Simon was on his way home from school, it was only Tuesday afternoon but he was already fed up and couldn't wait for Saturday. He was frowning as he turned the corner on to the street where he lived. He was so busy thinking about what he was going to tell his Mum, when he bumped into right into someone who was walking the opposite way to him. It was Carla she was dressed all in black, in fact the only colour on her body, if you didn't include her hair and eyes was her red shiny nail polish.

"Eh watch it you" She said smiling down at him

"Sorry" Simon said still frowning, Carla read his expression

"What's up Si?" She asked him as they stood outside Audrey's hair salon, he shuffled on his feet with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Nothing" he lied because he didn't want to bother Carla with his silly problems especially as she looked as if she was on her way to work or something else important like that.

"Well it's not nothing is it? You got a right face on." Carla said as she began taking him by the shoulders and walking him over to the bench "Sit" she said sitting down on the bench herself, Simon took off his back pack and slumped down next to her. She expected him to talk first but when he didn't she rolled her eyes

"Come on then, coz I ain't got all night" Carla said sighing.

"I've got detention," he mumbled

"A detention… is that it?" Carla asked hoping that was all that was wrong and that there was nothing too serious causing Simon's bad mood.

"Me Mum's gonna kill me" He said, Carla shook her head

"I doubt it, I mean is it your first one since you started?" Simon nodded at her

"Yes"

"Right, well I'm sure she won't mind besides I doubt she was an angel whilst she were at school" Carla smirked because she'd heard plenty of stories about teenage Leanne and they were not pretty ones. "When is it?"

"For an hour after school on Friday" he groaned

"An hour? Carla asked wondering what Simon could have possibly done. He looked down at his feet ashamed "What on earth did ya do?"

"There's this boy in my P.E class and he was just saying some stupid stuff about me Dad, that's all" Carla looked confused

"How does this kid even know your Dad?" She asked, Simon rolled his eyes

"He went to my primary school," He said

"It's not that Graham kid that you had trouble with before is it?" Carla asked remembering how Simon had never got along with this particular boy whilst he was at primary school.

"Yep" Simon nodded

"Well what did he say?"

"He was just saying that my Dad's nothing but a useless drunk who's always in and out of prison"

"Well that's just ridiculous, I mean did you tell him your Dad's sober now and anyways both times he were in prison he were wrongly accused" Simon pulled at face at Carla and she had to admit that probably wouldn't have helped the situation at all.

"I just told him to shut up and he wouldn't" Simon said

"What did you do to him Si?" Carla asked deciding to cut to the chase

"I might have said something to about his Mum" Carla laughed a little but then Simon continued "And then when he still didn't stop… I might have hit him" She stopped laughing, stunned.

"Simon?" She said still so shocked because he wasn't usually the violent type, Simon looked at her

"I didn't mean to, I just got so angry." He said remorsefully, Carla nodded at him and sighed

"I understand Simon" She said sympathetically, although she couldn't help but think he had inherited that little trait from his father. Peter was often known for lashing out at others when he was angry, especially if they had hurt someone he loved "Did you explain to your teacher that this kid was aggravating you?" Carla asked him.

"Yeah I did but he said it's no excuse for violence" Simon said "What do you think me Mum's gonna say?" he asked, Carla was finding it hard to imagine Leanne taking the news of Simon punching someone lightly.

"Well… I reckon she'll be rather peeved about the punching part but if you explain it all to her properly and tell her how this boy has made you feel, I'm sure she'll understand" Simon nodded at Carla, already feeling a little better about the situation.

"So… other than that, how was school today?" she asked trying to change the subject a little

"Yeah, It was okay. I got so much homework though, English, Maths and R.E" he said "Plus I got French homework yesterday and I haven't even started that yet, it's due on Thursday and"

"You'd rather being playing the X box or something right" Carla said cutting him off

"No" he said looking down at his shoes Carla raised her eyebrows at him "I know this sounds silly but I'm still getting used to all this work and I don't want to get behind" he said

"It's not silly at all mate, I mean I think it's good that you care about it so much" Carla said he looked up at her

"What were you like in school?" he asked

"Me? I were a right goody goody" she lied looking straight ahead trying not to grin, Simon looked back at her unconvinced

"Don't believe that for one second" He said shaking his head and smiling, she laughed and turned to face him

"Okay. Honestly Si, when I were in school... I spent way too much time messing around with Michelle and her brothers" She said grinning

"You've been friends for that long?" he said admiringly Carla nodded at him

"Lucky for teachers we weren't in the same class or anything, just used to hang around together in the playground and after school, I don't think I did a stitch of homework an hour before it were due, Not until I were about fifteen that is."

