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"𝙄 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙆 𝙒𝙀'𝙍𝙀 𝘿𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀."

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𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐀 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐒, the students of Ackley Bridge stayed in pretty high spirits and many were happy when Chloe Voyle announced that she was having a party that night. While Nas and Missy politely (or in Missy's case, not so politely) declined the invitation, Mollie didn't find herself quite so lucky as she was pestered by both of her brothers and Riz to go along. So, as she finished applying her make up in the mirror of Chloe's bathroom, Mollie took a deep breath in the hopes that she wouldn't regret saying yes to coming along.

She made her way back to the kitchen, which was somewhat of a mess already. Bottles and cups littered the surfaces, and there were already several spillages of what Mollie could only hope was cider.

"Do you reckon Miss Keane has any idea about all of this?" Mollie asked as she approached Cory and Riz, who were both leaning against one of the counters with a can of cider in hand.

"I know she's pretty laid back, but I don't think even she would agree to this." Riz chuckled.

"Maybe not, but what Miss Keane don't know won't hurt her." Cory smirked with a shrug before taking another swig of his cider. "Plus, check out her alcohol collection."

Following where Cory was pointing, Mollie and Riz looked over to where Chloe was pulling out a plethora of spirit bottles from one of the cupboards.

"Holy shit, they've got more bottles than a bloody off-license." Mollie remarked with wide eyes, watching as Chloe began to mix some of the different drinks together in a glass. "Um, Chloe, you might wanna slow down a bit with those spirits."

"It's fine, drinks are on Miss Keane tonight!" Chloe waved her hand as if to dismiss Mollie's concern, her speech already slurred.

"I think what Mollie means is that it might not be the best idea to mix all them spirits together." Riz added with a grimace.

"Oh come on, I'm not a complete idiot. I'm adding a mixer." Chloe giggled as she poured in a splash of lemonade. "Plus, you only get one sixteenth birthday!"

"Alright." Mollie smiled unconvincingly before turning away from the younger girl who was now waving her arms sloppily in the air. "When she gets sick everywhere tonight, she can't say we didn't warn her."

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐁 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐘 𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓. Neon lights flashed through the sea of bodies on the dance floor as they moved along to the loud, pulsing beat of whatever party playlist the DJ had put on.

Mollie surveyed the dance floor with her eyes from where she was sitting at a table, observing the bodies that moved with a drunken euphoria. Coming to the conclusion that she was nowhere near drunk enough yet to have a good time, she turned to Cory and Riz who were also sitting down.

"Anyone up for doing some shots?" She asked, watching as matching grimaces immediately appeared on both of the boy's faces. "Oh, come on. It'll be fun! More fun than sitting on our arses and doing nothing."

The two boys exchanged an reluctant glance before nodding. Cory sighed. "Alright, fine."

"Great!" Mollie clapped her hands together excitedly. "I'll go get some, then."

"Do you want me to come help?" Riz offered as casually as he could, despite the concern in his eyes. He knew that Mollie was extremely independent and a downright force to be reckoned with, but it didn't stop him from worrying slightly at the idea of her walking through such a busy club on her own.

Mollie noticed his caring tone, but resolved that she'd be fine. She shook her head with a smile. "I'll be alright. Thanks, though, Riz."

She slipped away, weaving through the crowd of bodies to the bar. When she got there, she leaned against the bar to attract the attention of the bar man.

"Three tequila shots, please."

"That'll be five quid please." The barman nodded as Mollie handed over a five pound note and went to prepare the shots. As she waited, Mollie let her graze drift towards the dance floor again, where she could now see Jordan and Chloe. She couldn't help but smile at the way they danced together, hands intertwined and wide smiles on their faces. It was a pairing that she certainly didn't expect, but as long as her little brother was happy, that was all she cared about.

She was disturbed from her thoughts, however, by a voice from beside her.

"Mollie?"

The girl's heart stopped. Despite the disorientating music and loud mass of voices, she could recognize that voice anywhere. Swallowing nervously, she turned towards them with an awkward smile.

"Kieran...hi."

Nothing could've prepared her to see him again. The same piercing blue eyes, but this time showing signs of sleeplessness. The same mop of dark hair, but this time accompanied by somewhat overgrown stubble on across his jawline. But even still, he was the same roguishly handsome guy. He forced a smile as he, too, took in her appearance.

