Thank you for the reviews.

Please enjoy x

Chapter 31: Mollie Knows

"Just a heads up," Julie greeted as Rachel picked up the phone.

Two days had passed since the events of Mollie's life had unfolded, and it was now Friday. The last day before the Easter break. Philip was actually doing better than expected. Rachel hoped that it was him knowing that she and Eddie were always going to give him support. And the holidays would surely be a good time to emphasise that.

Rachel had been in contact with Julie quite regularly. Julie had sent her several texts, just outlining if Melissa had been in contact.

Aside from one phone call, they had only texted. Their conversation over the phone had been about Philip, Rachel decided that she was going to have to tell Julie of Mollie's brother. And Philip wanted to play a part in her life, so she didn't see any reason to hide it for longer. Maybe the lack of verbal communication was why Rachel frowned slightly as she and Eddie walked out of the front door towards her car. She had picked up the call instantly, smiling at Eddie and gesturing for him to get in the drivers side.

"I told Mollie," Julie continued as Rachel pulled across her seatbelt.

"Okay… when did you tell her?"

"Last night. She actually took it better than I thought. She hates Melissa though. Don't know if that's bad or good."

"It depends which way you look at it I suppose," Rachel shrugged, even though she wasn't visible to Julie, "might swing in your favour if Melissa does decide to pursue wanting Mollie back."

"I did think of that. I just know Melissa will find a way to blame me for it. It could backfire."

Now that did sound familiar. Something Rachel could relate to entirely. Melissa could never resist piling the blame of her problems on other people. It was usually Rachel herself, so this made a strange change.

"And has she called you any more? Threatened you?"

"Nothing since Wednesday, when I text you about it."

"Okay… look, Julie. I can completely… comprehend how much you are worried about this. God knows, I would be if I were in your shoes. But just try not to let it play with your mind too much. We will deal with Melissa, when that bridge comes."

"Yes… yes. You're right. But just about Mollie… I told her of Philip. So she might approach him today."

"Well, thank you...for letting me know Julie. And please do contact me if you're worried again."

With an exchanged goodbye, the call ended. Leaving Rachel to share a glance with Eddie.

"Do you think I should text Philip? Just to let him know."

Philip was still at the house. He had picked up a habit of walking to school in recent days. Probably something to do with the early hour that Rachel and Eddie set off.

"It's probably for the best, to give him a heads up," Eddie responded, having heard the phone call, "I think it'll make him feel better about it all, if anything."

"Hopefully. He has been wanting to talk to Mollie, hasn't he? Maybe now is his chance."

"He needs a bit of positivity, poor lad. And it's good that Julie's actually told Mollie."

Rachel hummed in agreement as they pulled up in the car park. At first, the shared car thing had been a worry for Rachel. The staff probably were going to talk, probably were already talking. She knew that. Especially after the rather recent break up of Eddie and her sister. And on any other day, under any other circumstances, it would have bothered her immensely. To have her private life laid open to the staff. But at the moment, there were far bigger things to worry about. Far more important things. Besides, Rachel needed Eddie by her side now more than ever, she had to try and not let the staff's opinions get to that.

Rachel noted that the car park was empty anyway. Aside from two cars which she could only presume to be security, or maybe her secretary. Either way, not a soul was in the car park. They were in earlier than usual, just to put the last few things together for their morning assembly. This might've been one of the reasons why Rachel didn't think too much about tilting her head forwards to place a kiss on Eddie's lips.

"What was that for?" Eddie pulled back, grinning.

"Just because I felt like it," Rachel too smiled, unable to resist a shrug.

He apparently couldn't withstand her teasing, and leant straight back in, lightly nibbling on her bottom lip. It wasn't long before his kisses trailed to her jaw and began to make their way down her neck.

"Mr Lawson," Rachel spoke as she pulled away just moments later, "we have an assembly to prepare for. And I'm sure the pupils and staff don't want a fright this early in the morning, when they do start arriving."

She could tell that he was pushing down the urge to growl in frustration, and Rachel had to giggle at the inscrutable expression on his face.

"Unfortunately, I have to agree. Miss Mason."

Rachel beamed, and was about to step out of the car before she thought of something else to say. Or more so tease Eddie with.

She placed a hand over his knee, looking him straight in the eye, "well there's always tonight."

He opened his mouth to respond, but didn't actually talk. Rachel was glad to see that he was somewhat slightly speechless. That had been the idea. She giggled again, now emerging from the car to leave Eddie lost for words.

….

Overall, Philip was feeling a bit better about everything. He knew he had Rachel and Eddie's support, and he tried to tell himself that it was all that mattered. But he couldn't deny that what his mum had done still tore him apart. That was if he thought about it for too long. He hadn't really let his emotions show to Eddie and Rachel since he found out about it all. It wasn't that Philip couldn't open up to them, far from it. He just didn't want them worrying about him any more than they already were. Maybe he would give it a few days and talk to Rachel about it all. Or maybe even Eddie, because he had made him feel a whole lot better about things the other day.

It was as he was leaving the house that his phone pinged. Philip was going to be late if he didn't set off now, so he hoped it wasn't anything too important. Maybe he should have just gone in early with Rachel and Eddie.

