Thanks for all the reviews guys, sorry it took such a long time, but its a really long chapter, so hopefully worth it? Love you all, review with each and every idea you have!
Sam sat by the river where she had shared her first kiss with Bolton, and stared into the distance slightly. She was in disbelief. As soon as she saw the looks exchanged by Bolton and Micheala, she had realised that he still loved her, but she just decided that he wouldn't do anything about it. He would fall in love with her. Simple. Well as simple as it could be. She wouldn't usually condone trying to "trap" someone into a relationship, but she had fallen for Bolton, and after everything she had given up for him, she just was not ready to loose him just yet.
She wanted to text Lauren, but she would be hanging around with Amy, something she seemed to do alot at the moment. When she had talked to Lauren about it, it was just some mumbled excuse about Finn that she wasn't listening too properly. So Amys romance with the local bad-boy had ended, big deal..Sam saw this coming, but she didn't see the ending of her own relationship..she sighed and got up, knowing she was going to have to swallow her sadness for the sake of the Kelly family..they had enough going on with Earl, Denzil consistently becoming more of a annoyance at school, and her mum constantly having to run around jobs, trying to get the bills paid.
She quickly went into the house, running upstairs and calling back to her mums greeting, trying to adapt her voice into a cheery tone, when all she wanted to do, was go and give that Micheala White what for..she would of, but Bolton wouldn't of respected that. Not that she cared about him. She wanted to go hang out with Lauren and Amy, minus the Amy. All that she wanted Amy to communicate with was her right fist.
Rose knocked on the door with a smile, and sat down on the edge of Sams bed, with her "I need a favour" face
"What do you want mum?" Sam asked, sighing and giving Rose her full attention
"Sam, Denz is getting a bit..rebellious.." Rose started, and Sam nodded
"Im guessing thats why you've had to go upto school most days of the week.." Sam shrugged..her brothers all did something in the end..Earl, Marley..Denzil..
"We thought it would be a good idea..if you went back" Rose sounded out, giving Sam a smile
"Are you serious? Mum..I cant..I have no friends.." Sam started, crossing her arms and shaking her head
"Sam I need you to keep an eye on our Denz! And it might not be as bad as you think.." Rose started, tilting her head to one side
"Mum.." Sam started, but Rose started to plead with her using eye contact, knowing that this softened her daughter
"Fine..but any funny business and im going.." Sam frowned, flopping onto her bed with a groan
Finn sat alone in his dimly lit room, bored of playing the playstation on his own yet again. He hated the silence that surrounded him, his house was always so quiet. He had called around, Josh was out, Nate was out, Ronan was out, Jonah was out. It was just him. Of course they didn't know the real reason that he always wanted company, he didn't want that label. The "suicide pact kid" who would want that attached to them..
Ever since his dad found out how low he was, Finn was hoping that he would try and connect more with him. It turned out his dads idealistic way of doing this, was throwing even more cold harsh cash at him, and exchanging a smile over breakfast, if he was there, which was becoming more and more rare with the influx of deals that he was closing. Day after day of the summer, Finn had sat in on his own, with the occasional company of some of the lads, and the occasional missed phone call on his house phone from Mr Mead, enquiring how he was. It was still hard to think that someone cared..his parents obviously didn't, why would the teacher who literally hated him more then any other person at Waterloo Road.
He wasn't looking forward to going back. He had to man-up, switch his cocky, sure front back on, rule the playground, bully the young kids, show the teachers he was ok. Mr Mead said that he would only tell the necessary teachers, his form teacher, and the head teacher..so hopefully, Josh, and his mates, wouldn't find out..
Unluckily for Finn, it was the day before term, and Chris and Tom sat in the staff room, finalising some things, as Tom glared down at his form list
"Ive got Amy..Lauren..Josh and Finn..this is a recipe for disaster" Tom muttered, and Chris' small eyes darted around the room, seeing his chance, nobody else was there
"Something tells me Finn will be a bit more..relaxed..this term" Chris mused, and Tom looked at him with raised eyebrows
"Finn Sharkey, the boy who got my son involved with drugs, and had a fight almost daily..relaxed?" Tom asked, and Chris nodded, and sighed
"The day before summer with him and Amy.." Chris started, and Tom leaned forward
"Ah, your finally going to tell me the magical mystery tour.." Tom looked a little bemused, and looked at Chris
"Finn tried to commit suicide" Chris said, feeling the familiar horrible feeling of saying this wash over him. He hated saying it, he hated admitting how horrible he had been to his pupil, how petty he had been, when all Finn had needed, was someone to reassure him. if he had known..but he hadn't..and he had to come to terms with this.
