I've only had the chance to read this through once, so if spelling/punctuation is worse than normal, my apologies.

I was going to finish this chapter with "I can smell it" but other ideas came to mind.

Thank you to CarpeNoctem13 for reviewing again. It made my day. Again. :D

"'Ave you 'ad some personal experience wiv that then or somefin?" Kelly questioned as she walked beside the strawberry blonde.

By now, Elsie had gotten used to her friends accent, though sometimes she did have to pause before replying, her mind repeating Kelly's words until she managed to decipher them.

"Eh?"

"The thrush? You 'ad personal experience wiv it? To know that's why some girls like it up the arse?" Had this question been asked at the beginning of Community Service, Elsie would have felt judged, especially if Alisha had been part of the conversation. Now though, after everything the group had been through, becoming closer with every event, Elsie could tell Kelly was only curious and perhaps a little concerned, but far from judgemental.

She sighed as she tried to remember the story she had once been told by a girl she had once considered her best friend. "My ex-best friend's ex-boyfriend's Ex-girlfriend's asked if he could do her through her back door once because she had thrush." She shrugged in the hope Kelly was following the tongue twister that had just escaped from her lips. She kept it vague so she would not make Kelly feel as awkward as her ex-best friend had done that day she had been told the story. "I guess, when you're horny...you'll let a guy go anywhere...Or girl...if you're lesbian." If there was ever a moment for Elsie to stop talking, it was then. "Where are we going then?" She opted to change the subject before Kelly could say anything more on the matter.

"I can drive us back if yer want? Or we can go cruisin' in me car?" They had reached civilization again and wear nearing a practically empty and rather shifty looking car park with very few people milling around.

"You've got a car?" Curtis couldn't have sounded anymore disbelieving if he tried. But whatever the answer was, Rudy wasn't listening, he was already making his was over to a car that looked like a convertible. Well, Elsie hoped it was a convertible because if it wasn't then the roof had been nicked. And seriously, what idiot left the roof down on a convertible in Wertham anyway? The answer was apparently Rudy.

Curtis quickly made his way to the passenger seat, jumping over the door and open window. (Why the window was open when the roof was down was beyond Elsie.) Alisha, Simon and Kelly made themselves comfortable in the very small space that the back seats afforded. But Elsie stood feeling more than a little awkward.

"You gettin' in or what?" Alisha asked, eyeing the girl curiously.

"There's no room." Elsie replied as if it should have been obvious, which really it should have been.

"Just sit on someone's lap. You've done it before." Simon told her gently.

"You can sit on mine if yer like!" Rudy commented with a wiggle of his eyebrows. She rolled her eyes and walked round to Curtis who opened the door for her without question. She would have preferred to sit in the back but the others looked uncomfortable enough as it was. They didn't need her bony backside digging into them.

With about as much grace as an elephant on roller skates, Elsie climbed in with the aid of Curtis's hand, and perched herself on what little room of the seat was left between him and Rudy. It was a dangerous position, more for the reason she believed Rudy might try to squeeze her leg than that she might go through the windshield or over it in this case. But she was not about to walk home on her own.

"Is everybody comfy?" The sounds of scoffs and a few chosen swear words could be heard from the back seat. "Then let's roll!"

The six sat in silence as they allowed the music to blast at them and the surrounding area as they moved. But Elsie wasn't thinking about the music, or the people around her. She didn't even bat an eyelid when Rudy rested his arm on the back of her seat. She was thinking about the two girls she had just walked away from, now covered up by the ground. They would no longer get to see the sunshine, feel the wind against their faces like Elsie could at that moment. Though she supposed, not everyone cared about the little things. Ever since she had moved in her Gran, she had been taught to appreciate those little things. Or rather, she had seen her Gran and other members of her Gran's generation appreciate the small things. Elsie had just picked up that habit along the way.

"Well, that could've gone a lot worse, you know?" She turned her gaze to the guy to her right. "For me."

"It could have gone worse for Alisha too; she was also hanging from that ceiling."

There was a moment where Rudy seemed to be mulling over her words. "Well, yeah, alright it could have gone a lot worse for me and Alisha, you know?" But he was probably only saying it to keep Elsie from arguing with him. "New day tomorrow, who knows what it holds for all of us." Elsie could probably guess; Boredom, followed by work, followed by chilling out with her friends, followed by bed. It's not much, but I'll take it fo-"

The sounds of wailing sirens snapped her from her thoughts. As she whipped her head round to look over her shoulder she could have sworn she felt her neck crack.

"Shit!"

"It's all right, just stay cool."

"Right," That one word made Elsie turn towards Rudy slowly, knowing that that one word was going to bring trouble. "Don't get upset or anyfin' but this isn't exactly my car."

