Melody 5 - Rising Stars

10 (iii) - Molly

--- MOLLY ---

"Keep going guys," yelled Molly over the pumping bass of Rudimental's Waitin' All Night. "Turn. And kick! And turn. And slide!"

Molly was pushing her street dance class to their limits. They only had 30 seconds of the routine left and Molly was encouraging them all to the bitter end.

"Come on, guys. You can do it!"

The class was as cathartic for Molly as it was for some of her students. Earlier today she'd found out in a phone call with her mum that her ex-boyfriend Josh, was now dating her twin-sister, Georgia.

"And kick! And turn!" The track finally finished with a flourish and so did the class. "Well done, guys! You all totally rocked that!"

That wasn't exactly true. A couple of newbies at the back had struggled with some of the trickier moves, but Molly didn't believe in pointing at flaws, only building on successes.

"Wish you did classes here every day," panted one of the keenest girls in the class.

"Yeah," echoed some of the other students.

Molly was flattered. "Thanks guys, but this is only part-time. I'm in a band as well."

"Can we come to one of your gigs?" asked keen girl.

"Our next one is at The Jar Cross in Camden tomorrow night," said Molly.

"Really? That place is..." The girl suddenly stopped herself, embarrassed.

"A bit of a dump? I know," grinned Molly. "But you can check out our stuff online - search for Melody 5. We need all the hits we can get!"

Everyone smiled and gathered up their belongings from the side of the room. Ironically the same room Molly had auditioned in seven months ago.

Molly took a swig of water and started to pack up her gear. It was 9pm. She had just enough time to grab a quick noodle box from Sushi Sam's to eat on the train back to Woking and mull over what her mum had told about Georgia and Josh. How could they be an item? Georgia had always found Josh stuffy and boring, and Josh had used the words "annoying" and "primadonna" to describe Georgia. Molly dreaded to think what they had in common now - apart from her. Then blanched as she imagined their conversations about her. Molly felt a wave of anger tinged with sadness and shame sweep over her. Georgia and Josh? She still couldn't believe it.

Across the room, Molly heard the door open and hoped it wasn't the Manager collaring her to discuss timetables. If it was, she wouldn't get out of here until 11pm at the earliest.

"Hello stranger," said a familiar male voice.

Molly looked up and saw Derren McKenzie heading towards her.

How could he be here? Wasn't he supposed to be on some fancy cruise around the Caribbean?

"Aren't you going to even say hello?" he asked.

"Hello," stumbled Molly. "I didn't expect to see you."

"Ditto," smiled Derren.

"Don't tell me," said Molly, regaining her composure. "You were thrown off the ship for flirting with all the passengers?"

"Oh no. They loved me doing that," teased Derren.

"So was it because the dancers couldn't put up with you shouting at them 24/7?"

"You know I don't do that anymore," said Derren, stepping ever so slightly into Molly's personal space. "Someone mellowed me."

Molly didn't like where this was going.

"So you just walked out then?"

"Kind of," said Derren. "If I had to choreograph one more routine featuring a sequined fuchsia pink headdress and feather boa I would have thrown myself overboard."

Molly smiled. "You surprise me. I thought that would have been right up your street."

Derren chuckled. "Actually I got a better offer. Apparently someone saw the Same Star video I directed for you guys online and they want me to direct a video for The Fierce Charlottes."

"Oh my God! Really?" cried Molly. "Derren, that's amazing!"

Without thinking Molly flung her arms around him. It's what she would have done if anyone else had told her that news. But once she was wrapped in his arms, she instantly regretted it. They held on to each other for a moment longer than necessary then broke apart.

"The Fierce Charlottes are huge," said Molly, trying to regain some semblance of normality.

"Yeah," smiled Derren awkwardly. "In fact I was just down the hall choreographing some dancers for the video. Nothing too fancy. Just hope I'm up to it on the day!"

"Seriously? Derren McKenzie having doubts?" laughed Molly. "Now I'm definitely imagining things."

"I have doubts," said Derren softly. "About a lot of things."

Molly sensed it was time to get going.

"Well, I have to catch a train..."

"How about a drink?" butted in Derren.

Molly didn't think that was a good idea.

"You can fill me in with what's been happening with you and the girls," he added.

"I thought Amy would have kept you up to date," said Molly, finally mentioning the 'elephant in the room'. Amy thought no one knew about her 'back on again' status with Derren before he'd left, but it was so obvious even Rhian had cottoned on to it.

"Yeah, we've been in touch," said Derren nonchantly. "A bit. But it's nothing serious."

"Oh, very romantic," said Molly, as she flung her bag over her shoulder.

"What? Has Amy's been saying that we're..."

"Amy hasn't said anything. Don't worry."

"Then, why not have a quick drink with me? We don't have to talk about the band. You can unload any of your other troubles on me."

Molly gave a little laugh at the prospect of telling Derren all about her crazy, mixed-up feelings about Georgia and Josh. Or even worse, her crazy mixed up feelings about him.

"I don't think so," said Molly curtly, as she marched towards the door.

Molly hated leaving any situation on a bad note, so despite her fury at his sheer cheek of asking her out when he'd recently been involved with Amy again, she couldn't help turning back and adding, "But good luck with the video shoot. Sure you'll be amazing!" And she meant it.

Molly raced for her train only to see it heading out of the station as she got to the platform. As she flopped onto a bench to wait half an hour for the next one, she went over the events of the day.

She knew she didn't have any claims on Josh or Georgia, and after what she'd done to her sister about the band, Molly knew she had even less right to be annoyed at her sister for dating her ex. But it went against their code. Their sisterhood code. Even though Molly knew she ought to call her sister straight away to say she was pleased for her and Josh, she couldn't - and Georgia would probably ignore her call anyway.

Instead she made herself even more miserable by replaying her conversation with Derren and acknowledging to herself that yes, unfortunately for her, she did still fancy him.