(A/N): Okay, so I meant to update this sooner than I did, but I got stuck, and I do mean stuck, then real life happened, and then other stories got in the way of my inspiration for this one. So, I am not especially happy with this chapter, but I do hope you guys like it. I will try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible, and I am working on about three, maybe four, other Waterloo Road Reddie stories, so I hope you're wanting to read more from me! As always, enjoy the read and let me know what you think.

What the Heart Wants

Chapter 36

The following morning saw Maxine and Janeece travelling into school with Steph, whilst Alia caught a lift in with Rachel and Eddie, all six arriving a little earlier than anyone else would as the adults wanted to get the teenagers calmer within the building before the masses piled in for the day. Alia and Maxine by now had their customary vest top and leggings on with boots and pilfered hoodies from Jack's wardrobe. Surprisingly enough, Janeece also had on boots and leggings, with an oversized yellow Waterloo Road top she'd owned for a couple of years already. Not that she was going to get pulled up on her uniform that day. Janeece had collected some of her things from home the previous afternoon. Maxine and Alia were both in more than a little pain, a sleepless, restless night serving to make them both a little more irritable than usual. All three girls had ended up talking on and off through the night, discussing what had happened to them yet again and how they always seemed to end up in ever more ridiculous situations.

Around three in the morning, they'd gotten onto the topic of the other students they'd been shielding in the hall and what could be done in terms of damage control.

"We must've terrified the kids at least." Alia shook her head softly. The bedside lamp was switched on so they could see each other, but it was dim enough not to register under the door and alert the three adults in the house that the teenagers weren't sleeping as they were supposed to be. "All of them must be terrified of the hall now."

"Sam and Den, plus most of our years would've caught on to what we were doing." Max's cheeks reddened a little. They'd kept the majority of the incident with Earl to themselves, for their own sakes as much as it was still an active police investigation at the time. Maxine was still very embarrassed and ashamed of being suckered in by Earl and all his promises, despite the constant assurances from her friends that she had no reason for either. It would take time to heal, something set further back with the events in the assembly hall. "We had a hard enough time last year convincing them it wasn't their faults over Earl."

"How're the teachers going to even get anyone back into that hall?" Janeece added reasonably. "We couldn't set foot back in Steph's place and they've all witnessed us go mental there."

All three girls descended into thoughtful silence, trying to think up ways they could help out the teachers, and the students who had been scared out of their minds less than two days' earlier. Not that it was an easy task, considering it had taken everything they had to go into the room themselves, though they were glad they had. The hall was much less daunting a prospect now, at least. Eventually, Alia clicked her fingers together as an idea began to form in her mind. "I know. Well, sort of. What about the school talent show?"

"What about it?" Max asked, both seventeen year olds staring at her as though she'd lost her mind.

"We were decorating, weren't we? Let's continue it." Alia rolled her eyes as they still eyed her warily, confusion over most of their features. "What's the one thing we can say is universal for all Waterloo Road kids?"

"ASBOs."

"Skiving."

Alia narrowed her eyes at Maxine and Janeece respectively, their sarcasm not as appreciated as it usually was with the sixteen year old. "Funny, both of you. Being nosy is what I was getting at. Come off it, we've a few hundred kids we go to school with that could sniff out a well hidden secret within an hour through curiosity alone."

"Only if that secret isn't that your mum's the headmistress." Janeece pointed out as Alia blushed. The game had proven to still be a big hit amongst those students in the know when using it on the teachers who didn't know of the relationship between Alia and Rachel, mainly the former John Fosters cohort. It would all change soon enough once either Rachel got round to changing the name on the school system or Alia had to start on her coursework, but until then, the game was still a firm favourite to play each school day.

"Okay, apart from that." Alia allowed, her cheeks still red. "What I'm saying is, if we go in the hall tomorrow morning, get started on the decorations and that, which we can do one handed, we'll get nosy students by the boatload all coming to see what we're doing."

"And when they do, they're going to end up in the hall to see why we're mental enough to be in there ourselves, taking a bunch of the fear out of the room." Maxine inputted as realisation dawned on her, Janeece not far behind.

"We'll be showing there's nothing to fear from the room, and Charlotte will be there for anyone who needs it anyway, so really we're helping get stuff done and might actually sort out the issue of the hall." Janeece finished triumphantly, all three girls only just remembering to keep their voices down lest they wake some grumpy teachers. None of them had missed the teasing Steph gave Rachel and Eddie over sharing a room, despite the two senior teachers being together for about ten months at that point. Sometimes they thought the blonde woman wanted to get fired for baiting the headteacher and deputy the way she did. "That could actually work, Ali."

"It might fail spectacularly though." Alia warned cautiously, gaining herself a nudge from Maxine for her doubt.

"Don't knock it. We can only give it a go and that's what we'll do." Maxine eyed the bedside clock wearily. "What are the chances of us getting enough sleep to not hate the alarm?" The two other teens followed her gaze, groaning at the clock telling them it was nearing four in the morning, with the alarm set for half past six.

"None whatsoever." Janeece tipped her head back dramatically. "We're definitely going to need energy drinks or whatever to stay awake tomorrow."

