Apologies for the delay in updating. Hopefully you haven't forgotten this one! I am working on some new stuff too. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Five Hundred and Seventy Four

"Are you sure I have to go back to school?" Ruby checked the next morning.

Her parents had allowed her to have the afternoon off again the previous day, although she had not been permitted to encourage Casey to skip school as well. Instead, Joey had granted Claire the afternoon off work and the girls had spent the day together. However, Ruby hadn't let onto them that later, Casey had slipped out of school anyway to meet up with them. She just hoped that Claire wouldn't say anything. Her mood had changed somewhat when Casey had shown up. Ruby wasn't sure if it was that she disapproved or she just didn't like him. Or maybe it had been a little thoughtless to spoil a girls' day, three being a crowd and all that. Whatever the case, she hoped that Claire would keep her mouth shut. Everything was going well with Charlie and Joey at the moment and she didn't want to spoil it.

"Ruby, you have to face up to things at some point," Charlie said seriously. "But we're here to support you, okay? What happened yesterday is not okay."

"So?" Ruby shrugged. "What does that matter? It's never going to stop."

"Well, we need to get to the bottom of it," Charlie said. "We need to find out who did it. It's a criminal offence to do that to you."

She glanced at Joey who munched her toast quietly.

"Listen," Charlie ploughed on. "I wanted to come to the school. In a professional capacity."

Ruby's eyes widened in horror.

"I want to talk to your classmates and explain to them that this behaviour is not acceptable," Charlie continued.

"No!" Ruby protested. "No, Charlie, please don't do that! Let me handle this myself."

"But Ruby, you're not handling it," Joey said gently and without accusation. "You've not managed a full day in school this week."

"Because they're hassling me and nobody will stand up for me and…"

"And your Mum wants to go to the school and stand up for you," Joey pointed out.

"And I really appreciate it but it would make things worse," Ruby said. "It would be so embarrassing and just make people worse. I promise I'll go to school and I promise I'll stay. And actually, I do have someone who'll stand up for me now. I have Casey."

Charlie and Joey exchanged glances.

"Come on, guys," Ruby pleaded. "He was nice yesterday, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, okay, he was nice," Charlie admitted reluctantly.

"He was very polite," Joey agreed.

"And he stood up for me in front of everyone," Ruby said. "He's the new boy at school. He doesn't have a lot of friends. It's a not in his interest to stand up for me. It's not winning him any friends but he still did it. That means something."

"Who else do you have?" Charlie wanted to know.

Ruby sighed and looked down, studying the remains of her coffee.

"Nobody really, to be honest," she admitted sadly. "Xavier has completely sided with Romeo. I mean, we've not really been friends since we split. Why would we be? April hasn't been unkind but she can't really team up with me and go against him. And Dex isn't going to side with me over his sister, is he? After that, there's nobody left. Not at school."

"Look, I'm sure all of this will die down," Joey said, reaching out and squeezing her hand. "This is high school. Dramas don't last forever. You'll get your friends back and you'll be happy. But for now, let's be grateful for Casey, shall we?"

Ruby smiled at her.

"But only Casey, okay?" Charlie checked. "Please don't start hanging out with his mates and his brothers. Please?"

"I promise," Ruby said.


It was lunch time and Nicole had a lot on her mind. Roo had moved back into the house with her, Romeo, Miles and Morag and the pair of them had spent much of the evening discussing both Nicole's plans to adopt her baby and that Roo had had her own baby, Martha, adopted when she was a teenager. Now, Nicole's head was spinning. She was sure she was making the right decision. She had her whole future planned out. And that involved becoming a fashion designer, not becoming a teenage mother to a child fathered by the devil incarnate. That was not her ambition. But there was this nagging doubt in the back of her mind. The fact was, she was pregnant. It was Penn's baby and there was very little she could do about that now. This child existed. The baby was going to grow up and live in this world. Could she really let that happen without being its mother?


"Hello, Stranger," Roo greeted, having found herself back in The Pizza Oven for the second day in as many days.

She quite liked the view of all the shirtless surfers and Angelo was quite nice to talk to.

"Hi!" he greeted enthusiastically. "How are you?"

"I'm pretty good," she said. "Although I think I might be outstaying my welcome at the house already! It's not quite the same without my Dad there!"

He chuckled.

