Professor David Blood has banned Rich from visiting Grace in hospital and Rich is suffering. Alo tries to keep him out of trouble with a band practice, but Rich is committed to his love and he stands outside the hospital waiting for Grace's call. Eventually the call comes and Rich finds a way past security and breaks into Grace's room. The lovers are reunited, but they have a problem as Blood is moving Grace to another hospital in Switzerland. Rich goes to Grace's house to appeal to Professor Blood, but finds they've already gone. Rich moves into the house, sleeping in Grace's room until Alo tracks him down and pledges to help his best mate, but Alo has other things on his mind and cracks begin to develop in the boys' friendship. It falls to Liv to bring the fractured group back together again.^[5]

Alex lives with his grandmother, who has dementia. At school, he catches the eye of Liv. Alex randomly punches Alo in the face, but apologizes. Liv confronts Mini about her behaviour and the two argue. Alex watches the argument, Liv confronts him, and the two have a conversation. He kiss her. She slaps him, and they introduce themselves. Liv goes to Alex's house and meets his grandmother. Liv leaves and Alex reads to his grandmother. He goes to the pub with the rest of the group. The gang is wary and hostile towards Alex. Mini downs shots and dances with a boy. Alex is followed by Liv and they go play poker. Alex wins a large amount of money, but cheated and they grab the money and run. Alex and Liv part. Alex uses an app for finding people for sex and has sex with a man. He and Liv break into a house which is messy. The two clean it. Liv comes on to Alex and he starts to tell her something, only to be interrupted by the owner and they flee. They return to Alex's house where they find his father packing Alex's grandmother's things. His father tells Alex to finish and leaves. Alex is upset, but he dances with his grandmother and Liv. It is announced that there will be a memorial for Grace. Liv is disgusted that people who didn't know Grace will attend and is adamant that the friends not attend. Mini and Liv argue and Liv rushes off crying. She is followed by Alex and kisses him. Alex tells her he's gay. Liv becomes angry and Alex explains that he's never had friends. Liv tells him they're not friends. Alex runs home and discovers that his grandmother has committed suicide. Liv, Mini, and Franky attend Grace's memorial and smash things and scream at students. Liv receives a call from Alex, who apologizes. He takes the group out on a sail boat, where he encourages Liv to talk to Mini, which she does, but Mini pushes Liv away. Mini discovers a trunk with Alex's dead grandmother inside. The gang question Alex about it and he explains that she didn't want to go where others wanted her and pleads to the others to help bury her at sea. They slide the coffin into the ocean. Alex and Liv kiss platonicly and agree to be friends. They jump off the boat and swim away.^[6]

Franky is in a bad place - it's the week of her mock exams and she's unable to concentrate on her studies. Her friends are avoiding her, parental support makes her feel smothered and in her isolation she feels propelled towards Luke. He's bad news, but she feels as if he's the only person who understands her and she's intoxicated by him. Drawn into Luke's dangerous world, she finds an outlet for her anger and frustration. Burning bridges with family and friends, Franky is in more trouble than ever before. But help comes in unlikely forms, and out of the darkness a new friendship is born.^[7]

Mini hates her mum's pervy new live-in boyfriend, and to make matters worse, Alo has broken the rules of their 'no strings attached' secret relationship and declared his love for her. Mini feels trapped; she's lost control of her life and needs to get away. Ignoring advice from her mum and Liv, she seeks refuge with her dad. Gregory's never been around that much, but promises it'll be different this time. He sweeps Mini into his glamorous and grown-up world where she feels a million miles away from her problems, but Mini has a bigger problem that she can't run away from and will ultimately have to face on her own. ^[8]

Nick is desperately in love with Franky, but it's a one-way street. He has no choice but to accept Franky as his friend and nothing more, while his love for her grows with each passing day. Then Matty gets in touch - he's still in love with Franky and needs Nick's help to get him out of Morocco and back to Bristol. Ever loyal, Nick tries to put his feelings for Franky aside and agrees to help his brother. Torn between his love for Franky, his loyalty to Matty and his fear of confrontation, Nick's life begins to spin wildly out of control until he has no choice but to step up and discover what he's truly capable of.^[10]

Alo still has no idea that Mini is carrying his baby. Fed up of trying to get back to the fun times they used to have, he attempts to get over Mini by hooking up with a new girl, Poppy Champion. She's perfect for Alo and Mini is soon a distant memory. Franky's attempts to make him see sense fall on deaf ears, but Alo's childish choices come back to haunt him and he's soon out of his depth. In a lot of trouble and with nobody to turn to, the boy who stubbornly refused to grow up may have finally run out of time...^[12]

It's the end of an era. The exam results are in and Alex is throwing the mother of all leaving parties. Everyone's future hangs in the balance as Franky struggles to confront her past. The group is still in pieces following Grace's death... and time is running out for them to make things right.^[18]