Having recently made a big decision about her future, Bella (Courtney Miller) has been putting off telling her big brother Colby (Tim Franklin)—how will he react when she finally tells him her plans?
Striking up a burgeoning friendship with newcomer Nikau Parata (Kawakawa Fox-Reo), Bella felt drawn to Nikau through their similar backgrounds.
As she explained her difficulties with schooling and the prospect of repeating Year 12, Nikau wondered why she was putting herself through it if it wasn’t making her happy.
Whilst she explained that she was doing it for Colby, Nikau wasn’t convinced that it was necessarily the right thing for her.
After a long chat, Bella and Nikau went downstairs and found Roo (Georgie Parker), Maggie (Kestie Morassi) and Ryder (Lukas Radovich) in the diner.
With a renewed joie de vivre, Bella excitedly explained that Nikau had helped her work out exactly what she wanted to do—leave school and go to TAFE to study a photography diploma.
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Explaining that it would take the pressure off Colby, Bella did her best to convince Maggie and Roo that she was not destined to do well in her HSC—it was time to take charge of her own life and stop depending on others.
Much to her surprise, Maggie and Roo were fully supportive of her idea—but the only problem would be how to tell Colby, who’s still laid up in hospital.
A week later and Bella still hasn’t found the courage to tell Colby of her plans. When Ziggy overhears Maggie ask Bella how the TAFE application is coming along, she questions Bella on why Dean (Patrick O’Connor) doesn’t know that she’s leaving school.
Asked to keep her mouth shut and not blab to Dean, Ziggy asks why Bella is being so defensive. Bella explains that she doesn’t know how to tell Colby—she’s tired of letting Colby down.
But when Bella fully explains her reasons to Ziggy for choosing TAFE, Ziggy tells her she actually has a very convincing argument, and that she should go and tell Colby right away.
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Unfortunately, Colby responds with a resounding no. After all the trouble that people have gone through to try and help with her education, Colby is angry that Bella is willing to throw it all away.
She tries to explain that she is doing it for him, after Dean told Bella to start pulling her own weight.
Eventually a frustrated Bella storms out. When Colby tries to pursue her, he doubles over in pain after putting weight on his leg.
Mackenzie (Emily Weir) follows Bella and convinces her to go back and talk to Colby, she thinks that Bella made some good points and it’s worth another shot
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As the siblings calmly discuss the matter, Colby insists that all he ever wanted to do was give her the same chances as everyone else after such a difficult upbringing, it’s what their mum would have wanted. Bella appreciates that, but she knows it’s not working
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<p>Bella explains that she needs to focus on what she really loves doing, and she’s sure that her mum would be OK with it. Dean also agrees that it seems to make sense, and Colby agrees to look over the prospectus.</p>
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