At the same time that Jason was in his counselling session, Robbie found himself entering the school library for what was probably the first time since starting at Hollyoaks High. He wasn't here to study though, no, he was looking for one person and wasn't going to stop till he found her, even if that meant searching the school from top to bottom.

As he manoeuvred around the shelves, Robbie finally spotted the frizzy hair that everyone quickly came to associate with Ruby Button and made his way to her desk, slipping into the seat next to her and ignoring the startled squeak that left her at his sudden appearance.

"If you don't mind, I'd really like that chat now," Robbie said, hating how lame he sounded. But it was true, since briefly talking in tutor last week the pair had barely exchanged a word, though Robbie wanted nothing more than to speak to Ruby again. Properly this time.

It took him the whole nine days to work up his courage to go up to her. Because, whilst he wanted to spill all his secrets and worries to the younger girl, he was not a man of words and even thinking about telling her everything and leaving himself vulnerable, left his skin crawling.

But he knew he had to talk and soon. With every passing day, with every new argument, the youngest Roscoe felt like he was going absolutely crazy and he knew that even though he hated it, if he didn't start talking to someone and soon, it would all come spilling out at the worst of times and everyone would think he was crazy.

Ruby was the safest person to go to, she wouldn't judge him for his thoughts and feelings regarding the situation, going through them to a lesser degree herself, but he also wouldn't be betraying Jason in any sort of way. Because even after everything that had been happening, all the venomous words that had been sent his way from his very own twin, Robbie still cared deeply for Jason.

He wasn't going to leave his brother and he certainly wasn't going to let him face his demons on his own, despite how determined Jason seemed to be, to not only get rid of him, but also the whole family.

So Robbie had to be smart about who he talked to, because he wasn't going to bring anyone else in on what was going on, the last thing Jason needed was to be gaped at like a freak-show, it wouldn't help in the slightest.

This left only a handful of people that Robbie could talk to, though his family had instantly been crossed off of that list. They were all going through so much themselves, and Sandy really didn't need to know that another one of her sons were falling apart, especially when Robbie's struggles were so minuscule compared to Jason's.

Robbie just knew that the rest of his brothers would be feeling the exact same things that he was and there would be little they could do to soothe his mind. Either way, the last thing that Robbie wanted to do, was burden his family with more problems when they were struggling with so much themselves.

That only left Ruby and Holly and from there the decision pretty much made itself, resulting in Robbie finding Ruby and brazenly interrupting her revision (which he really should have started by now, with mock exams coming up so soon), in hopes that she would be able to help and be able to lessen the pain he was experiencing.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Holly enough to talk to her, it was just that Robbie found it harder to open up around the blonde.

Holly was putting so much effort into her relationship with Jason, doing everything she could to lessen his pain, whilst having to play dumb about what was really going on with her boyfriend so he wouldn't do something rash. Robbie had seen the utter devastation in her eyes when she thought no-one was looking and knew it wasn't fair to add on to that pain with his own troubles.

But then why did he choose Ruby? After all, she seemed to be the only friend that Jason had nowadays and was going through the same thing that Holly was. But Ruby had said she wanted to help him, the only person to do so and Robbie knew he'd be a fool if he didn't grab onto the offer with both hands.

Because although Ruby was also hurting, she saw that so were others and knew from her own experiences that talking helped everyone, even if they weren't the ones originally suffering. It meant that she was the perfect person to talk to and Robbie was determined to do just that.

So when she nodded, signalling that she was ready to listen to whatever Robbie had to say and try and do what she could to help him, the young lad led her by the hand, away from the studying session of the library, so not to give anyone the chance to listen in to what they were saying, only stopping when they were in one of the deserted sections of the expansive room, a handful of rows away from the door, though well enough away to not be overheard by anyone.

"What is it?" Ruby asked, the concern and worry she was feeling obvious in her voice.

Robbie was silent for a moment, trying to form the words in his mind, because even though he knew what he wanted to say and was finally ready to say it, it seemed to be almost impossible to actually make what he was feeling and thinking, to make sense.

