Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed the first chapter. First of all a massive thank you to Mrs Carmichael, faeftvanity, RachelMasonFan39 and Lynny for your wonderful reviews. I also just wanted to say thank you to faeftvanity for your kind words about me as a writer which went along with your review; i really do appreciate it and i am glad you like my writing.

Anyways, this chapter is from Eddie's point of view and the one that follows this will be Rachel's. Please let me know what you guys think:) x

Roughly a month after the break up:

Eddie sat surreptitiously at his dining room table whilst nursing an untouched cup of coffee. How long had he been sitting in this position? It was unclear, he had been too consumed by his own thoughts. Overthinking had been a regular occurrence in the past six weeks. All he knew was that he would have to make a move soon; it was the first Monday in September. He of all people knew what that meant - a new school year. It pained him deeply to even think about it, god knows how he was going to cope once he actually got to the school. A school that wasn't Waterloo Road. Stop it. Let it go.

A fresh start, new people. It'll get easier. That's what Melissa had told him. Funnily enough, it wasn't the first time that he didn't believe a word she said. Somehow, she had that effect on people. Eddie had kept his contact with her minimal - purely about the baby only. Even then, they didn't manage to escape the niggling arguments brewing between them. Some were about Rachel, about how he was still in love with her. He wasn't going to deny it, Eddie reckoned that infuriated Melissa even more. Frankly, he didn't much care. She was the mother of his child; nothing more, nothing less.

He wasn't a genius, but Eddie gathered if things were going to get better, they would have by now. 42 days. That's how long he and Rachel had spent apart. With each day that went by, the pain got worse, not better. That was all he needed to know to accept that he would never forget about that woman.

His new role wasn't a deputy head's one. No, Eddie couldn't bring himself to be anyone's deputy other than hers - it didn't sit right with him. Instead, he took a demotion; he was now your classic mundane Mathematics teacher. The joys.

After several more minutes sat stationary, Eddie finally found the motivation to get dressed. Once he got to the hallway, he couldn't help but glance down at the row of shoes against the radiator. In particular, the gap. The gap where she would put her shoes. As of yet, he hadn't closed it - couldn't bring himself to push his shoes together. Unlike Rachel, who was seemingly willing to cut off all contact with him.

Get a grip. She's probably moved on already.

….

This would be the hard bit. Eddie said to himself as he approached his new school. Every day without fail, he would park next to Rachel's car. They would have said good morning to each other and shared a bit of banter if nothing else. This job would be different, he was only doing it for the money really. He would go to work, keep himself to himself and nothing more. He didn't half sound miserable, it even crossed his mind that he would be Nashville Academy's very own Grantley Budgen at this rate.

As he swung into the car park, Eddie drank in the features of the newly refurbished building; it was already a world away from Waterloo Road. He hadn't quite decided if that was a good or bad thing yet. Yes, it would make evoking nostalgic memories unlikely, but still; Waterloo Road was the school he belonged in, with Rachel by his side. No fancy building could change that. This thought caused the words of Rachel to echo accordingly in his mind.

This school is not just a building. It's us, it's all of you lot.

Eddie shook himself out of his bubble and decided to isolate himself from every other staff member. He pulled up as far away from the abundance of cars as possible. He didn't want to be disturbed. As he emerged from his car, the approaching figure wasn't the first thing to engulf him. Thick, billowing clouds were rolling in over him: a painful reminder of that day. The drop of rain that settled on Eddie's nose created far too many parallels for his liking.

'Hello?'

It was only then that Eddie averted his gaze from the skies, and reluctantly made eye contact with the woman standing in front of him.

'Hi.' He simply replied.

'I'm Sophie Biglow, head of maths. You're Eddie Lawson, right?'

Brown eyes.

Auburn hair.

Why did she look so much like Rachel?

Realistically, she probably didn't - it had become a habit of Eddie's to think about Rachel in any given situation. The only similarity between the two women was in fact the brown eyes and auburn hair.

'Yes, good to meet you,' he stretched a hand out to hers and almost cringed at how happy she looked. Eddie doubted that he would ever be that joyful again. The unwanted handshake with Sophie took him back to the day he met Rachel. Two years ago. Nothing could compare to the spark he felt when they touched for the first time.

Rhia has spoken really highly of you. I'm glad to have you as my deputy.

He had to snap out of it. There was no way he could make a half decent impression in his current state. Like he had thought, this wasn't going to be easy at all.