A/N – So we're at the flashback episode, and to properly do it justice I'm gonna be cutting time between the night at the bowling alley and present day, especially since there's only like 10 minutes of 'today' in the episode. Many thanks for Judging. All Day Every Day for your lovely review!

Chapter Ten – Be Kind, Rewind

"Come on, Blakey." Nathan swapped his bowling bag over to his other hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "You're gonna have a crackin' night, I promise! Think how great it'll feel when you kick Scott and Alex's arses."

"Nathan..." I said weakly, drawing my open checked shirt tighter around me. "I don't think I should have come. This doesn't feel right..."

"Nothing is gonna go wrong, B," he said casually, giving me a squeeze. "What, you think I'm gonna let anything hurt you? Don't be stupid."

"I'm not worried about getting hurt," I insisted. "I just...there's gonna be a lot of people in there."

"There were a lot of people in the unit with ya," Nathan pointed out. "And they were proper mentals."

"Yeah but I was one of the mentals," I reminded him. "I felt safe in the unit. This is- this is different."

"I seem to recall you sayin' you woke up and saw your roommate watching you sleep the first night there. That does not sound very fuckin' safe to me."

"Yeah, alright, so maybe Lucy was a particular brand of 'headcase' but that's not the point," I argued. "The unit wasn't crowded. The unit wasn't public. Okay, it wasn't full of obnoxious pricks, there were no loud noises or bright lights. There are here. And I'm- I'm scared, Nate." My voice dropped to a whisper for the last sentence.

"You don't need to be scared," he said breezily, continuing to practically drag me towards to car park exit. "I told ya, I'll fuck up anyone who tries anything with you. I've been hittin' the gym just so I can be your own personal bodyguard."

"Now why do I feel like that's a lie?"

"Alright fine, I've been doin' Davina McCall's Super Body Workout, but that's not what's fuckin' important. What is important is that I'm at least eighty percent sure I could crush a Coke can between my elbow and absolutely massive bicep now."

"I feel sick," I mumbled as a last-ditch effort to get him to take me home, which was enough to get Nathan to stop in his tracks in the middle of the underground car park.

He lowered his bowling bag to the ground and gently took me by the shoulders, giving me a small shake. "No you don't. I'm not gonna let you fuckin' fester away in your flat again, Blakey. I did that last time and I nearly fuckin' lost you. I might not be good at the whole 'sensitivity' shit, but for fuck's sake, try to make it a bit easier for me."

I reflexively flinched at the mention of 'what I'd done' - our euphemism for what caused my second hospitalisation – and immediately closed my hand over the still-red, healing scar on my left wrist. "I never wanted to hurt you. I didn't want to hurt anyone." As usual, my eyes filled with tears as I remembered all the turmoil I'd put my closest family through

"No, no." Nathan's hands moved to my face, his thumbs brushing the tears away. "No cryin'! I refuse to let you cry anymore!" I let out a sad hiccup. "Nope. I'm fixin' this, now." His hands found their way under my arms and, with absolutely zero warning, he began to tickle me. "I'm not stoppin' till I see a smile!" Fuck's sake! Leave it to Nathan to use my one top-secret weakness against me. The second his hands connected with my body, I let out a loud shriek as that uncomfortable tickling sensation spread through my person. I both cringed up like a little ball and attempted to pull myself out of his grasp, but due to my current less-than-ideal body weight, I couldn't put up much of a fight against Nathan's 6-foot, lanky yet oddly powerful physique. Maybe those Davina sessions really had paid off.

"N-No! N-Nathan, s-stop!" I spluttered out, bent over trying to shake him off. I was laughing, sure, but tickle torture was not how I'd envisaged my first night out since leaving the psych ward three weeks ago. "I'll s-smile, I p-promise! J-just get off!"

"Let me see that smile then!" he ordered, and I twisted my head and bared my teeth at him, reluctant giggles still escaping me. "Bee-yoo-tiful!" He let go of me and pulled me into a tight hug. "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"You're an arsehole," I grumbled, hugging him back.

"Correct, but I'm your favourite arsehole," he said smugly. "More importantly, that's the first time I've heard you laugh in, like, months. I deserve some kinda fuckin' medal for that."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll make sure to buy you a drink to reward you for that amazing feat."

"Now there's the snarky Blakey I know." Nathan leaned forward and placed a wet, sloppy kiss on my forehead before bending down to retrieve his bowling bag. "Come on, I need to get my warm-up game on before I can properly unleash my bowling prowess upon you three mortals."

I smirked. "Come on, we both know that out of the two of us, I could whoop your arse from here to Coventry."

Nathan grinned, apparently chuffed with himself that he'd managed to curtail my looming breakdown. "That sounds like a challenge, little lady."

I shrugged. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. All I'm saying is, loser buys the pic n' mix."

"Oh you are so on!"

The problem with having a best mate who was considered somewhat hysterical in the ol' noggin was that Nathan never knew when I'd decide to rock up at the community centre at 7am on the verge of a minor meltdown. This, unluckily for him, was one of those mornings. As I'm sure comes as a huge surprise by this point, I didn't sleep that night at all. Fuck, I felt awful.

