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"𝙅𝙐𝙎𝙏 𝙁𝙊𝙇𝙇𝙊𝙒 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝙍𝙊𝙈𝙀𝙊,
𝙒𝙄𝙇𝙇 𝙔𝘼?"
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"𝐍𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐄𝐃, 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐈𝐌!" Nas pleaded with the tall boy as they stood outside, waiting for Mr Quereshi's memorial service to begin.
"What's the point? He hates me." Naveed responded, his tone filled with despondence as he shot a glance over at Cory.
"Who hates you?" Mollie asked inquisitively as she approached the pair, crossing her arms over her chest to keep herself warm in the crisp morning air.
"Uh, no one." Naveed quickly muttered, before slipping away from the two girls.
Mollie raised her eyebrows at his sudden departure, shuffling closer to Nas. "Looks like someone got out of bed on the wrong side today."
"Shut up, you." Nas chuckled before looping her arm through Mollie's and huddling closer to her. "Keep us warm, would ya? It's bloody freezing."
"Says the one with the velvet coat." Mollie fired back with a smirk, nodding towards her thin denim jacket as if to further her point.
"Actually, it's velour. Think I'm made of money, babe?" Nas giggled, earning a laugh from Mollie. As the two girls turned their attention back towards the teachers, they were distracted once more by a familiar voice.
"Nas?"
"Oh Missy, please just stay away from me." Nas rolled her eyes, still not on good terms with the blonde after her involvement in the catfishing situation.
"All I wanted to do was stop your mum from doing owt stupid. I never meant to hurt you, I swear." Missy explained with a defensive tone.
"Look, I just really wanna pretend that it ever happened, okay?" Nas said, finally making eye contact with Missy.
Missy nodded understandingly and shoved her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket, an awkward silence lingering between the three girls. After shifting awkwardly on her feet for a moment, Missy couldn't help herself from voicing what was on her mind.
"Does that mean we can talk about me now?" She blurted out, earning a tentative nod from her two best friends. "It's Aaron. Said he loved me, didn't he?"
"Oh my God, Missy!" Mollie squealed, causing everyone in the crowd to turn towards the three girls. Noticing the sudden eyes upon them, she tried to style it out by clearing her throat and scratching the back of her head awkwardly.
"That's amazing, Missy." Nas whispered with a beaming smile, more aware of their surroundings than the Wilson girl had been.
"No it's not." Missy pouted, before sighing. "We were getting on fine and then he goes and does this."
"Oh no! A nice, good-looking guy telling you he loves ya." Mollie said with a sarcastic tone, shooting the blonde girl a playful smirk. "You poor thing."
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𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐖 𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐈𝐙, 𝐀 𝐂𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃. After their kiss in the locker room and their constant flirtation since then, she was clear in her feelings for the boy and had finally built up the courage to talk to him about it.
Despite how nervous she was, she flicked her freshly washed hair over her shoulder and dusted down her skirt. Not that she'd admit it, but she'd definitely made an extra effort with her appearance with that conversation in mind.
Approaching his locker, she continued to take deep breaths and cleared her throat to get his attention. When he looked up, she offered him an awkward smile. "Riz. Hi."
"Hi." He replied, although it came out as more of a question than a greeting as he could sense her awkwardness from her expression alone.
"We need to talk." She said assuredly, having rehearsed those words about a million times to herself. But as Riz nodded in agreement, the Wilson girl realised that she hadn't really planned much further than that and was now completely stuck on what to say. Looking down at her hands, she bit her lip. "So, um, the kiss."
That was all she managed to utter as their conversation was cut off by the sound of Missy's voice, loud and angry as the blonde stormed over.
"I want a word with you!"
"MIssy, leave it!" Hayley called out desperately as she trailed behind, but Missy ignored this as she pulled Mollie's arm so that she was facing her.
"Tell Lewis to keep my Hayley out of that big gob of his, or it won't just be his neck that's broken!"
"You tell her, Missy!" Dan called out with a smirk, part of the crowd that was rapidly forming around the two girls.
