Chapter Five Hundred and Twelve

It was the evening of the Informal and Summer Bay was abuzz with excitement. Angelo was a bag of nerves as he prepared for his first official event, fully in charge of the restaurant. Joey even trusted him so much that she and Charlie were going out to the city to watch some musical or other. He had the whole night to prove himself a success and then, who knew? Maybe this could be his thing? Maybe he could run events at the restaurant regularly? Maybe he could even impress Roo with his capabilities. She was an events co-ordinator, after all. He just hoped that tonight would go according to plan and that nothing would go wrong.


At home, Nicole was getting ready in her room. She too was hoping for one night where she could relax and enjoy herself. She hadn't been feeling great lately, although she was trying to keep how she felt to herself. She was also hoping that it was just the stress of her exams. But she was worried. And she didn't know where to turn or who to talk to.


In his own room, Romeo was also getting ready. Alf had gone with him to buy a suit and had very generously paid for it. He had been very touched. For a moment, it had felt like he had a proper grandfather in his life. And tonight, he was desperate to impress Indi on their official, well, unofficial school dance. She had worked so hard for her exams and she had been so stressed. Tonight, she deserved to let her hair down and party and he wanted her to have a good time.


"You look beautiful," Sid said rather proudly when Indi appeared in her prom dress.

She blushed rather shyly. Dex glanced up at her from the couch. He knew he was supposed to be sulking about being grounded but actually, it was a relief not to have to attend such a horrific social occasion. He was glad to be staying at home.

"Yeah, you look okay," he said.

He actually did think she looked nice but it was not younger brotherly to say so.

"Thanks," she remarked before thanking her Dad properly.


"Right, are you all packed?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah," Ruby said sourly.

She had been objecting all week long about having to stay the night with Leah and VJ but her parents would not give up. They would not let her go with Jackson to the Informal and they did not trust her to stay home alone. They had wavered a little but they had also decided that her 'bratty teenage behaviour' also shouldn't ruin their evening out. So she was being made to stay at Leah's and that was 'the end of it'.

"Ruby, I really don't want to stay a night away from you without us making up," Charlie said seriously.

"Then change your mind and let me go to the Informal with Jackson," Ruby challenged.

"No," Charlie said firmly. "We've already discussed this."

"You know you're ruining my life, don't you?" Ruby complained.

Charlie just rolled her eyes. Ruby had already tried this several times.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she said. "Jackson could be your soul mate and because of us, you might never know because he'll go to the dance and meet some other girl… I know."

"And don't you even care?"

"Well, if you're soul mates then he'll come back to you, won't he?" Joey pointed out, a backpack on her back. "Now, we really need to get going, okay?"

She nudged them both out towards the car, Ruby still full of complaints.


With Bianca supervising and April attending the Informal, Joanna had taken the opportunity to invite Irene out to dinner. She said she wanted to thank her for her hospitality. Mostly, she hadn't wanted to spend the evening stuck indoors with that miserable lodger of hers and that bratty kid. Watching TV with them was not her idea of fun but with her girls busy for the night, Irene had really been her only option really. Hopefully outside of the house, she would lighten up a bit. But then, the woman didn't even drink so she doubted it.


Charlie and Joey were a little anxious as they drove away, leaving Leah and VJ with a very moody looking Ruby. She couldn't have made it plainer that she didn't want to spend the evening with them, which they found embarrassingly rude. Leah and VJ had gone to a lot of effort to get treats and DVDs that they knew she would like. But she hadn't shown any sort of interest in any of it. All she wanted was to go to the Informal with Jackson.

"Is she going to be alright?" Charlie asked, sighing heavily behind the wheel of the car.

Joey reached out and squeezed her girlfriend's hand.

"Between Leah and VJ, she'll snap out of it," she said more confidently than she felt.

Charlie sighed again.

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

"Listen, we can cancel tonight if you want," Joey offered. "It's not that important. We can go out another time."

"No," Charlie said, shaking her head, trying to get herself into a better head space. "No, we're going to go out and have fun. Ruby isn't going to ruin our fun. Okay?"

Joey smiled. But she was worried. They both were.


Liam took a deep breath and opened the door of the restaurant. He had been trying to psyche himself up all day to spend the whole evening with Bianca. He had persuaded himself that he would barely even have to speak to her. The party would be loud and busy. There would be so many other people there, adults and kids. They would probably have nothing to do with each other. But he was still nervous.

"Hey, everyone," he said, forcing a smile onto his face.

Angelo, Claire, April, Xavier and a handful of other people were there. But the only person he could see was Bianca.


