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[ginbrucobooks]

Flashbacks

Maeve's Point of View

The bus was pretty empty, probably because it was Sunday morning and most people were sleeping in. Having nothing else to do, considering I didn't think to bring my earphones with me yesterday, I just stared out the window the whole ride from Aoife's house to my cousins'. Since I had nothing to distract me, my mind kept going back to my earlier argument with Aoife and Casey. They're right.

A voice in the back of my head that sounded suspiciously like my mom's said. They're not safe in that house. You are not safe in that house I brushed it off. At least if they were with me, I could protect them. Who knew what would happen to them if we called the authorities. Who knew what would happen to me.

Just like the previous moments when I had been in doubt, I clang to the last memory I had of my eldest cousin, Darren. The last request he made to me before he abandoned us and never looked back, when I was only eleven.

"Hey there, Mae-Mae." My cousin smiled at me.

"Hey Dar-Dar." I beamed back.

Today was my first day at the last year of primary school, and Joey's first day of secondary school. Lately life wasn't so bad. Uncle Teddy said he would try to get sober. Aunt Marie had bought me a brand new diary to use for school. Darren told me he was going to a college near us. Joey said that he is probably going to get the call up for hurling in the next few months. Tadhg was more upbeat than usual and Ollie looked more relaxed. I was still sad when I thought of my family, especially Clara, but Darren said that was fine, that it was okay to miss them.

"Are you going to bring me to school today?" I asked. "I thought you were going to accompany Joey and show him the ropes."

"I am, I just wanted to talk to you a second before I left." He responded.

"Are you going to show me the ropes too?" I wondered.

"No, don't worry Joey will do that for you next year." He answered.

"What do you mean, aren't you going to accompany me too next year?" I inquired. I wanted Darren to accompany me. He was my special person. Just like Shannon was Joey's and Ollie was Tadhg's.

I loved all my cousins, but I had a soft spot for Dar-Dar and I knew he had one for me. He was the only one who got to call me by a nickname. No one else got that privilege.

"Of course." Darren spoke looking nervous.

"Are you okay?" I grilled him.

"Yes. I just have something to ask you." He added.

"Okay, shoot." I grinned.

"I need you to never abandon them." He told me.

"Abandon who?" I was perplexed.

"This family. You're their protector now." He declared.

"Me? But I'm not strong like Joey or you." I pointed out. If uncle Teddy decided to be bad again and turn to the drink, there was very little I could do to defend Shannon and the boys. I wasn't brave like Joey nor resilient like Shannon.

"Not like that, you have to make sure they never get separated." He tried to make me understand.

"By who?" I looked at him weirdly.

"The Gardaí." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Promise me you'll do whatever is necessary to keep them together, so that what happened to me never happens to them."

"Alright." I said to try and calm him down. He looked agitated. "I will." No one had yet told me what had happened to him. When my cousins were little and they were taken into foster care for a while I was still living with my parents. But he looked so panicked that to calm him down I would have said anything.

"You promise?" He sounded like Shannon.

"Yes, I promise." I concluded.

I was sent back to the present when the bus got near the house, and I realised I had to get up and hop off the bus unless I wanted to get off on the wrong stop.

Since I was pretty near the house, I took out my phone and texted my Aoife that I got there.

I was about to call Joey to have him open the door – I wouldn't risk ringing the doorbell and possibly waking up Teddy – when I noticed two lads waiting on my front door.

Oh come on.

[ginbrucobooks]

reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something

[ginbrucobooks]

Deny, deny, deny

Maeve's Point of View

We were having breakfast in the kitchen and while I was talking to Casey, Aoife was speaking to Joey on the phone.

"You know, I should really go back home before it starts raining again." I told the two girls in front of me. It was still relatively early for a Sunday, and – if I got lucky – my uncle would still be asleep when I got home.

"Is that code for going before Teddy wakes up?" Casey interjected. They were the only two people who knew the truth about what really happened in that house and the only ones who also knew the reason why we never called the authorities.

"Exactly." I admitted. "I can hide in my room with Shannon while hopefully he has his tantrums downstairs."

"Hopefully." She underlined. "And in case he doesn't?"

"Then I guess I'm today's rag doll." I shrugged. "It's not like I can avoid the beating forever, if it's not today, it's going to be tomorrow."

"Aoif, come here." She said while gesturing for Aoife to hang up the phone. A few goodbyes and I love yous later she sat back at the table with us.

"What were you talking about with Joey?" I asked.

"He was asking how you were doing after yesterday." She spoke. "I told him you were peachy."

"In a ten-minute call, all you two talked about was me?" I grilled her. "Why do I find that a little hard to believe?"

"Just listen to what we have to say." Casey interrupted.

"Oh, is this an intervention?" I rolled my eyes. "Tell Joey it's very hypocritical of him to organise one, and also I don't have a problem."

"First of all, this is not an intervention. Second, Joey has been clean for a month now and you know that. Third, what do you mean by I don't have a problem." Aoife exclaimed. "Are you on drugs?"

"Of course not." I lied immediately, silently thanking Joey for not informing them of my activities during the last couple of months. "I was being sarcastic, I just smoke."

Aoife looked relieved while Casey looked at me in a way like she could see through all my bullshit. Whatever, there was no way I was admitting to them that I took pills regularly. I didn't want them to look at me like I was broken. Also if I told them, I would have to tell them how and when it started. No way I was telling them what I got up to lately, not yet at least, this newfound truce was too new to withstand that. Deny, deny, deny. That was my motto.

"So, we need to talk to you about something." Aoife commented.

"That Joey kind of agrees with." Casey added.

"Kind of?" I questioned.

"Yes, we're still trying to convince him, but we want to see if maybe you could be convinced too." Casey told me.

"Alright." I was sceptical. "What is it?"

"Well-." Aoife started.

"We think you should call the gardaí on your uncle." Casey interrupted.

I just stared at them. Were they crazy? They took my silence as a sign to continue.

"You can't keep living like this, Joey can't keep living like this, Shannon and the boys can't keep living like this. This situation isn't fair on anyone." Aoife stated. "You're all in danger with that man in the house, and with that woman too. She isn't fit to take care of the children, she isn't fit to take care of anyone."

"And then, what?" I exploded. "We call the cops, we get all taken away, separated, and moved to different parts of the country. If we get lucky maybe we get placed with a family that won't mind our existence too much, we'll be glorified servants. At worst we'll end up like Darren."

The mention of my eldest cousin immediately chilled the whole atmosphere. They knew what had happened to him. They knew why we couldn't call the authorities.

"So, you're going to condemn Tadhg, Ollie and little Sean to live like you and Joey have?" Casey rebuked, just as mad as me. "To exist in fear and terror that any day that man could kill you?"

"I'll be there to protect them, Joey will be there to protect them." I pointed out.

"What about your lives?" Casey screamed back at me. "You're just never going to leave home, never going to college or even on a simple vacation?"

"Yes." I spoke.

"What about Joey?" Aoife asked.

"What about him?" I replied.

"Do you think this is fair on him?" she stated. "He can't live in that house anymore, you know that."

"Then tell him he's welcome to leave, I'll protect of Shannon and the boys." I lied, if Joey decided to leave, I would have no idea of what to do. He always said that one day he would get me and Shannon out of that house, what if he ends up leaving us here?

"You can't even protect yourself." She shot back. "What are you going to do when Teddy goes on yet another drunken rampage?"

"Did you forget what happened the last time he got hold of a weapon?" Casey commented.

"How can I?" I bit back. "The scar is an everyday reminder." Last September, while Joey was at work, my uncle managed to grab a knife from the kitchen and ran after me with it. By the time Joey got home and dragged him off me he had already made a pretty deep cut on the back of my neck. That scar was only one of many caused by him, but it was the first time he left it in such a visible place, which is why I now made it a point to always wear my hair down. It wasn't by any means the most horrendous scar on my body – as both Aoife and Casey knew – since the car accident that I had with my parents and little sister caused irreparable damage to the skin on the back. I could even go as far as to say that, if you only saw my back, I looked like I was mauled.

"Then what do you think will happen the next time?" Casey added. "What if Joey doesn't get there in time?"

"Stop." I sighed. "No one is calling the authorities and that's final."

"You're being stupid." Aoife screamed at me.

"I'm being realistic." I shouted back. "What was that saying? Better the devil you know."

"So, you would rather risk your safety than calling the cops?" Casey pondered.

"I would rather risk getting murdered than have another one of my siblings get raped." I concluded. "This isn't up for discussion, we're not calling the authorities."

And just like that it's like we were back on opposite sides, it was once again those two against me. Well, that was a short-lived truce. Even if I knew they had my best interest at heart, how could they suggest something like this? They knew what Darren had gone through in foster care, and my uncle might have been many things, but he never touched us in that way.

"I'm taking the bus back home." I grabbed Johnny Kavanagh's jacket and made my way to the door.

"Maeve, wait." Aoife tried to stop me. Casey too got up from her chair to try and convince me to stay.

"I just need some time to cool off, I'll text you two once I'm at the house." I remarked.

I said my goodbyes to Mrs. Molloy and Kevin, and then headed out.

[ginbrucobooks]

Good morning my ass

Johnny’s Point of View

Ring. Ring. Ring. I opened my eyes and looked at the alarm. 5:45 Ring. Ring. Ring. I stretched out my arm and stopped it. I was too sore. There was no way I was able to go the gym today. Screw it, I’m sleeping in today.

I slept for another couple of hours when suddenly a huge weight was thrown on me and I opened my eyes. What the fuck?

“Wake up. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and big brothers are out to kill me.” Gibsie sang while on top of me.

“Get off me, ya little gobshite.” I screamed. “We’re leaving in a couple hours, I want to sleep.”

“No can do, Joey the hurler texted me and told me to get my pretty bottom over there.” He stated.

“Then tell him you’re busy and you’ll be coming by later.” I replied exhausted. I looked at the alarm clock once again. 9:12 God, why me?

“I’m already on thin ice with this lad, I have no intention of giving him any other reason to beat me up, not after yesterday.” He gave me a glance. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you still haven’t told me what happened.”

“I did tell you what happened.” I retorted.

“You gave me a generic excuse.” He pointed out.

“It was a generic occurrence.” I tried. “You know that girl can’t stand me.”

“She’s not a fan of you because she thought you meant to hurt her cousin.” Gibsie reminded me. “And you know she wanted to apologise to you.”

“Then you had to go and ruin it by doing whatever it is that you did.” He concluded. “I wanted her to join our friend group.”

