Page 262 of Releasing 10
“Yeah, Claire, I know,” I said with a sigh. “I was in class the day Mrs. Lowney gave the presentation.”
“Sorry,” she replied with a sheepish smile. “I forgot.”
I had been absent a lot in the past two years, so I couldn’t blame her for forgetting. “It’s okay.” I indulged her with an encouraging smile. “As you were.”
“Really?” She looked at me with big, hopeful doe eyes. “Can I give the full synopsis? I remember it off by heart.”
Of course she did. I smiled. “Go for it.”
Bustling with barely contained excitement, my friend cleared her throat before throwing herself into the role of expert tourguide. “Tommen College is a prestigious, private post-primary boarding school located in the idyllic countryside of County Cork, fifteen miles from the bustling town of Ballylaggin. Sprawled over three hundred acres of woodland and greenery, Tommen College offers admission for day and boarding, sporting separate male and female student accommodation buildings with a total capacity of two hundred and fifty.”
“Whoa,” I laughed, genuinely impressed by her ability to memorize the pamphlet. “That was ridiculously professional.”
“Ooh, ooh, I have more,” she exclaimed happily, bouncing from foot to foot. “At Tommen, we offer state-of-the-art facilities to support our students’ academic careers as well as a nationally recognized athletic department of excellence.”
“Sounds like an athlete’s dream school.”
“It sure does,” she mused, whipping out the pamphlet we’d been given and proceeding to read aloud. “Facilities within Tommen College include a dedicated music room, six spacious common rooms, a weights gym, a sports hall, a flood-lit astro turf pitch, a twenty-five-meter indoor heated swimming pool, nine-hole golfing facilities, a running track, three individual science buildings, a horticultural garden, two libraries, a pottery room, state-of-the-art home economics classrooms,threededicated rugby pitches, a sports recovery room—”
“Okay, okay, I get the picture,” I cut in before she morphed into the human form of Tigger and bounced off. Hooking my arm through hers, I led her toward the gigantic double doors that led into the main building. “Let’s just go inside and find our lockers.”
“Do you think Shannon will be okay at BCS, Liz?”
No. “Yeah, Claire, I do.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely,” I replied, even though my heart plummeted at the thought of Shannon alone in a new school. “She has her brother.”
“Yeah, and he won’t let those mean bullies hurt her.”
“Exactly.”
“I’m so glad you’re here with me, Liz,” Claire mumbled when we stepped inside, where she was clearly overwhelmed by both the size of the gigantic entrance hall and the several hundred students bustling around inside. “I think I might be scared without you.”
“You’ve got this, Claire Biggs,” I promised, pulling her closer. “Give it a month, and you’ll be the school’s sunshine sweetheart.”
“You really think so?”
“I know so.”
“What about you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, what will you be?”
“You can’t have sunshine without rain,” I offered with a shrug. “I’ll be the school raincloud.”
That made her laugh, and I was glad because it was important to me that this girl never lost her shine.Like I did. Claire had a unique kind of innocence about her. She saw the world through untainted eyes. Her heart was pure, and her mind was uncorrupted. Whether that was down to her mother’s parenting or the invisible bubble of protection her big brother projected around her, I couldn’t be sure, but she was a special girl who, despite her stark differences to me, I couldn’t have loved more.
“Omigod, yay!” Claire squealed then, releasing her hold on my arm. “Gerard!”
My body turned to stone as I watched her bolt off in the direction of a crowd of older boys kitted out in rugby attire. Well,older than Claire, at least. I was about the same age as all those assholes.
When she threw her arms around him, I honestly thought I might vomit.
“Claire-Bear!” he exclaimed just as excitedly before lifting her into the air. “Lads, this here is my intended, so keep your eyes and hands off, ya hear?”