Ruby was sat on Leah's sofa looking miserable. Leah had tried to tempt her with dinner and snacks but she didn't want anything. VJ had tried to tempt her with DVDs and video games but she wasn't interested in those either, which really disappointed him. He had been looking forward to spending the evening with his old housemate. He missed getting to spend time with her.

"So… what else would you like to do?" he asked helplessly.

"To be honest, I'm not feeling well," Ruby lied. "I think I'm just going to go to bed. I'm sorry."

She grabbed her bag and went to her old room, saying goodnight to them both. VJ looked desperately disappointed. Leah came to sit beside him and put her arm around him.

"I thought we were going to have our own party," he said glumly.

"Well, you and I can have our own party," Leah offered.

"I guess," he said.

Leah felt sorry for him. He sounded so sad. In her room, Ruby quickly texted Jackson. Their plan was on.


Neither Irene nor Joanna were having a particularly good time at their dinner. If they were honest, they didn't particularly like each other. But certainly for Irene, it was a case of putting the girls first.

"Oh, look!" Joanna suddenly said. "It's the boys!"

Vittorio, Alf, Sid, John, Will and a group of men that Irene didn't know walked through the door of the bar they were having dinner in. Some of them looked a little worse for wear.

"Oh, it's their bucks' night tonight," Irene remembered.

She had heard many a discussion about the clash with the Informal over the past few weeks. Immediately, Joanna waved them over. Irene couldn't help but think she might have been played.


The restaurant was all set up and Liam and Bianca had carefully managed to avoid each other during the whole set up of the Informal, despite several attempts from April to put them on jobs together. Liam had mostly stuck by Angelo who seemed to be losing his mind with sheer panic over the idea that things might go wrong.

"Dude, chill," Liam said. "Everything is going to be okay."

"Okay," Angelo said, trying to breathe more evening. "Right, um… people are starting to arrive. Can you meet and greet with Bianca at the entrance?"

Liam looked pained.

"Seriously?" Angelo snapped. "Please?"

"Okay, fine! But if your head wasn't about to explode…"

He slouched over to the entrance to where Bianca was standing greeting students and handing out party bags.

"Hey," he said softly.

"Hey," she replied.


Charlie and Joey sat down at the table they had booked at a rather posh restaurant in the city. This was supposed to be a real treat but it had been somewhat spoilt by Ruby's behaviour.

"Can I interest you in the wine list?"

"Actually, I think I'm just going to have a soft drink," Charlie said somewhat apologetically.

Joey looked at her curiously. The waiter looked rather haughty and walked away.

"I just have a really horrible feeling that I'm going to end up having to drive back home tonight," Charlie explained. "I'm really sorry. But please, you drink. Have wine. Do shots if you want!"

She grinned, making Joey giggle.

"It's fine," Joey said. "I understand. I did say we could cancel if you're worried or upset."

"No, I wanted come. I want Ruby to surprise me. I'm just…"

"Worried."

Charlie nodded. The waiter returned.

"Drinks?" he asked.

"Two Diet Cokes please," Joey requested.

He nodded and walked away.


The music was loud and the Informal was in full swing. Angelo was reluctantly starting to unclench. He was still nervous that things were going to unravel but so far, things were going well. At least, no disasters had occurred as of yet. He was desperate to make a success of things, to prove himself to Joey and to Charlie and really, to the rest of the community. He had failed more than once during his time in Summer Bay. He knew that nobody had ever or would ever forget that Jack had died, however accidentally at his hands. And he had failed abysmally when he had ridden back into town on his secret mission. He had failed at his life and he had failed at his career. Being a police officer had meant everything to him and now… now he was a bartender. So, if that was his job now, he wanted to be a good one. He wanted to prove himself and perhaps attempt to excel.


Across the room, Bianca and Liam were not really chaperoning. They were at last, talking to each other. And it had been a long time coming. In a corner, the former couple were nervous but they knew it was time to face up to things.

"I was sorry to hear that Nina left town," Bianca lied.

"No, you weren't," Liam said, calling her out.

She blushed, grateful that it was dark.

"I actually liked her," she said honestly.

"I actually liked her too," Liam replied.

"So, what happened?" Bianca wanted to know.

"She knew that my heart wasn't in it," he told her.

Bianca's breath caught as he looked her directly in the eye. She couldn't look away.

"My heart was with you," he said. "Always."


Leah knocked on Ruby's bedroom door. She got no answer. Worried, she opened up and found her former housemate tucked up in bed asleep.

