"RACHEL!!"
His voice echoed over the cliffs and the surrounding area. His heart was hammering against his chest as he listened, hoping to hear something, anything from Rachel.
This was her fault, she had insisted on coming on this trip with the Lessons for Life group to 'help him out'. He'd been the Deputy Head at Waterloo Road a lot longer than she'd been the Head Teacher; he knew what he was doing and he certainly didn't need her help! But no, she'd insisted on accompanying him.
They'd known each other for less than 24 hours, and they despised each other.
Rachel had swooped in yesterday, taking the job as Head Teacher before he'd even got the chance. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right. And she had all these elaborate plans for the school and the kids, when she'd only been at Waterloo Road for five minutes! She'd only come on this trip to keep an eye on him. And now she'd put herself in danger, and he was the one who had to rescue her. Typical.
It had started when Bolton hadn't turned up to the finish point of the scavenger hunt Eddie had organised. The rest of his group had, but not Bolton. Rachel had immediately leapt into action, storming off to find him before Eddie could even stop her.
And now she was lost too, so Eddie had to find not just Bolton, but Rachel too.
And he was having no luck so far. Half an hour he'd been walking along the cliff path, shouting Rachel and Bolton's names in turn, scanning the entire area. There was no sign of them. The path was quiet and deserted.
He sighed in frustration, standing still in the middle of the path for a moment. Why had she gone off on her own? Why hadn't she waited?
She was stubborn, that was why.
When Eddie had told her she wouldn't be able to find him on her own, she'd been determined to prove him wrong and she'd walked away. So much for team work.
"RACHEL! BOLTON!"
"SIR!"
Eddie turned, sighing in relief when he saw Bolton running towards him. Rachel however, wasn't with him.
"Bolton where have you been?!" Eddie huffed
"Sir, come quick, it's Miss Mason. She's hurt!" Bolton rushed, gesturing for Eddie to follow him
Eddie followed Bolton, his heart hammering against his chest.
When they got to the edge of the cliff, Bolton finally stopped running. Eddie stopped, his eyes falling on Rachel as he tried to catch his breath.
She was propped up against a rock. Her head was bleeding and her ankle was stuck out at an awkward angle. She was whimpering in pain, desperately trying to move.
Eddie crouched down beside her immediately, sitting her back down.
"I don't need your help. I'm perfectly capable of standing up on my own!" she snapped, glaring at him
"No, Rachel, stay down. You're hurt" Eddie instructed
"I'm fine, Eddie! Back off will you?" she spat, hissing in pain as she tried, and failed to get up again
"What happened?" Eddie asked, turning to Bolton
"I got stuck down there, innit. She was trying to help me and she fell" he explained, pointing to the smaller cliff below
"Ok, Bolton, go on ahead and tell the others we're on our way, ok?" Eddie instructed
Bolton nodded
Eddie sighed, looking to Rachel
"Is she gonna be alright, sir?" Bolton asked, concern laced in his tone
"I'll be fine, Bolton. Just go" Rachel reassured
"I'll be the judge of whether you're fine or not" Eddie argued once Bolton had gone, examining her head carefully
There was a deep gash on her forehead, which was bleeding profusely. She was covered in other little scrapes and scratches. The most concerning thing for Eddie, was her ankle. He didn't like the look of it. It was bent out of shape, lying to one side at a funny angle.
He turned his attention to Rachel. She was wincing and grimacing quietly, evidently in a lot of pain.
"Where are you hurt?" he asked
Rachel rolled her eyes
"What are you now, a doctor?" she grumbled
"I'm First Aid trained actually" he argued
She huffed angrily
"My ankle and my head. I can't stand up" she admitted
"Have you tried?" he asked
She glared at him
"No I haven't tried, I just made that up!" she shot back sarcastically
"Alright, alright, keep your hair on!" he grumbled
"Just help me stand up!" she requested
Eddie sighed, wrapping her arm around his shoulder. He lifted her gently onto her feet, quickly sitting her back down onto the rock when she screamed in pain.
"I can't walk" she whimpered
"That's obvious" he huffed
"Will you stop being such an idiot for a second and be serious?! I'm scared and I'm in pain, if you're not going to help me, you may as well just leave me here!" she snapped
"I may as well, considering you got yourself into this mess!" he shot back
"How did I? I was trying to help Bolton! It's more than you did!" she huffed
"You just stormed off!" Eddie pointed out
"Yes, because you were in no rush to find him!"
"No, you just wanted to prove me wrong! I told you, you wouldn't be able to find him on your own, and what did you do? You went on your own!"
"And I still proved you wrong! Because I did find him!"
"Yeah, and you injured yourself! You weren't even supposed to come on this trip; I didn't want you to come!"
Rachel glared at him, she'd had enough.
