Hollie wasn't thinking straight when she ran from Barry. She headed for the first place she could think of, wanting to see her boyfriend. Kevin usually managed to make sense of things that she couldn't seem to get her head around. In the state she was in, however, she had completely forgotten where he was, making her way to the School House and banging on the door.

"Hollie?"

"Can I see Kevin?"

The House Mistress frowned. "He's not here, flower; he was staying with Chalky for the weekend, remember? He's not due back for a couple of hours, yet."

Hollie blinked several times, suddenly remembering the reason she hadn't seen him all weekend. She backed away and, before she could be stopped, disappeared back down the driveway and out of sight.

Maggie called after her but, when Hollie didn't stop or even turn, she sighed and pulled her mobile out of her back pocket, scrolling through her recent contacts and selecting Nikki's name from the list.

She waited until she thought the answerphone was going to kick in before the call was answered. "Nikki?"

"Sorry, Mags. It's not really a good time…"

"Hollie's just left here in a bit of a state." Maggie informed her friend before Nikki could make an excuse and end the conversation. "She asked to see Kevin and when I reminded her he was with Chalky she just took off."

There was a sharp inhalation of breath from the other end of the line. "Where did she go?"

"I don't know."

"You didn't go after her?" Nikki demanded.

"Nikki, pet, it happened so fast. She didn't exactly wait around for me to ask where she was going." Maggie told her bluntly.

"I… thanks."

"D'you want–?"

"No." Nikki cut her off without even listening to the offer. "It's fine, thanks. I'll see you tomorrow at work, alright?" Hanging up, the brunette put her head in her hands and turned to glare at her cousin who was leaning in the doorway watching her. "This is your fault, d'you realise that?"

Jo laughed. "My fault? What have I done?"

"Obviously you said something to her in the kitchen, which is why she kicked off at Eve."

"Oh, obviously." The detective retorted, rolling her eyes. "Or maybe if you left your little Nikki and Vix bubble once in a while you'd realise that not everything's as rosy in the real world."

"What?" Nikki snapped. "What is your problem?" She scowled at Jo. "What is it? Are you jealous, is that it? Things not exciting enough with Sam anymore? Life getting too domestic and boring for you? Do you fancy Vix?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Jo laughed mirthlessly. "I don't trust her, that's all."

"You don't even know her!"

"Neither do you!" The volume of their argument was steadily rising as they grew more and more heated. "And yet you're putting her before your own children!"

"Get out!" Nikki screamed, physically pushing Jo towards the door. "Get out!"

She slammed the door behind her cousin, leaning heavily against the wood and balling her hands into fists. Nikki knew that she would have to let Jo back in so that she could gather her things and get her car keys to leave with her family, but she didn't want to see her. Opening the door, the younger woman fled upstairs, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

Hollie sprinted away from the School House, not sure where she was heading but needing to get away from the concerned expression that had been totally focused on her. Her instinct was to go to Tom's house, but she knew that would be the first place they'd look for her. She felt the tears streaming down her cheeks as she ran, but she didn't bother to wipe them away, she just wanted to forget.

With no money and nowhere to go, she just kept running until she found herself outside one of the dodgier bars on the edge of town. Taking a breath, she rubbed her eyes and tugged at her top, before pushing the door open and stalking inside. Her gaze swept over the area, looking for anyone who seemed an easy target to buy her drinks.

Eyes landing on someone sitting at a rather rowdy table in the corner, she scowled. Making up her mind, Hollie stalked over and stood with her hands on her hips until the young man noticed her presence and smirked.

"You gonna get me a drink then?" She asked, arching an eyebrow.

"What's it worth?" Barry asked with a grin.

"Buy it and you'll find out."

Chuckling, he stood up and indicated that she should take his seat while he went to the bar. Hollie wasn't interested in talking to any of the people around her. When Barry returned, she didn't even allow him to retake his seat before she took a long gulp of her vodka, draining the glass in one gulp. The crowd around them cheered and Barry grinned, moving away to get her another without being ordered. This time when he came back, Hollie let him sit down and settled herself in his lap.

The drinks came thick and fast, stopping the teenager from having to think. Before long she was drunk and had completely forgotten about why she had run away from home in the first place. Somewhere in the back of her mind an alarm was ringing, telling her that she was being stupid, that she was making a huge mistake. Draining yet another vodka, Hollie dismissed the thought and turned to look at Barry.

"What?"

"Thanks…"

"For what?"

"Not asking questions."

He grinned. "You didn't give me much of a chance." Tilting his head, he arched an eyebrow. "Why did you come looking for me?"

"Who says I came looking for you?" Barry just arched an eyebrow at her. Hollie sighed. "Maybe I just wanted some no-strings fun for once."

"Really? And what does this no-strings fun entail?"

Hollie smirked and leant forward, pressing her lips against his and grasping the lapels of his jacket firmly. Barry grinned against her mouth, manoeuvring them backwards, through the door that led to the back of the bar without breaking contact. Stumbling through the back door, Hollie giggled as he pressed her up against the wall in the alley.

"You sure?" He breathed in her ear.

Nodding, she guided his mouth back to hers and kissed him firmly.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Nikki bellowed, wrenching open the front door at the sound of the bell ringing continuously to find her elder daughter leaning against the wall with her forehead pressing the button.

"Out. It's only nine… chill out."

"Get in here." The woman yanked Hollie's arm, pulling her into the house but causing her to crash to the floor in a heap.

"Ow!" Hollie cried, pressing a hand to her head where she'd hit it on the radiator as she fell.