"Ruby?" she said. "Ruby, can I get you anything?"

No answer. She moved across the room and touched the sleeping girl's head. She was at least breathing and she didn't seem to be burning up or anything. She sighed and left the room. As soon as she had gone, Ruby jumped out of bed, all dressed up for the Informal. Her trick at worked. She texted Jackson and told him to meet her in five minutes.


Irene wasn't having a particularly nice time. Her only saving grace was that Alf and Will were there. She hadn't expected Will to be out but apparently Leah had called and invited Lily round at the last minute, something about Ruby being unwell, so Will had had a free pass to go out. Irene had been glad. She'd felt guilty going out to something she hadn't actually wanted to go to when she knew her foster son would benefit from a lad's night out, spending time with people and having actually fun. He hadn't had much of that lately.

However, the lad's night out seemed to have dispersed a little. Irene was pretty sure she had seen Joanna and probably Vittorio's true colours this evening, having overheard them both bitching about 'small town life' and a few individual people they hadn't taken to, such as Colleen and Marilyn. She thought their words were arrogant, ignorant and rude. But then, she hadn't thought much different of them in the first place.


At another table, Alf was sitting with John.

"I'm just going to say this once, okay and then we don't need to talk about this again," Alf said evenly.

John nodded. He knew what was coming,

"I know what you and Roo are doing," Alf said. "And I'm pretty sure Charlie has worked it out. I'm worried. I'm very worried. We all know the hell that Hugo brought to Summer Bay and we all know that we would have done anything to stop Martha getting caught up with him."

John nodded again.

"I'm scared of my daughter and you, my friend, getting caught up with it all again, of this all opening up a can of worms that we won't be able to put the lid back on," Alf said.

"I genuinely understand your concerns," John said. "I'm not without my own. But my family need me to do this. My family is Gina. Xavier. Brendan. And unfortunately, it's Hugo too. Trust me, I'd rather it wasn't. But it is. And that means it's Martha and Roo and you too."

Alf managed a small smile.

"And I love Gina, mate," John said. "I love her with my whole heart, however damaged it is! And I would do absolutely anything for her. She needs me to do this. And I promise I will be careful. I will make everything as air tight as I possibly can and do my best to ensure that nobody, including Roo can get into trouble."

"I trust you," Alf said. "But I'm worried. Really worried. But like I said, I've told you that now. And I swear not to say any more about it."


Charlie and Joey were enjoying their meal, despite the snooty waiter and they were very much looking forward to getting to see Wicked at the theatre. It was a show they had been desperate to see for a long time. They already knew all the words to most of the songs. Tonight was going to be an exciting night and it was going to be a real treat to get to stay in a hotel and get away for the night – if only they could actually relax and stop worrying about Ruby.


"What the hell is she doing here?" Angelo demanded, stopping dead in his tracks.

He glared at the entrance of the venue as Ruby walked in on the arm of another student. Claire's heart skipped a beat both in love and anxiety. Ruby looked beautiful. And also rather proud of herself. She knew she wasn't allowed to attend the Informal. And yet here she was, bold as brass.

"I don't know," Claire managed.

"She's not supposed to be here," Angelo hissed. "Charlie and Joey said…"

"I know," Claire said.

She didn't entirely know what he expected her to do about it.

"Hey, Claire!" Ruby greeted, walking up to her. "This is Jackson."

"Hi," Claire said, shaking hands with him.

He looked smart in his tuxedo but other than that, Claire just couldn't fathom what was so amazing about him. Or Alex. Or any of the guys that Ruby seemed to go gaga over. He was just average. And yet Ruby looked at him in a way that she would never look at her.

"Jackson, this is my best friend, Claire."

"Hey," he mumbled.

He turned back to Ruby.

"Dance?"

"Yeah, sure," Ruby said.

She turned towards the dance floor. Claire caught hold of her hand.

"Ruby, did your parents change their minds?"

"Nope!" Ruby grinned.

She walked past her to dance with Jackson. Angelo approached Claire impatiently.

"Well?" he demanded.

"She's… a rebel," Claire concluded.


Still in the corner, Bianca and Liam hadn't stopped talking.

"I missed you so much while I was away," Liam admitted.

"Then why didn't you just come back?" Bianca asked.

"I didn't think you wanted me to," he said. "Especially after I reached out to you."

Bianca's mind immediately flashed back to the voice mail he had left her.

"I had just accepted Vittorio back into my life when you left that message," Bianca explained. "Literally. He'd been trying to win me back and I kept saying no because I wanted you. But I finally accepted that you weren't coming back and I gave in. Then you left me that message and my head felt like it was going to explode."

