Ruby Buckton (2008 - )
Rebecca Breeds
Episodes: 4665 -
Parents:Ross and Elsie Buckton (deceased) (adoptive parents/grandparents), Morag Bellingham (adoptive stepmother), Charlie Buckton and Grant Bledcoe (deceased) (biological parents)
Siblings: Mila Bledcoe and unnamed brother (half-siblings)
Occupation: Student
Occupation: Student
Cheeky and mature for her age, 15-year-old Ruby came to the Bay from boarding school, where she left along with her maintenance man boyfriend, Pat. With the recent death of her mum and her dad's decision to stay in Summer Bay, she decided to join him and her sister Charlie.
Ruby and Pat were anything but shy in showing their affection for each other when they first arrived in town and started pashing in the Surf Club.
Charlie was initially concerned as to whether her sister would accept Ross and Morag's relationship, but she didn't have anything to worry about, as Ruby told her she was happy for them.
Wanting to stay in the Bay and go to school, Ruby enrolled at Summer Bay High.
Curious about her sister's relationship with Pat, Charlie asked Ruby whether she really saw him as the love of her life. It was clear that Ruby had doubts, but she seemed determined to make things work. When Pat later revealed that he was leaving the Bay, however, Ruby finally came to the realization that they weren't going to be together forever and in an emotional scene on the beach, they kissed and said their goodbyes.
Shortly after enrolling at the school, Ruby became friends with Annie Campbell. Seeing her friend so happy with Jai, she became upset that she didn't have someone too. Ruby then started to develop a crush on her teacher - Miles! Annie soon caught onto her friend's feelings, but all Ruby could think of was how amazing and kind Mr Copeland was.
Whilst walking from the Surf Club, Earl, who had previously been seen taking a dip in the water (without his clothes on!), tried to take Ruby's bag. Whilst doing this Ruby fell to the fround. But her knight in shining armour was in the right place at the right time and was quickly able to ward Earl off.
A few days later and Annie thought she saw Ruby and Miles kissing. During a meeting with school principal Mr Bartlett, however, Miles revealed that it was him and Kirsty.
Following the death of her mum, Ruby was about to get another shock when he dad Ross was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. This proved hard for everyone to deal with and while she was trying to be strong, it was obvious Ruby was struggling. Trying to find comfort and advice from someone in a similar position, Ruby began chatting on an online chatroom to someone named Skye - whose grandmother was suffering with Alzeimer's.
At the same time her classmate Matthew Lyons took an interest in her and seemed to have a good understanding of her but she rejected his advances. She later found out from Annie and Jai that Matthew was really Skye and vowed revenge. She tricked Mathew into stripping off to skinny dip at the beach and stole his clothes, posting the pictures on the internet. She realised too late that Matthew genuinely wanted to be her friend and that his gran did have alzhiemers but Jai had already uploaded the pictures. Mathew retaliated by sticking her diary pages around the school and humiliating her.
She struggled to cope with Charlie's self-destruction after her relationship with Roman ended but developed an interest in new boy Xavier Austin. They hooked up but Xavier left town soon after being exposed as a drug dealer. He returned in the aftermath of his cousin Jack's death and Ruby tried to pick things up with him but he told her he was still in love with his ex Freya. X
Xavier hit the roof when he discovered Freya had stashed some illegal drugs in his school bag. Trying to protect him, Ruby took them and hid them in the fridge at home. Charlie questioned what they were doing there, with Ruby insisting that she found them at school and had nothing to do with them being there.
When the news of drugs in the school reached her, Belle went on confront Freya. Freya told her that if she let her name slip to the police, she would tell the cops Belle was her number one client. This didn't phase Belle, however, as the cops believed Belle brought the drugs for a front page story.
More mayhem was in store for Ruby and Xavier as the unstoppable Freya fired up the motor on the boat and took them for a water-filled joyride. She continued to push the boat to the max but was stopped in her tracks when the boat hit another boat - Hugo's. The man himself, however, was no where to be seen but later walked into the Surf Club unharmed after a night dive.
With Freya receiving hassle from the drug dealer she owed money to, Xavier decided he would meet with the dealers. But feeling the whole debarcle was her responsibilty, Ruby borrowed money and gave it to Freya so she could pay the dealers their dough. The con: she was to pack her bags and leave town. But when Ruby saw Xavier meeting the dealers on the beach, she couldn't understand why they didn't have their cash already. The penny soon dropped...Freya had skipped town - and taken the cash with her.
Ruby was annoyed that Xavier was pushing her away and he eventually told her it was because of Brendan but his worries were calmed when Brendan bonded with Ruby and the rest of his friends.
