Page 115 of Keeping 13

“Damn straight I’m still pissed with you,” Hughie seethed.

“Hey, Johnny,” Katie Wilmot, Hughie’s tiny, red-haired girlfriend said as she slipped around the back of my chair.

“Alright, Katie,” I replied, offering her a nod.

“Hope you’re feeling better,” she added, giving my shoulder a small squeeze before moving straight for her fella.

“You’re overreacting,” Gibsie said, smiling at Hughie. “First about your sister and now the condoms.” Sighing, he added, “You’d swear you never saw a pair of tits the way you’re carrying on.”

“If you want to see a pair of tits, Gibs—” Pausing mid-rant, Hughie murmured, “Hey, babe,” to his girlfriend. Dragging Katie down on his lap, he pressed a quick kiss to her cheek before turning his glare back on Gibsie. “You need only look in the mirror.”

“What’s wrong?” Katie asked, curling an arm around Hughie’s neck. “Babe?”

“Him.” Wrapping an arm around her waist, Hughie drew her closer to his chest and pointed across the table at Gibsie. “That little fucker.”

“Lad.” Gibsie threw his head back and laughed, much to Hughie’s dismay. “I’m two inches taller than you.” Shoving his chair back, he pulled his jumper and shirt up, revealing his bare chest, and grinned. “And are these the tits you’re talking about?” he taunted, flexing his pecs. “Fine pair, aren’t they?”

“You’re an eejit,” I muttered wearily.

“An eejit with great tits, apparently,” he shot back with a wink.

“I can’t believe you pierced your nipples,” Katie chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand. “What if they get ripped off in a match?”

“Don’t look athisnipples, baby,” Hughie huffed. “Look at my fucking nipples.”

Deciding to eject myself from the storm brewing around me, I leaned back in my chair, zoned out of their conversation, and waited for Shannon. Checking my watch for the fiftieth time in the last fifteen minutes, I felt a pang of agitation surge through me.

Where was she?

We only had an hour for big lunch and I wanted to spend those sixty minutes with her, because face it, it was the only time I was going to get with her.

Glancing around again, I spotted two blond heads in the reflection of the glass floor-to-ceiling window. I twisted around in my seat, my eyes landing on Claire and Lizzie just beyond the archway of the hall. They were clearly arguing with each other and standing in between them, several inches closer to the ground, was Shannon.

My heart slammed against my chest bone and I took a moment to just soak in the sight of her. She was tugging on their sleeves, pulling them away from the archway, looking all flustered and wide-eyed. As soon as she slipped out of view, my brain kicked into gear and my feet started moving.

29

The Rugby Table

Shannon

“Shannon?” Lizzie Young’s voice filled my ears as I sat on the closed-lid toilet inside one of the stalls in the girls’ changing rooms in the P.E. hall with my uneaten sandwich on my lap. “Are you in here?”

I’d skipped maths this morning. In fact, I’d skipped all six classes before big lunch. I’d gotten all the way to the classroom door this morning, I’d even put my hand on the door-handle, but I just couldn’t make myself go inside and face everyone.

I justcouldn’tdo it.

At first, I had debated just leaving school entirely and going home, but when I got to the main entrance gates, I had an unmerciful panic attack, with my father’s face at the forefront of my anguish. Spinning on my heel, I had hurried out of the rain into the P.E. hall and hadn’t left since.

“Hey,” a voice said from somewhere above me, causing me to almost jump out of my own skin.

“Oh my god!” Glancing up, my eyes landed on Lizzie, who was leaning over the top of the cubicle partition with a mildly amused expression on her face. “Lizzie, you almost gave me a heart attack.”

She arched a finely plucked brow. “Cozy down there?”

“Shan!” Claire’s face popped up from the other side of the cubicle partition. “What are you doing in here?”

“Hiding,” I admitted, red-faced.

---