Summary: It is without a doubt that the Mitchell family are one of the most dysfunctional families this side of the Thames. While suffering through a turbulent childhood, Sophie finds it difficult to find her place in a family of hard men, criminals, matriarchs and the like. Being sixteen is difficult, but being a Mitchell is harder, and Sophie Mitchell is in for a lot more trouble than what she has already faced.
Disclaimer: I do not own Eastenders.
Chapter One
Always bright as a button, Sophie Mitchell bounced down the stairs as she ran her fingers through her long blonde hair, fanning it out. At this time of the morning she would usually be getting ready to head out to school, but seeing as it was Easter holidays she didn't have to go. However, her teachers had assigned her a mountainous amount of homework for the two weeks, so Sophie and her best mate, Bex, were going to the library for a few hours this morning to try and work through it. Walking into the kitchen, she was met by her stepmother, Sharon, whizzing around.
"Isn't it nice that one of you actually gets up when you're on school holidays," Sharon addressed her, giving reference to her son, Dennis, who Sophie assumed was still in bed and would stay there until noon.
"That's just because I'm a good girl, Sharon," Sophie smiled, popping a few pieces of bread into the toaster. Despite everything going on around them with her dad drinking again, him and Sharon splitting up, Ben and Abi's "little problem" as Sophie called it, the past few days had actually been relatively quiet and she was enjoying it.
"How is your homework coming along?" Sharon asked in an informative tone. Sophie has not remained silent on her dislike of the amount of homework she had been assigned. Sharon had heard the full brunt of Sophie's ranting. To Sophie, Sharon was basically her mum. She could talk to her about anything and everything. Although Sophie was hostile to Sharon at the start, she soon warmed to her and the two became very close. At the time, Sharon was the mum Sophie never had. It wasn't until she found out that her mum was still alive and came back into her life that things got more complicated. Kathy had been absent from Sophie's life since she was five years old, while Sharon had been there while all the horrible stuff happened in the past few years. While Sophie was still warming to having Kathy back, she treated Sharon as more of a mum than her own.
"Alright," Sophie said, turning around and putting her hands on the kitchen counter. "Bex and I are going to the library to try and get through some this morning."
"That's good," Sharon said, still whizzing around the kitchen doing last minute jobs before she left for the morning. "You know if you work hard this year, it's only going..."
"It's only going to pay off for me next year," Sophie finished her sentence. "I know, I know." Sophie was in Year Ten and would be sitting her GCSE's next June. Sophie was determined to do well and had, so far, being achieving high grades in school, despite her circumstances.
"At a girl," Sharon smiled. "Alright, I need to go out for a few hours. Ben already said he'd come by and make sure Denny's alright in an hour or two."
"I can make him lunch," Sophie offered. "You know, when Bex and I decide to leave."
"That would be perfect," Sharon said, opening the kitchen door. "Thanks Sophie."
"Anytime," Sophie smiled, hearing the toast pop behind her.
After writing Dennis a note to say to text her if he needed anything, Sophie grabbed her schoolbag and made a swift exit, locking the door behind her. Coming out her gate, she was met almost immediately by her best friend, Bex. Since Bex had moved back to Walford with her mum a few years ago, her and Sophie had almost been inseparable. Living practically next door to each other, the girls saw each other every day and are even making plans to celebrate their 16th birthday together - their birthdays falling just over a week apart.
"Alright," Sophie greeted her friend, adjusting her backpack comfortably on her shoulders. "How's Stacey and the baby?"
"Yeah they're fine," Bex replied. "Stace seems loads better and Arthur's gotten so big."
"That's brilliant, Bex," Sophie smiled.
"Have you spoken to your dad yet?" her friend asked her as they rounded Albert Square and came to the neck of Bridge Street. Things had been tough in the Mitchell house since New Years. Her dad and Sharon had split up after a car accident and her dad's drinking and behaviour had been getting continuously worse. Sophie had tried to help him - if he didn't stop drinking, he would be dead by Christmas according to the doctors - but it had fallen on deaf ears. Sophie was beginning to accept that he didn't want to be helped and she wasn't going to get herself hurt again by trying to help a lost cause. Even if it was her dad.
