Wow, I didn't expect to get so many reviews or views of this story so thanks to everyone who's reading and I hope you enjoy

A week had passed since the first time and Leo's arms were now littered with numerous cuts going along all along his arms. Some were deeper than others, while others where simply shallow. But Leo felt more relief than he had in months. Even Vaughan and Justin had noticed and had finally stopped harassing him with questions about how he was feeling. It was strange really and Leo couldn't understand why he hadn't thought of doing this before. It would have stopped all the emotions at his parents break-up boiling inside of him. He felt sort of empty now, not that it was a bad thing.

He was just about to put the blade to his wrist again when he heard a noise outside of the room. Leo only just had enough time to roll down the sleeves of his shirt and hide the razor in his jacket pocket when Floyd pushed the door open.

"Sorry, have you seen my tie?" Leo shrugged in answer. "You getting a lift today."

"Walking." Leo replied. He'd been walking more often than not for the last few days, preferring the solitude than being cramped in the small car.

"Okay, I'll tell Mum." Floyd frowned at Leo for a second as if he was debating on whether to say something or not but he must have thought better as he left the room. Leo sighed in relief.

Taking the blade out of the draw, Leo slowly drew the steel across his arm. Once the blood had more or less stopped, Leo grabbed his coat, bag and left the house without so much as a goodbye to the others inside.

…..

They'd all noticed it. Over the last week Leo had withdrawn into himself more and more. He didn't seem to want to talk to them or even do anything with them. The younger Fitzgerald had started taking his meals in his rooms but Floyd was almost certain he wasn't eating them. On the one occasion Vaughan had forced Leo to eat with them, he'd only picked at the food until his Dad finally said he could leave.

Floyd was finding it a little worrying and he knew he wasn't the only one. Justin and Vaughan had been hovering over Leo, only pulling back slightly when it was obvious Leo wasn't going to say anything to them. Floyd wanted to say something to them about not forcing Leo to talk about what was wrong but he didn't think it was his place. His Mum and Tiffany where also thinking the same thing but none of them dared say anything to Justin and Vaughan just brushed it off, saying everything was fine.

Except it wasn't. Leo had always been quiet around them but now they were lucky if the younger boy said 2 words to them in a day. Floyd had tried to talk to his Mum about it but she had just said it wasn't their business and they should leave Vaughan to deal with it. Though Floyd knew Allie was getting a little worried if the way she kept sending more and more food into Leo's room was anything to go by.

He hadn't really lost his tie that morning but Floyd had felt a strange urge to go and check on Leo so had used it as a pretence to do so. When he'd gone into the room he had caught a glimpse of something that had made him freeze. It looked like angry red lines criss-crossing across Leo's arms but as soon as he saw them Leo had pulled down his shirt and they were covered. Of course Floyd thought he was only seeing things because Leo wouldn't do something like that. Would he?

…

Justin was eating lunch alone today, like he had done nearly all week. For some reason Leo had been skipping lunches, choosing instead to disappear from Justin. Leo had told Justin that he was with friends something Justin might have believed if no for the fact his brother was a terrible liar. As it was Justin didn't know where Leo went or who he was with. The problem though was Leo had closed off, refusing to speak to him and Justin knew that pushing his younger brother further to talk about what was wrong would only make Leo clam up more.

"Can I sit?" Floyd asked, getting a customary glare from Justin. Usually he would say something to get rid of Floyd but at this moment his thoughts were turned to Leo. Anyway, he'd had to be more careful about his hate of Allie's family ever since his Dad had had that little talk with him. There was also the added bonus of Tiffany sitting with him at lunch as she was nearly always with Floyd.

Justin knew that Tiffany fancied him, thanks to reading her journal, and was actually enjoying the attention the younger girl gave him. The pleasure of Tiffany's' company was only increased by the fact that Justin was almost positive that if Allie found out about him and Tiffany 'close relationship' then the impending argument between her and his Dad could cause the to break up.

"I need to tell you something." Justin just glared at Floyd though he saw Tiffany's pleading look at the corner of his eye. "I'm worried about Leo."

"Yeah right." Justin scoffed but Floyd just carried on.

"I think he's been hurting himself." This grabbed Justin's attention. Floyd was looking at Justin uncomfortably while Tiffany was sending him comforting looks.

Ignoring Tiffany, Justin asked: "What makes you say that?"