"You can shut your face and all. Does it make you feel like the big man, talking trash about my sister?" Missy spat, turning to the boy with venom in her eyes.
"Hang on, what the hell is going on?" Mollie asked, her eyebrows furrowing as she genuinely had no idea what Missy was talking about.
"Lewis has been shooting his mouth off about Hayley. Telling all the boys in their group chat that she's done stuff for him." Missy said, causing Mollie's eyes to widen.
"Missy, I had no idea. I-" Mollie's explanation was cut off when she felt a painful sting on her cheek as Missy struck her with a forceful slap. Her hand instantly rose to clutch her cheek, tears welling in her eyes from the impact of it.
The crowd around them began to cheer them on, growing excited at the possibility of a fight. But as she watched on helplessly, Hayley felt as though she needed to put a stop to this. Closing her eyes tightly, she drew in a sharp breath before opening her mouth.
"Missy, he's telling the truth!"
The whole corridor fell silent in a millisecond, so much that the sound of a pin drop would seem deafening. Everyone turned towards Hayley, including Missy who looked at her sister furiously. "What did you just say?"
"I'm sorry." Hayley said simply, her bottom lip quivering as she met Missy's eyes. But it seemed that it wasn't just her sister that was upset as she heard the voice of her best friend.
"You devious little cow!" Razia's voice was filled with hurt, and that was the last straw for Hayley who quickly ran away, her eyes brimming with tears.
Missy followed her down the corridor, leaving the crowd of teenagers both disappointed at the short-cut fight, but also confused as to what was actually going on.
Turning to Mollie, Riz placed a hand gently on her arm and looked at her with concern, wanting to make sure she was alright. Well, as alright as one can be after a bitch slap from Missy Booth. "Mol, are you okay?"
Of course she was reeling from the slap, but in that moment, she was more concerned by her cousin's treatment of Hayley. The younger Booth was like a little sister to her and so she would always look out for her, especially in a situation like this. But as she thought about Riz's close friendship with Lewis, Mollie felt a sense of dread build in her stomach. Looking him in the eyes, she ignored his question entirely and posed one of her own.
"Did you know about Lewis' messages in that group chat?"
Riz didn't reply, but instead bit his lip and looked down at his shoes guiltily. That was enough of an answer for Mollie, who shook her head incredulously at him. "I can't believe this. You didn't think to tell me that he was sending round disgusting things about my best friend's sister?"
"Please, let me explain."
"Save it, Riz. You're just as bad as him." She spat angrily before storming off in the direction that Hayley had gone, desperate to comfort the younger girl that was no doubt feeling incredibly upset.
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"𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆?" Mollie hissed at Lewis as she barged into his living room and grabbed his phone out of his hands.
"Oi! What the hell are you doing here?" Lewis asked, startled.
"I let her in." Jordan said with a smirk as he popped his head around the door frame. "Good luck, mate. She's proper pissed."
"Cheers, Jord. Definitely couldn't have worked that one out for myself." Lewis mumbled sarcastically as his younger cousin disappeared up the stairs, leaving him to face Mollie's wrath alone. "What have I done now?"
"You seriously don't know?" Mollie furrowed her eyebrows, but Lewis simply shrugged obliviously. Rolling her eyes, she scoffed. "What the hell was that crap that you pulled with Hayley?"
"I dunno what you're talking about." He replied, although his shaky voice and lack of eye contact seemed to say the exact opposite.
"Don't play dumb. Unless your brain got broken an' all, you know exactly what I'm talking about." Mollie rolled her eyes. "You made her do stuff for you, and then went and told all your mates like you're the big man or something."
"I didn't make her do anything she didn't wanna do, I swear." Lewis said quickly in defence. "Plus, I only told a few of my mates."
"And you thought they were gonna keep it a secret?" Mollie asked incredulously, causing Lewis to nod sheepishly. "It's alright for you, you're a teenage boy and you can get away with stuff like this. But Hayley's the one that's getting called a slapper."
