Becca stared at the piece of paper in front of her. It was a student's essay, she knew that, but she couldn't comprehend what they were trying to say at all. She stared at the same word, trying to force it into her brain, trying to make herself understand. The ticking of the clock rung in her ears. Surely it must be time for the end of lesson? She couldn't bear this much longer. She didn't dare look up, didn't dare in case Nicole Owen was looking back, even though they were in exam conditions this lesson. She wondered how many other people in the class knew that she was having secret sex with that weird, quiet boy who sat near the back of the class. It took Becca all of her self-control not to look up, just so that she could see his face for a few seconds and make some of the hurt go away.

Finally, after what seemed like far too long to be one hour-long lesson, the bell rang, signalling that it was time for dinner. Becca breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the scraping of twenty chairs against the floor and she pushed the nonsensical essay away from her, daring to look up at last.

Justin was still in the classroom. Becca flicked her eyes towards the door, to check that it was shut and that no-one was loitering outside.

"What is it?" she asked warily, knowing what was to come.

"Becca, I need to talk to you," he said heavily, sitting on the edge of a desk opposite her. "You can't just… just… tell me you love me, and want to run away with me, and then leave me! My head is messed up enough as it is! Please, Becca… I need you…"

Becca screwed up her eyes and put her head in her hands. She knew full well that Justin was in love with her, she was just as in love with him, but what else could she do? Tears leaked out of her eyes, as they often did these days.

"I don't know what to do!" she sobbed as Justin rushed forward. He stood her up and held her gently in his arms.

"Justin… I don't know what to do… if I carry on being with you Jake will get hurt, but if I don't, you'll get hurt!"

"So… you'd rather I get hurt than Jake?" Justin asked moodily.

"No!" Becca exclaimed, crying harder. "You've got the rest of your life ahead of you, you can get your A Levels and go to university, meet someone else, have a proper relationship! I'm already married! If I left Jake, I'd have no home, no money, no job... no husband…"

"But you'd be with me! Becca, please, listen to me! I really need you… I need to know you love me,"

"Oh you know I love you," Becca said, wiping away the tears that were streaming down her reddened cheeks.

"Not anymore… not when you'd just drop me like that for someone you apparently don't love…"

"Stop it!" she squeaked, pulling away and putting her hands over her ears. "I don't know what to do, stop saying that to me!"

"I'm sorry…" he said. "It just hurts so much… I've never been in love before; you can't blame me for trying to hang on to you,"

"I know," she sniffed. "I don't blame you. I blame myself, all this mess is my fault and I know it is,"

"Let's just run away together," Justin sighed.

"But what about Mandy? And Nancy? I can't just leave them!"

"Well how about… I drop out of school, today, you go and see Mandy tonight, but don't say we're going, then we go tomorrow, ring Mandy when we get… wherever we're going… and tell her to come and stay for a while,"

"But that's the thing, where would we stay? If we stayed in a hotel, it'd be so expensive! My money would run out so fast, and you don't have any!"

"I do… I have a savings account that my Mum made for me, I have the card for it. That has a couple of thousand in it. And then there's some of the money that I earned working with Jake before I went back to school… that would help!"

"And what about my job? I can't just leave without telling anyone, I'd never get another job again if I did that!"

"You will! Just say… say the stress of your best friend losing her baby and your marriage troubles made you want to start again somewhere new and that's why you left, they'd understand!"

"I can't use that as an excuse, that's terrible! Besides, if we both suddenly disappeared, it'd be a bit suspicious, the police would be after us right away! Nicole knows, she'd tell everyone as soon as she found out that we'd gone, we'd never do it,"

"We would! We can do it Becca, just believe in us," Justin implored. Becca closed her eyes again and sighed heavily. She tried to calm herself down, her hands were starting to shake and her breathing was irrational. As she pictured beaches and fields and other calming things in her head, she felt a pair of lips be pressed to her own. Her eyes flew open at once.

"Justin, not here," she said tiredly, pushing him off. Anyone could walk past the classroom and see them through the small window.

Wordlessly Justin took her hand and pulled her over to the classroom door. He peered out, checked that no-one was around, and led her down the corridor to the stairs. Becca tried to pull her hand out of his grip in case anyone saw, but he was holding too tight. They jogged down the stairs to the main entrance of the school, and outside a few people were stood around eating and talking. Justin quickly let go of Becca's hand but she followed him anyway, down the path leading to the school gate.

