1 Chapter one

Here are some trigger warnings:

THESE ARE ONLY LIGHTLY TOUCHED UPON and these are with the other side characters

-eating disorder

-(sexual) assault

-domestic abuse

-a bit of swearing

•••

"Urgh he's at it again" my small sassy best friend- Sally groaned out. Izzy and I turn to look in the direction of the canteen to the players' table. To no shock Sally's light blue orbs were fixated on Luke Grey- who was chatting up a stupid sophomore.

"Uh oh we lost her" Izzy laughed, knowing that Sals isn't paying any attention to us.

"What does she even see in Luke?"

"I don't know... she must be blind to his immaturity"

I glance over at Luke again in slight disgust. When the badly box dyed blonde sophomore turned her head away to mouth something to her friends; Luke seized the opportunity to be a dog. Wait- that's an insult to dogs because I LOVE them. I'll say beast, he's acting like a beast. He's pretending to grope her in front of his friends who's cheering this misogynistic fool on.

"Quick! Mol, sit there so we block her view" within a second Sals thin lips were pulled into a pout. "It's for your own good!"

"Ooh! You know the indie song every 2012 depressed indie kid love that I don't like and you both love- are you 2 okay?- anyway I am FINALLY obsessed with it!" I awkwardly state.

"Hallelujah! You like 505" Sally cheered, seemingly to forget that she was temporarily mad at me for blocking her view from a 'Greek god' in her eyes.

"Don't hate me but I wait for the upbeat bit in the song. I know you guys like the chill and slow stuff but you can't deny that the upbeat bit is the best part" I could tell that they went very interested in my little rant. The bell saved them. This is where we depart. They head off to advance chemistry and I go to the less advance chem class. Yeah, I'm not bright minded.

"Hey Miss Bee" I greeted when I walked into the overload of blueness. Miss Bee is a scary teacher if you get on the wrong side of her- honestly if she got some, she wouldn't be so uptight. She's a middle aged woman who needs someone in her life ASAP! If she enhanced her looks the right way, she'd be a destructive bomb!

"No more sitting alone, Molly" I look at her confusedly to which she points at my bench. I was intrigued for a second then I saw my partner- Spencer Montgomery.

He has: floppy wavy mousy brown, ivory skin with a few freckles, light under eye bags and one ocean eye and the other is honey. His eyes are his tool for seduction. Spencer is also considered extremely hot- his height of 6ft contributes to it and his athletic body.

When he joined our school at the start of last year- he was a complete mystery! The first week, he didn't talk to anyone, wore dark and baggy clothes, head down, earphones in then he started dating Emily Chang. It only lasted for a couple of months until something happened and it changed him to a player.

I sat down and got my head stuck into book, considering I can't fail this class or I'm off the track team.

"I like that top of yours" he said easily with a smirk showing off his straight and shiny teeth with a glint in his eyes.

"Okay. Let's get this straight. I need to pass this class so don't do that flirty thing with me. I know how you flirt because this isn't your first time flirting with me (sober). Just don't talk to me in general"  I tell him firmly.

"Am I interrupting you Molly?" Shocked because I never get told off and of course I had to embarrass myself further by jumping off my stool on to Spencer's lap... hands first to his you know... area. Giggles erupted the room even Miss Bee tried to hide her laughs. She and I have a good enough of a friendship that I felt comfortable with sending her a glare.

"That does not mean anything" I firmly tell him. After school Sally bribed me to pose for one of her art pieces. Izzy was the first choice because she's patient unlike me who asks 'are we done yet?' every second. Izzy couldn't stay because she has to visit her granny who's in hospital.

"Can I put music on?" I question Sally after a few moments of silence.

"Yes my music" I silently curse. Despite me and Sally being best friends since we were kids, our music taste are similar but when she says 'my music' I know that she means her study music and it's terrible! It's a playlist filled with throwback songs that people claim are for the fake depressed kids. I like Billie Eilish but on social media people say all of her stans are young teenagers who self-diagnose depression. To Sally they have deeper meaning because when Billie became popular it was the same year that her dad died of cancer.

From my position I could see Sally's wiry curly blonde hair that was tied in a messy top knot that the baby hairs were slowly falling in front of her baby face. Button nose, rosey cheeks and doe eyes. Sally is definitely the baby of the group, especially when she's one of the smallest in our year group of 5ft.

I jump off my seat in happiness that a great song has come on. "MOLLY!" Sally screeched in response that I moved position.

"Sorry" I mutter quietly. "Why don't you take a photo and I could get us food because my stomach is growling at me"

"Fine" Sally replies begrudgingly. After a quick snap I hop off the stool, grab my purse and sprint out of the school to the corner shop that's round the corner. Once I got everything I made my way back to the art room but on my way there I got distracted on the way to the art building was the school's football pitch.

