Page 49 of Matched Up

He didn’t even stop on the stairs.Didn’t hesitate; he just kept walking.‘Great.’He left the word behind, apathetic and cold.My heart shattered.

I waited to hear his bedroom door slam before bursting into tears, letting myself ugly cry at the bottom of the stairs.It surprised me how much it hurt.How much I needed him to say ‘well done’ or to just acknowledge the amazing thing that had just happened.

I was asleep by the time Mum and Dad got home on Sunday night, and the next morning I came down to some serious tension in the kitchen.Niall was staring into a cup of coffeeand Mum and Dad were tiptoeing round him.But I’d woken up more angry than upset.I didn’t even care what was wrong with him.

‘Dad, guess what?’I said.

Dad’s eyes lit up when he turned round.‘What?’

‘Don’t leave us in suspense, Lexie,’ said Mum, drumming her nails on the counter.

‘I’m starting in the next match.I’m on thefirst team.Will you come and watch?’

‘Alexandra, that is incredible.Come here!’Dad walked towards me, arms open, and I hugged him back tightly.‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world!And Niall, will you be there to watch your sister?’

Niall flicked his head up, but didn’t say anything.

‘You can use words, you know,’ said Dad.

‘Leave him alone – he’s had a fight with Megan,’ Mum whispered, but I don’t know why because everyone could hear her.

I stared at Niall, and he looked back at me before breaking my gaze.He wasn’t giving anything away.I wondered what had happened, and I automatically put my hand on my phone, about to send a message to Megan to see if she was OK.Then I stopped myself.

‘Mum, leave it,’ said Niall.

‘Don’t speak to your mother like that, Niall,’ Dad said in a tone that made both of us look up.

Niall screeched his chair back and got up.‘I’m out of here.Let’s go, Lexie.’

I grabbed the keys and followed him out the door, feelingstupid but not knowing what else to do, because that was the way it had always been.Niall said ‘jump’ and I said ‘how high?’.

I decided to broach Niall and Megan’s fight about five minutes down the road.

‘What happened?’I asked.

‘Nothing,’ he said sullenly, looking out the window.

‘Obviously something happened.’

‘She’s going to London for uni next year.’

‘What?Since when?’I was as shocked as he must have been.Megan had never mentioned going across the water.

‘Dunno, since whenever.’

The hole in the pit of my stomach grew with Niall’s disappointment, dark and deep and nauseous.And it made me even angrier at Megan than I already was.It was so selfish.Shewas so selfish.She was just going to leave?

‘But you want to go to UUJ …’ I trailed off and my voice choked.We’d filled in our forms and sent them a couple of months ago.We were all going to go to UUJ, down the road.

‘No shit.’

‘There’s no need to be so bloody rude, you know,’ I said, because as much as I’d been saying it for his benefit, I was trying to make sense of it in my own head.‘Are you going to stay together?’

‘I don’tknow, Lexie.Just give over!’he shouted.

We drove the rest of the way to school in silence.

When I saw Megan, her face was tear-stained.She stared after Niall as he stormed into school.

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