"Stand up." Her mother snapped, displaying no sympathy or concern at all. "Now, Hollie."

Struggling to her feet, the teenager stumbled slightly as she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror, spotting the cut just above her eyebrow that had resulted from her fall. She rounded on her mother furiously. "Look what you did!"

"That wasn't me. It's your own fault you stupid, drunken, little–"

"Mum?" Nikki stopped speaking abruptly as Eve appeared at the top of the stairs, peering down to see what was going on. "Is that Hollie?"

"Yes."

"Where's she been?"

"I don't know. I'm about to find out, though."

Hollie rolled her eyes and moved unsteadily towards the staircase. "I'm going to bed."

"You're not." Nikki informed her. "Not until I get some answers."

"Don't touch me." The teenager spat venomously, shaking off the hand on her arm. "You've done enough damage, don't you think?"

"What does she mean?" Eve asked, confused, as her sister pushed unsteadily past her and shut herself in her bedroom.

"Nothing, sweetheart." Nikki ground out as calmly as she could. "Don't worry about it. Go back to bed."

Nikki didn't bother to check on Hollie after she stormed up the stairs to bed. She was still furious with Jo and with her daughter and thought it was better that they all cooled down before speaking again. She shook her head when Vix asked whether she wanted to talk about what was bothering her, saying that she'd rather snuggle up on the sofa in front of the telly and forget about it.

When there was no sign of the older teenager at breakfast the next morning, her mother assumed she was suffering from a hangover and banged on the door loudly. "I'm taking Eve to the station." She shouted through the closed door. "I expect you downstairs and ready for school by the time I come back, or I'm going to come in there and drag you out of bed myself. Understand?"

There was no reply, but Nikki knew Hollie well enough to guess that she was either being stubborn or was embarrassed and just rolled her eyes. She threw an arm around Eve's shoulders, giving her a squeeze, as they made their way to the car. After waving the fifteen-year-old off at the station, the woman glanced at her watch and saw that she had twenty minutes to get home and to school before registration started.

When she returned to the house, her daughter was sitting on the doorstep, ready and waiting for her to arrive. The look on her face said more to her mother about her state of mind than anything she would get from questioning her. Assuring Hollie that they would be having words after school, Nikki drove them towards Waterloo Road.

Climbing out of the car and striding towards the building as soon as Nikki parked up, Hollie kept her head down and made her way towards the Common Room. Grabbing Zoe and Scout by the hands, she dragged them out of the room in the direction of the toilets. After checking to make sure they were alone, she perched against the sinks and put her head in her hands.

"I did something absolutely fucking terrible last night." She admitted at last.

"Oh god…" Her friends exchanged a look.

"What've you done?"

"I had sex with Barry." Hollie told them quietly. "I was… I was in a terrible mood and Kevin wasn't back from visiting Chalky and I just… I got drunk and we ended up–"

"Yeah, we don't need the details." Scout interrupted her, pulling a face. "Why would you do that?"

"I don't know!"

Zoe shook her head. "Have you and Kevin…? I mean you've been really weird with him the last couple of weeks. Have you and Barry been–?"

"No!" Hollie shook her head vehemently. "We just… Kevin's been really focused on applying to Uni and I don't know what I want to do. We've just… we want different things, I guess."

"So are you gonna dump him and go out with Barry?"

"Am I fuck?" Hollie scowled at Scout's suggestion. "I just… I needed to tell you guys because I kicked off at Mum when I got in. She wants to talk about it later and that's obviously not going to go well."

"Are you going to tell her?"

"I dunno… I think I have to. She might understand why I was in such a vile mood."

Her friends exchanged a look, saying nothing about it. Scout mentioned the cut on her forehead and Hollie hastily, rearranged her fringe to cover it, explaining how it had happened. They both rolled their eyes at her, reminding her that she was a complete idiot. Hollie didn't bother to argue, knowing they had a point.

"Sit!"

Hollie huffed as Nikki prevented her disappearing upstairs the second they walked into the house. As her mother settled AJ in the living room with his toys, her daughter wandered into the kitchen, dropping into one of the chairs at the table and propping her chin on her palm. She waited until Nikki settled herself opposite, watching the younger brunette carefully.

"What did Jo say to you?"

"Huh?"

"Last night?" Nikki pressed. "She clearly said something that upset you because you were fine before you spoke to Jo. Are you going to tell me what happened? Eve said you shouted at her… you really upset her, you know?"

"It wasn't Auntie Jo's fault." Hollie sighed. "I just… I reacted badly to something she said and kicked off… like I always do. It was totally my fault and I'll ring Eve and apologise later."

Her mother frowned. "There's something you're not telling me. Hollie, please, I thought we said no more secrets."

For a moment the teenager considered her. She toyed with the idea of telling her that Jo had revealed that Gavin was due to be released in the non-too-distant future, but then decided against it. The longer she could keep that to herself the better. Instead, she decided to weave a couple of half-truths together.

"Auntie Jo was asking me about Kevin, seeing as he's not here and I just… I think things have run their course, you know?" She explained softly. "He's just… I think we might be better off as mates."

"Is that really what you want?" Nikki asked, frowning at her.

"It might be what he wants if he finds out that I slept with Barry… again."

Her mother put her head in her hands. "Oh, Hollie, why?"

"I don't know!" She admitted, shaking her head. "There's just something about him…"

"He's no good for you, babe." Nikki said firmly, reaching out and squeezing her hand tightly across the table. "Forget about Barry. Even if you and Kevin aren't going to work out, you deserve far better than him."