Hey, readers!

Thank you so much for 90 reviews! *squeals*

I started writing this chapter last week so I would upload it on time, hope you like it!

Today's special mention goes to 'doodledreamer' who's left lovely reviews recently, thank you x

I can't believe I've written more than 20 chapters now, how did that happen? #When you're halfway there# (Well, not sure how many chapters yet...)

Prepare for mischief, mayhem and the unexpected…

Enjoy, guys xx

LAST TIME, ON 'GOING HOME'...

Mike tells Emily about her foster placement and Emily bonds with the twins.
Emily learns more about Ryan when he confides in her.
The little kids recruit the expert prankster, Tyler, to help with their plan.

Chapter 21: Who Would Want You?

Saturday morning came quickly and Emily felt like she hadn't slept a wink. She would be meeting her foster parents today. Never in all her life, had she felt so nervous. Mr and Mrs Marlborough, huh? Whoever they were.

Emily pushed back the covers and sat up. She rubbed her eyes and pushed her messy hair back from her face. Too bad she hadn't had time to redecorate the box room. Those rainbow stripes were really starting to get on her nerves. Maybe she would be able to decorate her new room…

She stood up and opened her wardrobe. She would have to actually try to look nice today, seeing as the couple were rich and all. She had to be persuasive, without looking clingy. Sure, she wouldn't have minded staying at The Dumping Ground until her dad was better, but it would be nice to just pretend that she had normal parents. Plus, it looked like they would buy stuff for her, right?

Emily decided to grab a quick shower before choosing her clothes. She went out into the corridor, grabbing the blue dressing gown as she went. Heading towards the bathroom, she passed Tee on the way back to her own room. The blond girl paused and looked at her.

"Foster parents coming today?" Tee asked.

"Um, yeah," said Emily, turning to look at the older girl.

"Well, good luck with that," she said snippily, before going down the corridor and into her room.

"Well, good luck with that," Emily mimicked before going into the bathroom to have her shower. What was with Tee lately? Johnny had left on Wednesday but she seemed to have a personal grudge against Emily, for some reason. Emily remembered that she hadn't replied to Johnny's text, or her mum's for that matter. She kept forgetting she even had a phone since she was so unused to it. She would have to reply to both messages later.

After taking a shower and washing her hair, Emily excited the bathroom and made her way back to her room. Not happening to meet anyone on the way, she closed her door behind her and looked through her clothes. Her mum had indeed bought her all the basics, and more. Emily opened a pack of black tights and threw a pair on her bed. She looked through the dresses she had. She still had the green and blue dresses from her house, plus two more her mum had bought for her. Deciding the black and white patterned one was a bit loud, she pulled out the plain black one.

She got dressed and looked in the mirror. The black dress was sleeveless and had a square neckline. The cotton material fell to just above her knees and went out slightly at the waist. It went well with her black tights, and Emily pulled on her white spotty converse to avoid wearing just the one colour. She hummed a song under her breath as she towel dried her hair and twirled the locks to make the curls more prominent. There was a knock at her door.

"Come in!" she called. The door opened to reveal Ryan, who poked his head through the gap. His eyes widened momentarily at Emily's neat and girly appearance. "Yes?" she questioned, turning to face him.

"Ehm, uh," he rambled, pausing for a second. "Mike wants to speak t' yeh, and you should grab some breakfast."

"Right, OK," she said. "Do you think this is OK to meet the foster parents?" she looked slightly worried.

"Fine," he said evasively. "Would've gone for all black, though," he added, glancing down at her shoes. Emily's gaze fell to his black converse and she smiled.

"Thought it might have been too much," she said with a grin.

"Yeh, maybe," he muttered, returning the grin. She picked up her towel and followed him out of the room. Ryan went downstairs and Emily went back to the bathroom to return her towel.

"You look nice!" she heard Mo exclaim, as Emily came out of the bathroom. She smiled at him. He was wearing a collared shirt, as per usual, and beamed at her from behind his large glasses.

"Thank, Mo," she said.

"Are the foster parents coming today?" he asked in surprise.