"Nope," Sophie said as the pair of teenagers walked up Bridge Street. By chance, not too far in front of her was her dad. Phil Mitchell was obviously arguing with Ben over something and as they drew closer, their voices became clearer. "But it looks like I'm going to now."
"What so I watch them while you get tanked up?" Ben reprimanded, pointing at their cousin Billy's kids, Janet and William. Sophie thought Billy must have been bonkers to leave them with her dad for the day. "Nah, I'll tell you what, Dad. Why don't you go buy yourself a big bottle of vodka? And another; And then another; And you drink yourself to death and when I have my kid, I won't even tell him who you were."
"Ben," Sophie butted in as she drew closer. The two fifteen year old's stopped in front of Sophie's family. "Bex, you head on, I'll be there in a few."
"Alright," Bex nodded and quickly scuffled past the Mitchell's.
"What's going on?" Sophie asked, looking between her dad and older brother.
"We're going to an Easter egg hunt," Phil told her, looking down at the two younger Mitchell's. "Me, William and Janet. If you want to join us?"
"I'm going to the library with Bex," Sophie told him in a flat tone. "We've got work for the holidays we need to get done."
"Okay then," Phil nodded. Sophie stood with her hands in her pockets, looking between her dad and Ben in an awkward silence.
"Ben," Sophie gestured for him to follow her and she moved away from the scene. Walking further down Bridge Street and out of ear range of her father, Sophie turned to her brother. "What do you think you're playing at?"
"Billy's an idiot leaving his kids with him," Ben said, walking along side his younger sister. "He's only going to go looking for a drink at first opportunity."
"Then let him," Sophie scoffed. "He's dying, Ben, and just 'cause he doesn't want any help from us, doesn't mean we can be that cruel. He's still our dad."
"No, that is not our dad, Soph," Ben said, stopping and turning to face her. When Sophie didn't, Ben grabbed her arm gently to stop her from getting too far ahead. "You can live in whatever fairy tale you want, but as far as I'm concerned, Phil Mitchell is as good as dead to me." Before Sophie could say anything back, Ben stalked on off in the opposite direction that Sophie needed to travel in. Not up for a fight with her brother at this hour of the day, Sophie turned on her heels and made her way to Walford Community Library.
After her run with with her brother and dad earlier in the morning, Sophie found it difficult to concentrate. She got hardly any work done in comparison to Bex, who seemed to be flying through her coursework. It came to lunchtime and the pair soon decided to leave the library - Sophie from lack of motivation to do anything and Bex because she promised to go to the Easter egg hunt with her dad, Stacey, Lily and Arthur. As Bex continued on to her dad's flat, Sophie took out her phone and played the video clip she had watched over and over again. Sophie couldn't believe it when she began overhearing Abi talking to one of the locals, Babe Smith, about her pregnancy and how she had been faking it in order to keep Ben in their relationship. Sophie wasn't too pleased at the idea of having a niece or nephew, mainly because she never tolerated Abi. When Abi and Babe began to plot further about keeping the lie going, Sophie began to record it. After a few weeks of deliberating what do with her evidence, she finally had an idea.
Sophie entered the Queen Vic pub and made a bee-line straight for the kitchens. Sophie would be lying if the premises still didn't give her an uneasy feeling, but it was bearable. It was understandable she felt that way, she nearly died in a fire that engulfed the building when she was ten. Coming closer to the entrance of the kitchen, she could hear Babe and Abi talking.
"What am I going to do?" Abi said in a panicked tone. "He wants a scan." Sophie poised herself by the door to listen further while remaining out of sight. "And if he doesn't want a scan, he'll want something else. Then he'll find out that I've been lying and then he'll leave me. He's only with me because he thinks that I'm pregnant." Sophie had to hold herself back from peering in when silence echoed from the doorway. "I love him so much." Sophie rolled her eyes and knocked on the counter.
"Alright," Sophie greeted them with smile, noticing that she had startled them immensely.
"What do you want?" Babe questioned with an unloving expression.
