Molly P.O.V.

I let out a growl as the alarm clock rings, fumbling with it until it's silent and I can bury my head back under my pillow again.

"Molly! Time to get up!" I groan loudly as Pa knocks on the door. "Come on, you don't want to be late on the first day! I'm gonna start up on the coffee machine now."

Hmm. About the only thing that could drag me out of my pit. I slide out on to the floor and stumble to the bathroom, grabbing my laid-out uniform as I go. I make my way to the kitchen fully washed and dressed to find Dad and Pa both sipping coffee and nibbling toast.

"There you go, Princess," Pa smiles, putting my breakfast on the table.

I mumble a sleepy "good morning," as I slump down.

"So," Dad says. "Last year of school, beautiful girl. Aw you're so grown up now!" He hugs me with strong, tattooed arms and continues "This is gonna be such an important year and we really want you to make the best of it. You concentrate on school, you work hard and you'll be able to do anything."

Frank and Gerard are the two best parents anyone could hope to have. They adopted me when I was four, my birth-parents having been killed in a car accident, and have showered me with nothing but love and protection ever since. Maybe a little too much protection, it feels at times, but I know they mean well.

I finish up, grab my bag and leave them both with parting hugs and kisses.

"Love you, Moll, we'll see you later."

---

I've barely arrived at school before I'm facing yells of "Hey Freak!" from what feels like everywhere. "Not gonna say hello to us?" they laugh, as I try to completely ignore them. I guess the whole new year, new attitude idea hasn't hit them yet. Not that I'm surprised.

I don't understand why these people take such offence to the fact I'm shy. So I don't like to talk or socialise much and I have a really quiet voice and am shy with basically everyone apart from my closest friends and family. So what? It's not an excuse to scream insults at me, or shove me in the corridors or snigger when I get flustered and shaky. People can really be bastards.

I try to imagine a kind of protective safety bubble around me as I make my way to my locker. As I'm stuffing my things inside, I'm called by a considerably friendlier voice and grin with delight as I'm embraced in a tight hug by my best friend Ray.

"Hey Moll! How are you this fine morning?"

"Not so bad, Rayman, yourself?"

"Mildly hateful at the end of the summer, but hey, just one more year to put up with this shithole! Guess that's something to be thankful for."

"Tell me about it, this year can't pass quickly enough..."

His wild fro quivers gently as he nods in agreement, making me giggle.

Ray is honestly one of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet and the greatest friend. I'm frequently thankful to the year 7 teacher who sat us next to each other on our first day.

Ray and I set off for registration, chatting cheerfully, and when we get there we're waved enthusiastically over to a corner table by Pete. Pete is the final member of our little group, having joined our school at the start of last year. His meeting was a lot more eventful than mine and Ray's; he'd been running away from some meathead footballers (who'd apparently taken offence to his skinny jeans and eyeliner) and had crashed straight in to us, falling in a heap at our feet. Pete had grabbed my legs, insisting that he was too young to die, and Ray had aimed punches at the footballers until they dispersed. Events like this turned out to not be overly unusual in the world of Pete.

"Hi guys!" he squeals now, giving both of us a quick hug.

"Hiya Petey!" I say as I ruffle his sticky-up black hair.

"Urgh, do you know how long this just-had-a-hot-boy-clinging-on-to-it hair took to get perfect?" he huffs.

"Surely ruffling gives it extra authenticity? Even if it's a hot girl instead," I chuckle back.

He pokes out his tongue while attempting to ruffle both mine and Ray's hair in retaliation and is met with a rapid swatting of anxious hands.

"I am not a goddamn puppy dog," Ray growls threateningly.

---

Registration passes mildly and soon Pete and I are making our way to our first lesson, history. The softly-spoken teacher, Mr Edwards, starts up a presentation on Tsarist Russia, which I quickly zone out of.

"I saw THE hottest guy as I was coming in today," Pete whispers.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, really tall, like super tall, very tanned and handsome and urgh, just damn HOT."

"Is he a student? New guy maybe?"

"I guess so, I'd definitely remember seeing THAT ass before!"

I groan at that and bury my head in my textbook to muffle my giggle. Hanging out with Pete for so long I should really have matured to the ass jokes by now, but no.

"You gonna ask him out then? Little recon needed first perhaps?"

"Definitely. I mean he might turn out to be-" he puts a hand to his chest dramatically and mock-whispers "-STRAIGHT. So I need to check up on that."

"Well good luck to you, Petey. I hope he's as gay as they come."

"Thanks. In gratitude for your blessing, I won't even pick up on that 'gay as they come' innuendo."

"Good, it wasn't intentional, I assure you."

---

Next lesson after break is music, which I have with Ray.

"We've got a new teacher apparently, did you hear?" he says casually.

"Really? What happened to Miss Simpson?" I ask in surprise.

"Not sure. I heard she ran away to Cornwall with a professional cellist, but that's probably just a rumour."

"Um. Alright. Good for her, I guess. So what on this new person?"

Ray's reply, as well as all other chatter in the room, is abruptly cut short however by the entrance of an unfamiliar young man, who swings his smart messenger bag on to the front desk with a quiet thud.

"Hello class, I'm Mr Stump and I will be your music teacher for the next year."

Notes

Hello :) So this is my first ever fanfic and I'm a little nervous about it. Feedback would be incredibly welcome and will get you a virtual hug in return :)