"Hows Jason been acting around you?" He finally asked, trying to ignore the probing look that Ruby sent his way, and hoping that he'd finally work his way up to saying something constructive before he went completely around the bend.

"He's been fine. In fact if I didn't know what I did, then I might not have even noticed that something's wrong with him, after all, no-one else has. I mean, he sometimes closes off or gets snappy though it's nothing major. I'm guessing this hasn't been happening for you or the others?"

Robbie shot Ruby an amused smile, though the effect was ruined by the dark look in his eyes, indicating in just one second how bad it really was getting in the Roscoe household.

"It's hell back at home Rubes, I'm telling you now. Like no-one can even breath without a bloody fight breaking out, normally with Jase right in the centre. We try to help him and he always reacts really badly to it, hell sometimes he's starting a fight because he knows he can."

"Have you tried giving him space?" Ruby asked, it being the first suggestion to hit her whilst Robbie was speaking, even though it sounded pretty stupid, even to her.

"Yeah that's easier said than done when there's seven of us under one roof," Robbie snorted. "I'm doing what I can, because it's not exactly fun for anyone to fight all the time but it ain't easy. Hell, I've been sleeping on the couch since Friday cause J spends all his time in our room, but it doesn't seem to be doing a lot of good.

"Everytime we try to speak to him he snaps and it's getting so difficult to hold my tongue round him. Though it's probably made worse by the fact that mum is practically injecting his insulin into him herself.

"Four times a day she watches him take it and when she can't, Joe or Freddie have to. So the only time he doesn't take it is at school when mum's nowhere in sight and I'm the only one who can do something about it. Do you know how crap that makes me feel? Like I'm the only one in this whole bloody family who can't keep him alive, he's my twin brother and I can't do anything about it.

"I've tried so many times, told him that I just want to help and then we just end up fighting. He's my brother so I love him, but he don't half make it difficult when he's screaming at me, telling me to leave him alone and not to even speak to him. I want to do what I can to help him, to make him better, but nothing I do is good enough."

"He's seeing the school nurse isn't he? Is that doing anything?" Ruby asked, though deep down she knew the other woman would have had little effect on Jason, especially as his own flesh and blood couldn't get through to him.

She was completely surprised by how much Robbie had told her, knowing her classmate to be closed off and completely unresponsive at the best of times. To hear that he was also struggling, well it shook her, though Ruby knew she had done the right thing by offering to listen, because if Robbie wasn't telling her was he was, there would be no telling what he'd be getting up to.

"Well if it is, I'm sure as hell seeing none of it. He hasn't said a word about the counselling sessions and it weren't pretty when Joe asked him about it," Robbie retorted, wincing internally as one of the worst arguments that had rocked through the family came up to the surface of his mind.

Shaking the memory away Robbie turned fully back to Ruby, trying to keep his frustration at bay. "He's my brother for Christ's sake and I can't do anything to help him, cause everytime I try, Jase just pushes me away. He acts like he hates me."

"Robbie that's not-" Ruby spoke up, though quietened at the completely anguished look that she was sent.

"You ain't seen the way he looks at me though. I haven't seen nothing like it, but if looks could kill, well... I'd be six feet under by now. Before this whole fucking mess began, I never even saw that sort of look on Jase's face, let alone directed at me, but that's basically all I see nowadays.

"I want to do what I can to help, I try to show him that, but everytime I go to do it, he pushes and pushes until I'm just shouting at him trying to get through that what he's doing is wrong. Like I try not to, tell myself every single time that I'm going to stay calm and actually do something good, but it never bloody works."

"Well it's not going to be easy Robbie," Ruby said, biting her lip and trying to work out what to say next, not wanting to antagonise her hot-headed classmate. "And I know how difficult it is to stay calm when everything inside of you is screaming. Telling you to fix what's going on, no matter how you do it, but you can't just go shouting and screaming. It's not going to fix anything and you're just going to have to do what you can to keep your temper, because it could make things even worse if you don't."

