Sauntering into one of the many open classrooms, Jody carefully studied the posters strewn around the tables and pinned up on the walls and boards. Art. Music. Drama. Dance. Upon the last one, she thought of Ella who'd only gone and ruined whatever little chance she'd had at making it as a professional dancer by getting pregnant on reality TV. Sadly, like that of other TV personalities, her main focus appeared to be staying relevant rather than actually making something of her life. Unfortunately, Sasha seemed to be playing a similar game right now; instead of joining Jody in looking at potential colleges, she was off flirting with her one-time autumn fling, Josh, who for some reason, was also attending the college fair. Jody couldn't think why; he was already in his second year of uni, if memory served correctly. Still, she knew Sasha would later regret not taking a proper look around, so she grabbed leaflets from every art college and shoved them in her bag.

Walking back into the hall, she scoffed when she saw Sasha and Josh still standing exactly where they had been when she'd left, only now Josh had his arm slung around a blonde. As she got closer, she recognised the blonde as the one who'd nearly knocked Sasha over earlier in the day while on a phone call. Remembering that she'd had the decency to apologise, Jody smiled politely at the girl as Sasha introduced her as Josh's girlfriend, Molly. Molly seemed nice enough but as she suggested that they all grab coffee together from the vendor behind the school, Jody noticed Sasha giving the girl a nasty look and couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding; once Sasha made up her mind to dislike someone, she never let them forget it.

As expected, the trouble began as soon as the quartet sat down together on one of the picnic benches behind the school; Sasha began flirting with Josh in front of Molly like there was no tomorrow and started pointing out all the things Josh had done for her, asking Molly if he'd paid her the same courtesy. The expressions on both Molly's and Josh's faces seemed to say no, so the latter suggested getting another round of drinks; Jody politely declined but Sasha suspiciously opted for a coffee. Molly followed after her boyfriend, leaving Sasha and Jody alone.

"Sasha, just stop it," Jody warned sternly. "You can't flirt with someone else's boyfriend. It's just wrong."

"I'm not flirting!" Sasha protested, her eyes wide in outrage. "Me and Josh have always talked like that."

"Back when you were both single, yeah, but you can't anymore!" Okay, so Tyler had flirted with Jody a little back when she was with Brandon, but that was different. It'd never happened in front of Brandon, and she and Tyler had both known it wasn't going to go anywhere, at least not while she was still with Brandon. "Didn't you see how embarrassed they both looked?"

Sasha scowled. "He didn't."

"Yes, he did."

"Anyway, even if he is embarrassed, it's because he knows how lame she is. She's soooo boring. I mean, Third Melody? Urgh! She's even got him drinking coffee as well!"

Jody also despised Third Melody and coffee, but that wasn't the point. Molly was a nice girl, but not a stupid one; it was obvious that she could tell that Sasha and Josh had history, but despite that, she was making an effort to be friendly. How many girls would do that? Sasha wouldn't. Jody didn't think she would either, if Tyler was the boy in question. Then again, she knew all of Tyler's old flames, and he knew hers. In any case, she couldn't let Sasha continue to repay Molly's kindness with bitchiness. It was uncalled for, no matter what Sasha thought.

"You just ordered coffee yourself," she pointed out, picking the conversation right back up. "What are you playing at?"

"Nothing!"

"I'm telling you again: just stop it. Josh is with Molly, not you."

"And I'm telling you: stop telling me what to do!" Sasha growled, curling her hands up into fists. "I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just showing him that she isn't right for him. I'm saving him."

"Saving him?" Jody repeated in astonishment. From what? "You're delusional."

Sasha looked as if she was going to retort but Josh and Molly returned just then, forcing her to hold her tongue. Unable to continue watching Sasha be childish, she unlocked her phone and texted Ryan to ask how he and the others were faring with the regional eco-challenge Mike, May-Li and Charlie had forced the rest of the household into. This turned out to be a huge mistake, though, because while she'd taken her eyes off Sasha for one second, said girl had placed her cup of coffee in the middle of her artwork, and Molly had subsequently tipped it over.

"My portfolio!" Sasha wailed, rising to her feet. "It's ruined!" She was a good actress, Jody would have to give her that; the artwork she'd brought in today were all copies, the originals being safely stored away at home.

