Chapter Five Hundred and Seventy Two

"Can't I just stay home?" Ruby begged.

Charlie sighed.

"Ruby, you're going to have to face up to things eventually," she said. "If you skip school, everyone's going to know why. You're only going to make it harder for yourself by avoiding the situation."

Ruby looked plaintively at Joey who frowned. She felt sorry for Ruby but she couldn't help but agree with Charlie. Ruby was going to have to deal with the chaos she and Romeo had created sometime. It may as well be now.

"It's not fair!" Ruby complained. "You have no idea how hard this is for me! You have no idea what I'm walking into!"

"Ruby, we both know what it's like to have a tough time in high school," Charlie said firmly.

She opted not to point out that their tough times hadn't been down to their own making.

"We get it," she continued. "And we are one hundred per cent here to help you through it."

"By forcing me to go to school?"

"By not letting you hide away and let the problem escalate," Joey corrected.

Charlie smiled gratefully at her.

"So, please finish getting ready and I will drop you in," she said to Ruby. "I will also pick you up at lunch time and the three of us and can eat together at the restaurant. How does that sound?"

Ruby grudgingly accepted it and sloped off to her room to finish getting ready.


Romeo walked to school via the beach with Xavier. He just couldn't believe how quickly and drastically his life had fallen to pieces. He had never ever been the kind of person who would cheat on someone. He felt like over the past few months, his entire life had spiralled completely out of control and he had no idea how to fix it.

"Well, we all know it wasn't your fault, mate," Xavier said.

Romeo paused and stared at his friend.

"Don't forget, I know what Ruby's like," the younger boy continued. "And she's got even worse since I went out with her. I mean, going from you to Casey Braxton in a matter of days? What a slut!"

"Hey!" Romeo snapped.

Despite everything, he still felt protective. He was furious with Ruby for telling Indi what happened but he was more furious with himself for having let her have anything to tell.

"Ruby isn't a slut," he said. "And it wasn't all down to her. I was the one in a relationship. I was the one who cheated."

They continued walked but Romeo stopped abruptly when he saw Indi, the love of his life, up ahead. They locked eyes for a moment. The sadness he saw in her broke his heart. She walked away without a word.


"Do you think we did the right thing?" Charlie asked, pulling into a parking space outside the restaurant.

They had dropped Ruby at school and now Charlie was dropping Joey at work before she headed to the police station. Joey chewed her lip and then sighed.

"I think so," she said. "I hope so."

Charlie leant back in her seat. Joey held her hand. She lifted it to her lips and kissed it.

"What you said before was completely right," she said. "Running away from the problem really won't help."

Charlie nodded and thanked her.

"I just…"

"Don't want her to be upset," Joey finished.

"Yeah," Charlie sighed.

"She'll be okay," Joey said more certainly than she felt.

They kissed, promising to see each other at lunch time.


"We're going to be late for work!" Bianca protested.

She and Liam had made up the night before the only way they knew how and subsequently, they hadn't got much sleep. Now, they were very much at risk of being late for work. But it definitely felt better than arguing.


Joey, Claire and Scott hadn't been at work for long when Brax sauntered in, carrying a handful of flyers. He had deliberately decided to visit Bucktons' himself rather than sending his lackey, Angelo, who currently believed he was an important cog in the Braxton machine.

"What do you want?" Joey asked coldly.

"I just brought you some flyers for our new bar," Brax said, placing them on the counter. "We're opening for a trial run today. If you didn't mind handing them out."

Joey picked one up: The Pizza Oven. She pulled a face and suggested they might be putting too many eggs in Angelo's Italian heritage.

"Well, he seems pretty confident," Brax said. "Plus, I do know a thing or two about business so don't you worry yourself about it."

"I won't," she replied.

But the truth was, she was worried. Up until now, she had cornered the market. She and Leah didn't especially steal business from each other. The complimented each other if anything. But Brax's Bar could very a very different story.

"But I'm not handing out your flyers," she said, sliding them back to him.

"That's not very friendly," he said.

"Nor was trying to kiss my girlfriend," she replied.

"Actually, that was pretty friendly," he joked.

She was not amused.

"Oh, come on!" he tried. "Can't we just all be friends?"

"No," she replied. "Please leave."

