The peace of Rachel's first day back didn't last long at all.

It was 10:30AM. Rachel had spent two hours in her office, catching up on paperwork and responding to emails. Her head was starting to ache and her body felt stiff from sitting for so long.

She decided to take a break and go for a walk around the school to stretch her legs.

She walked along the empty corridors, relishing in the rare silence. Every classroom she passed, the kids were working quietly. Grantly had, as usual, fallen asleep at his desk, whilst the pupils got on with their work.

With a sigh, she tapped on the window. Grantly shot up, smiling at Miss Mason as she walked away. The laughter of the students echoed through the corridor.

She stopped at Eddie's classroom, watching him teach. The students seemed to be listening enthusiastically as he talked through various equations on the board.

Rachel loved watching Eddie teach. Even though she found Maths boring, she loved his enthusiasm for the subject. It was rare in teaching to have a maths teacher who loved the subject as much as Eddie did. She moved along the corridor and down the stairs into reception.

Her attention was immediately drawn to a commotion coming from outside the building.

The cold October air hit her as she stepped outside. She shivered, focussing her attention on the source of the noise she'd heard.

A man, who seemed to be a Taxi driver, was stood outside of his car, arguing with a younger woman with fiery red hair. She had five children stood next to her. Four boys, one of them a toddler, and a girl, aged around 13.

Rachel observed quietly as the woman and the man continued to argue furiously.

Suddenly, one of the boys, the second oldest out of the four, lunged at the taxi driver. He grabbed him roughly by his jacket, pinning him up against the car.

"Where are you going?! I'm not done with you! Who do you think you are? Apologise now!" He snarled

Rachel leapt into action, dashing over. She immediately pulled the boy off the older man.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Get off him!" She hissed

The boy looked her up and down with a sneer.

"Earl, that's enough, please!" The young woman with the fiery red hair pleaded

The boy ignored her. He lunged forward again. But Rachel was quick to react. She pushed him back firmly, standing in between him and the taxi driver.

"I won't say that again! Now what's going on here?" She demanded

The boy, whose name she now knew was Earl, walked right up to her, so his face was merely a centimetre away from hers, his body pressed against her own. Rachel wasn't intimidated by the child in front of her, or she told herself that anyway. After all, he was just that, a child.

"And who are you?" He growled

She stood up taller

"I'm the Head of this school. Who the hell are you?" She retorted

Earl grinned at her menacingly

"Your worst nightmare" he hissed

"Earl, please! Stop it!" The younger woman pleaded again

Rachel had met kids with various behavioural problems. But she'd never met anyone like Earl Kelly. He had cold, colourless eyes that were so dark, they were almost black. He had a bad attitude, as well as a chip on his shoulder. His eyes and the way they burned into her own, reminded her of someone. She knew someone who had stared at her like that time and again. She immediately pushed the thought out of her mind. Earl was not Stuart. He was a child.

The boys at Waterloo Road were a challenge, some of the girls too. It was the same at every school. But with the boys, once you pushed passed that "Macho Crap", as Rachel called it, majority of the time it was all an act, a mask they wore to help them to fit in. This didn't seem to be the case with Earl Kelly.

The young woman with the fiery red hair stepped forward, an apologetic look in her eyes.

"Look, I'm sorry, we just had a little..."

She paused

"I'm Rose Kelly, I'm here to enrol the kids in school" she explained

Rachel scoffed, lost for words. She couldn't be serious?!

"Enrol? Uhm- I don't," Rachel stammered

"That's made your day hasn't it, love?" Earl smirked sarcastically

Rachel glared at him, turning back to Rose.

"Look, I just need," she stuttered, struggling again to find the words

"Don't worry, I want to be at your poxy school about as much as you want me here" Earl snapped, getting face to face with Rachel again

Eddie, who had heard the noise from his classroom, dashed outside as soon as the bell rang for break.