"You look, um, well." He muttered.

"Thanks...you too." She replied awkwardly. "What are you doing here?"

"Just here on a night out with some mates from work. I'm more of a pub guy myself, but for some reason the boys wanted to go clubbing...so here we are." His mouth formed a thin line as he stopped himself from rambling. "What about you?"

"It's a...friend's birthday." She answered hesitantly, wondering how on earth she'd found herself in this position- inches away from her ex boyfriend, awkwardly exchanging small talk.

"Nice." He replied, feeling just as uncomfortable and anxious. He took a sip of his drink to try and distract himself from the tension, but it did nothing to put him at ease. Deciding to bite the bullet, he stepped closer to the her. "I miss you, Mol. Ever since that day when you told me it was over...all I've done is miss you."

"Kieran, don't." Mollie muttered bluntly, averting her eyes from his gaze. "Don't do this. Not tonight."

"Please, Mol. I can't stop thinking about you, about what we had." Even though she'd looked away from him, Kieran kept his gaze firmly on Mollie. "Tell me you don't miss it too. Look me in the eyes and say it, and I promise I'll leave you alone."

"You know I can't say that, Kieran." She mumbled, causing a hopeful look to fill his eyes. "Of course I miss it, but that doesn't mean we should back together."

"Why not? Look, I know I messed up but-"

"Messed up? Slight understatement, babe." Mollie let out a dry laugh. "You knew how important trust was to me, and you broke it completely."

"I'm sorry...I really am." He pleaded. "But I know I can change, you've just gotta give me another chance."

Mollie rolled her eyes, glancing towards the bar for some sort of escape. Seriously, why was it taking so long to pour a few shots? She sighed and turned back to Kieran, standing up straighter. "I'm not gonna argue with you about this. We both got hurt, but all we can do now is let it go and move on with our lives. It's for the best."

"For the best." He repeated her words in a low sneer. "Guess I was wrong in thinking you'd actually want to fight for this."

Growing frustrated, Mollie let out a sigh of exasperation. But before she could reply, a sudden hand on her shoulder grabbed her attention. She turned to see an out of breath Riz.

"Mol, you've gotta come help. Chloe's just been sick everywhere and-" He stopped talking when his gaze landed upon Kieran, causing his eyes to widen. "Oh shit. I'll come back."

"No it's fine, Riz. I think we're done here anyway, aren't we?" Mollie said coldly, looking to Kieran with a stony expression. The two shared a moment's glance as Kieran searches her eyes with his own for any last sign of hope, but he found nothing. Resigning to the fact that it was probably over for good, he sighed and looked down to his feet.

"Yeah, we're done." He muttered before turning away. "Good night, Mollie."

And with that, all Mollie could do was watch as he disappeared into the crowd. She didn't quite know what emotion she was feeling as she watched him walk away, but she couldn't help but wonder if a small part of her was relieved. As bittersweet as it was, she'd officially closed that chapter of her life, and now she could actually begin to heal and grow.

But before she could do that, it seemed there was a drunk 16 year old that needed taking care of.

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"𝐈 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐈'𝐋𝐋 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐇𝐋𝐎𝐄'𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐘 𝐍𝐎𝐒𝐄." Mollie scrunched her nose up in disgust as she stood outside the club with Riz, waiting for Miss Keane to arrive.

"Me neither. It were disgusting." He, too, seemed repulsed.

A moment of silence fell between the two and Riz noticed Mollie looking down at the ground pensively. Nudging her foot with his own to grab her attention, he offered her a soft smile.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

Knowing exactly what he was talking about, Mollie bit her lip for a moment in thought.

"I dunno." She shrugged gently, not even quite sure what she was thinking. "Seeing him tonight took me by surprise, that's for sure. He kept asking me to take him back and give him a second chance, and for a split second I considered it."

"Really?" Riz asked, his tone not accusatory but more so just interested and full of care.

"Yeah. I mean, I really liked that boy and those emotions don't just go away overnight." She sighed. "But the more he groveled and tried to tell me he'd changed, I realised that I am actually better off without him. Even though it didn't feel that way at first."