Ruby found out about Charlie and Joey's relationship but, after the initial shock, decided to accept them. She was somewhat disgruntled when Charlie then wrecked the relationship. She was one of the first people to realise that Martha and Hugo had feelings for each other. When Xavier and Jai told her about the recording Trey had of himself and Nicole, Ruby told Nicole about it, prompting a violent showdown between the pair. Ruby told Xavier she wanted to sleep with him on her 16th birthday and shared the news with Charlie, who was violently opposed to the idea. At her party, Ruby was upset to learn Xavier had told everyone about their plans and told him she didn't think she could go through with it. Her mood was lifted however when Xavier told her he loved her. She was somewhat put out when Charlie admitted she had slept with Angelo the same night but accepted the relationship.
When Geoff mentioned that there seemed to be a gun missing from the set Martha had given him from the farm and Annie told her Jai had seemed injured, Ruby quickly realised that Xavier and Jai had been messing about with the missing gun but reluctantly agreed to keep quiet. With Annie, she organised a petition to try and get Trey banned from the memorial trek. She arranged to have Jai and Annie paired up in an attempt to reunite them but was worried when they went missing. She and Xavier were then among the students trapped on the bus when Trey blanted a bomb under it and subsequently rescued by Hugo and Martha.
Ruby advised Charlie to keep quiet about her relationship with Angelo when Ross and Morag visited but ended up having to tell them herself when Charlie was injured while they were together. When she heard about Belle's cancer, Ruby decided life was too short to waste and took Xavier out to Martha's farm where they slept together. However, they were sprung by their combined families and Ruby was shocked by Ross' violent reaction. She was further confused by conflicting reports that Charlie had had a baby in her teens and became determined to track the child down, even trying to enlist Angelo's help. Charlie eventually admitted the truth, that the baby was Ruby herself. After finding out Charlie had been raped, Ruby asked Xavier if she could stay with him but Martha refused unless Charlie cleared it. Ruby spent the night hiding out with Geoff and Annie before she and Geoff, who was still coping with Belle's death, decided to leave town to clear their heads.
They ended up at the home of Ruby's "auntie" Michelle, who told them about how Charlie had come to stay with her after Ruby was born, full of self-hatred. Ruby eventually returned to Summer Bay and persuaded Charlie to let her stay with Irene. She became increasingly reliant on Geoff, making Xavier jealous, and after an argument she decided to stay at home with Geoff instead of accompanying Xavier to Brendan's birthday party. Charlie refused to tell her who her father was but, when Ross was saying goodbye to her before going into a home, he let slip his name was Bledcoe. She found Grant's photo in an old school year book and persuaded Jai to help her track him down on the internet.
Ruby went to Grant's house where she shouted at him for ruining her life. She was shocked when he followed her back to the Bay and, when he told her their liaison had been consensual and Charlie had only convinced herself it was rape, struggled to know who to believe, especially when both Grant and his wife visited her to plead his case. She was horrified when she found Charlie had kidnapped Grant to force a confession out of him and persuaded her to release him but when Grant used the same phrase he had used that night, she realised Charlie was telling the truth and hit Grant. She agreed to keep what had happened between the two of them but kept insisting that Grant needed to pay for what he'd done, despite Charlie protesting that if they told anyone she would be in as much trouble as Grant. She was slightly assuaged when Charlie agreed to tell Angelo and Ross but when Ruby herself told Morag what had happened, she stopped Ross finding out. Annoyed, Ruby ended her brief period staying with Charlie, accusing her of wanting everything her own way, and went back to Irene's. She took a job at the fish market to pay her way and ended up telling both Geoff and Xavier about Charlie kidnapping Grant. Grant then turned up dead on the beach and both Charlie and Ruby were in the frame for murder, with Ruby feeling guilty that she had set things in motion by tracking Grant down.
Ruby was also suffering from romantic confusion and admitted to Nicole that she'd realised she liked Geoff more than Xavier, having previously admitted to Charlie that they'd had a "moment" and been not entirely displeased when Geoff accidentally walked in on her in the shower. She broke up with Xavier, only for him to be knocked out by Derrick Quaid when they both tried to stop him attacking Hugo and wake up not remembering the conversation. She asked him to help her give Charlie an alibi for the murder, saying they had seen her in bed at the time, although she was nervous when Detective Robertson turned up at her work and revealed Grant was killed nearby. She distracted herself by chatting with Annie about the latter's feelings for Romeo. Detective Robertson saw through Ruby's alibi story and forced her and Xavier to retract their statements after dragging her out of the Diner in handcuffs. He then arrested Ruby for conspiracy to murder but this turned out to be a ruse to flush out Ross, who admitted he had killed Grant.
Ruby began showing signs of being unwell, sweating and needing the toilet constantly and experiencing momentary blackouts. When Xavier visited her to clear the air, she ended up vomitting and asked him to leave. Geoff and Charlie found her unconscious on her bed and she was diagnosed with diabetes. Xavier visited her in hospital and they finally ended their relationship. She and Geoff began seeing each other but she was disappointed that he started acting more like a carer than a boyfriend until they eventually found a balance. Charlie was unhappy with them living alone together, especially when Ruby was hospitalised with low blood sugar after missing a meal and letting Gonk take her supply of sweets rather than reveal she was diabetic, and moved in while Irene was away. After a number of false starts, when they were first interrupted by Irene, then had to work at the Diner and heard Orson sneaking around nearby when they met up at Donna's place, Ruby and Geoff cemented their relationship by sleeping together. At the end of year Christmas party, she spoke to both Charlie and Xavier and they managed to put the events of the year behind them.
