SEPTEMBER 1ST 2004
AOIFE
“LOOK, Neasa, it’s the boyfriend stealing bitch herself.”
Resisting the urge to laugh out loud in their faces, I pretended to ignore the girls from my class, as they shuffled past me on the footpath outside of school on Monday.
“What a bitch.”
“Such a bitch.”
Grinning to myself, I continued to suck on my lollipop, thoroughly amused by Rebecca’s blatant dislike of me.
I had no doubt that the scarlet woman label they assigned to me back in fifth year would follow me into the months ahead, but I had a hard time caring.
Especially when. scarlet women got to kiss sexy bad boys like Joey Lynch.
Yeah, we had been liking each other exclusively for about nine months now, and while he went into panic mode every time I put a label on us, I considered myself to be his girlfriend.
Whether he liked it or not.
Sure, Joey fought me at every hand’s turn. He pissed me off to epic proportions, and drove me batshit crazy at times, but on the other side, I had never felt more alive, and more like, well, me than when I was with him.
The truth was that nothing about being with Joey was easy, and yet being with him felt so incredibly right.
Like I was exactly where I supposed to be, with exactly who I was supposed to be with.
Excitement thrummed to life inside of me the minute my eyes landed on him, walking up the road towards the school, with his little sister in tow.
Feeling ridiculously perky, considering it was the first day of a new school year, my last one, I tossed my lollypop in the nearby bin and strolled down to greet them both.
“Nice shirt.”
“Nice legs.”
Hooking an arm around my waist, Joey pulled me roughly to his chest and kissed me hard.
“Yeah,” he said against my lips. “It’s going to be a good day.”
“Is that an analogy for something dirty,” I teased, pulling back to look at him, only to feel my stomach somersault – and not in a good way – when my eyes landed on his face. “No.”
A surge of sadness threatened to drown me as I took in the sight of fresh bruises.
It hurt to look at him sometimes.
To see the marks and bruises on his skin.
It made me so utterly depressed to think about the life he lived when he wasn’t with me.
I loathed the fact that he had been thrust into playing the role of both mother and father to his siblings because his shitty parents wouldn’t do their job.
It sucked.
It pissed me off that they depended on him for every bloody thing.
Especially his mother.
She was the worst one of all.
Sometimes, I wanted to stand in front of him and scream back off to his family.
He has a life of his own to lead!
Because I knew in my heart that he would never leave Ballylaggin and take a year out to travel.
Not while those kids were still in that house.
No, because he needed to work to pay for his parents’ mistakes.
I knew that I was extremely selfish for wanting his family, kids included, to back off and leave him alone. I mean, they were little kids for Christ’s sake.
They depended on him.
Still, that didn’t stop me from wanting to snatch him away and keep him safe, from wanting to give him a safe place to fall, to stay, to rest, and recover.
Of course, Joey was as closed off now as he ever was when it came to his home life.
He never wanted to talk about it, and whenever I tried to broach the subject, it usually resulted in a fight, with him storming off with those assholes from the terrace.
And that was something that scared me almost as much as when he was at home.
I didn’t know what to do, how to help him, or how to exist in his complicated world.
His parents made me feel homicidal.
His siblings made me feel helpless.
His smoking friends at school made me feel uncomfortable.
And his friends from the terrace made me feel entirely unwelcome.
Especially that dickhead Shane Holland.
But I cared enough about him to want to stay.
“I’m grand,” he was quick to say, reaching up to remove my prying hand from his face. “I’m grand, Molloy,” he repeated, pressing another hard kiss to my lips.
“Yuck, guys,” Shannon groaned from nearby. “Get a room.”
“Hey, Shan,” I said, repressing a shiver of pleasure when her brother slung his arm over my shoulder as we walked up the footpath towards the school entrance. “How was your weekend?”
“Hey, Aoife,” she replied with a small smile. “It was okay.”
Better than your brother’s I hope, I mentally replied, taking in the sight of her thankfully unmarked skin.
Slipping a hand into the back pocket of his grey school trousers, I gave his ass a little pinch, and then leaned into his side and resisted the urge to drag him into the bushes so that I could keep him safe – and get him naked.
‘Keep on pinching my ass, Molloy, and I’ll have to retaliate,’ he said in a husky tone, lips brushing against my ear as he spoke. ‘I have behavioral problems, in case ya haven’t heard.”
“You know, I think I’ve heard that a time or ten.”
“According to my file, I can’t control myself when confronted with a physical altercation.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, that’s so.” Pulling me flush against his chest, I felt his hand slide up my bare thigh and under my skirt, not stopping until his fingers trailed over the hem of my knickers.
“Oh my god, you did not just do that!” Shannon wailed, covering her eyes with her hand.
“Ah fuck,” Joey declared with a dramatic sigh, as he pulled the elastic of my knickers and let it snap back into place. “Period knickers.”
I threw my head back and laughed at his forlorn expression. “How would you know anything about my period knickers?”
“Oh my god, you did not just… You know what…? Never mind. I’ll see you guys later,” Shannon groaned, as she clenched the straps of her school bag, and hurried away.