"You've done alright for your self though" Simon said "You've got your own business" he looked rather impressed which made Carla frown, She shook her head at him

"Don't be fooled Simon, That factory kind of fell in to me hands" She said not wanting him to think that he could mess around in school and still be successful just because she did

"You're good at your job though right, Didn't you win that award?" he said remembering how she had been on her way to collect an award for being such a good business woman before there was that big bus crash.

"I am the best at my job." Carla said nodding proudly "But let me tell you it all came from a LOT of hard work and all that messing around in school got me were a lot of detentions and a bunch of letters sent home" She said

"What did your Mum say?" Simon asked her, Carla shrugged

"Oh She didn't care, She were too busy drinking or takin drugs to worry about what I was doing" She said. Simon watched her he was more than a little shocked to hear her talk about her mother like that, She'd never really talked about her childhood especially to him, Simon realised he didn't really know that much about Carla at all.

"What about your Dad?" He asked her, She shook her head at him

"He weren't around much and me Stepdad couldn't be all that bothered either to be honest with you." Carla sighed, "You should hear some of the stuff the kids at school used to say about my parents." She said,

"And what did you do about it?" He asked watching her. Carla raised an eyebrow

"Well let's just say I've had a fair few scraps in my time and most of em were in the school playground" She wishing she could be a better role model for Simon, He was staring at her and hanging on to her every word and there she was talking about how many fights she had at school. "Now I'm not making excuses for myself Simon but I think the way I acted during school was because of me home life… It weren't too great if I'm honest" She started, Simon listened intently

"You see the thing is Si, when there is no one at home who believes in ya, When there is no one pushing ya to do well, you end up thinking why bother? So I didn't bother with any of it." Simon nodded at Carla

"Wow" he said softly, trying to imagine what it must have been like for Carla growing up in a household like that.

"Anyways there was this one day in my last year at school, I stopped and I said to myself, I can be better and I can do better." Carla sighed a little and as Simon continued to look intrigued she continued "I did not want to end up like my mother so from that moment on I made sure I did the very best that I could." She could tell Simon was a little shocked to hear all this about her childhood. He was always too young to know what it was like for her growing up and she still wasn't sure he was old enough to hear it now, She decided to wrap things up a little.

"Anyways Si, me point is that with a Mum like yours, you'll never feel the way I did. She'll always be proud of you no matter what you do" Carla said, Simon nodded at her in agreement as Leanne was always saying that he could be anything he wanted and all that mattered to her was that he was happy.

"Trust me. We used to be very good mates and you do not want her your case, so you just make sure you always pay attention and do your homework okay" Carla added firmly, making Simon smile at her again, He decided to find out some more about Carla because she was beginning to fascinate him.

"I've never heard you talk about your Mum before… Where is she?" he asked awkwardly

"She's dead Si" Carla said and she was the one looking down at her feet this time

"I'm sorry" Simon said, He hadn't been expecting that answer from her, She sighed deeply making him feel incredibly guilty for being so nosy.

"It's not your fault Si, You didn't know did ya?" He shook his head feeling foolish for asking such an awkward question. "I don't mind talking about it… with you I mean we've both been through it aven't we" Simon was quiet for a moment and then he asked

"When did she die?" he was watching her to see if he was making her more upset or not, he wasn't intending to be so intrusive it was just that he felt like he needed to hear more and she did say she didn't mind talking about it with him. Carla was staring into the space ahead of her and then she looked down again biting her lip. Simon decided that he was obviously pushing it a little "Sorry Carla, me Mum says I don't know when to keep it shut." He said regretfully

"No it's fine Si, I said I didn't mind didn't I?" Carla said "It were four years ago last week." She'd gone over to the grave on her own. She never ever visited her Mum's grave but she felt like she had to this year, especially since Rob wouldn't have been able to go, seeing as he was back in prison. That night once she'd got back to her flat, she just sat there on her own, with only a bottle of wine to keep her company and she had drunk the entire thing within the hour.

"That were before you were with my Dad weren't it" Simon said, as he had gotten older he was beginning to realise that Carla wasn't just some evil woman who swooped in and stole his dad away, he had spoken to Leanne about it all recently, She was actually really positive about Carla and Simon had realised that she had a lot of issues. Carla nodded at Simon

"Yeah, we were just friends then though, Nothing more" She said almost wondering why she was sitting there explaining herself to her almost twelve year old step son

"Do you believe in heaven Carla?" Simon asked rather out of the blue he looked at Carla who looked back at him confused "It's for my R.E homework" he said honestly because he was asked to ask various people what their thoughts on heaven were and to then write his own. Carla wasn't too sure what she believed in but she knew for sure that if there were a heaven her mother probably wouldn't be there, She shrugged at Simon

"I dunno" she said a little dryly "What about you?" She asked and Simon shrugged this time.

