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"𝙐𝙎 𝙏𝙃𝙍𝙀𝙀 𝘼𝙂𝘼𝙄𝙉𝙎𝙏 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝙊𝙍𝙇𝘿,
𝙍𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏?"
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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐘 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐋𝐘, 𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐎 𝐈𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐘'𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐓. Ignoring the snarky comments from the rest of the class as well as the many reassuring nudges from Nas, Mollie sat in a stunned silence until the bell rang out to signal the lesson had finally ended.
She was quick to dart out of the room, to get away from the scene as fast as she could. Nas called after her in concern, about to follow her until she noticed Riz slip out of the room. Despite the urge to comfort Mollie, she knew it was probably best to give the couple space to figure things out.
As Riz left the room, the only thing on his mind was Mollie. He was reeling from the situation, but he thought it best to make sure Mollie was okay.
Or, at least, as okay as she could've been.
It didn't take long for him to catch up with her as she made her way down an empty corridor, desperate to get away from the scene and the many pairs of eyes.
"Mollie, stop." Riz called out as he got closer, and sure enough she halted in her tracks at the very sound of his voice. As she turned around, he couldn't quite make out the expression on her face. She was usually an open book to him, but not this time. Holding out a hand, he offered her a gentle smile. "Hey, come here-"
"Riz, why aren't you freaking out?" Mollie furrowed her eyebrows as her face contorted suddenly in anger and she ran a hand through her hair. "I swear, I am gonna kill that boy. I mean, who does he think he is exposing us like that? Now everyone knows, and they're gonna talk about us and make comments. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen and-"
As she spoke, all of the thoughts that were spiralling through her head came out and her tone shifted from anger to panic. Taking a step closer, Riz intertwined their hands and squeezed them gently to get her attention. "Hey, hey, hey. Take a deep breath."
In truth, he was freaking out and, like Mollie, he was both scared, confused and hurt. But at the same time, he wanted to be strong for Mollie, and that meant trying to make the best of a bad situation.
Rubbing his thumbs across her hands gently, he looked her in the eyes. "So maybe everyone knows about us, and it's not what we wanted to happen...but maybe it's for the best. I mean, we don't have to hide anymore, or keep it a big secret."
"I guess." Mollie bit down on her lip, knowing that Riz had a point. "I just wanted to be able to do this on our own terms, when we felt ready. Not like this."
"I know, I can't exactly say I wanted our relationship to be revealed like an episode of Jeremy Kyle." Riz chuckled lightly, earning a faint, momentary smile from Mollie. "Look, if you want, we can bunk off school together and forget about everything. Or, we can go in that canteen and show everyone that we don't care what they think or say. It's up to you."
"Bunking off sounds really appealing." Mollie muttered wistfully, enticed by the idea of forgetting about it all. But, letting out a sigh, she knew that she couldn't run away from it. They'd have to face up to it eventually, and it seemed there was no time like the present.
Meeting her boyfriend's gaze, she couldn't help the slight smile that graced her lips as she looked into his brown eyes, instantly feeling at home. No matter what, she always felt safe around him, as if nothing else truly mattered but them. Taking a deep breath, she squeezed his hands and gave him a nod. "Let's do this."
✰ ✰ ✰
"𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐄, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐏𝐋𝐄." Naveed smirked as Mollie and Riz approached their table, hand in hand.
It was lunchtime, which meant the canteen was packed full of students with prying eyes and gossiping tongues. As soon as they walked in, they gained some attention but Mollie tried her best to keep her head up straight and tune out the whispers and wolf whistles. But as they got closer to the group of teasing Year 12 boys, it was definitely getting harder.
"Where'd you guys disappear to after lesson, then?" Dan added with a smug smile, earning a nudge from Clint.
"I might have an idea."
The boys broke out into laughter, causing Riz to roll his eyes. "Shut up, you lot."
"Not going soft on us now you've got a missus?" Dan asked playfully, shooting a glance at Mollie. "What are you doing to him?"
Rolling her eyes and ignoring them, she turned to Riz with a light smile. "I'm gonna go find Nas and Missy."
"Do you want me to stay with you?" He asked, knowing what her answer was going to be but still feeling it was best to ask just in case.
"No, no, it's fine. I'll see you later, yeah?" Mollie shook her head quickly and pressed a kiss to his cheek before she could stop herself. Leaving the table as the boys broke out into a chorus of wolf whistles, she tried to ignore the burning flush on her cheeks as she walked over to her friends.