"I'm glad you're healing." Riz admitted softly. "Maybe, in a way, it was a good thing you ran into him tonight. You know, to give you closure and all that."

"Yeah, definitely." She smiled softly for a moment, before breaking out into a chuckle. "Can't say that I imagined my night to go this way though. One minute running into my ex, and the next minute helping to clean a load of sick off Chloe."

"Not your idea of a wild Friday night?" Riz quirked an eyebrow.

"Surprisingly, no." She let out a laugh, pulling her jacket closer to her body for warmth.

"Where the hell is Miss Keane, anyway? Jordan called her, like, twenty minutes ago." Riz groaned.

"Probably off somewhere having an affair with Mr Quereshi." Mollie grinned. "Can't believe they're hooking up and sleeping together behind everyone's backs. How scandalous is that?"

Mollie noticed, however, that Riz wasn't smiling with her. In fact, his expression had become quite hardened. "You alright, Riz?"

"My dad...he's having an affair with Miss Carter." He blurted out before he could think twice, a secret that he'd kept for what felt like forever. But he couldn't keep it in any longer. "They're sleeping together."

"Holy shit. Your dad...and Miss Carter?" Mollie repeated, wide-eyed.

"Yep. I saw it." He spoke bluntly, before seeing Mollie's face twist from shock to disgust. "Shit. I don't mean I saw them, you know, actually sleeping together. I just mean I saw them, like, kissing. And to make it worse, my mum was only in the next room." He let out a dry, humorless laugh as he kicked at a stone.

"Riz, I had no idea. I'm so sorry." Mollie said, biting her lip. She didn't really know what to say, having failed to plan in her head for the eventuality of hearing that her friend's dad was sleeping with the head teacher.

He shook his head. "Don't be sorry. It's no one's fault but his...and Miss Carter's, obviously."

"Does he know that you know?

"I don't think so." He sighed. "He called me a chip off the old block earlier, as if I'd do something like that. As if I'm anything like him."

"You're nothing like him. You know that, right?" Mollie said softly, causing him to meet her gaze. "You're a good guy, Riz. You're kind, and sweet, and funny. You've got a good heart."

"You think so?" He asked with hopeful eyes.

"You're one of the nicest people I know. I mean, you're shivering in the cold with me waiting for Miss Keane when you could be inside with one of them girls that Cory was trying to set you up with. That's a pretty nice thing to do."

"I'm pretty sure those girls were almost as drunk as Chloe. I did not wanna get involved with that." He said with a chuckle, before looking at Mollie with a more gentle gaze. "Plus, I'd never leave you on your own."

"See what I mean? Making sure no one's on their own. Good guy." She smiled up at him, pinching his cheek playfully.

"You're so annoying. You know that, right?" He feigned irritation as he swatted her hand away, but couldn't stop himself from smiling.

"You love it, though." She smirked, making him roll his eyes playfully.

Before either of them could say anything more, the rushed sound of clacking heels against the pavement could be heard. Approaching them was Miss Keane, followed by a slightly slower Mr Quereshi.

"Where is she?"

"She's in the VIP section, Miss. With Jordan." Mollie answered.

"God, how did I know that boy would be involved?" The teacher scoffed, rolling her eyes .

"Miss, in all due respect, Jordan didn't do anything wrong." Riz defended him. "They were just having fun."

"Plus, he stayed with her the whole time. Held her hair back, got her water, heck he was the one that rang you up." Mollie added, feeling the need to defend Jordan.

Miss Keane, however, looked doubtful. "Look, Mollie, I know you want to defend your brother. But I know my Chloe, and this isn't like her." She didn't give either a chance to respond as she entered the club with a sigh, although Mr Quereshi gave them both a polite nod as he passed them.

"Well, looks like someone's not happy." Mollie raised her eyebrows, taken aback by Miss Keanu's flippant tone. Shrugging it off, she turned to Riz with a sheepish smile. "Wanna go get some chips? I'm starving."

Riz pretended to think for a moment, purposefully taking his time in answering which earned him a series of pokes to the shoulder from an impatient Mollie. "Alright, alright, chill! Come on, let's go."

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new chapter and new cover with some ✨winter vibes✨
in other news I'm so freaking excited to get series one out of the way and series two underway!!!!! not long now
thank u as always for reading <3