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"𝙄𝙏 𝙈𝘼𝙆𝙀𝙎 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙃𝙐𝙈𝘼𝙉 𝙏𝙊
𝙁𝙀𝙀𝙇 𝙇𝙄𝙆𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝘼𝙏."
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"𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐈 𝐃𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓? Telling Aaron, I mean." Nas asked, a strained sigh leaving her mouth as she looked at Mollie from across the kitchen island.
After revealing the truth to her brother, Nas had spent the night feeling completely torn up inside. He left shortly after to talk to Missy about it all, and since then the two girls hadn't heard anything from either of them. It worried them beyond measure, and so Mollie had agreed to stay over with Nas that night with the plan being that they would speak to Missy in the light of day. They didn't expect it to be an easy conversation at all, but it needed to happen.
Mollie slowly traced the edge of her mug in thoughts, before shrugging softly. "Dunno. I'm not entirely sure what the right thing to do in a situation like this would be. But the main thing is that at least he knows the truth now."
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." Nas nodded, running a hand through her hair as she realised she was going round in the same circle that she'd been all that night. "I just don't want Missy to hate us."
"I don't either, but we need to talk to her sooner rather than later." Mollie noted, bringing the mug up to her lips before drinking the rest of tea inside it and allowing the comforting taste to wash over her tongue.
"I know." Nas sighed, before glancing up at the kitchen clock. "Anyway, come on. We'd better go or we'll be late."
The two girls made for the door, linking arms as they walked. The air was crisp as they stepped outside, with the early morning glow of the sun bringing about a slight warmth. As they walked through the small garden, Nas stopped in her tracks on the patio as she spotted a blonde messy bun poking over the fence.
With wide eyes, she looked towards Mollie who silently gestured for her to take a deep breath. Figuring there was no time like the present, Mollie gently pulled Nas towards the fence, where they both climbed up on a small ledge below so that they could see over. There, stood in her bright pink dressing gown with an unusually calm demeanour, Missy silently pinned up washing on the line that hung across the small square of concrete.
Clearing her throat suddenly, Nas shut her eyes as if it would ease the tension that she could feel. "Don't be mad, but I did have to tell him."
"I know." Missy responded calmly.
While Nas and Mollie shared a hesitant glance, the door sounded shut as Aaron emerged from the house in his work gear. The dark bruise from the fight was still evident on his face, and his eyes held signs of a sleepless night. But despite that, he flashed a friendly smile at the two girls peeking over the fence.
"Y'alright? Morning." He made his way over to Missy, and leaned down to give her a short peck on the lips. "Alright, I'm off. I'll see you later."
Nas waited until he had disappeared, a look of complete bewilderment on her face as it seemed you'd be forgiven for thinking that the events of the previous night hadn't even happened. Everything seemed weirdly...normal.
"He actually understood what you did?" Nas furrowed her eyebrows, unable to hide her feelings any longer.
"What can I say? I was born to be loved." Missy said, with an unconvincing smile that faltered quickly.
"Missy, look-" Mollie began weakly, but the truth was that she didn't actually know what it was that she wanted to say. It didn't seem to matter, however, as Missy was keen to avoid any more conversation.
"Have a good day at school. I'm gonna exfoliate my feet." Missy picked up the wash basket as she made her way towards the door, leaving the two other girls to simply watch in silence.
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𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐀 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐇 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐋𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐃. The recent events had certainly been weighing on her mind, and needless to say, learning about cell division wasn't helping in the slightest.
"I can't be arsed for this anymore. Wanna scrap it and watch Netflix instead?" She looked up hopefully at Riz, who was sat across from her with a textbook in his hands. Judging by the unimpressed look on his face, it was safe to say that he was feeling the same way.
"Thought you'd never ask." He said, leaning his head back in exhaustion and throwing the book onto the bed. "As long as its not another horror film. You know how I felt about the last one."
"Wait, were you scared? There was me thinking you were just using it as an excuse to hold my hand the whole time." Mollie said teasingly, causing Riz to roll his eyes.
While Mollie grabbed her laptop to set it up, Riz gathered up the textbooks they'd been using and leaned down to place them on the floor by the bed. But when he looked down, his eyes shifted towards something that looked like a leaflet that had fallen from Mollie's bedside table.
Studying Mental Health Nursing.
His eyebrows furrowed together for a second in confusion, as it was something that he'd never heard her mention before. While he didn't want to be invasive, he couldn't help but pick it up in curiosity.
"What's that?" Mollie asked as she noticed something in his hands, but it didn't take long for her to realise.