Molly apologised profusely, tears springing to her eyes, and Josh tried to calm both her and Sasha down, insisting it was an accident. Molly even tried to help control the damage but Sasha snapped at her, telling her to go away, and Jody could only shake her head in disgust at the triumphant smirk Sasha donned as Molly fled. Sasha's face soon fell, though, as Josh chased after his girlfriend.

"Why is he going after her?!" she demanded with a glower. "I'm the victim here!"

Jody rounded on her. "The victim?!" she spat, slamming her hand down on the picnic bench. "Who are you trying to fool right now?! We both know you did that on purpose!" Sasha didn't say a word in response. "Well, are you happy now?!"

"Just leave it," Sasha muttered, throwing the empty coffee cup on the ground. "Let's go. You wanted to look around a bit more, right?"

"Right," Jody replied, watching Sasha dejectedly walk off in the direction Molly and Josh had gone.

.:. QK .:.

After having a proper look around to see what the various colleges had to offer, a still-undecided Jody had grabbed as many information booklets as she could and had thrown them into her bag. She was leaning towards Sports Science, but had decided to give it serious thought later because she'd been too concerned about Sasha to think straight.

Kev had picked the two of them up from the fair during the lunch break and now here they were, eating lunch at Sasha's with her family. Jody tried to listen to Dexter as he talked her ear off but her attention was mostly on Sasha who was barely eating and kept checking her phone every five seconds. She finally understood why when Kev returned to the dining room after checking who'd rung the doorbell, with the news that some guy was waiting for Sasha out front. If she had any doubt as to who the visitor was, the 'I told you so' look that Sasha shot her before getting up and leaving told her everything she needed to know.

"Does Sasha have a boyfriend?" Kelly, Sasha's mum, asked, looking at Jody in surprise. "She never told me."

"Uhh, she didn't the last time I checked," Jody answered, shifting uncomfortably. Given her history with bad relationships, Kelly ought to have at least expressed some sort of concern over Sasha potentially seeing a boy but she did no such thing, appearing to find the whole situation exciting instead. Jody tried not to roll her eyes as Kelly prodded Dex for details.

"I don't know, Mum," Dex replied, making a face. "Why would she ever tell me something like that?"

"Because siblings have secrets; I always told your uncle everything... before he died. Anyway, c'mon, you have a girlfriend yourself, so it must've come up in conversation at one point!"

"It really didn't."

"I didn't like the look of that boy," Kev announced, frowning. Jody inwardly sighed in relief; at least someone in this household had a little bit of sense. "For one, he looks far too old for her."

Kelly smirked. "I had a bit of a thing for older boys myself when I was her age. What is he, seventeen, eighteen? College-age, right?"

Kev shook his head. "More like university age. Older than Roddy. He looked at least twenty."

That seemed to knock some sense into Kelly. "Twenty!" she exclaimed, wiping Murphy's mouth with a tissue. "She's only sixteen!"

"It's not the first time," Dex piped up, speaking with his mouth full. He stopped, perhaps remembering that they had a guest over, and swallowed before speaking again. "Back when we were at Ashdene Ridge, Sasha went out with this guy called Josh. He was, like, eighteen, and he was a plumber. I didn't like him; he messed her about." He turned to Jody. "You remember him, right?"

"Err, yeah," she responded, pretending to be very invested in the food. "He did stand her up, but it was because of an emergency or something. He apologised later." However much she didn't like Josh, she didn't want him to get into trouble for the wrong thing. He still had no business being here, though. He was just as bad as Sasha, if not worse, when it came to behaving recklessly. Poor Molly.

"Right," Kelly said, rising to her feet. "I'm going to go out there and see what this is about. Watch Murphy for me, Kev."

Not three minutes later, she returned with Sasha and Josh, offering the latter some snacks. She appeared to have got over the age gap already, mothering Josh as if he was one of her sons. Dex regarded Josh with wide eyes, proceeding to tell Kev that this Josh and that Josh were one and the same, and when he went over to say hi, Jody shot Sasha a meaningful look, beckoning her over to the doorway of the kitchen. Sasha complied, but took her sweet, sweet time in doing so.

"What's he doing here," Jody asked, crossing her arms, "and where's Molly?"

"They broke up," Sasha answered smugly. "It was mutual. She's fine with it."

Glancing at Josh, Jody took in the pleased expression on his face and refrained from snorting, her eyes flitting back to her friend. "Quick turn-around, though. He really doesn't waste his time, does he?"

