Beth laid in her bed all night and all morning. Nathan had been blowing up her phone all the while. Even after turning it on silent it continued, she just knew it had. In the morning though, Nathan took things a step further. He actually showed up at her apartment. After hearing about Nathan and his eighty three year old sex partner, and another nasty fight with her mom, this was the last thing she wanted to deal with. She'd rather suffer kidney stones. But not wanting another fight, she let him in.

"What do you want Nathan?" Beth asked, sitting on the couch. She was wearing joggers, and a big sweater. Her hair in the messiest bun. She looked like a train wreck, but somehow Nathan still thought she looked cute.

"I want to talk to you, to sort everything out. Can we try that?" Nathan asked sitting next to her. Beth nodded. "Okay, I'll start. I'm very sorry I stood you up. I didn't understand that it was a date, and should the opportunity ever present itself again, I will not make the same mistake."

"I'm willing to just forget about it if you are," Beth said. She didn't want to fight with Nathan as well. She was just tired of it.

"Really? Good!" Nathan leaned over and hugged Beth. "I have to go though, think I better go talk to my mum. You're not the only one I have to sort things out with." Nathan began to walk over to the door.

"What about Ruth?" Beth asked, following Nathan to the door. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"What about Ruth?"

"Have you got to sort things out with her?" Beth asked. Nathan felt like this was some kind of loaded question.

"I hadn't planned on it," Nathan said.

"You ought to. I'm not sure how you handled finding out she was old but I'm sure you handled it wrong." Beth lead him to the door, opening it for him. "See you at service later, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Nathan," Beth said as Nathan began walking down the hallway. "Just think about it. Think about swinging by her place to get some closure. It'll be good for everyone."

"I'll think about it."

Once Nathan was off, Beth began to try and make herself look presentable. She put on some jeans, and a plain grey shirt. She put her hair in a pony tail and walked out the door. Beth walked to community service listening to music. The song she was currently listening to was She's So Sorry by Hedley. Beth was doing her best not to think about the fight with her mom. It had lasted over an hour until Beth hung up on her. Her mom transferred thirty thousand dollars to Beth. When she called to ask why, her mother told her the news.

Both Beth and her sister were officially getting disowned. And Beth's heart was broken.

Arriving at the community centre, Beth felt awful. She had no family. Very few friends, and she had to get a job. Her apartment was already paid for the next two years, so she did have money to spare. She already had a hefty some of money in her account but now she had even more since the transfer. But it would run out quickly, life wasn't cheap. But she couldn't juggle a job and her community service. She just couldn't.

Beth barely said a word to anyone all morning. She just stood by her locker listening. Everyone else was there with her, but they were all talking amongst themselves. Nathan was explaining that his mums boyfriend was some kind of tame weredog, thing. Beth needed to talk to someone, and weird thing is. The only person she wanted to talk to was Nathan.

"Nathan, if you're not busy later can you swing round to mine. I just, I just need to talk to you."

"You know me, I never have any plans. I'll swing by after tea," Nathan said, unlocking and swinging open his locker. "Beth." Nathan was staring at the door on his locker.

"What?" She peaked around to see what he was looking at. It was Tony's missing flier, with the words 'I know' written in thick black marker. "Oh my god," she whispered.

"You know that note you found in your locker? I think it was talking about the probation worker," Nathan said, stepping back. He grabbed Beth's hand and tugged her back with him. I need of comfort, she gripped his hand tightly. This was her fault. She and Kelly were the ones to kill him.

And somebody knew.

It was another full day of cleaning up garbage. Except today, everyone was paranoid that they were going to get arrested. Beth was the worst of all of them, and anyone could see it. Last time she was this freaked out she was ready to kill herself, so Nathan thought it best not to let her out of his sight. He kept close to her as everyone cleaned up the streets. They were all talking with themselves. Kelly with Simon and Alisha with Curtis. Nathan and Beth were quiet until Nathan said, "you've go to get your mind off of it."

"How?" Beth asked, shaking as she worked.

"What did you want to talk about later. Think about that instead."

"I lost my family," Beth said. "Not just, they're disappointed in me but I legally lost them. They disowned me."

"They lost a wonderful girl then," Nathan said, trying to get her to smile which she did. "There's a smile. You know, you should smile more, you have a truly beautiful smile."

"Stop it," Beth said, putting her head down to hide her blush.

"I mean it," Nathan said.

Meanwhile, Kelly and Simon were talking about the probation worker. They were discussing who could possibly know when Simon noticed Beth smiling. He pointed this out to Kelly.

"I'm going to break it up," Simon said, getting ready to yell at Nathan.

"Don't," Kelly said, stopping him before he could go over there. "She really likes 'im. Let them be for now, and I'll have a talk wif 'im later."

"What are you going to say?" Simon asked, resuming his work.

"Threaten 'is balls probably," Kelly said. Simon laughed at first but then realized she was being serious.

"As long as he doesn't hurt her again," Simon said, nodding at Kelly.

"He better not."