"Well, funnily enough, I'm house hunting at the moment," he ventured a little nervously. "My lease is up at my apartment. I was thinking about looking for a house share…"

"Well, if there's no room at the inn for me, there's definitely no room for you!" Roo quipped.

He laughed again.

"I was thinking more about us looking for somewhere together!" he said.

She eyed him curiously, wondering what his game was. She was aware that he found her attractive. She also knew she would never go there. He was a nice enough guy, although she knew he had a very complicated history in the Bay, not to mention that he'd shot her daughter's husband. He was also technically young enough to be her son, had she had him at the same age she had Martha, which put her off a great deal.

"Well, I do need to look for somewhere…" she ventured. "But why would you want to go from a nice place by yourself to a house share?"

"I have to move anyway," Angelo said. "And to be honest, I could do with the company."

She nodded thoughtfully.

"Not that I'm needy or anything!" he added quickly.

She smiled, amused.

"I just… it can get a bit lonely when you're working with strangers that you don't have all that much in common with," he said, nodding towards the guy Roo assumed was the owner.

Now he was attractive, she thought to herself. But still too young for her.

"I loved working with Joey and the rest of them," Angelo explained more quietly. "It was like being part of a family. So going home on my own was fine; it didn't matter. It was a relief even, after being in a busy restaurant all day or evening. But here… it's different."

"I get that," Roo said thoughtfully. "And I do need a place. Yeah! Yeah, let's do it!"

She raised the glass of wine he had served her. He quickly poured himself a glass of water. They toasted their new plan.


Romeo took a deep breath and approached Joey at the bar of the restaurant. He was nervous, twisting his fingers together and he was worried he smelled of perspiration. He hoped his deodorant was holding up.

"Could we talk?" he asked.

Joey shrugged. She was not pleased to see him. She walked to the end of the bar, leaning her elbows upon it.

"Fire away," she said.

He sighed heavily. This was already not going to plan.

"Joey, I just wanted to apologise," he said. "I betrayed your trust – and Charlie's. I am so sorry for what happened."

"For sleeping with our daughter," Joey said, laying it out.

He nodded and hung his head.

"Yes," he said. "For sleeping with your daughter."

"When she was clearly vulnerable and clearly besotted with you," Joey continued. "You took advantage of her. You knew what you were doing was wrong."

"I did," Romeo said. "Everything you're saying is right. But Ruby did know what she was doing…"

"Ruby believed that you were in love with her," Joey said. "She's just suffered a huge bereavement. And you know that she's had mental health problems, big enough to put her into residential care. We trusted you with her, Romeo. We knew you were spending time together and we didn't think for one second that you would ever take advantage of her feelings for you. We didn't think you could ever be that guy."

"I'm so sorry," Romeo tried.

"I just… you're not the person I thought you were," Joey said sadly.

"I can't live with you hating me, Jo," Romeo pleaded.

"I don't hate you," Joey told him. "I am just so deeply disappointed."

He bowed his head and informed her that that was worse. Then he asked her if there was anything he could do to make things right.

"Well, right now, Ruby is suffering at school because of the mistake that you both made and you don't seem to be doing a thing about it," Joey pointed out. "She's being bullied, having videos made about her and her whole life is being made a misery. Perhaps you should start there if you want to rectify the situation."

"None of that's anything to do with me, Jo," he protested. "I haven't said anything…"

"Precisely," she replied. "You haven't said a damn thing."


Charlie sat at her desk, a discarded sandwich beside her. She had been on paperwork all day, which she found to be the most boring part of her job, however necessary. She liked being out there, part of the action, although even that was less enjoyable these days, now that the River Boys had taken over her beloved Bay. She had hoped that her paperwork day would enable her to cheat and spend some time putting her anniversary plans into place. She had asked Joey to leave everything to her. She wanted to make things extra special this year but she had hardly found the time to arrange everything. And today, when she might have found the time, she was distracted. She couldn't stop thinking about the way her daughter was being treated at school. She knew Ruby didn't want her charging into the school and dealing with it. And she wanted to respect that. She knew she had to respect that. But she was upset for her child. She was fiercely protective of her child. She picked up the phone.


Nicole passed Romeo on her way into Bucktons'. He did not stop and he did not look very happy. She approached Joey at the bar. She also looked stressed.

"Hey, Jo," she greeted warmly. "Are you okay?"