"Then why didn't you say? Hmm? What's the matter, Eddie? Are you intimidated by me? Are you jealous that you didn't get the job as Head Teacher? Because if that's the reason you have a problem with me, you can have the job! I didn't take your job deliberately to spite you! I had no idea they already had someone in place for the job, they just offered it to me and I said yes! I'm not working with someone who tries to undermine me at every turn! I came today, because I wanted us to get to know each other better! I want to get to know you so we can get along! Clearly you have no intention of wanting to do that! If we can't work together as a team, then I'm done here!"
Eddie fell silent. He suddenly felt guilty. He was aiming his anger and frustrations at her, when he barely knew her. Of course this wasn't her fault. She didn't know he was in line to be Head Teacher, she'd just been offered a job. Anyone else would have done the same, including him. He'd been spiteful toward her for that reason. He hadn't really given her much of a chance. Here she was, trying to get to know him, trying to make things work between them, and he was making it impossible. He owed her an apology.
"You're right. I'm sorry, Rachel. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you. I guess I was just, frustrated"
"I understand, Eddie. I'm aware of how much you wanted to be Head Teacher, and I'm sorry that, for whatever reason, they gave it to me. I like you; I think you're a great Deputy Head. You're great with the kids and you know this school inside out. We could work so well together, if you'd just give me a chance, yeah?"
He nodded
"Come on, let's get back to school" she decided, moving to stand up
As she attempted to stand up, she cried out as a searing pain shot through her ankle and foot. She sat back down on the rock, sighing in frustration. She wasn't going anywhere any time soon.
"You might have to let me carry you" Eddie smirked
Rachel laughed at that, thinking he was joking. When she saw the expression on his face, she quickly realised that he wasn't.
"Don't be ridiculous!" she scoffed
"How else are you going to get back to the mini bus?" Eddie questioned
Rachel sighed, he was right. She didn't have much choice.
"Come on, let me carry you. I promise I won't drop you" he insisted with a goofy smile
She rolled her eyes, nodding hesitantly.
Eddie lifted her into his arms with ease. It was awkward, being this close to her. For some reason, it made him feel nervous.
They walked along the cliff path, talking away about various things, in an attempt to forget about the fact that their faces and bodies were centimetres away from each others. Both were relieved when they reached the mini bus and clambered inside.
The journey home was a long one. Rachel sat in the front with Eddie, her foot resting on his leg. She was in a significant amount of pain, enough to know that she had definitely broken something. Eddie tried to distract her by talking to her. It worked a little, but not much.
When they finally reached Waterloo Road, it was 7PM.
Eddie sat Rachel down on one of the benches on the playground whilst he made sure all the kids were getting home safely. Once they were all gone, he headed back over to her.
"No arguments, Rachel, I'm taking you to the hospital" he announced
"What about my car? I can't leave it here over the weekend" she asked
"I'll pick it up tomorrow and drive it back to yours" he told her
Rachel was hesitant
"You can't drive, not in the amount of pain you're in and with your ankle like that" he reasoned
He wasn't wrong. She was in excruciating pain. Her foot and ankle was the size of a tennis ball now.
"Ok" she nodded
He picked her up again, carrying her over to his car and sitting her down gently in the passenger seat. Once he'd helped her to put her seatbelt on, they drove out of the school gates toward the hospital.
Once they were there, Rachel was seen to quicker than she'd expected.
After a few x-rays, it was revealed that her ankle was in fact, broken. She'd groaned when the doctor had told her, even though she wasn't really surprised.
After the gash on her forehead had been stitched up and cleaned, she'd been put in a cast and given a pair of crutches. She and Eddie left the hospital, Eddie walking slower so that Rachel could hobble next to him on her crutches.
They drove back to Rachel's in a comfortable silence. The tension that had been there between them that morning had melted away. Rachel felt that was a step in the right direction. She was grateful to him; he'd been so helpful and caring when he didn't have to be.
Eddie pulled up on Rachel's drive, the car grinding to a halt. She turned to him, smiling.
"Thank you for driving me home, and for helping me out" she said
"It's ok. I'm sorry I've been such a jerk"
She shook her head
"It's alright" she insisted
"Maybe we should start over?" he suggested
Rachel giggled
"Yes, I think that would be a good idea" she nodded
"How about I take you out for a drink tomorrow night? As an apology" he suggested
"I'd like that" she smiled
Eddie nodded, smiling back at her
"I'll pick you up at 7ish? Maybe we can have dinner too?"
"Sure. I'll see you tomorrow" she nodded
She got out of the car awkwardly, using her crutches to balance herself.
"Night, Eddie"
"Night, Rach"
He watched her step into her house, smiling as she waved before closing the door. He sighed in relief.
Rachel Mason actually wasn't as bad as he'd thought...
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed! Let me know what you think! :)