Chapter Five Hundred and Eleven

"Ruby!"

The teenage girl turned and smiled for the first time in over twenty four hours when she saw Jackson at the end of the school corridor. He wasn't a boy she had particularly noticed before, being that he was the year above her at school but she had very much got along with him at the party at the weekend. She walked happily over to him, drawn in by his boyish smile.

"How are you?" he asked. "I didn't hear much from you yesterday."

"Yeah," she said. "I um… I got into a bit of trouble about going to that party."

"Oh, that sucks," he said. "But you're still coming to the Informal with me, right?"

She sighed, looking glum again.

"What?" he complained. "But I thought we were all set?"

"I'm grounded," she explained.

"Why? For going to a party? Come on, what kind of monster parents do you have?"

"Pretty monster parents," she lied.

She felt guilty. Her parents were amazing and she knew it. She was treating them badly and speaking badly about them. And she knew that too. But she was furious at not being allowed to go to the Informal with Jackson.

"Come on…" Jackson said, taking both her hands. "Surely you could persuade them to let you out for just one night?"

She allowed herself a small smile.

"I wish," she said. "I really don't think they're going to budge."

"Well, try," he said. "I really want to go to this dance with you, Ruby."

He kissed her.


Charlie and Joey were both still at home, lingering over coffee and reluctant to head to work. Charlie's mood was still very low and Joey was worried about her.

"Do you think if we relented about the Informal, she would stop being so angry with us?" Charlie asked. "I mean, still ground her but relent about the dance?"

Joey sighed.

"Probably," she said. "But do you really want to do that?"

"Not really," Charlie admitted. "I want to let her know that taking that car is unacceptable. But I also want her to love me."

Joey reached out and placed her hand on Charlie's.

"She does love you," she assured her. "She's just acting out."

Charlie sighed heavily.

"I just… I just thought we had come so far past all of this."

"And I'm pretty sure we have," Joey said. "She's just… well, she's being a brat."

Charlie managed a smile. She squeezed Joey's hand gratefully and leant in to kiss her.

"We'll get past this, okay?" Joey assured her. "Try not to worry."

"Okay," Charlie agreed.

"And if this was her formal and her last year at school, of course we'd relent but it's not. She still has a full year left of school to do. We have a load more of this teenage shit left to endure," Joey grinned, making Charlie chuckle. "Come on. We can handle this, okay?"

They kissed again.

"Okay," Charlie repeated. "We can do this."


It was lunch time and Ruby was eating her lunch with Nicole on the beach. She had invited Claire but she was too busy on yet another date with that girl. Whatever her name was. Ruby hoped that it would fizzle out soon so she could get her best friend back. But then she felt bad about feeling that way. Because if things worked out with Jackson, like she hoped they would then perhaps it would be nice for Claire to have someone. Perhaps they could double date. And then perhaps Ruby wouldn't feel so shut out of Claire's life. But right now, it didn't look like things we going to get off the ground with Jackson anyway, not if her parents had anything to do with it.

"I mean, they're being so unreasonable," she complained to Nicole.

"Ruby, you stole Sid's car," Nicole pointed out.

"I borrowed Sid's car," Ruby pointed out. "And Dex was there too. And he's only grounded for a week. I got two."

"Well, maybe he's not giving his Dad as much attitude as you're giving your parents?" Nicole suggested.

Ruby glared at her, annoyed that she wasn't being as supportive as she needed her to be.

"I'm sorry," Nicole said, reading her thoughts in her expression. "But when you pull those kinds of stunts, you have to live with the consequences. Trust me. I know. I've been there."

"Well, maybe I'm bored of always being the good one," Ruby sulked. "Maybe it's my time to rebel."

"It's overrated," Nicole said. "My advice? Live your happy life with your lovely parents and your lovely friends. You never know when all those things could be taken away from you. Love and appreciate them while you have them."

She looked out wistfully to sea. Ruby was torn between more sulking and feeling sorry for her, knowing she was thinking of her Dad, locked up in prison probably for the rest of his life. Everyone in Summer Bay had loved Roman. He had been such a valuable and respected member of their community. Her own mother had even dated him albeit briefly. Nobody had expected him to have had such a dark past.

Since then, Nicole had done everything she could to make the best of things. She had worked hard at school and made a home with Alf and Miles, her guardians. She had been a wonderful friend to Ruby and she had had her heart broken more than once. But there would always be a sadness in her that she rarely talked about.


"Oh dear, it looks like your daughter is in trouble with the law again," Robertson commented.

Charlie's heart almost froze as she stopped walking from her office into the reception area. She had been coming out to do some photocopying.

"Excuse me?" she said.

"Ignore him," Watson said stiffly, glaring at the Detective who with grinning. "There's been a stolen car reported in Mangrove River."

Charlie also glared at him. It wasn't the first dig he'd made about Ruby and the car. She walked right past him and towards the photocopier, allowing a grateful smile at Watson on her way.


Joey was in her office at the restaurant, finalising all the details for her evening out with Charlie on the night of the Informal. Now that Ruby was not allowed to attend, they had considered cancelling but it seemed a shame to that, especially as it would mean forfeiting the tickets to Wicked that they had already purchased.

