Chapter 7
Redemption
As she spent her winter break alone in her room, Andrea sat in silence, thinking about what Molly said to her. As much as she wanted to deny it, she knew that Molly was right. She doesn't have friends.
Throughout her winter break, Andrea has done nothing but think about how badly she treated everyone in her life. Overwhelmed from the guilt, Andrea let out a silent sob before wiping tears from her eyes.
It wasn't long before Andrea heard a knock on her bedroom door. The door opened to reveal Andrea's father, Maxwell Davenport.
"Good morning, Button!" Maxwell greeted his daughter. "Are you ready for your next semester of college?"
Andrea didn't even bother looking at her father as she glumly replied, "I guess."
As he heard the sadness in Andrea's voice, Maxwell started to get worried for his daughter.
"Andrea, are you feeling okay? You haven't been yourself since you got back home from college."
With a sigh, Andrea turned to look at her father for the first time. "Daddy? An I an awful person?"
The question caught Maxwell by surprise.
"No! You are my perfect daughter! Why would you think that you are awful?"
"I feel that all I ever do is hurt people." Andrea confessed. "What's the point of being popular if everyone ends up getting everyone hurt in the end?"
"Listen, Andrea. I don't know where this is coming from, but you can't let the feelings of others get in the way of your goals." Maxwell explained. "Take me and my business, for example! I always focus on my work and nothing else!"
As Maxwell said that, Andrea started to tear up before glaring at her father in rage.
"Of course you would think that way! Your business is all you ever care about!" Andrea yelled. "You care about your business more than your own daughter!"
Maxwell jumped back in shock, surprised by his daughter's outburst. He never wanted Andrea to think that he didn't care about her.
"All I ever wanted was attention from you and Mom!" Andrea continued to cry. "You two made me feel like I didn't matter! Like I was not good enough to be your daughter!"
It was by this point when Andrea broke down and Maxwell was overcome with guilt. He might be a greedy businessman, but he still cared for his daughter. He gave Andrea a comforting hug as she hugged him tightly as well.
"Andrea, I'm so sorry! I never wanted you to feel this way. Your mother and I care about you more than anything in the world!" Maxwell tried to comfort his daughter. "Listen, I will talk with your mother and see if we can find time to talk to you on the phone at college. We can talk to each other every day if you need to!"
"Y-You promise!" Andrea sniffed.
"I promise!" Maxwell assured. "You are the most important person in our lives! Don't you ever forget that!"
For the first time today, Andrea gave a smile. She hugged her father in gratitude. Even though Andrea knew that her father would keep his promise, she knew that she had to make up for the terrible things she had done. Once she returned to the campus, Andrea planned to make amends with Molly and Libby and apologize for everything. However, after everything she had done to them, that was easier said than done.
Meanwhile, Molly and Libby were getting ready to leave for college as they were ready to say goodbye to their families. They both teared up as they hugged their families goodbye.
"I'm going to miss you, Libby, but I know that you would have a wonderful time with Molly!" Leah hugged her daughter before turning to Molly. "And I'm sure that you would take care of my daughter when you two are away!"
"I will, Leah! I promise to look after her when we return to college!" Molly smiled before she took the time to say goodbye to her family. "I'm going to miss you guys!"
"We're going to miss you too, Molly! Just remember that you can call us whenever you want!" Sharon explained.
"Just don't call me when I'm working on my pranks at school!" Darryl whispered to Molly.
As he started to get emotional, Pete said, "Feel free to video chat with us if you like! It would be like you have never left!"
"Okay, Dad!" Molly felt slightly embarrassed. "Libby and I should be going now! I love you guys!"
After saying goodbye to their families, Molly and Libby got in their cars. They soon waved goodbye to their families before driving back to campus. Molly and Libby returned to their dorm room, where they settled back in.
Throughout the last couple of weeks, Molly and Libby were slowly getting used to their college classes after being away for so long. Despite how tough a lot of their classes were, they were happy to be back.
