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“Aoife?” With a tea towel in her hands and a startled look on her face, my mother appeared in the kitchen doorway. “What’s wrong?”
“Mam!” I cried, moving straight for her. “He lied.”
“Who lied?” she demanded, sweeping me up in her arms, as I collapsed against her. “What happened, Aoife? Who lied, pet?”
“Kev.” Crying hard and ugly, I wrapped my arms around my mother’s neck and clung to her for all I was worth. “He told Paul, Mam. He told everyone at school.”
“He did what?”
“Joey knows. He found out in class,” I cried, tightening my hold on her as my entire body racked and heaved with sobs. “I didn’t even get a chance to tell him myself.”
“Oh Jesus. How did he take it?”
“How do you think?” I cried. “Horribly. He’s furious with me for keeping it from him.”
“Oh, Aoife.”
“He didn’t deserve that, Mam,” I sobbed. “To be told like that in front of everyone.” I shivered violently at the memory. “It was so wrong.”
“I can only imagine.”
A few moments later, the front door swung inward, and my brother appeared, looking red-faced and flustered.
“Aoife.” Holding his hands up, Kev approached with caution. “Before you say anything else, just know that I didn’t know that Paul was going to—”
“You bastard!” Not giving him a chance to finish speaking, I swung around and lunged for my brother, scratching and clawing at his face as I stooped to a level of despair I had never felt before in my life. “How could you do this to me?”
“You did this to yourself,” Kev roared back, snatching my wrists up and pinning my arms to my sides. “Keep your goddamn hands to yourself, Aoife.”
“I hate you,” I screamed, ripping my hands free only to shove him in the chest. “Do you hear me? I fucking hate you, Kevin.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not too crazy about you, either.”
“Stop it, you two,” Mam snapped, coming to stand between us. “That’s enough.”
“She’s the one throwing slaps.”
“Because he told our entire school that I’m pregnant.”
“I didn’t tell the entire school. I told a few close friends.”
“Since when is my ex your close friend?”
“Since always,” my brother roared back.
“Bullshit,” I strangled out. “Paul was only ever nice to you because he was with me.”
“You really believe that, don’t you?”
“Because it’s true.”
“You don’t have authority over who I’m friends with, Aoife,” Kev sneered. “And if you took your head out of your ass long enough to see what’s happening around you, then you’d know that I’ve been friends with Ricey since first year. We actually got a lot closer this past year.”
“I wonder why?” I rolled my eyes. “You are such an idiot.”
“Not everything is about you, Aoife,” Kev snapped. “He actually gives me the time of day—unlike that asshole you’ve attached yourself to who can barely muster up the energy to acknowledge my existence.”
“Why should Joey acknowledge you?” I demanded. “It’s not like you’re even remotely friendly toward him to begin with. You never have been. Every time he comes over, you act all superior around him, all the time, and it’s disgusting. Seriously, you talk about me having my head in my ass, when you’re the one with your nose cocked in the air, walking around thinking you’re better than everyone else.”