"What?" Elsie all but shrieked into his ear, causing him to turn his head away from her.

"Whose car is it?" Simon sounded almost panicked.

Rudy let go of the steering wheel altogether to turn and answer Simon. Both Curtis and Elsie darting forwards to grab hold of the control.

"Nicked it off a man with a perm. A man with a perm, what's that about?!" He slowly turned back to the front, taking the wheel back in his own free hand. Elsie was glaring daggers at him as she and Curtis sat back.

"We can't get caught in no nicked car-we're all on probation."

"Ah, you'll be all right. Maybe they'll let you off with a warning love."

"Famous last words." Elsie mumbled.

"Seriously, what is your problem sweet cheeks? I'm givin' yer a ride home so you wouldn't 'ave to walk."

"Yes, but we're in a stolen vehicle."

"But I'm the one that's drivin' if anyone gets in trouble it'll be me won't it?"

"Famous last words." Elsie repeated making his eyebrow raise at her as he made to pull over. But Elsie paid him no mind. Instead she turned to look at the three behind her, a worried look covering her features that Simon mirrored back to her. If she got in trouble along with the asshole beside her, at least she wouldn't be on her own.

Locker number fifty still looked as cold and uninviting as it had the last time. But at least she didn't have an annoying Irish wanker five lockers away staring at her arse as she slipped into the familiar and oh so uncomfortable orange jumpsuit. But that didn't mean she didn't miss him. She felt like something was missing when no one made a comment about the tattoo that was barely visible thanks to the pair of girls boxers she had on.

She quickly zipped the clothing up to hide the tank top and the cleavage it revealed, slammed the door of her locker closed and made her way to the others, standing together looking unimpressed with the guy before them. Coming to a stop in front of Kelly and Alisha so she could see, she tucked her hands into her pockets. Making sure the anger she felt at that moment was obvious by putting a scowl on her face.

"Honestly, guys, I just...I thought they'd let you off wi' a warning." He tried a feeble attempt at a friendly smile but none of them returned it.

Her scowl faded into a miserable sort of annoyance when the slow clapping started. The five turned to face the other direction and found Shaun, (he had made sure Elsie knew his name on his first day) standing there, his sarcastic warmth even more evident with his smirk.

"That didn't take you long, did it? Congratulations." He took on his 'I'm in charge here' stance by crossing his arms and trying to look more important and failing miserably.

"You haven't changed." Alisha stated the obvious.

"What makes you think he would?" Elsie asked under her breath as their longest running Probation Worker took a few steps closer to them.

"That's where you're wrong. Yeah, cos I've found a new dedication," Elsie raised an eyebrow at him in question. A look he returned as soon as his gaze landed on her. But it quickly returned to normal as he looked at the others. "Ensuring your complete and total rehabilitation." Elsie rolled her eyes, waiting for the rest. His fake smile and cheerful tone left with his next words. "I'll get started right after I've watched Homes under the Hammer." He made to leave but paused as Rudy spoke up.

"Ooh! Can...can we watch that with yer?"

He hesitating only seconds before opening his mouth. "She," He pointed at Elsie, "Is more than welcome to join me." By now, she was used to his creepy ways of looking and talking to her. But that didn't mean she enjoyed it. Instead of letting it bother her she simply pretended she was in the bar and he was just another weird patron. "But you lot can piss off and do some work." His eyes landed on hers. "Did you miss me?"

"In your dreams." She scoffed. Any trace of a cocky smile he had vanished at her words.

"Chop, chop." With that, he really did leave, no one bothered to interrupt him this time.

It seemed that the others around her let out resigned sighs as they realised, or in Elsie's case, came to terms with, that they truly were back on Community Service. She caught Rudy mouthing the word Sorry but no one paid him any attention. She moved back to her locker to retrieve her iPod and looked at the inside of the door.

The last time she had been in this locker, it had been to hang up her boiler suit for the last time, and take down the few photos she had put up in the feeble hope that it would feel somewhat more welcoming. There had been the one of her and Nathan, pulling ridiculous faces at the camera when they had been dressed in their superhero costumes for the fancy dress party they had all attended. There was also the one she had got a girl dressed as Marilyn Monroe to take of her with all five of her friends that night. If she remembered correctly, she still had them at home, or maybe they were still in her bag. She would have to check later...

An image suddenly ran through her mind of a photograph she had not looked at in a while, believing she had misplaced it somewhere.

Quickly, she unzipped her ever trusty messenger bag she had roughly stuffed in the depths of her locker in her rush to change before anyone else entered the room, and began to rummage through its contents. Her fingers glided over pencils and pens that probably no longer worked. A box of plasters, her hoodie, stray pieces of paper, and finally, the few photographs she had pushed aside the other night. Crouching on the floor she looked through them, one by one.