Even Andrea has been doing well at college. Her father kept his promise as he talked to her everyday. Just hearing the voices of her parents made her happy. After attending her classes for awhile, Andrea decided that it was finally time for her to apologize to Molly and Libby. The moment she took notice of them walking together through the campus, Andrea took a deep breath before she approached them.
"Uh, Molly? Libby? Can we talk?" Andrea spoke up.
Molly took one look at Andrea before sending a death glare at her, "You! What do you want, Andrea!"
Andrea could tell that Molly was still mad at her, not that she blamed her. As much as she knew how much she didn't deserve their forgiveness, Andrea knew that she had to at least try to make everything right.
"Listen, I know that you two don't want to see me anymore, but I just came here to apologize." Andrea explained.
"Apologize?" Libby repeated as she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
Andrea nodded. "Yes, I feel terrible for how I treated you!"
"How do we know that this isn't another one of your tricks?" Molly asked in suspicion.
"Molly, please listen! I just want to apologize for everything!" Andrea begged.
Not wanting to listen, Molly stood in front of Libby to protect her.
"Save it, Andrea! I'm not going to let you hurt Libby anymore!" Molly snapped, making it clear that she doesn't want to talk to Andrea anymore. "Let's go, Libby!"
As she walked with Molly, Libby turned to take a glance at Andrea. She looked genuinely sorry for what she had done.
"It looks like Andrea really is sorry for everything." Libby noticed.
"Don't fall for it, Libby!" Scratch said. "I've seen it all before! She would act like she is sorry, and once you least expect it, Andrea will humiliate you again!"
"I think Scratch is right, Libby!" Molly agreed. "Let's just forget about Andrea and go back to our dormitory."
"Okay, Molly." As Libby followed Molly back to the dormitory, she couldn't help but wonder if Andrea was truly being sincere.
Once nighttime fell, Andrea returned to her room, disappointed that her apology didn't work out. She was just about to go to bed early when she heard a noise from her phone. Curious, Andrea picked up the phone to see that she got a text message from an unknown number.
The text read, 'Andrea, this is Libby. I want to talk to you about what happened earlier today. Meet me outside the dormitory so we can talk.'
Upon reading the message, Andrea felt relieved that Libby was at least talking to her. Even though Libby wanted to talk, Andrea had to remind herself that it didn't mean that Libby forgave her, so she couldn't get her hopes up just yet.
After putting on a coat, Andrea made her way through the cold weather to meet up with Libby. She walked over towards the front of the dormitory where she took notice of Libby. Once they noticed each other, Libby and Andrea approached each other, both of them feeling nervous about the situation.
Andrea was the first to speak, "So, Libby. It's good to see you!"
"Um, it's good to see you too, Andrea, I guess." Libby avoided eye contact with Andrea.
An awkward silence fell on them before Andrea decided to break the silence. "So, what is this about?"
Libby made eye contact with Andrea for the first time before she asked, "Did you really want to apologize to me and Molly?"
"Yes. I know that I can't make up for what I've done, but I should at least try." Andrea explained.
Seeing that Andrea was truly sorry for what she had done, Libby decided to give her a benefit of a doubt.
"I see that you are really sorry, but I can't just forgive you. You know what you did was wrong, right?" Libby asked, to which Andrea nodded in response.
"Yes. I'm sorry for turning you into an outcast and I'm sorry for how awful I treated you and Molly. I don't know how I would be able to make it up to you two, but I would do whatever it takes! I know of a restaurant where you, me, and Molly can meet at so I can apologize to you two in person tomorrow.
After a few moments of pondering Andrea's offer, Libby gave in and replied, "I'll see if I can get Molly to come along, but that doesn't mean you and I are friends!" Libby said with a hint of anger in her voice.
With that, Libby turned to leave as she made her way back to her dorm room. She opened the door to see Molly and Scratch watching a movie together. The moment she took notice of Libby, Molly gave her a friendly smile before waving.
"Hi, Libby! Scratch and I were just watching a movie! Do you want to join us?"
"You and Molly might want to watch the movie without me, Libby! This is turning out to be way too happy and cheerful to me." Scratch groaned.