With their agreement and plan firmly in place, they traipsed up the school steps, dragging their school bags behind them. Despite there being no lessons, they'd picked up the bags automatically and only realised they didn't need them halfway to school. The guards were in place, still looking extremely guilty over what had happened. They searched the entire group, as the teachers had followed the teenagers with a little confusion, taking extra care with Maxine and Alia so as not to jostle their arms any. As soon as the searches were finished, the three sixth formers headed straight for the hall doors, ignoring the concerned calls of their names in favour of entering the large room, throwing their bags haphazardly onto the nearest chair together. The cleaners had done a little more to tidy up and someone had kindly filled in the hole in the front of the stage made by the bullet, even painting it the same black as the rest of the wooden panels.

"What do we reckon, those stand things first?" Maxine gestured to the tall columns littering the stage that would line the edges of the stage to disguise those coming on and off from the wings. Only a few were partially painted, and the stage would allow for more people to see them quickly. All in all, a good plan. Alia and Janeece both nodded their agreement, all three shucking off the oversized jumpers to be thrown to the pile of bags. Jack would most definitely not appreciate paint on his hoodies, no matter the reason why. Alia flushed slightly as she added her stolen hoodie to the pile. She'd meant to call Jack the night before and tell him what had happened, but she'd been putting it off, selfishly not wanting to deal with his reaction and worrying over her being shot a second time. She had enough hovering with Rachel, Eddie and Steph constantly around without adding Jack to the mix too. She knew she'd be in for it when he did find out, but she wanted just that tiny little bit of time to herself first.

The three girls had made it all the way up onto the stage with paint tins and paintbrushes before the teachers truly followed them into the hall, their jaws dropping at the three girls getting to work on the abandoned set pieces. "Girls." Rachel found her voice first, all three sixth formers turning to face them from the stage with questioning eyes. She really wanted to question them, have them hide in her office for at least a couple of days, but their moves were too deliberate, too calculated to be something they'd only just thought of. Which meant yet another plan those three had concocted. Rachel could only hope it didn't involve ganging up on any teacher yet again. It seemed to be too common a factor in any plan of theirs. "What's the plan this time?" She knew she'd gotten it right when her daughter's eyes widened and both Maxine and Janeece looked a little sheepish. "Ali, tell me." She knew the sixteen year old would be able to tell she meant it from her tone alone.

Alia shrugged her good shoulder in response. "We figured, maybe, if we showed we weren't letting the other day affect us and still carrying on with the good stuff we were doing without Max Tyler, the other kids might be less jumpy about this room and us."

Rachel breathed through her nose, wondering just how those three could simultaneously make her want to strangle and hug them in the same split second. She glanced at Eddie and Steph, who were both obviously thinking along the same lines as her. Coming to a quick decision, knowing there was still a little time before anyone else would start arriving, she offered them a smile and placed her handbag on top of their bag and hoodie pile, adding her coat and blazer to the pile as well. "Got a paintbrush for me up there?"

All eyes turned to her in shock, Alia recovering enough to smile and twist the paintbrush she held so the handle was in Rachel's direction. "Here, I'll grab another one. They're all at the back of the stage." Rachel lightly stepped up the stairs to the stage, taking the paint brush as well as pressing a small kiss to her daughter's head. "Muuuuuum." Alia pretended to swat her away, but she was still smiling as she turned to get herself another paintbrush.

"Hey Ali, get a brush for Steph and me as well, would you?" Eddie called out as he and Steph followed the headmistress' move and added their jackets and bags to the slightly groaning pile.

"Sure thing Eddie." Alia grabbed three paintbrushes from the box of them, handing two over to the remaining teachers as Janeece found a CD player from somewhere backstage and plugged it in, finding a popular radio station for them to paint to. The teenagers laughed, instinctively moving in time to the beat as Janeece pried the top off a paint tin for them. All of them laughed, moving round each other and painting with lighthearted laughter and moving to the music, sometimes miming along to the songs.

They jumped in surprise as Bolton and Paul joined them a good few minutes later, so lost to the world they hadn't noticed anyone else begin to arrive. Paul offered them a shy smile, still not entirely comfortable with how casual Rachel and Eddie were around the sixth formers, particularly Alia, picking up a paintbrush to join Janeece in painting one of the column. Bolton offered them all a cheeky grin, picking up his own paintbrush and making his first act to dot Alia's nose with lime green paint. He laughed as she went nearly cross-eyed trying to see what he'd done, the sound dying in his throat as she turned to him with dangerously narrowed eyes. Bolton glanced at the teachers for help, only to find Rachel watching the exchange with amusement, arms crossed to see how it all played out. "Ali, come on, it was a laugh." He tried to get himself out of the retaliation, still a little scared after the last time she'd gotten her own back at him and Paul.

Alia kept her eyes narrowed at him as she stepped closer, making sure her bandaged arm was the one most on display. She stepped into Bolton's personal space, leaning up to murmur in his ear. "Think yourself lucky my mum's here, or it would be a lot worse." She smirked at his involuntary flinch before bringing up the arm she'd deliberately kept from the boy's view, swiping pinkish purple paint in a line down the middle of his face with her paintbrush.

Bolton's eyes widened in shock even as Alia nearly doubled over in laughter, dancing back out of his reach easily to hide behind Rachel. He narrowed his own eyes at her, knowing she only did that because he'd never deliberately try and get paint on his headteacher and she knew it. "I'll get you for this." He promised, gesturing to his face though his lips twitched at the lime green spot still on Alia's nose as she peered round Rachel's side with a smirk.

"Bring it on."

"Can we continue painting or are you two going to need to be treated like toddlers?" Rachel asked, stepping out from her position between the two sixteen year olds. Both immediately shook their heads in her direction, adopting innocent expressions she didn't believe for even a moment. Instead, she propelled her daughter back to painting a column with Steph before going back to her own column with Eddie, leaving Bolton to paint the fourth one with Maxine. Another few minutes passed before Tom appeared in the doorway of the assembly hall with Chlo and Donte in tow, the latter two having already dropped Izzie off at the creche.