She was sympathetic about the plight of the refugees and furious about John Palmer's comments on tax payers having to pay for their medical treatment, repeatedly accusing him of being a racist in public and harrassing him. She arranged a collection to pay for their medical treatment and gift packages for them. When she heard there was a chance they could be deported, she organised a rally at the Diner to demonstrate that most of the townsfolk were on their sides... but when she and Geoff arrived they found a racist mob attacking Leah and Hazem. They ended up trapped inside the building as it was firebombed and when she emerged from cover to try and help she was nearly hit by a burning beam and Geoff was injured protecting her.
Ruby felt guilty over the incident and asked Geoff if he blamed her, only for him to snap and say that he did, causing her to turn to Xavier for reassurance. Geoff then broke up with her and she overheard him telling Irene he was leaving town to become a missionary; she managed to deal with the news maturely as they said goodbye. She found herself drawn back to Xavier again and was disappointed when Mink revealed they'd kissed. When Xavier explained Mink had initiated the kiss and she realised she was just trying to cause trouble, she had a go at Mink and then went to the Diner opening with Xavier, although the bad memories about the riot caused them to leave early. She teased Xavier about getting back together, pretending she was going to kiss him before telling him she wasn't easy, and wound up Leah about her crush on Elijah. She argued with Romeo about Mink getting away with things but became more sympathetic towards her when she discovered she had gone to juvenile detention to protect her mother. However, Mink was annoyed when she found out she knew and verbally attacked her. Xavier defended her and she rewarded him with a kiss, getting back with him again.
She became caught up in Charlie and Angelo's relationship woes and confided in Angelo that Charlie had a history of sabotaging her relationships. She was disappointed that this resulted in the pair breaking up and, when she learned Angelo had kissed Charlie, encouraged her to try and make things up. She also spoke to Annie about her time in Japan and advised her against just staying in town for Romeo. She tried to give Xavier advice about Gina and John's relationship, and also to Charlie about her counselling, and ended up skipping school with Xavier only to be caught by Martha and forced to work on the farm as punishment. She later suggested to Xavier he use Gina's opposition to him boxing as a bargaining tool with regards the relationship. She also acted as a confidante to Nicole when Britt stole her designs and was the one to come up with the idea of Romeo wearing a dress to have to deal with cross-dressing in the school production of Romeo and Juliet. Ruby herself took the role of Mercutio and was shocked when she learned Liam was writing a song for her to perform. He was impressed with her singing voice however and encouraged her talent, even getting her to sing with him at the Diner, while she seemed to enjoy it when he held her stomach to help with breathing exercises. It wasn't enough to stop her freezing up on stage but he ended up joining her to help her with the song.
Xavier confided in her about the money Hugo had left him and asked her to hide it at Irene's. She didn't feel comfortable with it and offered to help him find another hiding place instead. After she'd quizzed Colleen about the local area, she distracted Martha while Xavier tried to recover the money only for it to turn out Martha had already found it. Ruby and Xavier took it to an old army battery but found that someone was living there, with a photo of Hugo and Xavier. Ruby covered for him with Gina when he spent the night at the battery. The incident sparked off Xavier's belief that Hugo was still alive and Ruby reluctantly told him about Vinnie being in witness protection, joining him in a brief second search of the battery and trying to talk him out of his plan to hide the money at the gym. Xavier later told her that he'd found out from Martha that Hugo was alive and roped Ruby into helping him get some supplies for Hugo although he failed to turn up to the rendezvous while Ruby covered with Angelo and Tony. She also comforted Nicole over Aden's departure.
Ruby had begun collaborating with Liam, prompting a jealous reaction from Xavier. She insisted she only had a professional interest in Liam but Nicole felt she saw him in a romantic light and she did find herself gazing admiringly at him during a brainstorming session. She took time out to chat to Charlie about her sleeping with Angelo but otherwise repeatedly chose to spend time with Liam ahead of Xavier. She was mortified when she overheard Xavier telling Liam to stay away from her, insisting she was only interested in the music, but Nicole pointed out that she would choose Liam over Xavier and helped her realise she actually had a crush on him. She went to see Liam and, without mentioning the crush, offered to give up their musical partnership because of the trouble Xavier was causing him but he decided to carry on. She admitted the crush to Xavier, prompting him to break up with her. She complained about her feelings to Nicole and Liam overheard her saying she couldn't stop thinking about him. She left Nicole to make up an excuse for her but was horrified when Nicole told Liam that Ruby hated his songs. Not wanting to lose their collaboration, she admitted the truth to Liam but insisted she could get over it. She was disappointed to find Xavier moving on with April while she couldn't act on her feelings for Liam.