Libby giggled. "Maybe later! Molly, there is something I need to talk to you about! I just spoke with Andrea."
As Libby said that, Molly and Scratch exchanged concerned looks before Molly stood up from her bed and approached Libby.
"What did Andrea do to you? Did she blackmail you into meeting up with her? I swear if she hurt you again, I'm going to-"
Before Molly could finish her threat, Libby calmly pressed a finger up to her lips, momentarily silencing her. "No, Molly! I promise that Andrea didn't hurt me! We were just having a normal conversation. She feels awful for what she did to us and wants to meet up with us tomorrow to apologize."
Truthfully, Molly didn't like the sound of that. After everything that Andrea had done to hurt Libby, Molly didn't think that she could trust her anymore.
"I don't know about this, Libby! You are really important to me and I don't want to see you getting hurt again." Molly explained.
"You are important to me too, Molly! I promise that I will be fine and I think we should still give her a chance. After all, weren't you the one who said that everyone deserves a second chance?" Libby asked with an amused smile.
Molly opened her mouth to argue, but couldn't think of anything to say. She let out a sigh before smiling back.
"Using my own words against me? Very clever! If it's that important to you, then I'm willing to give Andrea a chance for you, Libby!"
"Thank you for understanding, Molly!" Libby thanked her girlfriend in appreciation. "So, can I still watch that movie with you?"
"Of course! I think you would really love this movie!" Molly smiled, happy to spend time with her girlfriend.
At that moment, Molly and Libby sat on the bed together before Molly restarted the movie. They snuggled up close to one another as they enjoyed each others company.
The next day, Molly and Libby finished their classes before it was time to meet up with Andrea. As Molly drove her car to the restaurant, Libby noticed that Molly was strangely quiet. She could tell that she didn't completely trust Andrea. Libby didn't blame her since she had her suspicions as well.
"Are you feeling nervous, Molly?" Libby asked.
"Maybe a little." Molly replied, keeping her eyes on the road.
"After what Andrea did at the party, I can't say a blame you, Moll!" Scratch spoke up. "You have nothing to worry about. If Andrea tries anything funny, I'll just scare her so badly, it would make her nightmares seem like pleasant dreams by comparison!"
"Let's hope it won't have to come to that." Libby hoped, feeling nervous herself.
Once Molly parked her car, she and Libby opened the front doors to the restaurant. They looked around before finally noticing Andrea sitting at one of the tables. As Molly and Libby took a couple of seats at the table, they tried to think of what to say before Andrea broke the silence.
"Thank you for coming! I'm glad that you wanted to hear me out!"
"So, you asked us to come here so you can apologize?" Molly asked, not completely convinced that Andrea was being sincere.
"Yes. I know that you don't trust me, especially every all the times I was a jerk to you, but I really do want to change for the better!" Andrea explained. "What can I do to make it all better? I can use my social influencing to make you two the most popular students on campus! It would be like Libby's outcast status never happened!"
Molly and Libby shared skeptical looks with one another before Libby said, "If you are really sorry, then you might want to start by being nice to others."
Andrea nodded. "I understand. I know that I can't earn your trust right now, but I hope we can be friends for real someday."
"We'll think about it, Andrea." Molly said.
After eating their food, Molly and Libby left the restaurant together. Even though they still didn't trust Andrea, their meet up ended up being better than they expected.
"So, do you think that Andrea really wants to change, Molly?" Libby asked as she got in the car with Molly.
"I really want to believe it, Libby. I guess we just have to wait and see." Molly replied before starting up the car.
As Molly drove away, she and Libby thought back to their conversation with Andrea, wondering if they could truly trust her.
AN: Thank you for reading the new chapter of my story! This chapter didn't have as many Mollibby moments as I hoped, but I just needed to focus on writing about Andrea for awhile. Hopefully, I would be able to write more Mollibby moments in the future chapters. Anyway, I hope you are enjoying the story so far and as usual, feel free to let me know what you think of the story so far!