Any other way. I could have told Simon 'no' in quite possibly any other way if I'd given it even half a second of thought. But no. I had formed into the literal human embodiment of Nathan in front of his very eyes when I'd unintentionally echoed the Irishman's exact taunting words...and then I'd slammed the door in his face. I knew Nath and I had a habit of sharing thoughts but that one was a bit too on the fucking nose to be comfortable with.

On top of the raging guilt I was consumed by, the was also the very large fucking problem in the form of Julian Quinn. In all of the fucked up things that had happened in this fucked up town over the last few fucked up weeks, this really did take the crown of Most Fucked Up Thing of All. Part of me still didn't want to believe it was true, to just bury my head in the sand and pretend it never happened. Unfortunately, powers didn't seem to work that way and I knew I would have to deal with him – and it – sooner rather than later, especially with Julian's promise of 'I'd see him soon.'

And so, that was how I ended up on Nathan's mezzanine this fine morning, both of us sat closely together on his mattress under his duvet, my legs overlapping his. After dousing him with a cold glass of water to wake him up and immediately getting cussed out for doing so, he shut up pretty quickly when he saw how traumatised I looked. Credit where credit is due, he actually sat up and listened to what I had to say instead of just rolling over and going back to sleep. No, scratch that, the second he heard Julian's name leave my lips, I had Nathan's complete and undivided attention.

I told him everything. Everything that didn't involve a certain Simon Bellamy, that was. I told him about Julian's text messages and phone calls over the last couple of weeks, about him turning up in my flat last night, about him trying to get me to agree to leave Wertham with him...and about how he'd almost made me do it.

"Riiiight..." Nathan drew out at the end of my near-half an hour explanation. "Let me get this straight. You're tellin' me that your Neanderthal ex has somehow got one of these fuckin' powers and all?"

I nodded slowly. "It's the only explanation I have. He must have some kind of mind control, or at least be able to influence people's decisions. I hate to say it, but I think it's the former. I didn't just feel influenced; I felt compelled. Not only that, I was blacking out. I bet he could have got me to do anything he wanted once I was fully under." The thought of that alone terrified me.

"That is one of the sickest things I have ever heard," Nathan spat. "Like, this goes beyond that time you puked all over yourself on Oblivion at Alton Towers and some of it splattered that old man behind you."

"Really, Nathan?" I groaned. "Is that even remotely correlated to the conversation we're currently having?"

"I'm just puttin' it into perspective!" he defended himself. A pause. "So...what do you think we should do about him?"

"About Julian?" I frowned. "Honestly, I don't know. I don't want to give him any more attention if I can help it, but he reckons he'll try again."

"That fucker..." Nathan looked fucking murderous. Sometimes I was sure he actually hated Quinn more than I did. He'd certainly hated him a lot bloody longer. "Blake, I swear to fuckin' God, if he comes near you again, you gotta tell me."

"Nath, I love you, but this needs to be my fight," I told him. "I only told you because the idea of not getting it off my chest has been doing my head in." I pointed at the dark circles under my eyes. "See these? These are the result of yet another sleepless night because of these fucking powers. I am this close to asking my doctor to put me on a higher milligram antidepressant just so I have stronger sedatives."

"I like to think you told me 'cause I'm your fuckin' best friend," Nathan shot back. "Come on, Blakey, I deserve to get a good whack in on that prick. I never got him back for that cock-shot he hit me with last year."

"Babe, he'd flatten you," I said shortly.

"Hey, I am a lot stronger than I was back then," he protested. "I'm still doin' my Davina workouts, I'm fit as a fuckin' fiddle."

"I thought you told me you were only watching those because you liked a fit older woman?"

"Potato, potarto." He waved his hand dismissively. "I could and can still kick his arse."

"Well, should I need backup then I know where to come calling." I shoved the duvet off me and stood up with a huge stretch, it felt like my back had gone numb from leaning against the metal mezzanine railings. "We should get ready, I think the others will be here soon."

"Urgh." Nathan collapsed back down with his face mushed into his pillow. "Can't I have five more minutes after I was so rudely awakened?"

"You know, everyone might know you're homeless but do you really want them to see it firsthand?" I asked with a quirked brow. "They might start bringing you copies of The Big Issue to cope."

Funnily enough, Nathan shot to his feet in moments. "Fair point, let's roll."

"Hey, there she is! Lady B in the flesh!" Scott crowed as soon as he saw me, leaping from his seat the second Nathan and I arrived at our lane for the night and enveloping me in a very Lynx Africa-scented bear hug. I immediately hugged him back, kicking my legs in the air as he lifted me up; it had been so long since I'd seen him or Alex that I actually felt quite emotional.

"Oi, don't hog the girl all to yourself!" Alex joked, tapping Scott on the shoulder to make him put me down, before I was immediately pulled into a second rib-breaking hug. "It's good to see you back, B. Hasn't been the same without your beautiful face breaking up all the ugly mugs around here."

I laughed, placing a quick kiss on his cheek. "You guys are gonna make me cry! It's- it's really nice to be back. I've missed all of you so much. Doesn't mean I'm gonna go easy on any of ya!"

"Aha, now that is what I'm talkin' about!" Scott exclaimed, fist-pumping the air. "It wouldn't be a gang bowling night if Blake didn't beat us all by fifty points."

"Hey, I resent that!" Nathan chipped in, not-so-subtly sliding between Alex and I and slinging his arm around my waist. Hm, a bit weird. "I'm on a winnin' streak, don't be puttin' her back on a pedestal!"

