Recap
- Michael punching Ivan in the face
- Sonya revealing her bird phobia
- Kate and Sophie not making it to Mark in time
Number 24 - Kate's Bedroom
Kate's tossing and turning in bed, dreaming about the night Mark left Erinsborough. In her dream she can see Mark standing on a road with his back towards her, while she runs down the street screaming at him to wait. Hearing her sister yell out, Sophie comes in to check on her but Kate says she's fine. When Sophie suggests she keep a dream diary, Kate snaps at her but then feels bad and tells her she'll be OK.
Number 28/Harold's Store/Number 32 - Next Morning
Andrew pops over to collect Summer before school, but Summer's checking her Facebook newsfeed where nearly every status is about Tash's photos.
At Harold's Paul's having a coffee with Lou and notices Kate yawning a lot, but she just shrugs and says she had a big night. Paul then sees schoolkids giggling about something on their iPads, so he checks his emails and soon finds Tash's photos.
Andrew can't help saying that if it was going to happen to anyone it would be Tash, but Summer reminds him how devastating it would be. She doesn't know how Tash is going to face school today.
Tash begs her dad to let her stay home but Michael says the longer she leaves it the worse it will be.
Paul makes a call to Nicole on the school board and asks if she's checked her emails this morning. When it becomes apparent she's seen the photos, Paul suggests they call an urgent meeting this afternoon with Michael about the issue.
Summer thinks they should go and see Tash before school, but Andrew jokes that they've probably seen "enough" of Tash for a while. He reminds her that in Tash's world she never thinks she's the victim, but Summer says she might be this time.
Michael tells his daughter that he wouldn't be making her go to school if he didn't think she could handle it. Tash is alarmed when Michael makes it clear that he's going to the police station this morning. Tash thought he dropped the idea, but Michael says that was only last night; he's not forgotten what Ivan's done.
Erinsborough High
Tash walks down the corridor with Michael while he's on the phone to Nicole about the meeting this afternoon. All the kids are staring and laughing at Tash, some of them even checking that it's really her on their phones. Tash apologises to her dad for getting him in trouble with the school board, but Michael says it's nothing he can't handle, "just like you".
When Tash makes her way to the lockers, Summer, Andrew and Chris approach some teens laughing at Tash and tell them off. Tash thanks them as the bell rings and Andrew makes his way to class, offering Tash an awkward "keep your chin up" on the way. Tash tells Summer and Chris that her dad wants to go to the police, which they think is a solid idea, but Tash just wants to move on from the whole incident. Summer says all the teens will keep an eye on her at school. Tash comments that Andrew's only sticking around because of Summer, but Summer says it's better than nothing.
Allotment
Sonya is overseeing a class of kids doing gardening, which includes Callum and Sophie. Cal jokes with Sophie about Tash's photos and asks if she wants a copy of them, but Sophie tells him he's being mean. Sonya asks the kids to get some more fertiliser from the chook pen, but when they're in there, Callum shows Sophie a rubber snake he's stowed away in his bag. He's concocting a practical joke to play on Sonya because she's acting too teacher- ish, but he doesn't realise Sonya has overheard the details of his plan.
Erinsborough High
Tash is putting things away in her locker when Ivan saunters in out of nowhere. He wants to know what Tash said to her old man to make him want to go to the cops. Tash says it's her word against his about who took the photos in the first place, so Ivan gets angry and calls her a skank. Michael finds them and demands Ivan remove himself from school property, but Ivan stands firm and tells Michael that Tash was the one who took the photos. When Michael looks at Tash for a response he's crushed when she confirms the truth with her silence.
MICHAEL: Get out of my school.
IVAN: If you go to the cops, so do I, and you've got more to lose.
Tash tries to talk to her dad, but Michael just turns away from her and goes into his office. Once he's alone, Michael doesn't quite know how to process this latest lie from his daughter. He looks at a framed photo of Tash on his bookshelf from when she was an innocent little girl and wonders where those days have gone. Tash walks in and apologises again, asking if her dad's still going to the police. Michael can barely look her in the eye, but confirms that he's still going to the cops.
MICHAEL: You might have been stupid enough to take those photos but he still made them public.
TASH: But he'll tell them you punched him and then you'll lose your job.
MICHAEL: Don't you dare pretend to care about my situation.
TASH: I'm not going.
MICHAEL: Excuse me?
TASH: To the police. I don't want this dragged out in court for months.
MICHAEL: This isn't about what you want.
TASH: You can't make me go.
MICHAEL: This is happening, Tash, with or without you.
First Commercial Break
Harold's Store
Lou looks on in concern as Kate gives out the wrong change to one of the customers. Callum and Sophie walk in talking about the snake plan, but Sophie thinks it's lame and that Sonya will never fall for it. Lou listens in on their conversation too, filing the info away to tell Sonya later. The kids order smoothies from Kate, who gets their order wrong as well, before they sit down. Callum comments on Kate being out of sorts and thinks it has something to do with Mark upping and leaving. Sophie tries to shush Callum but Cal keeps going on about Mark being an undercover cop and that the whole promotion thing was probably just a cover. Annoyed, Kate takes Sophie aside and warns her to stop talking about Mark. Sophie tries to tell her sister that she couldn't get Callum to be quiet, but Kate doesn't care.
