Rachel stepped into her empty home, with a broken heart. She dropped her bags. The silence filled her ears. This was the first time in months that Eddie hadn't come home with her. And he never would again.
It had been less than an hour since she'd left Eddie in front of the ruins of the school. The building of Waterloo Road had been damaged, bulldozed by Ralph Mellor. And, as if that wasn't enough, her sister had shown up after being AWOL for months, pregnant with Eddie's baby. Her life had fallen apart in the space of one day.
She didn't understand it. This morning, everything had been perfect. Rachel and Eddie had come into school, the happiest they'd ever been, ready for the last day of term. They were excited for the evening. The car was already packed with their suitcases, so they could head straight to the Airport for their "Holiday of a Lifetime", as Eddie had called it. They were going to the Maldives, somewhere Rachel had wanted to visit for years. She was so excited to go on holiday with Eddie for the first time, to stroll along the beach with him, to drink cocktails and talk late into the night, to sit together and enjoy the view from the hut they were staying in. It was going to be perfect.
She had been happy the last few months. Blissfully happy. Everything had been falling into place.
And, within seconds, it had all been taken from her.
She walked into the living room, collapsing onto the sofa and curling up into a ball. As she stared at the ceiling, she thought about their last kiss, just three hours ago, before she'd got onto the coach. She'd savoured every second of it, the way his lips felt against hers, the butterflies that erupted in her stomach when he wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer to him, and the smell of his aftershave which she had grown to love. She'd memorised all of it, knowing it would be their last.
Had she been naive?
Was her relationship with Eddie really going to last?
Eddie had taken the break up well, or he seemed to have anyway. He seemed fine. Of course he may have been putting up a front for her sake.
But what if he wasn't?
What if he didn't feel the same way that she had?
If what they'd had was real, why was she a mess, and he had been fine?
They had lost so much in the space of one day. Their dreams, their plans for the future, everything was gone, demolished, lying in tatters, just like the front half of the school building.
She wanted to forget Eddie Lawson. She wanted to forget he'd ever existed. He had come into her life, stolen her heart, broken down her walls. And then he'd broken her heart and caused her nothing but pain.
She wanted to forget the stupidly perfect little things about him. Like his cheeky grin, the way he held her in his arms when she was upset or angry. Or the way it felt having his arm wrapped around her waist before she fell asleep at night. She wanted to forget all the memories they'd shared together, to mend her broken heart.
Because she wasn't fine at all.
But there was hope. Hope that Rachel was clinging onto for dear life.
She'd planned on telling Eddie the secret she'd been keeping for the last two weeks whilst they were on holiday. The secret being, that she was pregnant. She had been so excited to tell him, but today, that excitement had died when Melissa had stepped into her office. How could she tell him? How could she make him choose between her and her sister? So she'd stayed quiet.
She was going to raise their baby alone. But that was ok. It was probably for the best. She didn't need Eddie to raise a child. She was perfectly capable of being a single Mum. He'd given her something to live for, without even knowing. She'd lost Eddie, but she'd gained something else in his absence.