"Phillip!" Lex spotted her cousin ahead of her in the corridor, dashing to catch up with him. He turned, waiting for her.

"Hi."

"Hi," she greeted, a little breathless from her sudden sprint. "So did you talk to your mum?"

He grimaced. "Yeah. It went awfully."

"How so?"

They walked down the corridor side by side, and Phillip resolutely didn't meet her eyes. "She told me that who she's seeing is none of my business and basically to butt out."

"Did you tell her why you're worried?"

"I tried. She just went off on one. Now she won't speak to me." He sounded miserable, Lex noted with a frown.

"Oh, that's mature of her." She muttered unhappily. "I'm sorry Phillip. I really thought she'd listen to you."

He shrugged, stepping back to allow her to go through a set of doors first. "I don't know what to do now," he admitted. Lex bit her lip.

"Well… I think you either have to do what we talked about before and try to find out another way, or you'll have trust that Aunt Melissa knows what she's doing and let her get on with it."

Phillip shot her an uneasy look as they descended the stairs. "But she doesn't know what she's doing- that's kind of the problem!"

Lex huffed a laugh, pausing when she turned the corner and almost ran into Eddie with a man she didn't recognise. "Hello you two." Eddie greeted.

"Hi sir. Danielle!" Lex spotted the girl walking behind, beaming as she caught her in a hug. "I heard you were back! Are you staying?"

"Working on it." Danielle murmured, smiling tightly.

"Lex here is Miss Mason's daughter, and Phillip is her nephew." Eddie introduced. "Lex, Phil this is Danielle's father. We're showing him round."

Lex cottoned on immediately, not missing Danielle's wary look or the slight look of stress that Eddie had. "It's nice to meet you sir," she greeted immediately. "Welcome to Waterloo Road."

Danielle shot her a grateful look.

"You're the headteacher's daughter? And you go to school with your cousin?" the man had an unreadable look on his face.

"Phillip's mother, my aunt works here as well." Lex smiled demurely. "It's a good thing we all get along."

She ignored Phillip's muffled snort.

"I see. And how do you find the school?"

Lex shrugged elegantly. "This is the third secondary school I've attended, and I consider it the best."

"Really?"

"Yes. It's the only school that noticeably cares about its' pupils above its' exam results. I suffer from epilepsy, and it's also the only school that has bothered to ensure every single staff member knows what to do if I were to have a seizure in front of them."

The man nodded once, seemingly studying her. She gave him a faint smile, and Eddie ushered him along, winking at her behind his back. Danielle grabbed her hand, mouthing 'thank you' before hurrying after them and Lex began to walk again, Phillip falling into step beside her.

"We all get along?" he questioned incredulously, trying not to laugh.

"Oh hush. Aleesha sent out a mass text earlier about Dani's father, I was just trying to help," she explained, rolling her eyes. "What are you going to do about Aunt Melissa?"

He groaned. "I don't know. She's my mother and I want to trust her, but experience has taught me that's a bad idea. On the other hand, I'd quite like her to speak to me again…"

Lex pondered it for a moment, then stopped dead when she caught sight of a group of people at the end of the corridor, led by her mother, and a thought occurred to her. "What about mum?" she questioned.

"Ay?"

"What about getting mum to do it? She has more experience dealing with your mum than you or I do. Maybe she could do the sister-chat thing?" she suggested. Phil considered it.

"I supposed that could work. As long as she doesn't let slip it's because of me."

Lex rolled her eyes. "I'll slip it into a conversation. Mum won't let on."

"Alright," he agreed. "That could work."

"Course it could." She resisted the urge to roll her eyes again, absently wondering why Phillip was the only person in the world who could exasperate her to this level and beginning to think of ways to drop Melissa's boyfriend into a conversation.

They spent the rest of the period together studying for an upcoming maths test they both had, and when lunchtime rolled around Lex took pity on the relatively friendless boy and sat with him in the canteen, waving cheerily to her mother who had a forced smile on her face the entire lunch hour. When class rolled around again, however, she left Phillip and headed to Physics, fully prepared to be bored for the full hour. The text about Danielle came not long into the class and when she looked around, she saw that she was hardly the only to have received it. Unfortunately, her teacher was stood in front of the door and although the entire class attempted various distraction techniques, there was never an opportunity for anyone to leave.

More texts quickly followed, and Lex thought she'd managed to catch the general gist of what was going, so when she saw a crying Danielle walk past the classroom she quickly stuck her hand up. "Miss, can I step outside for a minute please?"

Sometimes, being the headteacher's daughter had its' perks because seconds later she was jogging up the corridor. "Danielle! Are you okay?"

The redhead shrugged, crossing her arms. Lex studied her for a moment.

"Look, Dani- I'm not sure I fully understand what's going on…" she began hesitantly. "But I know I've never seen a father touring a school to see if it's suitable for his year eleven daughter before."

