"Hey" said Carla the next morning when she saw Michelle. She'd never seen her looking so drawn and they hadn't spoken in over twenty-four hours. When Carla had gotten back to the wing yesterday she had rushed to Michelle's cell only to find Amy in residence and alone. She had told Carla how Michelle had been taken away for further questioning about her strange withdrawn behaviour.

She had been disappointed and spent all night fearing for Michelle's safety if Denzy thought she might have blabbed about how she came by her injuries.

"Hey" she replied sheepishly and bowed her head back down as she shuffled forward in the queue.

This morning serving breakfast it was not the usual two girls. It was a couple of girls that Carla had seen hanging around Jessica. They seemed to stick by her side no matter what and now seeing them serving food made her panic. She yanked Michelle out of the queue in fear of there being something in their portions of food and hauled her back to the cells. Lifeless and nonchalant Michelle followed Carla into her cell where she pulled her down to sit on the bottom bunk. At last they were alone and could talk but Michelle wasn't feeling overly chatty as Carla tried to push her for some information. Carla couldn't figure out why her best friend wouldn't open up to her so she tried a different tact.

"So Peter came to see me yesterday" she stated, fumbling with her fingers nervously in her lap as she paused for reaction from Michelle.

"I think I did something bad Carla" Michelle sadly mumbled eventually.

This was progressive and as much as Carla wanted to talk about Peter now that she had bought it back to the surface of her mind, she knew what Michelle had to say was more important. Pushing the thought aside she waited for Michelle to continue. As she looked up to see her she noted that Michelle was shaking, she seemed nervous and she was sniffling as if trying to stop herself crying. Reaching out she wrapped her hand over Michelle's and with the other she lifted her chin so she could see her. Her sympathetic smile was enough to set Michelle off in floods of tears as she thought how she was going to tell Carla what she had done. The danger she might have put them in, frightened her more than anything though. She had ignored Amy's warning and she was sure it wouldn't be long till Denzy got wind of it, if she hadn't already.

Gulping down the lump in her throat she forced herself to look Carla square in the eye and stopped her tears. She didn't know where to start with telling her that she had potentially landed them in danger. She had been pressed and pressed by the guards until they had managed to break her, the information flowed from her like water from a fountain and the instant she had disclosed the details of Denzy's attack she regretted it.

"I broke. I know Amy warned us Carla but..." she said, her voice wavering.

"You told?" quizzed Carla, suddenly feeling as panic-stricken as Michelle must have.

"I'm sorry Carla" she whimpered as she turned away. She felt ashamed and she had been weakened.

"Hey" comforted Carla as she wrapped her arms around Michelle again and clutched her to her bosom. It would all be ok if they just stuck together. "It's all going to be ok 'Chelle. She won't get us Come on we dealt with worse than this when we were kids on the estate" she reminded her.

When the girls had been younger, early teens they hadn't been best of friends but having grown up on the same estate and attending the same school they had come across many a girl like Denzy and even Jessica before. They had become sort of friends when one girl, Cheryl who was both their senior had taken it upon herself to attack Michelle for no reason one day as she had walked home. She had been most grateful when Carla had appeared and ended up fighting with Cheryl instead only to come off worse than she thought she would, but at least it had saved Michelle from taking a beating. Compared to some of the other girls that they had come across after that Carla figured Jessica and Denzy were no match.

"You know what we're gonna do 'Chelle. We are gonna rule this place. Think of it like the factory and that Denzy is no better than Beth!" Carla offered with a smirk as Michelle giggled.

"Yeah, you're right Carla. Let's do this" she exclaimed as she briskly wiped away her tears.

Determination was what they needed and to become a strong united front that other's inside feared to try and break through. Michelle needed to pull herself together and pick up her hard, bitchy attitude Carla knew she still had buried away inside. How hard could it really be to work your way up to Denzy's level? All you really needed to do was be a cold hearted bitch, with no feeling or emotions for those who you had no time or respect for and assert your authority where ever you could. They would need to drive fear into anyone who made an enemy out of them and that started with Jessica. She was an easier target and if they could crack her then they knew Denzy would be no challenge.

Getting up from the bed Carla reached out her hand to wrench Michelle up. Holding her hand she gave it a squeeze and told her to get changed into something a bit less frumpy. Michelle hurried to and then Carla helped her cover up every bruise with inches of make up. They were ready to face the world so to speak. With linked arms they confidently left the cell and wandered out to where everyone else was hanging around at tables or playing pool at the far end of the wing. Things were going well until they were suddenly shadowed and Denzy appeared in front of them. She made a grab for Michelle, knocking their arms apart and threw her into the door frame. Carla frantically tired to pull her off until Jessica grabbed her and restrained her with the help of her two best friends.

"Get off me...Get off me" screamed Carla as she fought against them. Alerting more attention even though she knew it wasn't a wise move.

Denzy got up close in Michelle's face and held her firmly back with one arm pinned across her chest. She was snarling and had a murderous glint in her eye. They twinkled with delight in a way that knocked all the confidence Carla had spent the morning building back up out of Michelle. She whimpered as Denzy pushed her face into Michelle's and with her other hand grabbed it firmly, squeezing her cheeks in painfully.

"You're a snitch. We don't like snitches. You will pay for this you bitch. I mean it I will get you" hissed Denzy before letting Michelle go.

"Come on girls" she said turning to her little gang but they didn't let Carla go. The dragged her away with them, even though she screamed and tried to fight but Michelle felt cowardly. She watched with tears in her eyes as Carla was hauled up to the top floor and winced when she saw her shoved into Denzy's cell and heard the door slam as Jessica and the rest of them came back down. Scared she darted back inside her own cell and cowered in the corner of her bed where she sat trembling in fear they were coming after her.