“You’ve been obsessing over that girl ever since you met her last week.” I wondered. “Do you like her?”

“What? No.” He declared. “You know I only have eyes for Claire-Bear.”

“Like that has stopped you from screwing half the female population at Tommen.” I rolled my eyes.

“I have no intention of screwing your sunshine, rest assured.” Gibsie emphasised. “And I didn’t meet her last week, I met her last November at Biddies, during one of the parties you refused to go to.”

“You did?” I asked. “How?”

“Some lad from her school got a little rapisty and I had to drag him off her.” He explained. “Patrick was there too that night, he helped me beat the guy up, though I doubt Maeve remembers him, she looked pretty shaken up.”

“What?” I was seeing red. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”

“Because she made it known to me, in no uncertain terms, that she didn’t want anyone minding her business.” He spoke. “Also, you didn’t even know her name back then. It’s not like I go around telling you of every maiden I save.”

“Every maiden you save?” I gave him a glare.

“There are quite a few of those.” He grinned.

“Who was it?” I questioned him. He knew immediately what I was referring to.

“Paul Rice, apparently Lynchy stole his girlfriend and he wanted to get back at him by fucking his sister.” He exclaimed disgusted. “After a few punches he spilled everything. Don’t worry he got back home with a broken nose and more than a few bruises.”

“Does her brother know about this?” I rubbed my chin.

“I doubt it.” He sighed. “If he did, Paul Rice would be six feet under right now. That lad doesn’t take kindly to someone messing with his family.”

“Alright, get off me.” I pushed Gibsie. “We’re going to Maeve’s house. Tell me the address.”

And maybe we were stopping by Biddies on our way there.

“Why are you making that face.” Gibsie got off the bed.

“What face?” I rolled my eyes.

“Your scary face.” He commented.

“I don’t have a scary face.” I protested.

“Yes, you do.” He responded. “You’re making it right now.”

“Just get ready, Gibs. We’re heading out in fifteen minutes.” I told him and motioned for him to get out of my room so I could prepare.

“You’re not going to kill anyone are you?” He asked.

“No, Gibs.” I assured him. “I don’t even know where the lad lives. I’m just going to make sure he’s not going to bother Maeve again.”

[ginbrucobooks]

Shits and giggles

Johnny’s Point of View

After my call my call with Maeve’s brother – or cousin, whatever – I sat back at the table with the others and ordered something to eat, which I didn’t touch until about an hour later when a message popped up on Gibsie’s phone to let us know that they had found her. Thank you Jesus.

Worry was basically consuming me from the inside out, and Gibsie – who was still scared for his life – was no better. He spent the whole lunch whispering in my ear about how that Joey lad was going to find him and cut out his balls while he slept, and it was all going to be my fault. To which I retorted that it was his bleedin’ fault for ditching Maeve in the first place.

Still my main focus at the moment was the tremendous amount of pain I was in. My groin was still aching and walking hurt like a bitch, but I was persevering. I can’t wait to go home and ice my balls.

Ever since I agreed to do that operation in December to fix my torn adductor I had been out of shape, and I knew why. I had gotten back too early from injury, but I couldn’t risk postponing it any longer. My career is at stake here Goddamnit. So I kept going, trained everyday until the pain got so bad I almost threw up and iced my balls on the regular, even though it seemed to nothing for the horrendous bruising and discoloration in the area around my balls.

“I can’t believe this.” Gibsie declared once he got in my car. Apparently, he left his car at Maeve’s place and Joey told him he couldn’t pick it up until tomorrow, so I was now stuck driving his arse around.

“You are taking me hostage, let me out of this car.” He crossed his arms.

“I’m not taking you hostage.” I rolled my eyes. “Today you’re crashing at my house because I have no intention of picking you up, taking you to Maeve’s house and going back home. This way I can directly go to Maeve’s house with you.”

“If I don’t take Brian out for a walk today, he’s going to shit all over my bed out of spite.” Gibsie sighed, defeated. Brian was his mother’s cat and had a habit of shitting in his room whenever things didn’t go his way.

“Like cat, like owner.”

“My mother never took a shit in anyone’s bed, Johnny.” Gibsie shot back.

“Not her, you.” I stated. “Remember, when you took a dump in that shower back in first year.” 14-year-old Gibs was even worse than 17-year-old Gibs, at least now he used a toilet. After that incident happened while we were away on a game for Tommen, Coach didn’t let us do another away game for six months.

“Oh yeah.” Gibsie laughed. “Still can’t believe no one ever figured out that it was me.”

“That’s because Feely and I told coach you were out with us, taking a walk.” I chuckled. “He suspected you immediately.”

“Wait, why me? Hughie could have done it. He wasn’t with you guys.” He screamed in disbelief.

“Because unlike you, Hughie is civilised.” I pointed out.

“You’re so mean, it’s not my fault the toilet was occupied.” Gibsie pouted.

“It is your fault for thinking the shower was the next best option.” I replied.

“Would you rather I had done in behind a tree? What if some animal came up and bit me in the ass?” he questioned.

“Then I wouldn’t have had to sit through half an hour’s worth of scolding about how important it is to be respectful of the places where we stay when we got back at Tommen.” I responded.

“So, you would rather I go to the hospital than the bathroom?” Gibsie asked.

“No, Gibs. I would rather you use a toilet.” I spoke.

“It was occupied.” He screamed again.

“You couldn’t have waited five minutes?” I wondered.

“Mother nature was calling, what was I supposed to do?” He bit back.

“Anything else would have been a better solution, I suspect.” I laughed once again.

“No more talking about this.” Gibsie stated. “I have nothing to be sorry about. If you had been in my situation, you would have probably done the same thing.”

“Lad, no one would have done that no matter the situation.” I was crying from laughter at this point. “It’s ok, we’ve all gotten used to you now. Nothing surprises me anymore.” Years of enduring Gibsie’s antics meant I was basically on board with the weirdest things humans could ever come up with.

Finally, after laughing my ass off to Gibsie’s pout for a good fifteen minutes, we arrived home.

“Ah, the mansion.” Gibsie sighed. He liked to refer to my house as that since the first time he ever saw it. To be honest, it kind of irked me – a fact that Gibsie definitely picked up on since he made a point to call it that every time – because it underlined the obvious privilege I had growing up.

“Who needs nine spare rooms anyway?” He wondered out loud.

“I have guests sometimes.” I defended.

“You never let anyone but me, Hughie and Feely sleep over, you liar.” Gibsie got out of the car and grabbed my keys to open the house while I parked. Once I too got inside I closed the door, grabbed an icepack and plopped down on the sofa next to Gibsie who was scrolling through the channels trying to choose what film to watch.

“Not The Notebook again.” I protested. Ever since we watched that film together in the cinema a year ago, he had been obsessed. Now every time he came over, he insisted we watch that.

“It’s a cinematic masterpiece, thank you very much.” Gibsie shot back.

“We’ve seen it nine times already.” I stretched my arms and yawned.

“And I’m about to make it ten.” Gibsie decided. “You’re already falling asleep, so just let watch me Rachel McAdams and go to bed.”

“Alright.” I said defeated. I grabbed my icepack and walked all the way to the stairs before Gibsie spoke again.

“Johnny, are you sure you’re alright?” He asked, looking worried. “Are your balls hurting again?” Gibs was the only to whom I told the truth about my injury. He could keep his mouth shut. I could trust him. If I told my parents or the coaches from the Academy – the institute where they trained professional rugby players – they would lose their bleedin’ mind and pull me from rugby until I completely recovered, and I couldn’t afford to lose my chance. Scouts were looking around to fill spots for the U20 campaign and they would drop me if they smelled any weaknesses.

“Just fine, just tired from the game.” I told him. “I’m going to sleep, are you sure you can cook dinner by yourself without burning the whole house down?”

“I’ll have you know that I’m my mother’s proud son.” He said referring to the fact that his mother was a baker. “I’ll just heat up whatever you have in your freezer.”

“Why am I not surprised.” I grinned. “Goodnight, Gibs.”

“Goodnight, Johnny.”

[ginbrucobooks]

Hug(s) and make up

Maeve’s Point of View

“I’ve been looking for you for the better part of an hour.” Said a worried looking Joey. His t-shirt, already dirty form working in the garage, was now soaking wet from being outside and he was shivering from the cold.

“How long have you been standing there?” I asked while looking behind him and seeing two – well, two and half – familiar figures. “How long have all of you been standing there?” Aoife Molloy and Casey Lordan were both standing right in front of me now, both in drenched clothing. I always thought they resembled the sun and the moon, Aoife with her blonde hair, blue eyes and warm personality and Casey with her dark hair and aloof demeanour. I was always jealous of them, of their friendship, of how close they seemed to one another. They were each other’s number one. And for a while, maybe, so was I. Maybe I could be again.

“Only a couple of minutes, just enough to hear what they needed to hear.” Joey responded while taking back little Sean from Aoife’s arms.

I wasn’t mad anymore I realised, not at them anyway. I was just disappointed in myself. I had always felt second to everyone in my life. To my parents I was second to my sister. To Joey I felt second to his siblings. To my aunt and uncle I was second to their children. And to them I thought I was second to Podge. I was wrong. “Why are you all wet?”

“Why do you think?” Joey laughed. “We searched everywhere for you.”

“How did you even know I was missing?” I wondered out loud.

“Johnny Kavanagh himself called to inform me.” He rolled his eyes. “He told me you took off alone and that you weren’t responding to their texts.”

“Should have known you’d come here.” He concluded.

I took out my phone, having completely forgot that it was there, and went to check the million of messages and missed calls all from different contacts. Gibsie, Niamh, Joey, Aoife, Casey had all tried to contact me at least ten times each in the span of that hour. I smiled. People were looking for me. People cared if I went missing. Take that, Teddy Lynch.

“I did text him when you showed up, to let him know you were here.” Tony admitted.

“So, this was all part of your plan.” I couldn’t help but laugh at Tony. “Remind to never underestimate you.”

“It was time you three all made up.” He pointed at me, Aoife and Casey. “I couldn’t stand to see those two mope around the house for one more second.”

That moment I looked at them again. The girls who used to dance with me at parties. The girls who used to sneak alcohol into their houses so we could get wasted while gossiping together. The girls who always chose places reachable by bus to go hang out, so I could join. The girls who cried, laughed and screamed with me. The girls who used to help cover up the bruises my uncle left me.

“Hey Lordan.” I grinned. “Hey Molloy.”

“Hey Connor.” They both waved.

“Joey, you took a long enough break. Come on, let’s go work.” Tony announced while dragging Joey and Sean with him.