The top one was the one of her and Nathan, the next the group shot, the third had been taken by Simon on his phone of her Kelly and Alisha, their backs to the camera as they sat on one of the picnic tables outside facing the water as they discussed god only knew what. The fourth was of Curtis, only it was a side view of him rather than a front aspect, lifting her by the waist (His mood had been suspiciously cheerful that day after he had punched some guy in the face. Curtis claimed the guy ended up killing all of them in some alternate version of the future) so she could be the same height as him, she, laughing in surprise as her friends actions, and Simon standing beside them, watching them, smiling at their actions. Elsie had no idea who had taken that one, but she didn't care, she loved it anyway.

Flipping that one so it rested against her chest with the others, she only caught a glimpse of the next one as she was distracted by someone calling her name. She looked over towards the source of the voice and found Rudy, leaning against the lockers, arms folded across his chest watching her keenly. Though now that he had her attention he seemed to have lost his confidence, his nervousness that perhaps she might shout at him had returned. Perhaps that was just the other Rudy shining through.

"You comin'?" He indicated with his head towards the door.

"Yeah." She smiled brightly at him, tucked the photos she had looked at back into her bag, and the other two into her pocket.

"What are those?"

"Nothing special." She replied zipping her bag back up and closing the door to her locker. She reached out a hand hoping he would get the hint. He quickly, though somewhat unsure of himself moved towards her, and tugged her up from her crouched position. "Thanks." She released his hand began to move her legs up and down to stop the pins and needles.

"You're er...you're not still angry wi' me are yer?" He inserted his hands into his pockets and bent at the waist to look her in the eye.

"I was." She didn't need to tell him that the photographs had lightened her mood considerably. "But we're here now." She shrugged and mirrored him, slipping her hands in her pockets, taking a tight grip on the photos already getting paranoid that they had fallen out, though she kept her back straight as she leant against the locker. "They'll get over it. Maybe. Possibly...Eventually."

"Elsie." The voice of Kelly rang from the doorway. The girl in question moved past Rudy to see what she wanted. "You got any paper and pens in that bag of yours?" She quickly returned to her bag, finding a whole bunch of pens. She quickly tried them all on her hand and found one that worked, tucking it in the bun her hair was currently sitting in so she could continue to look for paper.

"Only old shopping lists, and..." She pulled out a folded white napkin that she had missed moments before. "Some guys phone number that needs to be thrown out." She quickly left it on the floor as she put her things away again, closed her locker and pulled the pen from her hair. "No proper paper sorry. I'd say try nicking one from Probations Worker's office but he's in there. Supply closet?"

"Thanks. We're op on the roof." Kelly left them behind but not before sending a somewhat dark look at Rudy.

"Ok." She looked up at Rudy again whose face was still miserable. She bumped her shoulder into his arm. "They'll get over it." She repeated. With that she linked her arm through his. "Come on."

He groaned. "Can't we just stay 'ere?"

"Not if you want the others to actually start talking to you without the evil looks, no." His groans continued as they made their way to the roof, still arm in arm.

Elsie looked across at the skyline of Wertham, the blocks of flats and trees interrupting the clouds making it look even duller than it had the last time she had been up there. The roof had always been a favourite place of hers. It was a place she went if she ever felt she needed to escape. What made it all the better was that hardly anyone else ever went up there, apart from her friends of course.

She would never admit this out loud to anyone. But she sort of felt content. She had felt it upon first entering the building this morning, along with irritation. In a way she felt as if the building had sort of become her second home. No, she didn't sleep there, she hoped she would never have to, but she spent the majority of her time there. Almost as much time as she spent at her real home and at the bar.

She cast her eyes back down to the notebook currently held in her friend's hand as she leant against the broom she was holding, wondering what she could be writing. Though judging by the amount of concentration on Kelly's face (Her tongue was sticking out from the corner of her mouth as she scribbled away) it must have been fascinating. But Kelly was a Fuckin' Rocket Scientist. If her work needed that much concentration, then Elsie had no hope in hell of understanding it.

"Can't believe we're actually back here." She informed Curtis as he actually put effort into his work.

"Shit happens." By the way he looked over at Rudy with a nasty look, the 'shit' he was talking about could only be Rudy.

"What you doin'?" The guy in question asked of Kelly, looking down at the paper.

"Designing a new propulsion system." She answered as if it should have been obvious.

"Why?"

"Because, I'm a Fockin' Rocket Scientist." The it should be obvious tone only got thicker.

