Of all the times the head teacher had told off Rimmer, this one had to be the worst. Miss Robbins had found him and Elizabeth some 2 hours later. Rimmer was then dragged back to school and thrown in front of a fuming head master and a sobbing Butcher.

As Rimmer listened to Butchers version of the story he realised what a coward this boy was. Butcher insisted that he had gone over to the girl simply to ask for the time when Rimmer had came over and hit him for no apparent reason, and when Butcher had tried to calm Rimmer down, Rimmer became enraged and beat him up. When Rimmer was told to share his side of the story, he was stuck, no one would believe that weedy little Rimmer had single handily beat up a boy twice his size, and the only ones who had seen it were Elizabeth and Butcher's accomplices, who had backed up Butchers story. Rimmer lowered his head, and sneaked a side ways glance at Butcher, who shifted nervously in his seat.

"Yes sir" said Rimmer not taking his eyes off Butcher. The headmaster allowed Butcher to go, and then yelled at Rimmer for so long and so loud that Rimmer felt someone had removed his ears and shoved them in a tumble dryer. After what seemed like years Rimmer was dismissed with 5 months detention and a letter to his parents. Rimmer paused at the door,

"sir?" he asked quietly, "You still here" the Headmaster snapped, Rimmer took a deep breath and continued, "Are there any all girls schools around here, sir?" The headmaster fixed Rimmer was an icy glare,

"yes" he said finally "Mrs Bankhost's School for Girls, just outside the city centre, why thinking of going?" he chuckled "you'd fit in perfectly, might not get beat up so often!" Rimmer resisted the urge to throw something at the headmaster's balding head, "no reason, SIR!" he said and threw open the door, stepped out onto the corridor and slammed it shut.

He walked briskly down the corridor when from out of nowhere stepped Butcher, covered in cuts and bruises, and he looked like he wanted revenge. For a whole minute Rimmer and Butcher stood staring at each other, Butcher took a menacing step forward, but Rimmer just curled his hands into fists and held them up, Butchers face went white, and he stepped back, Rimmer walked towards him, Butcher's bottle went and he raced down the corridor as fast as he could. Rimmer smiled, he'd really given Butcher a taste of his own medicine, and it had scared him, as long as he and Rimmer knew who had won that fight, Butcher would never touch Rimmer again.

Rimmer made sure no one was looking before slipping out into the night; he strolled into the city and hailed a cab. The taxi driver eyed Rimmer suspiciously; there was something fishy about a 13 year old catching a cab alone a 10 o clock at night. Rimmer stared out of the cab window and said, "Mrs Bankhost's School for Girls please"

Rimmer prayed that he wouldn't get caught when he crept across the black lawn of Mrs Bankhost's school for girls, he didn't know where the girls dorms would be, but he had a feeling they'd be on the first floor.

It was too risky to go into the school, he'd get caught. Rimmer saw a trellis leading onto a balcony, it was a stupid idea but Rimmer had to go on and tell Elizabeth how he felt. He put his hand onto the ladder substitute and pulled it back with a yelp, tiny pinpricks covered the surface of his hand, and blood oozed out. He peered closely at the flowers, which were growing up the trellis, roses, blood red roses with thorns like needles.

Rimmer groaned, of all the trellises he could have picked to climb, he chose the ones with deadly flowers. Rimmer shook his head, and began to climb, it was slow and incredibly painful, at one point his foot slipped and he fell face first into the roses. By the time he reached the top he was scratched, bruised, and all he wanted to do was to see Elizabeth. He peered through the balcony door windows, the room was in total darkness, he tried to see if he could spot Elizabeth, so he stood on tiptoe and leant on the door. The door gave an ancient creak and sprung open, Rimmer fell into the room, and was greeted by shouts and cries.

"What's going on?" asked a voice to his right, someone turned on the lights and Rimmer was shocked to see him surrounded by girls, "It's a boy" one of them said, the rest stared at him like he was a creature that they'd never seen before. Rimmer picked himself off the floor with a groan, and looked at the girls; none of them were Elizabeth, he'd got the wrong room. He cleared his throat,

"Do any of you know Elizabeth Evans?" he pleaded, "Yes," said one of the girls stepping forward,

"Where is she?" she said happily,

"Gone" said the girl casually,

"Gone. Gone where?" Rimmer asked, he was beginning to panic, "She's been expelled, for the past month or so she's been truanting whenever she could, sneaking off to central park to meet some boy" the girl explained nastily,

Rimmer snapped his eyes shut, it was the only thing he could do to stop himself from crying. Someone touched his arm, but he didn't want to open his eyes, if he opened his eyes, he'd know it was real, and if it were real, Elizabeth would be gone.

"Are you Arnold, Are you Arnold Rimmer" Rimmer opened his eyes, "Yes" he said, the girl who was stood next to him touching his arm, handed him a letter, "Elizabeth wrote this for you," Rimmer stared at the letter, thanked the girls and climbed back down the trellis, this time, he didn't notice the pain.

Under to dim light of a street lamp, Rimmer tore open the letter, and began to read, the writing was untidy, it looked like it had been rushed, and every so often they'd be a blob of ink where Elizabeth's tears had slipped onto the paper. Rimmer began to read.

Dear Rimmer,
I'm writing this in a hurry, I haven't much time.
My parents are talking to Mrs Bankhost now, I know what it's
about, I'm being expelled, I kept skipping school and I'd sit in
the park and wait for you, its silly really. So if you want some
one to blame for me leaving, its me. My parents were moving,
and now that I'm not a Mrs Bankhost's anymore I have to go
with them, I don't know where. I hope you get this, because
I have to say something, I love you, I've loved you since the
moment we met, I feel like I might die knowing I might not
see you again, but one day Rimmer, I don't know when, I'll
find you, but stay strong, be brave and never forget me, and
I'll never forget you Rimmer.
Love Elizabeth

Rimmer's heart began to ache, he leant against the street lamp, and sank to the floor and cried.