"Er, pretty sure you've only been winning 'cause she's been...otherwise engaged," Alex said delicately, clearly unsure what would trigger me.

"You can say I've been in hospital, Al," I said, biting my lip anxiously. Okay, I didn't like saying I'd been in hospital, but I didn't want my mates feeling like they had to walk on eggshells so I didn't crack up in front of them. As it was, all three men suddenly seemed a lot more subdued than when we'd arrived so I decided to break the tension I'd created by heading over to the snack area and getting the three of them a pint and myself a can of Coke; while still so fresh on my new medication, it wouldn't be a good idea to get drunk tonight.

I was relatively quiet for the first few turns we each had. The loud voices and music seemed so overpowering at first, I almost decided to just leave then and there. I couldn't do this, it was too much, it was too soon. Even the sound of the bowling balls landing in the lanes was making me flinch. They sounded like strikes against the skin. They sounded like His fist connecting with my face.

That was when I almost bolted. I couldn't be somewhere that reminded me of Him. I had my hand on my backpack strap, ready to make a run for it...when Nathan whirled around from the second gutterball he'd thrown and grinned at me, making a 'this close' gesture with his hands. "So close!" he smirked, sauntering back over to us and ignoring both Scott and Alex's expressions of 'you're shit, mate.' He plopped down on the plastic seat next to mine, and I didn't miss his eyes clock my hand wrapped around the bag handle. "Blakey? Whatcha doin'?"

"I- I, um, I-" I stuttered, unsure what to say. "The- the sounds…the banging..."

"Oh Jesus." Nathan immediately began to panic, just like he did every time I started to have a moment. I'd done this twice since leaving the unit, both times while with Nathan, and both times he'd freaked out almost as badly as I was threatening to and tried to call an ambulance. "It's okay! Everything is okay, Blakey! You want earplugs?! I'll find some earplugs! Or...or I'll make everyone stop bowlin' if that's what you want! Just tell me what's gonna make it better and I'll do it! HEY!" He raised his voice and leapt to his feet, starting to shout at the other bowlers. "Stop bowlin' so fuckin' loudly! Some of us have noise sensitivity, ya know! It's a serious condition!"

"Nathan!" I hissed, grabbing his arm and yanking him down to my height. "Stop making a dick of yourself, people are staring! I'll be fine, I just...I panicked! I told you, I'm not good with loud noises at the minute, but I'll be okay. Please, chill out or you're gonna make it worse."

Nathan deflated slightly, retaking his seat. "Sorry...sorry. Got a bit carried away. I just don't wanna see you like that, y'know? I don't like it."

I placed my hand on his knee and squeezed, giving him a small smile. "I appreciate the concern, Nathan, you know I do, and I love you for it. But if I'm gonna get better, I need to learn to get through these...episodes by myself. I'm not broken glass, and...and you're not always gonna be here to help me."

"I can try," he sulked, slumping back in the chair.

"And I want you to," I said simply. "But I also want you to let me be a mess. I need to get over this. I can't let- I can't let Him beat me."

"When'd you get so brave, hm?" Nathan laughed, nudging me in the ribs with his elbow. "I remember when you used to get me to kill the spiders in the playground, now it's like you don't even need lil' ol' me."

Now it was my turn to laugh, leaning my head on his shoulder. "Those were the days, huh? I'm starting to wish I was still scared of spiders, y'know? That I didn't have to be so brave. All this is just a pile of wank." I turned to look at him. "Just for the record, I'll always need you, Nathan. Who else is gonna call me out on my bullshit?"

Nathan snorted and gestured between Alex and Scott; Scott was laughing at Alex's bowl which had resulted in a split pin, while Alex did his best to ignore his best mate jumping around him in a circle trying to put him off. "Not these two fuckers, that's for sure."

"We heard that!" Alex protested as he went for his second roll, managing to knock over the left pin. "Fuck yes! Neck and neck with Blake!" He whirled around to grin at me. "Looks like the queen is getting dethroned tonight."

I hopped to my feet, a smirk on my lips. "We're only four turns in, Ally. I'm gonna beat your arse so hard."

"Ooh, please!" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "You know I like it rough."

I selected the midnight blue bowling ball from the returns shelf and stuck my fingers into it, cradling it up against my chest. "Then game on. You're about to get it so rough you won't sit down properly for a week!"

"I am so stressed out, I literally feel like my hair is gonna start falling out," I grumbled as Nathan and I entered the locker rooms, naturally the first ones in there at this hour. "At this rate I'm gonna be asking Kelly if she still has that wig hanging around." I slammed open my locker and pulled out my jumpsuit, glaring at the orange material bunched up in my hand.

"Does Weird Kid know about this?" Nathan asked, in the process of changing into his own filthy jumpsuit. "You know, since you went on that little nerd date of yours last night?"

"What?" I said sharply. "What are you talking about? How do you know about that? Did he tell you?"

Nathan scoffed. "No. You updated your Facebook to -" He made quotation marks with his fingers. "'Having a drink with Simon' and unless that was some kinda innuendo for you deciding you've had enough of nun life and you were actually fuckin' him, I assumed that, well…you went out for a drink with him."

I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly. "It wasn't a date, we just went for a drink. As friends. And no, I didn't tell him. I didn't want to deal with it right away."