"Oh, so I don't normally look nice?" Emily joked.

"No, I didn't mean-"

"I'm just kidding, Mo," she assured him. "Yeah, Mike said they're coming today."

"Well, good luck," he said sincerely, before going down the corridor.

Emily walked down the corridor past the girls' rooms.

"You going to a funeral?" Carmen called.

Emily stopped outside her room and looked in. Carmen was wearing bright pink jeans and a pale blue jacket, with a sparkly necklace. Emily smiled slightly. Carmen stood up and ushered her into the room.

"Carmen can't resist giving style advice," Kaz remarked from where she was sitting on her bed, reading a book. In contrast to Carmen and the rest of the room, Kazima was wearing an inconspicuous camo-green top with blue jeans.

"No, I don't need-" Emily began.

"Say no more," Carmen commanded, looking Emily's outfit up and down. "It's already quite classy, but we're severely lacking in colour."

She opened her wardrobe and looked through the pile of colourful scarves she owned. Emily started to back out of the room but froze when Carmen looked at her. The older girl produced a dark green scarf from the bottom of her pile and held it up. She grinned suddenly and went to Emily, looping it loosely around the younger girl's neck.

"It's perfect," Carmen said, clapping her hands together.

"Be glad she didn't make you wear hot pink," Kaz said wisely, earning a glare from Carmen.

She took Emily by the shoulders and led her to the wall mirror. The green scarf complimented Emily's hair and pale skin, and even brought out her green eyes. She smiled at her reflection. Carmen looked at her knowingly, all disagreements apparently forgotten.

"It is nice," Emily admitted.

"It's well nice," Carmen insisted, "Tell you what – if they want to foster you, you can keep the scarf."

"Really?" Emily said in surprise.

"Yeah," Carmen said with a shrug, "Green's not really my colour anyway."

"Oh, thanks," Emily mumbled. "I'd better get some breakfast, and find out what Mike wants to speak to me about."

"Yeah," Carmen agreed, "Oh, you don't wear earrings, do you?" she added, wanting to style Emily's outfit even further.

"No, sorry," Emily admitted, leaving the room. It was lucky really, she didn't fancy spending longer than necessary exchanging style tips with Carmen.

"Well, it's still not fair," she heard Jody say, "I've been here way longer."

"No one cares, Jody," Ryan snapped, coming out into the hallway and almost smacking into Emily.

"What's going on?" Emily asked him.

"Don't talk to Jody this morning," he advised, leading her straight through to the kitchen. She grabbed a cereal bar from the cupboard and unwrapped it. She noticed the twins, Harry and Finn staring at her and Ryan.

"What?" she asked. Ryan just shook his head. Tyler came into the kitchen with a grin.

"Oh, hey, Emily," he said. "Be sure to recommend my good humour if you don't want to get fostered today."

"Sorry, what?" she uttered, confused.

"Yeah, good luck with that, Tyler," Ryan sneered.

"If they want a girl, they're welcome to foster me," Carmen put in, winking at Emily as she poked her head into the kitchen.

"Just ignore them, Emily," Billie advised, and Toni nodded in agreement.

"Well, I don't fancy getting fostered," said Harry, "Not even if they're rich."

Emily frowned. "Want me to put in a good word for you, Ryan?" she remarked, glancing at him. "Like I could think of one," she added in an undertone, tossing her wrapper in the bin, growing slowly more annoyed.

"Yeh what?" he retorted. "You're only getting fostered because it was an 'emergency'." He made quotation marks in the air.

"So, no one would foster me otherwise, is that what you're saying?" she demanded.

"Yeah," he said with a shrug, making a face that said 'yeah, and?'

"Well, I am so surprised that you haven't got fostered since you got here," she said, "I mean, you've been in care for ages. What did you do to put them off?" It was just her nerves talking now, and Emily knew she would regret it all later.

"Yew don't know what yer taking about," he said darkly. Tyler glanced at the pair of them and backed out of the room. Bailey came in but Tyler pushed him back out into the garden. The little kids exchanged a few glances before quickly leaving the kitchen. Jody came in and glanced at Emily and Ryan.