"There you are. You just disappeared after that lesson." Nas said with concern as Mollie slipped into the seat opposite."You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm good." Mollie replied unconvincingly, a huff escaping her lips. "Sorry for ditching you. My head was all over the shop."
"It's alright. I just wanted to make sure you were alright." Nas gave her a supportive smile, before biting down on her lip. "I hope you don't mind, I kinda told Missy what happened."
"Dunno why you'd be bothered. I mean, I'm pretty sure half the school know about it already." Missy shrugged before forking a chip into her mouth.
"Great." Mollie muttered sarcastically, running a hand through her hair. "I could practically feel everyone's eyes burning into us. I didn't know people would care so much."
"It's high school. People will make a big deal out of anything." Nas reasoned, hoping to reassure the brunette. "It'll have calmed down by tomorrow."
"I hope you're right." Mollie admitted.
"It will. I mean, it seems like forever ago that everyone was talking about Nas and Naveed snogging in the hallway." Missy pointed out with a slight smirk.
"Don't remind me." Nas groaned, shaking her head as if it would dispel the memory.
"To be fair, I'm surprised you and Riz didn't pull the same trick as Nas and Naveed when you walked into the canteen together." Missy teased, unaware of who was passing by as she said it.
"I'm surprised, too." Alya said, surrounded by her friends who had all overheard Missy as they were walking by. She wore an unimpressed expression on her face as she looked down at Mollie. "You skanks are all the same."
"Uh, Alya, what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Nas replied sharply, looking up at the girl angrily.
"It means that my brother can do so much better than someone like that." Alya replied, pointing towards Mollie.
"Oh, you've got to be joking." Missy shook her head in outrage, rising out of her seat so she was level with Alya. "You really think you're so much better than everyone else, don't you? With your flash house, and your sparkly hijabs."
"Missy, leave it." Mollie said quietly, desperate to avoid any confrontation.
"No, she needs to keep your name out of that big mouth." Missy continued. "Mollie, here, is a diamond and that brother of yours is lucky to be with her."
Alya let out a dry laugh at this. "Yeah right. My brother deserves to be with someone that has a future, not someone that will end up as a washed-up alcoholic that can't even get a job. Everyone knows that Mollie is going to end up like that useless father of hers."
With that, Mollie saw red and sprang up from her seat before she could think twice. She sprang towards the taller girl, grabbing onto her arms and trying to pull her towards the ground.
"Get off me, you skank!" Alya protested as she pushed back against the Wilson girl.
"Not until you take that back! You don't know anything about my family!" Mollie shot back.
The two girls grappled, trying to get a hold of each other in anyway they could. It was clear as they fought that all of their conflict throughout the school year was amounting into this explosive physical fight, and it wasn't pretty.
As students crowded around and their friends tried to pull them apart, the frantic sound of a whistle being blown was heard as Mr Simpson darted over towards the scene and tried to put a stop to it.
"What on earth is going on here?" He asked, causing the girls to reluctantly break apart and the crowd of students to go silent.
"She attacked me, Sir." Alya was the first to speak, pointing at Mollie as she straightened out her blazer.
"Is that true, Mollie?" The young teacher turned to her sternly.
"Only 'cause she were acting like a gobby bitch. She said-" Mollie tried to argue, but he wasn't having any of it.
"It doesn't matter what someone says to you. You don't attack them."
"Whatever." Mollie rolled her eyes, past the point of caring. "Can you just spare me the lecture and send me to isolation?"
Mr Simpson hesitated for a moment, before straightening himself out and trying to seem authoritative. "Well, uh, yeah okay. Isolation. Now."
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"𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔?" Cory said with a low voice as a disshevelled looking Mollie walked into the otherwise empty isolation room.
"Like you care." Mollie replied bluntly, not even looking at her brother as she pulled a chair out and sat down with a huff.
"God, you really are a right bitch, you know that?" Cory shot back venomously.
"Takes one to know one, doesn't it? Coming from the guy that was more than happy to sell his own sister down the river in front of the whole school instead of talking to her like an adult." Mollie rolled her eyes, before shooting him a glare.
"Well now you know how it feels to be betrayed by your own family member. Not very nice, is it?" Cory replied bitterly.
"You're unbelievable, Cory. Stop trying to take the moral highground after making a scene like that." Mollie responded, growing more riled up by the second.