"I'm sorry," Liam said genuinely.

"Then you did come back," Bianca accused. "With another woman."

"I thought it was over," Liam said sadly.

"I don't think it will ever be over between us."

Their eyes locked. They knew it was the truth.


The DVD finished and Leah got up from the sofa where she, VJ and Lily, who she had invited round to join them at the last minute, had been cuddled up to watch it. She stretched and headed back into Ruby's room to check on her. She knocked and again, there was no answer. She opened the door a crack and saw the sleeping figure on the bed. She was about to leave when she noticed that the shape in the bed didn't look quite right.

Walking further into the room, she flipped the light on.

"Busted," she said to herself.

For she was the only person in the room. Ruby had not so cleverly filled the bed with pillows and sneaked out of the house. And there was only one place Leah knew she had gone. Now she had to decide what to do about it.


"So, what are you going to do about it?" Claire asked Angelo.

"What am I meant to do?" Angelo asked hollowly. "I mean, I can't throw her out."

"Yes, you can," Claire said. "You should. You know she's not supposed to be here."

"Well, I don't think her parents would appreciate being disturbed on their night out, do you?"

"You don't have to disturb them," Claire said. "You can just be a grown up and send her back to Leah's. There's where she's staying."

Angelo shook his head.

"She's just dancing," he said. "She's not doing any harm. I don't want any agro tonight. I just want everything to go smoothly."

"Well, woe betide you when her parents, your bosses find out that you let their daughter stay at an event they told you she wasn't supposed to be at," Claire said.

"Well, you're complicit in it too," Angelo remarked.

"Well, maybe I'll deal with it then!" Claire snapped back.

"Wait! No!" Angelo said, panicked. "Please! I just don't want any trouble, Claire. I just want tonight to go well. Maybe if I just tell her to stay a little while and go home?"

Claire just rolled her eyes and walked away.


On the dance floor, Ruby was having a lovely time. Jackson was gorgeous and a great dancer and she loved every moment of being with him. In the back of her mind, she knew that she would be in trouble in the morning. Reality would hit and Charlie and Joey would find out what she had done. But right now, it all felt worth it. It kind of made her feel like Cinderella. A Princess.


At home, Leah tried several times to call Angelo. She tried to call Claire a couple of times and once each to call Bianca and Liam. She also tried to call Xavier, April, Nicole, Romeo and Indi. Nobody picked up. Everyone was having too much fun. She tried Angelo again.

"Hello?" he said gruffly.

There was a lot of music in the background at first and then it went quieter.

"Angelo?" Leah said. "Is Ruby at the Informal?

She heard him sigh.

"Yeah, she just got here."

"Look, she sneaked out. You know they banned her from going?"

"Yeah, I just got an earful from Claire."

Leah was a little taken aback. She was rather proud of Claire who was usually quite mousey, for standing up for what she believed in. She was very loyal to the Buckton/Collins family.

"And?"

"And what?"

"And I need you to send her back to me?" she said rather sarcastically.

"Come and get her," he challenged.

"I've got two kids here, Angelo," Leah said. "I can't come and get her."

"If it was that important that you keep her with you, why didn't you?" Angelo asked.

"She sneaked out," Leah snapped, annoyed.

"Well, that's your fault, not mine," he snapped back.

He hung up on her.

"Bastard," she muttered.

Both kids heard her.


April smiled to herself as she watched Liam and Bianca walk out of the party together, not quite hand in hand but close, definitely close. They had been talking for ages. This was exactly what she had been hoping for. All she needed now was for her sister to come to her senses, ditch that vile, cheating Vittorio and finally get together with Liam, the guy she was meant to be with.

"Plan worked then?" Xavier said, stepping up behind her and putting his arm around her.

She smiled at him, leaning into him.

"Looks like it," she said. "I hope."

They kissed.


Having tried the others again to no avail and with Angelo having infuriated her, Leah felt she had no option but to call Joey. She really didn't want to. She hated the idea of ruining their night out. They got to do such things so rarely. But she knew how strongly they felt about Ruby being grounded. It was a point of principle. They had said as they were leaving that she should call if there were any problems.

"Hey, Leah, are you okay?" Joey asked, answering the phone immediately.

They were just walking out of the restaurant, ready to go to the show. Charlie stopped walking to her, looking deeply concerned.

She knew she wasn't. And she was glad she had called her and not Charlie.

