Authors note: nother update for you :) This is pretty quick for me, but I'm hoping I can update more like this over the remainder of the holidays, the regularity will probably go back down when we have to go back to school. Sigh haha.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Well, I own Ellie, and Heather, and a few other people. But own none of the characters or storyline's the BBC made up.

I decided that night that I was not going to have any romantic relations with Liam whatsoever. I was not going to crush on him, flirt with him, or lead him on in any way whatsoever. Even if he was really sweet and totally hot, it didn't matter, relationships only tie you down. In fact there was no way Liam would be interested in me like that anyway, he could get any girl, so he wouldn't go for me. I was just another messed up care-kid who nobody gave a shit about.

So, that in mind, I was absolutely ready to face him on Monday and pursue our strictly non-romantic relationship, if only his smile wasn't so fucking cute.

"Hey Ellie." He said with a huge grin, as I flopped into my chair in form. I still sat behind him and Rick, next to the window so I could gaze out of it when I got bored.

"Hey Liam." I grinned back.

"No talking!" Our form tutor yelled from the front. "Mister O'Donovan, would you like to turn around please." Liam grinned and rolled his eyes, but turned around to face the front. I drifted off, not bothering to listen to his endless drone about school notices, instead I started to doodle on the front of my planner.

"Hey Ellie. Psst, Ellie." I heard somebody whisper, I looked up but couldn't see anyone looking to me so I continued my doodling. There was another Ellie in the form, so I figured the whisperer must want them, not me. "Oh for fucks sake Ellie, over here." A rubber hit me squarely on the side of the head, and I turned to see who threw it. Heather was grinning at me from the other side of the classroom.

She held up a screwed up ball of paper in her hand and chucked it to me. I opened it carefully, so it didn't rip, and then read her scrawly writing.

Hayden's having a party this Saturday. His parents are away so it's anything goes, bring booze and friends. You better be there :)

I grinned at her and gave a thumbs up sign just as Mister Hankin said we can go to first period. "Not you Ellie." He caught me just as I was about to leave. I rolled my eyes but turned round to face him. He waited until everyone had left the classroom, and then he gave me one of those smiles. I made no effort to return it.

"You've been here for nearly three weeks now." He said matter-of-factly.

"Yes?" I asked, wondering where this was going.

"Well every term we have what we call progress meetings for, err, certain pupils." He said slowly, obviously choosing his words carefully. He needn't have bothered, I got it, it was for the fuck-up, problem kids, and I was ready to bet he was telling me this cos I was on the list. "Yours is next Friday." He handed me an envelope that was addressed to 'the parent or guardian of Elizabeth Hardy.'

"Could you please pass this on too your parents, I mean care workers, sorry." He said, coughing loudly. I took the letter and examined it closely.

"Sure." I said with a shrug, turning to leave.

"Oh and Ellie, I'm sure I can trust you to deliver it to the head of your establishment intact, as in unopened." He said in a stern voice with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, yeah." I said with a roll of my eyes. He opened his mouth to tell me my attitude was inappropriate or whatever, but I was already out the door. As soon as I'd turned the corner I opened the envelope carefully, so that I'd be able to reseal it later, then I read the letter with growing worry.

Dear reader, it read, after much discussion with both yourself and members of the senior leadership team, we have come to the conclusion that Elizabeth should be placed on the record list. This is not as punishment or retribution, but merely because we believe she needs extra support and guidance. Being placed on this list means there will be half-termly progress meeting including Elizabeth, a member of staff and one of her legal guardians. Although this meeting would usually be at the end of half-term, we have decided to schedule it to next Friday considering Elizabeth has only just been placed on the list. At the meeting we will discuss further actions and measures we will be putting in place, and also the other benefits available to students on the record list. The meeting will be

We look forward to seeing you next Friday, yours sincerely, Mr Hargreaves.

I groaned angrily. What was it about adults that made them think they had a right to poke their noses into my business? I slipped the letter back into its envelope and shoved it into my bag, thinking it over as I headed to my next lesson.

I was still thinking about it when I got to history, I sat at the back with Heather, gazing out of the window. Our history teacher was new, the sort of fresh out of college, jean wearing over, over enthusiastic type, and he let us talk as long as we were working. Telling a class of fifteen and sixteen year olds they can talk as much as they want is never really a good idea, although I'll never complain, and it wasn't long before none of us were doing any work at all.