Robbie was quiet for a moment and had turned slightly away from Ruby, so that he was effectively closed off from her. She sighed, hoping she hadn't made things worse for her suffering friend.

"I'm not very good at this am I? I just don't want to say something that could make it all even worse, but surely there's a lot better people to talk to, instead of me?"

"There really isn't," Robbie said, shaking his head slightly and catching Ruby's eye. "Everyone's too stressed as it is and I don't want to waste their time. And you get me Rubes, way more than a load of others would."

"Well if you think that's best..."

"I do. You get what I'm saying and anyone else would say what they think is best without knowing the whole story, but you do know. It helps."

"Well that's all I want to do," Ruby said truthfully, a small smile playing at her lips. Jason was a good friend and to see him on self-destruct like he was... well it was devastating.

Ruby didn't know how she could help her friend though, especially as he still had no idea that she knew what he was doing to himself, but if she could do at least one positive thing in this whole sorry mess, well she would call it a success. "Seriously Robbie, if talking to me helps you in any sort of way, just talk to me. I'm always here to listen."

Robbie turned away from the shelf he had been facing to fully look at the girl in front of him, grateful for the support he was being offered. It was a look that Ruby would have never imagined possible on Robbie Roscoe's face, though she would never have been able to imagine this whole situation happening just a few short weeks ago either.

In that single moment, she knew her offer was exactly the right one and was glad to be making up for her former sins and hoping that whatever she did wouldn't be too little too late. After almost losing Esther earlier that year because of something she had been doing... well Ruby never wanted to revisit that pain or guilt ever again.

Which was why she wasn't going to just sit there whilst her friend withered away right in front of her. No she was going to do something, it was why she had been so determined to get Jason's unused insulin to the family to show them what Jason was doing to himself.

Even though they already knew and Ruby had done her 'good deed', she knew she wasn't going to stop. That wouldn't happen, not until Jason was better, she wasn't going to almost lose another person, because this time, they may not be so lucky.

The pained look on Robbie's face only broke her heart even more and she knew that whatever fear and hurt she was currently experiencing was going to be tripled, if not more by Jason's family. Pulling the older boy into a hug, Ruby tried her best to comfort Robbie as he slowly relaxed in her hold, neither teenager aware of the eyes watching them through the library door.

Jason frowned as he watched his friend and brother practically embrace in one of the library aisles, feeling a mix of rage and fear build up inside of him. What were they doing? Robbie and Ruby didn't even spoke, though this was the second time in just over a week that he had caught them together and it made him feel particularly uneasy.

What were they talking about? Despite Jason asking himself that question over and over again, there was only one answer that sprung out at him.

You! They're talking about you, you little freak! I mean is it really that much of a surprise? They're laughing at you, at how weak you are. You can't hide it from anyone, not if Ruby's noticed, she's a proper ditzy cow.

If she's noticed then just give it a bit more time, then everyone will see how broken you really are. They'll want nothing to do with you and can you really blame them?

You can't trust Ruby anymore though, you've seen the looks she's been giving you all week and now you know why. She knows what you're doing and wants to stop and that can't happen!

She doesn't want what's best for you, she wants to make you undo all your progress like your family are doing and they're already ruining so much, you really don't need someone else to join them, not if you don't want to get any fatter that is.

Jason knew the voice in the back of his head was right, but he also knew he couldn't just stop hanging out with Ruby. With all eyes on him nowadays he couldn't do anything stupid. No he had to think this through, had to be smart if he wanted to get this right.

So he'd lie low, let Ruby and Robbie think they were in the clear, that they were winning, when in actual fact they were anything but. After all, you keep your friends close but your enemies closer and Jason was determined to do just that.

So a large Ruby and Robbie chat, that I know quite a few people wanted to see. It was never meant to be so long, though apparently Robbie had a lot more to vent than I realised and got carried away.

We are back to Jason next chapter though and lets just say, he's not happy in the slightest.