He shrugged and departed, leaving the flyers behind. Scott picked them up and shoved them in the recycling.


Ruby was counting down the minutes until Charlie would pick her up from school and take her off for lunch. She was hoping that she would be able to persuade her and Joey to let her have the afternoon off. Apart from April, none of her friends were talking to her. Understandably, Romeo was avoiding her like the plague. Dex was furious with her for what she had done to his sister. For some reason, Xavier had taken the moral high ground. Even Casey had backed off. She felt desperately alone.


Angelo felt unsettled. He had been busy all morning, setting up for the trial opening of The Pizza Oven, a name he had suggested and was quite proud of. He still wasn't sure he had made the right decision to leave Bucktons', to leave Charlie and Joey behind. They were two of his closest friends and he hated being at war with them. And choosing Brax and his buddies was a good way of making that happen. He was also sure, from the comings and goings he had observed today that Brax was serving more than food and booze in this place. He was worried that he might be getting in over his head already. He was scared that if something went wrong working for him, Brax would have no hesitation in letting him take the fall for it. And Angelo already knew what jail was like. He couldn't go back there.

"You alright there?" Brax asked, startling him.

He had appeared from nowhere.

"Yeah, yeah, of course," he said quickly.

"You were just staring us out over there," Brax said, nodding to some of the River Boys.

"Oh, no," Angelo lied. "I was just thinking. Lost in my head."

"Well, you just remember that you don't see anything here, okay?" Brax warned, patting him on the shoulder.

Angelo nodded. He swallowed, watching Brax walk away. He had definitely made a mistake. He wondered if it was too late to get out.


As soon as Ruby got into the car, she burst into tears. Charlie wanted to cut the engine and give her a hug but Ruby begged her to keep driving and get away from the school.

"So, this morning didn't go well?" Charlie concluded.

"It went horrifically," Ruby said. "I begged you to let me stay at home, Charlie!"

"I'm sorry, Ruby. But it would have been harder next week or the week after, I promise you."

Ruby turned to look at her.

"Please don't make me go back today," she begged. "Please?"

Charlie sighed.

"Let's talk about it over lunch," she said. "You can talk us both through what happened."

Ruby sank back into the seat, looking out the window through her tears, watching the blurry world go by.


Miles was on his lunch break at work and had ducked out to speak to Joey. He waited for her to finish serving some drinks to a couple of guys and then stepped closer to the bar, a cheerful smile on his face.

"Hello!" he said. "How are you doing? How's your wrist?"

"Oh, it's pretty much back to normal," Joey said, flexing it. "How's your head?"

He tilted his head from side to side.

"Back to normal," he said. "I think. I hope!"

He grinned. She laughed. Then he looked more serious, leaning his forearms on the bar.

"Listen, Jo," he said. "You're not going to like this but I've decided to drop the charges against Heath Braxton."

Joey's heart sank. It showed on her face.

"Why?" she asked.

"It's this kid, Casey… you know, his brother?" Miles said. "I'm helping him out with his schoolwork and there's just no way I can do that if I'm taking his big brother to court."

Joey sighed. She was frustrated but she completely understood. She would do exactly the same thing in Miles's position. Who wouldn't sacrifice themselves to help out a vulnerable kid?

"I'm sorry, Joey," Miles said. "I know me pulling out wrecks your case against him."

"Nothing would have happened to him anyway," Joey sighed.

"Probably not," Miles agreed. "But I am sorry. I don't want to let you down and personally, I'm still furious about it all. It wasn't exactly the welcome back to Summer Bay I wanted! But this kid has so much potential. He can achieve so much and I don't want to block his path in any way."

"Do you really think he's a good kid?" Joey asked, thinking about his connection to Ruby.

"I do," Miles said. "He's a different mould to his brothers for sure."

"I'll bear that in mind," Joey said. "Thanks."

Miles nodded and headed back out, passing Charlie and Ruby on their way in. Joey waved and let Scott know she was going on her break, heading over to join her family at their table. She immediately saw Ruby's tear stained face and knew it wasn't going to be a happy lunch.

"Hey, guys," she greeted.

She leant over and kissed Charlie's cheek.

"Not a great day so far?" she asked Ruby gently.

Ruby shook her head.

"She doesn't want to go back to school this afternoon," Charlie filled in.