Heather kept up a constant stream of conversation. I'd gotten used to her way of doing things over the past two weeks. I was fairly sure she would probably end up dead before she hit her twenties, because it was pretty clear her idea of living life to the full was taking it too far. With Heather no moment could be silent, someone had to be talking, usually her, and she didn't care if you didn't offer much to the conversation but yes's and no's. Which was perfect for me as it meant I didn't really have to listen.

Whereas a lot of people seemed to enjoy just doing nothing, Heather was not one of those people. Her life seemed jam packed full of events. She'd go from home to a mates, to town, to a mates, out on the town, to a party, to a mates, then home in the morning. If she was feeling like it she'd squash school in their too. It was too busy for me, I was used to spending a whole day chilling in the park, and then maybe going out later if we felt like it at the time. Heather was up for anything. As a motto I quite liked the whole, I'll try anything thing, but when it comes to nicking dope off a drug dealer well known for knife crimes, I draw the line. I think the problem is that Heather has grown up as a posh kid, her parents have no idea what she's like and think she's still just a studious little girl. As a posh kid she never learnt which places in Newcastle you just don't go after dark, and who you just don't cross, and one day it'll land her in a whole heap of trouble.

"This party is going to be amazing. There are loads of people coming, and Hayden's is blowing two hundred pounds on booze. He's going to get his mother to get him some, yanno, stuff, as well." She said with a huge grin. I whistled under my breath, two hundred quid was a lot of money to spend on booze, but I got the idea that Hayden wanted this party to achieve party of the year status, and for that you had to have drink.

"Stuff?" I inquired with a raised eyebrow. Heather was funny like that, she was so insistent on keeping her entire life a secret from her parents that she wouldn't even say some things in front of us in case she slipped up in front of them.

She rolled her eyes. "Grow up Ellie, you know what I mean, pills, weed, tabs, DRUGS for fucks sake." The boys in front of us turned and gave us questioning looks, I was about to tell them if they said anything they were dead, when Heather butted in. "Talking 'bout the party on Saturday, you two are coming right?" They shared a grin, nodded, and then went back to their work. Heather rolled her eyes. "Nosy sods." She muttered.

I stifled a giggle and then wrote down some of the answers on the sheet. Heather raised her eyebrows. "Why are you bothering if he isn't making us?" She asks, obviously confused.

I shrug, "I'm stuck here, I might as well do the work." She frowns again and then I sigh and tell her about the stupid progress meeting.

She laughs loudly, "Oh, haha, you're on the record list. Wow, and after three weeks, that must be a record. You haven't even done anything that bad."

I think that over, she's right; I haven't done anything too bad. I've gotten into one or two fights with other kids, argued with a few teachers, skipped a bunch of lessons, and I was caught 'fornicating' (as the teacher put it) with a boy in a supply cupboard. I guess the drinking and the smoking would be considered as bad by teachers, but we haven't been caught for that. I guess Saint Andrews standards are just a hell of a lot higher than Saint Aggie's.

I sighed, it probably had a lot to do with Mike as well. It did say in the letter, 'through discussion with the senior leadership team and yourself'. The school probably phoned up to tell him, and he made a big deal of it and got me put on this record list or whatever. I was getting sick to the back teeth of being controlled by social workers.

"So you're definitely coming to this party right. Are you still grounded? Surely your parents have let you off already?" She asked with another grin.

I sighed, I still hadn't had the whole 'I'm in care' conversation with Heather, or any of the 'bike shed smokers' as they seemed to be known through the school. They still thought I lived on Woodrush, and technically I wasn't lying, because nobody had outright asked me where I lived, they'd just assumed because I used to live there and one of the guys recognised me. I wouldn't lie if they asked, but I was secretly hoping that would never occur, after all, who wants to be just another care kid.

"I mean seriously, this grounding has gone on forever, your parents are well strict, what did you even do?" She said with an eye roll.

"Yeah, I am still grounded. But don't worry it won't be an issue." I grinned at her hoping I'd remembered my drainpipe climbing skills from Liam. Now that I'd gotten that letter I was pretty sure Mike wasn't going to let up about bring grounded till afterwards, he was still certain I was about to make a break for it, and right now I was kinda gravitating towards it.