Danielle scowled. "Because he's so wonderful," she muttered.

"Maybe, maybe not. I wouldn't know. What I do know, is that he seems to care. There are a lot of kids in this school who don't have that."

"Well they're welcome to him," she snapped.

Lex was silent for a long moment. "You know, I would give almost anything to be able to just see my dad again. Even just once," she said quietly. "You have an opportunity to talk to yours, to say what you've always wanted to say. Isn't that worth something?"

Danielle swallowed, looking at the wall display without really seeing it. "He left."

"But he came back. And since it doesn't seem to be for money or because he wants something, I'm pretty sure that means something."

"So I'm supposed to just forgive him and act the dutiful daughter?"

"Not necessarily," Lex shrugged. "But you have an opportunity some kids would kill for. If I were you, I'd use it."

She turned to go back to class, when Danielle's voice stopped her. "Lex? Your dad… you've never mentioned him before. If he came back, would you forgive him?"

"It's not nearly the same situation."

Danielle shrugged. "No, I know. Would you ever go find him, to say those things you want to?"

"I don't need to find him. I know where he is." Lex wrapped her arms around herself. "He's about two hours' drive from here."

"But you don't see him?"

Lex hesitated. "My dad died when I was eight, Danielle." She explained softly. "His grave is in a cemetery close to where we lived."

Danielle looked horrified. "I'm so sorry…"

Lex waved her apology away, but pinned her with a look. "My point is, I will never have the chance to talk with him. He will never be there for all the important things or even the unimportant things. You… you have a chance to have that. And I don't believe you hate your dad, you're too angry for that. Just… just think about what you really want, yeah?"

Before Danielle could stop her, she hurried away and slipped back into her classroom, barely noticed by her teacher. She spent the rest of the lesson attempting to concentrate and failing miserably. When the bell rang, she was one of the first to pack up and leave, hurrying to her mother's office. "Hi love- I'm going down the watch the girl's football team for a bit. You coming?"

Lex shook her head, managing to give her a weak smile. "Not right now."

"Suit yourself. Back in a bit." Rachel dropped an absent kiss to her daughter's head and wandered outside, coming to stand next to Eddie.

"All well?" she murmured in question. He nodded, shooting her a half- grin and brushing her fingers with his own. She hid her own smile, turning her attention back to the girls as Eddie spoke with Danielle's father.

After a while, Mr Harker departed, and she and Eddie headed back up to her office, taking advantage of the empty corridors to walk hand-in-hand. She explained what had happened with the catering companies and he filled her in on the details she'd missed with Danielle and her father. They reached her office, finding Lex borrowing a visitor's chair to complete her homework in.

"Sweetheart, can I just say thank you for not going up on the roof with the others this afternoon?" Rachel dropped onto the sofa in her office, shooting a wry grin at her daughter. Lex nodded in recognition, deciding not to mention the real reason she hadn't been up there. For his part, Eddie let out a groan.

"Of all the things I expected to happen today, that wasn't one of them."

Rachel hummed, looking amused. "I think your advice-giving privileges might need to be revoked if that's what you cause."

"I didn't- that's not what I- oh hell." He flopped down next to her, a long-suffering look on his face while Lex giggled from her place at the desk. Rachel patted him comfortingly on the arm, fighting to keep her smirk from showing.

"By the way- did you hear? Chlo Grainger's pregnant," Lex remembered suddenly. Rachel looked at her in surprise.

"What?"

"Oh yeah." Eddie frowned slightly as he recalled the scene from earlier. "Donte's thrilled."

"I don't think Chlo is. Apparently she wasn't even going to tell anyone until Maxine went behind her back to Mr Clarkson."

Rachel sighed. "Hardly surprising. She's not even eighteen yet and I don't imagine it was planned."

"I can't even picture being pregnant at school," mused Lex. "Everyone is talking about it and she's not even showing yet."

"That's probably not going to get any better," Rachel grimaced. "I'll have the counsellor talk to her, maybe an impartial ear will do her good and it might pick up any bullying."

"She's not the only one though, in fairness. We have, what- two others, at the moment?" Eddie pointed out.

"Yup," she confirmed in a sigh. "Welcome to Waterloo Road."

They fell into silence at that, the two adults contemplating the running of their school until Eddie snapped out of it, glancing at them both. "Come on. I vote we all go out for pizza for dinner." He climbed to his feet. "It's been a hell of a day."

"Oh, you paying?"

"I suppose I could. Do I get recompense?" he wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her in with a grin on his face as she pretended to look thoughtful.

"An argument could be made…" she pecked him on the lips, laughing when he pouted and looked at her with doe eyes. "What?" she asked innocently.

"Alright Miss Mason- if that's the way you want to play it." He looked mischievous, backing away from her. "But be prepared for some unintended consequences."