"Whatever," said Emily. "I'm going to see what Mike wants."

"They've probably cancelled," he called after her, "Who would want you?"

Emily stormed out of the room, leaving Jody in her wake. The shorter girl folded her arms and looked at him. He looked affronted and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that was mean," she said bluntly, grabbing an orange from the fruit bowl.

"It's true, though," he lied, a plan forming in his mind. "You've got a fair chance today. Try to impress them while you've got the chance, Jodes. You'll see," he added mysteriously, leaving the room. A smirk came onto his face as he glanced back to see Jody thoughtfully replace the orange in the fruit bowl. It would work, all right. Like any of his plans would fail.

"What did you want to speak to me about, Mike?" Emily asked, poking her head around the office door.

"Ah, Emily," he said, taking off his glasses. "I just wanted to tell you that your foster parents will be coming to meet you at twelve today."

"Isn't that lunchtime?" she asked mildly.

"May-Li will fix you an early lunch," said Mike, "Or you could just eat afterwards. Thought it might be easier with the rest of the kids occupied…"

"Yeah, that makes sense," said Emily, giving a small smile.

"You looking forward to meeting them?" he questioned.

"Yeah," Emily replied, "I am, actually. It will be… interesting."

"That's certainly one work for it," Mike chuckled, "Let's just hope it's not too interesting, shall we say?"

Emily nodded and smiled. "Well, I'll be back later, then."

"Yeah, see you, Emily," Mike replied, watching the shy girl leave the office.

Emily went to her room and opened the drawer full of make-up that her mum had bought her. She picked up her phone from the table and replied to her text messages.

Hi, Mum. I've been really busy too. See you soon xx

And to Johnny:

I'm OK, don't know what you mean about Ryan, but he's the same as ever. Hope to see you as soon as you're on leave x

She hesitated before sending Johnny's text. Should she have put a kiss at the end? Well, he had. She shook her head and put her phone on the table before gathering up the makeup supplies.

Emily sat down in front of the mirror and laid out the products in front of her. She had foundation, concealer, powder, blush, bronzer, eye shadow, mascara, eyeliner… no way did she need all this stuff. She set aside the mascara, concealer, blush and powder and put the rest away. She applied a little concealer under her eyes and attempted to blend it in. It was a bit like painting, really. Emily had covered up her dark circles, added a ghost of a blush to her cheeks and put on the tiniest bit of mascara. She looked at the powder and decided to dust a bit all over her face. It got rid of that teenage oily skin, anyway. She knew, based on how she'd seen girls wear makeup at school, how not to do it, and she thought that less is more.

"Tyler?" Harry called, knocking on the boy's bedroom door, "Tyler!"

"Where's the fire?" Tyler demanded, throwing the door open.

Harry grinned at the older boy. He was standing, with Finn and the twins, right outside Tyler's bedroom door. The boy with afro hair looked at the four younger kids that were staring at him. He frowned.

"Have your magic cards lost their touch?" he asked. The kids shook their heads. "Has someone actually disappeared inside a magic box?" he tried.

"No," said Harry.

"We need your help," Finn said.

"Well, go ask someone else," said Tyler, moving to shut the door.

"It's for a prank," said Toni.

"Well, sort of a prank," Billie muttered.

"Well, then," Tyler said expansively, "You've come to the right guy." He ushered them into the room and shut the door.

Lunchtime came and Emily brushed her teeth before going downstairs. She hadn't had any replies to her texts, naturally; Johnny would be too busy and her mum would have something better to do. Emily went downstairs at quarter to twelve, where the some of the kids were helping prepare lunch.

"Are you hungry, Emily?" May-Li asked. Emily shook her head. "I'll fix you something after they've gone, then." Emily just nodded. Mike came in, ushering the rest of the kids through to the kitchen.

"Where's Tyler?" he asked.

"And Harry and Finn," said May-Li.

"And the twins," Tee added.

"We're here," Tyler said quickly, escorting the younger kids into the kitchen. Everyone sat down at the table, except Emily, who stood there awkwardly.

