It’s the day of Kate’s big uni assessment, but she can’t stop thinking about her kiss with Noah. Her assessor appears and raves about Kate’s teaching to date, but seems worried about her focus today. She wants to make sure she’s ready, but all she really does is make Kate more nervous – is there something on her mind? She’s normally one of the most focused students!
“You know this is the last chance to prove yourself before the exams?” Well, if Kate wasn’t feeling the pressure before, she definitely will be now.
Jade arrives home from work to find a stranger in her house. “Who the hell are you? What the hell are you doing in my house?” Apparently Kyle neglected to mention that his cousin would be coming to stay while he was in Frankston taking care of his mum, who is sick with malaria after a botched Thai boob job. This is Dane Canning.
“House swap?” Jade gasps. It does seem like Dane’s here to stay.
At Harold’s, Dane has a run-in with Sonya. “I know who you are … I’m [Kyle’s] eyes and his ears while he’s looking after his mum.” He glares at Sonya. “Ex-friends is what I hear.”
Susan is mad at Karl. He was supposed to come home after golf and he has the hide to be at Charlie’s, playing darts or pool or something else that isn’t listening to Susan’s moaning. She seems to have forgotten that they’re separated and he actually isn’t responsible for her issues anymore. Mal offers to help her out.
“ … you can blame your father!” Unnecessarily cruel.
At Dial-A-Kyle, Dane is on the phone to Lou, who seems very nervous about the change in staff. The shopping centre surveyors arrive, and that seems like as good a reason as any to Dane to mouth off.
“You can pack up and go, ‘cause no one around here wants your development … it’s all about the money.” Suddenly the surveyor is on the same page.
“Of course it is! It’s Council … dodgy as.” Dane’s interest is piqued.
“You reckon the Council is dodgy?”
“You didn’t hear it from me, but word is the developers of this shopping centre have got the Council in their pockets.” He frowns. “Money talks.”
Noah is creepily hanging around outside the classroom. “I was waiting for you, I just wanted to wish you good luck!” Kate looks at him in disbelief. “Do you remember what I told you earlier?” He does, he just chooses to interpret it in his ‘own way’. “You’re only my teacher for two more weeks!” Nice try, Parkin.
Kate starts her class and assessment. She’s off to a strong start, but Noah is staring at her like a sick puppy and she completely loses her concentration. The room is spinning and the students are laughing. She excuses herself and the assessor follows: “You said you were up for this.” She’s allowed a few minutes to herself to catch her breath.
Susan heads down to Charlie’s to tell Karl off like he’s a child. She makes a nice scene and tops it off with a bit of yelling at Rhys. Stop berating him, Susan! Stop trying to catch him out in a lie! Karl slinks away to meet the phone technician before the dragon lady tries to devour him.
Dane rocks up to talk to Paul about what he heard from the surveyor. “It seems the Council has accepted a bribe,” Canning says. “ … just look at the dates of the development plan.” Paul seems interested, but he knows he can’t run anything without being sure of the facts.
But he knows someone who will.
After a terrible assessment, Kate tells Noah he needs to back off. He says he understands, but does he?
