Chapter One
A handsome faced brown haired boy with green eyes walked out of the tube station near Albert Square, Walford. Sporting a red zip up hoody unzipped over a white vest and some jeans Ayden Callaghan attracted the attention of some giggling school girls as he passed by them and shot them a wink as he did so. Ayden was in Walford to meet up with his mother, Valerie, who had been working as a manager at a nightclub called R&R in the area. Seventeen year old Ayden had once come from a happy, normal nuclear family but his father's drunken behaviour had cost the lives of himself and Ayden's older brother John seven years previously. Since then it had just been Ayden and Valerie looking out for themselves but never quite managing to stay in the same location very long.
Valerie had never had much of an education herself and desperately wanted her son to have what she never did. So she had forced Ayden to stay at school and focused on his studies which annoyed the boy to no end as he really just wanted to leave school, get a job and help out his exhausted mother. Valerie had landed the job as manager of R&R a few weeks earlier and now school was over for the summer Ayden decided to come to Walford and see if he couldn't get a job for the summer as well. Valerie had put a deposit down for a flat in the square a few weeks ago and it was looking like they were going to get it and Ayden wanted to get a new feel of his new home before he moved there.
Daydreaming as he walked down the straight, Ayden nearly walked directly into the road where a car was passing. The driver, an angry looking bald man, hit his horn loudly as he came close to hitting Ayden and called the boy a "moron" as he drove by
"Charming" Ayden muttered to himself as the man drove off. He didn't give it much thought as he had arrived at the nightclub his mother was working at. Ayden didn't think much to the club on first glance. His mother normally found jobs in more upmarket looking places and R&R looked a bit tacky and cheap for his mother in Ayden's opinion. Looking around to make sure nobody was looking, Ayden entered the club and headed down the stairs towards the office. It wasn't his mother he found when he entered the office, it was a blond woman in her early 40's who gave Ayden a confused smile as he entered the office. He'd already guessed that this woman was Sharon who Valerie had been complaining about since she got the job. Sharon had been demoted from the manager's position when the boss saw how good Valerie's CV was and as a result Sharon had been very icy towards Valerie ever since.
"Hello, how can I help you" Sharon asked as Ayden stood in the doorway looking a bit lost
"I'm, err, looking for my mum" Ayden replied "Valerie Callaghan, she works here. She's the manager". Ayden knew that Sharon would know Valerie was the manager but he quite wanted to rub it in her face just to see Sharon's face. Judging by her slightly frowning face, Ayden realized his joke had worked
"She's out at the minute" said Sharon sitting down at the desk "I can take a message for her if you want me too…. erm, it's Adam isn't it"
"Ayden" the boy replied. He knew that Sharon knew his name, and he realized that she was getting him back. To his annoyance he realized that Sharon had succeeded in her attempts as well
"Oh yes of course" said Sharon with a smile "Like I say, Val's gone over to the Vic for her lunch break but I can take a message"
"Oh no it's fine" Ayden replied "If you tell me how to get to the Vic I can meet her there, I kinda need to tell her this in person"
Sharon gave Ayden directions to the pub and the boy made sure to take in the surroundings of his new home as he made his way there. He walked down the market which looked to just sell a bunch of useless tat in Ayden's opinion and he did not appreciate being wolf whistled at by a ginger woman on a clothes stall. Making his way into the Vic, Ayden caught site of his mother sitting in a booth nursing a G&T by herself.
"Ayden Callaghan what the hell are you doing here" Valerie said with a laugh as she saw her son approach her with a big smile across his face "I thought you were going into town with your friends today"
"Well, I decided that I was going to come and surprise my dear old mum instead" Ayden said "Problem?"
"Of course not" said Valerie as she got up and headed over to the bar to order her son a drink. Ayden sat down and looked around the pub people watching, his favourite past time, and when he saw the bloke who nearly ran him over earlier Ayden shot the man a cheeky grin and a wave. The bloke rolled his eyes and walked over to the boy
"You wanna watch where your walking you do" the man said "I could've killed you earlier"
"Maybe it's you who wants to watch where he's driving" Ayden replied. The man looked taken aback slightly at Ayden's reply, it was clear that he had not been expecting that reaction from a teenager. At the point Valerie returned with Ayden's drink
"Oh Phil, good glad to see you, oh this is my son Ayden by the way" she said as she sat back down. Phil gave Ayden a confused look
"He's your boy" he asked Valerie with a hint of surprise in his voice. Valerie nodded. Phil raised his eyebrows
"Problem" Ayden asked
"No, just your mum told me you was a sensible young man" said Phil giving Val a smile which she returned. Ayden's stomach turned a little
"Oh why, Ayden what have you been doing" Valerie asked.
"J-walking" Phil said before Ayden had a chance to reply "Just walking in the road, nearly ran over in my car. Thought you could've at least taught him not to play on roads"
"I did" said Val hitting her son around the head. Phil chuckled as Ayden grunted and gave his mother an annoyed look
"OK, so, how in the hell do you two know eachother exactly" said Ayden now quite annoyed "And please, please, please tell me I haven't interrupted some kind of date"
"Date? Us? No" Val said with a laugh. Phil did not laugh. "This is Phil Mitchell, he's my boss Ayden, he owns the nightclub I work at"
Ayden gulped. He hadn't meant to have got into a disagreement with his mother's boss, he was now worried he's made his mum look bad infront of Phil. Taking a break Ayden stood up and offered Phil his hand
"Well then, that changes things" Ayden said, Phil looked more confused than ever "Let's start this again Mr. Mitchell. My name is Ayden Callaghan and I'm Valerie's son – I'm also well versed in the green cross code"
Phil smiled a little and shook Ayden's house. Ayden was relieved when Phil told him not to worry about it and soon left the pub
"Great start son" Valerie said with a laugh "You're here for two minutes and my boss nearly kills you. This is why I can't take you anywhere"
Valerie had to go back to work about half an hour though Ayden decided to stay in the square until she was done for the day so he could get to know his soon to be home. He wondered around for a little while before heading into the café to get a drink, as he went in he bumped into a pretty girl he recognised from his AS Chemistry class
"Abi?" said Ayden
"Ayden" Abi said with a surprised tone in her voice. It was only now that Ayden noticed the skinny ginger standing behind her looking annoyed "What-what are you doing here"
"I'm moving here" said Ayden gesturing to the square "Few days' time actually, my mum's got a job at the nightclub and it's closer to Walford High so it made a lot of sense"
Ayden noticed that the ginger boy had placed an arm around Abi's shoulder in a protective manner. It annoyed Ayden but he also found it amusing and he continued talking to Abi in a flirtatious manner for a while
"I guess we'll be seeing a lot of eachother then" said Ayden as Abi and her possessive ginger boyfriend walked off "Oh and don't worry mate" Ayden continued addressing the boyfriend "I aint after your girl, I'm not like that"
"Oh yeah, and how do I know that" the boy replied
"Not on the right bus mate" Ayden said with a smirk as he headed into the café.