"Is there a problem?" He asked, dashing down the steps to join Rachel

Earl instantly backed away from Rachel, continuing to scowl at her. Rachel breathed a silent sigh of relief as she felt Eddie's presence. Usually she didn't need or want back up. But today and in this case, she did.

At this point, the Taxi Driver seemed to have regained his confidence and found his voice.

"Yeah there's a problem! Five of them! I should have known when they asked me to bring them here! Typical flamin Waterloo Road! They should have burnt this place to the ground a long time ago!" He rambled angrily

Eddie pushed him into his car, slamming the door on him.

"Get this vehicle off school property!" He demanded

The Taxi Driver huffed angrily as he drove away.

Eddie turned back to Rachel, who was stood back from the young Mother and her children. She needed support with this situation. He could tell by the way her eyes pleaded with him to help her out.

"Are you ok?" He whispered

"Yes, I'm fine" She nodded, even though she was shaking

She suddenly snapped back to attention

"Ok, let's get inside and sort this mess out, yeah?" She decided, ushering the Kelly family forward toward the building

She looked at Earl, who was hanging back

"And I mean all of you, come on" she added

They went inside, Rose explaining to Rachel and Eddie that she'd spoken to the council office before coming to the school.

Rachel was feeling increasingly out of her depth, something she rarely felt in her job as Head Teacher. Usually she was given notice for things like this. The lack of organisation made her feel queasy.

Eddie thought this whole situation was ridiculous. It was out of his and Rachel's control. He wasn't going to stand for it.

"Look, I'm really sorry, but maybe you could try again tomorrow?" He suggested to Rose

"NO!" Rose yelled

Rachel jumped at Rose's sudden outburst

Eddie looked at Rachel, having seen her flinch out of the corner of his eye. She was panicking and shutting down. The unexpected situation had thrown her off guard. He needed to deal with this.

"I need you to- Look, I'm trying to do the right thing here" Rose continued, her tone a lot calmer now

Rachel realised Rose was making eye contact with her, trying to get through to her since Eddie wasn't really listening.

"Yes Rose, I realise that" she mumbled

Rose threw her hands up in disbelief

"I can't win! When I kept them out of school, you threatened to put me inside. Now first thing I do is bring them to school and you're basically telling me no!"

Rachel and Eddie sighed. Eddie was ready to turn them away. But Rachel felt differently. She couldn't turn them away. Everyone deserved a chance at Waterloo Road, no matter their background.

She hoped she wouldn't regret this.

She cleared her throat.

"Ok, why don't we go to my office? Let's see what we can do" she suggested

"Thank you! Come on you lot!" Rose replied as she gathered all the kids together, her face lighting up in relief

Rachel and Eddie turned toward the stairs in the direction of Rachel's office. After being stared at expectantly by Earl, Eddie picked up a couple of the bags that had been dropped on the floor.

"Can you give us a hand with the little one?" Rose called after the Headmistress and her Deputy Head

Rachel turned with a frown, her eyes falling on the little toddler in the pushchair. He stared back at her with big brown eyes, smiling at her. She sighed, taking the handles of the pushchair and wheeling it down the corridor. Eddie only just managed to suppress his smile as he watched her.

"Are you sure you can manage all that? It's heavier than it looks" Earl snarled sarcastically as she walked along

Rachel glared at him, desperately trying to contain her anger. Earl was going to be a challenge. She knew that much already.

They approached the stairs, the Kelly Family shooting off ahead whilst Eddie and Rachel took one side of the pushchair each to carry the little boy up the stairs. Eddie had insisted on carrying the pushchair up himself because of Rachel's wrist. Even though it was healing, she shouldn't be lifting anything. Rachel had of course brushed him off and helped him anyway, even though it did cause her pain.

Eddie could see how conflicted she was about this situation. It was rare that families waltzed into Waterloo Road unannounced, demanding to be enrolled. If he was still Head Teacher, he probably would have turned them away. But Rachel was different. She cared about giving every person who stepped over the threshold of Waterloo Road a chance. It was one of the many things Eddie loved about her. Turning them away wasn't an option for her, and he respected that decision. But he had his concerns, as Rachel did.