At that, Lewis looked up instantly, his brown eyes filled with a guilty expression. "Wait, are people really calling her that?"
"What do you think, brainiac? Unlike you lads, girls don't get praised with a pat on the back for stuff like this. They're the ones that get shamed for it." Mollie rolled her eyes, thinking back to some of the cruel things she'd heard people say about Hayley only a few hours ago.
Chewing down on his bottom lip, Lewis took in Mollie's words and felt his guilt intensify. The truth was that he really did care about the younger Booth sister, but in the moment he'd let his ego get in the way. He let out a sigh and looked up at his furious cousin. "I've really messed up, haven't I?"
"No shit, Sherlock." Mollie snapped, her voice charged with both sarcasm and fury. But despite her anger with the boy and his actions, she could tell just how felt guilty he felt about hurting Hayley. Lewis had always been an open book with his emotions, and today was no exception as he looked down at his hands ashamedly.
She took a deep breath as she finally handed him back his phone. "Look, I've gotta head back for the dress rehearsal of the play. But in the mean time, you have got some serious apologising to do, alright?"
"I know. I'm gonna put things right." Lewis nodded with assurance, swallowing back the lump in his throat. "I think I love her, Mol."
"That's great, Lew. But just don't treat her like crap again, Hayley's a right gem." Mollie said with a faint smile as she thought about the younger girl that was like a sister to her.
"I know she is." Lewis replied, the corners of his lips tugging softly upwards as a blush crept onto his cheeks.
Satisfied that he'd learnt his lesson and was going to fix things with the younger girl, Mollie shot Lewis one last smile before heading towards the door. But before she could leave, she was stopped in her tracks as he spoke up again.
"Riz wasn't apart of it, you know?"
"You what?" Mollie asked, her eyebrows knitted together as she turned back around to shoot her cousin a confused look. "Who said anything about Riz?"
"Mol, it's so obvious that you like him." Lewis said with a knowing look, causing Mollie to scoff back at him as she crossed her arms defensively. "Deny it all you want, but I know you're practically in love with him. Which is why I also know that you'll be giving him a hard time for this. But you shouldn't, because he didn't say owt. He's a good guy, you just need to give him a chance."
Mollie bit down on her lip pensively. Lewis sounded so sure that Riz was innocent in the situation, and she couldn't help but wonder if that was true. She didn't even give him a chance to explain, and immediately put up her walls before he could try. "Look, I-"
She was pulled out of her thoughts by a buzzing sound from her pocket, and upon checking her phone, her eyes widened at the bombardment of texts that she'd received from Nas and Missy. "Oh shit, I've gotta go. I was meant to be there like fifteen minutes ago."
"Break a leg!" Lewis called after her as she quickly gathered her stuff to leave.
Sending him one last glance before she left, Mollie smirked. "Rather that than my neck."
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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘 𝐃𝐄𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃. With everyone done up in elaborate costumes and colourful make up, and Miss Keane finally making her reappearance after a tough few days, almost everything was coming together.
Making her way into the dressing room with a massive bunch of flowers in her hands, Lorraine wore an unimpressed expression as she made a beeline for Hayley. "Next time, get your boyfriend to do his own dirty work."
Hayley took the flowers in hand, her eyes scanning over them as a small smile graced her lips as she spotted a heartfelt note poking out of it. Fixated on the flowers, Hayley didn't notice the person that took the seat beside her until she heard the familiar voice of Mollie Wilson.
"Those from Lewis?" Mollie asked, although she already knew the answer. "Wow, who knew that he had such good taste in flowers?"
"I love him, Mollie." Hayley said quietly, biting her lip as she looked up at Mollie.
"You do?" Mollie asked with raised eyebrows, taken aback by the girl's confession. "Look, just be careful. Take it slow and-"
"I can look after myself, you know?" Hayley said confidently with a slight smirk. "Learned that from you, Missy and Nas, didn't I?"
