★彡ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʟᴇᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴅᴏᴡɴ | ᴘᴀᴜʟ ᴍᴄᴄᴀʀᴛɴᴇʏ彡★ ✅

★彡[ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 11]彡★

Surprisingly, Arthur let Abby go a little earlier that day. Daphne, he said, had to 'make up' for her absence and she could deal with the customers alone.

Abby hadn't liked what he had said, but she wanted a little time off. She went to the school fifteen minutes earlier than usual and stood with the other parents. Nobody came and spoke to her; she didn't know anybody, but she caught a few mothers looking at her curiously.

Probably thinking about how I'm too young to have a kid of school age.

She was young, and she shouldn't have had to care for such a young child.

But when Mollie came running out of school with an excited smile on her face, it made it all worth it.

"Abby!" She exclaimed, hugging her sister.

Abby chuckled, hugging Mollie back in surprise. "Hey, you! What's up, Mol? I only usually get a 'hello'." Mollie was already dragging Abby out of the school grounds. She was in a hurry, clearly. "What's up, Mol?" Abby repeated as they walked down the street, dodging the mothers and children who were also on their way out.

"Louise was telling me about a great band today!"

"Oh really?" Abby asked in surprise. She had loved music when she was a few years younger, but got hardly anytime to listen to it, now. She still had a lot of her old posters somewhere.

Abby would love for Mollie to get into music, because then it would give them something to bond over. At the moment, there was a huge age gap between them; for example Mollie liked talking about what she did in school, and as Abby wasn't in school anymore she couldn't relate.

Mollie nodded, humming excitedly in reply. "Lou says that her older sister has all of their LPs, and they're making another one right now!"

"I used to collect LPs, y'know." Abby still had them all in her room - they were a part of her old life that she wasn't ready to let go of yet despite the fact that she had flogged their record player about a year previously when she was struggling for money (not that she wasn't always!)

"Did you have any of theirs?"

"I don't know," Abby answered, "what are they called?"

"The Beatles."

Abby thought for a few seconds and then shook her head, "I don't think I did, no. Sorry, Mol."

Molly huffed and then knelt down to tie her shoelace. Abby waited beside her, and when she had finished they continued walking.

"Can we get one of their records?"

This was the first time that Mollie had asked to play an LP ever. Abby wished that she could have said yes, but it was too late.

She shook her head, "afraid not, Mol. The player broke and I got rid of it."

Her little sister was saddened by this. She had so been looking forward to bringing her sister into the exciting world of The Beatles - she herself had been inducted only earlier that day - and she knew that Abby loved records. She had wanted them to share this.

Abby saw how sad Mollie was by their lack of player, so she suggested, "why don't you see if you can go to Louise's house for dinner one night this week? Maybe her sister will let you listen to their LP while you're there."

Mollie lit up considerably at this. Louise had suggested Mollie come over earlier that day, but she knew that Abby liked to have a few days' notice if she was going to a friend's house.

Mollie nodded. "That could work." She gave a small smile and Abby felt better. She hated seeing her sister sad, and she hated having to say no to her.

Especially when it was over something that they should have had, and would have had if their mother had not died.

Abby was doing her best for them both, but sometimes it just wasn't enough.

And if Mollie went to Louise's, then that meant that she would get a decent dinner and would be doted on by Louise's mother, who was quite fond of her and had been since her daughter and Mollie had been small.

Mollie continued to chatter about her new found interest, the excitement in her voice keeping Abby interested all the time. She had never heard Mollie talk like that before. She wished that they could afford a record player because she would love to hear Mollie as enthused more often.

She entertained the idea of saving up for a new record player, but new that there were a lot more important things that she would need to be spending that money on. Mollie still needed new shoes, and would probably need a new uniform before the end of the school year.

"So who's in the band, then?" Abby asked as they reached their flat. "Do you know?"

Mollie nodded. "There's four of them. Their names are John, Paul, George and Ringo! I don't know their surnames yet but I'll ask Louise tomorrow -"

Abby didn't put two and two together, and instead asked, "Ringo?" She turned the key in the door to their building. "That's an odd name -"

"I think it's a nickname. I don't know what his real name is, though - but he's the drummer! Louise thinks that he's the cutest but I like Paul!"

"So you've seen pictures, then?"

Mollie nodded. "Lou took her sister's magazine to school with her!" Abby couldn't see how the teachers had allowed Louise to have a magazine at school - especially the kind which had pictures of bands in - but she was just glad that Mollie hadn't been caught with it. Abby didn't think she could have been able to stand Mollie being sent home again.

"Which one do you think I'd like, then?" Abby asked, teasing her sister.

"John, definitely! He does most of the singing. They've all got these funny haircuts."

"They sound interesting." Abby admitted, "what're they called again?"

"The Beatles." Mollie repeated, looking slightly annoyed that her sister hadn't remembered the name the first time she had been told. "And they're from Liverpool. Me and Lou think they're going to be big - her sister does, too. And the magazine article said that they were going to be 'the sound of the sixties'."

"I'd better look out for them, then!" Abby finally opened the door to their flat. Mollie rushed in and went to her room. She couldn't wait to write in her diary about the band.