"Ah, Emily," said Mike. "If you'd like to wait in the quiet rooms until Mr and Mrs Marlborough arrive…"

"OK," Emily mumbled, following Mike out of the room.

Jody was still missing from the table. She arrived in the kitchen, wearing her best jeans and a bright purple t-shirt, her hair in two braids.

"Woah," said Bailey.

"Who are you and what have you done with Jody?" Tyler demanded. Jody said down opposite him.

"Nothing wrong with looking nice," said Jody.

"Just in case they don't like Emily, is it?" Carmen said, not looking impressed.

"Good thinkin'," Ryan said smugly. "You've got a fair chance."

"How can you say that?" Carmen said. "I thought you and Emily were friends."

"Says who?" Ryan defended.

"Well, you've changed your tune," said Tee.

"I suppose yew want Emily to get fostered?" he asked her. "Don't want some rich parents for yourself?"

"I already have a mum, thank you," Tee said hotly.

"All right," May-Li said. "Let's just talk about something else, yeah?"

The kids shut up and started eating.

There was a knock at the door and Emily started from her seat in the quiet room. She went out into the hallway to see Mike opening the door on two people. The man was tall and slim, wearing a black suit, white shirt and green tie. He had greying brown hair and bright blue eyes. His wife had dark brown hair and tanned skin, and she wore a pale blue blouse with a black blazer and pencil skirt, complete with shiny black heels. Mike gestured to Emily.

"This is Emily," he said, and the couple smiled at her. She felt herself smiling back, because they seemed really nice at a first glance.

"Hello, Emily," said the woman, "I'm Shelia, and this is my husband Phillip." He raised a hand in response.

"Well, shall we?" said Mike, leading the way into the quiet room. The couple sat on the sofa opposite Emily and Mike.

"Maybe you could tell us about yourself," Shelia suggested. Emily nodded.

"Well, I'm thirteen and I like the colour green, writing stories, and my favourite food is lasagne," she reeled off, not sure of what else to say.

"Writing?" said Shelia, "That's very creative."

"Sheila makes an amazing lasagne," Phillip put in. "I'm sure she would love to cook it for you."

"Yes, that would be lovely," said Shelia.

"So, tell me a bit about you guys," Emily suggested.

"Well, I work for a publishing company," Phillip explained, "I get to read a lot of stuff, so I know what's the best. I like playing golf, and I also like the colour green." He smiled, gesturing to his dark green tie. "I'd like to read your writing some time."

"It's kind of private," Emily said awkwardly, "At the moment, anyway."

"I understand," he said with a nod.

"Well, I work in a bank," said Sheila, "So it can get quite busy at times! I love to cook, read and watch historical dramas."

Wow, could these people get any more perfect?Emily wondered.

"Me, too," said Emily, "I really liked Pride and Prejudice when I saw it, and I read a lot of books when I can."

Shelia nodded. "The BBC one? Yes, that one was really well made. What kind of books do you like?"

"I really like fantasy," said Emily, "I like how different worlds are created. I also like Sci-Fi, even though it's not realistic."

"Well, I could recommend many good sci-fi books," said Phillip, "I especially like the ones based on actual science."

Emily nodded.

"So, do you two have any kids?" she asked, realising that she didn't even know this.

"Yes, we have a son," said Phillip.

"But he's always away at boarding school," Sheila put in. "He's seventeen now."

"Oh, right," said Emily. "Would I have to go to boarding school?" she asked, worried that she might be sent away and not able to see any of her new friends.

"No, dear!" Shelia laughed. "You could attend the local Comprehensive if you choose to live with us."

"Oh, OK," she said with a smile.

"That's a lovely scarf, by the way," Sheila said generously.

"Oh, um, thanks," Emily said shyly. "Carmen lent it to me?"

"Carmen?" Phillip asked.

"Carmen is one of the other girls who lives here," Mike explained.

"Yeah, she's really nice," said Emily, "And she's really into fashion."

"Well, so is Shelia," Phillip laughed.

"Very funny," Shelia said, rolling her eyes.