“Subtlety has never been his strong suit, has it?” I asked.

“No, it hasn’t.” Aoife replied.

After a few moments of tense silence, I decided to break the ice. “So, you went looking for me?”

“Duh. You went berserk and ditched your prep school friends so we had to go the rescue.” Casey exclaimed.

“Casey.” Aoife scolded.

“What? She did, we were with Joey when he got the call.” Casey shrugged.

“So, you both ruined your clothes and your make-up to look around town in the rain?” I asked.

“Like you wouldn’t have done the same for us.” Casey shot back. “You look worse than us by the way.”

“Casey.” Aoife scolded her again.

“I’m just saying. Look the mascara streaked across her cheeks, or at puffy eyes.” She defended. “Nice dress, though.”

“I know right, it’s supposed to be Shannon’s, but I think I’m going to steal it.” I laughed, my voice still rough from all the crying.

“You should have told us.” Interrupted serious Aoife. “You shouldn’t have kept that hidden.”

“Yes, you should have.” Agreed Casey. “Especially considering I had been looking for an excuse to kick Podge in the nuts for months.”

“He’s still scared of her.” Aoife recalled.

“She actually did it?” I mused.

“Of course I did.” She proclaimed. “He had it coming with all the stuff he’s been saying.”

“He’s still bitter about it?” I asked them.

“The lad took the word to a whole new meaning.” Casey replied. “Can’t seem to get over the fact that you rejected his wonderful self.”

“You should have seen him a few days ago when Joey confronted him, he looked like a deer caught in headlights. Joe did it in front of everyone during lunch.” Aoife added. “The only reason they didn’t get physical was because if either of them got into another fight they would get thrown off the team.”

“That and Joey already knew he had the upper hand, being the captain of the school’s team, he can make sure nobody ever passes him the ball during the games.” Casey commented. “No one even gives him the time of day anymore. His reputation has officially hit rock bottom.”

“You know I should not feel that much satisfaction at hearing that, but I do.” I grinned. “I feel a lot better than I did five minutes ago.”

“Well, I’m glad because you’re about to feel a whole lot worse.” Stated Casey before lunging at me.

“Jaysus.” I screamed and before I knew it Aoife had gotten on top of me too. “What on earth are you both doing?”

“You’re getting hugged, bitch.” Screamed back Casey.

“This isn’t a hug, it’s an attack.” I shot back.

“That’s what you get for lying to us for months.” Aoife held me tight.

“I technically wasn’t lying, I was omitting the truth.” I pointed out.

“Don’t think you’re getting out of this on semantics.” They both glared at me.

“Fine.” I admitted defeat. “How long do you both plan on staying like this?”

“Until Joey’s shift is over and he has to go home.” Aoife declared.

“Until me and Joey have to go home.” I corrected.

“No.” Aoife stated.

“What do you mean no?” I asked her.

“I mean that today you’re crashing at my house, like old times.” She chimed. “Unless you miraculously manage to find a bus in this weather, I’m your best option.”

“We’re your best option.” Casey added. “You better believe I’m joining in.”

“I don’t have any clothes.” I pointed out.

“I can lend you my pyjamas and my Ma can throw your dress and jacket in the washer when we arrive so that it’s ready in the morning.” Aoife continued. “By the way, whose jacket is that? It doesn’t look like any of yours.”

“It’s new, I just bought it.” I lied. If I told them that Johnny Kavanagh had given this to me, they were never going to let it go. They would probably jump out of joy thinking that I had managed to win over the town’s superstar or worse they would think that I reciprocated said (imaginary) feeling.

“With what money?” She eyed it suspiciously.

“A few quids Marie gave me for my birthday.” I said smoothly.

“Really because that looks quite expensive.” She noticed.

“I guess I got lucky then, I found it at a thrift shop.” I responded.

Aoife still didn’t look quite convinced but thankfully the conversation was soon redirected by Casey, who wanted to know all about the life at Tommen.

And that’s how we passed the time. I told them all about my first few days at the new school, from the new classmates to the new environment I found myself in. I wanted to omit a few things, mainly my encounters with Johnny Kavanagh, but they had managed to get most of them out of Joey when he got the call from said lad that evening.

“Is he as charming as the rumours say?” Sighed Casey and for moment I could swear her eyes had become the shape of a heart.

“Worse, I think he may be an actually decent person.” I admitted. “After I panicked in his car, he looked concerned for me.”

“Though I highly doubt the sincerity of that preoccupation, I wasn’t lucid enough to tell whether he was faking it or not.” I added.

“Who wouldn’t be worried, though?” Casey asked. “You did have a panic attack in his car.”

“Podge wasn’t.” I shrugged. “He used to try and pressure me to get in his car, claiming he was sick of always taking the bus.”

“Wow, this is a new piece of information.” Aoife blanched. “Remind me again why you decided to sleep with him?”

“I think it was the allure of him being my brother’s best friend.” I proposed. “It got to me.”

“You have read one too many romance books.” Casey said exasperated. “I think they have finally gone to your head.”

“Ouch.” I mimicked being hurt. “What time is it anyway? I’m hungry.”

“It’s almost 6 p.m.” Aoife looked at her watch. “Come on, let’s get going. The house is only a few blocks from here and if we hurry we might make it in time for dinner.”

After almost two hours Aoife and Casey finally a got off me and I was able to breathe without feeling like a tortilla. Once we got downstairs, we said our goodbyes to Tony, Joey and little Sean who assured us that they would be fine without us, and then we headed to Aoife’s house.

In the end, we did not make in time for dinner, since Aoife’s mom and her twin brother, Kevin, had eaten half an hour before we got there, so we heated up some leftovers and ate those while we watched some trash TV shows that were on in the living room.

[ginbrucobooks]

M.I.A.

Johnny’s Point of View

“Shite.” I exclaimed while I watched her sprint away in the rain. “Niamh is going to kill me.” I wanted to run after her and demand she explain what exactly was going on, but my body was on fire and even walking normally was proving to be a challenge for me. The fall I had during the game put another strain on my already damaged body, so the only way for me to find out if Maeve was alright would be through her friends, since I didn’t have her phone number.

I had an allergic reaction she said, did she think I was stupid? I knew a panic attack when I saw one. But what had triggered it? Knowing I probably wouldn’t figure it unless she told me herself, which was unlikely, I decided to head inside Biddies and find Gibsie. If Maeve was out in the rain all by herself, especially in the state she was in, she could get hurt and I didn’t want that on my conscience, even if that meant getting my eyes scratched out by Niamh. “Alright, let’s go in.” I murmured to myself, to prepare for the incoming shit show that was sure to happen once her friends found everything out.

Once I opened the doors and managed to find the table where most of my team was sitting, I was immediately cornered by Niamh, who, previously to running out of her chair, was seated next to Feely.

“Is Maeve out having a smoke? I didn’t see her come in with you.” She spoke in a low tone of voice, already suspicious. I swear to God, this girl had the ability to see inside people’s minds, she always knew if something was going on. I pity Pierce, with a sister like that there is no hiding anything.

“She smokes?” I gave her a quizzical look. She just shrugged in response.

“Is Gibsie here?” I asked taking her away from the rest of the crowd. “He’s going to want to hear what happened.”

“What do you mean by that?” she crossed her arms. “What did you do? I left her with you for barely ten minutes, all you had to do was not piss her off too badly.”

“Well, I failed spectacularly.” I stated. “Did Gibsie go home or something? I don’t see him.”

“Don’t get your panties in twist, Superman. He just went to the bathroom.” She rolled her eyes. “So is Maeve in the parking lot refusing to come in or something?”

“Or something.” I deflected. Thankfully Gibsie decided to come out of the bathroom before Niamh got anymore information out of me. If I had to deal with her alone the whole ordeal would probably end with me in the hospital and my balls, which were already damaged, severed from my body.

“Now stop evading the topic.” Sighed Niamh in a no-nonsense tone. “Why is Maeve not coming in?”

“Because she’s not outside.” I responded in a guilty tone.

“Where is she then?” Niamh asked confused. She just needed to look at my expression to know the answer.

“I’m not following, what happened and where is Maeve?” Gibsie suddenly jumped in.

“He doesn’t know.” Niamh responded on my behalf.

“What do you mean he doesn’t know.” Exclaimed Gibsie, suddenly panicking. “If I don’t have her home by 5 p.m. her brother’s going to kill me.”

“You know her brother?” I asked, not even aware she had a brother.

“Not the time, Johnny.” Gibsie shot back. “I’m dying. I’m actually going to die once that fucker finds out I lost his sister.”

“I doubt she’s lost, she probably just went home?” Niamh proclaimed like the voice of reason Gibsie was clearly missing.

“Home, which is almost an hour bus ride from here, from a bus stop half a mile away?” he screamed incredulous. “Not to mention the chances of that bus passing through in this weather are slim.”

“How do you know where she lives?” I once again asked my best friend, half afraid of the answer.

“Johnny, I’m panicking here.” Gibsie said while looking like he was on the verge of passing out. “I’ll tell you later when there isn’t an imminent threat to my life.”

“You know, one of you could text her?” I proposed since neither or them seemed to be making any progress.

“Yes. Yes. Texting” Gibsie shouted, turning a few heads from our table. He immediately took out his phone and started texting frantically a number I assumed was Maeve’s.

“Nothing to see here lads, go back to your lunches.” I insisted and, unsurprisingly, my teammates did, they turned back to their own conversations like nothing had happened.

“I will never get used to seeing you do that.” Niamh commented.

“She’s not answering her phone.” Cried Gibsie.

“Will you calm down, it’s only 14:10. I’m sure that she just went somewhere to cool off.” I retorted. “Once she’s calm enough, she will text you back.”

“What did you say to her to manage to make her literally run away?” Niamh asked.

“I didn’t do anything. We got into a fight and she ran off.” Not a lie, but not the full truth either. It didn’t seem like it was my place to tell them about what happened, about Maeve’s reaction to – well something.

“Gibs, do you have her brother’s number?” I asked.

“Yes, why?” he replied.

“Why do you think?” I said sarcastically. “To call him.”

“So I can sign my own death certificate? No, thank you.” He looked at me as if I had grown three heads.

“Well, his sister is outside, alone and barely clothed with no way of getting home by herself, as you’ve stated before, so, yeah, I’m going to call him.” I bit back and took his phone from his hands.

“What’s his name?” I asked while looking through his contacts. Call if arrested, Claire-Bear, Do not call if arrested, Ginger Pubes, Main hoe, Judas Iscari-cunt, Viper… “I’m not even going to comment this.” I stated while giving him a glare.