Just as Cory was about to respond, however, the door of the isolation room swung open to reveal a hard-faced Miss Carter. "There you two are."
Mollie closed her eyes, a strained sigh leaving her lips as she anticipated the scolding that was about to come. But instead, Miss Carter's voice was filled with a sense of concern as an unexpected sentence left her mouth.
"It's Jordan."
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𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐋𝐘, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth as she stood outside of a large house in the much nicer part of town.
Miss Carter had informed the twins about their brother's recent behaviour, which included playing truant for weeks and fronting as a carer to the more affluent elderly citizens. It came as a shock to Mollie, who quickly felt both anger and guilt towards the situation.
Anger at her brother's actions, but also guilt that she'd been so caught up in her own life that she'd been completely distant from Jordan. She couldn't help but wander if he would have gone down the same path if her and Cory were there for him more often.
Breaking her out of her thoughts, Cory cleared his throat and shrugged off his blazer. "Here, take this."
Despite the fact that they hadn't exchanged a word since the isolation room and his tone of voice was blunt, there was a slight sense of care in Cory's action as he held out the gray blazer towards his sister.
Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, Mollie shook her head. "S'alright. I'm fine."
"Mol, you're quite clearly freezing. Just take it." Cory sighed. Despite the fact that they were definitely not on the best terms in that moment, he still couldn't shake away his brotherly instincts. "Please."
Mollie reluctantly took the blazer with a sheepish smile and put it on over her own. As much as she hated to admit it, Cory was right and she felt alot warmer now due to the extra layer.
The two fell back into a silence, with Miss Carter standing a small distance away as she was wrapped up in her own thoughts. After a moment, the sound of a front door opening could be heard and sure enough there was Jordan, dressed in his own clothes with a blue tabard over the top.
"And I thought she was joking when she said about the old ladies." Cory remarked, a slight hint of humour in his tone as he stood up straight.
Jordan stopped in his tracks, a sigh escaping his lips as he looked away. "Gonna grass me up to the police, then?"
"No. But this has got to stop, Jordan." Miss Carter said, furrowing her eyebrows and shaking her head slightly in disapproval. "You haven't attended school in weeks, and you're taking advantage of these vulnerable old people."
"I ain't taking advantage of anyone." Jordan replied quickly, his face screwing up into a frown.
"So you just took it upon yourself to become a home help, and you aren't getting anything in return for it?" Miss Carter asked, a sense of sarcasm in her voice as she gave him a pointed look.
Sheepishly, Jordan shrugged and let out a sigh. "Look, they give me change sometimes when I've been to the shop. Some of them even let me sleep on their couch a few nights. I don't ask for it."
"Does Stewart know about any of this?" Mollie asked with a frown, wondering how her uncle hadn't alerted them of this sooner.
With a slight shake of his head, Jordan looked down. "He's always so busy with the shop, and taking Lewis to his doctor's appointments that he barely even notices that I'm gone. In the days, he thinks I'm at school, and at night he thinks I'm at a mate's house." As he explained, his voice was filled with hurt. "Not like either of you bother to check up on me, either."
"I'm sorry, Jord. We've been selfish." Mollie admitted, a guilty expression on her face as she exchanged a shameful look with Cory.
"Whatever, I'm fine. Just leave me alone." Jordan replied bluntly, beginning to turn away.
"Jordan, you can't live like this. Not if we can help it." Cory said, making Jordan stop in his tracks and turn around.
"You make it sound like I've got a choice." The younger boy shook his head, struggling to see their point.
"You have got a choice." Mollie replied, a pleading look on her face as she took a step closer to Jordan. "Just hear Miss Carter out. Please."
Jordan didn't say anything, but instead looked to the teacher with the faintest glimmer of hope in his eyes.
"I've spoken to social services and they've finally agreed to place you in emergency foster care."
"I'd rather just look after myself." He replied sharply, backing away slightly.
"I don't believe you. I don't believe you are happy out here on your own. Without your friends, without your siblings." Miss Carter shook her head at him, seeing through the tough facade that he was putting up. "I think you're bored, and scared, and miserable. And I think if you don't get in this bloody car right now, you'll kick yourself."
"And if he doesn't, I will." Cory stepped forwards.
"Me an' all." Mollie added, offering Jordan a gentle smile to try and convince him.
The youngest Wilson stood in thought for a moment, debating the offer. As much as he thought of himself as independent and tough, it was secretly just a front. He knew Miss Carter was right, and he was miserable on his own.
