Thank you, everyone, for the reviews! :D
I vowed to myself that I WOULD update at least once during the holidays, so here it is! I found this really hard to write, I had written another version but it was far too angsty so I had to re-write it. This does contain some kind-of sensitive topics (like abuse and death)... just thought I should say! Hope you like it!
By the way, sorry for the massive lump of text in the middle, I couldn't separate it out :/

Tom's Point Of View

I gasp in shock. Stepfather? I didn't even know that she had a stepfather! From what I had gathered, Nicki had lost all contact with her family. But apparantly not...

"Okay, thank you..." The police officer writes this information down, and then realises that we're all listening, and that Nicki is reluctant to give information. He turns to us. "Would you mind waiting outside, please?"
"Of course." Michael says, and we follow him into Janeece's office. Sian and Michael sit down, and I lean against a filing cabinet, thinking things over. It happened so quickly and surprisingly, and I have no idea what the back story is... it's quite confusing, but hopefully Nicki will be able to talk to me about it later...

When the police are finally done questioning Nicki, and us as well, we are all allowed to go home. We walk quietly across the dark car park, muttering brief goodbyes to the others before getting into my car- I gave her a lift into school that morning, as usual.
"Do you want to go to my house, or yours?" I ask, looking across at Nicki. She's pale and withdrawn, obviously shocked by today's events, but she looks up briefly, barely making eye contact with me before letting her gaze shift away again.
"Your house." She mutters, looking down at her hands, which are clasped in her lap. She remains perfectly still for the whole journey, keeping a blank face, obviously trying to hide her feelings. It hurts me to see her so unhappy, and I would do anything to have a smile grace her beautiful features again, but there is nothing I can say to break the silence, everything I think of sounds wrong.

After what seems like hours but must have only been twenty minutes, we are stepping out of the car and into my quiet, empty house. It's Friday, and Josh is staying over at Finn's house, meaning that we have the house to ourselves, which is probably a good thing considering the circumstances. We both walk into the living room, maintaining the silence as we sink onto the sofa.
"Well, that was a surprise, I never thought I would see him again." Nicki manages to say at last, resting her head on her hands. I look at her questioningly, and she sees my look, sighing.
"I guess I should explain..." She says, sounding quite nervous. "I haven't really told this to anyone before, and... it's a story that I wish I haven't been reminded about, but I think you need to know. And now seems like a good time to tell you."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"No, I will..." She pauses, gathering her thoughts, before beginning.

"I lived in London with my parents, and my sister Imogen. She was three years younger than me, as sweet as pie and a complete girly girl. I was also relatively girly at the time, but not as much as her. She was the spitting image of Mum, with dark, wavy brown hair and hazel eyes; while I inherited Dad's looks. We were like a family out of a fairytale- we never argued with each other, everything went well. We always had nice things, we lived in a nice house... it was all perfect. Too perfect. Because then, it had to go wrong," Nicki pauses. "Very wrong. I was only eight years old but I remember it as clear as if it had been yesterday. I had noticed that there was something... different... about Dad, but I just thought he was ill. Then, I came home from school one day, and he and Mum were sitting on the sofa together. She didn't want him to tell us, but he said we had to know. He said... he said that he had cancer. He got treatment, and it worked for a while, but... one night, he collapsed, and the doctors told us it was terminal. A few months later, he died."

"Of course, that wasn't the end. We grieved, we mourned, but then we came to accept the fact that he wasn't coming back. We knew that he would want us to be happy and continue living our lives, so we did. Things went as close to normal as they would ever be. Mum even started dating, and then one day, she came home and said that she had met someone special. She soon introduced him to us. He was kind, funny, generous- or, at least, he pretended to be. Within a year, they had married. For a few months afterwards, he was nice, but then his bad side was revealed. Mum worked long hours in an office, and he would often look after Immy and I, as he was self-employed. One day, I came home from school alone, Immy was at a friend's house. He came up to me, and I could smell the beer on his breath. He said that he just wanted to 'play a game', and I was only ten and a half, I didn't know any better. He took off my jumper and he started lifting up my dress, his hands going everywhere. I realised that this wasn't a game, and I tried to get away, but he was much stronger than me. He pushed me up against a wall, he... did things to me, and then he left me in a quivering wreck on the floor. When Mum came home, he said that I was ill, and I didn't dare tell her what really happened. That was the first time of many. He would do it at least twice a week, and when I went to secondary school, he started picking me up in the car in order to do it more often. He also started hitting me if I was 'bad', and I was in constant fear of him hurting me. He was almost always drunk, but yet he kept up the nice-guy front the rest of the time. Soon, I wasn't enough for him, and he started on Immy." Nicki's eyes blazed with anger. "My poor little sister, she was only nine, and even more clueless than I had been! It hurt her so much that some days she could barely walk, but he still managed to keep the cotton wool over Mum's eyes. Until she came home from work early, and she walked in on them, it was obvious what he was doing. She was gobsmacked, that for almost two years, she hadn't seen what was happening to her daughters, right under her nose. She went so mad with guilt that she killed herself. And with her out of the picture, it was even easier for him to abuse us. I would anger him to try and protect Immy, but he would still do it to her. He was worse with me, because I was older. Once, he even brought some of his scummy friends around to join in- the height of fun for him. We were in hospital a few times, but he usually managed to think of an excuse. But there was one time when he couldn't think of an excuse. He had hurt me so badly that I was a bloody heap on the bathroom floor. He refused to call an ambulance, fearing that he'd get in trouble. He didn't care about me, and as far as he was concerned, I could die before he would tell anyone. Fortunately for me, Immy managed to call the ambulance. I was kept in hospital for a few weeks, and when I came out, he was in prison- he must have only been released in the past few years- and Immy had been taken to a foster home, in Wales, I think. Anyway, I haven't spoken to her since. I was given temporary accomodation with a family for the three years while I finished school, and then I decided to join the army, thinking that I may as well do something worthwhile in my life. Of course, I left the army at twenty-eight, after I had completed my service, and I trained to become a teacher. And now here I am."

She looks away from me, suddenly seeming very small and vulnerable. I had been rapt by her story, but now I come to the realisation that it wasn't just a tale. It was her life. I tentatively reach out to put my arm around her shaking shoulders, and she cuddles into my chest, tears soaking my shirt. I rock her gently, stroking her hair, and wiping a few tears of my own from my eyes. It's nice to have her so close to me, in my arms, and her sobs soon lessen and settle into a steady breathing pattern. My breathing slows too, and eventually, I fall asleep...

It's like, one in the morning, all I wanted to do was to finish this chapter and post it! Therefore, the end is a bit rubbish, but I couldn't think of a better way to end it even when I was well-rested and concentrating fully, so I had to leave it like that. Hope you enjoyed! It gets fluffier soon, don't worry :) And Waterloo Road is back in less than a week, wooh! :D