Who Are The Mods?

Perpetual Mistakes

"Thank God he's gone! You know he has no idea what he's on about, right Al?" one of Telsa's eyebrows raised whilst she waited for a reply.
Alex changed gears unprofessionally.
Liberty texted her mum in the back seat.
Telsa's eyebrow was in serious danger of disappearing into her hairline.
"You're kidding me, right?" She finally demanded, aghast. "Ridiculous. I've lost you to him too. Who next? Libby?!"
"Always faithful to you, my mod queen." Liberty piped up.
"Thanks Libs. But really, Alex? you heard what Isaac said about the dinosaurs and the Egyptians... He's just not all there upstairs."
Alex shrugged. "There's something in his theories. I just know it."
Liberty and Telsa shared a look in the wing mirror.
"Alex, darling. He found them on a website- they aren't his, he didn't think of them himself." Liberty could reason with Alex better than anyone.
"Yeah, Al, listen to Libs- he's done a bit of research, made a few notes, practiced them in the mirror... Take what he says with as much care as when I'm banging on about the Mods and the Rockers, okay?"
Alex gave Telsa a well-practiced eye roll. Anything to do with the Mods or the Rockers and the like were very Telsa-esque things to talk about.
Whilst Alex contemplated what had been said, Telsa attempted to dig out a CD to listen to.
"Ummmm..." The click-click-click of CD cases paused. "Al, your music is trash. I thought I introduced you to some good stuff?"
Alex fidgeted and gripped the steering wheel with bone-white knuckles.
"Took them in the house, didn't I?"
Telsa gave him a long, sideways look, before turning to watch the trees go by quietly. She knew where those CDs had gone, and she knew Isaac's theories on 20th century propaganda had something to do with their absence from the car.
"Where was Isaac going?" Liberty asked, barely audible over the aggressive engine.
"Some meeting, I think." Alex replied. "I've been to a couple, and you'd be surprised at how convincing they are. I'm pretty sure this one was about Area 51."
Telsa still wouldn't look at Alex, although he wouldn't quit looking at her. "Keep your eyes on the road, Alex." She murmured to his reflection in the window.
"Look alive, Alex matey! This is our turning." Trees flashed by as houses began to appear outside of the car and Alex flicked on his indicator a little to late for the car behind's pleasing.
A large honk accompanied Alex's headlights flashing onto the ' Crawley Estate' sign at the entrance. Within seconds, the car had pulled up in front of Telsa's three-bedroomed semi and for once Liberty did most of the talking.
"Thanks Al, see you on Monday!" She shouted, competing with both the rain and the engine. Telsa merely waved, still angry about the whole music fiasco.
In her opinion, good music taste was the best sign of good character.
Although Telsa's front door had a porch over it, it was still extremely difficult to get into the house and stay dry. When the door finally budged and Alex drove off, the two girls shook themselves out of their jackets and boots then shuffled into the living room.
"Ey mam. We're home." Telsa's mother, a hard-working woman of forty-seven, glanced up from her book with a start.
"You're home a whole hour early! You didn't sneak out again, did you? You know what that O'Connelly man said-"
"Marie, we didn't sneak out, I swear! The power went out and the whole show was cancelled." Everyone would trust Liberty's explanations much more than Telsa, partially because Liberty wouldn't say boo to a goose.
"Oh, right. Makes sense in this weather, like. Had fun, Telly?"
Liberty smirked at Telsa winced at the nickname.
"If low budget operas are my thing, then I had a ball."
Telsa's mother grinned in a very Telsa-esque way before yawning and switching off the radio.
"I'm going to bed, I have to be up at six tomorrow morning for work. I've left you some dinner in the fridge- it's ridiculous that they make you go until this time without food, since lunch."
Telsa grinned before hugging her mother. "Don't worry about us, ma. You do too much already." She gained a kiss on the cheek and a squeeze on the shoulder, before Liberty got the same.
"See you two tomorrow, and try not to stay in bed all day for goodness sake!" The woman's footsteps disappeared up the stairs.
"Place to ourselves, Liberty darling!" Telsa twirled, her tights slipping on the laminate flooring. Her hair span out around her as the span over to Liberty and ruffled her hair. Albeit short, it was thick and her hand got stuck.
"Smooth." Laughed Liberty, but not loud enough for it to travel upstairs.
Telsa's tummy growled then, almost making the house shake in its foundations. "I'm hungry." She flopped on the sofa. "Make me food, Liberty-hiberty."
Liberty rolled her off the sofa and smirked at Telsa's scowl, until she started tickling Liberty's socked feet.
