One Wednesday afternoon, a sneeze ripped through the school library, disrupting Jody's delicate thought process. Looking up from the German paragraphs she'd been tasked with memorising for her speaking exam, she immediately cast her eyes towards the source of the wretched sound, a boy who couldn't have been older than twelve, and hissed at him. He cowered and sniffed, shifting his chair away from her, and she rolled her eyes before getting back to work.

GCSE prep was getting to her, and it was like none of her friends, even Tyler, understood what she was going through. They all studied after school or during the entire weekend but she didn't have that option; training for the trials occupied ninety per cent of her so-called free-time, and the other ten was reserved for her fellow housemates at Ashdene Ridge. She'd been foolish to think that one day a week would be enough to cover the study a GCSE student needed to undertake. As a result of her oversight, she'd had to spend three lunchtimes in a row catching up on what she hadn't had the time to cover on Saturday and thus hadn't been able to hang out with Tyler; she'd spent all of her twenty-minute breaktimes so far with Aliyah, April and Beth. She sighed. Only last week she'd thought she'd got the hang of this study/train/socialise lark but she couldn't have been more wrong; every time she talked to her school friends, she discovered that she'd missed out on something that'd happened the previous lunch and therefore found herself unable to understand most of the inside jokes they cracked. They filled her in on what she'd missed, of course, but it just wasn't the same.

Amy wasn't letting up either. Beyond that one mention, she hadn't spoken of her father or family again and didn't seem to be inclined towards opening up to Jody any more than she already had (which wasn't much, to be honest). The girl was a lean, mean, fighting machine if there ever was one and appeared to prefer not talking about anything other than boxing at all, unless, of course, she felt the need to make snarky comments about the other girls and their boyfriends. Jody hated to think of what Amy would say if she saw her and Tyler together. Luckily, such a thing would never happen; he'd never shown any interest in going to the gym, and what little exercise he did was via P.E. or one of those home exercise apps. She shook her head. There was no reason she should care what Amy thought of her—she didn't even care what Luke thought of her—but she couldn't stand the thought of the girl thinking, or rather knowing, that she was in love with Tyler.

On the subject of her brother, she'd been experiencing nagging guilt since learning Amy's last name; she was now not only withholding their father's whereabouts from him but was also keeping the possibility of them having a half-sister to herself. She'd thought about telling him the truth many times these last couple of weeks but the truth was that she didn't know where to start. To begin with, she didn't even know if Gray was her father... She couldn't care less about being only half related to Kingsley—in fact, she'd welcome the possibility if only it didn't mean that Luke would also be her half-brother—but if she were to find out that Luke was related to her solely through the Jacksons, the side of her family that she'd rejected and hated with a passion, she'd feel like she'd lost a part of herself. While Luke would never force her to get a DNA test or anything, the truth would inevitably come out and get back to her in some shape or form once he got back in contact with Gray. Still, come what may, she couldn't continue being secretive.

The longer she kept her brother in the dark, the angrier he was going to be when she eventually fessed up. She ought to tell him everything when she next saw him. If she ever saw him again, that was; after she'd rebuffed his last invitation, he hadn't suggested another meet-up. She hadn't realised it at the time but by rejecting him without suggesting another date or expressing any interest in rescheduling, she'd given Millie the ammunition to turn Luke against her. For all she knew, Millie had persuaded her brother not to bother with her again.

Even if she was to see Luke again, Millie was still a problem; Jody very much doubted that Luke would want to discuss their family matters in front of the girlfriend he'd taken so long to tell that he had a sister, let alone a deadbeat father. Heck, Millie didn't even know that there was a jailbird brother! What if she 'accidentally' overheard them mentioning him as well as some of their family's other dark secrets, including Luke's own criminal history? No, that wouldn't do; for all that Jody disapproved of Millie, she didn't want to be involved in causing their break-up in any way. She would have to meet Luke away from his home and girlfriend.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, though, it all came back to the same golden question: between the gym and studying, where was the time?

.:. QK .:.

