Thanks to the people that reviewed, I'm Glad you liked it.
I don't own Waterloo Road.
Rachel was getting stuck into the new school curriculum, they only had 5 weeks to get things ready, and to be honest if she was thinking about Waterloo Road, she would not be thinking about her Husband.
Holly was still very upset and sensitive, she had been closest to her father out of Rachel's daughters, and had taken his death the worst, she had been there when he died, and still had nightmares about what she had seen.
It was Thursday afternoon, Rachel and her daughters were getting out of her car after leaving school.
"It's not fair Mum, why do we have to get stuck at school till 4 pm" Aimee whined.
"Because, I had a meeting with someone's parents" Rachel reasoned as she walked to the front door
"That's not my fault, it's like being in detention every day" she whined again
"Yeah, and I missed Hannah Montanna" Holly added
"Your way too old for that, you big baby" Aimee said teasingly to her sister
"I'm not" Holly replied back.
"Eh, Yeah you are, I'm sure Aleesha and Danielle won't think its cool when I tell them, or better yet, Bolton, Paul and Dom, I'm sure they would love to know how you watch Hannah Montanna"
"Mum, Aimee is annoying me" Holly said
"Aimee, that is enough, stop teasing your sister" Rachel scolded.
Aimee made a face at her sister and they walked into the house, Holly lifted the remote control to the TV to watch the Wizards of Waverly Place, she had just put it on and sat on the couch when the door rang.
"Girls, can one of you get the door!" Rachel shouted from the kitchen.
"You get it" Holly said to her sister "I'm watching TV"
"No way, you get it" Aimee replied. Holly didn't want to get up, she knew her sister would change channels to something else.
"No you get it" Holly said, the argument continued for a few minutes.
Rachel was waiting patiently and she didn't hear anyone go to the door.
"I'll go myself then" she mumbled to herself. She answered the door, and seen Eddie standing behind it.
"Hi, you wanted to go over the new Year 10 and 11 Timetable"
Rachel had completely forgotten about her invite to Eddie yesterday. She looked down and realised that she was wearing an apron.
Eddie looked at Rachel's face.
"Yep of course, come in"
"You do know you have tomato sauce on your face" he said pointing to her cheek.
"Oh" Rachel said slightly embarrassed, she lifted the Apron and wiped her cheek.
"I'm not much of a domestic Goddess" she said jokingly, "Come on in" she offered politely, and they walked to the living room where Aimee and Holly were.
"You get the door Holly, I'm older" Aimee ordered
"Yeah, what's that got to do with it" Holly argued back.
"Lets go into the kitchen" Rachel whispered to Eddie, "See how long it takes one of them to realise that I got the door".
"You get it, or I might just let slip at school about how much of a cry baby you are, what would everyone in your class think if they knew you slept in your Mummy's bed"
Holly didn't want anyone to know that, she hated the fact that she couldn't sleep in her own bed; she just had bad dreams when she was alone, it was always the same dream, well not so much a dream as a memory, but it still upset her every time she tried to sleep in her own bed. Rachel was there for her Daughter, but she knew that the longer Holly stayed in her bed, the harder it would be for her, but she hated when she got so upset. They had made a deal that when they moved to their new house, that would be the end of it, but Holly just got upset and scared when she was alone.
"Fine, I'll get it" Holly said, and Aimee loved how she could so easily blackmail and manipulate her younger sister.
Holly got to the door 5 minutes after it had rang and opened it, not realising that her Mum had already let their visitor in. She walked to the kitchen; the smell was lovely her Mum was making Lasagne for dinner "Great she thought, it's full of crabs".
"Mum, there was no one at the door" Holly said as she walked though, suddenly she seen Mr Lawson.
"There was, you both just took so long to answer it" she reminded her youngest daughter.
"How long till Dinners ready, I'm Hungry?" she asked.
"About an hour" Rachel replied
Holly opened the pantry door and took a packet of cheese and onion crisps.
"Holly, what are you doing, put them back" Rachel said firmly.
She put the crisps away, "but I'm hungry" she moaned. Her Mother took an apple from the fruit bowl and handed it to her youngest Daughter.
"I don't want an apple" Holly replied
"Then you can't be that Hungry"
She took the apple and went back into the living room where she found her older sister and had turned the TV to one of the music channels.