"Tyler, one of the boys here, is really funny," Emily said. "He does magic tricks as well."

Mike looked at Emily, wondering what she was up to.

"I reckon she's in with a chance," Tyler said decidedly. Back in the living room, the kids were discussing Emily, and what could be going on with the foster parents.

"Got an admirer, has she?" Carmen joked.

"Another one you mean," Harry laughed.

"Aw, what's cute, Harry," Carmen said, completely missing his point. Tee however, looked suspicious as Ryan avoided everyone's gaze.

"What are they like then?" Finn wondered.

"Did anyone actually see them?" Kaz asked.

"Yeah, did they look rich?" Mo questioned.

"I did!" Floss announced, flopping on the sofa next to Harry.

"Well, tell us," Ryan demanded, looking awkward when all the kids looked at him.

"The man was tall and was wearing a black suit," Floss said.

"He could have just been dressing smart to make a good impression," Mo reasoned.

"And the lady?" Tee pressed.

"Assuming it wasn't another man," Tyler joked.

"Seriously?" Ryan said bluntly.

"Are you saying there's something wrong with it?" Tyler demanded.

"No, you idiot," Floss said loudly, "Mike called them Mr and Mrs Mallory."

"Marlborough," Jody corrected stoutly.

"Yeah, not two Misters!" Harry laughed.

"Oh, yeah," Tyler muttered.

"Anyway, as I was sayin'," Floss interrupted noisily, "Before I was so rudely interrupted by Tyler." She threw him a glare.

"Well?" Jody said loudly.

"The lady was wearing a black skirt with a black jacket," Floss said with a shrug. "And her shoes were shiny."

"Well, that's helpful," Jody scoffed.

"What kind of skirt was it?" Carmen pressed.

"I don't know, it was like that," Floss replied, gesturing straight lines down with her hands.

"A pencil skirt," Carmen exclaimed, "You could have just said!"

"I did!" Floss said indignantly.

"Well, was she wearing anythin' expensive?" Bailey asked.

"Yeah, like a necklace or sumfing?" Tee put in.

"She was wearing a sparkly necklace and earrings," said Floss. "A bit like the ones your mum bought you." She looked at Carmen. The older girl looked thoughtful. She went over to the computer, which was already on, and began to search.

"Well, if you want to see how rich they are," said Bailey, "Just look at their car!"

"Why didn't I think of that?" Jody said in annoyance.

The little kids rushed to the window, followed by Ryan, Tee and Jody, who pushed to see outside. The car outside was a sleek black with tinted windows. Bailey glanced over from where he was perched on the arm of the sofa. He gave a nod.

"That's a BMW," Bailey said.

"Well, they're certainly not short of a bob or two," Carmen said wryly, looking up from the computer. "I looked up the most expensive necklace and earring set my mum ever got me. Come here, Floss." The ginger girl clambered down from the window ledge and went over to look at the screen.

"That's over a hundred quid!" Floss yelled.

"Yeah, but was it the one?" Carmen demanded impatiently.

"Yeah," said Floss, shrugging and going back to sit down.

"You have a necklace that's worth one hundred pounds?" Ryan asked quickly, about seven different ideas forming in his head.

"None of you is having it, so hands off," Carmen said sternly, turning off the computer screen. "Especially you, Tyler."

"Why me?" Tyler asked innocently, putting both hands up.

"You tried to pawn the computer, remember," Kaz said.

Tyler looked guilty as Ryan glanced away with a smirk. The curly haired boy muttered something about it being a win-win situation and having to do community service. Floss noticed Harry whispering something to Billie, who then nodded at Toni. The ginger girl's eyes narrowed.

"What's goin' on?" she challenged.

"What do you mean?" Finn asked.

"With you four," said Floss. Tyler shook his head at them. "You're planning something."

"No, we're not," Toni said.

"Yes, you are," said Floss. "I want to help."

"You can't," Billie said quickly, but looked guilty as she exchanged a glance with Harry.

"That's not fair," Floss said.

"Life's not fair," Harry said with a shrug.

