Thank you for the reviews.

Now as we enter this stage in the story, we sort of lose Tom's POV and pick up Philip's. Will be made clear as to why in a future chapter. But now as Eddie and Rachel are together, it makes more sense in my head... I don't know about you. Plus Philip has some major issues that needs to be talked out a bit... Maybe I just had a bit of fun trying to write things from his POV.

Set a couple of weeks after the last chapter.

Chapter Twenty Seven
Philip's Choice

"I'll see you later Philip," Rachel called after him as he walked off.

Philip knew that his behaviour towards Rachel was unacceptable. She could have quite easily thrown him out or tried to call his dad once it was clear that his mum wasn't coming back. But she continued to tell him that he was more than welcomed to live with her and she was trying her best to look after him. She could quite easily abandon him. Everyone else did eventually. She would as well.

He tried to stop himself thinking that but he knew it was going to happen. Even his own mother had given up on him this time around. His auntie would be the same in the end. See him for the waste of space that everyone else saw him as.

He didn't know whether it was better or worse that Eddie was trying to get involved as well. He suspected that he was doing it more for Rachel benefit than his but it was just another person that was going to disappear from his life at the same time as his auntie. It is why he never made any friends. He wasn't around long enough for anyone to care when he did leave.

He sighed as someone walked into and told him to look where he was going. He just had to accept the fact that he would never fit in anywhere and there was no point in trying. He was going to see out the rest of the academic year at Waterloo Road because he knew that he would be letting down Rachel if he didn't, then he would be out of there. To find the next place that he didn't fit into.

"On a free Tom?" Rachel asked as he came from the opposite direction down the corridor.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"I'm struggling a bit and I wondered how you coped with it." She said as they stopped in front of each other.

"Struggling with what?"

"Philip. I know it isn't the same as with Chlo and Mika but how did you cope?"

"Did I? I distinctly remember that one of them climbed up a tree and refused to get down. And I lost the other one."

"I don't think you lost Chlo."

"No, but I don't think her mother would have been overly impressed that she ran away. There isn't just one way Rachel. He will come to you and open up when he is ready. Although he is a teenage boy."

"That's what I worry about. Is he going to open up?"

"Rachel, you just need to be there for him."

"I know. And I am not trying to replace Melissa. I think he probably picks up on the fact that I am still bloody furious with her."

"And you have every right to be. It will get easier."

"Thanks, Tom." She said with a smile.

It didn't calm any of her fears over Philip and the more people told her to 'just be there for him', the more she wondered what she could do to show that. Not that she knew the perfect opportunity was just walking into her office and demanding to take his son out of the school.

"You are going to have to calm down," Eddie said as Rachel walked into her office after Joyce found her.

"I am taking my son out this school and away from my bitch of an ex-wife's sister."

"I would rather you didn't use that sort of language in my school." She said as she finally reached her desk to stand behind it.

The man scoffed. "Your school?"

"It is my name on the door."

"This isn't a school. It is an asylum for the badly behaved and criminals. Or at least criminals in the making. As I hear it, nothing good has come out of this school and never will. I am not allowing my son to be dragged down with the rest of them."

Rachel looked over at Eddie, hoping that this man has finished his rant.

"And your son's name?"

"Philip Ryan."

She blinked at him a couple of times. This was the brother-in-law that she had never met and the situation changed from a student being taken out of the school, something that she would try and not let happen, to something more personal.

"Maybe we should get Philip in here," Eddie said to break the silence.

"This isn't up for discussion."

"It is always up for discussion when someone plans to take a student out of my school and Philip is going to be 16 in a couple of weeks. Not only does he have his exams to think about but I think he deserves a say in what happens." She said.

"How the hell do you know it is Philip's birthday in a couple of weeks?"

"Because I am the sister."

Rachel didn't know how to take the silence as he looked at the nameplate on the door. She knew that he knew her as Amanda, bearing in mind that Philip was seven when she, somehow, managed to bump into Melissa and he wasn't about.

"So you're the whore."

Eddie, predictably, said hey as a warning but it wasn't that which worried her, nor the comment made. It was more the way that Philip was following Kim into her office, probably hearing what his dad had just said about her.

"This boy has just sexually assaulted one of our guests," Kim said.

Rachel knew that she probably should have told Kim that Philip was her nephew at the same time that Kim found out that she was dating Eddie but it didn't seem like the right time, and then she just forgot to do it. Not that this was better timing and before she could say anything, mainly just to calm Philip down, his dad just had to have his little say.