And he didn't want to be miserable any more.
Letting out a sigh, Jordan brushed past his siblings as he walked towards the shiny car belonging to his teacher. "I'm getting in t'front."
✰ ✰ ✰
"𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐑𝐒- 𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐘, 𝐔𝐇, 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒." Mollie smiled as she jumped out of the car, followed by Cory. Miss Carter was going onwards with Jordan to sort out his foster care placement, but thought it was best to drop the twins back at home before doing so.
Watching the car drive off down the road, Mollie and Cory stood in an uneasy silence before making their way into their home.
"Want a tea?" Cory asked, earning a small hum of agreement from Mollie before walking towards the kitchen.
The room was an absolute mess, with a heap of papers and plates piled up on the table, as well as empty takeaway cartons and beer cans across the counters.
As Cory busied himself making the teas, Mollie leaned back against the counter with a soft sigh. "Will he be alright?"
"Dunno." Cory shrugged honestly, looking to his sister with an unsure expression. "Miss Carter seems to think so. I trust her."
"I do, too." Mollie replied with a small nod as the two fell into a mutual quiet, with nothing but the sound of the bubbling kettle between them. Lost in thought, Mollie stared at the wall until the sound of the kettle flicking jolted her out of her thoughts.
"We can't screw up again, Cory. We need to be there for him...for each other."
"You're right. Us three against the world, right?" Cory asked, a faint smile on his lips as he made eye contact with his sister.
She nodded, causing Cory to let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Mol I'm sorry for being such a dick these last few days, especially today. I was hurt, and I took my anger out in the wrong way. I should've spoken to you and Riz."
The tension that had been brewing between them over the past few days had died down after seeing Jordan. It reminded them that they needed to stick together and support each other no matter what, and it helped them put the situation into perspective.
"I'm sorry too." Mollie responded instantly, her voice soft and sincere. "I s'pose I was just so scared to tell you because I didn't want to mess anything up and lose either of you. It was selfish, I know, and it only made things worse."
"You'll never lose me, Mol. But you have to talk to me." Cory said honestly.
"I will, I promise." Mollie nodded firmly. "No more secrets."
"Good." Cory's lips twitched upwards into a slight smile before he turned to pour the teas and handed one to Mollie, as if it were some sort of peace offering.
She took it with a grateful sigh, clutching it in her hands while Cory took a sip from his own mug of tea before sighing.
"Look, what's done is done. If you wanna be with him, I'm not gonna stand in your way."
"You mean that?" Mollie's eyes went wide, looking up to him hopefully.
"I do. Today reminded me how much you and Jordan mean to me. I just want you to be happy." Cory admitted. "It might not be my favorite thing in the world, but if it's what you want then I won't fight it."
"I love you, Cory." Mollie smiled gently, both surprised and grateful.
"I love you, too." Cory responded, throwing an arm around her shoulders for a moment before puling away."Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go get ready."
"Ready for what?" Mollie furrowed her eyebrows.
"Naveed is performing at a comedy gig in town, you should come along." Cory explained.
"I'd love to." She said gently, nodding lightly.
"Great." Cory looked at her with a soft smile. "And...um, bring Riz if you'd like. I may as well start getting used to it."
"Really? You won't kill him?" Mollie asked, in complete shock. It was as if Cory in front of her was a changed man, not that she was complaining.
"I'll try not to. But if he tries any funny business whatsoever..." Cory's jaw clenched slightly, causing Mollie to roll her eyes playfully.
"I know, I know. He's dead meat."
"Exactly." Cory smirked.
The last few days had been difficult to say the least but, in that moment, the two siblings couldn't have been more relieved to have put everything behind them. Ultimately, they cared about each other and would be able to find a way of working through anything.
They shared a smile for a moment, just happy to be on good terms again.
"Now go get your lazy arse changed, or we'll miss Naveed's show." Cory said with a scoff as he walked towards the door.
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whoops late update, and a whole mess of a chapter but what's new.
we're coming towards the second half of series 2 and as of right now, I'm planning to continue writing series 3. I have some ideas already, and I know where I want it to go but if there's anything you'd be interested in seeing, do let me know! I'm open to suggestions!
will anyone be watching the new series of ackley? I'm in two minds about it because it'll be so different, but I guess I'm willing to give it a chance.
anyway, thank you for reading and stay safe <3