"No. No! Telsa- Tel, stop it now. Stop it!"
"You can't hop away from me, Libs... argh!"
In an onslaught of fear and tickle-induced adrenaline, Liberty launched herself at Telsa and attempted to get her own back.
"Libs! Libs no-o-o-o stop. I'll get Alex on you, I will!"
Liberty retreated at the though and sprinted into the kitchen.
She began filling the kettle with water, trying to hold her giggles back, because Liberty didn't just have her own phone in her pocket. She had Telsa's too. With no sign of Telsa still, Liberty set the kettle on to boil.
"Ummm... Teabags, right?"
Liberty shuffled through the cupboards as Telsa crept from her hiding spot behind the door. Like a poorly-orchestrated scene from Mission Impossible, Telsa proceeded to trip over each and every kitchen chair in her path, cursing to herself as she hit each one.
Obviously she didn't get her phone back at that point.
Sat eating warmed-up lasagne after Telsa (successfully) wrestled Liberty back for her phone, they re-accounted their night.
"So Noel was kinda interesting, huh?" Liberty asked with a grin.
Telsa grinned. "Did you see his polo? He was definitely a Mod. I can sense these things, you know."
Liberty laughed at that. "Okay, hun, whatever you say. He was giving you the eye for sure, that's all I know."
"Oh, come on. He's what? Twenty?"
"Eighteen, actually." Liberty grinned smugly.
Telsa scoffed. "It's not like we're ever going to see him again, anyway. We're just kids to him, Libs."
Liberty shook her head. "No no no!" She insisted. "From my experience"- this gained a snort- "I think he really enjoyed talking to us."
Telsa changed over the CD that was playing and looked at Liberty directly in the eye. "And what experience is this? From that little fling you had with Alex four years ago?"
Liberty scowled. "Can we just forget that for one minute please? It was poor judgement, I just-"
Telsa giggled. "You stress too much, yo."
Liberty slurped at her drink, then choked and spilt it down herself accidentally, and instantly the whole Alex situation was forgotten in a fit of late-night giggles.
Telsa's phone buzzed, then. She had the news app on her phone, just in case something exciting happened.
She looked at the notification.
Read it. Read it again. Read it out loud. Unlocked her phone and read the whole article.
"Following a recent storm, Houseland Secondary School of Northumberland has been flooded to an unacceptable level, surpassing legal levels. Due to this, the school is no longer open to the public and teaching is postponed for the foreseeable future. A letter will be sent to each student in the post with regards to the relocation of their education depending on where they live in the catchment area. Said letter should arrive early next week."
The article continued, talking about the region's historic heavy flooding, and also about the history of the school but nothing more about the students or their schooling.
"Is this a joke?" Asked Liberty, raising her eyebrows.
"It's reported by the BBC, and it's not April fools for ages is it?"
"Wow. Where do you think we'll go? Marchbank's? Bede's? St Mary's?" Liberty named the few she could think of off the top of her head. "Hmmmm... I wonder where Noel goes..."
Telsa smacked Liberty on the arm. "He might not even go to sixth form." She smirked, "he might go to college."
Liberty rolled her eyes as a tremendous clap of thunder occurred. Instantly, the lights in the room dimmed. They seemed to waver on a knife's edge before going out completely, until the only light came from the lightning outside.
The lights were shut out completely and in the dark, Telsa tentatively reached out in front of her. Hands grasping, she poked liberty directly in the eye.
"Ow!" Liberty cursed loudly, before recovering enough to say,
"Okay, so I know you just ruthlessly attacked me but... I think we should chance the stairs."
There was a long period of silence as neither of the girls spoke. Then, Liberty sighed. "Telsa, if you're raising an eyebrow, or pulling a face, well I can't actually see you. It's dark, you know."
Telsa giggled. "Sorry Libs, I was just stunned that you'd suggest something so ridiculous. Let's do it, yo."
Stumbling and laughing, trying to be quiet, Telsa and Liberty attempted to get up the flight and a half - separated by a landing- of stairs that led to Telsa's room.
"Oh my god!" Telsa wheezed as she flopped onto her bed and changed in the dark. "Let's do it again!"
Liberty found the bed and flopped down too, letting Telsa hand her some pyjamas. "I hate to think what could happen if we tried getting down that death trap."
"Whatever you say, Libs. I'm wrecked. Goodnight!"
"Goodnight, Telly."
If she could have been bothered, Telsa would have smacked Liberty one for that nickname. But Telsa was already half asleep.