's voice silenced all four students and broke Missy and Nas apart. "My office now."

While Nas and Missy stormed after Miss Carter, Cory let out a groan at the situation. Rolling her eyes at him, Mollie slapped the back of his head in frustration. "You're such an idiot, Cory."

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐃, but the bad news was that Missy and Nas were still at complete loggerheads with each other which was not fun for Mollie to be in the middle of.

She let out a huff as she grabbed a sandwich from the canteen when Mrs Paracha nodded her over for a chat. "You need to sort them two out. I've never seen them this bad."

Knowing exactly who she was talking about, Mollie sighed. "Me neither. But I don't know if I can fix it. I think they might be done with each other for good."

"Nonsense!" She shook her head violently at the girl. "You're coming over later and we're gonna fix it, eh? I'll make dinner and everything."

If there was anything Mollie knew about Mrs Paracha, it was that she would not take no for an answer so she felt like she had no choice but to agree. But alsoknowing that the woman was the best cook in Ackley Bridge, the Wilson girl figured that maybe being Missy and Nas' relationship councilor wouldn't be so bad if she'd get a free meal out of it. "All right. I'll do it."

"Good, I'll see you at 6 then, yeah?" At the girl's agreement, a grin took over Kaneez Paracha's face as she patted her shoulder happily and handed her an apple from the counter. "Here. On the house, as a thank you."

"Wow, thanks Mrs P." Mollie smiled sarcastically at her, watching the woman chuckle at her as she walked away.

Apple in hand, Mollie made her way to the Sixth Form Hub and saw Nas sitting with her new possey of friends. She looked like a complete outsider, but as sad as she felt for her, the brunette thought it was best to leave her be for now and avoid causing any more trouble.

She slumped down on a seat and took a bite from her apple, when after a moment she felt someone sit down beside her.

"So, how's your nose then?"

She looked up to see Riz smiling down at her, a look of both amusement but also interest on his face.

"You know what, it's a lot better. Turns out the impact of a year 7's elbow isn't actually life threatening."

"Who knew." He chuckled, a smile playing on his lips. "Not getting that nose job, then?"

"Nope." She said with a firm shake of her head, before furrowing her eyebrows in mock offense. "Unless you think I need one, that is?"

Riz's eyes widened in panic, having not meant to insult the girl. "No, no, your nose is okay. Well, not okay as in bad, but it's...you know. It's good. It's nice. It's, um, a nice nose."

Watching him stammer and scratch the back of his neck in an attempt to reassure her, Mollie couldn't help but smirk. Of course, she wasn't offended at all, but it was cute to see him flustered.

"Don't worry, Riz. I'm joking." She cracked a smile. He rolled his eyes at first, but smiled back as Mollie poked his shoulder lightly. "I'm glad you think I have a nice nose, though."

"Shut up." He gave her a playful shove in return, and the two chuckled. "You hyped for double biology this afternoon then?"

Groaning in annoyance, Mollie clapped a hand over her face. "Shit! I forgot all about that! I didn't even do the homework, either."

"You are hopeless, Mollie." He let out a laugh and shook his head, before reaching into his designer bag and taking out his biology book and passing it to Mollie. "Here. But make sure you change it a bit so it's not obvious. And next time, you've gotta let me copy your homework."

"Deal." Mollie agreed instantly, a beaming smile taking over her face as she grabbed the book. "Thank you so much, Riz. You are an actual life saver, you know that ,right?"

"I've been told." He smirked, chuckling in amusement as he watched the girl start on her work, his heart fluttering slightly at the look of concentration on her face.

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