Pulling the phone out of his pocket, he was surprised to see it was from Rachel. She rarely texted him unless he was out with friends, so it must be quite significant. Maybe she had left something at home, and wanted him to bring it in. Philip shook his head. He was always over thinking such simple stuff, he just needed to unlock his phone and read it rather than stressing about it unnecessarily.

Philip didn't really know what to feel as he read the message for the second time. He guessed that he was happy about it. Maybe this was the first step of actually building a relationship up with his sister. Eleven years too late, but it was better late than never. He also felt nervous, which was quite natural for Philip. What if Mollie just approached him at school? He hadn't gotten a chance to explain things to Bolton and Paul yet. So they were bound to wonder what the hell was going on. Philip sighed as he locked the door and started walking. He would just have to tell them. The prospect actually didn't bother him that much, his friends had been quite supportive since his actions in maths on Tuesday. So he would just tell them about his sister, obviously leaving out the actions of Melissa. Philip didn't think he could repeat that to anyone.

So as he met Bolton and Paul at their usual spot, Philip realised that there was no time like the present.

"Y'alright Phil," Bolton said as he approached him, followed by Paul.

Philip greeted them back, before deciding to just get on with it.

"Look lads. I was being weird the other day… right?"

"Mate, you're always weird," Paul laughed.

Philip knew that he was trying to lighten the mood with a joke, and he was glad of it. This wasn't their way of poking fun at him, they had gotten past that stage. Philip was glad of that too. To actually have some decent friends for a change.

"Well… that's normally just my… personality. This was because of something that had happened," Philip said after laughing for a few moments.

"Oh, erm…" Paul replied, turning serious before being interrupted by Bolton.

"What the hell happened man?"

"You were right. That new kid. Mollie, we er… are related. She's my sister."

Philip watched as Paul looked mildly shocked, followed by Bolton huffing out a breath.

"Jheez, we were only having a laugh. Didn't think she actually was your sister."

"Yeah… that's mad," Paul agreed.

"So the thing is… she knows now as well and erm… she might talk to me today. Or I might talk to her. Didn't want you guys… freaking out."

"Nah, course we won't my friend," Bolton said, laughing along with himself and Paul as he patted Philip on the back.

For once Philip was glad of how carefree Bolton and Paul were. When he was with them, he felt normal. As if none of this had actually happened, even when they were talking about it. So for that, Philip was happy.

He had been expecting to see Mollie at some point during the day, but what Philip hadn't been expecting, was to see her standing outside of the school gates as he approached them. She looked as if she was waiting for someone, and Philip could only presume that it was him.

"There you are," Mollie said as she approached him.

The greeting was strange, she was acting as if they had spoken a thousand times before. As if they were just regular siblings. Philip didn't know what to think of it, didn't know if it made him feel more or less nervous. The only thing that registered with him as she walked further towards him was how much she looked like his mum. Their mum.

"I've been waiting for you since I got here. And we are gonna be late."

Philip frowned at her, he really didn't know how to respond, or how to act. It was only as she began to walk in step with their little group that Bolton nudged Philip's arm with his elbow. The cue he needed to realise that he had to say something.

Philip cleared his throat, "it's a bit weird this... don't you think. You know, you being my sister. Us never meeting before."

"Well, technically … we have met before. I was just a tiny baby."

Philip let out a laugh, and cursed himself for how awkward it sounded. Mollie had inherited some of Melissa's confidence, but he certainly hadn't.

"Are you not going to introduce me?" Mollie smiled as she glanced over to Bolton and Paul.

Really, how was she being so confident with a trio of year elevens?

"Oh… yeah. That's Paul… and this is erm... Bolton."

The three of them exchanged smiles whilst Philip wondered when Bolton and Paul had gotten so quiet. Something that Philip would point out to them later.

"Well we'll leave you to it then," Paul finally said, shuffling awkwardly on the spot.

Despite the glare that Philip gave his two friends, it wasn't long before they were walking away, with a brief, "laters Ryan," and nothing more.

Despite him feeling even more awkward with Bolton and Paul gone, Philip was actually quite grateful. He appreciated it because it would give him and Mollie a chance to talk, or plan to talk. Because they only had about five minutes before they had to be in registration.

"Looks like we've got a lot of erm… catching up to do then, doesn't it?"

Philip was glad when Mollie smiled. His sister. It still seemed so odd to call her that, even in his head.

….

"Well I've had another email through from the LEA about the merger," Rachel began as Eddie walked towards her with their morning coffees.

"Really?" He responded, coming around to her side of the desk, "let's have a look."

Rachel watched as he squinted his eyes to read the email, and guessed that he was done when his eyes met hers again.

"Executive head's a Mr Max Tyler then."

Rachel hummed, "yes… and he's also spent his entire career in prodimently upper class schools. He's been doing a lot of work with John Foster's recently, despite his head teacher's role at another school close by. Which I guess is… why they've decided to appoint him."

"He will be able to see what we are doing here is working Rachel. What a good job you're doing, he's not going to interfere with that. And if he does, he's got me to answer to."

Rachel smiled at Eddie's joke. She was about to respond when she noticed that Philip was standing in the doorway. She didn't know how long he'd been standing there for, but from the expression on his face, something was wrong.

"That name… Max Tyler… I can't be sure but erm… I'll be right back…"

With that Philip turned on his heel and speed walked out of the antechamber. Rachel and Eddie were left with strikingly similar expressions on their faces, wondering what on earth had just happened. And not knowing whether they should go after him or not.