Once she had dropped Rose off at the Young Offenders Institute, Rachel made the ten minute trip down the road to the office of Denzil's solicitor.

Bolton and Paul had sat quietly throughout the whole trip. Rachel hoped Bolton was thinking over his choices and would change his mind. She doubted it of course. Bolton was just as stubborn as she was. It would take something big to make him rethink, like a miracle.

Once they had entered the office building and signed in, they sat in the Reception area to wait. Well, Bolton and Paul sat down. Rachel stood opposite them, pacing up and down as she took deep breaths to calm the nausea that was bubbling in her stomach again.

She jumped as her phone beeped in her pocket. To her relief, it was a text message from Eddie:

"Rearranged your appointment to tonight at 6:30pm xx"

She was glad he had done that, especially when looked at the time and realised it was already 3:50pm. Where was the time going today?

"Miss Mason?"

Rachel turned to the woman with curly ginger hair. She returned her warm smile.

"Yes, that's me"

"I'm Miss Browitt, Denzil's Solicitor"

Rachel shook her hand.

"Thank you for seeing us on such short notice"

"No problem at all"

Rachel turned to Bolton and Paul.

"Boys, this is Miss Browitt, she's Denzil's Solicitor"

Paul smiled politely at her. Bolton didn't acknowledge her at all, keeping his eyes on the wall opposite him.

"Which one of you boys is Paul?" Miss Browitt asked

Paul quietly raised his hand.

"Thanks for coming in" Miss Browitt said, smiling at him reassuringly

Paul nodded.

"There are a couple of things I need to warn you about. First, when you sign your affidavit, you will be admitting to withholding evidence. Second, you will be expected to explain what you say in front of a Court. Unless they're persuaded that you were intimidated by Earl, you could face charges yourselves. Are you still willing to proceed?"

Paul thought for a moment before nodding. His eyes flicked to Bolton, whose face was empty of emotion as he stared at the wall. There was no chance of persuading him, he knew that now.

"Perhaps you could have a word?" Miss Browitt whispered to Rachel, nodding toward Bolton

Rachel wanted to tell her she had already tried, as had everyone else. She'd figured that fear was Bolton's motivator for continuing to stay silent. And she didn't just mean fear of the story of what happened with him, Paul and Earl getting out, that was only part of it. The other part of his fear was talking to the Solicitor. She'd hoped that once they'd got into the building and Miss Browitt had introduced herself, that Bolton would relax a little and change his mind. But right now, he wasn't playing ball.

She wanted to say it was hopeless trying to get through to him. But, somehow, she found herself nodding at Miss Browitt. She hadn't quite given up on Bolton yet. Until they were leaving the Solicitor's, there was still a chance she could get through to him.

Miss Browitt stepped through the double doors to give them some privacy. Rachel paced a little, gathering her courage to have another battle with Bolton.

"What is it with you, Bolton? Hm? Haven't you got enough people putting themselves on the line here?"

Silence.

"You and I made a deal, do you remember?" she continued

"I remember" he replied, almost robotically

"You do your best and I support you, that was our deal. So WHY are you throwing that back in my face? And how could I have got you so wrong?!"

Bolton's gaze finally moved away from the wall and onto the floor as he shifted in his seat. Rachel saw that as a good sign and that she was making some progress. So she carried on.

"What I saw in you, was someone who was worth going out on a limb for. Not someone who would leave an eleven year old child scared and in a place he shouldn't be!"

Bolton shifted in his seat again. Rachel softened her tone.

"If I knew how little you cared about anyone else, I'm not sure that I would have backed you"

Bolton stood up. He wanted to run, to get as far away from Miss Mason and this whole situation as he could. He knew he had let her down, when he'd promised her he wouldn't. He wasn't even sure why she was still fighting for him after all the trouble he'd caused. Even if he did sign the affidavit and it got him out of being excluded, tomorrow there would be a new Head Teacher at Waterloo Road who would probably exclude him anyway.

The deal they had made last year was just as important to him as it was to Rachel. He'd wanted to prove to her and himself that he could do it, that he could get his GCSE's and A-levels and go out into the world and make something of himself. After everything Miss Mason had done for him, he owed her that. How would Miss Mason be able to support him when she wasn't there? How was he meant to make her proud and fulfil his end of the bargain when she wasn't there to see it? In his view, she had already broken their deal, on her side anyway.

Rachel wasn't giving up. She followed Bolton down the corridor, moving in front of him to prevent him from taking another step.

"Your Mum, Denzil, Paul, me, how many more people are YOU going to let down here today, Bolton? What about yourself?"

Bolton glared at her before walking back and sitting down beside Paul.

"Bolton, will you just do it? The sooner we do it, the sooner we can leave!" Paul pleaded

Bolton turned to look at his Head Teacher. Initially, he had thought that nothing could make him write a statement or sign an affidavit. But, as he sat there, pondering his choices, something came to mind that would make him do it. It was time to strike a new deal with Miss Mason.

"Clarkson says you're leaving. Is that because of this, because of what Earl did?"

Rachel sighed painfully.

"Partly, yes" she admitted

"But what happened wasn't your fault" he reasoned

Rachel crouched down in front of him.

"Then show me that I can be right about something. Show me that I was right to believe in you"

Bolton thought for a moment.

"One condition" he said

Rachel stared at him expectantly.

"If I speak, then you stay"

Rachel laughed at that as she got to her feet. Bolton wasn't in a position to be making deals with her. It was ludicrous! He was worse than Eddie! Eddie had been trying all day to persuade her to stay, but he hadn't gone as far as bribing her!

"What happened to Maxine wasn't your fault, Miss. I never owned up because I was scared of what Earl would do to me. So, if I speak, then you stay, deal?"

He was being perfectly serious, Rachel knew that. Perfectly serious and perfectly ridiculous!

"I can't, Bolton" she whispered

"Look, Miss, when I made that petition for you a few months ago, the whole school signed it, yeah? Doesn't that tell you how much we like and care about you? You're the best Head Teacher we've ever had! We need you! You have to stay. What happened with Earl and Maxine wasn't your fault"

Rachel shook her head. It didn't matter how much the students and staff liked and cared about her. What happened to Maxine was her fault. She had made a huge mistake and she needed to own it. She was doing that by resigning and walking away. It was the only option.

"Well, if you won't stay, then I'm not doing it" Bolton said plainly, standing up to walk out of the building

Rachel was torn. Bolton had given her an ultimatum and she didn't know how to take it. She was used to Eddie doing something like that, not one of her sixteen year old students. She couldn't agree to what Bolton was asking, not right now anyway. But she could compromise.

"Bolton, wait!" Rachel called after him

Bolton turned around, walking back towards her slowly.

"Look, why don't we compromise? You make your statement and sign the affidavit, and I will think about staying, ok?" she proposed

"Miss, do you think I'm stupid? I'll sign the thing and make my statement and you'll just go anyway!" he huffed

"No, Bolton, I won't. I will genuinely think about it. I'll stay at Waterloo Road for another week whilst I make my decision. You have my word on that. When have I ever gone back on my word?" she argued

Bolton paused, processing her words. Miss Mason had never let him down once. She had always stuck to her word. Maybe she would do this too.

"Fine, I'll do it. I'll make my statement and I'll sign the affidavit. But you have to do what you said, right?"

Rachel sighed in relief.

"I will, Bolton. I promise you that"

Bolton nodded, smiling weakly.

With that, Rachel went and fetched Miss Browitt to tell her they were ready.