Chapter 7

Rachel and Elsie were both busy getting ready. Rachel had already dropped Elsie off at her friends for the night but was just a bit concerned about what could happen to her house leaving 10 teenagers in it for the night.

"Mols will you come here a second love?" Rachel asked standing in her towel looking through her wardrobe

"Yeah" Molly said appearing at her Auntie's bedroom door

"What do you think I should wear tonight love?" Rachel asked her niece. She hadn't been on a night out in ages and wasn't really looking forward to it very much.

"Urmm let me have a look" Molly said going over and looking through all of her Auntie's lovely clothes that she hardly ever saw her wear

"Wow Rach you've got such nice clothes, you should wear them more often"

"Don't really get the chance do I?"

"How about this?" Molly said holding up a dress

"I don't know love, it's a bit short isn't it?"

"No of course not. You've got a great figure Rach you should show it off once a while" rachel couldn't help but laugh at her niece. In the end she gave in and put on the dress that her niece had picked out for her even if she did feel a little old to be wearing it

"So what are you wearing tonight because I'm guessing you're not just wearing that dressing gown?"

"I haven't decided yet, probably just put a dress on or something"

"Well I know you'll look gorgeous whatever you wear. You are going to be sensible tonight aren't you love?"

"Of course I will be. It's not like it's a proper party, there's only going to be like ten of us"

"Okay but still drink sensibly and I don't want anyone going through my things." Rachel said half-wishing she had a lock on her bedroom door, she really didn't want her pupils looking through any of her stuff. She knew they'd all be extremely excited at the prospect of being at their head mistress's house

"Don't worry everything's going to be fine. Anyway I need to go and get ready" Molly said before running back to her own bedroom

Rachel finished getting ready and it wasn't long before the doorbell went. When she answered it it was Sian, Madi and Kim.
"Wow, you're looking nice Mi... Rachel" Madi said shocked at how different her head teacher looked

"Yeah you really do look great?" Sian said and Kim agreed.

"Thanks. You all look really nice too. Do you want to stay for a drink before we go?" Rachel asked trying to delay getting going for as long as possible

"You'd just as well get going now Rach, hadn't you?" Molly said knowing all of her friends would be arriving soon

"Yeah come on Rach, let's leave them to it"

Rachel sighed before picking up her bag and coat.

"Okay bye you two, have a good night and behave yourselves"

"Okay, and you three, don't want you stumbling home in the early hours all the morning all drunk and being sick everywhere" Molly cheeked

As soon as Sian and Rachel left the girls put some music on and it wasn't long before everyone started to arrive. She was especially pleased when Matt arrived. She really loved getting to spend time with him, he just wasn't like any of the other boys. He treated her so nicely and like he actually enjoyed spending time with her.

Molly had a great night with all of her friends and was glad no-one was trashing the place. Most of the girls were staying the night but all of the boys had gone home apart from Matt.

"Bye Mols" Matt said before kissing her passionately

"Don't go, stay with me tonight" Molly said slurring slightly

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"It's not like we're going to do anything"

They all brought some blankets down and went to sleep on the floor, Molly snuggled into Matt.

It was about two in the morning when Rachel stumbled through the front door. She looked into the lounge and saw them all asleep on the floor. She smiled before going up to bed not bothering to take her make up off or change into her pyjamas.

Rachel woke up in the morning with a very sore head.

"I'm getting too old for this" she mumbled before going into the bathroom. She took off her dress from last night and put a dressing gown on. She then took off her make up as she was now looking like a panda before going downstairs

She went to get some asprin before going into check on the girls. She got the shock of her life when she saw her niece snuggled up to a boy. One that looked remotely like one of her pupils. However her niece looked so peaceful she couldn't bare wake up her up so instead went upstairs for a shower

Molly woke up a little while later. At first she felt really comfortable just lying there in Matt's arms. But then she suddenly realised that she was cuddled into a boy at her Auntie's house. She knew that Rachel would go mad if she found out

"Matt, Matt wake up. You need to go"

"What" Matt murmured still half asleep

"If Rach sees you she's going to kill us" Molly said taking hold of matt's hand and pulling him up. Molly was surprised when he was just wearing his boxers. She was sure they hadn't done anything last night but now she wasn't sure

Seeing Molly's panicked face Matt said "don't worry nothing happened" he quickly got dressed and then Molly ushered him out the front door

"I'll call you later" Matt said

"Okay bye"

Molly closed the front door and let out a deep sigh as she leaned against it. Thank god Rachel hadn't caught her she thought to herself. When she returned to the lounge she saw all the girls were awake now so they all decided to go and get some breakfast none of them feeling their best after last night.

