AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you ready?” Shannon’s familiar voice drifted through the open passenger window of the car and I turned to smile at her.
“Yes, but I’m nervous.”
“Welcome to my world,” she replied with a soft laugh. “I seem to spend my life in a constant state of nervous trepidation.”
“Still?”
“Oh, yes.” She nodded, still smiling. “It’s my calling.”
“Have you seen her yet?” I asked when I climbed out of the car and retrieved both my bag and Gerard’s from the back seat. “Lizzie?”
“I have,” Shannon replied in a careful tone, falling into step beside me. “She’s not in a good way.”
“It’s not my problem,” was all I could say.
“Claire.”
“It’s not, Shan,” I pushed. “I wish her the best, I hope she finds happiness, but I can’t be in her corner anymore.”
“Well, I’m still in both of your corners,” Shannon replied sadly. “I love you both and I won’t pick.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
“He, on the other hand, has picked,” she offered, pointing up ahead to where Johnny and Gerard were still grappling with each other in the courtyard. “He’s Team Gibsie until the end of time.”
“Yeah,” I replied, readjusting both bags on my back. “Me too.”
“Are you ready for this, Shan?” Johnny asked when the boys returned to us, both breathless from their exertions. “Another six months of Tommen, baby.”
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” I heard my bestie reply before slipping her hand into his. “I’ve got this.”
“You absolutely do,” Johnny agreed in that calm, reassuring tone of his, giving her hand a squeeze, while simultaneously reaching over to clap Gerard on the back. “You both do.”
“You really have got this,” I whispered in Gerard’s ear when he reached for his schoolbag. The nervous tremor in his body caused my heart to ache. This was hard for him. Worse than hard. This was torture for him. But here he was, still standing, still smiling.
“Yeah.” Reaching for my hand, he entwined our fingers and offered me a reassuring squeeze. “Let’s get this over with, huh?”
Following a few paces behind Johnny and Shannon, we walked through the familiar doorway of Tommen College hand in hand. The minute we stepped inside, the gawking and staring began, though thankfully nobody was stupid enough to actually comment.
“So, this is what being in a fishbowl feels like,” Gerard tried to lighten the mood by saying as we walked through the crowds in the direction of the sixth-year common room, ignoring the countless eyes boring holes through us.
“True,” I mused, giving his hand another reassuring squeeze. “Or what being Johnny Kavanagh must feel like.”
“Ignore them,” Johnny, who had backpedaled through the crowd told us, before adding in a much louder voice, “People have short memories and big staring problems in this bleeding school.”
That did the trick.
People couldn’t look away quickly enough.
Grateful for Johnny’s intervention, I let him take the lead, knowing that there was something about the Dub that calmed my boyfriend. Johnny made Gerard feel grounded, and right about now, Gerard needed all of the grounding he could get.
The shift in our friendship circle couldn’t have been any clearer when we entered the sixth-year common room a few moments later and were met with what I could only describe as the great divide.
While Johnny, Gerard, and I stood in the doorway, Aoife and Katie sat on one of the plush leather couches, while Patrick sat on the other, strumming softly on his guitar. Meanwhile, Hugh was leaning against the window with his head in his hands, while Joey and Lizzie spoke in hushed whispers in the kitchenette area. Standing in the middle of the room, looking torn, was Shannon.
“The core eight fractured,” Helen voiced my thoughts aloud, when she sidled up to me and said. “Wow, I never thought I would see the day.”
“Don’t you mean core ten, Hels,” Shelley interjected, gesturing first to Joey and then to Aoife.