Joey left her employees to it and sat down with Nicole at a table.

"Romeo just came in to apologise to me," she explained.

"Did it go badly?"

Joey sighed.

"I wouldn't say it went badly exactly but… Well, the whole situation is just upsetting," she said.

Nicole frowned and nodded.

"I was pretty shocked when I found out what happened," she said. "I mean, I figured out that Ruby had a crush. She was pretty obvious about it but no way in the world did I ever think Romeo would do that."

"Nor did I," Joey said. "I pretty much just told him as much. I trusted him with her. I know she has to take responsibility for her actions, of course she does. But there are mitigating circumstances for all sorts of things – mental health, grief. And he's been aware of all of those things. She went into it completely believing that he was head over heels in love with her. He went into it because she was something to do when Indi wasn't paying him enough attention, which I find utterly appalling."

They both sighed.

"Anyway," Joey said more cheerfully, changing the subject. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Um… some Joey Wisdom?" Nicole asked hopefully.

"What I'm here for!" Joey replied.


It had been an odd day. Ruby had arrived at school that morning to yet another video. This one had been one of Dex's vlogs. When she had seen it, her heart had dropped, imagining the vilification over the fact that she had slept with his sister's boyfriend. However, it had actually been about the justification of sexual double standards. She had anxiously approached him and he had told her that he wasn't okay with her hurting his sister but that that was between them and he knew that it wasn't just her fault, Romeo was equally, if not more to blame – he was the one who had actually cheated. He had told her that he wasn't ready to be her best friend but he also wasn't prepared to hassle her or give her a hard time. She had been extremely grateful.

Now, as everyone began filing in after lunch, she spotted Romeo's tall, lean form appear at the end of the corridor. She busied herself in her locker, wondering how she had got everything so wrong. It wasn't like he was the first guy she had got fixated on. It was just that he was the first guy to say yes. She wondered if she was doomed to spend her whole life falling so hard and so fast for men who didn't love her.

"Hey."

She turned, startled when she heard his familiar voice behind her.

"Be careful, Romeo!" Xavier called out. "You don't want to catch anything, if you haven't already!"

Before he knew what had happened, Casey had punched him in the face. Xavier leapt back and attempted to land another punch back in Casey's direction but missed. A crowd began to gather to cheer the boys on. Ruby wanted to curl up and die. She caught April watching disapprovingly, glancing around for a teacher. But before one turned up, Romeo stepped forward and separated his friends, yelling for them to stop.

"This has to end!" he said. "Casey, thank you for standing up for Ruby."

"I'm not doing it for you," Casey snapped back.

"I know that," Romeo said. "But you've done it when I should have."

He turned to Xavier.

"You have to stop this," he said. "It's not Ruby's fault. I'm not saying she didn't do wrong. It takes two. But if anyone is to blame, it's me. I cheated. And I knew how Ruby felt about me. I exploited how she felt about me because I felt shit about my crappy life. I ruined my life, her life and Indi's life and I'm sorry."

He turned to Ruby.

"I am so, so sorry."

Everyone was looking at her. She didn't know what to do.

"I'm sorry too," she eventually said.

"I know we're never going to be friends again like we were but can we please stop being enemies?" Romeo asked.

She nodded. He managed a smile.

"And can people please quit with the names, the videos and all the shit they're slinging around? If you're doing it in my name," he looked pointedly at Xavier, "then I don't want it."

He left for his first class of the afternoon. Xavier skulked away, a black eye forming. Casey approached Ruby, asking if she was alright.

"I think so," she said. "A bit shocked, to be honest."


"Well, I think you're actually more in need of Charlie Wisdom than Joey Wisdom," Joey said, when Nicole had told her how she was feeling.

She had spent a significant portion of her evening the night before talking to Roo about her pregnancy. Roo had been awkward surrounding Nicole's questions about her giving up her daughter Martha when she had become pregnant with her as a teenager, clearly not wanting to influence her either way. And now, Nicole was more confused than ever. Her heart was pulling her in different directions. She felt she had committed to Marilyn and she didn't want to let her down. She knew her friend had already planned out the baby's entire life already. But there was this nagging feeling of doubt that she was terrified of giving a voice.

