Time passed. Nikki gave Hollie time and space to get things back on track between them, while the teenager tried to think of ways to get rid of Vix. She roped in Jo, Sam and Tom to help her, but none of them seemed to share her view that they could break the couple up through sabotage.

The lack of progress their case was making was frustrating Jo and Sam. Since leaving Longmarsh, Gavin Ashton seemed to have vanished. The police officers keeping surveillance on him had reported seeing him heading into a bar one night, a few weeks after his release, but they never saw him leaving. On closer inspection, they realised that he must have escaped through another exit or under a disguise. Inspector Meadows went mad when they reported back and he realised that the man had managed to vanish on his patch.

Nikki and Vix had set a date for their wedding, July 30th, and the preparations seemed to be going at full pelt. Eve had kept her sister up to date on everything that was going on. Nikki had tried to involve her elder daughter, but Hollie had made it very clear she had no interest in the wedding. She had even gone so far as to tell her mother, in no uncertain terms, that she wouldn't be attending. Her aunts and Tom had all spoken to her after that pronouncement, reminding her that she might live to regret that decision, but she was refusing to back down.

The one, in Hollie's opinion, bright spot in her life was that Kevin's condition was improving faster than they had expected. Finally he was told that he was ready to return to the School House. The boy had been apprehensive at the thought, but his girlfriend assured him that she would be right by his side, as would their friends.

"Can we just run away?" Hollie sighed, glancing sideways at Kevin who smiled softly at her. It was the evening before Kevin was due to return home and both were nervous at the prospect, although Hollie would never admit it. "Then you wouldn't have to worry about going back to school and I wouldn't have to deal with the whole Vix and Gavin situation."

"You don't think our problems would follow us?" He asked, smirking.

"No." His girlfriend replied petulantly. "I don't."

Kevin laughed. "Well I do. We can't run away, Hol. We have to face our problems and work through them."

"That's easy for you to say."

"Really?" He arched an eyebrow at her and swept his hand around. "D'you wanna think about that one?"

"OK, fine." Hollie exhaled sharply and rolled her eyes. Then she smiled and leant up to kiss Kevin lightly. "Sorry, babe. I know this is really hard for you. I don't mean to be so selfish and wrapped up in my own things. You'll do great tomorrow, you know that."

"Yeah, but I'm gonna be the freak who had a stroke, aren't I?"

"You're the freak who had a stroke and whose girlfriend is the daughter of the lesbian English teacher, stepdaughter of the deputy head and step-niece of the other deputy head and his wife, the ex-trolley dolly chemistry teacher."

Kevin burst out laughing. "Oh my god, Hols. How long did it take you to work that out?"

"Longer than it should have." She groused, burying her head into his shoulder. "And Tom still wants me to go to the wedding." She scowled. "Even after Vix made some snide comment about how I've put on weight and probably need to check the dress they got me still fits. Apparently Tom thinks I should ignore that and be the bigger person or I'll regret it in the future. Like he thinks it's a good idea. He's just sad it's not him."

"You still think him and your mum would work out?" Kevin asked, not looking convinced. "After everything?"

"Yeah." The girl muttered stubbornly.

Her boyfriend shook his head and hugged her tighter. He knew that she was still holding out hope that her mother would change her mind and realise that she belonged with Tom. Kevin wasn't so sure that was an option anymore, but he had given up trying to reason with Hollie. She didn't want to see that Nikki had chosen Vix and, while he hoped that the woman would come to her senses sooner rather than later, he wasn't at all sure how the situation would end up.

Opening his mouth to ask whether Hollie had actually spoken to Tom about his feelings on the matter, Kevin shut it again abruptly as his hospital room door opened and the nurse poked her head inside. She announced that it was time for Hollie to go home, before smiling warmly at the pair and retreating to let them say goodbye in peace.

As Hollie descended the stairs she decided to have a quick word with Maggie, who had offered to drop her off at Tom's on her way back to the School House. Hollie, knowing that the housemistress was friends with Nikki, wondered whether her mother had said anything to her.

"Maggie?"

"What's the matter, love?" The woman asked, fishing in her handbag for her car keys.

"Has... has Mum said anything to you?"

"About?"

"Vix and… and stuff..." Hollie muttered, flicking her hair over her shoulder and looking out of the passenger's side window.

Maggie shot her a shrewd look. "Honey... what, specifically, do you think your mother might have said to me?"

The girl shrugged, still not meeting her eyes. "I dunno..."