Toms face fell, and he shook his head.."But..why?" Tom asked, looking at Chris for guidance
"Turns out we were all wrong about him" Chris shook his head, feeling guilty. He had felt bad about the way he had dismissed Finn as a attention-seeker, purely based on his experiences.
"What happened?" Tom asked, looking at Chris again, and Chris shuddered slightly
"It was on the last day of term, we found some suspicious looking stuff in his locker..then I drove down to the place that I thought he would be, based on the stuff in the locker..then he tried to run into the sea.." Chris shut his eyes, still not believing what had happened
"How did you..stop him?" Tom asked
"I ran after him..stopped him..first he started fighting me off..then he just sort of.. collapsed" Chris sighed, this was the first time he had really properly told anyone about it, apart from Karen obviously, who had to be told, but he had also alerted her that he thought it to be his responsibility to look after Finn this year.
"So whats happening now..surely hes having some sort of councelling?" Tom enquired, and Chris shuffled again
"He refused counselling.." he shook his head and Tom also did
"Well he obviously needs it..what have his parents said?" Tom screwed up his eyebrows, if Josh did anything like that, he would be making sure Josh got every bit of help he needed, if he liked it or not
"Last I heard they were swanning off on some sort of holiday.." Chris sighed, "ive tried calling, but nobodys picked up" maybe he should of tried harder..
Tom saw the clear worry on his friends face, and spoke again "Don't worry, we'll check in tomorrow, make sure hes got all the back-up he needs..meanwhile, I think I should let Josh know.."
Chris narrowed his eyebrows "whys that?"
"Josh is his best friend..if he knows, he can help him" Tom nodded, feeling secure with this, and Chris gave a nod, before they both heard noises and got up
"New term" Chris said, with a confident grin, and Tom smiled at him as they parted
Later that night, Tom had set up Josh with a pizza, a beer, and was sitting opposite him
"A beer on a school night, oh wow!" Josh remarked, with a cheeky grin, and Tom laughed a little, wondering how to say the next part..how were you meant to tell someone their best friend had tried to commit suicide?
"Your in my form group" Tom chuckled, and Josh groaned
"Oh great..so your going to be able to poke aroundin even more of my school life..who else is there?" Josh asked, casually starting to eat, cocking his head to the side
"You, Lauren, Amy, Finn..as I said to Mr Mead, recipe for disaster!" Tom smiled, airily, and Josh immediately noticed that he didn't grimace at the mention of his best friend for once
"You didn't grimace while saying Finn, ive taught you well dad!" Josh laughed, looking at his phone, still laughing to himself
"You heard from him much this summer?" Tom asked, seizing his opportunity and looking down
"Not really actually.." Josh mused, still looking at his phone, and Tom sighed, realising he it was now or never
"Josh..ive got to tell you something about Finn.." Tom started, taking a breath and looking at his son, whos eyes met his with a questioning glare
"I know you don't like him dad.." Josh sighed, knowing that his dad would probably start some sort of "Finns bad, dont do drugs" type speech
"No..Josh..its about the last day of term.." Tom frowned, and Josh looked at him with interest
"Mr Mead went to find Finn..he tried to commit suicide Josh.." Tom said, shutting his eyes, and opening them quickly to watch his sons expressed, which had contorted to one of confusion
"No..Finn...he wouldn't!" Josh said, factoring everything in his mind..Finn had seemed strange on the last day of term, but he was moving..
"Ch-Mr Mead told me yesterday..he was there" Tom said, and looked at Josh more carefully, who seemed to be taking this in
"Is he ok?" Josh asked slowly, and Tom nodded
"Your not allowed to tell anyone Josh..even im not really meant to know" Tom said, and Josh nodded,
Sam walked through the gates of Waterloo Road the next morning. She sighed, she didn't think she would be seeing this place again so soon, she hadn't been happy to leave, but under the circumstances, it was needed.