"Ah!" He jumped as if he was a kid at Christmas. ""Are we doin' catchphrases?" Everyone paused in their actions to look over. "Maybe we could all 'ave one. Mine could be, 'Now you see me...Now you see two o' me.' Oh and Elsie yours can be sometthin' like, 'My electricity can turn you on.'" Her face scrunched up in amused disgust as he looked rather proud of himself.

"Why do we need catchphrases?" Curtis questioned. He genuinely sounded interested.

"You know, for when shit goes down, man" There was a pause that no one filled with nothing put looks at one another. "Oh, c'mon, d'you really think we're just gonna spend the next seven weeks ambling about, pickin' up litter?"

"He's got a point."

"It's like you read my mind." Elsie told Simon.

"Yeah, well, maybe it'll be different this time. Maybe there won't be any shit going down." Alisha spoke up from beside Simon.

"Yeah and pigs will fly." Elsie scoffed.

"You don't think this is gonna just be a normal Community Service?"

"Not a chance."

"Why do you say that? You don't know what could happen."

"In case you forgot," She hushed her voice so that what she was about to say wasn't shouted to the whole of the estate, "We buried two girls recently, AND there are people with powers out there, powers we can only imagine for now, those people may not be like us, they might want to use their powers for bad. We've already met people like that; fuck knows how many more of them there are. There is going to be shit."

"Are you always such a downer?" But Alisha was only half joking, Elsie just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, trust us, there'll be shit." Rudy replied instead as he took in the scenery around him. "It's in the air." He moved forwards a few feet. "I can smell it."

At that moment, as the others gathered round so they were standing in a circle, Elsie felt like she was part of a strange, yet iconic image. She had felt that way before, back when she had started her first load of Community Service, and she along with Kelly, Simon, Curtis, Alisha and Nathan had stood at the edge of the roof watching the water below them. The circumstances were similar. Back then, they had not long buried a couple of bodies. Back then, they had banded together after the discovery of their powers, though they hadn't really been what could have been called friends, it had been a start.

Before she could really start reminiscing however, she broke the silence. "Funny." Everyone's head turned to look at her as she looked in front of her to Rudy who stood on the opposite side of the circle to her. "I thought that was you." She made her face as serious as possible, but her mask cracked when from the corner of her eye she noticed Curtis silently laughing.

"Oh...Oh I see," The others had joined in the laughter. "I suppose you think you're little Miss funny now don't yer?" He dropped his mop handle to the floor when she nodded and raced towards her, she turned to run, dropping her own broom handle in the process, but his long strides made his walk to her all the quicker. He wrapped his arms around her waist and began to spin them round. She held onto his tattooed forearms as she screamed for Curtis to help her, laughing as she did so.

She was beginning to think, just as she got dizzy, that he wasn't going to put her down. That was until she heard Kelly shouting something about passersby thinking they were tickling someone to death, and she was gently placed on the red couch-like seat that had always been a particular favourite of hers. Her surroundings spinning, she almost fell backwards off the thing, but she managed to catch herself before she could injure herself. She looked up to Rudy who was now walking back towards his mop, watching her to make sure she was alright. When she caught his gaze, he winked and turned away. The others had gone back to their work, Curtis shaking his head at the antics performed before him.

Without hurry, Elsie took the photos from her pocket, thankful they hadn't fallen out when she had been lifted off the ground. She glanced up at the others, finding them talking amongst themselves.

The first photo in her hand was a Polaroid of Rudy; his left eye only half open whilst the other completely shut. He looked rather pleased with himself, or as if he'd just woken up...Or as if he was rather drunk. His checkered shirt, or what she could see of it, was all buttoned up. But that didn't mean he hadn't just had sex. Yeah, if she had to make a guess, she would say his expression showed satisfaction of the sexual kind.

She buried the Polaroid in her pocket and looked at the second one. It hadn't taken her long to think she had lost this one.

The glossy print held the image of herself, and Rudy sitting at one of the picnic tables out by the water, his arm round her shoulder as she smiled at the camera. But the Rudy in the photo wasn't looking at the camera; he was too busy planting what looked to be a soggy kiss on the side of photographed Elsie's face. She smiled to herself, as she tucked that one back in her pocket when she heard someone approaching.

"You alright?" Simon asked her as he stopped in front of her. She nodded, the smile never leaving her face.

"We're going to get a drink, you coming?"

"We're going for a break already? We've only been here five minutes."

"When's that ever stopped us before?" She laughed as he smiled down at her, offering her his hand to help her up. She gladly accepted, but her mind was still on the objects in her pockets. Before she knew it she was remembering the night she had first laid eyes on the two photographs that had yet to be taken.

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