"I know that you and Vix don't see eye to eye, but maybe you just need to get to know her better?" The woman suggested calmingly. "You used to get on OK? What happened?"

"She doesn't want me around. Mum chose her over me. She keeps making comments about me and Mum doesn't defend me. That's all there is to it."

"Look, love, I don't think–"

"Maggie."

"Hollie, your mam loves you very much, you know that. She's just got a lot to deal with at the moment, with the wedding and your sister acting up and work…"

"Eve is not acting up." Hollie informed her quickly. "She's just decided that she doesn't want to be a lawyer anymore… she's fifteen… what does it matter?"

"Well, think about it… Maybe you should be the one to make the first move with your mam? I'm sure she still misses you." Maggie said, pulling up outside Tom's house and turning off the engine.

"You are?" Hollie opened the door and slid out, leaning down to speak to the housemistress. "I'm not so sure. But… thanks… for the lift."

Slamming the car door, she headed up the path and let herself into the house. Tom was sitting on the sofa, drinking a beer and watching football on the telly in the living room. He glanced up as she entered the room, dropping down beside him and leaning her head on his shoulder. Automatically, Tom's arm wound itself round her and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"How's Kev?"

"Better… they're letting him go home tomorrow. He can't go back to school for a while… he needs physio and he'll have loads of appointments and stuff to go to. But at least getting out of hospital is something." She reasoned thoughtfully.

"It's brilliant." Tom agreed. "Sounds like he'll be well enough to go to Nik's wedding with you."

Hollie shot him a look, narrowing her eyes. "I'm not going."

"Hollie…"

Sliding off the sofa, Hollie shrugged and walked to the living room door. "I've got homework to finish for tomorrow. Night."

"Yeah… but if you don't go to your mum's wedding that means we can't go." Scout pointed out unnecessarily, nudging Hollie with her elbow as they made their way down the corridor towards the gym.

"Yeah, it would just be weird." Zoe agreed on the girl's other side.

"You don't say." Hollie muttered, rolling her eyes at her friends' words. "So, no, you can't go to my mum's wedding. I am…" She trailed off, catching sight of her mother talking to Mr Reid. "Hang on…"

Pulling her friends behind the row of lockers under the stairwell, they could just about hear what was being said.

"I know this is a game to you," Nikki told him, sounding angrier than Hollie had heard her for a while, "but I have screwed up and seeing your grinning face every day isn't helping."

"I'm not going anywhere." Mr Reid replied. From their hiding place, the trio of teenage girls could see the smirk on his face.

"Don't I know it?" Nikki groused.

Hollie poked her head out from behind the lockers to check whether the coast was clear. Her mother was still inches away, so the teenager jerked backwards, bashing into her friends as she resumed her hiding place.

"What the fu-?" Scout hissed.

"Shh!"

"I'll just stand still…" Maggie said, earning herself a soft laugh from her friend. "Look, don't beat yourself up. I'm not sure I'd have put up much of a fight either, him knocking on my door."

"Yeah, but I should have… biggest mistake of my life."

"Biggest?" Maggie asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well… one of them…"

"I spoke to Hollie last night." The housemistress told her, lowering her voice slightly, almost as though she knew the teenagers were eavesdropping on their conversation. "She thinks you don't care about her."

"That's ridiculous!" Nikki exclaimed. "Why would she…?"

"You know that and I know that, but she's a teenager, pet. They're not logical. She thinks that you've chosen Vix over her."

"I… I've got to make things right with Vix after what I did. She thinks we need some time to concentrate on us, before the wedding."

"Honey… she's really making you work for her forgiveness, isn't she?"

"I really hurt her."

"Enough to demand that you hurt your daughter instead?"

There was a long pause. Then Nikki sighed. "I've got to get to class… I'll see you later."

Waiting until they were sure that both women had gone, the three girls slipped out of their hiding place. They didn't mention the conversations they had overheard, keeping their heads down and hurrying to the changing rooms before they were late for their PE lesson.

They didn't even mention what they had heard during the double session, pretending that there was nothing more interesting than two hours of basketball. Mr Reid sent them several curious looks, confused by the fact that he didn't have to spend the majority of his time telling them off for talking.

At the end of the lesson, he asked Hollie and Rhiannon to help him put away the equipment while the others went to get changed. Scout and Zoe shot their friend a bemused look, while she just shrugged and jogged over to the other side of gym to retrieve several basketballs. After a couple of minutes, Rhiannon headed towards the changing rooms too, leaving Hollie alone with the PE teacher.