Beth and Nathan ended up spending the night together. Nothing romantic, they just watched movies and ate pizza. During the last movie Beth even cuddled up next to Nathan. He loved every second of it. There's is nothing he wished for more than to go back in time and meet up with Beth for drinks like he should've. Maybe he would've been cuddling with his girlfriend, instead of just a friend. In the middle of the movie, Beth fell asleep. So Nathan, being the closeted gentleman that he is. Carried her to bed, tucked her in, and then slept alone on the couch.

The next morning they have service bright and early. Beth woke up on time, but Nathan remained asleep on the couch. So Beth woke him up, and they walked to the community centre together.

Upon entering the locker room they went to their lockers and got changed into their jumpsuits. Beth's made her look even smaller than she actually was. She was perfect girlfriend height. Short enough to tease, and joke with but in the end perfect for the boyfriend to protect and cherish. Nathan could do those things, and he could probably do them well. Beth still found herself liking him even after all that stuff the week before. And Nathan liked her. There was nothing stopping them from having a few dates.

Except Kelly.

Kelly was too protective of Beth. She threatened Nathan's balls, life, and heart several times each. She just wanted to protect Beth's innocence. Few people in this world were as good as Beth and like hell Kelly would let Nathan taint her. She needed protection. And with everything happening with the probation worker, Kelly just didn't think Beth had the mental stability. She was doing this for Beth's well being.

"Someone knows we killed 'im," Kelly said to the group in a hushed tone.

"Do you think it could be Sally?" Simon asked. Beth didn't think it would be.

"Who's Sally?" Curtis asked.

"The probabtion worker," Simon said. Beth rolled her eyes.

"Oo, Sally. Why d'you know her name?" Nathan asked. Beth smacked his arm.

"She told us."

"Well you're a twat, because Sally didn't show up until fter the day we killed the other probation worker. I suppose you know his name too."

"Tony."

"D'you love him?"

"He's righ', she wasn't 'ere."

"If I'm invisible I can see if anyone puts anything else in our lockers."

"Sounds like a plan," Curtis said. "You alright with that, yeah?"

"Works for me," Alisha said, smirking at Curtis in the mirror.

"Go on then, turn invisible."

They all turned to look at him. Simon said, "I can't do it while everyone's watching."

"So I guess it's like pissing at a urinal if you've got a tiny cock," Nathan said. Beth scoffed and hit Nathan again.

"Wow, that's a, really impressive." Alisha was the first to walk away. Beth was the last to go she said, "don't pay them any mind, Simon. You're perfect," as she left.

A guy who looked about in their age range was waiting for them in the hallway. He was giving them instructions for the day. Basically, they had to sort clothes for Africans. Besides a little banter between that guy and Alisha there was nothing of interest. The volunteer asked if there were any questions. Nathans hand shot into the air.

"If a bear and a shark had a fight, who would win?" Nathan asked, looking at the guy expectantly.

"If you've got any relevant questions, just ask." He began to walk away. "Oh, and if it's on dry land. I'd bet on the bear."

Almost immediately, everyone began goofing off. They were throwing clothes at each other, and trying on clothes that looked ridiculous. Nathan was making fun of Bono while everyone else began to actually sort the clothes. The longer they took, the longer they'd be doing this. Kelly had to leave to do some talking about feelings. Beth wasn't jealous of her. If her old friends walked threw that door she may throw a few punches.

"You should be nicer to Simon," Beth said to Nathan as she sorted through the clothes.

"He knows I'm just messing about," Nathan said.

"Does he?" Beth asked. Nathan looked at her for a minute. When suddenly Sally came through the room, quickly escorting out the girl Kelly was talking to.

"I was trying to be nice!" Kelly shouted at the retreating bodies. She quickly stormed off.

"I think that went pretty well," Curtis said. Beth laughed.

Sally came back through looking for Kelly. When she couldn't find her she sent them all on a break.

"C'mon Beth, let's go get some food from the vending machine," Nathan said, grabbing her by the hand and dragging her along.

When he got there he began to shake it wildly. She shook her head and ducked into the locker room to grab a few pounds. When she came back out with the coins Nathan was happily eating some crisps. She laughed and bought a bag of crisps for herself and two cans of coca. She gave one of the cans to Nathan. They walked to one of the picnic tables outside and sat down.

"This will probably be the best pop I've ever had." Nathan cracked it and took a sip. "Yep, best ever."

"Why because it was free?" Beth asked, laughing.

"No," Nathan said. "Because it was given to me by you." He scooted closer to Beth. She was blushing at their closeness. Nathan was ready to lean in and give her a little kiss when Kelly joined their table.

"Wha' are yous talkin' bout?" Kelly asked. All three knew what was about to happen between Nathan and Beth. Nathan was pretty upset about it actually. Beth was just embarrassed.

"Pop," Nathan said, leaning away from Beth.

"I came to get yahs, probation worker is lettin' os go early," Kelly said. "Said she 'ad some fings to sort out."

"Yes, thank you Kelly." Nathan's tone was getting even more annoyed.

"Comin' Beth?" Kelly asked, standing up.

"Yeah, right behind you." Beth followed Kelly into the building. Nathan slammed his fist against the table.

Why was everyone coming between them? They could all fuck off for all Nathan cared.