"So I'm the only one who knows?"

"Well yeah," I said obviously. "You're the only one who knows Julian to actually give a shit. Why the grilling? There's nothing else to know."

"Why are you bein' so jumpy?" he asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"What are you talking about? I'm not being jumpy," I said, trying to sound flippant as the two of us headed out of the locker rooms.

"Hate to break it to ya, love, but you kinda are," he replied with a smirk. "So come on, tell me what happened. I can just imagine all the lovely little conversations the two of you had about all the nerdy things he could think of. You gotta tell me, is Weird Kid just as strange and starey away from this place? He's gotta be, that kinda pupil dilation doesn't just disappear."

"Stop calling him Weird Kid. It's horrible. And anyway, you could have found all that out for yourself. He did invite you as well," I pointed out. "You were the one who said no and dumped the poor guy on his arse." Just like you did, a spiteful little voice piped up in my mind. Oh brilliant, now I was hearing voices. Time to add schizophrenia to the list of growing mental problems.

"I couldn't go, I had important shit to be getting on with," he argued. "And I'll have you know that I now highly resent you for abandonin' me for Weird Kid and leavin' me to drink that Grey Goose all on my lonesome."

I snorted. "Oh yeah, like what? I don't think having a wank is classed as 'important shit'."

"That's female logic for you," he said with a shake of his head. "You have much to learn."

"I'd really rather not. The specifications of male pleasure isn't something I can really see helping me achieve a new job when this is over and done with," I said.

"Depends on whether you plan on becomin' a prostitute or not. You've got the face for it."

"Am I supposed to be complimented by that?"

Nathan nodded sagely. "Of course. What girl doesn't want to hear that she could have a lucrative career in the sexual arts?"

"I don't know, the one who's still terrified of men and sex?" I deadpanned.

"...Okay, you got me there. Didn't mean to poke that sore spot," he said somewhat guiltily. "So, please tell me then, what did you and Weird Kid spend all night talking about if it wasn't about this new...development of fuckery? I find it hard to believe he can hold a conversation for more than thirty seconds, what with that cripplin' shyness and the such."

"Nate, I told you, stop being so horrible about him," I warned, my guilt over rejecting Simon's date manifesting into a weird need to protect him from Nathan's harshness. "We did talk about Julian. We couldn't not, he almost knocked Simon out when I tossed the fucker out of my flat and he wanted to know who the Hulk-man I was screaming abuse at was. He then told me why he set that house on fire."

"Seriously? Tell me, tell me!"

"Nooo way, that is not my story to tell. It's way too personal. He can tell you if he wants to, 'cause I sure as hell ain't."

"So that's how you spent your night? Swappin' tales about your fucked up personal lives?" Nathan asked sceptically.

"Obviously not just that, we spoke about other stuff. Nerd stuff you wouldn't care about. Then he walked me home," I answered, running an awkward hand through my hair. You also potentially broke his heart. And the voice was back.

"Well it sounds like an oh-so interesting evening. I wish I'd been there instead of partaking in my night of lube-aided self-care," he mocked, pushing open the door to the hall. He suddenly paused, grabbing my arm. "D'you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I frowned. I strained to listen- then I heard it. Muffled moans and grunts were coming from behind the metal screen of the storage cabinet. "Oh my God. No way. That cannot be what I think it is. No way!" I covered my hands with my mouth as I exploded into immature giggles.

"Yes way, my dearest Blake," Nathan whispered. "This is better than anything on Pornhub! Come on, I wanna get the premium screenin'!" He held a finger to his lips and started creeping towards the screen, motioning for me to follow him.

"Leave them alone," I hissed as he approached the metal. "Let them get on with it."

Nathan just shook his head. Bending down, he gripped the bottom of the screen and tried to wrench it up, which was when he discovered they'd taken all the necessary precautions and locked it. Thank Jesus, because I really did not want to see what was happening between Curtis and Alisha in that storage cabinet. There were some things my poor, fragile retinas just would not recover from.

"Ooh, unlucky," I whisper-taunted him. He totally ignored me and instead demanded through the metal, "Are you two shaggin' in there?!"

"Fuck off, you pervert!" came Alisha's slightly breathless voice.

"I'm sorry!" I called to them. "I tried to get him to stop, I really did!"

"She's lyin'! She wanted to see just as much as I did! She's been goin' through a wee bit of a dry spell, ya know? Ow!" Nathan let out a yelp as I whacked his arm with my fist. "Anyway, how long are ya gonna be?"

"Will you piss off!?" Curtis yelled back, throwing something at the screen that made a metallic crashing noise.

"Okay," Nathan snorted in a mock-soothing tone. "Just give us a shout when you're done!"

As I looked at the maliciously excited expression on Nathan's face, I sighed, "We're gonna tell everyone about this, aren't we?"

"Indeed we are, Blakey. Indeed we are," he elatedly replied, dragging me by the arm in the direction of the locker rooms. Some things would never change.

"Fuck yes! Steee-rike number four!" I announced to the gaggle of men behind me as my bowling ball knocked down all ten pins once again. "Look at the scores and weep, my friends! Bow down before the Queen of Bowling!" Since getting my breakdown out of the way nice and early in the evening, I'd been having a great time with my friends. For the first time, I was actually happy to be out of the unit.