“He’s saved as Joey the Hurler.” Gibsie told me. “Like Joseph Lynch the hurler? The guy who plays at national level?” I asked incredulous. That’s who Maeve’s brother was? “They have different surnames.” I pointed out.

“They’re technically cousins.” Niamh interjected. “He’s Shannon’s brother.”

Almost wincing at the fact that I was probably the person this man wanted to hear the from the least, considering I had caused one of his sisters to go to the hospital and the other to run away in the middle of a rainstorm, I pressed the call button and put the phone next to my ear.

“Gussie, I’m at work this better be fucking important.” Said a deep voice on the other side of the phone.

“It’s Johnny, I’m a friend of your sister’s.” I introduced myself, hoping my reputation didn’t precede me.

“No, you’re not.” And I was mistaken. “You’re the guy that knocked out Shan. What can I do for you?” he told me in a very sarcastic tone. He was Maeve’s brother alright. I excused myself from Niamh and Gibsie and went to the restroom so I could talk freel. This guy was her brother and I had no intention getting on his bad side, well not more than I already was. So I told him everything.

[ginbrucobooks]

Truth or lies?

“Maeve.” Someone shouted while gently shaking me. “Come on, you need to wake up.” Slowly I opened my eyes and found in front of me a pair of striking blue eyes. “Get the fuck away from me.” I exhaled. I started to look around to try and understand my surroundings. We were still in his car, but I could tell we were parked in the parking lot behind Biddies.

“Thank God. You gave me a bleedin’ heart attack.” He shook. “Mind telling me what the hell happened?”

“I was about to ask the same thing. The last thing I remember is going – or rather getting thrown – in your car.” I shot back even though I already knew what had probably happened. I had panicked. Again.

“Well, everything was normal until I got out of the parking lot.” He explained. “Then you started to hyperventilate which, I think, led to you passing out.” He passed a hand through his hair and breathed deeply. He looked worried, which I supposed was a normal reaction to seeing your classmate unconscious in your car. Still, I didn’t like it. He had no right being worried about me, he was probably faking it just so he wouldn’t get into trouble. Just like everybody else. He was just like everybody else.

“Don’t worry, this won’t taint your reputation. I’m good at keeping my mouth shut.” I deflected. “No one will know I got sick in your car.”

“What has that got to with anything now?” he bit back. “Maeve I just saw you struggle to breathe so much, it looked like somebody was chocking you.”

“I had an allergic reaction.” I panicked. I could tell him that I was allergic to pollen or dust. That sounded believable. Otherwise, I would have to tell him the truth, and I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. I knew all about people like him, one day they made you feel like you were their whole world and the next day they toss you away like you’re trash.

“Which led you to scream and cry for everything to stop?” He screamed in disbelief. “You passed out in my car, after crying out for someone named Clara.”

That stopped me in my tracks. Now he knew another piece of myself I swore nobody else would ever discover again. He knew my little sister’s name. He had the piece of my soul I kept closest to my heart. “Don’t ever say that name again.” I hissed and got out of his car as fast as I could.

And I ran. As fast and as far as I could, until I couldn’t hear Johnny’s voice call out for me anymore. Ran until my feet brought to the only place where I knew I would be safe. To the only person who could make me feel safe. To Joey.

I didn’t even stop to check my reflection, but I was sure that the bit of make up I had on had been completely ruined. I clung to the jacket Johnny had given me to cover myself from the rain, even though I knew it was futile since by the time I made there I was completely soaked.

I checked my phone, 15:23, he was still at work, he was still here. So, I rang the doorbell and waited for Tony, the owner and Aoife’s father, to open the door. And once he did, he took a full minute just to look at me, or more precisely to look at the state I was in. Just like Johnny he was worried, but unlike before I knew he was honest. Tony had always been there for Joey, and I knew, from the various visits to his house to hang out with his daughter, that he cared for me too. Or at least he did up until a few months ago. I wonder if Aoife told him why I stopped visiting, or rather why she stopped inviting me.

He looked at me with warmth in his eyes, warmth I wasn’t used to anymore, and started talking. “Been a while, hasn’t it, little Lynch.” Little Lynch. He had been calling me that ever since Joey started working for him six years ago. No matter how much I protested that Lynch wasn’t my surname or about that the fact that I wasn’t little at all, he claimed that, since I was “Lynch’s younger sister” it was only right that I be called that. I used to pretend that it bothered me, but I deep down loved it, since it made me feel like I was really Joey’s sister and not just the cousin that he stuck taking care of. I think Tony knew that too since he made a point of calling me that every time we saw each other.

“It sure has, Mr. T.” I replied feeling my eyes water once again. I didn’t know why I felt so delicate, so raw, but seeing him again for the first time in months brought back emotions that I wasn’t sure I knew how to deal with. Sadness for my own parents, anger towards my aunt and uncle who had and kept on making my life a living hell and finally, gratitude towards him, for always welcoming at his house, even when I came by uninvited. Even if I didn’t deserve it.

“Come on kiddo, let’s get you inside. You’ll get sick for sure if you stay out in the pouring rain any longer.” He said while he gestured for me to get in. I entered without a second thought and Tony brought me to his office where he made me sit on the sofa and then made me a tea. “So, you want to tell this old man what happened to make you sprint here on foot during the worst rainstorm of the season?”

“Maybe I just wanted to see you, Mr. T.” I chuckled.

“Ah, I doubt that, it has been at least four months since I’ve last seen your face.” He spoke. “You had me quite worried there. One day you were always here, always at my house, and the next, poof. You disappeared.”

“You should take that up with your daughter, she’s the one who barred me from coming anywhere near her.” I replied, not having the strength to lie. “Some guy at school said some pretty bad stuff about me, and she believed it. So…”

“So?”

“So, that’s it, no more Aoife and Maeve.”

“Why?” He asked.

“I just told you why.” I responded.

“No, why didn’t you try and talk to her? I’m sure that if you had explained the situation, she would have believed you, she always knew something about Podge’s story didn’t make sense.” He mentioned.

“So, you actually knew everything, huh?” I deduced. “Did Aoife report all the rumours Podge spread around or was it Joey that talked?”

“I figured it out on my own, with a bit of help from Joey I admit. I always knew that Podge lad was trouble.” He smiled. “So, why didn’t you tell her?”

“Because I was afraid.” I admitted. “I was afraid that she would not have believed me, and the chance of that happening hurt so much more than the fact she believed the rumours.” Without noticing it, I had started crying again. It was a truth so painful I hadn’t even admitted it to myself. The fact that I was more scared of the possibility of getting any more hurt than I was at the fact that I lost some of the most important people in my life.

“It’s alright.” He consoled me. “You and Aoif can still fix things, she knows the truth now. You can make up for lost time. The same goes for that hellion Casey.”

“What if I screw it up again?” I asked. “What if I get hurt even more?”

“Then you apologise and do your best, as you always have.” He replied. “There is no one in this world that could ever stay mad at you if you smile at them, Little Lynch.”

“You might be the only person who thinks that.” I replied.

“I beg to differ.” A voice behind me said. I turned around and saw him, or rather, them.

[ginbrucobooks]

Hoes and cars

“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked him while trying, and failing, to free my hand.

“Didn’t you say you were going out to lunch with us?” he shot back. “They’re leaving for Biddies any minute now, so, unless you want to starve, I suggest we hurry.”

“Wait, is Niamh here? I told her we’d meet outside.” I stopped him.

“I saw her before, she was leaving with Feely. She’s probably in his car waiting for you.” He replied looking a bit troubled. “His car has only one extra seat in the front though, so you won’t be able to ride with them.”

In that moment I locked eyes with Niamh who was in the middle of discussing something the Feely in his car. “Maeve, took you long enough.” She sighed and got out of the car. “I’m going with Patrick since my brother ditched me to go to his girlfriend’s. We’ll meet each other there, is that alright?”

“Absolutely, how far away is it?” I asked, having to decide whether to walk or take the bus.

“About half a mile, why? You aren’t thinking of walking, are you?” she wondered preoccupied.

“Well, yeah. It seems pretty close.” I answered honestly.

“It’s raining.” She pointed out.

“It’s going to stop soon, the sky is already clearing up.” I said gesturing to the clouds.

“No, it’s not. If anything, it’s getting worse. If you walk, you’ll get drenched.” She shot back.

“Then I’ll take the bus.” I concluded.

“The only bus that from here brings you to Biddies left ten minutes ago, and the next will take at least half an hour to arrive.” She informed me.

“I can give her a ride.” Johnny offered. In that moment I noticed my hand was till entangled with his, so I quickly took it away. “No, thanks. I’m going with Gibsie.” I declared.

“Gibsie got basically dragged along with Claire in Hugh’s car. He’s probably already there.” Patrick Feely stated. “He said he would text you to let you know.” I took out my phone from one of the pockets in Johnny’s jacket and checked the messages. Sure enough, Gibsie had texted me.

Main hoe Code red

Hughie found me while I was wrestling with his sister in the locker room.

I’m in deep shit.

Please answer your phone. I need emotional support here.

Scratch that, I need support in general. Hughie is going to kill me.

He took me as a hostage with Claire and brought me to his car. If I don’t come back, make sure to write something cool on my grave.

Preferably something about how handsome and charming I was.

“Main hoe?” Johnny smiled.

“Don’t look at me like that, he saved himself like that on my cell. I had nothing to do with it.” I shrugged.

“Well then it’s settled, you’re coming with me.” He once again took my hand and basically dragged me to his car.

“Will you please slow down, not everyone is capable of keeping up with your pace.” I said trying to free myself of his hold. “Are you deaf?” I exclaimed, noticing he hadn’t bothered to slow down at all. Because of that comment Johnny decided to pick me up, much like Gibsie had with Claire earlier, and throw me inside his car.

“Has nobody ever told you that you’re a real gentleman, Boy Wonder?” I asked sarcastically while trying to collect myself enough to exit his car.

“I had no other choice, Sunshine. You looked like you were ready to bolt at any second.” He grinned at me.

“For good reason, if you drive like your friend then I have to be ready to jump out of the car.” I responded. I actually knew, because of Shannon, that Johnny was a year older than his friends, thus had been driving for longer. Still, there was no way I could stand to be in his car for longer than five minutes.

“No wonder you insisted on taking the bus. Did Gibsie really leave that much of an impression with his driving?” He laughed.

“I wouldn’t know, I refused to even get in.” I chuckled back at him.