"I was wondering if I could borrow Abi for a second?" Sophie questioned, narrowing her eyes at her brothers girlfriend. Sophie's distaste for her was reciprocated. "There's something I need to talk to her about." Taking off her apron in silence, Abi emerged from the Queen Vic kitchen.
"What?" Abi asked, looking at Sophie with irritation in her eyes. Although Sophie never got up to much trouble, she always loved winding Abi up. Even when she was going out with Jay, Abi and Sophie couldn't stand each other.
"Not here," Sophie lead the way towards the Vic bathrooms with Abi following her lead.
"Look whatever it is, Sophie, can you get it over with quickly," Abi said, crossing her arms over her midriff. "I need to get back to work."
"How long did you think you could keep it up for?" Sophie asked, passing her phone between her hands.
"Keep what up for?" Abi queried back, a nervous tone emerging in her voice.
"Don't act dumb, Abi," Sophie said, taking a step closer. "Because both of us know you're not pregnant." Abi stood in silence looking at her boyfriends sister. "What were you going to do? Wear a fake belly whenever Ben realises that you weren't getting any bigger? Or when it's time to have the kid? Were you just going to go down to park and steal the first one you see?"
"How long have you known?" Abi's face was was devoid of emotion.
"Few weeks," Sophie said. "I heard you and Babe talking one day. I've just been trying to decide what to do."
"Who have you told?" Abi questioned.
"No one."
"There's a surprise."
"But I could," Sophie narrowed her eyes crossing her arms over her chest. "I wonder Ben would stick around once he knew the truth?"
"Like he'd believe you over me?" Abi posed confidently to the fifteen year old in front of her.
"We may fight, Abi, but he's still my brother," Sophie stated. "Telling him and getting him excited about being a dad when none of it is true is cruel. Besides, I have proof."
"Yeah, right," Abi scoffed. Sophie unlocked her phone and began playing the video already open.
"As long as he still thinks you're pregnant, you're made up," the voice of Babe Smith echoed through the pub toilets. "There is nothing to worry about." The colour drained from Abi's face in shock and a small smirk curled from Sophie's mouth.
"He's going to notice sooner or later that there is no baby and that there never was one," Sophie cut off Abi's voice and locked her phone again.
"If I were you Abi, I wouldn't want this falling into the wrong hands," Sophie told her. Abi had evolved from shock to anger quickly.
"I'm not going to be threatened a kid," Abi spat. "You're only bluffing anyway. You'd never send it. You wouldn't ruin his life."
"You really think I wouldn't?" Sophie questioned, taking a step closer to the older girl. "You're right though. Ben would shoot the messenger and he'd be mad a me for a while. But you, you'd be out on your ear and I'll still be where I've always been, because after all these years, despite everything that's happened, we still look out for each other. We're family." Abi was frozen still, no muscle moving on her face. "I'd like to see you try to worm your way out of this one." Sophie took a step to the side of Abi to make an exit, but Abi stopped her.
"Please don't," Abi requested, turning on her heels.
"Don't beg, Abi," Sophie rolled her eyes at her. "Tell him the truth before I have to do it." Quickly, Sophie moved out the door of the Queen Vic toilets and made her way around the bar. Before she even realised, she was met by a panicked Billy and Honey Mitchell.
"Has anyone seen our little girl?" Honey was asking around the patrons at the bar.
"What's going on?" Sophie asked her cousin as she got closer.
"Phil's lost Janet," Sophie sighed heavily at what Billy just told her. "Have you seen her?"
"No, not since this morning," replied Sophie, moving herself towards the door of the Vic. "But I'll help look for her now. She can't have gone far."
"Thanks Soph," Honey remarked as Sophie exited the bar.
Moving around the square as quick as she could, Sophie kept her eyes peeled for her little cousin. Sophie knew it was a bad decision to leave Janet and William with her dad given his current state, but she never thought in a million years that one of them would end up missing.