"There is no way you've just done that!" protested Scott. "You're cheating, you must be!"

I laughed and ruffled his fluffy brown hair. "It's bowling, how could I cheat? Come on, Scotty, just accept I'm better than all of you put together!" All he could do was give me a mock scowl as he moved to take his turn. He was such a sore loser sometimes, he could even be as bad as Nathan. Speaking of…

"I am never gonna catch up to you," the Irish one complained, looking up at the scoreboard. I followed his gaze.

Blake – 137
Scott – 106
Alex – 111
Nathan – 72

"Wow, would you look at that," I drawled, smirking. "Only two turns each left. There is no way you can get sixty-five points in two turns. You know what that means, don't ya?"

"Loser buys the pic n' mix," he mumbled with a pout.

"Sorry, what was that?" I said with a false frown, cupping my ear. "I couldn't quite hear you over the music."

"Loser buys the pic n' mix!" he sulkily exclaimed.

"That's what I thought you said," I said smugly. "Tell you what, go and get them now and I'll save you the embarrassment of the guys seeing you."

"I think they can see the scoreboard."

"Don't cop an attitude with me just 'cause ya lost," I taunted. "Or do you want me to add Scott and Alex's snacks to the losing penalty too?"

"Fuck no, d'you think I'm made of money?!" He pushed himself to his feet with a huff. "Right, what do ya want? Might as well get meself something while I'm up."

"Get me some gummy bears, jelly snakes, chocolate Jazzies, a couple of Maoams, jelly beans, some chocolate mice and one of them sugar-coated dummies."

"I think you're missin' a word from that sentence."

"Please." I batted my eyelashes at him sweetly.

Unsurprisingly, he instantly softened. "Those eyes of yours are fuckin' deadly, ya know that?"

"I've been told," I laughed before before swatting at him. "Go on, move your arse. I'm hungry." With a final smirk, Nathan sauntered off in the direction of the snack area. I smiled after his retreating figure; I really did love that boy.

Draining my third can of Coke, I wondered if I should have added that to my prize as well. Hindsight was a wonderful thing. Scott and Alex both took their turns whilst Nathan was gone. Then he didn't come back. It had been like ten minutes, how long did it take to get some bloody pic n' mix? It wasn't like there'd be a line; Friday was late-night bowling, it was just after 11pm, the place was dead aside from like three other lanes in use.

"Where is that prick?" Scott piped up, not even looking up from texting.

"Probably taking a shit," Alex snorted.

I was about to agree with him when out of nowhere, a voice announced over the Tannoy system, "Can I have Security to the concession stand, please!"

I let out a loud groan. "Please God, no, please tell that's not for who I think it's for."

"You know Nathan better than all of us, Blake," Alex said grimly. "I reckon you've answered that for yourself."

We were both proven right when the Tannoy whined to life, and Nathan's voice squawked through the speakers, "I'm being assaulted by a chick with a dick!"

"Aw, for fuck's sake!" I moaned, leaping to my feet and taking off towards the snacks as Nathan's voice was still booming out around the alley, bawling, "They sewed up his clunge! They sewed up his clunge!"

I skidded into the carpeted area and thundered through the aisles of sweets until I was confronted with the sight of Nathan being pinned to the ground by the somewhat overweight manager of the bowling alley (I assumed.) Nathan was letting out the strangest yelling noises into the walkie-talkie whilst the manager was screaming, "HELP ME!" to no one in particular.

"Nathan!" I shouted, dropping to my knees and trying to pull him out from under the manager with whom he was still wrestling.

"Are you with him?!" the manager demanded.

"Unfortunately yes," I grunted, but Nathan was not relenting that fucking walkie-talkie. "Nathan! Release! RELEASE!" My words proved futile as I was grabbed by a member of the bowling alley security team and dragged away from the scene straight from a Carry On film in front of me. The manager extracted himself from the fray and as a second security guard tried to keep Nathan wrestled to the dirty floor, the curly-haired one began to choke and groan, his whole body beginning to convulse. Seriously. Was he actually serious right now? Faking an epileptic episode was a new low.

"Stop it! Stop it, stop it!" the manager ordered the security guard, making him release Nathan and stand up. They both stood back. "He's having a fit!"

"No," I said tonelessly. "He really is not."

"Quick, call an ambulance," Manager said to the guard, totally ignoring me.

That was when Nathan's eyes darted over to the two of them to check they were distracted, then to me, who was standing aside him with my arms crossed and a very disinterested expression. "Cheers for almost blowing me cover, Blake!" And with that, he leapt to his feet and darted off towards the bowling lanes, barrelling through a gumball machine on his way.

"NATHAN!" I yelled for the third time, fleeing after him just seconds after the manager and security guard had caught on and began to chase after him as well. Our game of cat-and-mouse took us into the physical lanes, everyone's games being put on hold as Nathan attempted to evade the two authority figures he was faced with...and me.

Whilst Manager and Guard were distracted, I managed to skirt past them to grab hold of Nathan's arm and hissed, "Stop being a dickhead! Whatever you did, just own up to it!"

"Get away from him, Miss!" Manager shouted at me.

"All I did was eat some pic n' mix!" Nathan protested, suddenly taking off down the aisles as the two men advanced on us. I tried to go after him…then I realised he'd hit the deck and was trying to crawl into the pinsetter. Yes, literally into the pinsetter. The lack of brain cells this man had on even his best days never ceased to amaze me.