"Aimee, I was watching that" Holly said as she entered the room.
"Tough luck, you left the room" Aimee said
"But, I want to know what happens at the end"
"Cry Baby" Aimee reminded her little sister, that shut Holly up and she went into the Dining room and started to do her homework. Rachel had no idea about what Aimee was doing to her sister, she always made sure she said thing when their Mother was not around, and Holly was too scared to tell her Mum in case Aimee followed through with her threat.
Rachel and Eddie were sitting at the kitchen table discussing the new timetables, Rachel wanted to move a few classes around so they could fit in some of the other classes for the 6th form, this meant a change for everyone. Suddenly the Oven beeped. Rachel called her daughters in.
"I'm going to eat mines in the living room" Aimee said, "home and away is on"
"No", Rachel said, "at the Kitchen table please, can one of you set the table"
Aimee simply had to look at Holly who walked to the cutlery drawer.
"Thanks Love" Rachel said to her youngest daughter.
"Mum, I promise I'll be careful not to spill any on the sofa, Please can I eat in the living room" Aimee asked again, Rachel had got a new sofa for the new house, and she was rather protective of it.
"No, in here Aimee" Rachel said again.
Once the table was set, Rachel and her kids sat with Eddie at the dinner table.
"This is great Rachel" Eddie said "My compliments to the chef"
"Thanks" she replied slightly blushing. "So, how was everyone's day?" Rachel asked directing the question to her two daughters "And can I have more than a one word answer please"
"It was fine Mum, their that's 4 words" Aimee said
"Yep, fine" Holly said whilst picking at her food.
"Holly what's wrong?" Rachel asked with concern in her voice.
"Nothings wrong" she answered sharply
"Holly, for someone who was starving an hour ago, you have barley touched your dinner"
"I'm not hungry anymore, I had a big lunch" she lied to her mother
"You barley ate anything at lunch" Rachel said, she had been closely monitoring her youngest daughters diet for the past year, even before their Father died, and Holly had been eating less and less, and was getting thinner and thinner. That was another reason for their Move to Rochdale, there were some kids at their Last school who thought it was too cool to be really thin, and Rachel wanted her away from there.
"Is that why we need to go to Waterloo Road, so you can spy on me" Holly angrily said to her mother. She got up from her chair and ran upstairs.
Rachel leaned back in her chair, her Daughter had in fact hit the nail on the head, it would be more appropriate for a Heads kids to go to a different school, but she wanted the girls close by just now.
Aimee had quickly finished her dinner and swiftly left the Kitchen.
"I'm sorry about that Eddie; you must think I am a terrible Mother"
"No, I don't think that at all" he replied, he was a little sad and ashamed that he had not seen his own son for almost a year, and had no right to call anyone a bad parent.
"Do you want me to go, we can sort this another time" He added.
"No, stay, that's an almost nightly occurrence, don't worry about it" Rachel replied.
"Tell me if I'm sticking my nose in, but is she on a PSP?" Eddie asked
"In her last school yes, but I just don't trust Steph enough to help, I think she could go making things a hell of a lot worse" Rachel answered honestly.
"I think you might be surprised, I know she's not the greatest teacher, but she really does care about the welfare of the Students"
"Holly is a very troubled girl at the moment, we have tried counselling, but it's just not been helpful, she doesn't like opening up to people.
Eddie and Rachel continued to sort the timetables, Holly was upstairs trying to read, but she had so much more on her mind, and Aimee was watching TV, there was nothing really on, just some re runs of Friends.
Holly had been upstairs for a good while now, and was really thirsty, she had already had a bath and got ready for her bed, she was sure Eddie would be gone by now. She walked downstairs and into the kitchen to get a drink.
"Look at the time" Eddie said, looking at his watch, its after 9, just as Holly came in.
"So it is" Rachel said, she had completely lost track of time. She looked at her youngest daughter; it had been obvious she had been crying.
"Its time for bed Love" Rachel said, after Holly had a drink.
"OK Mum, good night" she said as she hugged her Mum, Rachel held her tight and whispered to her. "Are you going to be a brave girl and go to your own bed"? Holly nodded her head at her Mother.
"OK, I'll try", she really didn't want to, but was left with little choice.