She expected Sasha to get angry but said girl only shrugged her shoulders and smiled serenely. "Why would he? He knows that we're meant to be. You can't fight fate, Jody. You know that better than anyone."

Huh? Surely, she didn't mean...? "You better not be saying what I think you're saying."

"And what's that?" Sasha asked innocently.

Looking around the kitchen and seeing that everyone was still around, Jody dragged Sasha out of there and up the stairs to her bedroom. Well, she didn't drag her, because no one dragged Sasha, but she led the way and Sasha followed. "Were you talking about me and Tyler just now? When you talked about fate?"

"Yeah," Sasha responded, raising her eyebrow. "Wasn't that obvious?"

Jody exhaled shortly. How could Sasha compare her relationship with Josh to that of Jody and Tyler's? It was insulting. "Get real, Sasha! I've known Tyler nearly half my life. Josh is just some guy you went out with once, two years ago, and suddenly ran into again today."

Sasha's face became red. "For your information, it's only been a year and a half, and me and Josh have been in contact the whole time! You can ask my social worker!"

"Why would I want to ask her that? Anyway, that's not the point!"

"Well, what is the point then?!"

"He's not right for you, and you are definitely not right for him. Guys like him, they're only after one thing!"

"Oh, so now you're the expert!" Sasha shouted, placing her hands on her hips. "Just because you've already had one boyfriend who, might I remind you, you dumped for someone else! How is that any better than what Josh did?! At least, for him and Molly, it was mutual!"

Jody pursed her lips, heat rushing to her cheeks. She hadn't dumped Brandon for Tyler, but if she'd carried on with him after he'd asked her to Florida, she would've ended up doing exactly that. Was Sasha right? Was she just as bad as Josh? She sighed. "Look, Sasha, I'm only trying to look out for you. Josh is bad news. You've got to trust me on that."

Sasha's features softened. She sighed too. Jody nearly smiled; everyone was always saying how alike she and Sasha were, which she never believed, but it was moments like this where their similarities really shone through. "I know. You're a good friend... but you don't know Josh like I do. We've got so much in common, and he gets me. And I get him. You understand that, right?"

How could she not? She knew that feeling better than anyone. All any kid in care, or former kid in care, ever wanted was for someone to understand them and love them. After so many years, she finally had that. How could she begrudge Sasha the same thing? "I suppose."

"Then let me be happy. I'm a big girl, and I can look after myself."

Opening her mouth, Jody wanted to say that yes, Sasha did deserve happiness, but that Josh was not the right guy to give it to her, but for some reason, the words failed her. She closed her mouth, feeling stupid.

"Anyways, I'm sixteen now," Sasha continued, twiddling her thumbs, "and I want to do what other sixteen-year-olds are doing."

Jody's face only got hotter, if that were possible, as she remembered their phone conversation last month where Sasha had declared that she was 'legal'. "Oh."

Sasha actually blushed and Jody looked away, wishing a hole would open up in the ground and swallow her whole. It wasn't as if she'd never thought about it—she and Tyler had been discussing kids only a few weeks ago—but it still felt so far away. Perhaps she was a little naive; she'd certainly never thought that at this point in her life, she'd have friends who were thinking about doing it. She wondered if some of her friends already had, particularly Chris and April, who'd been dating since Year Nine.

"And because I'm a small person, I'm really gonna need someone who gets me. Because it might be... difficult. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah," she said, before taking a deep breath. "So there's nothing I can say or do to change your mind? About him, I mean, not... y'know."

The answer was a clear, precise: "No."

"Alright," she conceded, nodding. Sasha was nothing if not stubborn and determined. This was going to have to be one of those inevitable mistakes everyone made in their lives and hopefully learnt from.

"Girls?!" Kelly hollered, sounding as if she was standing at the foot of the stairs. "Is everything alright? I thought I just heard shouting?!"

Sasha and Jody exchanged glances, the former shouting back that they were fine.

"Come on," Sasha said, jerking her head towards the door. "Let's go back down. Josh is probably wondering where I am."

.:. QK .:.