“That was very clever on your part.” He said and took advantage of my small moment of distraction to start the car and get out of the parking lot.

“What are you doing?” I asked suddenly panicked.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m driving us to Biddies.” He said not noticing my sudden change in temperament.

In that moment I felt as if my life was suddenly flashing before my eyes. I couldn’t speak, hear or see anything anymore. I wasn’t in Johnny’s car. I wasn’t seventeen years old, but ten and I was sitting in the backseat next to my little sister. My parents were singing along one of their favorite songs, Vienna, and me and my sister were putting our hands on our ears and mocking them for their horrendous singing skills. My heart started pounding in my ears and my breathing started to get labored, I knew what was about to happen, still I hoped it wouldn’t. I had to get away. I had to get out. Tears started running down my cheeks with no intention of stopping. My body started shaking and sweating at the same time, I couldn’t see straight anymore, I could only hear the screams, almost silent against the force of the impact. And then I couldn’t hear anything at all.

[ginbrucobooks]

Strange sports and stranger players

As it turned out, rugby was way more entertaining than I gave it credit for. Sure, I didn't understand much about what was going on, but with Niamh next to me screaming in joy every chance she got, I figured things were going pretty well for Tommen.

"Go. Wait. Yes. No, pass it. I said pass it." Niamh basically screamed in my ear as she watched her brother struggle to pass the ball to the lad in the number 12 jersey, aka Patrick Feely.

"Why can't he just throw it forward?" I asked confused.

"For the sake of my mental health I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." She sighed exasperated. "But after this game you are getting an extensive lesson on rugby."

"Then you'll have to go out to lunch with me and Gibsie, I can't ditch him since he left his car at my house." I stated.

"I want to ask, but I get the feeling I shouldn't." she said.

"Wise choice." I replied.

A couple of moments later our attention was drawn back to the game by an unexpected cheer from the students of the other school.

"What was that about?" I asked Niamh while looking at the scoreboard and noticing it was still at 48-6 for Tommen.

"They managed to tackle him." She said shocked.

"Tackle who?" I asked.

"Johnny." She shouted.

"And? Isn't this pretty usual in rugby, tackling the opposition?" I asked, bewildered by her reaction.

"Yes, but nobody ever manages to tackle him, at least not in school games." She continued.

Accepting that apparently in this sport it was now an anomaly to tackle people, I started to look for Johnny to see how he was doing. I managed to find him relatively quickly after he got back up and started running and, to the surprise of absolutely no one, scored again.

"Did you see that? I think he was looking in my direction." Declared a dark-haired girl next to me wearing what looked like a crop top and mini skirt. And I say looked because both of those things were so tight they basically became transparent.

"When?" I asked to the girl.

"The moment before he got tackled, I couldn't see his expression, but he was definitely looking at me." She replied sure of herself. "Why? Are you jealous?"

"Sure." I rebuked sarcastically, rolling my eyes at the girl. Did these people think Johnny Kavanagh was the second coming of Christ or something?

"Maeve, stop chit-chatting and pay attention to the game." Interrupted Niamh and I silently thanked her. If I had to talk another of Kavanagh's fangirls even for a minute, I was going to lose my bleedin' mind.

The game ended unexpectedly with Tommen winning, and once the two teams were done congratulating each other, we were allowed on the field to celebrate with them.

"You know, I expected more people to be attending this." I said to Niamh.

"I mean isn't Kavanagh the star of the town?" I questioned. "Shouldn't there be paparazzi beating each other up to take some pictures?"

"Normally they would be, but this is a game closed to the public since it's not part of the schools' tournament, so paparazzi and journalists are not allowed in." she concluded.

"Wow, I feel like a celebrity." I declared.

While making my way to team to congratulate on their victory, I noticed Gibsie run and pick up like a sack of potatoes Claire Biggs, and then running away with her into the locker room.

"Should we do something?" I proposed to Niamh. "That looked like kidnapping."

"Nah, soon Hughie will realise they're both missing and go after them." She retorted. "I'm going to congratulate my brother, want to come?"

"No, don't worry. I just came here because I wanted to take a look at the lads of the other school. You go ahead, I'll stay here and ogle the boys." I lied. I wanted to go inside the locker room and bother Gibsie for his jersey. I was cold and shivering, and it had started to rain again, so yeah, I was prepared to interrupt whatever he was doing for a bit of warmth.

"Alright, but we're meeting outside in ten minutes max since we have to go get lunch with the team." She exclaimed while leaving.

"Wait, what do you mean by that? Niamh, Niamh." I screamed, but she was already too far away to hear me with all the ruckus going on around us. "Shit."

Giving up on trying to get her attention, I turned around and started heading for the locker room when someone suddenly came up from behind me and placed a jacket on my shoulders.

"Here, you looked like you needed it." Offered Johnny.

"I don't know what made you think that, but I assure you I'm fine." I replied while raising my hand to take his jacket off.

"I don't know if you've noticed but it's starting to rain and what have on barely conceals anything as it is, so unless you want to show everyone your goods you should keep that on." He insisted while grabbing my arm to stop me.

"My goods? What are you twelve?" I replied and took away my arm from his hold.

"I didn't want to hurt your delicate sensibility." He smirked. "So, what's with the outfit, it's not exactly practical for the weather, or the season in general." He said while pointing at my dress.

"Has nobody ever told that it's rude to point, Kavanagh." I crossed my arms.

"Nobody as pretty as you, sunshine." He grinned back.

"I'll be sure to tell your mother that." I deadpanned.

"Good one. Tell me do you write these down?" He continued.

"No, the only thing I have to do is look at your face and they just come to me." I retorted.

"Are you saying I'm your muse?" he sighed.

"What is it exactly that I'm interrupting?" A voice I recognised as Hughie's said. "Is this some kind of foreplay I don't know about?"

"What do you need Hugh? I'm busy." Johnny glared at him.

"I was looking for my sister since she didn't come to congratulate me, did you see her?" Hughie asked.

"Why would I have seen your sister?" Johnny rolled his eyes.

"Which is why I wasn't asking you, asshole, but the girl." He shot back.

"The last I saw her she was still sitting near the bleachers. You should try looking around there." I lied. Gibsie you better be fucking thankful.

"Did you see if Gibsie was next to her?" he asked.

"Definitely not, he was with me just a second ago." I continued lying.

"Thanks, Maeve." He said smiling.

"No worries." I smiled back at him.

Once he went again to look for Claire I was, once again, left alone with Johnny Kavanagh, who had started to look at me in a way that I couldn't quite figure out.

"What are you looking at?" I asked after a full minute of staring on his part.

"I'm trying to understand your actions, you're quite the enigma." He continued without breaking eye contact.

"And you just got that now?" I said sarcastically.

"You said Gibsie wasn't your friend, yet you covered for him." He stated bluntly.

"That's because I don't want his death to be on my conscience." I corrected. "It has nothing to do with friendship, I would have done that for anyone."

"And yet, somehow, I feel like that's not true." He remarked. "You've made it pretty clear, at least to me, that you don't care about anything else other than the people closest to you."

"And? What has that got to do with anything?" I responded annoyed.

"And I know that once you and Hughie were pretty close." He continued.

"How very stalker of you." I commented.

"So, you wouldn't have lied to him, unless you cared, at least a bit, about Gibsie too." He concluded.

"Wow, did which one is faulty, your brain or your ears?" I replied. I didn't like how exposed I felt, like everything was right out in the light for this lad to see.

"You should watch less TV." I continued. "I lied because I didn't want Biggs to cause a scene right after the game and ruin the mood for everyone, especially considering that I'm supposed to go out to lunch with you people."

"Keep telling yourself that, Sunshine. Maybe if you repeat it enough, you'll even end up believing it." He taunted.

"I can't believe I ever considered apologising to you." I rolled my eyes. "Why don't you go back to one of your fangirls, she wants your company a lot more than I do." I said gesturing to where I saw the black-haired girl from before, who was now glaring at me harshly for daring to speak with her idol.

"Shite, what is she doing here?" He mumbled under his breath. "Ignore her." He then took my hand and started walking to the exit where the rest of the team was waiting.

[ginbrucobooks]

Different kinds of friends

We got to the game ten minutes later than we were supposed to and thus earned a bollocking from Coach about how important punctuality was. After Gibsie got into the locker room to change I headed towards the bleachers walked around until I managed to find Niamh, who was in the first row already cheering for her brother.

"Look who finally deigned to show her face." She remarked, her face changing after she saw what I was wearing. "You do realize it's like five degrees out here, you'll freeze."

"A small price to pay. If worse comes to worst, I'll just steal one of Gibsie's jumpers." I shrugged, like I wasn't freezing my tits off in this weather when I most definitely was. Not to mention I would have rather died than admit that I was, in fact, cold, which meant I wouldn't be asking Gibsie for anything.

"And why did you decide on this attire?"

"I have a personal vendetta against the captain, and I want to make sure that he loses the game." I admitted.

"Why do you hate his guts?" Niamh asked. "The boy has been walking around like a kicked puppy for the better part of a week, you could let him out of his misery."

"Never. He hurt Shannon." I declared.

"It was an accident." She pointed out.

"He's arrogant." I noted.

"And you're delusional, look it's a match made in heaven." She responded. "Johnny's a professional, you do know that it won't be that easy to get inside his head." She responded.

"Are you calling me easy?" I said laughing.

"Is that what you got from this conversation?" she said looking baffled.

"Didn't you hate rugby players, why are you defending Kavanagh?"

"I do hate rugby players, however Kavanagh is one of the few very good ones at this school."

"He's a whore." I concluded.

"Apparently, from the rumours going around town so are you." She laughed.

"What the fuck?" I asked suddenly feeling my blood boil. "What rumours?"

"Just some fabricated shit a lad was saying the other day at Biddies. I don't think anyone here at Tommen believes it." She replied looking worried that I didn't know about it. "Apparently according to some Pope guy, you went around screwing half the town while you were in a relationship with him."

"What." I said feeling like I was going to pass out from rage.

"My brother told me about it the other day. He went to Biddies and overheard a conversation between Pope and a few other guys." She recalled.

"Podge." I corrected.

"What?"

"His name is Podge, he was my friend." I explained.

"Friend?" She quizzed sceptical.

"We slept together a few times, but that's it. He wanted a relationship and I didn't." I said.

"So, he went around telling people you were a slut? That's some friend." she exclaimed angrily. "I'm going to castrate that little shit."

"No, you aren't. If he's pathetic enough to still be spreading false rumours about me months after the fact, he's not even worth our time." I noted.