"Good girl" Rachel said.
"Good night Mr Lawson" Holly said to her teacher and went up the stairs and followed them round to her room.
Rachel got up and went into the Living room where Aimee was texting someone, more than likely Joseph her boyfriend from home.
"Its nearly time for bed Love, you have half an hour" Rachel reminded her eldest daughter.
"Mum, Chlo doesn't have to be in bed for 10", Aimee whined. She didn't know if it was true or not, but she was pretty sure she didn't.
"Well that's up to Mr Clarkson, in his house it's his rules, and in mines, it's my rules" Rachel said.
"Actually it's Chlo and Mikas house, their Mum left it to them in her Will, they got a house, and what did me and Holly get"
Rachel was getting angry at her daughter "Their situation was different, and you know perfectly well that your father left you and your sister Money, but you have not to get it until you are 21" she said before returning to Eddie in the kitchen, they were almost finished, and the second bottle of wine was opened.
Suddenly Holly screamed from up stairs, she sounded terrified.
"How am I suppose to sleep with that noise" Aimee said, unsympathetically as she was about to go upstairs.
A couple of seconds later and Holly was downstairs before Rachel had a chance to get up, she didn't even remember Eddie was at her house.
"Mum" Holly said as she entered the Kitchen.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Holly nodded and sat on her Mums knee with her arms around her neck. She nodded and held tighter to her Mum.
"I'm sorry" she said.
"It's OK, it's not your fault Honey, why don't you go back up "
"Mum, can I sleep with you tonight?" Holly asked, Rachel nodded and watched as her daughter went up stairs.
"I'm sorry Eddie, you didn't need to see that, she doesn't normally fall asleep so quickly, if she has nightmare it's not usually till much later"
"Don't worry about me Rachel, do you know what the bad dreams are about"
"Yes, its more of a bad memory than a bad dream, do you know what happened to my husband"
Eddie shook his head, he did know that Rachel was alone with the girls, but assumed she got divorced.
"On the first week of the summer holidays, this year, Holly, Trevor and I went climbing with one of Trevor's friends, we were climbing Stac Pollaidh a mountain in Northern Scotland, we have all climbed much harder mountains several times before, and everyone knew what to do. Anyway, at the top of the Mountain, you have to do some Rock Climbing to get to the top. Trevor's friend Frank was the most experienced climber so he went first to the top to secure the ropes, so the rest of us could get up. He got to the top first, and attached two roped, I belayed for Holly from the bottom and Frank from the top for Trevor, the tree the rope was secured to at the top, it just wasn't strong enough, it was fine when Trevor was supporting himself on the rocks, but his foot slipped on a loose rock, and he fell to the bottom and died instantly, Holly was a few feet below him when he fell. She has been remembers the whole thing, and can't get it out of her head" Rachel said.
"That is awful, poor Girl" Eddie sympathized.
"It was an awful accident, the tree have been used as an anchor before, there were ropes and things left at it, and other people we knew had used it, Holly's rope was on the same tree, she was about 50 foot up, it took everything she had to stay up there and not to move. Trevor climbed down and got her, she was in so much shock, she nearly came down too.
"That must have been awful" Eddie said.
"It was, Holly loved Climbing, more so than Aimee, but she's not even been to a wall since then, I know she misses it, but she's scared to go back, and I'm not surprised, but I feel maybe it would be better for her to give it ago again, anyway, I'm rabbiting on, and its getting late" Rachel said.
"Don't worry, you know if you want to talk, I'm here" Eddie offered.
"Thanks, look no one knows about Trevor, Aimee and Holly, they don't like talking about it"
"Don't worry, I won't say a word."
"Thanks Eddie"
Eddie left, and Rachel went upstairs to check on her 2 daughters, Aimee was already fast asleep and Holly was in Rachel's room still awake.
"Mum, I'm sorry, I didn't know Mr Lawson was in"
"Don't worry about that darling, are you OK"
"I'm scared, I don't want to be like this anymore, I want to be able to sleep in my own bed, and to not have to have those dreams when im on my own."
"I know baby, maybe it would help if we went to see another counsellor"
"No Mum, they make it worse, I'm just tired, that's all" Holly said.
Rachel got ready for bed, and fell asleep with her daughter next to her.