the school year came before anyone ever even saw it coming. september first rolled in and out like any other day. like always, molly, george and paul loathed that day.

the first day of school was most definitely the worst in their eyes.

old bullies from a few months prior would continue bullying—new kids would have it the worst, old teachers that would give you gnarly rappings gave you even more, and worst of all: homework.

on the upside, you'd see all your mates and old friends. that was really the only upside. molly made new friends, george re-connected with old ones, paul yelled at teachers; the usual went on.

molly finally began exploring other guys than paul! she said hi to boys on the sidewalk and was even able to have dreams about other men than him for the first time in months!

paul went on with dot as per usual.

nothing changed. except for the state of molly's mother. her mother was out of the hospital by then. she finally woke up with small brain damage.

things were finally shaping up to be good again. what was the best, though, was that molly's mother had the courage to break it off with eduardo. molly couldn't lie, she'd miss the money, but that was it. her mother kicked him and all his glorious money out of their house.

as it turned out, eduardo was a male stripper. that's why he had so much money. the stupid rich italian with too much money was finally out.

speaking of living situations, molly moved back home and away from the williams'. though she would miss susie and her house, she wouldn't miss the strictness of the household.

things were going along just swimmingly—just how they used to be before she moved to liverpool.

life was seemingly good again.

she stopped pondering about her father and his suicide, her mother was in good spirits, john began hanging around molly more and george got the hang of things with girls. he was no longer awkward and shy around them, but charming and kind.

he'd always start everyday with a call to molly—his best friend—then he'd go to school, get his homework done and relax. everything was... good. nothing out of the ordinary. that's just how all of them would put it.

john was his usual self. rebellious, a bit disrespectful, funny and crude. but that's the way molly liked him.

there was a definite difference to him than before, though; he was somehow nicer to molly. it wasn't drastic, but it was good for molly. maybe it was the talk him and her had about paul. who knew.

there were absolutely no complaints from any of them. sure, there was an occasional gossip situation, but nothing really happened until early the next year.

the quarrymen's drummer, colin hanton quit the band after an argument. they had a disastrous performance in wavertree, so he decided he didn't want to lug his kit around with any of them anymore. he argued with paul and left, never contacting any of them after.

molly was quite shocked by this. he always seemed very nice to her, but she guessed something must've changed in him.

early january of that year, molly had yet another fun discussion with john.

it was a friday night at his house. he'd planned on going out with his college friends, but his aunt mimi invited molly over for tea for a reason unbeknownst to molly, but john knew exactly why.

"i've told you time and time again, mary!" john yelled from the living room. "i have a girlfriend! i don't fancy her!" he shook his head.

"she's a nice, young, well-mannered, thoughtful girl, john!" mimi said while making the pot of tea.

"i have a girlfriend!"

"don't yell at me!" she sighed. "and where are your glasses, boy?"

once molly arrived, the tension died down thanks to her. she calmed john with whatever the problem was, and he somehow made the crude remarks stop for the night so his aunt didn't get frustrated and yell at him.

they had a normal dinner: fish and chips with some tea. mimi also made chicken soup with crackers just for molly.

"molly! come in!" mimi greeted molly at the door. "how are you, dear?"

john rolled his eyes at the unusual niceness his aunt was giving to her.

"fine, thanks," she responded and took her jacket off. it was rather snowy that night.

"john, be polite and say hello to our guest!" mimi smacked the back of his head.

"good golly miss molly," he laughed at his joke, which wasn't the first time he made it.

molly rolled her eyes greeted him. "nice to see you too, john," she put her coat on the rack along with two or three others and joined him on the couch.

"i'm jus' getting the tea ready, darling. won't be long!" mimi rushed back to the kitchen with a rag and a smile. "you kids behave!" she shot a glaring look at john with a devious smile.

he simply shook his head and brushed it off.

"your aunt's in a cheery mood tonight," molly nudged him. "must be nice for a change..."

"you've no idea."

she gave him a knowing look, narrowing her eyes into his. "i feel like since i had an abusive step-father, i might be able to relate," she jeered.

"he abused you for three days. the rest of the time, he jus' gave you money," john scooted away from her. "i don't think you know what i mean."

"well, he's the reason for my strangely small nose, now!" molly laughed as she said this, pointing to her obviously smaller nose. "i haven't gone through as much trauma as you, though. you're right,"

"no, i admit, you've been through some shit," he grinned. "just small shit."

"small shit," she repeated. "what a sentence..."

"shuddup'," john remarked, rolling his eyes. he scooted a bit closer, but only to ease the silence in between their words.

"y'know," molly began. "your eyes are such an inspiring brown," she said, looking into them.

john quickly looked away from her. "and yours are..." he looked back to her, but for only two seconds. "boringly hazel,"

"boringly? i described yours as inspiring, and that's what i get? boring?!" she slapped his shoulder.

"keep it down in there!" mimi shouted.

"yeah, you get boring," he said, ever so nonchalantly.

molly scoffed and turned to face something else so she didn't have to look at his face—his glorious face which made her blush anytime she saw it.

"why don't you keep it down, lennon?" molly chuckled. "yes, keep it down. be quiet."

"i'll be as loud as i want!"

"no you won't, john winston lennon!" mimi yelled at him.

needless to say, john was quiet after that.

*

dinner went exceedingly well. for molly and mimi.

john was a bit miserable, but he survived. he just nodded along with most of the weird things they chatted about.

normally, he'd make a strange remark here or there, but with molly's posh, kind, gentle personality made him momentarily stop them.

he just stayed silent for most of the evening. unusual for him, but no one seemed to mind anyways.

"how's school?" mimi asked her.

"really well, actually," she replied, halfway done stuffing a cracker in her face.

"good, good..." mimi said.

one of the few times john spoke, he was either rudely shut down by mimi or politely shut down by molly.

she'd say, "now, john," and it'd be over for him.

mimi, on the other hand would rather yell than be considerate, even with a guest sitting right there. "john!" she'd scream.

he'd then stop and think about what to say next, but ultimately resorting to just not talking all together for the remainder of the evening unless they asked him something.

but they were just questions that got john asked pretty much everyday.

like, "how's college going for you?" or, "how's cyn?" the usual.

molly was bombarded with questions from mimi about her love-life, many of them involving paul.

"did that boy break your heart?" she asked at least twice. molly counted.

"a little," she admitted. "but i'll get over him. i'm sure."

hello loves!! due to traveling circumstances and all that jazz, i'm afraid i wont be updating my stories until monday/tuesday. i'll try to update as frequently as i can, but i will be on vacation and vacations are meant for relaxation. thank you for your understanding! comment what you'd like to see more my lovelies 🌻🌞💛🌼