"Where are we going?" she said out of the corner of her mouth, trying not to let anyone notice that she was talking to him.

"You'll see," he said, striding faster in front of her. They passed through the school gates and went around a corner, so that they were no longer visible to the students in the school field.

A few minutes later, Becca and Justin were in the centre of Hollyoaks, passing the Drive 'N' Buy and climbing the steps to where Justin lived with his sisters and Mum.

"Is anyone home?" Becca asked, looking around warily, worried that Jake might come home for his lunch and see her.

"No, Mum's and Sophie are at work, Mel's at uni," he said, taking out his key and unlocking the front door. Becca stepped into the house after him, standing awkwardly next to the sofa. She wanted so badly to push Justin onto it and kiss him until she couldn't remember why she was so confused, but she knew she couldn't. It was meant to be finished with him, just a fling, not a serious relationship… Jake was her serious relationship- her marriage! She tried to remember why she married him, but she couldn't. She could only think that she shouldn't be with Jake anymore, Justin was the one who made her dizzy when she looked at him, made her see stars just by touching her.

She snapped out of her thoughts as Justin's face swam into her vision.

"You okay Bex?" he asked, peering deep into her eyes. She looked back, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks once more.

"How could I choose Jake over you?" she whispered, stroking his face. "I love you,"

Justin smiled and as he did, tears leaked out of his eyes.

"Thank you," he said, hugging her tightly to him. "Oh God, I needed to hear that, thank you,"

"Come here," Becca whispered, holding Justin's face steady. She kissed him tenderly; she wanted to make him feel better. She had to repair some of the hurt while she could.

"Let me," Justin whispered huskily. "Please say we can,"

Becca nodded hungrily, pushing her young lover's blazer off his shoulders and loosening his tie. She had to admit, no matter how many times she told herself her attraction to Justin was nothing to do with school, that she wasn't some sort of pervert, his uniform did turn her on.

"Let's go to your room, in case someone comes back," she whispered as she started undoing the buttons of his shirt.

"No, let's stay here, I want to remember that we did it here," Justin said, and all of a sudden a very immature smile crossed his face. Becca smiled at him, remembering when she was so young and naïve, when to be cool you had to have had sex in at least four rooms of the house, and the garden too.

"Are you sure no-one will come in?"

"I'm sure… I promise… Mum's got this important thing going on at work so she'll probably stay late, Sophie doesn't finish work till 5 o'clock and Mel goes to those meeting things straight from uni, she doesn't get back until the evening usually. We're alone,"

"Okay," Becca said, glancing nervously at the large window next to the front door. Justin saw the look and shut the curtains quickly.

"It's alright, Becca," Justin said quietly, undoing the buttons of her blouse. "I'll be here for you, no matter what happens… no matter what you do to me…"

"Don't say that!" Becca said, and started crying again. "I'm sorry for everything,"

"I don't care," Justin said, holding her and wiping away her tears. "I've told you, I love you and I'll stand whatever you throw at me,"

Becca buried her face in Justin's chest, clinging on to him tightly.

"I never meant to hurt anyone," she whispered.

"I know you didn't," Justin said comfortingly, stroking her hair. He led her over to the sofa and sat her down on it, before sitting down next to her and kissing her tenderly. He finished undoing the buttons on her blouse and pushed it off her, then moved down to her neck and began kissing it softly. Becca stroked his short hair and nuzzled her face against his, comforting herself as much as doing anything else.

"I love you," she said, pulling his tie off and discarding it on the floor. She undid the rest of his shirt buttons and he struggled to get it and his blazer off as fast as he could. Becca ran a hand down his smooth, hairless chest, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel. Justin got up and straddled her, pressing his chest against Becca's, sliding his hands up her legs. Becca reached behind herself and quickly unhooked her bra, shrugging it off in one swift motion while Justin admired her body.

"I love you too, more than anything," he said, hugging her tightly to him.

Justin undid his belt with one hand while the other held Becca's face as he kissed her.

"Hurry up," Becca whispered, hitching up her skirt and kissing Justin feverishly. Justin pulled down his jeans so that they were round his knees and clambered further onto Becca's body, and she finally realised that she could never given Justin Burton up.