"Jesus Christ!" I griped to myself, beginning to become short of breath with the amount of running I'd now taken part in. I reached Nathan before the manager or the security guard, so I dropped down to my stomach and reached out, closing my hand around Nathan's ankle in an attempt to drag him back into reality.

It so did not work.

The second Nathan felt my hand, he must have panicked and assumed it was one of them other two dickheads because his flailing foot came flying up and caught me square in the collarbone. I fell backwards and hit my head on the polished wooden floor with a crack, letting out a pained yell of, "Nathan, you fucking moron!"

"Blake?!" his muffled shout came from within the pinsetter. "Fuck, I'm sorry, I- aarrghh!" I sat up as he cut off his apology with a scream and saw that both Manager and Guard had managed to extract him from the pinsetter and had him pinned down in the lane.

Manager's voice came from the speakers once again as he announced, "Stop bowling! Stop bowling!" He turned to me and, not into his walkie-talkie, firmly said, "Miss, if you could return to your lane please." I wasn't gonna argue at this point. With a mute nod, I turned and – carefully – made my way back to Scott and Alex, unable to turn to look at the other people in the building as the shame of being involved in that spectacle was almost too much to bear. Hell, I couldn't even look at Nathan getting dragged away by security.

"So you found him then?" Alex joked as I sat down.

I held my hand up at him. "Do not even go there with me right now, Alexander. Don't even fucking go there."

In the time that had passed since Nathan and I left the locker room, had discussed the previous evening, discovered Alisha and Curtis and now returned to the locker room, Kelly and Simon had both arrived and changed into their jumpsuits. Ohhhh shit, not Simon, anyone but Simon! Okay, don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact…

As Nathan launched into a frenzied account of what we'd nearly seen, I was more than aware of the fact that Simon was trying to catch my eye. I was desperately looking anywhere other than at him, even if it meant paying a stupidly over-the-top amount of attention to Nathan's recap, which naturally included gestures.

"I had nothing to do with this perverted act," I said once he'd finished his demonstration. "I was merely a bystander."

"Oh yeah, I'm the perverted one," he shot back. "I'm not the one shaggin' during the workin' hours, was I?"

"You probably enjoyed it, you perv," Alisha retorted as she and Curtis wandered into the room, looking thoroughly embarrassed. Nathan just made a strange laughing noise. "What, do you want to have a look?" she added irately to Simon, who, it turned out, had been recording most of Nathan's little stage show.

He quickly slid his phone shut and said hastily, "N-no thanks. I'm okay."

Now that we'd finished the whole 'sending clothes to Africa' thing, we were back to the usual dull routine of – insert drumroll here – litter picking. Somehow I thought I'd prefer the clothing, the litter picking was steadily becoming so predictable that the monotony was about to turn my vision grey.

"Does anyone actually know what he got done for?" Alisha enquired with disdain as we made our way into the hallway, gesturing at Nathan.

"He reckons he was done for eatin' some pic n' mix," Kelly said.

"That's bullshit," Curtis scoffed, handing us three girls our pickers for the day. I had to snort at the apparent mystery surrounding Nathan's arrest. "Ah, c'mon Blake, you can't be doin' that shit and not telling us what happened."

"What? I just laughed," I said innocently. "I've said it before, that is not my story to tell and if he wants to rob you of that A-class comedy, that's on him." And with that, Kelly, Alisha and I headed towards the doors, not that Kelly and I missed the lingering misty-eyed glance Alisha and Curtis shared beforehand.

"Are you two, like, together?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah, I guess," she replied casually. "It's weird, yeah? 'Cause of my bullshit power thing, we don't actually have proper sex. We just...stare at each other and wank ourselves off. But it is really special."

"Now I'm even more glad Nathan couldn't open that door," I commented, dragging my litter picker on the floor beside me. "I'm happy for you, though. Go get that happy ending, girl."

"Cheers, Blake." Alisha gave me a genuine smile. Wow, community service really was changing me. I'd just had a girly conversation that hadn't resulted in me vomiting on the floor from the clichéd nausea.

"I think it sounds a bit gross," Kelly said bluntly.

"What? Why?" Alisha demanded.

"Couldn't yas just...not have sex for a bit?" she suggested as we emerged into the sunshine.

"I am not livin' my life without shaggin'!" Alisha replied insistently. "This is all we can do. Like, all you wanna do is get down to it, and you can't, so you've gotta find a way, y'know?"

"That's disgustin'."

"It's not fuckin' disgustin'!"

"Oookay, this is so not my bitchfest to get involved with," I informed them, moving away to the side, intending to chill with Nathan, but he was still unrelentingly teasing Simon by snapping his litter-picker by Simon's crotch and exclaiming, "It's not gay if I wank ya off with the grabber! We're not touchin'!"

I saw Simon's face, how uncomfortable he looked. That guilt that had been manifesting since last night boiled up and up...and I snapped. "For God's sake, just leave him alone!" I said angrily.

"Ooh, what you gettin' all defensive for?" Nathan said in a real 'wink-wink, nudge-nudge' tone. He thought I was joking.

"I'm getting defensive because I'm fed up of you treating him like dirt! He's done absolutely nothing to you, Nathan, so just back the fuck off!"