After spending around another hour at Sasha's place, Kev gave Jody a lift back to Ashdene Ridge. She smiled and thanked him, and he told her to take care, but as he drove away, she still couldn't shake her disappointment in his step-daughter. Sasha was just so obstinate, so stuck in her ways, and while Jody had reluctantly decided to step back and let her make the mistake of dating Josh, she worried that Sasha wouldn't learn from it. Before Josh, there had been that thieving wastrel, Tommo. What if Sasha was just attracted to bad guys, like a moth to flame? What if she ended up like her (pre-Kev) mother?

"Hey, how was the college fair?" May-Li asked as Jody walked in through the front door, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Did you find anything you liked?"

"It was alright," she answered, adjusting the bag strap on her shoulder. "And yeah, I did, actually. I'm thinking of going for a Sports Science BTEC. I've just got to decide what college; I want one close to here."

"I could help you pick later on, if you want?" Jody nodded. "Good subject choice, by the way; I think you'd be great at it!"

"Thanks!"

All of a sudden, May-Li held up a finger and told her to wait a second before going into the quiet room. A few seconds later, she emerged with a black carry labelled 'art portfolio'. "You were with Sasha, right?"

"Yeah; I had lunch at hers and her stepdad dropped me off just now. Am I in trouble? I told Mike about my plans ages ago and he said it was alright."

May-Li chuckled. "No, you're not in any trouble. In fact, you escaped a disappointing lunch, so kudos to you. It's just that we had a visitor while you were out—a girl around your age—and she said that she put this portfolio together to make up for Sasha's ruined artwork."

"Oh, yeah, Molly," Jody said, only just remembering the girl. Between her big life decision and Sasha's big life mistake, she'd totally forgotten about her, even though she was sort of at the centre of said mistake. "We, uhh, actually ran into Josh. You know, that plumber Sasha dated? Anyway, Molly's his girlfriend—well, she was until they broke up a couple of hours ago—and long story short, she accidentally spilt coffee on Sasha's portfolio when we were sitting out back together." She really wanted to tell the truth because lying was unfair on Molly but she didn't want May-Li to think badly of Sasha either.

"Ahh, I guess that explains why the poor thing looked so upset when she walked through the door."

Jody raised an eyebrow. Upset? "Sorry?"

"Oh, Molly looked quite upset when she came round. I thought it was because of the artwork, but it must have been because of the break-up. Anyway, do you know if Sasha's going to be coming round anytime soon because we'll have to mail this to her if not?"

"I wouldn't know. She's pretty busy..." Now that Sasha was with Josh, she probably wouldn't even think to visit Ashdene Ridge. Even Dex didn't visit as much anymore because Archie and Joseph had both left. "How come Molly brought it here, anyway? Sasha never told her that she used to live here."

May-Li distractedly checked the time on her watch. "She said she was leaving it here because you said you lived here but she doesn't know where Sasha lives. And, of course, we're not allowed to share former residents' personal information with members of the public so we couldn't tell her where to take it."

Now that Jody thought about it, she vaguely recalled mentioning Ashdene Ridge in front of Molly when Ryan had first texted her about the eco-challenge. "Ah, okay."

Muttering about how busy she was, May-Li stalked off towards the kitchen, leaving Jody alone with her thoughts. So, Molly was upset about the break-up, even though it was mutual? Well, Jody herself had been upset after breaking up with Brandon too, and she'd been the one to initiate it, so it wasn't out of the realm of possibility, but something didn't seem quite right. The break-up had seemed awfully convenient from the get-go. She hadn't said anything earlier because she hadn't wanted to upset Sasha further but was it possible that Josh had dumped Molly for Sasha? If so, what, if anything, could she do about it? Sasha was basically Luke right now: unwanting and unwilling to hear a bad word about the person she 'loved'. Would she listen to reason?

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Thanks to Tempting Thots for the fave and follow!

Charlie—Yes, I agree about Chloe and Jody. Chloe, in general, needs more (close) friends. Her and Candi-Rose have kind of drifted apart as best friends which becomes really obvious in 'Candi-Rose?' where Bird is the first one Candi trusts with the secret of her sister. Sometimes, Candi even seems closer to Jay than Chloe. I mean, drifting apart is sadly a part of life but it would be nicer if this could be shown as a two-way thing rather than Candi kind of just ditching Chloe.

yourfire—The thing with TDG is that the plots are very episodic in nature. They have some sort of continuity, but very little, which is why Jody's insecurities seem to come out of nowhere. The great thing about writing is that we can plant the seeds for later conflicts/plotlines here and there.