"Hollie!" Nikki grabbed her daughter's wrist and yanked her round to face her. "I would choose you. Every time."
"No, mum, you wouldn't." Hollie told her softly. "We both know that."
"Hol… you're my entire world."
The teenager laughed mirthlessly. "Don't lie to me. Whatever else you do, don't do that."
"I'm not."
"Credit me with some intelligence, please, Nikki." The use of her name caused a look of intense pain to cross the woman's face. "I have to get to my lesson."
"No you don't… I'm not there."
"Yeah… you should probably do something about that or your class will leave."
"Hollie, please." Nikki sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I just need to sort this Gabriella thing out. This is Kacey's future and–"
"And our future, you and me, that's not important?"
"Of course it is!"
"It seems like it!"
Continuing to run her hands through her hair, Nikki sighed, seemingly at a loss as to how to deal with her daughter. The teenager shook her head and turned to walk away along the corridor in the direction of the common room.
Changing her mind mid-way along the corridor, Hollie headed to the Pastoral Care Office where Gabriella was being kept while the situation was dealt with. She closed the door firmly behind her, the click ominous as the brunette dropped her school bag on the floor and leant on the back of the closest chair, fixing Gabriella with a furious scowl.
"Why did you do it, hey? Why did you push Kacey off that wall? What had she ever done to you?" Hollie demanded. Then she narrowed her eyes. "Oh… I get it. It was easy. You could make yourself feel better by taking your anger out on some innocent kid who happened to get in your way."
"It's true I would have felt a lot better if it was you I'd watched falling off that wall." Gabriella admitted easily.
Hollie chuckled. "You could never take me on, Wark. You are nothing."
Gabriella stood up and approached her slowly. "You have no idea."
"Yeah?" The brunette laughed again and raised her hands, palms open, in her direction. "Give it your best shot."
Gabriella hesitated, as though expecting it to be a trap, before raising her hand and slapping Hollie hard around the face. The other girl barely reacted, poking her tongue into the corner of her mouth and tasting the slight metallic tang of blood, before rolling her head on her neck, as though preparing herself.
Without any warning at all, Hollie pulled back her fist and slammed it into Gabriella's face as hard as she could. The blonde fell backwards, stumbling over a chair and crumpling into a heap on the carpeted floor. Hollie advanced on her, grabbing her by the shoulder and dragging her to her feet. Clearly Gabriella thought she was about to hit her again, because she shielded her face, but Hollie simply pushed her down into a chair and turned away, clenching and unclenching her fists. She had just rounded on the blonde again and raised her fist, when Nikki burst through the door and looked apprehensively between the two girls.
"What's going on here?" She demanded. When neither spoke, she shrugged and walked towards her desk. "Alright, we'll phone the police."
Hollie gaped at her, unable to believe that her mother would actually do that.
It was, however, Gabriella, who spoke. "I'm sorry." Nikki replaced the handset and turned, regarding the blonde with an identical, confused expression to her daughter. "I'm sorry that your relationship was so flimsy that a seventeen-year-old school girl could destroy it. That's what this is about, isn't it?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Vix and I… we're back together." Nikki shot at her. "Shut up."
"All I did was tell the truth about you and Mr Reid."
"I said shut up!" Nikki screamed at her.
Hollie frowned, laying a hand on her mother's arm, trying to calm her. "Don't."
"Make me." Gabriella challenged. Then she began undoing her shirt and screaming, shouting at Nikki to stop, although the woman was nowhere near her.
Standing back in horror, Hollie watched the teenager's antics. She shook her head as her mother stepped in, attempting to prevent the blonde harming herself. Hearing the door opening, she whipped around and fixed widened eyes on Mr Lowsley, who was gaping at the scene in the centre of the room.
"Miss Boston!" He shouted, causing Nikki to retract her hands as though they'd been burnt. "What's going on?"
"Nothing, I–"
"Outside, now!"
As they turned to leave, Hollie cleared her throat. Mr Lowsley jumped, obviously not having noticed her before. "Sir… she didn't do anything. She… Gabriella… just went nuts."
"Hollie, that's… I need to speak to Miss Boston."