"This is the type of behaviour I don't want my son around."

"Tell me something. When was the last time you saw your son?"

"I… umm…"

"Exactly." Rachel said as she shared a look with Philip. "Now I would say that he must have been about five, maybe six max. Mainly because when I first met Philip, he was seven and I believe Melissa said that she had been in the area for about a year or so."

"What is your point?"

"My point is you wouldn't know your son even if he was standing right next to you."

She knew that Philip had caught on when he looked up at her and she was enjoying the horrified look on Philip's dad's face.

"In all honesty, Mr Ryan, as a headteacher, I wouldn't want to lose a student like Philip from this school. He is a hardworking student and is set to do well in his GCSEs and I believe that he could stay here for another two years to get his A-Levels, if that is what he wants. Even go to university if that is what he wants to.

"On the other hand, as his auntie, not only do I believe that I know him better as the man that he is turning into, I believe what would be in his best interests, at the moment, is a bit of stability. Just the pure fact that he has been pushed from pillar to post, moved around so much by his mother is just outrageous. He deserves the chance, as everyone else does, to complete a full school year in a school that, even I will admit, doesn't have the best reputation, but is a school built on so much more than league tables and exams. Philip knows he is always welcomed at mine and ultimately, the decision is his."

"Son…" He started as he turned to Philip.

"Son? What? You come back into my life after ten or so years and that's how you start off?" Philip said.

"Your mother…"

"So she decides to contact you out of the blue and you come rushing to pick me up."

"Why are you being like this?"

"Because you don't know me, Dad. Not only do you not know me, you have never been there for me. Eddie has done a better job in the last couple of weeks than you have ever done in 15 years. And I can only suspect that in the beginning, he was doing it for Rachel. But at least he does actual care, even if it is for her benefit."

"Meaning what?"

Rachel held her breath slightly. She felt like it would go in her favour.

"Meaning I am staying with Auntie Rachel and Eddie. And I don't want to hear whatever you are about to say. Whatever Mum said to about Rachel is totally wrong. If I remember correctly, you walked out on us."

"If I didn't, she would have ran away from you, leaving you with me. I didn't need the responsibility of you and now the bitch has realised it as well."

"Mr Ryan, I think you should leave immediately." Rachel said.

He looked between her and Eddie. "Don't worry, I am going. Stand your guard dog down."

Rachel waited for him to leave the whole of the office area before she said anything.

"I am so sorry Philip." She said.

"It's alright."

"No, that is not alright. Why don't you go to the cooler to calm down? Kim, talk me through what happened." She said as Eddie took Philip to the cooler.

She sighed before she knocked on the door and entered when Philip told her to. She closed the door behind her and leant against it, realising that it was probably the first time she had been in the room since he moved in.

"Are you here as Miss Mason or Rachel?" He asked as he turned to her.

"Both. So I will get the Miss Mason part over and done with. I'm disappointed in you, Philip. I… You know what people like Bolton are like. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be friends with him because I know that underneath, he is a good lad, but… I thought you would recognise when someone was trying to make… make you look like a fool."

"Or did you just hope that I knew how to treat women better?"

"That as well. Miss Mason part done."

"And the Rachel part?"

She smiled at him before sitting on his bed. "The Rachel part. The, more, Auntie Rachel part. I thought you were very brave today to say all those things to your dad."

"I could have said more."

"And I get how you are feeling." She paused. "I don't really like talking about my childhood but I related to everything that you said and I felt like I knew how you were feeling when he mentioned that it was either going to be him or Melissa to walk out on you. Your mum… she has always been used to getting her own way. Ever since she was a child. I was blamed for Dad walking out and… blamed for so much more. I know what it is like to feel like a burden."

"Everyone leaves me in the end."

"I thought that as well. It is why I never allowed anyone to get too close. But Eddie stopped that for me and I am going to stop that for you now. Philip, you aren't a burden to me. I am so grateful that you chose to stay here with me. We will get you back on track. We will get you the exams that you need. And I promise you, the only time you have to move out is when you want to move out. I mean it when I say that you are always welcomed here."

She watched the way that his mouth twitched. It was obvious that he wasn't used to this sort of love and it made her hate Melissa just a little more.

"Thanks, Rach."

"It's not a problem."

She knew it was only a start and the worst part was that she knew that he had a long way to go. She had already walked the path that he was starting. She just hoped that things would start to get better.