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It was January 10, 2005.
And I was nervous—so nervous, in fact, that I had thrown up no fewer than three times this morning.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror and forced myself to practice something I rarely did these days: smile.
real sadly
Claire and Lizzie, whose friendship had made school bearable for me.
I remembered crying so hard that day, not in front of them of course, but in the toilets. I had bolted myself into a cubicle and contemplated ending it all. Just taking a bunch of tablets and being done with the whole damn thing.
oh baby...
Darren was gay and our father couldn’t cope with it.
AYY
his girlfriend, Aoife.
That day wasn’t just my breaking point; it was Joey’s, too. He’d followed me into the house with a week’s suspension
under his belt for beating the living daylights out of the brother of Ciara Maloney, my main tormentor.
MY MAN
If there was bullying to be done, Teddy Lynch was the one doing it.
“Do you think I’ll fit in, Joey?” I asked, voicing my concerns aloud. I could do that with Joey. He was the only one in our family I felt I could talk to and confide in. I looked down at my uniform and shrugged helplessly. His eyes burned with unspoken emotion as he stared down at me, and I knew he was up this early not because he was desperate to use the bathroom, but because he wanted to see me off on my first day.
“If someone gives you even the hint of shit, then you text me and I will come over there and burn that fucking school to the ground and every posh little rugby-head fucker in it.”
RAW
“I know you can.” His voice was low and pained. “I just… I’m here for you, okay?” he finished with a heavy exhale. “Always here for you.”
Claire Biggs.
ME CORE
Claire was simply dazzling with big puppy-dog brown eyes and ringlets of light-blond curls. She had a sunny disposition and a smile that could warm the coldest of hearts. Even at four years old, I’d known this girl was different. I could feel the kindness radiating out of her. I’d felt it as she stood in my corner for eight long years, defending me to her own detriment.
Boy Wonder Captivates the Coaching Staff at the Academy—Young Johnny Kavanagh, 17, a native of Blackrock, Dublin, currently residing in Ballylaggin, County Cork, sailed through his medical evaluation to secure his position at the prestigious rugby academy in Cork. Nursing a chronic groin injury since the start of last season, the youth has been given the all clear from team doctors. The Tommen College secondary school student is set to win his fifteenth cap for the Academy this weekend, having been named as starting 13 for the esteemed youth team.
The natural center has been drawing attention from coaches at the international level, including clubs in the U.K. and Southern Hemisphere. When asked to comment on the schoolboy’s accelerated rise through the ranks, Ireland’s U20 team’s head coach, Liam Delaney, had this to say: “We are excited about the level of caliber in the up-and-coming players throughout the country. The future looks bright for Irish rugby.” When asked specifically about the Cork schoolboy, Delaney said, “We have been aware of Kavanagh since his playing days in Dublin and have been in close talks with his coaches and
...more
Gerard Gibson—or Gibsie
MY MANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Patrick Feely,
YUM
Gibsie, Hughie Biggs and Patrick were my closest friends. Gibs, Feely, and Hughie had already been in a tight circle at Scoil Eoin, an all-boys primary school, when I was injected into their class for the final year of primary.
Johnny show.”
WHY NOT
She sniffled then, blue eyes watering, and something inside of me snapped. Ah, shite.
“My dad’s going to kill me,” she continued to choke out, clutching her torn skirt. “My uniform’s ruined.”
mh baby :c
“What?” Her words threw me enough to cause me to halt. “No.” Twisting my body so I could look down at her face, I frowned and said, “I would never do that to you.” “You promise?” “Yeah,” I grunted, hitching her up with my arm and melding her body to my side. “I promise.”
AW
shite
The way its spslt is making me giggle
“I know,” I soothed, pulling her closer. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
GIGGLIBG
“Hold up,” I snapped, registering his earlier words. “What do you mean she was attacked?” I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm. Who could attack her? She was so small. And frail. “What happened to her?” I heard myself ask, attention back to the principal.
“I won’t let you fall,” I automatically replied in a soothing tone. “It’s okay.” I felt her slip and pulled her upright, holding onto the tiny thing for all I was worth. “I’ve got you,” I coaxed, tightening my arm around her. “You’re good.”
“You feel so warm,” she whispered and I felt her cheek nuzzle against my bare chest. “Like a hot-water bottle.”
Knees bouncing nervously, I turned her in my arms and caught hold of her face between my hands. “Hey,” I coaxed, giving her face a little shake with both hands.
Jesus, this girl was beautiful.
I’d noticed it earlier of course. She had a striking look about her. But now, seeing her up close like this and being able to count the freckles on her face—eleven by the way—it was hitting home just how striking she was.
Her blue eyes were big and round and fucking beautiful, with small hues of yellow dotting through them, ...
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Hands down, she possessed the most gorgeous pair of eyes I’d seen in my life. She had long, elbow-length dark-brown hair that was thick and curled at the ends. And hidden behind the mountain of hair was a small heart-shaped face, smooth, clear skin, and a tiny dimple in her chin.
Perfect-shaped dark eyebrows that arched above those killer eyes of hers. A tiny button nose, high cheekbones, and these puffy, swollen lips. Lips that were a natural rosy red and kind of looked like she had been sucking on an ice pop or something—which I knew she hadn’t because I’d spent the last half hour trying to keep her awake.
“That’s really your face?” she asked, eyes drooping, as she studied me with a vacant expression. “It’s so pretty.”
Me core
“Good job,” I praised with a heavy exhale. “Now stay awake.”
ME NEXT
“Shannon,”
“Like the river,” she added with a small sigh.
Shifting closer, I adjusted her body so that her head lolled against my shoulder, and while cupping her face with one hand, I used the other to stroke her hair. It was an awkward position, but I managed.
“You’re okay,” I coaxed, battling down my anxiety, the urge to nurture this girl both a new and equally terrifying feeling for me. “Shh, you’re okay.”
Without thinking twice about what I was doing, I reached up and tucked her hair behind her ears. I felt her tremble from the contact and quickly scolded myself for the move.
“Nobody is going to open their mouth about it.” Realizing my tone was bordering on angry, I brought it down a notch and tried again. “Not the team, Coach, or anyone else. I won’t let them.”
“No, you got my head,” she croaked out. She glanced down at her body and sighed. “Actually, I think you ruined all of me.”
Thank fuck for that, because you’re ruining all of me right now, I thought to myself.
That drew a smile out of her, a proper smile, not a shy one or a small one. It was an honest-to-god megawatt smile. She was just so fucking pretty. I hated that word. Pretty was a pussy word used by women and the elderly, but that’s what she was. Fuck, I had a feeling that her pretty face would be cemented in the fore point of my mind for a very long time. But it was those wild eyes that really struck me, and I had this crazy urge to google eye color charts just so I could figure out the fucking color blue in her eyes. I would do that later, I decided.
“And you can stop saying sorry now. I believe you.”
“I’m really, really hot.” God. Fuck.
Please say fifth year. Please. Please. Please, God, make her say fifth year. “Third year.”
And just like that, I watched my five-minute dream float out the window.