"Need a hand?" Tom asked in amusement, something that only increased as the teenagers all turned round and he caught sight of Alia and Bolton's faces. "Did I miss the face painting?"

"Don't, Tom." Eddie advised with a laugh. "They'll only start it up again."

"Would we do a thing like that?" Alia batted her eyelashes in a display of mock innocence at the deputy head. Eddie fixed her with a knowing look.

"Yes, you would, in an instant. Don't play innocent here, Ali, we all know you too well."

"Damn it, permission to be home schooled again?" Alia turned to Rachel with badly acted hope on her features, once more batting her eyelashes comically.

Rachel let out a laugh. "Not a chance in hell, love, sorry."

"Oh please, you'd miss us too much." Maxine declared as everyone burst into laughter, the three newcomers moving to help with the painting. Slowly, more people filtered into the hall through curiosity more than anything else, most staying to help in some way with the talent show preparation. Rachel pretended not to notice when Sam and Denzil approached Maxine, Alia and Janeece, who had all teamed up to work on the final coat of paint on one of the columns, both younger students looking incredibly guilty and scared. Alia glanced over at her mum, gesturing with her head to the doors leading out of the hall. Rachel nodded her understanding, preventing Eddie and Steph from following when the three sixth formers led the Kelly siblings out of the room carefully.

"Leave them be." Rachel murmured. "They need to do this themselves."

…

Maxine led the other students down the corridor and into Steph's empty classroom, the French classrooms not all that far from the hall. Alia guided Sam to sit down on one of the desks whilst Janeece did the same with Denzil. The three sixth formers perched on the table opposite, Janeece between Max and Alia, linking her arms with their good arms so neither injured girl could fall off the table. "I think we can guess what this is about." Maxine started them off almost woodenly. "Earl, right?"

Sambuca and Denzil both nodded in unison. "I knew he were a psycho, but I never thought he would…" Sam trailed off, not sure how to describe what had happened to the sixth formers.

"It's not your fault, either of you." Alia told them kindly. "You didn't hurt us, did you?"

"Well no, but, he's our brother. We should've known, should've done something." Denzil frowned a little. "Plus, I took the blame for him over that first gun."

"Denzil, you thought you were protecting him. There's nothing wrong with that." Maxine assured him gently.

"The only one to blame for what Earl did, is Earl." Janeece told them firmly. "We never figured on everyone finding out what happened that day, but it don't change the fact that Earl's the one to blame. Not you two."

"Oh yeah, Mason officially disbanded Tyler's uniform scheme." Alia changed the subject quickly, before the two younger students could dwell too much on the blame they placed on themselves. "That means no more detentions to add to the tally system. Sam, you won, which means you get to pick the next movie."

"Really?" Sam checked, looking slightly happier. "Can I bring Den along?"

"Of course." Janeece nodded. "Spread it along everyone who was getting issued the dets. I'm sure we'll all fit in the common room somehow."

"Or someone," Maxine glanced pointedly at Alia, "could ask if we could use the hall for movie night."

"Not happening." Alia shook her head. "I only use my powers for evil."

"Don't you mean good?" Denzil asked curiously. Alia laughed lightly.

"No, I mean evil. But fine, I will ask if we can use the hall next week for a movie night. You all know if I do though, it'll get opened up to everyone in the school, not just our detention club?"

"Do I still get to pick the film?" Sam asked hesitantly. The sixth formers all nodded instantly. "Then I'm fine with that. Wait, if you're going to ask, does that mean you're asking Mason?"

"Yes, why?" Alia's brow furrowed, as did the seventeen year olds', trying to figure out where the year 10 was going with her question.

"Does that mean that what was said at summer was true then? You really are Miss Mason's daughter?"

Alia let out a smile at that, having forgotten Sambuca was one of the students in the choir that had heard Rachel's announcement at the end of the previous term. "Yes, I really am. Though speaking of my mum, we'd best head back to the hall before we completely break the senior management."

…

All students were required to go to form that morning, and from there could either decide to help in the hall or go to lessons, their choice. Rachel would be in the hall all day, as would any teacher on non-contact time, plus Charlotte, who had arrived a few minutes after the chat the sixth formers had had with the Kellys, had set up an informal chat zone at the back of the room for anyone who wanted to talk to her. She would move to Rachel's office for the afternoon for anyone who didn't wish to set foot in the assembly hall just yet. Rachel had floated the idea of Charlotte taking up the pastoral care office again but she'd had that idea turned down by all the sixth formers who'd heard her, reminding her that the student body still had an axe to grind with Kim, so wouldn't go to see Charlotte in that office in case Kim was there.

Rachel had sent Alia off to form very reluctantly, though the sixteen year old had two protective bodyguards in the shape of Bolton and Paul. Alia rolled her eyes but allowed the two boys to hover round her as they traversed the corridors to the science block, most students giving her a wider berth than normal anyway. She fought the urge to sigh at how quickly the Waterloo Road gossip mill worked, though the stares might also have something to do with the fact she and Bolton both still had paint on their faces.