"When did our little Hayley get so grown up, eh?" Mollie said, a playful smile on her lips as she looked down at the younger girl and ruffled her blonde topknot gently.
Hayley chuckled as she swatted Mollie's hand away, grateful to have another sister figure in her life. A smirk forming on her lips, Hayley poked Mollie's cheek and gave her a knowing look. "Now, I think there might be a certain someone you've been giving the cold shoulder that you need to make up with."
Mollie drew in a sharp breath, knowing exactly who Hayley was referring to. Standing up from the seat, she said a quick goodbye to the blonde girl and slipped out into the corridor. As she did, she was surprised to find Riz leaned against the wall a few metres away as he recited his lines to himself.
Making her way over to where he was standing, she tentatively leaned against the wall beside him, a small gap between them. "Hey."
"Hi." Riz replied with a small smile as he looked over to her. "Look, I'm sorry-"
"It's okay, Riz." Mollie stopped him, shaking her head gently. "I know you didn't send any of those messages. I should've heard you out in the first place."
"Yeah, well, I shouldn't have just ignored those messages. I mean, if they were talking about you or Alya like that, I would've killed them." Riz admitted honestly with a sigh. "Is Hayley okay?"
"Surprisingly, she's great. She insisted that she can take care of herself, and I swear I felt like a proud mum." Mollie chuckled, earning a small laugh from Riz. After a moment, a silence fell between them and Mollie broke it with a sigh. "I'm sorry I didn't hear you out. God knows my trust issues are bad enough already, and I guess I just freaked out a little bit that maybe you'd tell them about us. About...the kiss."
"I wouldn't do that. Not unless you wanted me to." Riz shook his head firmly, a genuine look in his eyes. "You mean alot to me, Mol. And, uh...so did the kiss."
"It meant alot to me too, Riz." Mollie replied honestly as she looked into his dark eyes, filled with sincerity. Taking a deep breath, she stood up a little straighter and turned towards him.
He mirrored her actions so that he was looking down at her. Lifting his hand slowly, he cupped her chin gently and lifted it slightly so she was looking up at him. They held eye contact for a moment as they searched each other's eyes, and Riz realised how much he'd missed her, even if it was only a day since they'd spoken.
Hie gaze shifted between her hazel eyes and her plump lips coated with shimmering lip gloss.
"Maybe we could try again?" He asked with a gentle murmur, causing Mollie to nod in an instant. Lowering his head, he closed the gap between them and pressed his lips against hers. Mollie felt herself melt into the kiss, her hands resting instinctively on Riz's broad shoulders as he placed his on her waist. It was deeper than their first kiss, and somehow even more perfect.
They pulled away, a sheepish smile on Mollie's face as she looked up at him.
"So we're good?" Riz asked, quirking an eyebrow at the girl.
Mollie feigned a thoughtful expression for a moment, before breaking out into a smile. "Yeah, we're good."
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"𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐒, 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐆!" Simone beamed as the three best friends walked into the hall after the play had finished, grins plastered on their faces.
The show had gone without a hitch and, to make it even better, Aaron had turned up halfway through to surprise Missy.
"What did you think?" Nas smiled as she looked towards her half brother that she'd grown a fondness for recently.
"Uh, yeah, it were great. I mean, I didn't understand a word of it, but you three were great." He said with a laugh, causing everyone to chuckle lightly at his honesty. Directing his gaze to Missy, Aaron nodded towards the exit. "Right, come on, we'd better get off."
"Where?" Missy furrowed her eyebrows, wondering if she had somehow forgotten that they'd made plans that evening.
"You'll find out when you get there, won't ya? Come on." Aaron said with a smirk.
Turning to her best friends with a worried look, Missy let out a nervous chuckle. "We all know how this ends, don't we? Me lying dead in some ditch."
"Oh Missy, do as you're told for once." Nas said with a sigh, waving the blonde girl away.
"Just follow your Romeo, will ya?" Mollie added with a smile, causing Missy to finally give in and take Aaron's hand.
