The Path of Resilience

Summary: Simon and Hector's extensive planning had finally come to fruition, and the week of the Resilience Camp had come. Unfortunately, the week would not run as smoothly as was planned, as bickering students, disasterous activities and a wedge driven between husband and wife may force Waterloo Road to realise that the path of resilience will not be a simple one to follow.

Disclaimer: I do not own Waterloo Road, or any of the characters used in this story.

Chapter One

Silence reigned over the master bedroom at 3 Octavia Terrace, only the distant sound of birdsong from the garden breaking the blissful hold of the quiet. Two figures lay asleep on the bed, holding each other closely even as they slumbered. Neither of them was stirring, both enjoying the peace and quiet of their bed, and for a long moment, everything was utterly perfect.

Then a screeching sound came from the bedside table, and Simon Lowsley sluggishly pulled himself to sit upright, reaching blindly in the dark to locate the alarm clock and shutting it off. He blinked his eyes rapidly to clear the haze of sleep from them, and reluctantly extracting himself from his wife's arms, crossing the room and flicking the light switch, flooding the room with a harsh, artificial light.

Once his eyes had adjusted to the level of light, the man returned to his bed, kneeling down by the side of it and lightly shaking his wife on the shoulder. At first, she did not respond, but after a couple of further attempts, she finally began to stir.

"Come on, Sue, wake up." Simon spoke, his voice filled with an excitement that would not have been out of place in the voice of a child. "We're off to Resilience Camp today, and we don't want to be late for the bus, do we?"

"No." Sue responded, and her husband was far too occupied with his own excitement to realise that her speech did not hold anywhere near as much happiness as his did. In truth, Mrs. Lowsley had tired of the Resilience Education programme. He, and his new friend, Hector Reid, had intended for the programme to teach students discipline, to teach them to stand up for themselves and not be taken for fools, but all it had done was make them rowdier than ever, increasing the difficulty of her own job tenfold. Consequently, a week in the middle of nowhere with these students was not the most exciting news she had had in recent times.

Twenty minutes later, and Sue, showered and dressed, descended the beautiful staircase of her home. She still recalled the day she had first seen the house, when her father had secretly bought it as a wedding present for them, but for the majority of the time, she pushed the first half of that day to the back of her mind. After all, it had been touch and go on the last day of term whether or not they would even make it to the altar, and she did not wish to relive the heartbreak she had gone through when she thought that Simon had walked away.

Shaking the thoughts away, Sue proceeded into the kitchen, where the smell of bacon and eggs cooking filled her nostrils. Her husband was stood at the stove, watching some eggs as they fried, and he was so focused on making sure that they did not burn that he did not notice her enter the room. Using this to her advantage, the redhead tiptoed across the tiled floor in silence, and threw her arms around her husband.

At the unexpected touch, Simon jumped, even yelping slightly in surprise, but he quickly recovered from the shock when he caught sight of the locks of red hair resting on his shoulder, turning on the spot and catching his wife in his arms.

"Mrs. Lowsley, you are unbelievable!" he exclaimed, his laughter mingling with Sue's as he spun her around in his arms. They continued to mess around for a moment until the slight tang of sulphur hit their noses and the Deputy Head sprinted towards the stove, pulling the eggs from the heat before they burnt too severely and doing the same with the bacon on the grill. Giggling a little at her husband's antics, the redhead sat herself down at the table, watching Simon with an affectionate grin as he piled the fatty foods onto a plate and set it down on the table, in front of his own seat.

Sue raised an eyebrow as she leant forwards, resting her cheek on her palm as her husband sat down. She was a little surprised, she had to be honest, as though she did dislike fatty foods for breakfast, Simon would usually have made her something, as he was always the one that rose first in the morning, but today, nothing. The confusion in her eyes must have shown through, she realised, as just a moment later, a smile appeared on the man's face.

"Here you go." the smiling man sighed, walking over to the fridge and returning with a bowl, which was filled with yoghurt, blueberries and a fruit coulis, and dotted with small pieces of flapjack, a favourite breakfast of hers which she never had time to make, as she was always too busy preparing for work. Immediately, Sue leant over the table and pecked her husband on the cheek, before sitting down once more to eat her breakfast. It was going to be a long day ahead, and she would need all her strength if she was to get through it.

A quick glance at the clock radio in the car told the pair that they were already five minutes late. A large group of students were gathered outside the building, accompanied by Hector and Nikki Boston, along with the headmistress, Christine Mulgrew, who wanted to ensure that no incidents occurred before they had even left the school premises, an event which seemed extremely likely, given the excitable attitude of the students.

Christine was already across the yard to speak with Simon by the time he had shut the car door, and with an apologetic glance he was off to the office, to sort out the paperwork which should have been completed a quarter of an hour ago, and would have been, had he been on time. Once he was gone, Sue sighed deeply, before lifting the suitcases out of the car boot and slamming it shut.

However, once the door was closed, the woman looked upwards to see a figure stood beside her, one that she had not expected to see that morning.

"Sis!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her sister, who was laughing at her reaction. But in the midst of their embrace, Sue looked over Vix's shoulder, where she caught sight of the leopard print suitcase stood beside her own purple flowered one. She felt that she had to ask the question, although she was almost certain that she knew the answer. "Why do you have a suitcase?"

"Oh, I volunteered to come on the trip. Nikki said you needed more staff to supervise, I thought it sounded like a laugh." the elder sister explained, shrugging her shoulders slightly in response to her sister's suspiscious gaze. "And I thought I could take the opportunity to spend some quality time with my little sis."

"More like you could spend some quality time with your girlfriend." Sue responded, though she did not do so maliciously. As all siblings tended to do, they frequently japed at each other, but they both knew that it did not mean anything negative.

"Alright, so maybe I didn't want to spend a week without Nikki. Are you honestly saying that you would've come on the trip without Si?" Vix asked. Her younger sister sighed and shook her head slightly, aware that she had been beaten on this occasion. In turn, the caramel haired woman chuckled a little, before asking a second question. "Exactly. So, are you looking forward to the week at camp? I mean, rowdy kids, dull activities and at least half an hour a day listening to Hector preach about vigilance, what's not to like?"

"Give it a rest, Vix." Once again, Sue sighed her statement, and immediately, Vix took the hint. They had an unconscious pact between each other not to use their names in their conversation unless they really needed the other person to listen. The gleeful smile that had adorned her face had faded slightly now, and it was replaced instead by one of slight worry.

However, the elder Spark had barely opened her mouth before Hector's voice came booming across the playground, catching the attention of all that stood there, and containing the very message that the younger woman had now come to dread, the message that symbolised the beginning of what could end up as a week of living hell.

"Right then, everyone. Let's go!"

A/N: I wanted to do something with the resilience camp, but I didn't feel like it would fit properly into Written in the Stars, so I decided to do this. Just in case anyone's wondering, this is set after 9.11, but is not canon complient after that, because Vix and Nikki aren't engaged yet (I didn't think it would fit for them to be engaged yet). Anyway, please review!