The crossing alarm sounded, jolting Jody out of her stupor and reminding her of her present whereabouts. She glanced at the bright green man on the crossing box before walking across the road, wondering how she'd fallen into this perpetual cycle of zoning out and overthinking. She pursed her lips. It didn't matter; she'd be alright once she got to the gym and into the ring.

Continuing down the route to her destination, she was halfway down the next street when she felt a sudden twinge in her lower abdomen. Oh no. In all her months as a gym member, this had to happen on the one day she'd had to walk to the gym; May-Li had been called away on a family emergency and the weekly allowance was still far too low to allow for a bus ticket. To top it all off, she knew for a fact that she didn't have any supplies in her bag—she never did! Having little choice, she begrudgingly turned around and headed to the closest pharmacy.

As soon as she stepped foot into the pharmacy, she headed straight for the sanitary section. There was a reason she preferred to rely on the stash of supplies May-Li kept in the bathroom cupboard; she disliked hobbling around with a packet of sanitary products in tow. Grabbing the cheapest pack, she quickly made her way to the counter and paid for the damn thing. When she turned around to leave, however, she froze.

Sally.

By the time her brain started working again, it was already too late to pretend she hadn't seen her and escape: Sally was looking right at her.

"Oh, hello, Jody!" Sally greeted, turning towards her with a smile on her face. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hi. I just... had to get something," Jody answered lamely, quickly closing her bag to conceal what she'd bought. Sally narrowed her eyes just then and it took everything Jody had not to rudely bolt out of there without so much as another word. "What about you?" She immediately winced at the dumb question. What else would Sally Lewis (or was it Hameed, now?) be doing in a pharmacy? "Sorry; don't answer that."

"It's okay," Sally assured. "How are you? Tyler's told me you're so busy that he hasn't been able to get a word in all week."

"Err, yeah," Jody replied, the all too familiar guilt welling up in her chest. "I've just had a lot of homework to do during lunches, and I've been training after school for the regional boxing team. I was actually on my way to the gym before I had to come in here."

"Oh, you're not ill, are you?"

"No, I just felt a little... dizzy."

It was a silly thing to lie about, really, but she wasn't about to admit to the truth in the centre of a crowded pharmacy. Having to buy her supplies from a male cashier had been bad enough. Besides, the idea of a woman she'd known since she was a child knowing that she had periods seemed downright wrong, even though it was a perfectly normal process.

"Oh?" Sally let out, looking at her strangely. "Well, I hope you get better... Why don't you come round after school on one of your days off? You could stay for dinner. I'm sure Tyler would love to see you."

Days off? One day off was impossible, let alone days. Jody briefly considered explaining to Sally what she had to Tyler about how unavailable she was but ultimately decided against it; she couldn't keep going through life blatantly shooting invitations down. She wouldn't have any free time after school for the foreseeable future but Sally didn't have to know that. "Next time I'm free, I guess."

Sally smiled and said she was looking forward to it, looking as if she was about to add something when a girl brushed past them, wailing down her mobile about potentially being pregnant. Jody stared after the girl, who hadn't even uttered a sorry, wondering if Charlie had acted so extra when it'd come to buying a pregnancy test. Probably not; it hadn't seemed as if anyone else had known about it at the time.

"Jody?" Said girl turned back towards Sally, having momentarily forgotten she was still there. "Is there something Tyler's keeping from me? Something I should know?"

Jody clasped her hands together, trying not to let her discomfort show. Why was Sally looking at her like that? As if she'd done something wrong? She almost felt like she was standing in Mike's office after a prank that'd backfired, at the receiving end of his piercing gaze.

"I don't know what you mean."

Sally nodded. "I thought you might say that. Look, Tyler's been a little quiet these last few days as if he's hiding something from me. He won't tell me when I ask—he insists that he's fine—but I just know that something's bothering him, and because he's such a doting son, I wonder if he's keeping it from me, whatever it is, because he feels he can't tell me in case I become stressed or worried. It would be so like him to do that."