"I'm fine but… um… Ruby sneaked out," Leah admitted. "I'm so sorry, Jo. She said she was sick. I did check on her. But when I went in the second time, she was gone. I called Angelo and she's there. At the Informal. I tried to get him to bring her back but he wasn't interested. And I've got the kids here."

"Please don't apologise, Leah," Joey said. "It's not your fault. It's hers. To be honest, we were kind of expecting it."

"I really am sorry," Leah said again.

"Don't worry," Joey said. "We'll deal with her, okay?"

She hung up.

"She bailed on Leah and went to the dance?" Charlie asked.

"Yep," Joey sighed.

"Right," Charlie grimaced. "I guess we're not seeing Wicked then."

"I don't know," Joey said. "I'm pretty sure at least one of us could turn into a witch tonight!"


Nicole was having a good time, despite not having a date to the Informal. She had been asked by more than one guy but after everything that had happened with Penn, she just wanted to be single right now. She had had enough complications in her eighteen years to last her a whole lifetime! She pulled up a stool by the bar and sat down in front of Claire who blushed and pulled herself out of watching Ruby on the dancefloor with Jackson.

"I don't care," Claire lied.

Nicole merely raised her eyebrows.

"Things are going great with Hannah," Claire said defensively. "I'm happy."

"I'm sure you are," Nicole reasoned. "But it doesn't mean that that doesn't twinge."

Claire shook her head.

"I'm just worried because I know that Charlie and Joey don't want her to be here and he is being next to useless," she insisted.

She jerked her head in Angelo's direction. He was looked fretful.

"Well, did you expect anything different?" Nicole asked. "From either of them?"

Claire sighed heavily.

"I just don't want her to get into trouble," she said. "And I don't want Charlie and Joey to be upset."


Across the room, Romeo and Indi were dancing together somewhat romantically, even though the song wasn't really very slow. They were just happy to have finally got to this night. They were happy to be together and in love.


At the edge of the dancefloor, Angelo watched the scene. The kids were dancing and they all seemed to be having a good time. On the surface, everything seemed to be going well. However, Ruby was there and she shouldn't be and Bianca and Liam weren't there and they should be. He was very, very anxious.


Sometime later, Ruby was still dancing with Jackson. She was aware of the disapproving looks from her friends, namely Claire and Nicole but she didn't care. They never seemed to want her to have any fun anymore. But Jackson was really fun. He was gorgeous and charming and she was having such a nice time with him. It was so good to spend time with someone who really, truly wanted her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The familiar, angry voice behind her turned her blood cold. She practically tripped over as she spun round to come face to face with her mother. Joey stood anxiously behind Charlie, clearly on hand to step in if things got too out of control between the fiery Buckton women. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jackson scamper off without a word. So much for him really liking her. As for everyone else in the venue, they were all watching the show shamelessly.

"Charlie!" she gulped. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" Charlie demanded. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at Leah's!"

"And you're supposed to be in the city!"

"Yes, we are supposed to be in the city! I had to fly back on my broomstick!"

In a normal situation, Ruby would have laughed. But right now, she was a little scared. It wasn't often these days that Charlie was this angry.

"Because typically, you ruined our night out because you just couldn't do what we asked!"

Ruby was angry now. All of Ruby's school friends were staring at her as her mother created a huge scene.

"Because typically you just had to keep me under lock and key!" Ruby yelled back.

"Can you blame us when you behave like this?"

"Hey, ladies, why don't we calm things down?" Angelo attempted, stepping in.

"Shut up!" both Ruby and Charlie yelled at him.

He scrambled out of the way, feeling like his whole future was crumbling down around him. Joey gave him a looked that warned him that she would very much deal with him later. Nobody seemed to have noticed when the music had stopped. The DJ seemed to have wanted to know what everyone was yelling about.

"I do think we should go home though," Joey added quietly, taking Charlie's hand.

"You're right," Charlie agreed.

She looked sternly at her daughter.

"Home," she said. "Now."

"No," Ruby said stubbornly.

"I wouldn't argue if I were you."

Ruby swallowed. She looked around her. Everyone was staring. This was going to go down in the history of humiliations, her parents dragging her out of the school formal.

"Fine," she said. "But if you ever thought you'd damaged our relationship before, you haven't seen anything yet."

"I don't think I'm the problem right now, Ruby," Charlie said. "Out."

Down on the beach, under the moonlight, with the waves lapping at the shore, Bianca and Liam had missed everything. They kissed, completely lost in each other.


Next time… Angelo defends himself, Ruby and her parents attempt to work through their issues and Ross is taken ill…