"Mr Reid? Can I ask you something?" She asked.

He jumped, not having realised that she had walked up behind him. "Uhh, yeah?"

"My mum…" He looked a little awkward, as though he thought she was about to start shouting at him. "Did you… Do you really like her?"

Mr Reid paused for a moment, as though considering how to answer the question, then he nodded. "Yeah, I do."

"Good." Hollie nodded sharply. "I need your help."

"What? Hollie!" Jo sighed exasperatedly as her niece told her about the conversation she'd had with her PE teacher an hour or so earlier. "Why would you…?"

"Because he likes Mum and he wasn't scared to help me."

"Hollie, darling, we're not scared to help you." Sam tried to explain gently. "We just think there are better ways of convincing Nikki that Vix is wrong with her than getting that guy involved."

"No one is doing anything."

"We are, sweetheart." Jo attempted to reassure her, earning herself a disbelieving look from the teenager. "We're following leads that will, hopefully, allow us to look into Vix more closely."

"Like you haven't been doing that for months." The teenager retorted rudely.

"Hollie." Her aunt murmured warningly. "I know this is hard for you, but we can't just produce evidence from thin air. We have to work on it until we find something good enough to bring her in."

"And how long is that going to take." Hollie sighed theatrically. "This is taking forever. I just want my mum back."

"We've still got a couple of months until the wedding, I promise you we'll find something before then."

Shrugging, the teenager turned and walked back towards the school, waving over her head at her aunts. She was just entering the building when the bell rang signalling the end of the third lesson. Sighing, Hollie headed in the direction of the library, intending to finish some essays that she had been putting off. Seeing the congestion in the corridors, she decided to take a detour and head through the English block.

That made her think of her mother and she made up her mind to go and see if Nikki was in her classroom. Seeing that Mr Reid was talking to the brunette, Hollie hesitated in the corridor outside, wondering whether to interrupt or not. She hoped that he was making some headway, putting her plan into action. It was actually very simple; all he had to do was work on her until she finally gave in to his advances again. The thought of it made her feel sick, but it was marginally better than the idea of her mother with Vix.

"Do not use the students to try and worm your way back into my good books." Nikki was ordering him, although the look on her face wasn't entirely hostile.

"As if I'd do that." He replied, pretending to be wounded by the accusation.

Nikki laughed, almost sincerely, as Mr Reid turned and left the room. Spotting Hollie loitering outside, he smirked and winked at her. She rolled her eyes, pretending to be irritated, before knocking on the classroom door and looking inside.

"Hey!" Nikki beamed at her once she realised who had knocked. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine… you?"

"I'm great."

"Good…" Now that she was face-to-face with her mother, Hollie realised she didn't know what to say.

"Hol, I wanted to–" She broke off as her mobile stared ringing on her desk. They both jumped at the sound. Reading the name on the screen, Nikki shot an apologetic look at her daughter, before accepting the call. "Maggie? What's up? He's… what? Really?" She glanced at Hollie. "I'll send her down."

"What?"

"Kevin's downstairs." Nikki told her. "Apparently Maggie thought it might be nice for him to come in and see everyone. She said he didn't seem too happy now he's here."

Sending her mother a fleeting smile, the teenager turned tail and rushed out of the room. She headed straight down to the entrance, where her boyfriend seemed to be waiting for her. Pressing a kiss to his lips, she beamed and started talking quickly; assuring him that everyone would be so excited to see him.

"Come on…" Scout said after a quick hello. "Kacey Barry is giving a talk in the lecture room about her time in Miami. It should be good."

Not giving her boyfriend any chance to complain, Hollie started pushing Kevin's wheelchair in the direction of the lecture room. They arrived just in time to catch the beginning of Kacey's talk. From the expression on Gabriella's face, she wasn't impressed with the change of programme for the session.

"Have you told Kevin about your latest crazy plan?" Zoe hissed once they were all settled and Kacey had started speaking.

Hollie rolled her eyes. "Not yet."

"What crazy plan?" Kevin asked, catching what she had said.

"It's nothing."

"She asked Mr Reid to help her convince Miss Boston to leave Vix." Scout informed him in a hushed voice. "It's mad."

"Hol!"

"What?" She muttered defensively. "If it works I don't even care."

"Guys, please?" Mr Reid called as people stared to turn and look at them. "Less talking, alright?"