"Charlie probably doesn't want to talk about that though?" she said. "I mean… what happened to her with Ruby…"

"She held it all in for so long that now it's out there, she's actually pretty open about it all now," Joey said confidently. "Especially if it can help a friend. She's bound to pop by later. But if you really do want some Joey Wisdom, all I can tell you is to follow your heart. You only get one shot at this Nic and I know you don't want to let anyone down but for the moment, this is your baby and you need to do what's right for you and him or her or whoever they turn out to be."

Nicole nodded.

"But how do I know if I can raise a child? I'm on my own. I don't have any support. I'm not even twenty yet. I'm at Uni."

"Well, firstly, how does anyone know they can raise a child – at any age? And secondly, you don't have a partner but you're not on your own. You have an army of support. But that doesn't mean you have to go ahead. It's a massive thing to do. You are at Uni and you did have a plan. That's not irrelevant. This has to be what you want and what feels like the right thing."

"And what about Marilyn?" Nicole asked. "I promised."

"And she'll be devastated," Joey agreed. "But she'll recover. And it won't be the worst thing to ever happen to her. She's got Sid and her friends and lots of people who love her who will get her through. She'll be okay. But whatever decision you make, you need to make it before the baby's here. Because it would be too cruel to gift her this child and then change your mind, once she's fallen too deeply in love."


Gina stopped Ruby on her way out of school. Ruby froze, worried about being in trouble.

"Your mother phoned me," the Principal said.

Ruby's face fell. She should have known that Charlie wouldn't be able to stop herself from interfering.

"She mentioned a video?"

"It's been sorted," Ruby assured her. "It's been taken down."

"And how did that happen?" Gina asked sceptically.

"It was Romeo, actually," Ruby admitted. "He told everyone to leave me alone. Just goes to show the world we're still living in – ridicule the girls and listen to the boys."

Gina sighed and patted her arm.

"One day we'll be ruling it," she assured her.

Ruby nodded.

"But you're okay?" the Head Teacher asked. "Your Mum seemed very concerned."

"She doesn't know the video has been taken down," Ruby said. "I'll tell her when I get home tonight. But I promise I'm fine."

"Okay, well, please don't hesitate to come and find me if ever you're not."


Joey had directed Charlie to Nicole as soon as she had arrived at the restaurant. Once more, Nicole had explained her worries about the adoption plan. Charlie listened patiently.

"Well, all I can really tell you is what you've said Joey said, to be honest," she replied. "I think if you've got doubts, you need to dig deep and find out what they really are and why they're there. And you absolutely have to resolve them before you hand the baby over. It's one thing to go back on the plan now but to hand the baby over and then go back on it… that would be devastating. Having said that, if that's what happens, then that's what happens. You still need to do what you need to do and what feels right for you and your child."

"I just don't want to hurt anyone," Nicole said. "I don't want to hurt Marilyn and take away her chance to be a mother when she has wanted it for so long and she's lost so much."

"But?"

"But I'm scared that I won't be able to give up my child."

"Does that mean you want to keep him or her?"

Nicole sighed heavily.

"I don't know," she said. "Being a Mum wasn't part of my plan right now. It doesn't fit with Uni. And I definitely am not a fan of the baby's father."

"Been there!"

"So… how did you cope?"

"I didn't," Charlie admitted. "I didn't choose to give Ruby up. I was too young and that decision was made for me."

"And if you had been given the choice?"

"I would have kept her," Charlie admitted.

"Even though you were just a kid?"

Charlie nodded.

"But my parents did the best they could by me," she said. "I don't mean to be unkind to them. I was suffering with so much trauma. I completely shut down. Then I ran away. They were left with this small baby and they had to step up. By the time I came home, there was no room for me to be Ruby's mother. I'd missed my shot. I'd already lost her. And I was devastated. So think about it, Nicole. Think about what you really want and think about it really carefully. And definitely try and make your decisions before the baby comes. It'll be much better for you and the baby and for Marilyn too."

"Thank you," Nicole said. "And Charlie? I'm so sorry that you had to go through so much trauma and so much loneliness when you were a kid."

"Explains why I was so highly strung when I first arrived here, hey?" Charlie joked.

"Don't do that," Nicole said. "Don't joke."

Charlie chewed her lip anxiously.

"You're an amazing person," Nicole said seriously. "Everything you've been through and how strong and how kind you are. We're all really lucky to have you."


Next time… Charlie makes plans for her anniversary with Joey, Angelo makes his move on Roo and Nicole goes on a bad date…