'Morning, Janeece,' said Karen, cheerily, sweeping into her office.7

'Morning, Miss Fisher,' said Janeece, peering over Karen's shoulder.

Karen laughed, realising what Janeece was wondering.

'Yes, Bex is coming to Waterloo Road. She's walking with Jess because they didn't want to come in this early!'

'OK, I'm glad, Miss. Education is very important, you know.'

'I know, Janeece,' smiled Karen, her eyes twinkling. Her whole face was glowing, and she was a changed woman from the worried, slightly wrinkled lady who had been running the school the day before.

Chris followed Karen into her office, shortly followed by Tom Clarkson.

'OK, well there's a few things we need to discuss,' said Karen. 'But the biggest thing is my daughter, Bex. She's starting Waterloo Road today, and she should be in year thirteen. But the thing is, she doesn't have any GCSEs, never mind AS Levels. But was in school for most of years ten and eleven, so I was thinking, with a bit of extra work, she could sit her GCSEs at the end of this year? Wha do you think?'

'I think it sounds fine,' said Tom. 'But won't it be a bit humiliating for her, being in classes with year elevens?'

'Yeah,' said Karen thoughtfully. 'But I don't really know what else to do.'

'Well there's always the year twelve re-sit group, you know, the ones who didn't get the GCSEs they needed the first time round. She'd be in my form the, so I could keep an eye on her, and looking at her predicted grades, she's very bright so she'd be able to catch up pretty quickly.' Tom flicked through the pages of Bex's file.

'That sounds brilliant, Tom, thanks,' said Karen, smiling broadly. 'Chris, do you think that sounds OK? Chris?'

'Oh, yeah, sorry,' said Chris. 'I was miles away! Yeah that sounds great! But won't it be difficult seeing as most of the kids on the re-sit group aren't going to achieve above a C, and Bex is predicted As and Bs?'

'She could always do some after-school lessons to do the extra stuff,' said Tom. 'I'd be happy to give her some help with English.'

'Thanks, Tom, that's great,' said Karen. 'And Chris, would you be able to tutor her in science? It would be paid, of course.'

'Er, I don't know,' said Chris, looking worried. 'I'm really busy at the moment…'

'Please, Chris, you'd be doing me a massive personal favour,' said Karen. 'I promise the pay will be good, and you can have first dibs on the top sets next year.'

'OK,' said Chris, defeated. How was he going to manage one-to-one lessons with Bex?

There was a knock at the door.

'Come in,' said Karen. 'Ah, Bex, take a seat.'

Karen explained what they thought she should do to catch up on her GCSE work. Bex thought it sounded great, until she got to the part about one-to-one tuition with Chris.

'No Mum, it's fine, I'm good at science. I don't need extra help.'

'Well, Bex, you're grades from year eleven suggest otherwise. You got two Fs and a G on you mocks.'

Bex sighed. 'But Mr Mead's the deputy, won't he be busy enough?'

'No, he's very kindly agreed to do it. Now don't be ungrateful.'

Bex avoided eye contact with Chris. 'OK,' she muttered.

'Great, that's sorted then,' smiled Karen. 'Mr Clarkson will show you where your form room is, you're in Jess' form since you're doing lessons with the year twelves.'

'Great,' said Bex sarcastically, but secretly she was glad to have her sister there as support.

'See you later, honey. Love you.'

'See you, Mum. Love you too.'

Hearing those words after all this time still brought tears to Karen's eyes.

'Hey, are you OK?' asked Chris, concerned. 'Do you need a tissue?'

'No, thanks, I'm fine,' said Karen, wiping her eyes with her hand. 'Sorry, it's just a lot to get used to, having Bex around again. Sorry.'

'It'll be OK in the end, I promise,' said Chris, rubbing her shoulder. 'How's she doing?'

'I don't know,' Karen admitted. 'She spent most of last night in her room, alone, and I heard her crying in the night, but I guess that's normal at first. I've arranged for a counsellor to come and see her tomorrow as well, but I don't really know what else to do.'

'Just give her time, I suppose,' said Chris. 'It's a lot to get used to for her as well. But she'll bounce back, she always does.'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, I mean, after everything she's been through,' said Chris quickly.

'Well thanks for putting up with a weepy old lady,' smiled Karen. 'I'll let you go and do something useful now.'

Chris laughed. 'Year nines, can't wait! See you Karen, and remember, I'm always here if you need anything, yeah?'

The day passed pretty uneventfully. Bex had lunch with Jess and Vicki, and they talked about normal girly stuff. Bex was glad to see that Jess was getting over Chris – she seemed to be checking a tall, good-looking boy called Jonah out!

Bex waited with dread for the bell at the end of the day, when she knew she had her first catch-up session with Chris. For everyone else in the school, the day seemed to drag on forever, but for her the bell rang far too soon. She delayed for as long as possible, going to the toilets wit Jess and Vicki to reapply her makeup and have another gossip. Finally, she couldn't delay any longer and made her way slowly to the science lab.

'Hi, Chr– Mr Mead.'

'Hi, Bex. Erm, take a seat. We'll be doing the periodic table today.'

'Chris, we need to talk.'

'So, the elements. How much do you know about them already?'

'I need to talk to you. Please.'

'OK. You're right, we do.'