Joey sighed. It was hard to know what the right thing was to do. She looked at Charlie who looked and felt utterly helpless.

"If we let you have this one afternoon off, do you promise to go back tomorrow morning with your head held high?" Joey asked.

Ruby looked up hopefully.

"I promise!" she said.

Charlie and Joey exchanged glances, silently communicating.

"Then fine," Charlie said. "One afternoon and then you're back in tomorrow."

"Why don't you call Claire?" Joey suggested. "She's not working today. I'm sure she would love to see you."

Ruby nodded eagerly, pulling her phone out and texting her friend.

"What did Miles want?" Charlie asked her partner while her daughter was busy.

"He's dropping the charges against Heath," Joey informed her.

"What?" Charlie asked, alarmed.

Joey put her hand up to calm her down.

"It's fine," Joey said. "I get it. It's disappointing but I get it and in his position, I would probably do the same thing."

"What's his position?" Charlie asked.

Joey glanced at Ruby who was still texting.

"He's tutoring Casey Braxton," Joey explained.

Ruby half listened while she texted back and forth with Claire, who had replied immediately and arranged to meet up with her after lunch.

"He thinks that pressing charges against Heath is creating a block between him and Casey and he wants to do everything he can to help him," Joey explained. "I get it. I respect it."

Charlie held her hand across the table.

"You're a better person than I am," she said.

Joey half laughed, shrugging.

"I'm not sure about that," she said. "I still hate the guy. Heath, I mean. Not Miles. I love Miles."

"Everyone loves Miles!" Charlie laughed.

"Well, you did kiss Miles once!" Ruby interjected.

Charlie blushed. Joey raised her eyebrows.

"I don't think I've heard this story before," Joey said.

"Sorry…" Ruby said, ducking her head and returning to her phone.

"Thanks for your input, kid," Charlie said sarcastically.

"So, when exactly did you kiss Miles?" Joey teased.


It had been an intense afternoon. Elijah's emotions were all over the place. He had spent all day at the hospital with his stepson, Thabo, like he had for several days now. Leah had brought VJ to see him, as the boys had become friends in recent days. It had been nice for Thabo but that in itself had made everything even harder, his old life and his new life colliding.


Lunch had been brought to a somewhat abrupt end when Charlie had taken a call from Angelo. She'd been surprised to hear from him, being that he had barely spoken to her or Joey since their falling out over the rebuild and him going to work for Brax.

Today was the first day that The Pizza Oven had opened and from what they could gather, business was booming. The place was filled with River Boys at least. And that meant two things. One: more people were heading into Brax's than into their restaurant. Two: there were more and more River Boys charging into Summer Bay.

However, now Charlie had taken an urgent, hushed call from Angelo, claiming he had overheard Brax arranging a drug deal. He admitted that he wasn't comfortable working for Brax and wanted to come 'home'. He apologised for everything and asked if there was still a place for him with them. Charlie hadn't been able to commit to anything, being that technically they had already replaced him with Scott. But she also felt sorry for him and as a family, they did miss him. She knew Joey would find room for him on the payroll if she possibly could. They both hated the way their friendship had ended. It had been awful.

Now, Charlie and Watson were waiting outside the bar, down by the beach, following Angelo's instructions and eager to catch Brax, the leader of the gang in the act. If they could bring him down then all the River Boys would fall and they could claim their town back at last!

"There he is!" Watson said, pointing to Brax walking up to some other tattooed looking thug, who had just pulled up in his car.

They both looked shifty. Charlie and Watson held back, watching them closely and wanting to catch them in the actual act of dealing. They watched money and a small package exchange hands before they pounced. Watson went for the thug. Charlie went for Brax.

"Hey!" Brax protested. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I've got cause to search you, please, Darryl Braxton," Charlie said. "Turn out your pockets."

She didn't like the cocky way he smiled at her.

He took the package out of his pocket and opened it, tipping it's contents into her hand: penny sweets. Not drugs. Penny sweets. She resisted slapping his smug face.

"I think your intel might be misinformed, Sergeant," he said.


Ruby was having a nice afternoon. She was grateful to her parents for allowing her to have the day off. She wished she didn't have to go back into school tomorrow. All she wanted to do was stay at home and hide away with Claire like she was now.

