At Steph's house, Maxine was putting some flowers into a vase. There was a curry cooking on the stove, and music was playing in the living room. Janeece was dancing and humming around the kitchen. Maxine giggled.

Janeece grabbed a spoon, tasting the curry sauce. To her surprise, it tasted great!

"Check you out, 'Nigella what-ser-face!'" she chuckled

Maxine laughed

"This is the least I can do. I was so mean to Steph earlier" she sighed

"I think hearing that you've binned Earl will do the trick, Max" Janeece replied

Maxine smiled.

"You know what the best thing is? After him, anyone else you go out with from now on will seem like Prince Charming!" Janeece joked

"No way! I am DONE with boys! They are nothing but aggro! I'm going to become a nun!" Maxine huffed, carrying the vase of flowers toward the living room

"Yeah, right!" Janeece scoffed

"I'm dead serious!" Maxine insisted

"What about... Gary Entwhistle?" Janeece called from the kitchen

Maxine wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"You're joking? The nose on him! It'd be like snogging an elephant!"

Janeece laughed, following Maxine through the hallway.

"Steven McDermott?" she suggested

Maxine scoffed

"No way! He went out with Tanya Evans, he'd need disinfecting!" she joked, arranging the flowers in the vase

"Pete Williamson?"

"Oh, alright, if you're twisting my arm!" Maxine giggled

Janeece suddenly fell silent in the hallway. Maxine watched as her best friend walked into the living room backwards. The colour had drained from her face and her eyes were staring at something Maxine couldn't see. Janeece looked like she'd seen a ghost. Maxine smirked, thinking Janeece was having a laugh.

"What?" she laughed, frowning at Janeece's odd behaviour

The smile quickly died from her face when she saw what Janeece had been staring at, or who, actually. Her blood ran cold as her eyes locked with Earl's.

"Maxine" he breathed

She stood up abruptly, backing away from the coffee table. The way he was acting frightened her. He was unnaturally calm, his cold, black eyes devoid of emotion. She stared at him, her heart hammering against her chest.

"You need to listen to me" he told her

"Nothing you say is going to make any difference, Earl" she replied firmly, backing further away

"Besides, you can't come in here, telling her what to do. She dumped you, deal with it!" Janeece piped up

Earl turned to Janeece, his demeanour eerily calm.

"Get out" he whispered

Janeece scoffed.

"Who do you think you are?" she growled

Earl reached into the waistband of his trousers, pulling out a gun. Maxine stared at it, glued to the spot.

Janeece saw it too, her eyes darting to Maxine.

"I said, get out" Earl repeated

Janeece refused to move, her concern for her best friend only increasing. She was terrified. But she wasn't leaving Maxine. Not now.

"This has got nothing to do with you" he added, his voice becoming angrier

Maxine locked eyes with Janeece, silently pleading with her to leave, to get to safety. Janeece reluctantly stepped into the hallway.

Maxine turned her attention to Earl. She glared at him. They needed to settle this once and for all. If he thought threatening her with a gun was going to make her run back to him, he had another thing coming.

"What are you doing, Earl? Why bring a gun?"

"Because... I need you to listen to me" he replied simply

He moved closer to her. Maxine couldn't take her eyes off the gun. She had to get it off him somehow, before one, or both of them, got hurt.

"All this, is a misunderstanding. But you're not letting me explain" he continued

"And you need a gun for that?" Maxine challenged, trying to keep her voice soft and calm

"All of it was for you, you know? Everything. Why do you think I waited till now to start talking about a family?"

Maxine rolled her eyes.

"You thought you'd found someone stupid enough to let you get them pregnant"

Earl shook his head, never blinking.

"You and Jade are completely different. How can you compare yourself to that slag? That money would have set us up, Max. Ten grand... for us, for our baby, we'd have been just like a proper family"

Maxine stared at him in disgust and disbelief. How had she let herself fall for Earl Kelly? All he'd ever done was lie.

"And what about Jade's baby?" she questioned

"Who cares? The Social Services will be all over it now anyway!" he shot back

Maxine scoffed.

"How can you talk about family when you don't care what happens to your own child?" she cried

"But we'd be different, Maxine... because we love each other" he reasoned

Maxine shook her head.

"You know what? Listening to you now, I reckon you must be even madder than what everybody said you were!" she hissed

She turned to walk towards the living room door. Earl pointed the gun at the vase, pulling the trigger. Maxine watched as the vase shattered, bits of it landing on the floor. Janeece's screams could be heard from outside.

Maxine stood back, shaking violently as she stared at the broken vase. For the first time that she was in Earl's company, she feared for her life.

"Oh, Max, I'm sorry. But I had to. You wasn't listening to me" Earl whispered

"LOOK AT YOURSELF! LOOK AT WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" she screamed

Earl frowned at her as she started to cry.

"This morning I was so happy. But now... what you've done... I despise you" she sobbed

Earl stared at her, acting as though Maxine had slapped him across the face.

"Max! You can't keep saying these things. It's not right"

Janeece snuck up on Earl from behind, lunging for the gun. Maxine ran to help. The two of them struggled against Earl, trying to get the gun off him. Earl managed to overpower both of them. He knocked Maxine to the floor, pushing Janeece onto the sofa. He pointed the gun at her menacingly, before turning to Maxine, who was quivering on the floor.

"Why are you doing this to me, Maxine?"

She whimpered as he knelt down beside her, running his hand through her hair.

"I'd do anything for you" he told her

"NOTHING YOU DO IS ANY GOOD, EARL!" she yelled, pushing his hand away

"Max..." he whimpered

"You're only happy when everyone around you is miserable or scared! Everything you touch gets poisoned and twisted... you're just a sick little boy..."

BANG!

...

Steph pulled up on the drive, frowning when she noticed the front door was wide open. She got out of the car, stepping into the hallway. The house was eerily quiet.

"Max?" she called

She heard a whimper coming from the living room. It sounded like Janeece. She followed the noise, stepping into the living room.

When she saw Maxine lying on the floor, covered in blood, her blood ran cold. Janeece was sobbing as she held her best friend's hand.

"No!" Steph whispered

"The Police are coming, Max. I swear they'll help you" Janeece sobbed

Steph kneeled down beside her, taking Maxine's other hand into her own.

"I'm here, sweetheart. I'm here" she soothed

Maxine looked at her painfully, her breathing shallow and wheezy.

"I'm... sorry" she whimpered

"Shhh" Steph whispered tearfully, pulling Maxine into her arms

Steph watched- choking back a sob as Maxine's eyes glazed over. It was too late to try and save her.

"Max?" Janeece whimpered

"Don't leave me, Max, please!" Steph cried

It was too late. Maxine's eyelids drifted shut, her body going cold and limp in Steph's arms. Steph began to sob even harder as she felt the life drain out of the only person she'd ever truly loved.

"No!" she sobbed

"Maxine!" Janeece cried