"Janet?" Sophie called out, hoping she would pop out from somewhere. Sophie checked all the nooks and crannies of the playground. "Janet? Are you in here?" Sophie called as she moved towards the open door of the Arches mechanics. Sophie stopped in her tracks when the only thing she saw was her dad sitting at the desk with a bottle of vodka in front of him. "You have got to be kidding me?"
"Don't you start and all," Phil warned his daughter.
"Are you thick?" Sophie questioned. "Why would you get drunk while you're supposed to be looking after children?"
"I wasn't drunk," Phil replied, not even looking at Sophie.
"Because you look so sober now?" silence fell in the garage. "Dad, we're not telling you to stop drinking for the fun of it. Its because things like this keep happening. You keep hurting more and more people and pushing them out of your life. You've done it to Sharon, to Ben and I won't be surprised if there goes Billy too. You can't blame them for your mistakes."
"Why are you still here then?" Phil asked. "If I'm such a disaster?"
"I have one foot out that door already, but I want to help you. You're my dad. It's just going in one ear and out the other with you and I'm almost ready to walk out," Sophie continued to rant. "Dad, it's killing you. Not only will you have no one left if you keep drinking, you're going to die. Do you really want to drink yourself into an early grave with nothing left but his empty bottles of vodka?" Phil stayed silent, not even looking up at his fifteen year old daughter. Instead, Sophie just scoffed and left him to his own devices. While moving through the playground back towards the square, Sophie felt her phone buzz in her pocket.
From: Honey
Janet found in the Vic xx
Quickly, Sophie made her way to the pub. The first scene she spotted was Billy and Janet fawning over their daughter; the second was her brother at the bar.
"It's all happy families again, is it?" Sophie asked, perching her arms on the side of bar beside Ben.
"Looks that way," he replied, taking a drink of his beer.
"Oh hi Sophie," Tina asked, moving around the bar. "Would you like anything?"
"Just an orange juice please," Sophie ordered, watching the scene in front of her.
"Here you go, that's-" Tina began, her eyes wandering to something behind Sophie. "Phil."
"What?" her dad's voice sounded form behind her. Sophie didn't turn to face him and, instead, took a drink of her juice.
"We trusted you," Honey spat with anger in her voice, as Phil stepped towards them with Sophie and Ben watching the scene.
"Janet," he slurred.
"Don't you dare come near us," Honey warned.
"This is like watching something from Corrie," Sophie whispered to Ben, taking another drink of her orange juice.
"You do not come near my children again," Honey said, stalking off out of the pub with her young daughter.
"The girl's alright," Phil pointed out. "She's alright."
"You're out of the flat. Today," Billy spoke forcefully.
"You running out of sofas?" Ben teased. Sophie looked at him from the side of her eye, noticing his girlfriend approaching them.
"Ben," she warned, resting a hand on his shoulder.
"I feel sorry for you," Sophie watched her dad slur at Abi. She began to feel a sense of sadness as her outburst probably prompted him to come over here. "And that kid you're carrying, because his dad's a joke."
"I'm the joke?" Ben asked, standing up to square up to their dad.
"Ben, leave it," Sophie warned him.
"And you," he pointed at Billy.
"Get out," Shirley's voice echoed from behind the bar.
"You hear her," Billy took a step closer to Phil. "Get out."
"Finally Billy, finally," Phil laughed as the Mitchell's grew closer around him.
"No one wants you here," Ben told him.
"Sophie," she watched her dad turn to look at her. "Sophie wants me here."
"Dad, leave," she annunciated, taking a shaky breath in after a few moments of silence.
"You heard her," Ben forced. "Your daughter ain't you around, so go."
"You want a row, eh?" Phil warned, turning to his son. "You want a row?"
"Go on, hit your own son, classy," said Ben, growing tired of his father. "If Gran could see you now, she'd be disgusted."
"Ben," Sophie cried out as her dad wrapping his hand around the back of his neck.
"Stop it," Abi called out, before getting into the crossfire of the argument that had ensued and was knocked forcefully to the ground. Ben called out for his girlfriend and moved to her.
"Ben, the baby," Abi spoke with a shaky voice. Sophie's eyes narrowed and scoffed at her as she played it up, taking another drink of her orange juice.