They had arranged for Ruby to stay the night with Leah and VJ, not that they had told Ruby that yet. They knew that she would kick off about not being a baby but even without the current circumstances, they didn't like her to stay home alone overnight. But especially now, when they knew she would just head straight to the Informal if she wasn't being watched. Leah had promised to make the evening as entertaining as possible so she didn't feel like she was being babysat or patronised.

So since then, Joey had booked a nice restaurant, as rated on Trip Advisor and checked them into a hotel. Charlie in particular needed a night just to relax and have a nice time.


Ruby arrived home from school as monosyllabic as she left and as she had been for most of the weekend. Charlie and Joey arrived soon after her.

"How was school?" Charlie tried.

Ruby shrugged.

"Bricks. Books. Boring."

She threw herself down on the sofa and switched the TV on. Charlie and Joey exchanged glances and went into their room to get changed. Charlie didn't like wearing her uniform any more than she had to. Joey didn't quite agree.

"She's cheered up," Joey remarked as the pair of them began changing into more comfortable clothes.

"Mmm…" Charlie grunted.

"As have you."

"Sorry," Charlie sighed. "Just… she's being a brat. Robertson is being a prat."

"More digs?"

"Yeah," Charlie said.

She sat on the bed in her work trousers and bra, head in her hands. Joey sat beside her, having only got so far as taking her shoes off. She put her arm around her, taking her hands away from her face.

"This will just take time, okay?" she said. "Before you know it, she'll apologise for the things she's said and done and we'll have our Ruby back."

Charlie gazed into her eyes.

"I hope you're right," she said.


An hour later, the three of them were sat round the dinner table.

"So, how was your day, Joey?" Charlie asked.

"Pretty good," Joey said. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Angelo is worrying me a little. I'm not entirely convinced about leaving him in charge."

"Well, maybe you should start trusting people," Ruby snapped, glaring at both her parents.

"Maybe people need to prove they can be trusted," Joey said. "Which is what Angelo is currently doing. So we'll see how it goes. As for you, that night, we're in the city so you're going to be staying the night at Leah's."

"What?" Ruby half shrieked. "No! I don't need to be babysat!"

Her reaction was predictable.

"Well, we're not here that night so yeah, you kind of do," Joey said evenly.

Charlie let her take the lead.

"Why can't I just stay on my own?"

"Because you'll go straight to the Informal and you're not allowed to go," Joey told her.

"I won't!" Ruby lied.

She had had it on her mind to ask them again about going with Jackson but that didn't seem like a good idea just now.

"Like you wouldn't sneak out to a party in a car you don't have permission to drive?" Joey asked.

Ruby just glared at her. Joey didn't think she had ever seen someone eat angrily before but the teenager was managing.

"Why can't I just stay with Claire anyway?" she eventually demanded.

"She's working," Charlie told her.

"So even she gets to go to the party?" Ruby complained. "Does she get to bring her date as well?"

More and more, her parents couldn't help but think that all of this was rooted in Claire having a girlfriend. It seemed to be where it had all begun.

"No," Joey said evenly. "She's working."

Ruby continued eating.

"None of this is fair," she said. "Everyone gets to have a good night apart from me."

"And poor Leah," Joey added. "She gets to put up with your delightful mood all evening."

Ruby sneered.

"You know, all of this would be a lot easier if you would just apologise," Joey said.

"I haven't done anything wrong," Ruby said.

Even she knew it was a laughable thing to say.

"Apart from sneaking out, taking a car, getting arrested and therefore humiliating your mother, saying a multitude of awful things to your mother and generally behaving like a spoilt brat?" Joey countered. "Oh and I heard you were a bit of a cow to Dex as well."

Ruby shrugged.

"Well, anytime you want to take those things on board and apologise, that's fine."

Charlie kept eating, grateful that she had Joey to take the lead. So many times over the years it had just been down to her to discipline Ruby and it had never gone well.

"And anytime you want to let go of the leash you have around my neck, that's fine too," Ruby snapped back.

"We do our best for you, Ruby," Joey said, softening her voice. "We give you freedom and we hold you close at the best levels we understand. And we do it because we love you and we want the best for you. We're not always going to get it right because we're not perfect and we've never been parents before. And speaking personally, I didn't exactly grow up with the best family set up so I don't have the best examples to follow. But we're trying our best, okay? And you can get as angry with us as you like but what you need to remember is that every decision we make has our deepest love for you at the centre of it. We only want to do right by you, even if it doesn't feel like it. That is always, always true."

Charlie squeezed her hand under the table. Ruby found herself unable to answer back. She looked between her parents. She felt overwhelming guilt over the things she had said to Charlie over the weekend.

"Can I please be excused?" she eventually said.

"Go," Joey said quietly.

Ruby left the table and hurried into her room, closing her bedroom door behind her.


Next time… The teenagers attend the Informal including someone who shouldn't be there, Charlie and Joey's night doesn't go to plan and an old passion reignites…