Allotment
Callum's about to put his snake plan into action while Sophie looks on, but is bummed out to realise that Sonya already stole it from his backpack. Sonya gathers all the students around and tells them all about the snakes and other creepy crawlies living in Australian gardens. She pays Callum back by tickling a piece of grass on his neck and making him believe it was a spider. Sonya calls a truce with Callum and thinks it's the end of the practical jokes, but by the look on Callum's face the war is far from over.
Erinsborough Police Station - Exterior
Michael is losing his patience with a police officer because they can't do anything about Ivan distributing the photos Tash took. He soon feels bad and apologises to her, but the officer feels equally as bad that there's nothing they can charge Ivan with because the laws regarding technology are still being defined. The officer goes back inside just as Ivan lurks out of nowhere (again) and confronts Michael with a smirk. He says he was waiting to see if Michael showed up and now that he has he's going to make an assault complaint. Angered, Michael shoves Ivan up against the wall but Ivan spurs him on, reminding him there's plenty of witnesses around. Michael lets him go and says Ivan caught a lucky break, suggesting he gets lost. With one last sneering smile, Ivan saunters away.
Second Commercial Break
Erinsborough High
Tash waits for her dad but he just brushes past her without speaking and goes into his office. Michael looks at the photo of Tash on his desk before wearily putting his head in his hands. Just then Paul decides to drop in and gloat to Michael about the school board meeting this afternoon, but Michael's too tired to take the bait and says he'll just deal with everything as it comes.
MICHAEL: If you want to use my daughter's shame and humiliation to somehow suggest that I'm bringing the school into disrepute then be my guest.
PAUL: Michael, Michael, Michael. Come on, half the fun is having you fight back.
MICHAEL: Yeah well I'm done fighting.
Paul notices the bruise on Michael knuckles and asks if he hit the guy, but Michael says it was a small price to pay. Michael then dejectedly asks if Paul's adding that to the agenda too, but Paul notices the photo of Tash when she was little and has a spark of compassion for Michael.
PAUL: Listen for what it's worth I would have belted him too.
When Paul leaves the office, his surprising charitable mood continues when he calls Nicole and suggests they cancel the board meeting.
Allotment
Lou wanders over to Sonya and lets her know he's heard some plans being made by Callum to stir up some trouble for her. But Sonya smiles and says she's already sorted everything out and they've called a truce. Lou laughs and says she shouldn't have fallen for that line. Proving his point, Callum suddenly runs out holding a chicken from the coop and scares the beejeepers out of bird phobic Sonya until she admits that Callum won the prank war.
Erinsborough High
Tash stares at her dad through his office window, upset that they're not speaking. The teens swing by to check on Tash and ask how the police visit went, but they're surprised when she says she didn't go with Michael. Summer thinks Tash should go and find out, so Tash approaches her dad when he comes out of his office. Michael bluntly tells her that because of her stupidity nothing can be done about the photos being distributed. Tash tries to apologise again but Michael just cuts her off and tells her to get to class.
Harold's Store
Kate's mind is still not completely on the job, so Lou has a chat with her and says he'll take over her shift for the rest of the afternoon. Kate says she'll be OK, but falters slightly when Lou admits he heard her having nightmares last night. He eventually convinces her to go home and get some rest.
Lassiter's Park
Kate takes a seat by the lake and looks at the last text message Mark sent her which said 'I love you' (but since he sent it from Hayes's phone it shouldn't really be under his name). She then calls Mark's number but gets the message that the line has been disconnected.
Third Commercial Break
Number 24 - Kate's Bedroom
Sophie waits in Kate's room to see if her sister's OK, but Kate isn't in the mood to talk. Kate puts her phone down and takes off her necklace while Sophie tries to cheer her up by telling her what happened at the allotment today. But this just makes Kate even more annoyed and she takes her frustration out on Soph.
KATE: I'm really glad you got to spend the day mucking around making an idiot of yourself. I'd hate to think what life would be like if you were forced to leave that kind of stuff behind.
SOPHIE: I wanted us to go with him!
KATE: After you spent, like, an eternity sitting there feeling sorry for yourself! You know if you hadn't been so selfish we probably wouldn't have missed him and I'd be with him right now. This is all your fault.
Sophie is extremely wounded by her words and quickly leaves the room. Kate shows a bit of guilt over how nasty she was.
Preview
(Tomorrow on Neighbours)
SUMMER: It doesn't matter what articles I suggest, Paul just knocks them back.
(Andrew has a chat to Chris about Summer)
ANDREW: The next thing you know she's being distracted by the story.
CHRIS: You knew Summer was like that when you started going out with her. She's a geek girl.
ANDREW: Yeah but not all the time though.
(Susan returns home but doesn't seem to be spending quality time with Karl)
(Kyle chats to Kate about Mark)
KYLE: People are going to work out that Brenno didn't really have a choice, and that cannot get out for his safety.
KATE: I know that OK!
(Jade packs up some of Mark's stuff - Kate takes it home with her)