"I feel like we haven't hung out like this in ages," Ruby said.

"I guess we haven't really," Claire said.

"Why not?"

"Well, you've been kind of busy," Claire said.

Her words weren't accusatory, just factual. And perhaps a little hurt.

"I'm sorry," Ruby said. "I got too caught up with myself, didn't I? Too caught up with stupid boys and I forgot about what was most important – my best friend."

"It's okay," Claire said.

She was always so forgiving.

"I've been busy too," she told her. "I've been working and I made some other friends. I've been spending a lot of time with Dex and with the new guy at the restaurant, Scott. And there's another guy called Blake, who your Mum works with that Scott absolutely has a crush on, whose been spending time with us all."

Ruby smiled sadly at the thought of this group having formed that not only was she not a part of but she also had had no idea existed. Claire was her best friend and Ruby had become so distant from her that she had formed a whole new life away from her.

"Well, I'd love to spend time with those guys if you'd let me," Ruby said. "Be part of your new life."

Claire beamed at her.

"That would be amazing," she said. "Of course I'd let you. I always want to spend time with you. You know that. You're my best friend in the whole world."

"And you're mine," Ruby confirmed. "I love you."

"I love you too," Claire replied.


Angelo tensed when Brax arrived back at the bar looking deadly serious. The gang leader strode up to him, placing his hands firmly on the bar, looking him directly in the eye.

"I'm giving you this one chance," Brax told him. "You can walk out of here and we say no more about it. I don't need you. I've taken pity on you by giving you this job, okay? Look around you. I have plenty of guys who can fill your shoes."

"Yeah… yeah, I get it," Angelo stammered. "And I'm grateful."

"So why are you running to the cops about my business deals?" Brax accused.

Angelo blanched and attempted to deny it.

"Angelo, mate, when are you going to realise that I'm always going to be one step ahead of you?" Brax asked.

Angelo hated him.

"I was testing you," Brax said. "And you fell into the trap like the pig you used to be. Your little friend came running down to bust me for selling sweets. And I mean that literally. If you ever thought she was going to take you back, you were seriously wrong. She's more pissed at you than she's ever been."

Angelo's heart sank. Everything he did, he did it wrong.


Joey sat on the sofa, getting dizzy from watching Charlie pace the floor, ranting about Angelo's ignorance and Brax's brazen attitude.

"I just can't believe that Angelo is so stupid!" Charlie complained. "And worse than that, he made me look stupid! Honestly, Joey, I really thought I had him! I thought I had the chance to actually get rid of those bastards from our town, from our lives, once and for all! And it was all based on nothing!"

She shook her head and threw herself onto the couch. Joey held her hand and begged her to calm down.

"You tried, okay?" she said. "I want to get rid of them as much as you do. I can't stand them. But winding yourself up like this isn't going to help. And quite frankly, we have more important things to worry about…"

She nodded towards Ruby who was curled up in the big armchair, under a blanket, vacantly watching the TV. Claire had reported back that although they had had a good afternoon together, their daughter was still struggling a lot. Charlie sighed.

"Yeah," she said. "We do."


Nicole arrived home from a date with Angus, a boy from University that she had been getting on really well with for a number of weeks. The date had gone well and she liked him. He also didn't seem freaked out about her situation, which was a plus.

She paused when she saw Romeo sat on the sofa in darkness and silence. She was angry with him still for how he had treated Indi and for dragging her into his mess and potentially costing her their friendship. However, she did still care about him and was worried about his state of mind. Sighing, she entered the living room and hovered awkwardly behind him, asking him how he was. He glanced up at her with tired eyes. He shrugged.

"Come on, Romeo, you can't carry on like this forever," she said.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked weakly.

"What do you want?" Nicole asked. "Who do you want?"

"I want Indi," he replied sincerely.

"Then you need to fight for her, don't you?" she said. "If she truly is the love of your life then you need to make her know that. And you need to apologise to Ruby for the damage you've done. I know it wasn't all you and that she played her role but I don't imagine it's you that's getting all the hassle at school for it."

Romeo nodded and thanked her. She smiled sadly and headed upstairs.


Next time… Roo Stewart returns, Watson and Kerri discuss the future and Casey stands up for Ruby…