Molly was cooking the bacon when Rachel walked into the kitchen.

"Morning Rach good night?" Molly asked

"Yeah it was really good thanks. Not planning on making myself feel like this again any time soon mind you" Rachel laughed "what about you girls did you have a good time?"

"Yeah thanks it was really good. Do you want a bacon sandwich?"

"Yeah that would be lovely thanks, I'll make them though"

Rachel sat with the girls whilst they all had their breakfast. Really though she wanted them to go home as se really wanted to speak to Molly alone.

After a while they had all gone home so Rachel and Molly were sat on the sofa together

"Think I'm going to go and get dressed" Molly said beginning to stand up

"I think you and me need to have a little chat first"

"Why? Everything was fine last night" Molly said worrying about what Rachel wanted to talk to her about

"Well would you care to explain to me why I found Matt asleep in our lounge this morning" rachel said raising her eyebrows

Molly was so sure she'd got away with it. She had no idea that Rachel had been downstairs when she was still asleep

"Nothing happened Rach honest it didn't. He just stayed over"

"I should hope nothing happened. But still I can't say I'm happy about boys staying over, especially when you didn't even ask me"

"I'm sorry Rachel it just kind of happened. It won't happen again"

"No it won't be young lady. You're only 15 Mols and I just don't want you doing anything you're not ready to do"

"I already told you that we didn't do anything"

"I know. But I just want to make sure you're not planning on doing anything soon. And when you are I want you to talk to me about it first okay?"

"Okay. Rach how old were you when you... you know?" Molly asked starting to feel a bit embarrassed now

"I was too young and I don't want you making the same mistakes that I did"

"How old though?"

"I can't remember but what I do remember is completely regretting it and wishing I'd waiting until I was much older"

"Don't worry I'm definitely not planning on doing it anytime soon. It still seems like quite a horrible thing to me"

"Well I'm sure you'll soon change your mind" Rachel laughed

"Anyway I'm going to go and get dressed now"

"Okay love I'm going to go and pick Elsie up"

Rachel drove round to pick up her niece before bringing her back home again.

"Did you have a good time love?" Rachel asked

"Yeah it was really good thanks" Elsie replied

"Good. Why don't you go and unpack your stuff and then we're going to go for a walk somewhere. Think we could all do with a bit of fresh air"

Elsie ran up the stairs whilst Rachel went into the kitchen to tell Molly they were going out.

"Do I have to go Rach?" Molly moaned

"Yes it will do you good. You're not staying cooped up in here all day"

"Fine but I'll have to do my make up first" molly sighed before going upstairs. Rachel decided to go up too and help Elsie to unpack her things.

"If you pass your dirty things to me love I'm going to put a load of washing on now" Rachel said walking into her nieces bedroom. However she was shocked when she saw Elsie crying into her pillow.

"Els what's wrong?" Rachel asked sitting on Elsie's bed. When she got no response she started to stroke her back "hey you going to tell me why you're so upset"

Elsie sat up and Rachel pulled the girl into her chest and let her cry into her for a couple of minutes whilst Rachel continued to rub her back

"I don't even know why I'm crying. I keep feeling like this and I don't know why"

"Oh sweetheart it's just because you're starting to change into a woman now which isn't an easy thing to do. Honestly love it's completely normal to get upset, god knows I did when I was your age"

"It's stupid though I'm not even upset about anything"

"It's your hormones love. And I expect you're tired too which doesn't help. Now come on dry your tears" Rachel said reaching for the box of tissues on Elsie's bed side cabinet

"Whenever you're feeling like this it's best to talk about it. So whenever you get upset come and find me and we can talk about things because trust me it will make you feel a hundred times better. Even if you think it's something really embarrassing or awkward just remember I was your age once so I do know what you're going through"

"Thanks Rach"

"No problem. Now you ready to get going now darling?"

"Yeah where are we going?"

"I thought we could walk down to the park feed the ducks or something"

They all had their coats and shoes on ready to go when the phone started to ring. Rachel sighed before answering it.

"Hello"

"Hi, is that Rachel?"

"Yes, who's speaking"

"It's Claire. I was just ringing to find up if you were still interested in fostering because you've passed all of the checks now and there's a little girl that's just come into our care"

"Oh" Rachel said thinking all of this through. She'd completely forgotten about all of this what with the girls and everything. It was something she'd been wanting to do for a while but now she wasn't sure it was the right time.

"I know it's a lot to take on so if you don't want to do it it's understandable"

"No no I do, it's just... can I let you know in half an hour or so?"