They piled into the form room without knocking, taking note of the former John Fosters pupils sat in stunned silence, clearly shaken from the events of a couple of days before, whilst the Waterloo Road pupils were only a little more muted than normal, mostly sitting in their seats for a change as opposed to the tables. All eyes shot up to the three newcomers to the room, eyes widening at the sight of Alia sandwiched between Bolton and Paul. Ignoring the attention, they all made their way to their seats, flopping down into place to stare at the front, bored already despite only just having gotten there.

Chris showed up only a minute or so later, out of breath and clearly agitated about something, though he too paused in stunned surprise at seeing Alia sat there in his form looking as though nothing had even happened with green paint on the tip of her nose, her arm in a sling and heavily bandaged. He'd spent a long time trying to get his head round what had happened, though he wasn't sure he was any closer to figuring it out. Then he'd spent half an hour with Kim right before form, trying to assure her that the kids didn't hate her even though he was half convinced they did have it out for the art teacher. He just wasn't sure why, as she was usually nothing but kind and understanding where the pupils were concerned. Clearing his throat, he did the register as normally as possible, stumbling a little over Alia's name. Not because she was shot, but because he was sure he heard a different last name used for her in the meeting the previous morning, though he hadn't quite caught on to what the name was, only that it began with an M. Definitely not Falan anyway.

He had Lindsay James in his form as well as Michaela, though the girl gang thing did seem to have quietened somewhat recently. He automatically held his breath as Lindsay stepped over into what he mentally called the Waterloo Road territory, making a beeline for the injured sixteen year old and stopping only a couple of steps from her. "Alia, right?"

Alia glanced up, blinking a little at seeing Lindsay stood so close. She hadn't seen the other girl approach, busy telling Michaela about why she had paint on her nose and Bolton had a streak down his face. She had nothing against Lindsay personally, and had fought even harder to stop the girl gang thing since she'd found Rachel trying to steam herself clean. Not that she'd ever let on about any of that to anyone. That whole lot of secrets would definitely go with her to her grave. "Yeah. Lindsay, right?"

"Yeah." Lindsay shifted a little. "Look, I just wanted to say… thanks."

"For what?" Alia frowned in genuine confusion.

Lindsay looked combative for a moment before the other girl's genuine bewilderment registered and she realised Alia wasn't being pedantic in making her say it but genuinely didn't know why she was thanking her. "You had Em in your group that day and you made sure she was safe above all else. She told me how you made sure she was out of harm's way the moment you clocked the guy was there. So, thanks."

"No problem. Emily's just a kid. We couldn't let him hurt the kids." Alia smiled, surprised when Lindsay's face turned almost contemplative.

"No, you're right. Kids should always be protected."

Alia frowned internally at Lindsay's supposedly throwaway comment. There was something in that, she could tell, and it wasn't just that she'd been abused by someone, probably an adult. Her dad, most likely, considering how cagey everyone seemed to be about that man. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't do a good thing, be nice. "Hey, Lindsay?" She called out as the girl turned to go back to her seat, causing her to turn back to Alia with a frown. "Want to come to the hall for the day with us?" She offered lightly. "Gets you out of class and you could bring Emily if you wanted to." She ignored Michaela's incredulous look. She was friends with the girl, but that didn't mean Michaela could decide who she was also friends with. And god only knew it looked like Lindsay could do with some friends, proper friends, not those year 10s that followed her around like lost puppies.

"… I'll think about it." Lindsay hedged, finally making her way back to her seat as Chris let out an audible sigh of relief. The unofficial war line had been crossed and there was no bloodshed. It had to be one for the history books, didn't it?

…

Rachel felt relief wash over her as her daughter filtered back into the hall amongst approximately half of her form group, laughing at something one of them was saying. To the headmistress' even greater surprise, a few steps behind were Lindsay and Emily, the former glancing at Alia as though to check their presence was alright there. Sure, the pupils helping that morning in the hall were mainly original Waterloo Road students, but she'd attributed that mainly to them already knowing how to deal with their two resident injury prone pupils. To see the James sisters now came as a bit of a shock, especially when Alia peeled away from her friends to approach the sixth former and year 8, offering them both a smile before escorting them over to a piece of work all three could get on with doing.

She lingered a bit longer, watching students flood into the room and take up all manner of tasks. The four musketeers, also known as Alia, Maxine, Janeece and Chlo, had all directed people to paint banners and props, whilst Donte had a whole group of his own working on making some flyers for the event. There were also small pockets of students here and there practising for the auditions that were to be held Friday lunchtime, including Philip with his new friend Ros. Rachel was honestly just glad her nephew was still at the school, half convinced his mother would have taken him away again after not getting her desired result at the end of the summer term. All in all, the room was absolute chaos, but there seemed an odd sort of student led order to it. Rachel felt like shaking her head in exasperation as she made her way to stand beside Charlotte, who was watching the scene with something akin to amusement.

"Let me guess," Charlotte commented with a smile. "This student revolution has been led by your daughter and her friends."

"I'm pretty sure they all played an equal part in this revolution, unfortunately." Rachel sighed. "At least they're not ganging up on teachers this time around. They just wanted to help have people not scared of this room or them."

"Understandable." Charlotte shrugged. "This probably will work better than having everyone forced to come in here for a talk or an assembly. There's much less stress this way, the kids can go at their own pace, what they're comfortable with." She glanced at the headmistress. "How're you holding up with all this?"

"As well as I can, I suppose." Rachel's eyes instinctively sought out her child, who was laughing along with Lindsay at something Emily was telling them. "I've nearly lost her twice in less than two years to a bloody bullet. Every instinct I have is telling me to wrap her up in bubble wrap and never let her leave my sight again."

"So why don't you?"