Everyone went totally silent. Even Curtis tore himself away from some dark-haired girl he'd been talking to by the door to see what was going on. Everyone crowded us to watch the BFF SmackDown developing in front of them.

Nathan raised his eyebrows at me. "Come on, Blakey, I'm only playin'!" A grin spread across his face and he mock-gasped, "Do you love him?"

"No, I don't love him!" I yelled, far more harshly than I intended. Now Simon looked even more uncomfortable, but now it was tinged with sadness. Oh good, just keep kicking that puppy, B. I quietened my voice, "You need to back off, Nathan, seriously," I repeated. "You're my best mate and I couldn't normally give a fuck what you do. But now all you ever do is humiliate and degrade him, and it isn't right! He doesn't deserve to be treated like that!"

"You looovee hiiim!" Nathan sang.

"Oh, fuck off," I spat, turning on my heel and stalking away. I was not dealing with this right now.

This was getting ridiculous. Nathan had been in that fucking managers office for well over half an hour. I'd told Scott and Alex to go home since they had no need to hang around. I, on the other hand, was Nathan's lift so I couldn't exactly leave him stranded here. Fucking hell, what if that bloody manager was calling the police? He looked like the kinda square who would.

I'd kept my head bowed the entire time I'd been sitting here, still in the seats to our lane, not that we'd been able to get around to finishing the bloody game. People were whispering still, or maybe that was just my anxiety messing with my head. I didn't know. Sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between reality and my fucked up brain.

I tapped my nails against my knee, waiting for that idiot to pop up in front of me, tell me everything was okay and we could go home. Wishful thinking, I knew. I was just so damn tired. Lights out in the unit had been 9:30 every night and I'd grown a custom to early nights. Now it was past midnight, and I was ready to pass out from exhaustion at this point.

My phone started to ring in my pocket, the opening guitar chords of In Bloom by Nirvana suddenly blaring around the lanes. Shock horror, the name displayed when I pulled it out was Nathan's. Having a feeling I knew what this could be about, I accepted the call. "I am not paying anything for the damages you caused, Nathan."

"Aw, come on, Blakey, I just need-"

"No." My patience was gone. I ended the call and chucked the mobile into my bag. I was just zipping it up when I looked up and saw...Him. He was the lane over, staring right at me.

My heart stopped. Every nerve ending on my body seemed to tingle. My breathing hitched in my throat and my palms began to sweat. The world fell silent aside from the roaring of the blood in my ears.

I blinked hard, sure I was imagining things. No. When I opened my eyes he was still there. He had a Cheshire cat grin, and he was walking towards me.

I tried backing up, moving as quickly as I could but my uncoordinated arse ensured I wouldn't have a smooth getaway. Instead, my heel caught against the leg of one of the plastic chairs and I stumbled, slowing to a halt as I attempted to balance myself. That was when I looked up and found myself face-to-face with Him for the first time in over three months. Julian fucking Quinn.

"Hey there, Princess," he said smugly. "Long time, no see."

My mouth instantly went dry. I swallowed a couple of times but nothing happened. "There's a reason for that." My voice was nothing but a powdery whisper.

"It's not what I would have wanted, but you know that," he said, reaching out to touch my face like he always would, but this time I flinched back, the memory of the last time his hand had connected with my skin still too fresh. "Oh Blake, I'd so hoped we could still be friends."

"I don't...I don't want to be friends," I mumbled, so intimidated that I couldn't even meet his eye. "Please Julian, just leave me alone."

"Don't be like that, baby," Julian pretended to sigh like he was disappointed. "You're still the love of my life, you know that."

"The love of your life?" I repeated, finally bringing myself to look at him. "I'm the love of your life? Are you fucking kidding me?! How fucking dare you!" My voice began to rise with every word; my blood was boiling. "If I'm the love of your life then I dread to think how you treat your enemies!"

"Blake, keep your voice down." And just like that, the Mr Nice Guy charade was gone, replaced with the controlling, threatening Julian I truly knew.

"Why? What can you do here, Jules? You wanna hit me in front of all these witnesses?" There were about seven other people here, but my point remained. "Touch me again and I swear to God, I'll put you away properly this time."

"Really?" Julian laughed bitterly. "That spastic best mate of yours couldn't get me done after I finally shut you up and gave him a black eye, what do you think could happen now? I'm untouchable, bumblebee, you've just gotta live with that."

"You fucking psychopath," I spat at him. I seized hold of my backpack and pulled it onto my shoulders, ready to just walk away. "Just stay away from me, alright? Get it into your head that I want nothing to do with you." I turned to leave, but Julian's hand closed around my wrist – my left wrist.

"What's this, B?" he tutted, examining the thick red line. "Guess the rumours were true. I heard you got locked up in the mental ward, I just didn't think you were that stupid."

I snatched my arm back, my eyes beginning to flood with tears. "You've got no idea what I've been through after what you did to me, Julian. No fucking idea."

"I know exactly what you've been through," he taunted. "You didn't get enough attention from your pathetic jaw wire or when the trial didn't go your way, so you had to do something else to make sure the attention was still on you. Ooh, everyone, look at Blake, look at Blake!"

"You son of a bitch!" I snarled. "This was nothing to do with attention, it was everything to do with feeling so broken and worthless because of you that I felt like I had no other choice!"