"And we're not planning anything," Finn added. The older kids watched with interest. Ryan leaned on the doorframe to the living room, rapidly losing interest in what the other kids were doing. He had inched closer to the hallway, in hope that maybe he could overhear what Emily was talking to the foster parents about.

"You're planning something without me," Floss said angrily, "And I'm going to find out." She stood up and stormed out of the room, knocking Ryan off balance.

"Hey, what's going on?" May-Li asked, coming out of the office and seeing Floss stomp up the stairs.

Ryan's centre of gravity felt nonexistent. He grabbed what he thought was the shelf, but was only a pile of books which he pulled off. To make matters worse, the worn soles of his shoes slipped on the hallway laminate flooring, bringing him crashing to the ground, covered in books. There was a moment of silence before many of the kids broke out in laughter. Ryan scowled, wincing as he rubbed the top of his head which had been attacked by a heavy copy of Lord of the Rings.

Mr and Mrs Marlborough exchanged a glance as yelling could be heard from the living room, followed by a crash. Mike passed a hand across his forehead and Emily's gaze napped into the direction of the door.

Jody rushed over to the fallen boy and yelled, "Ryan, are you all right?"

Emily's eyes widened at the possibility of Ryan having made that awful noise. Was he OK? She sprung to her feet and Mike quickly opened the door to see what all the fuss was about. Emily rushed to the scene, oblivious to Jody slipping past her into the quiet room.

Ryan was sitting on the floor, having been handed an ice pack which he pressed to his head. Mike shook his head and sighed, seeing that Ryan had not been seriously injured. Bailey stifled a laugh as he and Tyler stood nearby. The little kids hovered anxiously in the living room. Jody, meanwhile, was in the quiet room.

"Hi," Jody said confidently. She eyed the couple that sat in front of her.

"Hello," said the woman, eyebrows raised slightly.

"I'm Jody," the girl introduced herself, shaking hands with both of them. "I live here too, I've been here ages, in fact."

"What was that all about?" the man asked, concerned.

"Yes, is the boy all right?" the woman wondered, "Ryan, was it?"

"Oh, he's fine," Jody brushed it off, "It was only a pile of books that fell, not Ryan."

They looked confused.

"One of the books fell on his toe, but it was a really light one," Jody said easily. "One of the little kids was worried, but no harm was done."

"Oh, well, that's all right, then," said the woman. "I'm Shelia, by the way, and this is Phillip."

"Pleased to meet you," Jody said cheerfully.

"Are you friends with Emily?" Phillip asked.

"No, not really," said Jody, "I used to be, but..."

"What happened?" Sheila asked, "Emily seems like a lovely girl."

"Yeah, but she turned out not to be as nice as she made out," Jody lied confidently. "I much prefer kind and genuine people, like you, so I can trust them."

Shelia frowned.

"I really like tennis, do you?" Jody went on.

"Yes, I'm always at the club," said Phillip.

"When you're not working, that is," Shelia said with a laugh. Jody smiled.

"Ryan, what happened?" Emily demanded, standing over the boy in the hallway.

"Like yew would care," he muttered, stretching his bruised arm.

"Ryan's fine," May-Li said, "Just a few bruises. How did you even manage to fall, Ryan?"

"And pull all those books onto of yourself," Mike added. Bailey chuckled loudly.

"Ehm, help clear these up, please," May-Li said, and Tyler bent to help Bailey collect up the books. Emily offered Ryan a hand to help him up, which he took. Staggering to his feet, he closed his eyes and momentarily lost balance, falling onto Emily, who nearly took a tumble herself. She pushed him up and gripped his arm. He shook his head and scowled at her, shrugging her off. He allowed May-Li to help him sit down, still holding the ice pack gingerly to his head.

"Floss knocked me over," he said feebly.

"You got knocked over by a little girl," Carmen said with a laugh.

"I was distracted," Ryan muttered.

"By what?" Tee asked.

"By who, you mean," Harry said meaningfully. Ryan closed his eyes and rubbed a hand across his face.

"You mean whom," Kaz corrected.