"I don't know either… but I bet if there is one, your Mum would be watching you right now and She would be really proud of you" Simon said trying to comfort Carla a little because she still looked saddened by the thought of her mother.

"I doubt that, you didn't know her Simon" Carla sniffed

"I know you though" he started "Well kind of and I know you're a really brave and strong woman… I would be proud of you." He said comfortingly. Although he'd not heard much but what he had heard about Carla's childhood made him admire how far she'd come in life. She smiled at him tearfully

"Thank you Simon" She sniffed wondering how was it that she'd sat him down to cheer him up yet she was now the one almost in floods of tears. They sat in silence for a moment and as Carla stopped feeling like she would burst into tears she nudged Simon in the side with her elbow

"Fancy you taking French though" She said rather impressed and in an attempt to lighten up the conversation

"Oh I didn't choose it they make us do it" he said Carla nodded at him

"Yeah we had to do it too, I still remember a bit of it actually, well..." She laughed again "I mainly remember all the bad words" Simon grinned at her she grinned back knowing what was coming "No I'm not gonna teach em to ya, for you to go an teach em to your whole class" She said

"Ohh go on" he said pleadingly, Carla shook her head at him

"Tell you what, your Dad can speak French, why don't you ask him to teach you the bad words." she said and Simon looked astonished

"Me Dad?"

"Yeah, he says he learnt it in the navy" Carla nodded, It was Simon who looked rather impressed this time

"I never knew that" he said amazed at all of the new things he was finding out today, he wondered what else he didn't know

"He always said we'd go to France together one day just so he could show it off in front of me" She said wistfully, Simon raised an eyebrow and grinned at her, She spotted his reaction to her mini day dream and laughed silently to herself.

"So yeah... why don't you get him to teach you all the bad stuff that way I can't get the blame for it" Carla smirked

"Good idea" he said chuckling

"Have you seen him recently?" Carla asked Simon, he shook his head

"No not really. Not since… the funeral." Simon said sadly "We Skype a lot though" he said

"You're telling me your Dad's actually worked out how to use Skype? Amazing" Carla said surprised, remembering how bad Peter was with new technology.

"Well, he were rubbish at first but he's alright now" Simon said

"How's... he's doing?" She asked almost hesitating but finishing her sentence all the same

"He's still got that job helping one of his friends in a betting shop. Whenever I talk to him he seems like he's really happy. He's coming down here for my birthday though I can't wait" he said watching Carla to see her reaction

"Good" She said smiling to herself, genuinely glad to hear that Peter was doing well for himself, She had to admit the thought of him being back on the street did make her slightly nervous, She just didn't know why though.

He had come to Deirdre's funeral, which was just a few months ago, but Carla couldn't quite remember just how much attention she had actually paid to Peter that day. She remembered seeing him arrive at the church with his family. She didn't want to bother them too much and had decided to stay away but then Ken asked Carla to sit with them all in the front row, So she reluctantly said yes just for his sake and made her way towards the front of the church. She had ended up being sat on the end of it right next to Simon who was sat next to Peter.

The service was rather short as Deirdre wasn't really the religious kind but it was heart breaking all the same, Ken and Tracy both said a few words each and then there were a few hymns followed by some of Deirdre's favourite songs. They then made their way outside for the burial, it was then that Peter first looked at Carla properly. He gave her a grateful nod to say thank you for being there and as they stood next to each other before Deirdre's grave, Carla absent-mindedly took Peters hand and gave it a little squeeze. They had had a minor conversation back at the Rovers that night but it was nothing big and Peter had spent most of his time consoling his Dad which was how Carla thought it should have been. She guessed she could speak to him properly another time but when she asked the next morning, it turned out Peter had left for Portsmouth already. Carla hadn't given it much thought at the time but she was a little disappointed that he'd gone so soon.

"Eh don't you dare tell him I asked about him. Okay" Carla said pointing at Simon fiercely

"I won't" He said grinning as Audrey came out of her beauty salon, She looked at Simon and Carla sitting on the bench together and smiled at them, as if she was pleased to seem them getting along so well

"Oh, Hello you two" She said, they both smiled back at her politely

"How's your Granddad doing?" She asked Simon

"Okay thanks." he said nodding although he wasn't too sure that was entirely true. Ken had good days, bad days and then some truly terrible days. Simon knew that he would never truly get over losing Deirdre and that his Granddad would probably never be the same again.

"Good" she said pleased "Tell him I expect him to come in for a trim very soon… Eh your hair's looking pretty long maybe you should come in for a trim as well." Audrey joked and she chuckled to herself as she walked away from them into the direction of the pub. Simon turned to Carla a little offended at Audrey's comment because he thought his hair looked quite cool.