"I wasn't snooping, or anything, I promise. It was just-" Riz stopped defending himself, and looked up to meet Mollie's eyes. "Nursing?"
"Never seen that before. Must've picked it up by accident at the fayre, or something." Mollie replied dismissively, leaning forward to take it from his grasp.
"You're a terrible liar, Mol." Riz chuckled, a light smile gracing his lips. "Is this something you want to do? Honestly?"
"Dunno." Mollie shrugged defensively, before sighing. As guarded as she was, she felt as though it wouldn't hurt to let her walls down slightly. If there was one person she could be completely honest with, Riz had proved that it was him. And plus, she couldn't help but wonder whether it might actually be helpful to have a second opinion on it. "It's just an idea, you know? I've just seen how it's helped my dad, and thought it were something I could do."
Riz nodded intently. "I think that sounds amazing. Honest."
Mollie's lips quirked upwards ever so slightly and she held fleeting eye contact with Riz for a short second, before looking back down at her bed. "It'll probably come to nothing, anyway. Not like I'll get the grades."
"Hey, don't say that. You're a lot smarter than you ever give yourself credit for." Riz spoke wholeheartedly, and Mollie wandered for just a moment whether he could be right. She'd always doubted herself, mainly because she'd learnt throughout her life that having high hopes for things only led to disillusionment. Whereas she believed that if you expect disappointment, you can never really be disappointed.
But something within her yearned to take the chance of hoping for once, and to actually go for what she wanted. Sighing, a small smile settled on her lips as she moved in closer to him. "Thanks, Riz. You always know what to say."
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"𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐇𝐄'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆." Missy leaned back against the fence that faced out onto the road. The usual morning bustle was evident, with families piling out of their houses ready for the day ahead and children in their school uniforms exchanging chatter as they met up with each other. Aaron, however, with his usual grin and bounce in his step was nowhere to be seen, and hadn't been since the day before.
As she'd explained to her best friends after sending an SOS text, Missy had ran into her own mum in town and it led her to question what is was that she really wanted to do with her life. Ultimately, she realised that starting a family wasn't what she wanted, not yet anyway.
Telling Aaron about her decision, however, led to him walking out and telling her they were done. Over.
The whole situation had left Missy feeling empty, but to see him walk out like that only made her feel even more broken. It resulted in a sleepless night for the blonde girl, as she tossed and turned constantly, wondering whether this was really the end. Whether he was walking out of her life as well as out of their home.
"Tried his family home phone?" Mollie asked softly.
"Better yet, maybe we could just go round to his mum's?" Nas suggested.
Missy, however, didn't respond and instead just stared off into the distance for a moment. Finally, she exhaled deeply and looked at the two girls opposite her. "I need your help. Will you both come to the clinic with me? I can't do it on my own."
"Of course, Miss." Mollie said without a second of hesitation, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders while Nas firmly nodded in agreement.
"Anything. You know that."
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"𝐈'𝐌 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋." Missy muttered lowly, her voice slightly muffled as she was nestled between her two best friends on the sofa. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and she felt completely hollow inside as she stared at the chipped paint on the wall.
"Good." Nas mumbled, a gentle smile working its way onto her lips. "'Cause you know, we've been eating really healthy, doing all our homework, we've even been working during breaktimes."
Missy let out the lightest of laughs, the first in a while and she looked between her two best friends.
"I know. Who would've thought we'd be such tryhards without the influence of Missy Booth?" Mollie added softly, stroking the blonde's with a caring touch.
"Might try hard myself for a few weeks." Missy mumbled with a tired voice. "I do want to try. The baby, what I did...I'm scared. Scared of trying, mucking it all up. Its not right, is it?"
"I think it makes you human to feel like that, Miss." Mollie admitted honestly, tucking a few stray pieces of hair behind the girl's ear. "But you're brave, and you're strong as hell. And you've got two best friends that will stand by your side through it all, okay?"
Although the thought of the future made Missy feel scared, lost and overwhelmed all at once, she wasn't alone in that. And, in that moment, she had two girls on either side of her that made it all feel that little bit less terrifying. She let out a deep sigh, the corners of her mouth turning upwards weakly. "Yeah. Okay."
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hi! back from the dead haha!
sorry its been so long, my exams have had me so busy and will continue to for a lil bit longer but wanted to get a new chapter out before the new year. thank you soooo much for 150k reads, and thank you if you've been patient enough to stick with this book haha!! love to all and happy (early) new year!!! <333
ps we're only two chapters away from series 3 ahhhh can ya believe it?!?!