"Oh? Is that a threat?"

"Not at all, I would never make a threat. A promise however…" he trailed of as she stepped closer, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing their bodies together.

"Yes?"

"Ahem." Lex cleared her throat loudly in interruption, pointedly not looking at them. "Would you like me to leave?"

Her mother blushed, but Eddie just grinned. "Sorry kid."

The girl just shook her head in amusement, waiting patiently for them to gather their things to leave the office and head out, unsurprised when Eddie simply climbed into the car with them, leaving his own in the now-deserted car park.

W.R.

Lex had seen her mother during OFSTED inspections before, and it was never pretty. Today, however, they were driving to school so early there weren't even students on the streets, and when they pulled up the school was completely deserted.

"Right- the inspector said she was coming just after eight so ideally I'd like everything to be ready by then." Rachel swung her bag out of the car, handing Eddie's his as he nodded.

"Everything unlocked?"

"I asked the grounds staff if they wouldn't mind coming in early." Rachel confirmed. "If I do a walkaround inside to check everything, would you mind taking the outside?"

"Sure. And then we need to go over the paperwork, I think it's all in order but it wouldn't hurt to check…"

Lex tuned out, still half asleep as she leant against the car and stared out over the grounds without really seeing anything. She was paying no attention to the conversation behind her, so when a hand came down on her shoulder she jumped violently, letting out a yelp. Eddie snorted in laughter.

"Well, now you're awake." he joked. She shot him a dirty look.

"Not funny."

"Was a bit. Come on, you're with me- some fresh air might do you good."

"Not being up before the birds would have done me good." She grumbled, but fell into step beside him. She had no clue what he was looking for- the school looked as it always did to her, although the early-morning sunshine made a nice change to the usual clouds and rain. It wasn't long before other students started to trickle in and mill about the school, so they circled around to the car park where Lex spotted Melissa and Phillip climbing from the car. She frowned when her aunt walked off without a word to her son, who just looked resigned.

"I'll see you later Eddie." She said to him distractedly, heading towards her cousin.

"Oh, bye then." The man sounded amused. "Have a good day!"

She jogged over to Phillip, frowning slightly. "Is she still angry with you? It's been over a week!"

"She knows how to hold a grudge." He sighed.

"No kidding."

"Did you talk to Rachel?" he questioned, and she nodded as they began to walk into the school, lowering their voices automatically to avoid being overheard.

"Yeah, but I don't know if she's going to talk to her. She seemed to think Melissa would tell her when she was ready."

He scoffed. "So never then."

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "She didn't come home last night."

Lex stopped dead in the middle of the corridor, almost being knocked over by a grumpy-looking year nine. "What?"

Phillip pulled her to the side. "She didn't come home," he repeated. "She thinks I don't know, but I was already up when she got in at half six."

"Oh my God!"

"You can't tell Rachel." He hissed. "She'd freak!"

"And with good reason! You're fifteen! She can't just leave you overnight without warning! What if something had happened?"

He shrugged. "Nothing did. I don't need a babysitter every time she goes out, Lex, I'm not a kid."

"I know that," she said patiently. "But she can't just not come home. That's not fair."

"Yeah well- what about any of this is fair?" he muttered. "Just keep quiet about it, okay?" he stalked off and Lex sighed, crossing her arms and just resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

At breaktime she was sat in the canteen with Emma, Danielle and Aleesha, gossiping about Miss Koreshi when Phillip appeared, cheeks flushed and eyes wide. "Hey. You wanna sit?" she invited but he shook his head frantically.

"I need to talk to you."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Then talk."

"In private," he insisted, reaching down to tug her up. She barely managed to grab her bag before he'd practically hauled her from the room.

"Hey!" she protested as he pulled her down the corridor and into an empty classroom, shutting the door behind them. "We're not supposed to be in here." She pointed out. "What's wrong with you?"

Silently, he delved into his pocket and withdrew something, holding it out to her. "Your phone?" she questioned. "Why would I want your phone?"

"It's not mine."

He didn't provide more of an explanation, and after a few seconds her eyes widened. "Your mum's?"

He nodded, looking miserable. "I need to know she's not doing anything stupid. Will you look?"

"Why me?" she protested.

"Please Lex!" he looked at her beseechingly and after a few moments she caved.

"Fine. Give it here." She took it from him, lighting up the screen. "What's the number?"

Phillip looked blank. "I don't know."

"You stole the phone but you don't know how to unlock it?" she bit down what she really wanted to say, and turned her attention back to it, keying in a guess and grimacing when it didn't work. "Come on Phil, what does she normally use?"

"I dunno! Do you know your mum's?" he demanded.

"Yeah."

He blinked, deflating. "Really?"

"She uses my birthday for pretty much everything. What would be important to Melissa?"