"Oh, come on, he's only nine," Mo defended.

"Come on, Emily," said Mike, "The Marlboroughs will want to be going soon."

"All right," Emily said, tearing her gaze away from the moody boy that she had once almost called a friend. No, she had called him a friend...

"Hey, what's going on?" Mike asked, coming into the quiet room to find Jody; Jody in purple and with plaits.

"I was just explaining that everything's fine," said Jody. "They're really nice." Sheila and Phillip exchanged a smile.

"Well, it was lovely meeting you, Jody," said Sheila. Jody grinned and left the room. Emily almost walked into her as she made her way back to the quiet room, after she had made sure Ryan was OK.

"What were you doing?" Emily demanded.

Jody just shrugged and went past her.

"Well, Emily's a bit unsettled at the moment," Mike was saying. "One of her friends took a nasty fall, involving a hardback copy of the Lord of the Rings." Mike shook his head, still wondering how Ryan had managed it.

"Oh, I thought the boy wasn't hurt too badly," said Sheila.

"Oh, he isn't," Mike assured them.

"Um, sorry," Emily mumbled, coming into the room.

"It's all right," Phillip said kindly, "You're obviously concerned for your friend."

Emily just nodded, though she doubted whether she would actually use that word at the moment.

"We'd best be going, then," said Sheila, getting up and shaking Mike's hand. "I was lovely meeting you, Emily," she added, turning to the shy girl and hugging her. Emily's eyes widened in surprise, but she hugged back, taking in the comforting smell of expensive, yet homely, scent. Shelia let go, and Emily shook Phillip's hand.

"We'd like to have a chat with you again, if that's all right," he said.

"Yes, we're really thinking about fostering you," said Shelia. "And you must think of yourself as part of the family."

Emily smiled. "That sounds really nice. When can I see them again?" she asked Mike.

"We'll arrange something right now," he assured her, leading Shelia and Phillip through to the office. Emily went around and lingered outside the door as Mike talked to the couple. When they were finished they, came out into the hallway, where many of the kids were waiting.

"Oh, hello," Sheila said cheerfully.

"You all right, son?" Phillip asked, leaning his head to see Ryan sitting on the sofa. Ryan gave an awkward smile and a thumbs-up.

"Well, goodbye, Emily," said Sheila.

"Bye," Emily called as Mike opened the door to let them out. The Marlboroughs gave one final wave before turning to go to their car. Mike closed the door and the questions began.

"Are you going to live with them then?"

"What were they like?"

"Are they as rich as they look?"

"Did they get you anything?"

"Did you put in a good word-"

"Enough, enough," Mike said, holding both hands up. The kids dispersed. Emily smiled and caught Jody's eye, who scowled. The shorter girl stormed up the stairs and Emily looked confused before going into the living room and flopping down on the sofa next to Ryan. She pulled off Carmen's scarf and glanced at the boy. He threw down the ice pack and leaned back.

"Looks like you've got this one in the bag," he remarked.

"Yeah, maybe," Emily said, and they lapsed into silence.

Jody was in her room, sulking. Tyler knocked on the door. When there was no reply, he just opened it. Jody glared at him.

"I've got an idea to cheer you up," he said.

"Go away, Tyler," she said, crossing her arms.

"OK, then," he said, turning to go, "But it did involve revenge on Emily… and Ryan."

"I'm in," Jody said quickly. "What is it?" Tyler grinned.

"Well, it involves those two," he explained, "Plus a pair of handcuffs…"

"But they hate each other," said Jody.

"Well, exactly," Tyler said with a shrug.

They exchanged a conspiratorial grin as they both knew what they were going to do.

NEXT TIME, ON 'GOING HOME'...

(It's time, guys)

Will the Marlboroughs keep their promise?
Is Jody still jealous?
And what will happen when two friends are handcuffed?

EDIT: You know, I could have died, right? I'll update WHEN I CAN - I'm trying to do A Levels, and I have a life! The new series is fab, though :D xx

EDIT.2: I AM CURRENTLY WRITING THE NEXT CHAPTER! Sorry it's been sooo long xx