"We don't know anything about them, except that she's hell-bent on dumping her kids on us!" Eddie grumbled to Rachel as they walked up the stairs with the pushchair

Rachel raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if she'd have to remind him that this was a school after all.

"This is the best place for them!" She pointed out

"Rachel!" Eddie huffed

Of course school was where they were supposed to be and was the best place for them to be. But that wasn't the point.

Still, Rachel wasn't up for a debate with Eddie.

"Why don't you get onto their last school? See what you can find out about them?" She suggested

Eddie huffed in frustration

Neither of them had noticed some of the students were staring at them as they carried the little boy up the stairs.

"Cute baby, Miss!" Chlo teased

"Looks just like you, sir!" Janeece chimed in

"Oi, cheeky!" Eddie shouted back at her with a chuckle

Rachel blushed furiously as they reached the top of the stairs. She was desperately trying not to laugh.

Composing herself, she led the Kelly family into her office, sitting down at her desk with the paperwork she needed. Reluctantly, she had closed the office door to leave Eddie to get in touch with the Kelly family's previous school.

Earl and the younger boy, Denzil, sat at the table in the corner of the office, looking bored out of their minds.

The young girl, Sambucca, sat quietly on the sofa next to the eldest boy, Marley. Marley was keeping Prince, the youngest, entertained.

Rose Kelly sat opposite Rachel at her desk nervously.

"Ok. Let's have date of births, previous addresses and current address" Rachel requested, grabbing a pen

"For god sake, how much longer is this going to take?!" Earl scoffed

Rose snapped her head towards him

"Earl, please! It's not like you've got anywhere better to be!" She scolded

"I could be at home!" He hissed, glaring at her

"No, you couldn't, and we both know why!" Rose shot back,

She turned back to Rachel, smiling apologetically.

"Sorry, it's just... we have a slight problem with the current address" she mumbled

"Right..." Rachel replied slowly, urging Rose to continue

"I don't know what it is yet" she explained

"Well what are we gonna do at home time? We don't know where to go do we?" Sambucca questioned, panicking

"For god sake, Sam! I'll pick you up!" Rose snapped, rolling her eyes

Sambucca sighed in despair, putting her head in her hands.

"Marley!" Denzil piped up, looking to his brother desperately

Marley sighed, moving Prince off his knee.

"Mum, just text us the address. We'll find our own way back" he said, shifting uncomfortably

"Don't be stupid! What's the problem?" Rose laughed

Rachel wanted to know the answer to that too. These kids really didn't like the idea of their Mum coming to pick them up at the end of the day. Rachel had a feeling it went beyond being embarrassed.

"Well, by three o'clock you'll be pissed. Won't you?" Earl stated matter of factly

"That's not funny!" Rose scolded, glaring at Earl

Rose let out a nervous laugh, looking at Rachel, before turning back to her children.

"Don't make stupid jokes!" She giggled

An awkward silence filled the room, tension fogging the air. Rachel sighed. Rose's children weren't joking. They were speaking from past experience.

Rose's face dropped suddenly, becoming stern as she addressed her children.

"Kids, I'm doing my best here. Can you not make it any harder?" She scolded

Earl stood up angrily

"I'm not staying here and listening to this again" he grumbled

Marley stood in front of the door, instructing Earl to sit back down. The tension in the air suddenly ramped up in intensity. Rachel could feel a dull ache starting in the back of her head. She massaged her temples before intervening.

"Why don't we all calm down?" Rachel suggested

Rachel's words seemed to fall on deaf ears. Earl and Marley were head to head. She could sense a fight about to break out between the brothers.

"No one is going anywhere, ok? Let's get this sorted out. Sit down" Marley growled

Earl huffed angrily, turning back around to glare at his Mother. Rachel felt uncomfortable seeing the amount of anger flashing in his eyes.

Eddie finally came into the office, looking a little aggravated. Rachel frowned, trying to read him.