"Because I know I can't. It's her life and she's got to live it, without me trying to keep her by my side constantly. I'd prefer it if she could live her life without getting herself shot again though." Rachel sighed, knowing she'd need to be a little more open with the counsellor, despite her reluctance in revealing anything personal about herself to anyone. "There was an incident when she was younger." She divulged quietly. "If you ask, she'll probably show you the scar on her neck from it. She had a brush with some barbed wire, cut her neck pretty bad. I… freaked out when I found out, when her dad told me what had happened. I hovered like mental, took time off work to just sit and watch her, panicking over what might have happened, what I could've done to stop it from happening in the first place. I was pretty unbearable, even I can admit that."

"What happened?"

"Alia's dad dragged me out of her sight for the first time in about a week. I panicked not being able to see her and he had to talk me down, try to calm me down. I don't remember half of what he said, but I do remember him telling me she was a kid, and kids got into scrapes all the time. Only ours seemed to take that idea to the extreme." Rachel shook her head slightly. "I know he'd be just as scared for her right now as I am, but somehow, James managed to make it look like he was calm, like he had everything under control."

"Sounds like you have everything sorted." Charlotte smiled, still watching the teenagers wandering the room more cautiously than normal, the entire room more muted than it usually would be as well. But they were in the room, which was a start. "If you need to talk though, to someone not at this place or your daughter, come and find me, or give me a call. I'm always available to listen."

"Thanks, Charlotte." Rachel pushed herself off the wall, making her way meandering around the room, pausing here and there at pockets of students to comment on what they were doing. She paused at Donte's group, glancing down at the flyers being designed in four separate styles, though it was obvious which one was in Donte's own inimitable style. "Looking good here."

"Thanks miss." Donte offered her a small smile. "We should have enough copies before the end of the day."

"Sounds great." Rachel patted the eighteen year old on the shoulder lightly before moving on with her circuit of the room, stopping here and there to comment on either the practising acts or the painting being done. Before she knew it, she'd made her way over to where her daughter stood with Lindsay and Emily, the two sixteen year olds laughing over something the twelve year old was telling them animatedly. "Hey girls." Rachel greeted as she approached, all three girls looking over at her with smiles still on their faces.

"Hi miss." Emily offered her a sweet smile that Rachel couldn't help but return.

"Hi Emily." Rachel glanced at the two sixth formers, relived to see no trace of animosity between the two whatsoever. "Are you having fun doing this instead of class?"

"It's different." Emily shrugged her shoulders. "Ali looks funny with the paint on her face though." Lindsay tried to stifle a giggle, rather unsuccessfully. Rachel hid her smile at the sound, glad to see the guarded sixteen year old relaxing slightly in her surroundings. Sometimes, the little moments were more than enough, where no matter what was going on, you could forget for a moment and just be a child again.

Alia rolled her eyes good-naturedly, taking the teasing well. "I'm definitely getting Bolton back for that."

"No you're not." Rachel corrected immediately, though there was no heat behind her words. She knew it was all in jest, but things could quickly get out of hand. "I'm not having the school reduced to rubble because you two decided a prank war was a good idea."

"It's almost like you don't trust me." Alia grinned widely despite her words, teasing as she waved her paintbrush lazily in her mother's direction.

"You catch on quick." Rachel shot back with a laugh as her daughter pouted. She smiled, happy her child was relaxed enough to joke with her, less than two days after she'd been injured yet again, stood in the very room it had occurred in. "Have fun girls. I need to check the rest of my school is still standing."

…

There was a pub night scheduled fairly quickly for that evening, though the two most senior teachers, plus the blonde French teacher, really didn't want to go as it would involve leaving their injured, slightly traumatised teenagers at home, alone. Sure, they were sixteen and seventeen, but between the two events where two of them had been shot in less than a year, leaving them completely to their own devices didn't seem like the best course of action. However, a quick discussion together in Rachel's office, then one with the teenagers themselves in a corner of the assembly hall, yielded a compromised solution fairly quickly. Therefore, not long after school had finished for the day and all the kids had tumbled out of their place of education in favour of being anywhere else, Rachel, Eddie and Steph let themselves into the usual pub the teachers frequented, followed closely by Alia, Maxine and Janeece. Steph had managed to wipe the paint off of Alia's nose at some point in the early afternoon, though all three teenagers were still wearing their boots, leggings and tops from that morning, the hoodies being left in the back of Rachel's car. Rachel had confiscated the fake IDs off all three of them for the night, though the two girls with bullet wounds weren't meant to drink with their medications anyway, with minimal protests from the girls. All eyes shot to the six in surprise as they entered, Steph immediately shepherding the three teens to a table near the bar and helping them all sit whilst Rachel and Eddie got in drinks for all six of them.

Rachel glanced over the assembled staff, noting that a few members weren't there, though most notable by their absence was Kim. She held back a sigh, knowing she'd have to have a chat with the woman the following day. There had been no outright attacks or anything against the head of pastoral care, mainly a cold indifference and avoidance that spoke just as much volume as if they would have yelled from the rooftops. They'd lumped her in the same boat as Max, and Rachel could see how the pupils had come to such a conclusion if she looked at it from their point of view. Kim had gone from very student focused and one of the kids' most diligent defenders to being Max's mouthpiece since she started up a personal relationship with the man, and no one knew if she was still with the man or not since the events of the Monday morning. The kids had labelled Max Tyler as the enemy and had Kim as being on Max's side. She really didn't know how that was going to change, but maybe she should run it by the 'fearsome threesome', as the paramedics had dubbed them. They seemed to have plenty of plans they could produce in the blink of an eye.

