Teenagers on Coronation Street are rarely just about schoolwork, and Will Driscoll is proving that in a way that’s driving adults crazy.

It all started with small signs: Will suddenly disappeared, his behavior became erratic, his words were evasive, and the whole family racked their brains trying to figure out what was going on.

Ben initially thought his son was just being impulsive, but then he started to find it strange that Will kept avoiding eye contact, hiding his phone, as if protecting a secret he couldn’t reveal.

And just when Ben was about to let it go to keep Christmas quiet, he discovered Will had secretly arranged to meet Megan.

Megan wasn’t just a normal friend of Will’s. She appeared as an influential, powerful adult in the relationship, and Will was both drawn to and manipulated by the feeling of being understood and noticed. Will went so far as to book a hotel room, an action that would make any parent faint if a 16-year-old did that. When Ben tracked him down and rushed over, the situation unfolded like something out of a movie: Ben appeared unexpectedly, Will panicked, Megan tried to hide, and a moment of awkwardness made it clear to everyone that this wasn’t innocent.

Will tried to invent a different story to cover it up, saying he met his girlfriend somewhere far away, but the more he fabricated, the more obvious it became. Ben looked at his son with a mixture of anger and fear, knowing that once Will had entered dangerous territory, pulling him out would be ten times harder. Making matters worse, Christmas was approaching, and for various reasons, Megan was likely to be near the Driscoll family during dinner, putting everyone at the table with a ticking time bomb.