Episode 599

Extended Summary

Paul and Steven are using the phone at the Diner to call all the Ls in Vicki’s address book: The latest one turns out to be a Linda. At a nearby table, Ailsa asks Blake and Karen how their day went. Karen says she liked it, Blake is less enthusiastic. After Ailsa’s gone, Blake says he thinks the town stinks and he keeps getting into trouble. Karen tells him things are going to be different here and he has to stop behaving like an idiot. Ailsa puts a stop to Paul and Steven’s calls. Steven says they’ll have to go to Plan B…although he’s not sure what that is yet. Meanwhile, Marilyn visits Don in his office and asks how her essay is. Don tells her that he’s got eight classes a week to teach plus admin and does the marking on the weekend.  Marilyn is keen to know how she went and persuades Don to take a quick look. Don agrees and retrieves her essay. Marilyn seems prepared to wait but Don tells her to go.

At the Diner, Matt approaches Blake and encourages him to go to lifesaver’s training that evening. Blake agrees and Karen is pleased since he might make some friends. She reminds him they have English next but Blake isn’t looking forward to seeing Grant again. Steven, Paul and Vicki are talking at a nearby table.  Vicki reminds Paul they have to go to Yabbie Creek at the weekend for her uncle’s birthday. She notes she hasn’t seen her cousins in ages and says they’re boring apart from Anna, who they call Liz after goanna lizards. Once Vicki has gone, Steven and Paul dive for the phone but Ailsa still won’t let them use it. They go to the surf club and Paul calls Anna and asks her to meet him at the Diner.

Marilyn approaches Vicki and asks her how many pages she did for her essay. Vicki says five. Marilyn did fifteen. Vicki sarcastically tells her she’ll be top of the class. Don calls Marilyn into a classroom and says the essay was a good try but she failed. He asks if she copied down the question because she didn’t answer it, she just recapped what happened in the play. Marilyn thought that was what she was meant to do. Don arranges to meet her that evening and give her advice on how to redo the essay. Marilyn tells Vicki what happened and Vicki laughs and calls her a bimbo. Marilyn goes to the store and tells Alf and Matt that they were right: She made a mistake going back to school and can’t remember how to do anything.  They try and convince her not to give up so quickly but she asks for her old hours back and Alf agrees.

Steven and Paul meet Anna at the Diner and tell her what Vicki’s done. Anna thought the call was just a joke and didn’t realise Vicki was stealing the exam papers. They ask her to come with them and tell Don what happened. Anna refuses so they threaten to phone the police and tell them she was an accessory to the theft. Anna points out Don could call the police anyway but Steven tells her he’ll deal with it internally. Anna accompanies them to the office and tells Don what happened. She asks him not to call the police and Steven adds that it wasn’t Anna’s fault. Don calls a Miss Stevens and says he wants Vicki to come to the office.

In the corridor, Karen tries to convince Blake to be nice to Grant. Grant tells Vicki to go to the office, then chats to Karen about the get-to-know-you game, saying he learnt that she’s interested in how things work, but didn’t learn anything about Blake. He mentions that they’re studying A Fortunate Life, which Blake and Karen did at their old school. Grant asks what they learned from it and Blake says he learned that being poor sucks. Vicki goes to the office and finds Steven, Paul and Anna there. She is annoyed that Anna’s talked but says it was just a prank. Don asks if it was a coincidence that the exam papers were stolen while he was away. Vicki maintains that Emma did it. Don sends the others away and tells Vicki that he’s going to get the police to sort it out. He starts dialling and Vicki admits it was her. Don says she knows what happens now. Steven and Paul are in the corridor as Vicki comes out of the office and walks out of the school.

Blake chats to Matt at the surf club prior to the junior lifesavers’ session. Matt remarks that some kids drop out when they learn it’s all theory to start with, since they want to be rescuing people straightaway. Blake is still keen until Grant comes in and he learns he’s the teacher. Blake leaves. Grant explains to Matt that Blake doesn’t like him. Vicki storms up to Steven and Paul at the Diner. She is upset with Paul for pretending that he liked her and says he wasn’t pretending when they got physical. Paul says that he was.  Vicki slaps him and storms out. Steven says he should have hit her back but Paul seems to feel guilty about using her, despite Steven saying he did what he had to.

At the store, Don tells Alf that Emma’s been exonerated and can return to Summer Bay High. He feels bad about misjudging her. Alf thinks she’ll jump at the chance to go back since she’s never been happy at Yabbie Creek. Don is surprised to see Marilyn working there and she tells him she’s quitting school and has just wasted everyone’s time. Don convinces her that it’s his fault for not keeping a closer eye on her.  Alf agrees with Don that she shouldn’t give up. Marilyn agrees to keep her appointment with Don and Alf says they’ll go back to the old roster. Steven and Paul come in. They want to tell Emma what’s happened but Don thinks he should do it. He meets Emma at the bus stop and tells her he knows she wasn’t responsible for the theft and Vicki has been expelled. He apologises to her for getting it wrong and explains Steven and Paul worked it out. Emma realises that was why Paul dumped her for Vicki. Don says he’d like to see her back at the school and Emma says they’ll see.

At the Diner, Ailsa asks Grant how Blake and Karen went. Grant says Karen is doing well but Blake was disruptive and he’s worried that he couldn’t get through to him. Karen comes over to them and explains that Blake isn’t used to people telling him what to do, since he was used to being the man of the house, especially after their mother became ill. Later, Karen approaches Blake and tells him she’s been trying to make friends and Blake being a jerk hasn’t helped. Blake says he wanted to make friends too but he was nervous and everyone seemed to like Karen. Karen says they’ll like him too if he gives them a chance. She jokes that she’ll strangle him if he behaves like that again and they start arm wrestling.

Emma is chatting with Paul and Steven down by the beach. She thinks they could have told her what they were up to but they say she wouldn’t have acted jealous enough and she accepts they’re right. Steven leaves the other two alone. Emma says Paul hurt her by going out with Vicki but Paul says it’s over now and they can get back to how they were. They hug but Emma doesn’t look entirely certain.