I really hated social workers. All my life my dad had been a controlling bastard to my mum, and me as well sometimes, although mostly he didn't give a shit about me. When she wasn't drugged or too depressed she used to give me little snippets of advice, and one thing she always used to say was not to let people control you. I guess I've been letting her down ever since I was taken into care.

"You said I can bring anybody?" I asked Heather, trying to think of anyone but my mum.

"Mhm." She mumbled with a nod, not really paying attention as she texted away on her phone. I smiled, I knew exactly who I was going to invite.

I was stood in the girls toilets, looking at my phone sitting in my hands. I hadn't hat the guts to call Lis or any of the others for the past two weeks. I felt so bad about telling them I was running away, and then ignoring all their texts when I was with Liam. I took a deep breath and then dialled Lis's number.

"Hello?" She answered almost instantly.

"Hey Lis, it's me. Sorry I haven't been in touch." I said sheepishly. I ran my hand through my hair and then did what I do best, lie. "I got all the way to London, but they caught me and dragged me back. I almost got sent to Leeds, but my social worker decided not to. They took my phone off me, I only just got all your texts. I'm really sorry Lis."

"It's alright. Don't worry, I figured something like that had probably happened." Lis said shakily. I sighed in a relieved way, I know that Lis only believed me because it was down the phone. It we were talking face-to-face she'd know I was lying straight away.

"Anyway, I'm still grounded but I can't meet up with you. But there's this party on Saturday. I'm going to that, and Heather said I could invite whoever. So do you want to come, bring Donny and the others." I said with a huge grin. Seeing Lis again would be amazing, especially at a party.

"Oooh a party!" Her voice lit up and I couldn't help but laugh. "Yes absolutely, but I thought you were grounded, and who's Heather?"

"Heather's a girl I sit next to in history, it's her boyfriend's party. And yes I'm grounded, but this is the party of the year, I'm not going to miss it, am i?" I say with a small laugh. Lis joins and for a second it feels like it used to, but then the moment is gone and I hear footsteps in the corridor.

"I have to go now Lis." I whisper into the phone. "I'm supposed to be in Chemistry, and I'll get in shit if they catch me. I'll text you the details later, yeah? See you on Saturday."

"Bye!" She laughs back. I can hear the excitement in her voice. If there's two things in the world Lis loves more than anything it's, a) doing absolutely nothing and, b) parties. To be honest she'll be into anything as long as there's booze involved. She's like Heather but way more street wise and relaxed.

I grin at that thought and then head over to chemistry, flopping into my seat next to Liam. He beams at me, and I can't help but return the smile as he explains the experiment to me. As we're burning some sort of white powder to see the colour of the flame we chat easily and mess about as much as you can in a chemistry lab without getting burnt.

After a while the subject of the party comes up. "Oh yeah, Simon invited me to that, not sure I'll bother though." He says with a smile.

I frown at him and then ask in a puzzled voice, "Why not? It'll be great."

"Not really my thing." He says with a laugh and a shrug.

"Oh come on Liam. It'll be fun, I'm going. There will be alcohol and loud music, and probably lots of easy girls. What more could a teenage boy want." I say, sticking my tongue out at him.

He laughs and then falls silent as the watchful eye of our chemistry teacher swings over to us. We pretend to be engrossed in the experiment for a few minutes before continuing the conversation. "Are you included in those easy girls?" He says with a cheeky grin.

I pretend to swat him with my chemistry text book and then smile. "Absolutely not. I always play hard to get."

He laughs, deep and long and then grins again, looking right into my eyes. "Well I'll definitely be coming if I get to see some of that." I smile back at him instantaneously, and then mentally slap myself.

What did I say last night. ABSOLUTELY, AND EXPLICITYLY NO FLIRTING. I sigh and then take a deep breath. I guess it doesn't hurt, just shameless flirting. One more line couldn't hurt. I widen my smile and then look right back at him. "Then I look forward to seeing you there."

Hope you liked it, please review :) immortalmorgana, they are going to find out about her tattoo in the chapter after next, sorry for the wait. It's my GCSE results tomorrow, or should I say today because it's about 2 AM, wish me luck. I promise I'll try and update soon :)