I stare at Luke to see what Sally sees in him. His tight jersey shows off his overly muscular build. Gross. All of Sally's celeb crushes are bulky dudes and I'm into the skinnier side.

"Looking for me?" I turn my head to see Spencer SHIRTLESS. Yes. S h I r t l e s s!! I clear my throat and advert my eyes away from his perfectly sculpted torso.

"How cocky can one get? It's not cute"

"Woah the judgement radiating off you is blinding" I tried to hide my snicker. Not that well but he decided not to comment on my slip up.

Oh thank goodness he put his blue and white jersey with the number 17 on (it was getting too hot)! "Sorry not sorry but imma head back to my friend" I tell him. I didn't wait for a response- I ran!

"About bloody time" Izzy, Sally and I have been watching too much Friday Night Dinner, Love Island and Harry Potter recently. We've caught on to British slang and use it in our everyday speech.

"Ooh that reminds me! Do you want to binge Harry Potter on Friday? I'll ask Izzy as well"

"April invited us to a party on Friday"

"Harry Potter can wait"

The next day after school was track day, Sally doesn't do track but Izzy does. We sat in the changing room, chatting to all the girls as I plaited Izzy's long chocolate brown hair. The French plait I did showed off her round face in a flattering way. Izzy is a beautiful indigenous 7 year old girl with tanned skin and a patch of a breakout on her right cheek. Sally is blessed with clear skin and I get waves of acne then clear skin then acne again. At the minute I'm okay with my sparse acne that's spread across my face. My acne is really bad on my back, I'm not insecure about it but my mum always says stuff like 'hears a dress to cover it up' stuff like that.

"Your phone's ringing" I follow Izzy's gaze to my phone who sat in between us.

"Hey dad" I greet to one of my dad's.

"Where are you?" He asks concerned.

"Didn't Paps tell you that track day is also on Thursday as well as Monday?"

"Oh yes! He did sorry. It's just that your homophobic granny is visiting and probably will lecture her son and me on how we're corrupting you and your siblings, and that we're living in sin and all that crap" I laugh at dad for a bit before the doors loudly opens with a squeak. I quickly tell dad to pick me up in an hour and a half and that I love him. He then said that Paps will have to pick me up, instead because he's in an important meeting.

"Mrs Nelson wants to start" Emily (yes Spencer's ex), the teacher's pet. She's that student who's popular, gorgeous, smart and sporty and is amazing at everything she does oh and all the boys are head over heels for her. Yet everyone complains about her because we're jealous. Emily uses that to feed her ego. She knows what she's doing and loves putting herself centre of attention.

On the contrary, one of Emily's weakness is her stamina. I'm not as fast as her but sometimes I beat her because she starts off too quick then slows down.

"Everyone Emily is taking warm up!" Mrs Anderson's voice is like nails against a chalkboard.

"Like always" Izzy sighs out.

"What was that Huaman?" Izzy's dark chocolate brown eyes shoot up toward Mrs Anderson's icy blue eyes.

"Nothing" she replies in a bored manner. Izzy especially hates Anderson because she's that casual racist Karen.

"Sure thing" Anderson says sarcastically then proceeds with checking off our names on her register. Izzy and I move closer to Emily where she's holding the warm up.

"Are you all going to Jax's party tomorrow?" A girl named Cassie asks us all. We all hum yes getting ready to discuss what we're all going to wear but Emily rudely cuts us off.

"Okay so we're going to start off with a quick 100 metres. Emily, Isabella, Amhara, Laiba and Stevie up first" Anderson instructed. Unlike me Izzy is exceptional at the 100 metres and Emily is as well. I watched in anticipation waiting for Izzy to win the race. She was so close until she trips and falls. That's so unlike her- now she's lost the race. There had to be some foul play. This hasn't been the first time someone next to Emily fell. Last year at a tournament a girl from a different school sprained her ankle from 'accidentally' tripping over Emily's laces.

I open my mouth to call Emily out, until I meet Izzy's eyes which were screaming at me not to say anything I'll regret.

"Are you okay?" I ask her instead.

"I will be" she answers shortly.

"Hey can you also drop off Iz?" I ask Paps once I opened the car door of the black Range Rover.

Paps has long and straight strawberry blonde hair, today it's pulled back into a low man bun. He also has deep emerald orbs, porcelain white skin, is quite slim and is slightly smaller than dad. He came from work so he's in a pale blue woman's blouse and navy trousers.

"Of course. How was school?"

"Good" we both answered Paps question. Chat flowed between us over the radio.

"Honestly, I can't wait for tomorrow" Izzy told Paps.