"Oh yeah? Well maybe it would have been a lot easier on everyone if you'd done it properly," he said spitefully. "No one's gonna go for your damaged goods ever again." He began to laugh.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" I screamed, a red mist descending. Everyone in the vicinity turned to gawp at us. Two dramatic scenes in one night, these patrons certainly got more than they bargained for. I didn't care. Like a woman possessed, I grabbed hold of one of the big, 14-weight bowling balls sitting in the ball return and held it up.

Julian's laughing immediately stopped. "Blake? Blake, what are you doing?"

"Learn to shut the fuck up for once!" I screeched, and I released the bowling ball, straight onto his foot.

"ARGH! ARGH, YOU FUCKING BITCH, WHAT THE FUCK!" he howled, wrenching his foot out from the ball and falling backwards, curling up in foetal position on the floor with his hands cradling that foot. "MY TOES! YOU'VE BROKEN MY FUCKING TOES!"

"Yeah? Well you broke my heart and my fucking face," I spat.

"Oh my God, did you see that?!" a male voice to my left gasped, and I turned to see a bloke staring at me, a woman at his face looking completely aghast. "She just attacked him!"

"I'm getting security!" the woman declared, running off to the reception desk.

I collapsed backwards into one of the chairs, my hands covering my face. What had I just done? I wasn't the star of the local sports team, there was no way I was gonna get away with this. I didn't have the fight left in me even if I'd wanted to. So whilst the resident first aider arrived to deal with the whimpering Julian, I allowed myself to be frogmarched towards the main office – the same office Nathan was still being held in – with the promise that the police would most certainly be being called.

"Make it quick then," I muttered. "I just wanna go to bed."

"Don't worry, I think they'll be here soon enough," I was told as the office door opened and...Nathan's dad walked out?! What the fuck was he doing here?! How had I missed that one?!

"Blake?" he said quizzically as I was shoved past him.

"Evening, Mike," I said wearily. I couldn't wait to hear this story from Nathan at the next available opportunity.

"Oh shut up, Beverley," was the first thing I heard as I was shoved into the office, followed by witnessing Nathan reach over the desk with a stapler and stapling the manager's hand straight in the middle of the bone. I was so exhausted by this point that I couldn't even react. How had tonight managed to go so spectacularly wrong? All I'd wanted was a bag of bloody pic n' mix.

I ended up back in the community centre, sitting in that storage locker with the screen down. A few minutes later, I heard Kelly calling me.

"Blake! Blake, are ya in here?" I didn't bother to reply. "I know ya are, I can hear ya thinkin'!"

Then come find me, I thought.

A second later, Kelly lifted up the metal screen and stared at me. I gave her a look that blatantly read Don't want to talk about it, but it didn't make any difference and she came and set next to me, drawing her knees up to her chin.

"So what was that all about?" Never one to beat around the bush, was our Kelly.

"I went out with Simon for that drink last night," I mumbled. "He...he asked me out on a date at the end of it. I panicked, and I just – I just slammed the door in his face. I just left him there, Kelly. He's so used to getting rejected and I tried so hard to not be that person but I was. I'm not better than anyone else who taunts him."

"Is that why you spazzed out at Nathan?"

I nodded. "The guilt's been killing me all day. I guess seeing Nathan treat Simon like I think I did was enough to make me snap a bit."

"A bit? He nearly shat himself," Kelly snorted. "But he's worried about ya. He thinks ya crackin' up."

"Maybe I am," I said sadly, dragging a hand through my hair. "My head's fucked, man. I'm done in enough as it is, add in the murders and...other things, I feel like I'm losing it."

"'Other things' like the fact ya think ya fancy Nathan?" she said bluntly.

"Oh good, you know about that," I said mordantly.

"It ain't exactly hard to work it out," she responded. "Even without hearin' ya thoughts."

"What do you mean?"

"Before ya started gettin' all friendly with Simon, you and Nathan were just like, fuckin' glued to each other. And I know ya best mates and all that, but there's somethin' else there, everyone can see it. Everyone but you two dick'eads, but no one else has the balls to tell ya like I do. Ya just lucky that Nathan's so fuckin' blind when it comes to this kinda stuff that he hasn't noticed yet."

I shrugged. "That's probably a good thing. I don't wanna fuck up mine and his friendship like I have done with Simon"

Kelly looked at me almost wisely, before standing up. "Nah, I reckon ya should talk to Simon about what happened."

I shook my head. "I can't. It'll be way too awkward. Besides, I can guarantee he probably hates me now," I said, standing up as well.

"Trust me, he doesn't hate ya," Kelly assured me. "He just wants to talk to ya, I know he does."

"How?"

Kelly grinned and tapped her temple with one of her long, red acrylic nails. "Cause I heard him think it."

A/N – Okay, I didn't intend for this chapter to end up so long, but I was trying to cram pretty much an entire episode into one chapter and I really wanted to do it justice. A little bit more Blake/Kelly bonding at the end there, I really want them to have a solid friendship through all this. I hope you enjoyed, would love to see a few more reviews as they've dried up a little bit over the last couple of chapters. Stay safe, and love to you all. Xx Gee xX

Chapter Ten Playlist
Never Bloom Again – Waterparks
Scars – Papa Roach
Broken Arrow –Pixie Lott