"My birthday?"

"I tried that already. What about your name?" She typed out Phil's name on the phone, substituting numbers for letters. "Dammit. Come on, Phil, there must be a date or a number… we have one more chance."

He looked lost. "I… I don't…"

She sighed, tapping her fingers on her leg. "When's Mel's birthday?"

"Eleventh of May."

She typed that in, hesitating for a long moment and flicking her gaze towards Phil in silent question. He nodded. "Try it.

She hit enter, and sighed in relief as the phone unlocked. "Thank god for that."

She flicked through, easily navigating to the texts and scanning them, trying not to read any more than she had to. Phillip watched anxiously, trying to read her facial expressions. She looked confused for a long moment, fingers flying across the keys as she frowned and he couldn't wait any longer. "What is it?"

"You want the good news or the bad?"

"What's the good?"

"I don't think you're in danger of getting a new stepfather anytime soon."

"How'd you know?"

"That would be the bad news. She's seeing two different guys." Lex looked up at him, biting her lip. His jaw dropped.

"What?"

She handed the phone to him so he could see for himself. "I don't think they know about each other."

Phillip stared at the phone, then at her. "Shit."

Lex sat on a desk, resting her feet on a chair. "What are you going to do?"

"I… have no idea. What am I supposed to do?"

She shrugged. "Pretend you don't know?" she suggested. "It's what I'd do."

"Good plan." He agreed hastily. He left to put the phone back, and Lex inhaled sharply. Despite what she'd said, she didn't think she could pretend nothing was wrong and silently vowed to talk to her mother after school. Only, she wasn't in her office nor in any of the meeting rooms, nor anywhere else that Lex checked. Finally, confused and a little worried she headed to the car park and felt her stomach drop when she realised her mother's car wasn't there.

"Hi sweetie." Melissa came up behind her with a bright smile. "Where's Rach?"

"I was about to ask you that. You don't know where she went?" Lex gestured to the empty space and Melissa frowned.

"No. Maybe Eddie will know?"

"I can't find him either."

Melissa smirked, fighting down a laugh. "Then they're probably together. Perhaps you shouldn't go home for a few hours."

Lex scowled at her. "They wouldn't do that."

"I hate to tell you sweetie, but they're grown adults in a relationship…"

"I meant they wouldn't just leave me without warning. Responsible adults don't leave their kids to fend for themselves." She jibed, and Melissa's expression dimmed. "Something must have happened." She hoisted her bag higher onto her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow Mel."

"Lex wait. I'll give you a lift home." She offered.

"I can walk."

"I know you can. But just in case. Come on."

Lex hesitated, but agreed and climbed into the back of her car, Phillip pointedly not meeting her gaze. The ride was silent, until they pulled onto the street and saw Rachel's car parked at the house. "You want me to wait in case you need somewhere to crash for a little bit?" Melissa turned to look at her once she'd pulled up.

"No that's okay. Thanks for the ride, Aunt Melissa. See you both tomorrow." She exited before either could say anything and hurried into the house. "Mum?"

She stopped dead when she heard sobbing, alarmed as she followed the sound to the living room and found Miss Haydock sobbing onto her mother's shoulder. Her mother met her eyes, her own rimmed red. Lex bit her lip and stepped back quietly, heading into the kitchen and noting as she did that Eddie's jacket wasn't there.

A few minutes later, her mother appeared. "I'm so sorry Lex, I… I got distracted…" she began but Lex waved her off.

"It's okay. Melissa brought me home. What's wrong with Miss Haydock?"

Rachel swallowed. "She… Maxine…"

"Maxine? What about her?" to her alarm, tears sprang into her mother's eyes and Lex felt her stomach twist. "Is Maxine okay?" she whispered. Rachel shook her head.

"I'm so sorry Lex."

Lex shook her head. "I saw her at lunch. She was fine. Where is she? She'll be worried if Miss Haydock doesn't come home."

"Lexi, she's gone." Rachel told her gently, trying and failing to fight back tears.

"No, she isn't!" Lex insisted. "How could she be? She… she was fine."

"Earl Kelly. He… he shot her." Her mother explained. "She… the paramedics had no chance."

She reached out for her, but Lex turned away, wrapping her arms around herself as tears swam in her eyes. "Everyone knew he was a psycho." She croaked out. "Everyone except her. But… but no one thought that…" she trailed off, choking and allowed her mother to enfold her into a hug.

"I know." Rachel whispered. "I know."

Lex remained in her arms for long moment before pulling away abruptly. "Go back to Miss Haydock," she urged. "She needs you more."

Rachel gave a jerky sort of nod, swallowing thickly as she took a deep breath and returned to the living room. Lex stood in the centre of the room, hands hanging limply by her side as she wondered what on earth was supposed to happen next.