"If I don't get to cause serious harm to him, I'm going to get somebody else to." She declared.

"Like who?"

"The fantastic four." She said like it was obvious.

"I think the only one who would get in a fight to defend my honour between them is Gibsie."

"Johnny would and so would Hughie, you said so yourself that you're friends. And Feely would have to tag along to prevent his friends from going to prison for first degree murder." She explained.

"Me and Hughie were friends when we were like ten, and Johnny Kavanagh wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire." I concluded.

"Thank you for the wonderful mental image." She responded. "You're wrong by the way, he pays attention to you."

"Because he's worried I might get him suspended about the whole decking-Shannon thing." I stated.

"No, because you might be the first girl to ever put him back in his place." She shot back.

"I'm sure his mother would disagree with you." I replied.

"You know his mother?" She said looking at me curiously.

"I know of her, she's a very successful fashion designer." I emphasized. "Her clothes are to die for."

"Stalker." She snickered.

Just as I was about to respond coach came out of the locker room with Tommen's team and whistled signalling that the match was about to start.

"This isn't over." I told Niamh.

[ginbrucobooks]

Not-so-funny stories

"No." I declared.

"Just get in the car, Maeve." He pleaded. "I promise I can drive, I got my license last week."

"In that case get me a lawyer's contact information because I'm about to sue whoever gave it to you." I exclaimed.

"I'm not that bad, the road is just a little bumpy." He defended.

"Alright, the road is bumpy, but you still don't know how to drive. You're a liability, Gibs." I stated. "I'm taking the bus." Technically I wasn't lying, Gibsie was a liability, however I still would have refused to get in his car even if he were the best driver in the world. I knew my limits and cars were it. I had tried a few times over the years to get over my fears with Joey, getting with him in one of the cars he was always repairing at work, but every time I got into the passenger's seat I just panicked.

"It's pouring and freezing cold right now, the bus doesn't have a heating system – unlike my car – and it will take twice as long to get there." He moaned.

"Then I suggest we hurry and get onto the one that's arriving." I said pointing at the vehicle you could see coming at the beginning of the road.

"Fine, but you owe me something."

"Owe you what? I told you I'm poor." I said exasperated.

"Why does your mind always go to money?" he asked baffled.

"Because I don't have it." I stated bluntly.

"Fair point." He concluded.

I decided to bite the bullet. "So, what do I owe you?"

"Information." He grinned.

"About what?"

"You." He chimed. At my glare he decided to continue. "Oh, come on, Maeve. I know nothing about you, you need to give me something here."

"Alright, you get one question." I conceded. "But after the game you have to buy me lunch." I said, remembering I had forgotten to have breakfast.

"Really?" He bubbled.

"Is that your question?"

"No. Wait. Give me a second." He exclaimed. "Why do you live with your cousins?"

"Funny story, my parents are dead." I replied.

"Wow, sorry." He slapped his face. "Why did you have to phrase it like that, now I don't know what to reply."

"Then don't, I like silence, it's comfortable." I said. With that we spent the rest of the journey quietly, with Gibsie mumbling his songs and me nodding my head along.

[ginbrucobooks]

Annoyingly insightful gorillas

Without a second to spare I opened my wardrobe and started to look for something that would suit the occasion. Immediately I discarded my uniform and a few dresses that Aunt Marie had bought me that even a nun would find too conservative.

About to give up, since all the dresses I had were either for disco nights or for special occasions I decided to look into Shannon's side of the closet, knowing she wouldn't mind it if I borrowed anything. After another couple of minutes I finally found what I was looking for, a dress Joey got for Shannon last year Christmas. Shannon rarely wore it she because she hardly went out, and when she did she opted for some more comfortable clothing.

On her it was nothing scandalous, it was a bit short and loose around the chest area, however still very cute, on me it was a whole other story. The fabric that should have arrived midthigh stopped just below my butt and, being a size too small, the dress fit me almost too tightly around the bust and waist.

Deciding that the outfit wasn't enough, I quickly headed to the bathroom and styled my hair so that it would fall in waves instead of its usual flat appearance. I then went into Joey's room and stole some makeup I knew Aoife left there to complete the look. Once I was satisfied with my appearance I headed downstairs.

"What are you wearing?" Screeched Gibsie in a tone so high that Madonna herself had to envy him.

"A dress." I spoke bluntly, noticing that Joey had gone to work.

"You do realise that if you go out like that your brother will have my balls." He almost shouted.

"I think you mean that he will have your head." I corrected.

"No, he was very specific that if anything were to happen to his baby sister, my balls would pay the price." He said looking scared.

"No one is going to mess with me, I'm going with the team's flanker." I stated.

"Is that your way of admitting we're friends?" He asked tentatively.

"No, that's my way of saying you're a gorilla of a boy who came into my house without notice and refused to leave until I agreed to go to the game with him." I replied.

"I didn't come without any notice, just without yours." He grinned.

"Not my point." I chimed exasperated.

"Still if you go out wearing that our team will lose."

"Why are you superstitious, or something?"

"No, but our best player will definitely be too distracted to concentrate." He announced.

"Johnny?" I asked confused. "Isn't he shacking up with Bella Wilkinson?" I said referring to the gorgeous girl in the year above me, who was known for winning the infamous "binding 13" operation. Ew. According to Niamh some girls that at the time were in fifth year came up with the whole idea, which basically consisted in trying to tie down number 13 – Johnny's number on the team – to a girlfriend, or rather a habitual hookup.

"Nah, she's been hooking up with one of our teammates for months behind his back."

"Ouch." I said feeling a tad sorry for the lad. "Who?"

"Well, I like to refer to him as Judas Iscari-cunt, but you might know him as Cormac Ryan." He spat.

"Oh yeah, he's friends with Niamh's brother." I recalled.

"Don't get even me started about how Pierce is acting lately." He lamented.

"What do you mean?"

"He's been hooking up with Lizzie Young in third year." He hissed.

"I know her, she's one of Shannon's friends. Blonde girl with a serious attitude problem, right?" I replied, a bit confused.

"Yes, and lately it's gotten worse, especially with me." He said looking conflicted. "That girl is the devil and Pierce doesn't do anything to stop it, he just ignores it and tells us she's going through a rough patch."

"Is this about what happened to her sister?" I said, remembering what happened between Lizzie's sister Caoimhe and Gibsie's stepbrother Mark.

"You know about that?" He asked curious. "You told me you moved here when you were ten, that happened a few years before."

"No, I told you I moved back here when I was ten." I corrected. "I only lived in Dublin for a couple of years, why do you think I don't have an accent?"

"I don't know, I thought that you had acquired a Cork accent in the time you came here maybe."

"I don't even know how to comment that." I exhaled. "And I don't know all the details about what happened, I was little and my memory is fuzzy, not to mention my mother forbid from ever bringing it up in front of anyone, saying it would only make people upset."

"Well, she wasn't wrong about that. It makes me upset even thinking about it." Gibsie whispered.

"Alright let's change the subject, what has me wearing this dress got to do with Johnny playing badly?"

"Like you don't know." Gibsie rolled his eyes. "He's only human Maeve, and you're a girl – a very attractive one at that – wearing a bordering-on-indecent dress."

"So? I'm sure there are plenty of attractive girls there dressed like me waiting to capture his attention." I shot back.

"Yes, but you already have it, and you know it. It's the reason why you decided to wear the dress in the first place." He recounted. "You want him to be just as fazed by you as you are by him."

Not knowing how to respond, I just grabbed the keys, opened the front door and gestured for Gibsie to get out of the house with me while he snickered.

[ginbrucobooks]

Unexpected visits

I woke up around 10 am on Saturday, and strangely, alone. Shannon was not in the bathroom or anywhere else in the house and Tadhg, Ollie and Sean were nowhere to be found. Aunt Marie and Uncle Teddy weren't at home either, but that wasn't unusual for them on Saturday mornings, seeing as one of them was working herself to the bone and the other was probably busy drinking himself into liver failure at a nearby bar.

Opting to go downstairs to try and find something to eat for breakfast, I headed to kitchen. As it turned out I wasn't completely alone, Joey was sitting with his back turned to the door on a chair next to the counter, eating was looked to be a packed of dry and possibly out of date biscuits.

"Hey there Joey, how's it going?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Jesus, Maeve. You sure do know how to make yourself known." He bit back. "You almost gave me a bleedin' heart attack."

"I know." I grinned. "So, where's the rest of our siblings?"

"Shan went her friend Claire's house and Tadhg and Ollie were dropped by Mam to hurling practice on her way to work." He stated.

"How did Shannon manage to convince Aunt Marie to let her go?" I asked, knowing how crazy my aunt, or uncle, got when Shannon tried to have any sort of social life.

"She didn't." He laughed. "She waited for them to leave and got on the bus, I just told her I'd be picking her up at around five, because that's when he usually comes home."

"Go Shannon." I exclaimed. "I think we're finally rubbing off on her."

"I'm not sure that's such a good thing." He chimed.

"What about little Sean?"

"He's napping on the couch, I'm planning to take him with me to work."

"You don't have to do that. I can watch him." I stated. "I don't have anywhere to go today."

"No way, don't think I've forgotten you're supposed to go to that game today."

"I don't have anyone who's willing to go with me." I retorted.

"Yes you do, you just don't want to invite them." He said referring to Aoife and Casey.

A knock at the door interrupts me before I have the chance to respond. "Did you invite Aoife over again." I rolled my eyes.

"No, I tried but she refused to come after your little display of affection yesterday." He said referring to the less-than-kind way I had treated her. "She thinks it might be best to give you some space."

"So she does have a brain after all." I mumbled.

"Maeve." He almost whispered, suddenly looking serious.

"Fine, I'll stop. I won't however guarantee to not insult her to her face."

"Thank you" he said looking pleased. "Wait, what."

Another knock, this time more persistent, interrupted what was sure to be an enchanting conversation, so I gladly took the escape and hurried to the door. Imagine my surprise when on the other side of it I found no one other than Gerard Gibson wearing his rugby uniform.

"What are you doing here?" I asked perplexed. "Aren't you supposed to get ready for the game. It's only in a couple of hours."

"I'm here to pick you up and take you to said game, Mavey" he chimed.

"Mavey? Is that seriously the best you could come up with." I spoke.

"You said you didn't like nicknames, so I opted for simple." He replied.

"And you just strengthen my resolve. No nicknames." I declared.

"I must take that as a challenge to find a better nickname." He announced.

"Please don't." I whined. "How do you even know my address?"