"What's happening tomorrow?" Paps asks us and I of course had to forget about the party as well as the dinner I have. H

"A party"

"Mols..." I sigh knowing that I won't be able to get out of the dinner.

"I know. I forgot about the dinner"

Paps parked in front of Izzy's bungalow where she lives with her single mum and older brother who refuses to move out. We both bid Iz a goodbye and it's just Paps and I in the car.

"I know you've had a long day but we have to visit granny" urgh! Why couldn't he say Nana? I don't care if she's taking a 3 week holiday in the Caribbean.

"I don't know if I have the willpower, Paps" I groan while lightly flinging my head back onto the cushioned leather seat.

"Don't do that, hunny. You'll hurt yourself" he says in a concerned voice as his slender hand was placed behind my head as a pillow for a second before he returned it back to the steering wheel. Paps is more in touch with his feminine side unlike dad who's appearance screams heterosexuality. Unlike dad, Paps doesn't like tough love. Both of their dads has used tough love: dad hasn't dealt with his issues and Paps doesn't want to be anything like his dad. They haven't came out and said any of that but dad's sister has indicated at those things with both. Paps was her gay best friend and dad came out as bi after my his first marriage. Paps didn't waste any time with games.

When we reached home, I didn't waste in any time with my shower and getting changed into granny-approved-causal-comfy-clothes. Considering it was slightly chilly I decided on black leggings and a Jack Wills light grey jumper with my natural black hair plaited to the side.

As I was half down the wooden stairs I remembered that I haven't worn my glasses all day and I should probably wear them if I don't want a head ache when I stay homework. Entering my wary painted toned grey/cornflower room with wooden floor, unmade double sized bed, egg shell white painted side table and a bookshelf filled to the brim in front of my bed that's next to the window, there's also a desk in between the bookshelf and the window and a slide open wardrobe on the same wall as the door.

I grab my rectangular rounded black glasses and pull them on to my pale face with freckles and bags under my hazel green eyes- at least I have dark, long and lifted lashes with well groomed brows with no hair removal. That is my biggest flex.

Shit. From the crack of the door being opened, I spotted a bit of my tall, medium dark skinned and muscular built younger by a year brother, Jamal. Without any hesitation I sprinted out the door for the glory of being seated in shotgun. Of course to my luck Jamal got shot gone.

My older sister, Ivy was a product of dad's first marriage, Jamal and I are both adopted.

The ride to granny's carehome was short with Jamal excitedly venting about getting the fullback position on the senior football team. With our school, if you're a junior and replace an injured senior is the dream.

"Proud of ya bruh" I state from the backseat.

"Don't do that gangsta voice. Doesn't suit your whiteness" both Paps and I let out a bark of laughter at Jamal's statement.

"Hey kiddos" greeted dad when he saw us exit the car. Dad is a Mexican-American legal immigrant. He has stubborn black hair, thick eyebrows and a very strong chiselled jawline.

Both Jamal and I whined at dad engulfing us in a bear hug and peppering us in kisses.

"You ready?" Paps softly questioned dad while grasping his hand. It's nice seeing my parents being all lovey but I won't let them know that... Jamal on the other hand, didn't conceal his comical disgust.

"Are we ready?" Our last second of preparation was robbed from us by granny using her walking stick whacking the door for us to come in.

"Hi!" We greeted in a fake sincere tone.

"You know I don't like fairness. I know it's a chore for you guys to visit me" she said in a bored tone.

"Awk. Don't say that Angela" said dad in a sympathetic voice.

"No one listens to me" she sighs out.

"Okayyy... how have you been?" Jamal asks awkwardly.

"Rob who's in the room down the hall won't leave me alone!" She sobbed.

"Is he the guy in the massive glasses and always read the same newspaper from 1958?" Paps wondered aloud.

"Mhm"

"Do you have glitter on your face?" Pap'a hand shot up to his cheek to wipe away the glitter.

"I think it's a disgrace that guys wear makeup, paint their nails, wear girls clothes and has long hair" oh here we go again.

"It's 2020!" I exclaimed.

"Excuse me?"

"Times change. 40 years ago they only had whites on tv and stereotypes of other cultures/races"

"That's my problem everyone will think that they're better than us but whites created so many things that everyone should be thankful for" with the death glares from my parents, I decided to shut up and let granny have it.

"Now that's over. Molly, what's happening with you?"

"Nothing really exciting at the moment" I reply dryly.

"Well. I got a spot on the senior football team" Jamal proudly stated.

"That's great" granny said.

"So I asked Rebecca and she said that you can't go out for dinner with us tomorrow but we'll visit you tomorrow" Paps told granny.

"You know that I can bare you but not enough to see 2 days straight" we all let out a short chuckle.