The couple disappeared out of the hall, and Mollie turned to Nas with a grin. "What now?"
Nas hummed in thought for a moment before breaking out into a smirk. "We could go back to mine and watch Gogglebox?"
"Sounds like the perfect night to me!" Mollie giggled, before hearing the sound of a notification from her phone. Taking it out, she had to squint at it due to the fake eyelashes that she was wearing. "Riz just text me asking me to meet him by the field. I can ask him if it can wait until tomorrow or-"
"Nuh-uh. You are going to meet him." Nas shook her head with a smirk.
"But Gogglebox." Mollie said, feeling guilty for leaving Nas to spend the evening with her mum and Mr Hyatt.
"Gogglebox can wait." Nas said softly, giving Mollie a genuine smile. "You told Missy to go get her Romeo, now go get yours!"
"Alright. I love you." Mollie said finally, feeling slightly nervous all of a sudden for some reason.
"Yeah, yeah, love you too. Now go!" Nas chuckled, practically pushing Mollie towards the door at this point.
Caving in, Mollie slipped out of the hall and found her way through the quickest route to the school field. Standing there slightly awkwardly, as promised, was Riz. A grin spread across his face as soon as he spotted her walking towards him, her dark hair blowing almost ethereally in the night air.
"Hi." She said softly as she stood to face him.
"Hi." He replied gently, looking down at her with a smile. "You're probably wondering why I asked you to meet me here."
"A little, yeah." She chuckled, trying to ignore the closeness between them and the way he was making her heart beat fast.
"So um, that whole play is about love, right? And, like, how powerful it is. How it can make you feel." Riz began before stopping himself from rambling and swallowing nervously. "I love you, Mollie Wilson. I really fucking love you."
As she registered his words, Mollie felt a rush of warmth run through her and her heart began to beat even faster than before. She couldn't stop the grin that formed on her face as the realisation dawned upon her: the feeling that she'd pushed away for so long, or refused to acknowledge...it was crystal clear now.
Looking up into his deep eyes, she felt herself melt under his gaze. "I fucking love you too, Riz Nawaz."
"I think I'm dreaming." He muttered under his breath, struggling to believe what he had just heard. Before he could stop himself, he grabbed both of Mollie's hands and held them tight in his own. "Mollie Wilson, will you be my girlfriend?"
"I'd love nothing more." Mollie replied with a wide grin, nodding her head in delight.
More than satisfied with that answer, Riz placed a hand on the back on Mollie's head and pulled her in to connect their lips. Neither of them could help themselves from smiling into the kiss, feeling the happiest that they'd ever felt.
Seriously, why hadn't they done this sooner?
The sound of a loud bang broke them apart, and when they looked up, they saw the bright glow of multicolour fireworks scattering through the sky.
"Hiring someone to set off fireworks? Ain't that a tad bit presumptuous?" Mollie chuckled, causing Riz to shake his head.
"That's got nowt to do with me. I'm not that arrogant." He let out a laugh. Placing an arm around Mollie's shoulders, he pulled her into his side as they both looked up at the electric colours bursting through the black of the night sky. "Pretty romantic though, ain't it?"
"Yeah, I guess it is." Mollie admitted with a soft smile, snuggling further into Riz as she tried to savour the moment of pure bliss. Her very own midwinter night's dream.
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possibly my longest chapter to date, but i literally couldn't miss anything out.
IT HAPPENED! RIZIE (?) IS REAL! its been a ride, but my babies are finally together!!!! eeeek!
alsoooo made a little change bc i feel it's important. i know that in the show hayley is 15, but we're gonna pretend that she's already had her 16th birthday. it just makes me v uncomfortable to write about if she's under the age of consent, so i'm gonna change it so that she isn't. hope that makes sense!
finally, i wanted to say thank you so, so much for 50k reads...like wtf!?! i say this alllll the time but i genuinely mean it from the bottom of my heart: thank you for all your love and support. this show means so much to me and i'm so glad i can share it with other people who love it like i do. <3333
thank you again, and love to all <333