"Wine?" Eddie murmured as she approached his side against the bar, wrapping his arm low round her waist. Rachel nodded, leaning into him as she offered a tired smile to Chris, Tom and Grantly, who were all leaning against the bar as well. The other teachers were gathered at tables surrounding the side of the bar they usually congregated on, chatting amongst themselves even if Rachel did notice a few curious looks in her and Eddie's direction, probably on how far down his arm was resting round her or the familiarity of such a position as they were in. She didn't find that she cared to know though, as her relationship with her deputy was no secret and the rest of the staff both knew and didn't care. "Or are you driving?"

"Wine, please. I think it's a taxi home tonight. Lemonade for the girls, wine for Steph."

"Should they be in here?" Chris asked in concern, nursing his own pint a few steps away as he gestured towards the table the three teenagers and Steph were sat at, the latter chatting to Ruby and Jo on the table next to them. "Aren't they underage?"

"It's not late and they're on lemonade. Rach confiscated their IDs." Eddie shrugged, handing over some cash to the bartender for his order. "Couldn't really leave them at home."

"How does it feel to get your school back?" Tom questioned Rachel with a wide smile, sipping at his pint. He'd been a little aware of the Waterloo Road sixth formers' plan to protect their headmistress from Chlo and Donte chatting to him about it, and had been planning on aiding them if he'd been required to, though obviously events had negated the need for his involvement.

"Fantastic." Rachel smiled at her friend, still leant into Eddie's side. "But we do have a lot of work to do if we're going to make this merger work." Chris let out a shocked sounding laugh even as the veteran staff smirked and rolled their eyes, with the three teenagers sighing in unison at her. "What? What's so funny?" She asked Chris, still smiling as Eddie left her side to hand over the lemonades and wine to the girls and Steph respectively.

"Don't you ever relax, even for one night?" Chis queried a little incredulously.

Tom snorted with laughter. "You haven't been here for very long, have you mate?" Rachel narrowed her eyes playfully at Tom, but she was laughing all the same.

"This is me relaxed." The smile dropped from her face as the door opened and closed, revealing a clearly already tipsy Max who stumbled his way over to the collection of teachers with a dark smirk on his features. Rachel's eyes widened, instinctively glancing over at her daughter and the two seventeen year olds, all of whom had clocked the newcomer as well. She rose from her slumped position against the bar to stand straight and guarded, not sure what was going on but just knowing she couldn't let the teenagers be hurt any further over the former executive head.

"Hope I'm not interrupting." Max clapped a hand onto Chris' shoulder as the head of extended services finally cottoned on to just what the teens and most of the teachers had spotted. Max slid between Rachel and Chris, still fixing them all with a deep, untrustworthy smirk. "Thought I'd drop by, have a drink with my colleagues."

Rachel felt Eddie slide in behind her protectively and glanced over to find Steph hovering over the three girls as well as Jo and Ruby, the three teachers looking horrified at the former executive headteacher whilst the three students were openly glaring at him.

"I think you should go, Max." Chris tried, having also caught on to the way the teachers were rallying round to protect the pupils and the headmistress, the four that would rationally need the most protection from the former teacher's ire should anything happen. Even Grantly had approached Rachel's free side in solidarity with the headmistress.

Max's smirk only widened at his former deputy head. "When did you start thinking, Christopher? Was it about the time you started going soft on her?" Rachel scoffed at the implication, though it died in her throat as Alia slipped out from behind Steph and approached the adults, still glaring at Max's back. She couldn't move though, couldn't draw Max's attention to the sixteen year old as he turned to her, looking her up and down in an obvious fashion. "I can't see the attraction myself, but then I never was into used goods."

"Eddie, please, just leave it." Rachel automatically held her deputy back, well aware of what he tended to do whenever someone brought up her past like that. She couldn't have another Stuart fiasco over her, and Max just plain wasn't worth it.

"Oh yes, Eddie, be a good little lap dog." Max sneered derisively. "Out of interest, just how much does she charge a member of staff? Do you get special discount for being her boyfriend as well?"

Rachel kept a firm grip on Eddie, feeling under her palms the way he wanted to go after Max, defend her properly in much the same way he'd defended her from Stuart. She hadn't, however, accounted for her other staunchest supporter being there. "Get the hell out of here Max." Alia's eyes narrowed dangerously at him even as Max turned to her dismissively.

"Oh, and why should I listen to a stuck up little brat like you? Don't like what I'm saying about your oh so wonderful headmistress? Tough, because it's all true, or didn't you know your fine Miss Mason, your darling headteacher, was a prostitute?"

"Mum." Alia corrected evenly.

"What?"

"I don't like what you're saying about my mum, and yes, I did already know of her past." Alia elaborated. "So get the hell out before I make you."

"Your mum? Well, looks like her whoring ways weren't completely without consequence then." Max barely got the words out before Alia's fist made contact with his face, knocking him back into the wall where he slid down to the floor, blood gushing from his nose.

Grantly smirked, highly amused at how the night had played out so far. "Not bad, not bad at all. I did say she should've been part of Rob's little boxing club instead of Smilie."

"She's not learning how to fight, Grantly." Rachel shook her head, still in shock at how everything had unfolded before her, though she'd let go of her tight hold on Eddie, who rounded her to stand at her daughter's side in support. "I have enough trouble with her knocking people out."