“Come on, Molloy,” he said with a lopsided grin. “You’ve worn granny knickers for a grand total of five days a month, every month since we’ve been special friends.” His voice was low and ridiculously sexy, as his eyes burned with heat. “I know this because those are the only five days each month that you won’t let me put my—“
“Okay, la-la-la, I get it. You’ve got my menstrual cycle down to a tee,” I laughed, clamping a hand over his mouth. “But I think that you’ve just scarred your sister for life in the process.”
“She’ll recover,” he replied, giving my ass a firm tap. “But I won’t.”
“It’s only for a few days.” I rolled my eyes. “Get a handle on yourself.”
“I’d prefer if you got a handle on me instead.” His hand gripped me tighter. “Again.”
“Okay, you’ve officially shamed me into silence.” My cheeks flushed bright pink. “You win this round.”
“Thanks.” Grinning, he caught a hold of my hand, and led us towards the main building. “I look forward to your comeback, Molloy.”
“Oh, you better believe it’s coming, Joe,” I replied, entwining my fingers with his.
We were crossing the teacher’s carpark when a familiar Honda Civic flashed its lights.
I felt Joey stiffen beside me, and my heart plummeted into my chest.
No.
No.
No.
“Joey, don’t.” I tightened my hold on him. “Just ignore him.”
“He’s clearly here for me.”
“So?” I clutched him tighter. “Just keep walking.”
“Molloy.”
“Please don’t.”
The sound a car horn beeping erupted.
“I better go see what he wants,” he muttered, gaze flicking to where Shane Holland was signaling him over. “I’ll meet you in class.”
No.
No.
“Joey.”
“I’m just going to talk to him,” he assured me. “Just talk. That’s it, Molloy.”
I stared up at his face, soaking in the image of his clear, focused eyes, and made a silent vow to God that I would rain hell down on that asshole Shane if my boyfriend returned to me in any other condition.
“Promise me,” I heard myself beg. “Promise me, Joe.”
“Everything is fine,” he soothed, leaning down to press a soft, lingering kiss on my lips. “Stop worrying.” He kissed me again. “I’ll meet you in class,” he added, giving my chin a playful nudge with his fist before he turned on his heels and jogged across the carpark.
Feeling sick to my stomach now, I clutched the straps of my school bag and stomped towards the entrance of the school, growing more agitated with every step I took away from him.
“Is that Shane Holland?” Shannon asked in a small voice, as she stood under a tree near the front door of the school, with a look of concern etched on her face that resembled the one on mine. “I thought he was gone.”
“Yeah,” I whispered. “So did I.”
“Cunt.”
Shannon’s breath hitched, and she shifted closer to me.
“Yeah, you heard me, cunt!”
I hated that word.
There were few words in the English language that I chose to avoid, but that particular one was not included in my vocabulary.
Swinging around, I locked eyes on none other than Ciara Maloney and Hannah Daly.
Two vicious little bitches from the year below me that needed to be taken down a peg or ten.
“Now.” Taking a firm stance in front of my boyfriend’s sister, I planted my hands on my hips, and arched a brow, “Which one of you thick fuckers has a death wish?”
“We weren’t talking to you,” Ciara replied, trying to act tough, but withering now that she was faced with someone older, taller, and stronger. “We meant her.”
“Her?” I looked around me. “Who’s her?”
“Me,” Shannon whispered, trembling behind me. “It’s me.”
“If by her, you’re referring to my fella’s sister, then I’ll give you a five second head-start to get the fuck out of her face before I cut your ponytail off and strangle you with it.”
“Stay out of this, Aoife,” Hannah tried to interject, glancing around nervously. “This isn’t your fight.”
“If you fight her, you fight me,” I warned, as unaffected by their bullshit as I was unwilling to back down. “So, are we fighting, or are you bitches keeping your hair for another day? I’m down either way.”
They both looked at each other and then Shannon before shaking their heads and stalking off in the direction of the main building.
When they were out of sight, Shannon released a huge breath and clutched the sleeve of my jumper. “You didn’t have to do that for me.”
“I know.”
“They might go after you next.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’d like to see them try. And if they go near you again, all you need to do is come and find me. It doesn’t matter if I’m in class or not. Just come and find me and I’ll help you, okay?”
She looked up at me with the biggest blue eyes I’d ever seen, so full of sadness and uncertainty, and whispered, “Why?”
“Because I love your brother, and your brother loves you. Keeping you safe is important to him, which makes it important to me.” Smiling, I threw my arm over her skinny little shoulders and walked her into school. “And who knows? Maybe in time, you’ll be coaxed out of that pretty little shell, and we can be friends.”
“You want to be my friend?”
“Is that okay with you?”
“Yes.” She nodded uncertainly. “Please.”
My heart cracked in my chest.
She was so small.
So vulnerable.
So broken.
“Then it’s official.” I gave her a reassuring hug as I walked her down the corridor to class, making sure that every catty bitch in this school got a good look at us. “We’re friends.”
