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Her eyes flashed with relief. “Thanks, Joey.”
“Hm,” was all I replied before slipping inside the changing room and heading straight for the showers.You’re absolutely not welcome.
UNWILLING CHAPERONES
OCTOBER 10TH 2000
AOIFE
Sittingon the wall of the GAA pavilion, I waited for my reluctant chaperone to emerge from the changing room, while furiously tapping out a text to the asshole who upped and left me on my own in the dark.
Aoife: I really hope you enjoy celebrating the win with your little pals because you won’t be celebrating anything with me ever again, asshole.
Paul: Don’t be mad, babe. I’ll make it up to you. xx
Aoife: Make it up to me? You LEFT me ALONE to go bowling with your teammates, Paul! You didn’t even offer me a spin home!
Paul: It’s not my fault there wasn’t any room in the car. Come on, Aoif. Don’t make a big deal of this. It’s not like you live in the countryside. You know the town better than I do. You’ll be grand. I’ll see you at school tomorrow, k? I’ll buy you lunch. xx
“Ugh!”Furious, I powered off my phone, unwilling to deal with him a second longer.
I didn’t want him to buy me lunch or anything else.
I wanted him towalk me home.
I didn’t think that was a lot to ask for, considering the only reason I had traipsed across town in the first place was because he had badgered me to come and watch him play.
It was a good forty-minute walk from the GAA grounds to my terrace on the other side of town, and while my parents were fairly chill, if my dad found out that I walked home alone, I would be grounded for a month.Minimum.
No way was I losing my freedom over some asshole boy.
When Joey finally emerged from the back of the building, his hostility was obvious.
With a gear bag slung over his shoulder, his helmet and hurley in hand, and a cigarette balancing between his lips, he inclined his head to where I was sitting and said, “Let’s go.”
Resisting the urge to taunt or goad him like I usually would, I hopped down from my perch and joined him on the footpath, knowing that having him walk me home would was the safest way out of getting hell from my dad.
My dad loved Joey.
What’s more, he trusted him.
Having Joey walk me home would be an improvement on Paul in my father’s eyes.
Looking wholly unimpressed with the position I had put him in, my classmate pounded the footpath beside me, silently seething, while he smoked his cigarette.
“Aren’t you a little young to be getting hooked on smoking?”
“Aren’t you a little nosey to be asking for answers to questions that are none of your business?”
“Seriously?” I laughed humorlessly. “You’re this pissed off because I asked you to walk me home?”
“No, Molloy,” he bit out. “I’m pissed off because that prick put you in a position where youhadto ask me to walk you home.”
His answer was sharp, cutting, and precisely to the point.
“Listen, I’m embarrassed enough about it,” I heard myself admit. “No need to layer it on, Joe.”
“Youshouldbe embarrassed,” he snapped, tossing his cigarette butt away. “Embarrassed for giving an asshole like Paul Rice the chance to treat you like an option.”
