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“Peachy.” I choked out a fitful, almost hysterical laugh. The more I tried to sober my features, the more I laughed and laughed and laughed.
“Is she high?” another girl asked when she entered the bathroom.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Liz! Omigod, be nice!”
“Okay,” I drawled. “Who the fuck are youplease?”
“Katie,” the redheaded girl said, looking down on me like I was a new breed of alien. “Have you taken something?”
“Nope,” I snickered, and choked out another fitful laugh, while attempting to untangle my foot from the strap of the gear bag. “Not that it’s any of your business, nosy girl, but I haven’t taken up the heroin route yet.”
“Liz!” Claire chastised. “You can’t say things like that to people.”
“Don’t worry about it,” the girl replied before turning to me and arching a disapproving brow. “You certainly have the heroin-chic look down to a tee.”
“Get fucked,” I snorted, giving her the finger.
“I’m really sorry about her,” Claire said, trying to do damage control. “She’s going through a breakup right now.”
“Yeah, well, manners cost nothing,” the girl huffed before storming out of the bathroom.
“That wasn’t nice,” Claire scolded, crouching down to help me untangle my feet. “You are acting like a crazy person, Elizabeth Young.”
“Indeed, Claire Biggs,” I shot back, flopping back on my elbows and watching as she freed my feet for me. “Aren’t we all a little crazy inside?”
HATE TO BE YOU
Hugh
NOVEMBER 7, 2003
“ARE YA GOOD, LAD?” CAP ASKED, CROUCHING DOWN BESIDE ME TO TIE HIS LACESmidway through training on Friday.
Shaking my head, I blew out a breath and focused on not losing my head.
“Come on,” he coaxed. “Take a lap with me.”
Considering the prospect of taking a lap meant avoiding the prick wearing number fourteen, I gladly fell into step with my captain.
“You destroyed me in that maths test this morning, lad,” he said, not breaking a sweat as he ran alongside me. “I thought I was killing it with 94 percent, but you knocked it out of the park with full marks.”
I knew what Johnny was trying to do, and I really fucking appreciated it. He wasn’t known for taking an interest in anything that wasn’t rugby related, so the fact that he was bringing up test scores meant that he was trying.
While I wasn’t entirely sure if he knew what was happening, he clearly sensed the storm brewing inside me, and this was his way of pumping me up.
“Yeah,” I replied, jogging alongside him. “It wasn’t too bad.”
“Not too bad?” Cap laughed, nudging my shoulder with his. “What were you hoping for? A hundred and one percent?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, shaking my head. “Sorry, my head’s in space right now.”
“Nah, it’s still on your shoulders, ya bleeding brainbox,” he replied, tone way gentler than usual.
We ran another three laps and had stopped to stretch out before Johnny spoke again. “Listen, I heard yourself and O’Neill had some kind of falling out over Halloween.”
“Yeah,” I replied flatly. “We did.”
