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I needed that for myself.
With renewed determination, I gave him a bright smile and then hurried out of the house to catch my bus.
2Everything Has Changed
SHANNON
When I climbed off my bus, I was relieved to discover that the doors of Tommen College were opened to the students at seven in the morning, obviously to accommodate the different schedules of the boarders and day-walkers.
I hurried into the building to get out of the weather.
It was pouring rain outside, and in any other circumstance, I might consider it a bad omen, but this was Ireland where it rained an average of 150 to 225 days out of the year.
It was also early January, typical rain season.
I discovered that I wasn’t the only early bird to arrive before school hours, noting several students already wandering through the halls and lounging in the lunch hall and common areas.
Yes, common areas.
Tommen College had what I could only describe as spacious living rooms for each year.
To my immense surprise, I discovered that I wasn’t the immediate target for bullies like I had been in every other school I had attended.
Students whizzed past me, uninterested in my presence, clearly caught up in their own lives.
I waited, with my heart in my mouth, for a cruel comment or shove to come.
It didn’t. Transferring halfway through the year from the neighboring public school, I had been expecting a tirade of fresh taunts and new enemies. But nothing happened. Aside from a couple of curious glances, nobody approached me. The students at Tommen either didn’t know who I was—or didn’t care. Either way, I was clearly off the radar in this school and I loved it.
Comforted by the sudden cloak of invisibility surrounding me, and feeling more positive than I had in months, I took the time to look around the third-year common area.
It was a large bright room with floor-to-ceiling windows on one side that looked onto a courtyard of buildings. Plaques and photographs of previous students adorned the lemon-painted walls. Plush couches and comfy chairs filled the large space, along with a few round tables and matching oak chairs. There was a small kitchenette area in the corner with a kettle, toaster, and microwave.
Holy crap. So, this was what the other side lived like. It was like a different world in Tommen College.
I could bring a few slices of bread and have tea and toast at school.
Feeling intimidated, I slipped out and wandered through every hall and corridor, trying to get my bearings.
Studying my timetable, I memorized where every building and wing that I would have a class in was.
I was feeling pretty confident by the time the bell went at eight fifty, signaling fifteen minutes before the start of the school day, and when I was greeted by a familiar voice, I came close to crying with sheer relief.
“Oh my god! Oh my god!” a tall curvaceous blond with a smile the size of a football pitch squealed loudly, drawing my attention and everyone else’s as she barreled through several groups of students in her bid to reach me.
I wasn’t nearly prepared for the monster hug I was enveloped in when she reached me, even though I should have expected nothing less from Claire Biggs.
Being greeted by actual smiling, friendly faces instead of what I was used to was overwhelming for me.
“Shannon Lynch,” Claire half giggled, half choked out, squeezing me tightly. “You’re actually here!”
“I’m here,” I agreed with a small laugh, patting her back as I tried and failed to free myself from her lung-crushing embrace. “But I won’t be for much longer if you don’t ease up on the squeezing.”
“Oh, crap. Sorry.” Claire laughed, immediately taking a step back and releasing me from her death hold. “I forgot you haven’t grown since fourth class.” She took another step back and looked me over. “Make that third class,” she snickered, eyes dancing with mischief.
This wasn’t a dig; it was an observation and a fact.
I was exceptionally small for my age, dwarfed even further by my friend’s five-foot-nine frame.