"Yes of course, you've got my number so just give me a ring"

"Okay thank you" Rachel replied before hanging up

"Who was that?" Molly asked when Rachel got off the phone

"Urmm I'll tell you in a minute. Come on let's go for a walk there's something I need to talk to you about"

They started walking to the park. Rachel was worried the girls might take this the wrong way and that was the last thing she wanted.

"The thing is about a year ago or ago I decided I wanted start fostering just because I thought it would be a really good thing to do. I'd completely forgotten about it until I got that phone call from Claire a social worker saying they've got a little girl they want to stay with me"

"That's a really good thing to do Rach" Molly commented

"Are you sure you don't mind? Because I won't do it if you're not happy about it"

"No I think it will be lovely"

"What about you Els? How do you feel?"

"It's fine, I don't mind" Elsie said

"Okay I'd better ring Claire then. But only if you're sure girls"

"Yeah of course we're sure" Molly said

Rachel got her mobile out of her pocket and rang Claire back. She said they'd bring the little girl around in the morning.

"What's her name?" Rachel asked realising she didn't know yet

"It's Lucy and she's seven"

"And why's she in care?"

"We don't think her Dad is capable of looking after her anymore. Her Mum left pretty much as soon as she was born and she has no other family that she can stay with"

"Okay well thanks and I'll make sure everything's ready for when she comes"

They all had a nice walk together and ended up getting some ice creams before going back to the house.

"Right I need to go and sort out one of the spare rooms for Lucy" Rachel said

"I'll help if you want Rach" Molly offered

"Thanks love. What about you Els, do you fancy helping?"

"Urmm no I think I'll just do some homework"

"Okay I guess it's a good thing to get out the way then you can enjoy the rest of the holidays"

Rachel was beginning to wonder if actually Elsie wasn't happy about Lucy coming. She'd been really quiet for the walk which was very unlike Elsie. Normally you couldn't shut her up.

"Shall we put her in the room next to you? It's a bit smaller than the other two but otherwise she'll have to go on the top floor on her own"

"Yeah I'm sure she'd much rather be on the same floor as all of us"

"How long is she going to be staying with us Rach?"

"I don't know love. Might just be a few days might be a year"

"I can't imagine having to go and live with complete strangers, it must be horrible for her"

"I know, which is why we're going to have to give her all the love and support we can whilst she's here. I don't know much of the details about what things used to be like for her at home but by the sounds of it it's definitely not been easy for her"

"It'll be nice having a younger girl around again, Elsie seems to have grown up so much lately"

"She's definitely growing up a lot. But I think she's struggling with it a bit, she was crying earlier"

"I can remember crying all the time when I was her age"

"Yeah me too. Anyway let's get sorting or we're going to be in there until midnight"

They'd been sorting the room our for a while. Rachel was really enjoying her nieces company talking and laughing with her. She decided to go and check on Elsie though see if she was okay.

Rachel knocked on Elsie's bedroom door.

"Yeah" Elsie said

"Only me love" rachel went over sat on her nieces bed "are you sure you're happy with Lucy coming to stay? Because I know it's a really big thing and I'd hate to do something you weren't comfortable with"

"No I am it's just...no it doesn't matter"

"Go on" Rachel insisted

"Well it just seems kind of weird like this girl who we've never met before coming to live with us and what if she's not very nice"

"Oh sweetheart I know it seems a bit strange. But I'm sure it's even stranger for her huh, I mean coming to live with three complete strangers in a new house. I'm sure she'll be a lovely girl and you'll get on just fine and if she's not well we'll cross that bridge if we have to"

"I guess. I'm sure she'll love it here though Rach, you're so nice and lovely and welcoming"

"Aww thanks love. You know me I hate to see kids unhappy. Anyway do you fancy coming and helping us to clear out the spare bedroom? We've found some pictures from when we went to Majorca when you were about two. You should see your hair in one of them" Rachel laughed

"Yeah okay then"

Elsie and Rachel went into the spare room and the three of them continued to tidy it up.

"Where's Lucy going to go when we go away next week?" elsie asked

"She'll come with us"

"Are you allowed to do that?"

"Yeah I'll have to tell her social worker we're taking her away, but it will be fine"

They were only staying in a cottage about an hour away but Rachel thought it would be nice to have a little break away. Molly was bringing Madi too.

Eventually they finished the room so that Rachel was happy for Lucy to stay in it. She was feeling quite nervous about Lucy coming tomorrow but quite excited as well. She just hoped that she could help Lucy and give her a loving family, something she had a feeling that she didn't have at the minute.

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