"Get out, Max." Eddie had a firm grip of Alia's good arm to hold her back, not stupid enough to think she wouldn't go after the former executive head again even with one hand practically useless and the other already swelling. Max glanced round for support as he used his cuff to stem the bleeding, slinking out of the establishment when he was met with shocked, disapproving faces from all. The room seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief when the door closed behind him. "God, Ali, is your hand alright?" Eddie lifted the limb to find her knuckles reddened and slightly swollen, the skin broken on one of them. "I think we need to ice that."

Rachel reached out to pull her daughter into her side whilst Eddie found some ice from the sympathetic bartender, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "You really shouldn't have done that, love."

"What was I supposed to do, sit there and let him insult you like that?" Alia hissed as a bag of ice settled over her newly injured hand on the bar. "Ow, a little warning next time Eddie, please."

"Consider it punishment for not letting me be the one to hit him." Eddie laughed out, adjusting the ice to cover her hand properly.

"Rach made you promise not to hit him. She never made me promise the same." Alia smirked at the pair of them. "I'd do it again."

"Ali." Rachel sighed, her arm still wrapped round her daughter's shoulders. "I don't need saving, I'm not some damsel in distress."

"Okay, what was all that about?" Chris asked loudly, making the three of them jump as they realised their conversation wasn't quite as private as they'd thought it was. Rachel glanced round, noting the bewildered faces of all the John Fosters staff and a few of her other staff, all the ones that hadn't been there at the end of the summer term the previous year and therefore didn't know about Alia. Well, not about Alia Mason anyway. Maxine and Janeece both approached the bar in support of both Alia and Rachel, silent as they eyed Chris warily. "Alia, why would you hit him like that?"

"He insulted Rachel, what else was I meant to do?" Alia rolled her eyes at Chris as the two seventeen year olds made noises of agreement behind her. "But god my hand is now freezing. Can someone take the ice off it please?" She nodded to the bag of ice with her head, as between the ice pack covering one hand and the other strapped to her chest to keep her arm immobile, she had no way of removing it neatly herself.

"No, it'll swell more if we take it off now." Rachel shook her head gently. "And you're on your full pain medication tonight, no excuses." She ignored her daughter's protests as she turned back to Chris and the other shocked teachers in the pub. "What exactly is it you want to know, Chris?"

"Oh for god's sake, Rachel, just tell them. Fun as it is to watch them confused, they're going to need to know." Steph interrupted loudly, finishing off her glass of wine with a gulp and setting the glass back on the table in front of her.

"Rachel and Eddie are an item." Tom informed the new teachers with a barely concealed laugh. How they hadn't caught on yet was beyond him; the pair made it incredibly obvious that they were together and in love on a daily basis. "Have been for nearly a year or so now. I don't remember exactly when but I remember Steph won the bet on when they'd get together."

Ruby glanced between the two most senior teachers with wide eyes as Eddie wrapped his arm low round Rachel's waist once more and Rachel shook her head laughingly in Tom's direction. Neither teacher seemed remotely surprised or embarrassed by Tom's words, only lending credence to them. "Wait, really? I thought that was just one of the kids' rumours."

"The year 13 betting pool has when you two are going to move in together as one of the top bets this year." Maxine laughed out as Rachel raised a single eyebrow in her direction. "We've not had the heart to tell them they're a bit late in that bet yet."

"You mean there's something about my personal life the entire school doesn't know about yet? That is a shock." Rachel commented dryly, taking a sip of her wine.

"Well, half the school still don't know about Alia being your daughter either if that helps any." Janeece offered up with a smirk that only grew as the former John Fosters teachers all choked on their beverages, the seventeen year old having deliberately waited until they'd started drinking again.

"Thanks for that, Jan." Alia shook her head, amused despite herself. "It'll be all round the school before the end of the week at this rate. Just in time for movie night." Rachel had agreed to the movie of Sambuca's choosing being held in the hall, though Alia had predicted it right when the woman had made it clear the movie had to be open to all the students, not just the little detention club they'd had going on. The night was scheduled for that Friday, with Rachel, Eddie, Tom and Matt all agreeing to chaperone the evening to cover the number of students they had an inkling would show up even if it was a movie being shown at the school.

"No it won't. Rachel's scary when she wants to be." Maxine giggled, all three girls offering the headteacher mock innocent smiles.

"What have I told the three of you about ganging up on teachers?" Rachel groaned. It was going to be a long night.

…

"So, Alia Falan really is your daughter?" Chris asked when he'd found himself alone with Rachel a little over an hour and a half later. The three teenagers had gone to the toilet, a tricky endeavour for two of them at the moment, whilst Eddie was deep in a discussion about football with Tom and Steph was trying desperately to convince the pub landlord to set up karaoke. It was a losing battle, as karaoke was reserved for Fridays, but Steph wasn't quite willing to let it go just yet.

"Yes, she is." Rachel couldn't help the proud smile that covered her features automatically. "She's a pain and somehow ends up involved in too many things she shouldn't, but she's a good girl at the end of the day."

"Well, that explains the laughter I got in form over her parent's evening slip last week." Chris shook his head with a snort of laughter. Sixth formers' parents evening took place only a couple of weeks after the October half term, so the letters were handed out after barely any time into the school year. Usually it didn't matter too much, as the kids were generally in the same school, with the same teachers.

