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That I didn’t care.
Finally, when I had the pain under control, I stood up, dusted myself off, and walked away, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders with every step that I took away from doing the right thing.
48
What Did You Take?
AOIFE
When I finally returned to school the following Monday morning and took my seat in tutorial, it was to an empty chair beside mine at a desk I had been assigned to share with Joey since the start of the school year.
“Arrrggghhh!” Casey screamed as she stood in the doorway of our classroom and stared at me in horror. “Where the hell have you been, and what the fuck have you done to your hair?” she demanded, pointing an accusing finger at me. “Oh my god.” Her eyes widened in horror as she let her bag fall off her shoulder and ran behind my chair to get a better look. “It’s gone.”
“It’s good to see you, too, Case.” I chuckled, smoothing a hand over my shoulder-length hair. “To answer your first question, I was home. I needed a few days to sort my head out. As for the latter, I needed a change.”
No, what I had needed was to remove the memory of that man’s hands from my hair, and it had cost me eighty euro for the pleasure, but she didn’t need to know the finer details.
I still had enough length to tie it back in a small ponytail, but not long enough to put me in the vulnerable position of having a man restrain me with it.
“Do you like it?”
“No!” she spluttered, horrified, as she retrieved her bag.
“Wow.” I rolled my eyes. “Thanks a bunch.”
“Oh, shut up, you’re still a complete ride,” she shot back, eyeing my hair and pulling at a loose tendril. “I’ve just never seen you with hair shorter than the middle of your back, Aoife. You’ve had Rapunzel hair since we were in playschool.” Giving me the side-eye, she added, “I tried calling you a hundred times, by the way.”
“My phone is at Joey’s,” I told her. “And people change.”
“Yeah, I suppose impending motherhood can change a girl.”
“Say it louder, why don’t you?” I hissed, twisting around to glare at her when she slid into the desk behind mine. “Jesus.”
“Sorry.” She winced and held her hands up. “Any updates on that front by the way?”
“I told my mam.”
Her blue eyes widened. “How’d she take it?”
“Better than I did, I think,” I admitted with a pained sigh. “She went with me to the doctor last week.”
Her eyes widened more. “And?”
I nodded. “September twentieth.”
“Your due date?” Her eyes widened even farther. “That’s two days after your nineteenth birthday.”
“Shh,” I warned, and then reluctantly nodded. “But yeah, that’s my due date. I got my hospital appointment in the post—for my first scan.”
“For when?”
“This Friday.”
“What time? Because we finish school at twelve for the Easter holidays, and I can come with you if—”
“I appreciate the offer, but no,” I replied, shaking my head. “Mam already offered, but I don’t want her there, either.”
“Why?”