"Do I really need a haircut? What do you think?" He asked her, She shook her head at him at first and then she started chuckling "What?" Simon asked wondering why Carla was almost in fits of laughter

"Remember when you wanted to grow your hair so that you could have Dreadlocks?" Simon instantly looked down sheepishly, shaking his head in denial

"Nope" Simon lied as Carla continued to laugh, he then looked back up at her smiling even though he was embarrassed.

"Yes you do" She said well aware that Simon was lying to her "You went on about it for months and your Dad was actually considering letting you ave em"

"What was I thinking?" He said as Carla ruffled his curly hair with her hand affectionately, he backed away from her a little but he smiled as he did it, so she didn't feel like she was annoying him too much

"Don't cut it, I bet the girls at school love it" She said watching Simon as he grinned and looked down again, "What ya grinning at ?" She asked him smiling

"Nothing" he insisted but Carla nudged him

"Ah come on, don't tell me you've gone and got yourself a girlfriend already?" She said wondering if Simon had also managed to inherit his fathers ways with the ladies

"I aven't" he said shaking his head and gazing back up at Carla who still looked intrigued "It's just me Dad said the same thing about me hair." Carla shook her head

"Course he did. Why am I not surprised eh?" she said grinning, She glanced down at her watch

"Right I better go back down the factory, I've just come from a meeting and I better let the girls know how it went." She stood up

"Yeah I better go too. I told me Granddad I'd be round at four he'll be getting worried" He said standing up and he began walking along side her as they were both heading in the same direction

"Carla"

"Yes" She said turning to look at him

"When are we gonna watch the next Hunger Games movie?" he asked he was desperate to watch the other sequels over the weekend but he had remembered the promise he'd made with Carla. If he was being truly honest with himself he had really enjoyed being with her on Friday night and he wanted to spend some more time with her.

"Erm" She said and scratched her head "Maybe your Mum would watch it with ya" she wasn't too sure what Leanne would think of her and Simon spending more time together. She seemed okay on Friday, it was almost like they were beginning to become good friends again but Leanne could change her mind at the drop of a hat and Carla could never be too sure what she was thinking.

"But I thought we said we'd watch them together" he said disappointed "Don't you want to watch it with me?" Carla shook her head

"No, honestly Simon it's not that at all it's just" They stopped outside of Ken's house and Simon stared at her waiting for an explanation "I just think you should ask your Mum, I don't want to get you into trouble" she said he shrugged

"Why would I get in trouble?" he said Carla raised her eyebrows, she knew Simon was aware of her rocky relationship with Leanne

"Oh I dunno, She might not like it that's all"

"It's just a movie? You are still my Step Mum after all." Simon said "I thought you said you divorce husbands not kids" he added smartly, remembering what Carla had said to him last week. She nodded realising he wasn't going to take no for an answer

"You know I think you've called me your Step Mum more times this week than you ever did when I were actually with your dad" She said Simon smiled at her pleadingly "Oh go on then, you twisted me arm" She said smiling at Simon, He grinned triumphantly as he knocked on the door of his granddad's house

"I'll get some popcorn in and maybe you could come round mine to watch it?" Carla suggested

"Cool" Simon said delightedly

"But you have to ask your mum first and you have to make sure you tell her about your little punch up at school. Deal?" Carla said firmly and she held a fist out in front of Simon, he bumped his first against hers as Ken opened the door

"Deal" Simon said, Ken smiled at the sight of his grandson and Carla bonding

"Hello Simon" he said cheerily "and Carla" he added, She nodded at him and smiled warmly

"Hi Granddad" Simon said "Bye Carla, I'll get me Mum to text you" he waved before going into the house. Ken looked at Carla intrigued

"Oh there's this movie he wants to watch round at mine" She began as Simon disappeared in the house behind Ken.

"Oh that's nice, You know I'm so glad you and Simon are getting along so well." he said thinking about how much Peter would love to hear what was going on between the two of them

"Yeah me too" She said watching Ken, He looked happier than he had done in recent times although Carla could definitely tell that he had been struggling with not having Deirdre around. "How are you doing Ken?" She asked, He nodded and gave her half a smile

"Not too bad today thank you Carla" he said "I really love having Simon round he's a real comfort you know… it's almost like having Peter here." Ken said softly, Carla nodded understandingly because if she was honest with her self she knew exactly what Ken meant.

"I bet… Listen I've gotta get back to the factory but Ken if you ever need anything you just let me know okay" Ken nodded at her appreciatively

"Thank you Carla" he said and she gave him a nod back before walking to the factory.