"Brother-slash-cousin dearest called me and told me that if I didn't come and bring his little sister to the game, he would cause me some serious harm."

"How does my brother have your number?"

"I met him at a party at the beginning of the year." He stated, looking at me like it was something I was supposed to know.

Not knowing what else to do, since I very well couldn't leave the lad outside in the pouring rain, I gestured for him to get in and told to follow me to the kitchen and to speak in low tone of voice since Sean was sleeping.

"Would you kindly explain to me what is going on, my oh-so-wise big brother?" I asked Joey once I got near the counter.

Eyeing Gibsie my brother responded. "Well, my dear-mean little sister. Since I'm not able to physically drag you to the game I brought someone who could."

"I agree with that statement. I will absolutely drag you out of here if I must." Gibsie stated, while looking at my empty and slightly mouldy kitchen.

"Are you both high?" I asked suspicious.

"I don't like drugs, Mae, you know that." He grinned.

"Mae? Do I look like Spiderman's aunt to you?" I stressed.

"You might as well give up, me and Gussie here are going to make sure you go to that game." Joey said, putting an end to whatever weird direction my conversation with Gibsie was going. "Go get ready, you can't go dressed like this."

"And do it quickly, we have to get out of here in the next half hour if we want to make it there in time." Gibsie laughed. "I have to play, and if I'm even five minutes late Kav will have my head."

Suddenly aware that I was wearing my unicorn printed pyjamas in front of a guy whom I had barely known for a week, I ran out of the kitchen and into my room. The boys' laughter followed me while I was heading there.

Fuck it, if I was going, I would make sure Johnny Kavanagh would regret giving me those tickets in the first place.

[ginbrucobooks]

Elementary, Watson

As it turned out, Johnny was more pissed than I thought since, once recess ended, he decided to take up his old spot next to Gibsie. Niamh didn't question me when she found me sitting next to her, and I was grateful for it. My head was reeling from my previous confrontation with Johnny, and my stomach was aching – probably because I hadn't eaten anything since last night. At one point the rumbling of my stomach got so loud that I was pretty sure Niamh heard it too, since not five minutes later she proceeded to take out of her backpack a protein bar and handed it to me. Too worn down by hunger to let my pride get in the way, I took the bar and basically devoured it.

The rest of the day went by without any hitch, except for the fact that Johnny Kavanagh refused to look at me. While once he would have smiled when we passed each other in the hallway and been amused by my returning glare, now he passed straight past me without giving me so much as a glance.

Making my peace with the fact that I had messed up, I got out of school and headed for the bus stop, deciding it would be better to stay there and avoid Gibsie, who was sure to ask me about what happened between him and his captain.

A couple of hours later I finally arrived home and decided to just try and chill on the couch, however these plans were interrupted when instead of Joey or any of my siblings on the couch relaxing, I saw no one other than Aoife Molloy. Great, I was in a mood for a reunion.

"Hey Connor." She mumbled.

"Fuck you, Molloy." I said, raising my middle finger. She was certainly going to say something, but deciding I had done enough damage to my relationships today I decided to run and go to my room. If I stayed I would surely say something I would regret, not to mention she was going to leave any minute to go out with Joey and I had a feeling the discussion we needed to have would take a lot more time.

"Hi, Shan. How are you?" I asked Shannon once I got to our room.

"I'm fine, I don't know why everyone's so worried." She spoke. "I just want to go back to school."

"And you will, on Monday, when you've rested another couple of days." I replied.

"I've already lost so much time, I'll never catch up with my classes."

"It's only the first week of school, I'm sure you'll be fine."

"I don't even know what happened while I was away, Dad broke my phone, so I have no way of contacting my friends." She emphasized.

"Your friends talked to me and they know that you're fine." I rolled my eyes. "They asked me earlier this week why you weren't coming and I told them that you were sick."

"Why didn't you tell them the truth?" she asked. "I thought you couldn't stand Johnny Kavanagh, this would have been a good way to make some damage to his reputation."

"Because I had a feeling that you wouldn't have liked it if I let them know that you accidentally flashed the rugby team on your first day of school." I winked at her.

"Johnny promised nobody would say a word about that."

"And so far, he has kept his word. As long as he makes his teammates keep their mouth shut, I will not say a word about the pitch incident."

"Is that what we're calling it now? The Pitch Incident" she whined.

"Okay, Smartass. Got any suggestions then?" I mocked. After a few seconds of silence we both burst into laughter. I wasn't sure if we were laughing more at our antics or at the situation we found ourselves in.

It was a good couple of minutes before we managed to calm down enough to have a somewhat coherent conversation.

"Come on Shan, you know you can tell me anything." I said still laughing. "You have to tell me if anyone has caught your eye."

"I was at the school for a grand total of two hours, who would I have seen?" She shot back.

"Love always finds a way." I exclaimed.

"Like it has with you and Johnny?"

"Wow, where did that come from. Did the ball hit you harder than we thought?"

"Oh, come on. All you have done this whole week was talk about him. Johnny this and Johnny that, listening to you rant about him was exhausting."

"Because he's infuriating, not because I like him." I shouted, outraged by the very assumption.

"And what about the tickets he's given you?" she asked slyly.

"Bribery. He gave me those so I wouldn't tell people he was a pervert for ripping your skirt. Besides you got a letter too." I stated plainly.

"Mine was money to compensate Mam for the uniform. Not a gift."

"It wasn't a gift!" I cried.

"Stop trying to deflect, I know someone has caught your eye in that school." I said, suddenly remembering what we had been talking about. "And I'm going to find out who."

"Sure you will, Sherlock."

"Are you doubting me, Watson?"

Not knowing how to respond, Shannon opted to throw a pillow at my head, which I easily avoided.

[ginbrucobooks]

The Fantastic Four

The rest of the school week passed by in a blur, with a whole lot of new classes, new classmates and a few familiar faces. I was in the 5A class with a few other girls, including Niamh, and a particular group of boys I liked to refer to as the Fantastic Four – Johnny, Gibsie, Hughie and a lad named Patrick Feely, whom I hadn't yet had the chance to speak to.

Coming into class early as always on Friday morning, I went to sit in my usual place in the back of the class. Imagine my surprise when in the chair next to me I found the Boy Wonder himself.

"Move." I stated.

"Hello Sunshine. It's nice to see you too. I'm fine, thank you for asking. How are you?" he grinned.

"You do realize Niamh is coming any minute now and when she sees that you're in her seat she's going to forcefully push you out of it." I continued to say.

"She can try, I won't guarantee that it will get her anywhere." He shot back.

Looking at him, I debated my options. I could either sit beside him or occupy his usual seat, which was in the front. Ugh. Choosing the lesser evil, I went to go sit in the first row.

"Well, look who has finally decided to sit next to me in class." Smiled Gibsie.

"Stop being delusional, you know that I'm only here because Johnny basically planted himself in Niamh's seat." I said knowing Gibsie had been watching the whole ordeal the way an old grandma would watch her favourite soap opera.

"Still, you weren't frowning when you went over here. Admit it, you are secretly happy that you get to spend these two hours next to me, I'm much better company than Niamh." He chimed.

"Sure, Gibs. All of this was actually part of my intricate plan to get Johnny away from you and take his place as your favourite friend." I retorted.

Five minutes later, when the lesson was just about to start, Niamh decided to grace the class with her presence. On her way to her seat, she noticed me next to Gibsie and gave me a look as if to say What the fuck? Probably already piecing two and two together, she saw Johnny and glared at him, deciding to smack his head on her way to sit down next to him.

Halfway through what I could only describe as the most boring lecture known to man Gibsie handed me a note. You know Johnny just wanted to talk to you. He's not that bad. – G

I took the note and wrote just beneath his sentence. We are so not talking about this. Not to mention, you're biased, you're his other half. Also, what could we possibly have to talk about? – M

Checking to see whether the teacher was looking at us, Gibsie took back the note and continued writing. He's probably worried about your cousin, she hasn't been in school all week. – G

That's because she's been resting at home after your dear friend gave her a moderate concussion. – M I wrote back.

Almost grimacing when he read the note, Gibsie decided to drop the subject and pretend to listen to the lesson, which turned out to be almost impossible to him since he forgot the material for today at home. Deciding to be a decent person, I took out my book from my backpack, put it between our desks and opened it. I thought Gibsie's eyes were going to pop out of their sockets from how shocked he was. I shrugged my shoulder as if to say what? Deciding against commenting on my sudden kindness – probably fearing I'd take it back – Gibsie just smiled at me. And not just a shy, small smile but a full, dimpled one, which in return made me smile too.

Once first two hours of the day were over, the whole class went to recess. It was a pretty short one of about 15 minutes, but we could do whatever we wanted, including going to the bar across the street and get a coffee if we wanted to, so I wasn't complaining. I usually spent my break with Niamh discussing the various book we had been reading recently, but she had gone to the bar and even though she offered to pay for my tea too I felt too guilty to accept her offer, so I just told her that I wanted to stay inside because of the cold.

Knowing Johnny Kavanagh was still looking to talk to me I hid in the fifth-year wing, hoping he would get the hint and leave me alone. As usual, I was mistaken.

"Well, here you are Sunshine. I've been looking for you everywhere." He said in an almost scolding tone.

"Why? Are you that obsessed with me?" I stated dryly.

"Your sunny disposition is charming as always. I just wanted to know how your cousin is doing, Gibsie told me I did a real number on her." He proclaimed.

"Sure did. I'm positive your soulmate also told you that she's resting, so what are you doing here?"

"Maybe I just wanted an excuse to talk to you."

"Are you that desperate for company?" I replied.

"You always have a comeback ready, don't you?" he stated looking amused.

"It's one of my many, many talents." I announced.

"So, who are you bringing to my game?" he said suddenly changing the subject.

"Oh, so it's your game now?" I replied, avoiding the question.

"Well, I am the star player of team."

"Glad to know that your ego is still intact." I rolled my eyes.

"Back to my original question, who are you bringing?" he asked again.

"Why don't you wait and find out, the game is tomorrow. And before you ask, no, I'm not bringing Shannon, she still needs to rest."

"So, you have no idea."

"Pretty much, yeah." I admitted. "Niamh already has a ticket and Gibs is playing."

"What about your boyfriend from BCS, Podge or something." He said while waiting for my answer, almost looking like he wanted me to say no.

"I don't know where you're getting your information, but I don't have a boyfriend." I blurted out. "My personal life is none of your business."

"No need to get testy, I was just trying to help." He stated, confused at my sudden change in temperament.