"It would," Jody agreed, "but he hasn't said anything to me. I mean I know he's a little stressed about college applications but all of us are. It's definitely not something he's losing sleep over or anything."

"So you haven't noticed him behaving strangely?"

"No." How could she have? She'd seen him across the canteen once and in the hallways twice; none of those encounters had been long enough to exchange greetings in, let alone notice any strange behaviours.

Sally looked taken aback. "Really?"

Jody glanced down at her hands. "Really."

There was an awkward pause and then a 'hmm' from Sally but she didn't make a move to leave and Jody had the suspect feeling that the reason for that was that the older woman was staring at her. Remembering why she'd even stepped foot into the pharmacy in the first place, she proceeded to politely make her excuses before leaving.

.:. QK .:.

Wuu2? x
I just saw ur mum in the pharmacy.

Instead of turning her mobile off and chucking it into her bag as per usual, Jody put it on vibrate and slipped it into her pocket. Judging from the look on Amy's face, she wasn't happy with the decision but Jody didn't care; gaining Amy's good opinion was going to have to come second to being there for Tyler, especially since she hadn't been able to speak to him over the last few days.

"Don't give me that look," she told Amy. "I have to have my phone on me today."

Amy jerked an eyebrow. "Whatever. You better not stop halfway through a sesh to check it."

Normally, Jody would've ignored such a comment or simply rolled her eyes and moved on but that wasn't going to cut it this time. "If I get a notification, I'm going to have to. That's sort of the point of having it in my pocket in the first place."

"What? No way! I'm not going to have you slacking off just so you can text your mates!"

"This is important. I'm checking in on a mate I haven't been able to talk to lately. His mum told me she's worried about him and—"

"If she was a proper mother, she would've sorted him out herself instead of getting you to do it."

Jody frowned at the unkind statement. What did Amy know? If she was to be believed, her father was just as much a disappointment as Jody's was (if he weren't the very same man) but she'd had her mother around her entire life; she hadn't had to grapple with the concept of mental illness at a young age or face rejection from her own mother for doing the right thing. She didn't know squat.

"She is a proper mother," Jody snapped, holding up a pair of punching mitts. "She's a right sight better than mine, that's for sure."

"And?" Amy prompted, sticking her boxing gloves on. "What's that got to do with anything? Just because your mum's a loser, it doesn't mean that every other woman on earth is decent."

"No, it doesn't, but just because your mum's such a saint, it doesn't mean everyone else is improper."

"I didn't sa—"

"And my mum's not a loser. She was a loser, but she isn't anymore. She's dead."

Amy's eyes widened. "I'm sorry."

"No you're not," Jody said, without missing a beat. "You're just saying that. You couldn't actually care less."

To her credit, Amy didn't try to deny it. She didn't even get angry. Rather, she smiled in a patronising manner before saying, "Well, if you were really that worried about your mate, you would've taken the day off to go and see him. Like I told you to."

It didn't surprise Jody that Amy knew Tyler was the mate in question; despite her efforts, she didn't exactly hide her feelings for him very well, at least not at the gym. Boxing had a way of bringing her emotions out, good or bad. She gritted her teeth together.

"Enough talk," she growled, holding the punching mitts up higher. "Let's just get on with it. That's what you want, isn't it?"

As if nothing unseemly had been said between them, Amy buckled down and poised herself to strike. "Let's."

A/N: Thanks for the reviews!

Charlie—Good theories. Gray being unfaithful would not be a surprise, lol. You've got to wonder how many other half-siblings Jody might have out there.

Linneagb—You have definitely made me happy; I'm always happy to see a new review, and you've given me eight in one go! If you're going to read the whole thing, take your time. It's a grind. I'm glad you think everyone's in character; I hate fanfics where characters act OOC, especially when the writer turns them into self-inserts.

yourfire—Oh, yes, it's very disappointing that Finn only got a centric episode in Series 6, three years after he first appeared on the show. It's appalling, to be honest. On the upside, Kia and Ruben are basically best friends in real life. I hope we'll see more of Finn in 7B and 8.