(Poppy's POV)

Phil had seen reality and come back inside leaving his mum to go off alone...Mel's car keys had miraculously appeared and Finn had gone home and so had Lara. I actually couldn't believe that Rachel and Melissa came from the same genes. I was still angry but more upset than anything. I could try to put Em's stuff back but it wouldn't be the same...It wouldn't be exactly the way she left it.

Melissa had taken her clothes, I hadn't managed to destroy them all. That just left the broken glass...I sat on the ground, sweeping the carpet. The boxes still sat in the hallway, it wasn't fair... I focused on the brush, running it across the carpet but, I was in my own world. I heard someone say something vaguely but I assumed it was Rachel and Phillip taking...

"Poppy!" Rachel said louder

My eyes snapped up to her but, I continued to brush the carpet.

"Are you alright?" She asked, she sounded as if she was repeating herself

"Yeah..." I mumbled

"Really? Because you've been brushing the same spot for about 15 minutes..." Rachel said coming closer and sitting on the edge of Em's bed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I was thinking about how its like Em never existed then I realised I'm living with strangers...I don't know you" I said

"That's not true" Rachel argued

"Isn't it?...What do I know about you? Your name is Rachel Mason, you're a headteacher at Waterloo road and you have a thing for sorting out troubled kids. That's it"

"Fair enough...But I know you" She said

"What's my middle name?" I asked

"Holly"

I shook my head. "It's Hollister, my birth mum thought it would sound cool...Like designer or something. Like how celebs sometimes name their kids after cities or fruits. I just shorten it to Holli so it doesn't sound weird..."

"You're right I didn't know that... So tell me?" She said

"What?" I asked a little shocked by her response

She moved down onto the floor, sitting beside me on the patch of carpet I'd cleared and took my hand squeezing it gently.

"Tell me?" She repeated

"I was 4 when Em was born...My parents always went out and left me alone, I'd sit in my room and cry...Call out for my mum but no one ever came so I eventually gave up. They'd always come in drunk or high, I just stayed out of the way...Then after Em was born, dad had gone out. Mum had said she was going for a bath, but Em was crying and I didn't know what to do. I knocked on the bathroom door but no one answered, the lock was broken so I went in...She was just laid there on the floor, cold, pale...She still had the tie around her arm and the syringe was on the floor next to her. She wouldn't wake up...After that dad got drunk more and more, sometimes he didn't come back for days. I learnt how to look after Em, fed her, changed her, bathed her. I used to steal stuff, baby formula...Nappies. Dad hurt me, said if I wasn't good for him then he'd need Em instead. The same thing happened everyday until I was 13...One day dad didn't come back. There were all these bills and rent, I couldn't pay it...I started stealing more tried to sell the stuff on but no one wanted to buy stuff from a kid. I got into prostitution, I didn't care about me I just wanted Em to be safe. Then I found a job at the club, worked there for a year...I've done bad stuff" I said looking down at the ground, I couldn't bare to look at Rachel. I was scared about her reaction "Please don't hate me..."

"How could I hate you for something I've done myself?" Rachel said softly "My name wasn't always Rachel Mason...It was Amanda...Amanda Fenshaw. It was a very dark period of my life, I was a prostitute..."

"What happened?" I asked "How did you put it behind you?"

"I got arrested with a lot of others, I realised I couldn't carry on like that. So, I changed my name...Moved to Rochdale and never looked back. That's what you have to do" She said

"What change my name?" I questioned

"No" She smiled, slightly amused "Put the past behind you and look to the future...The best way to get revenge, is to use that brain of yours, get good grades...A good job and show Tom he didn't break you. The past is the past, no one can change it but you can change your future"