"I managed to speak to someone at your old school. Mrs Fox" he announced

Rose's face dropped when she heard the name.

"Oh, look, Earl is really sorry about what happened" Rose reasoned

Rachel and Eddie both looked to Earl, studying him carefully. He didn't look the least bit remorseful for whatever he'd done at his previous school. The smirk on his face was proof of that.

"It was just a nasty accident, wasn't it love?" Rose added, looking at Earl

Earl nodded unconvincingly. Eddie looked like he was about to explode with anger, his foot tapping loudly against the floor.

Rachel couldn't stand it. She needed the context.

She frowned at Rose.

"Sorry... what sort of 'accident'?" She asked

"The sort where a chair accidentally flies across the room" Eddie explained

Rachel sighed heavily, shaking her head in disbelief.

Rose was quick to swoop in.

"Things just got a bit out of hand!"

Rachel raised an eyebrow at her. That seemed to be an understatement.

"Look, we've had our ups and downs, yeah? But we're trying to make a fresh start... I've got us a new house so that we can be a proper family. And Marley and Earl can get their exams this year and," Rose reasoned, half pleading

Rachel stopped her. She couldn't listen to anymore.

"Ok. You can stay" she sighed

Rose smiled at her gratefully.

Eddie groaned internally at Rachel's words. He had a bad feeling about Earl Kelly. Rachel did too, but she knew Rose wouldn't back down. She wanted to believe the family wanted to turn over a new leaf and have a fresh start. It was her duty to help them if she could. Everyone was capable of change, it was never too late. Rachel knew that better than anyone.

"But, you need to know that when it comes to violence, this school has zero tolerance" she warned

She looked at Earl

"So, no more flying chairs. No more picking fights, Earl" she added

Earl rolled his eyes, refusing to make eye contact. Rachel was determined to get through to him.

"Earl, I am talking to you" she scolded

"And he's listening!" Rose reassured, shooting her son a look

Earl nodded sarcastically, giving Rachel a patronising smile.

"I'll be a good little boy, I promise" he grumbled

Rose smiled, but Rachel didn't. Something about that boy unnerved her. She couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Good! Is that it then?" Rose asked, standing up

"Well, we," Rachel stammered

Rose ignored her, heading for the door.

"Mrs Kelly!" Eddie called after her

Rose turned around, rolling her eyes

"Sorry! I'll be back for them at three" she shrugged, walking away

Rachel scoffed, staring at Eddie in disbelief. There had been a lot more she'd wanted to discuss with Rose. But it would have to wait.

She stood up from her desk and headed over to the printer just outside her office, picking up the timetables she'd printed earlier. Eddie followed her. He could feel the stress radiating off her. He wanted to check in with her, make sure she was ok. But she had other ideas, handing him the papers from the printer.

"These are the timetables for today. We can fine tune them once we get to know their abilities I guess" she shrugged

"Or lack thereof" Eddie pointed out

Rachel sighed. She wasn't too happy about the situation either. But they had to make the best of it.

"Why isn't there one for Marley?" Eddie questioned, looking through the timetables

"I want to have a one to one with him" Rachel explained

Eddie nodded. It wasn't just Rachel who had noticed Marley's potential at a first glance.

"Not quite the first day back you expected, eh?" Eddie sighed

Rachel shrugged

"Not exactly, no. We should have known better than to expect an easy ride though shouldn't we?"

"You'll be needing a drink tonight by the end of play. I'll even buy it for you" Eddie suggested

Rachel smiled

"Maybe. We'll see how it goes, hmm?"

Eddie smirked. He knew that was a yes in Rachel's language.

They headed back into the office, giving the kids their timetables. Marley took Prince to the crèche, whilst Eddie escorted Sam, Earl and Denzil to their lessons.

Rachel sat back in her chair, letting out a deep sigh. She hadn't been expecting her first day back to be calm or to run smoothly. But she hadn't expected this to happen either.

She didn't know it yet, but the trouble had only just begun.

Only Earl knew about the gun in his bag...