"I saw cuts on his arms this morning. I think you should talk to him."

Justin jumped to his feet in an instant. "My brother isn't hurting himself and you should stay out of our business. Both of you. Leo isn't like Mum." Justin found himself shouting at the other two before storming out of the cafeteria.

How could they think that Leo was hurting himself? Just because his and Leo's Mum was in a clinic for depression didn't give them the right to think that. To make something like that up. Leo would talk to Justin if something was wrong. He wouldn't hide something like this from him. Anyway, he was the messed up one, not Leo. Justin knew Leo had taken Dad's leaving and then Mum's going to that clinic hard but Leo wouldn't have hurt himself. There was no way.

Except there was a nagging feeling in the back of Justin's mind that maybe Floyd was right.

…..

Leo's day had gone from bad to worse. First he'd gotten next to no sleep the previous night, not an uncommon event but still annoying especially when he knew he had a test that day. Then when he'd finally gotten to school, after missing his bus so being forced to walk which almost got him late, he'd found out he'd left his English book and homework at home. This had resulted in him having to explain to Mrs Lowsley why he couldn't hand in his homework in front of the whole class. Then during the same science lesson he'd zoned out for a whole 10 minutes and when Mrs Lowsley had asked him to pay attention while doing the experiment he had promptly put the wrong amount of liquid into the container, causing the classroom to be gassed out with whatever gas they'd been making that day. This had resulted in him spending the rest of the morning in the cooler.

After that he'd been held up at lunch, thanks to Darren Hughes locking him in the bathroom stall just because Leo had, supposedly, walked in on something he shouldn't have seen. This had made him late for his test, resulting in Mrs Mulgrew sending him back to the cooler for the afternoon, but not before telling him he would have to stay behind that day to do the test. And then to top it all off, his Father had called into his office to 'discuss his behaviour'.

"He'll be with you in a second." Sonya told him as he walked awkwardly into the office. Leo nodded, smiling a little when the bubbly secretary offered him one of her biscuits. Sonya was one of the only people he liked in Waterloo Road as she seemed to be always happy and just all around nice to everyone, even him. It might have had something to do with the fact that Sonya had tried to make him feel better when his Mum left them with their Father.

Vaughan called Leo into his office 5 minutes later as Mrs Mulgrew was walking out. Leo felt himself grow redder, knowing exactly what the English Teacher would have been saying. "So, Mrs Mulgrew tells me you where late back from lunch. Is there a reason?" Leo just shook his head, knowing his Father wouldn't believe what had happened when no one else had. "And Mrs Lowsley also told me you weren't paying attention in Science and where messing around during an experiment." Leo just looked down at his feet. He hadn't meant to do any of that, he'd just been a little dazed today, that was all. "Leo, sit down."

Leo did so, still not meeting his Father's eyes. "We need to talk about what's going on." His Dad sat across from Leo as he said this. "I know something's been bothering you and I'm not the only one who's seen it."

"Nothing's wrong." Leo said but Vaughan just gave him a disbelieving look. Unbid, Leo started to tug at his shirt sleeves, his hands running over the multiple scars that had been only adding up since the beginning of the week.

"Leo, I can't help you if you won't talk to me. So please. I'm your Father and I only want to help." Leo could have said that his Father wouldn't have left them if he cared but instead he only nodded. Vaughan sighed in frustration, looking at his younger son which only made Leo feel even more uncomfortable. "You'll have to apologise to Mrs Lowsley and finish of Mrs Mulgrew's test tonight." Leo nodded again. "And I don't want a repeat of this behaviour, understand."

"Yes." Leo murmured. "Sorry."

"Okay, you can leave. And you'll spend the rest of the day in the cooler." Leo didn't say anything, just grabbed his bag and left the room. Tears were running down his cheeks but Leo pushed them back. He wouldn't cry. His Dad was right to punish him anyway. Leo shouldn't have let his attention wander, shouldn't have been late for that lesson. And he shouldn't have misbehaved like that because he knew his Dad would be disappointed with that behaviour.

Leo's finger scraped against one of the newer cuts. Running the nail back over the scab, Leo cringed a little at the pain as he re-opened the cut. By the time he got back to the cooler he felt more level-headed and a lot calmer that he had moments before.

That was a lot longer than originally planned but it sort of got away with me. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and please review :)