Chris eyed the form group warily. He'd received parent evening forms promptly from all his former John Fosters pupils that morning, having given out the slips the day before. He'd even gotten a couple from the other half of his form group. However, most of them had seemed to not even recall receiving a letter when they'd witnessed the other students handing in their forms. He gritted his teeth. Why was even form something of a fight between himself and the teenagers? Couldn't he just have one easy day?

He eyed those he knew hadn't handed in their forms, Michaela chatting amiably with a few of her friends about some party or other, pockets of pupils talking and ignoring their teacher, and Bolton was leant over his desk, trying to gain one of the girls' attention for some reason or another.

Chris decided to try a more personable approach, leaving his desk to make his way over to the original Waterloo Road students. "Do any of you have your slips?" He was met with a sea of blank faces and pushed away his sigh in response. "For parents evening." He clarified. The teenagers still seemed mostly blank, eyeing him warily. "I need your forms back to see who exactly is coming to parents evening." He turned to Michaela. "Michaela, are your parents coming?"

"They might be, they might not be." Michaela shrugged. "Depends."

"On what?"

"If they can be bothered."

"Bolton?"

"What?"

"Is your mum coming to parents evening?"

"Ask her yourself, she don't bite." Bolton smirked. "Probably, though. She don't tend to sign anything though, but she'll have told Mason and Lawson if she's coming."

"And you, Alia?" Chris prayed he'd get a better answer than the two previous ones.

"What about me?"

"Will your parents be at parents evening?" Chris wasn't prepared for half the room to burst into muted giggles, something about his question clearly hilarious to half the year 12 pupils.

Alia's lips twitched but she managed to choke back a laugh that threatened to bubble up, mainly at the class' reaction. "My mum will be there, yes." Her answer only increased the laughter in the room.

"So where's your form?"

"Here." Alia reached into her bag and pulled out her suspiciously blank parents evening letter, handing it to him. "I don't give my mum anything she needs to sign. She has enough paperwork at her work." She lost the battle with her amusement as the entire ones in the know of the game from the previous year completely lost their composures, clutching at each other in mirth. Chris shook his head, giving up and returning to the front of his class. He still had a lot to learn about this school, that was for sure.

"They delight in messing with people that don't know who she is. I think it's an official school sport at this point." Rachel took a sip of her wine to cover her exasperation at the game her students were still continuing, even months later.

"So, yesterday, when the LEA mentioned her name and I swear I didn't hear the name Falan at all…"

"Her legal name is Alia Mason, which is what they used at the meeting, yes. I'm getting it changed for either after October half term, or Christmas, whichever can be managed, though it's looking like Christmas at this rate. Her coursework will all say Alia Mason though, as her name change was cleared with the exam boards over the summer." Rachel sighed lightly. "She's got to stop hitting people in my defence though. That's the third time she's hit someone because of me. First time in about five years or so though."

"Rachel… about what Max said…" Chris trailed off awkwardly, his cheeks heating up a bit, though Rachel pretended not to notice.

"He was trying anything to get a rise out of people. I wouldn't read anything into it." She let him off the hook easily, offering him a small smile. She really didn't want things to be awkward between them, and though she hadn't been completely blind to Chris' softening towards her over the last couple of weeks, she'd been ignoring it as she really didn't want it to become an issue. "I do, however, hope we can be friends, Chris."

"Friends, yeah, we can be friends. Sounds good."

…

Rachel waited for them all to pile into her house late that evening before she herded the teenagers to the living room, wanting to talk to them despite the weariness that lined each of their faces. Eddie and Steph made their way to the kitchen to make them all a brew before they headed up to get some sleep, coffee for each of the adults, hot chocolate for each of the teenagers. Rachel hadn't forgotten her earlier thought of asking them for ideas, and she knew she needed to act fast if she was going to be able to help her friend out. "Girls, I need your help."

"Okay, what with?" Janeece asked as all three perched on a sofa together, Maxine and Alia either side of her. All three of them were instantly more alert, faces open if worried that she needed their help. Usually, they were being told off for giving out unwanted help, or for an unintended result of one of their plans. Rachel sighed, running a tired hand through her hair. This was not going to be easy.

"Kim. I want to help Kim."

The three sixth formers exchanged loaded glances before turning back to Rachel in unison. "I don't even know if that's possible," Maxine warned her softly. "If Max had done something less than, well, this," she gestured to her arm, "then I'd say she could ride it out no problem, but…"

"Look, I plan on talking to her tomorrow," Rachel explained to them patiently. If she was going to get their help she needed to be open and candid with them. "I honestly think Max showed her what he wanted her to see and she wanted to believe in him, whilst he showed the rest of us more of the real him, the side he wanted us to see. But I need to be sure, as in I need to hear if she's still with him and her opinion on what he's done. That will inform whether or not I help her." Rachel sighed, somehow exhausted from the conversation alone, let alone her very long day beforehand and the events at the pub. "What I'm asking is if you three know of anything that might help the kids come round a bit towards her, if her answers are what I'm hoping they'll be."

"And if they're not?" Alia checked cautiously, all three sixth formers watching Rachel carefully.

"Then depending on what she says, I either have to report her to the governors myself or I inform her the kids have no trust in her anymore and she's on her own." Rachel shrugged, biting her lip at the difficult decisions she was faced with if Kim was involved in anything Max had done. "She's my friend, yes, but the students always come first. Especially when one of them is my own child. That will always come before any friendship."

The three teenagers exchanged another loaded glance. "We'll think on some ideas and let you know in the morning," Maxine settled on, all three girls looking beyond exhausted. "For now though, I think it's time we attempted to get some sleep. Might be best for all of us."

TBC…