She watched Amy and Lauren with a scowl on her face, knowing that it would probably be her who had to thaw and go over to them, but she didn't want to, she hadn't been in the wrong, Amy had tried to get her out for drugs, when all Sam had done, was try to help. It wasn't fair. And Lauren acting like her groupie was not much better.
"Lauren" she sighed softly, as she reached them, and Laurens face stretched into a grin
"Hey Sam!" she smiled, and Sam gave her a small smile back, and made a point of scowling at Amy, who looked subdued, for Amy.
Lauren tugged on her arm, pulling her away from Amy
"I know you don't like her Sam, but shes had a rough time.." Lauren said, with a sympathetic glance towards Amy
"So me being chucked out of school because of her is not rough?" Sam asked, and Lauren sighed, hating being the middle man
"I know Sam, and im really sorry for that..its just Amy.." Lauren started, but Sam cut in
"She broke up with Finn right? Well we all knew that one wasn't going to be successful" Sam snapped, not caring that much, ever since she saw Amy with the school bad boy, she knew it would end badly. But she thought they deserved eachother, he was a menace, she was the human form of a hurricane.
"No, its worse then that..y'know what, don't worry.." Lauren said, with a gentle smile, well as gentle as Lauren could be, without being completely sweet and light
"What is it?" Sam asked, looking at the concern on Laurens face, and watching and following as Lauren started to walk around a little bit, pacing, while Amy continued to look into the distance, looking for Siobhan
"Things with Finn ended..really badly. She didn't say what happened, but apparently hes got some sort of mental issue..like really bad.." Lauren said, and Sam looked like she was thawing a little
"So shes not hurt?" Sam asked, she wasn't the biggest fan of the girl, but she wasn't a total bitch
"Not that kind of mental..like stuff in your head, he didn't do anything to upset her but, hes unstable Sam..who would of thought, the cockiest, most annoying idiot in our year?" Lauren said, in a hushed tone, deciding that this would round off the conversation nicely, leading them both towards Amy. Sam realised that they were basically in the same position. And although she was only here to help Denzil, maybe having some female friends again would help her out with the Bolton situation. She loved her mum and everything, but to confide in..it was slightly cringey.
"Bolton broke up with me" Sam said, gritting her teeth and watching the curly haired girls expression change
"How come?" Amy replied, immediately
"Still loved his ex" Sam shrugged, trying not to let on how hurt she was by this, but it was enough for Amy
"Well, im not with Finn, your not with Bolton, Laurens not managed to snare Josh, and we are over the drugs thing..so friends..hoes over bros?" Amy tried, and Sam relented, while Lauren swung her arms around her girl mates
"Sounds top" Lauren grinned, walking them both towards the school with a laugh, as they began to chatter about some fashion show that Amy was arranging..
Finn walked through the school gates, trying to adopt his old-style strut, trying to command the attention in the way he usually did. He looked around, breathing in slightly, trying not to show the underlying insecurities, he was indestructible..nobody knew his secrets, his desires to harm himself; he didn't know whether to put this part in the past tense. It all had felt like a blur, he had been taken home by Chris, then suddenly everything was normal again. He wondered who knew, would the teachers be monitoring him carefully, making sure he didn't kick off? Or would he get the ones that watched him with a sympathetic glance on their face, or would he get the ones who simply ignored him, afraid of pushing him over the edge. Thats what everybody thought of people "like him". If Mr Mead had told everyone, he would now have a label. He would be the mental kid.
He smiled slightly and relaxed as he finally reached Josh, the walk of shame was finally over, he had found a friend, someone to identify with
"Hey mate!" he said to Josh, who turned around and gave him a Josh-like smile
"Alright?" Josh asked, facing him and crossing his arms
"Yeah, you?" Finn asked, almost immediately, and Josh smiled
"Yeah, fine" he nodded, with enthusiasm
"I see Sams back" Finn pointed out, and Josh nodded
"Maybe they let her out early" he said with a laugh, and Finn laughed as well
"Apparently they actually got planted on her.." Finn mused, and Josh nodded
"Highly likely.." Josh agreed
Sam watched Finn & Josh notice her, and her eye for the first time, was caught by the boy with the jet black hair, with the cocky expression, posture, and general stance. But from what Lauren had just told her in such whispered tones, there was something way beneath the surface..but what?