𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲 - 𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞

twelve

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"𝙀𝙉𝙇𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏𝙀𝙉 𝙈𝙀. 𝙒𝙃𝙊 𝙒𝘼𝙎 𝙄𝙏?"

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"𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐓 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐎𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐎𝐖𝐍?" A stern voice inquired, causing Missy to shake her head quickly as she perched on her sofa.

"No, mum's out. She works shifts in a factory, making biscuits." Nas and Mollie exchanged a suspicious glance at Missy's mistruth, but she simply gave them a pleading look.

The Booth girl had taken her friends' advice of calling the Doctor to report her Nana's death, but she was still petrified of losing Hayley. The two sisters were inseparable, besides Nana they were each other's whole world and Missy was determined that she wasn't going to lose them both. And if that meant telling a little white lie about her mum, then so be it.

"I tried calling, but couldn't get through. No breaks, it's practically slave labor, but what can you do?" She shrugged, looking up to see if the doctor had believed her.

He offered her a sympathetic smile while closing his notebook, which provided Missy a small bit of reassurance that maybe she could get away with it. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you Doctor." She nodded solemnly while Mollie opened the door for the Doctor and saw him out. As soon as he was gone, Missy let out a deep breath and put her head in her hands.

"Do you wanna stay at mine, Miss?" Mollie asked sympathetically, joining Nas who had gone over to comfort the blonde.

"It's alright. Hayley will be back soon. And your families will be wondering where you are."

"I can explain to my mum." Nas suggested, causing Missy to shake her head instantly.

"No, the longer we keep this quiet, the longer Hayley stays with me." Her voice was desperate, almost on the edge of tears as she looked between the two girls. "Please."

"Alright, fine." Mollie agreed, wrapping an arm around Missy supportively. Nas, too, engulfed the blonde in a comforting embrace and rubbed her back. "We've got ya, Miss. Always."

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"𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐑𝐒, 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒 𝐊𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐄." Mollie offered her teacher a grateful smile as she jumped out of her car onto the pavement outside her house. "See ya tomorrow."

The image of Nana Booth's cremation was still fresh in her mind, the smoke drifting away into the evening. It certainly wasn't the send off that the woman deserved, but it meant that the girls at least found a way to say goodbye to her like they wanted.

As she made her way towards her front door, she was caught off guard completely by the sight of someone standing in front of it. Even from behind she could recognize that brown hair and navy Harrington jacket anywhere, and she wasn't so sure that she wanted to deal with them right now.

"Kieran? What you doing here?"

He turned around instantly at the sound of her voice, his face falling as he took in her appearance. "Why you dressed like that? You been crying? You alright?"

Mollie's lips pressed together at his questions. "Missy's Nana died a few days ago. It was her cremation today."

"Oh." He muttered quietly, his eyes softening. "That's terrible, I'm really sorry to hear that."

"I'm just glad we got to say goodbye to her." Mollie smiled gently at the memory of Nana Booth, before stiffening up slightly. "Anyway, that doesn't answer why you're here."

"I...uh...I actually don't know." He replied after a moment, looking down at his feet as if studying his shoes could provide an answer. "I had all this shit in my head I was gonna say to you, but now I'm here and it's all gone."

"Good shit or bad shit?"

"All good. I was basically just gonna tell you how much of an idiot I've been, and how much I care about you." He met her eyes. "I don't expect you to feel the same, but I meant what I said. I fucking love you, Mollie Wilson."

She opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the sudden sound of two rowing voices and a push chair being dragged along the ground. Turning her head, Mollie was met with the sight of Candace pushing Jamie's pram along the pavement and chasing after Jordan. The closer they got, the clearer their conversation became.

"All that guilt you put me on about not looking after him, and he's not even mine." Jordan spat, his voice full of anger.

"You don't know that, Jordan." Candace replied, stopping as the two reached the Wilson house.

"Yes I do. I did a DNA test, and he's not my kid." Jordan replied, turning to look her dead in the eyes.

"Wait, what?" Mollie exclaimed, causing them both to look at her. "Jordan's not your kid?"

"Are you sure?" Candace asked, gripping the handles of the pram nervously.

"What, am I the only one who's name you can remember?" A dry smile appeared on Jordan's face, causing Kieran to clear his throat quietly and step closer to the Wilson girl.

"Mol, maybe we should leave them be."

But before Mollie could reply, Candace spoke up and responded to Jordan.

"Jordan, you know I'm not like that."

"That's the thing, I actually thought I knew ya." He shook his head. "My dad told me, everyone told me. I just didn't listen."

"I really wanted you to be the dad. I thought-"

"Oh, you wanted me to be the dad? 'Cause that changes everything, doesn't it?" Jordan laughed sarcastically, rolling his eyes. A worried look took over Candace's face, her gaze traveling nervously from Jordan, to Mollie, to Kieran, and back to Jordan as she bit her lip. "Who is he, then? Who's the lucky guy?"

The colour drained from Candace's face as she shook her head profusely. "No, Jordan. Please, don't do this."

"You knew I liked ya and you told me you didn't get with anyone else. So, enlighten me. Who was it?" Jordan's voice wavered as he inched closer to Candace.

Mollie knew she should've gone when Kieran suggested it, but she couldn't do it. She knew how much Jordan had gone through in the past few weeks, emotionally and physically, and it killed her to see. She, too, needed to know the truth.

A tense quiet fell between the four, the only sound that could be heard was the heavy breathing of Jordan. After a moment, Candace took a deep breath and looked the younger Wilson in the eye.

"It were only once, Jordan..."

"I don't care how many bloody times, just tell me who it is."

Candace peeled her eyes away from Jordan's intense stare. She looked down at Jamie who was gurgling in his pram, his bright blue eyes looking back up at her. Jordan was right, he deserved to know. But Jamie deserved to know, too. She took one last deep breath before looking up at the three faces in front of her, stopping on one in particular.

"It's...Kieran."

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ohhhhh shit!! the truth is out! did anyone see this coming??
(also, in this story I'm gonna say that Candace is in year 12 instead of year 11 so would be about 16/17. this means she was 16 when she got pregnant with Jamie and Kieran was about 19, so it's not acc illegal bc that makes me v uncomfortable to write lol. hope that makes sense)
:)