"I hit her." Hollie blurted out, desperately. "It was nothing to do with Mum. She pushed me away and tried to make sure Gabriella was OK. It was me."
"Hollie!" Nikki shook her head.
"I will deal with you later, Hollie. Get to the Cooler for now." Mr Lowsley told her firmly, nodding towards the door and ushering her out. He directed Nikki firmly along the corridor ahead of him, leaving her daughter staring after them before heading towards the punishment classroom. "Did Hollie hit her?"
"I… I don't…"
"What were you even doing there, Nikki? Are you so determined to prove she deliberately hurt Kacey that you'd do anything?"
"Yeah, I wanted her to tell the truth, but I didn't touch her!"
"I saw you."
"Right… do you really think I'd hurt her? I was angry, OK, but Gabriella has set me up!"
"Look, I've got Mrs Wark in my office and I'm gonna have to explain to her what happened."
"Yeah and she knows exactly what she's like because her daughter has caused mayhem at every single school she's attended."
"Right, that's it, take the rest of the day off."
"What? Oh! No, no, no, no!"
"I'm gonna have to formally suspend you pending an investigation."
"I am not going home." Nikki argued furiously.
Simon waved his arms angrily. "Nikki, will you please, for once, do as you're told!"
"Right, if I leave it's an admission of guilt and I didn't touch her, so I am going back to my class and you can get Gabriella to tell you the truth." She raged. "And if you even so much as think about punishing my daughter over this you will be very, very sorry."
"Nik–"
"No!" She shouted, turning and making her way angrily back into the building.
After being left in the corridor, Hollie did as she was told and headed along the corridor to the Cooler. She waited there for about ten minutes, before deciding she could sit still anymore and leaving her bag on the desk as she strode from the room. Storming through the hallways, Hollie headed straight for the Head's office, throwing open the door and, as expected, finding Gabriella talking to her mother.
"She is talking complete shit." Hollie informed the woman bluntly. "What's she said? That Miss Boston did something to her?"
"Who are you?" Mrs Wark demanded.
"She's Miss Boston's daughter." Gabriella informed her helpfully.
"Yeah, I am. I'm also the one who hit your daughter. My mum had nothing to do with it."
"You expect me to believe that?"
Hollie snorted. "Quite frankly, I don't give a shit what you believe. You're Gabriella's mother, so you probably can't tell what's the truth and what's a lie anyway. Everything that comes out of her mouth is a lie. She's a manipulative bitch who's had it in for my mother for months, just because Gabriella has a crush on Mr Reid and he didn't give her a second glance. He fancied my mum and Gabriella couldn't stand that."
"That's not–"
"She's a liar!"
The office door opened and Mr Lowsley appeared. He went white at the sight that greeted him. "Hollie! Cooler, I thought I said I'd deal with you later. Mrs Wark I'm–"
"I was just telling Mrs Wark that I'm the one who punched Gabriella." Hollie interrupted him defiantly.
"Gabriella says it was her teacher." The woman said, almost making it sound like a question. "I assume you've suspended Miss Boston."
"I've asked her to go home." He said in a quieter voice, furrowing his eyebrows. "But Miss Boston is denying that she struck Gabriella."
"She didn't!" Hollie snapped. "It was–"
"Then why is my daughter bleeding?" Mrs Wark demanded, ignoring the teenager.
"Mr Lowsley, you saw her attack me." Gabriella argued.
He shook his head. "No, I didn't. Gabriella… you weren't bleeding in Pastoral Care."
"Are you saying that I'm lying?"
"Yes." Hollie agreed bluntly.
"I don't know." Mr Lowsley said, more tactfully.
There was a pause. "I believe my daughter, Mr Lowsley."
"Of course you do! She had to get her manipulative, lying bitchness from somewhere!"
"That's enough, Hollie. Out." The acting head commanded, grabbing her arm and steering her towards the door. "Cooler."
"I won't let you do this." The teenager hissed, scowling between the mother and daughter furiously. "All my mum has tried to do is help you… she's given you chance after chance, even after you tried to ruin her relationship. I won't let you ruin her career as well."