"Yeah well, next time keep your suggestions to yourself." I said storming out, or rather trying to before Johnny Kavanagh once again grabbed me by the arm.

"You know, I really don't want this to become a habit." I said referring to his armed wrapped around mine.

"Every interaction I have with you leaves my head spinning." Stated Johnny. "I really don't get you, one second it's barter the other you're ditching me."

"I don't get you, what is it exactly that you want from me?" I questioned equally confused.

"I just want to be somewhat amicable with you, is that too much to ask? You're a childhood friend of Hughie's and you've even befriended Gibsie, you're practically part of my friend group."

"I'm an acquaintance of Hughie's and have a weird relationship – which maybe some people would describe as friendship – with Gibsie. I'm definitely not part of your friend group nor do I want to be." I replied. I had been part of a friend group once and it had been enough, I didn't need to be hurt again.

"God, you have more mood swings than my mother" said Johnny putting his face in his hands. "Whatever, you know what, come or don't come to the game. As you said, it's not like we're friends." He stormed off.

Knowing I had, once again, majorly screwed up with Johnny Kavanagh I decided to head back to class and sit in my old seat, hoping Johnny would sit next to me and I could apologise, not only for today but also for my behaviour on Monday. Because after a few days of thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that I may have slightly overreacted, especially when Shannon woke up on Tuesday and explained the whole situation to me, assuring me that Johnny Kavanagh had, indeed, been helping her.

I didn't know why, but Johnny Kavanagh managed to push all of my buttons, even if he wasn't trying to.

[ginbrucobooks]

Peace offerings

Finally getting home after an hour and a half bus ride should have been a relief, instead all I could feel was dread. Getting ready to get off at my stop, I grabbed my backpack and stood at the exit.

"Miss, an envelope fell from your backpack." Said an older man, while handing me said envelope. "It looked important, I'd hate for you to lose it."

"Thank you." I said a bit confused, half sure he had mistaken me for someone else. Last I recalled I didn't have any letter in my backpack. I eyed it suspiciously and put it my jacket, deciding to open it once I got home.

The walk from the bus stop to our house – well, my cousins' house as my uncle Teddy liked to remind me – was barely a couple of minutes, not nearly enough time for my liking. Deciding to just bite the bullet I took out my key and opened the door to my own personal hell. Seeing what looked like an empty house I breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to my room, which I would only have to myself for a few more hours before Shannon came back with her Mam from the ER.

Deciding to take a shower while I still had the time and energy, I started undressing and that's when I remembered the envelope in my jacket. Far too curious to postpone it any longer I decided to open it and see what was inside.

Dear Sunshine, this is my official peace offering. (P.S. I left a letter in Shannon's locker too, but that was just to reimburse her for the uniform I ruined.)

It took me few seconds to connect the dots, but once I did, I was less than pleased. You're a ray of sunshine, you know that? But how did Johnny manage to not only find, but also put the letter inside my backpack? I made sure that after our first altercation in the closet we wouldn't have to cross paths again, and the only people I was with were Gibsie and Niamh. Wait, isn't Gibsie one of Johnny's friends? That turncoat.

Emptying the envelope of it's contents I found what looked like two tickets for a friendly rugby match that would be held by Tommen this weekend. How original. I was debating whether or not to burn them when I suddenly heard footsteps, so I quickly cracked open the door to check who it was. As it turned out the day had just taken a turn for the worse, because standing outside my door was no one other than Teddy Lynch.

"Why is dinner not ready yet, girl." He said slurring his words. "What, you think that because you go to a cuntin' prep school now that you are above doing what we keep you here for?" he stated looking every second more menacing. "Go cook now. And don't make come up here again."

Once I heard him go downstairs, I decided to get dressed again, opting to shower later, and cook dinner. I knew better than to risk his wrath today, he was drunk and looking for a reason to let out his anger, preferably me. I had always been his favourite target.

It was the way it worked in this house, we were all victims of the monster that called himself my uncle. Nobody got spared from his torture, whether it be psychological or physical, but he did have his favourites, and I just happened to be it. Mine and Shannon's jobs were to cook everyday, look after my little cousins and clean the house from top to bottom at least once a week. "Women's jobs" as my uncle Teddy liked to say.

It had been this way ever since I was ten, when I came to their house and they adopted me to keep from going into the foster system, though making it clear that it wasn't something they did for free. I had to earn my keep. I was glad, though, that I was not their biological daughter. I could go to parties, stay out until the next morning and drink myself into oblivion if I so wished, unlike Shannon who wasn't even allowed to leave the house. Of course, those weren't things that came for free, every time I prepared to go somewhere I was met with all kinds of insults, about my looks, personality and generally being a "dirty whore" and whenever I came back the next morning, after spending the night away, I was met with a beating that would make Rocky Balboa pale in comparison. So, I guess you could say that I wasn't really allowed to do those things, but he never tried to stop me. In fact, I was pretty sure he wanted me to keep going out, just so he could have what he viewed as a valid reason to beat me up.

In the middle of the preparations finally everybody else seemed to arrive home. Joey, who had just finished working, just looked at the me for a couple minutes the way a disappointed parent would look at their child and then went upstairs, claiming he wasn't hungry. The next ones through the door were the three younger siblings, Tadhg, Ollie and Sean, who were respectively eleven, eight and three. All three were mini copies of Joey, all sharing the same blonde hair, green eyes and facial features. Thay had probably come back with Joey from hurling practice and then decided to play together in the garden for a while. Finally, Shannon and Aunt Marie arrived at home, with Shannon still looking a bit spaced out, but better than this morning. Apparently, Johnny had given Shannon a moderate concussion, a fact I knew because my aunt simply would not stop mentioning it, along with the whole That-boy-better-stay-away-from-you babble.

No matter how much Shannon tried to defend the boy, her Mam wasn't changing her mind. I supposed that meant me and my aunt had one thing in common, our dislike for Johnny Kavanagh. I did too wish that Johnny would stay away from Shannon, not because I thought that he was a particularly violent individual, I understood the whole hitting-Shannon-in-the-head thing was a mistake, but because boys like him brought trouble with them whenever they went. Also, I found him to be incredibly annoying, sue me.

Once I put food in the table, everyone started eating and I took in that small moment of peace to just look at all the people at that table. The family resemblance between all of them was uncanny, even Shannon who was dark haired and blue eyed like her mother shared most of the features her brothers had. I was the odd one out.

Once everyone was finished and had gone to bed, I had to tidy up the kitchen and once that was done I finally went upstairs and showered. I was finally getting ready to go to bed when I got a knock to the door. Checking to see if Shannon was still asleep in our bed, I went over to the door and quietly opened it.

"So, want to talk?" asked Joey in his pyjamas. Knowing there was no way out of this, I put my hair in a ponytail and followed Joey to his room.

"I'm not going to judge, I just want to know. What's happening with you lately?" he asked, clearly worried.

"I don't even know honestly. I just feel empty. You had Aoife to get you through your dark times, I have no one, no parents, no siblings, they're all dead." I said starting to feel my eyes watering. "Ever since I broke up with Podge – if you could even call that a breakup – nobody at school would even look at me anymore, it's like they picked sides, and to them I was the bitch that hurt him. I used to go to Casey's with Aoife every weekend to either watch a film, go to a park or hang out at Biddies, but ever since October they won't even pick up my calls. I don't even know what Podge said to them, or to you about what happened between us. All I know is that from one day to the other nobody would talk to me anymore." I sobbed. "I've done nothing wrong, and yet everybody turned their backs on me. I know that they were your friends and not mine, but I guess that for a time I let myself forget it."

"What did you mean when you said "if you could even call that a breakup"?" Joey asked.

"I mean that we were never together, we were kind of like you and Danielle, we just slept together. He happened to catch feelings and I didn't, so I called things off." I said still crying.

"That's not what Podge said. He claimed you two had been dating for a few months now and that he was the one to call things off because you cheated. That's what he told me and probably everyone else." He stated looking furious. "I can't believe that son of a bitch would do that to you."

"It doesn't matter now, everybody had a choice and nobody chose me, except for you. Why didn't you cut me off? Podge is your best friend." I asked suddenly curious.

"Apart from the obvious fact that it would be impossible because we live together, you're my little sister it doesn't matter what you do, I'll always be there for you." He said, now starting to cry a little too.

"I'm your sister?" I asked. I knew I was important to him, but I had always seen myself as less important than his other siblings.

"Of course you are, Maeve. You're my family, just like Shannon, Tadhg, Ollie and Sean." He smiled. "And tomorrow I will go to school and make it clear that nobody gets to mess with my baby sister. As for Podge, well, he's no longer my best friend, that's for sure."

Going to sleep that night I stayed in Joey's room. We fell asleep while talking about everything from his addiction, mine and our families to suddenly lighter topics like my newfound friends and my first day at school.

"I can't believe you actually threatened they guy, especially since you knew who he was." Joey laughed. "I doubt he'll take it to heart though, that guy has no doubt had people say worse to him."

"Actually, he even tried to clear the air by pulling me into a closet with him and trying have a civil conversation." I said smiling.

"He actually pulled you into a closet? I can't believe this." Joe said.

"Yep, got in front of the door and everything, though he quickly gave up after I cussed him out for a good couple of minutes." I shrugged. "He did manage to put a letter in my backpack through Gibsie – the crazy one I was telling you about before – that had two tickets to Tommen's home game for this weekend. I think it was his way of extending an olive branch since we're going to be in a lot of the same classes this year." I added.

"Are you kidding? Those things are basically impossible to get, even for students." He exclaimed. "Who are you going to bring with you?"

"I haven't thought that far ahead. I was thinking about burning the tickets to be honest. I really can't stand the guy." I spoke. "Do you want to come with me? I'd go if it meant that I got to spend time with you."

"I would go but I have to work on Saturdays, but I still think you should go. Maybe bring that Niamh girl with you." Joey said looking a bit disappointed.

"I think she already has a ticket since her brother is on the team. The only other person I could ask is Gibsie but he's literally playing." I said feeling defeated.

"You know, you could ask Casey or Aoife." Joey suggested.

"I don't want to, and even if I did, they haven't picked up my calls in months. Not to mention they have clearly shown me how much I meant to them." I shot back.

"I think you should give them the benefit of the doubt. What would you have done if I came to you and told you that Aoife was cheating on me?" he said raising a valid point.

"I would have never spoken to her again." I admitted.

"Tomorrow I'm going to straighten things out with everyone, especially with Casey and Aoife. You're not going to be alone, Maeve. I'll make sure of it."