“And we’re still sneaking out to egg that asshole’s house once our parents are asleep?”
“Ohyeah.”
“Good.” A smile tugged at his lips, and he nudged my shoulder with his. “So when’s your sister getting back from the hairdresser with Sinead?”
Rolling my eyes, I gave Gibs a dirty look, even though I was secretly glad that he was back to his favorite topic. “Would it kill you to pretend I’m your favorite for one day?”
“I don’t know, Hugh. I’m not that good of a liar,” he chuckled, and just like that, he was back to the jokester I knew. “Is your mam still making you invite Claire’s friends to your party?”
“Yes.” My shoulders slumped in defeat. “But I’m writing my invitations tonight, and she’ll be at work, so maybe I can get away with not having to invite them.”
“Who does she want to invite again?”
“Can’t remember their names.” I shrugged. “But I know there’s four of them.”
His eyes widened. “Four?”
“Yep.”
“And we have to play with allfourof them?”
“Yep.”
“The entire time?”
“Yep.”
“Jesus,” Gibsie groaned. “What are we supposed to do with four girls?”
“Five,” I replied grimly. “You forgot to count my sister.”
“But Claire’s one of us, so she doesn’t count,” he offered. “And besides, we like playing with her.”
“No, Gibs,youlike playing with her.”
“Maybe it won’t be so bad,” he offered then, clearly trying to cheer me up. “They might be like your sister.”
“Yeah.” I shuddered. “And I can’t think of anything worse.”
TROUBLE COMES A-KNOCKING
Lizzie
OCTOBER 27, 1994
“THANKS, LIZZIE,” SHANNON WHISPERED FROM HER PERCH BESIDE ME. WE WERE SITting on the bench outside the principal’s office, waiting for our parents to come out from their meeting. “But you shouldn’t have done it.” She looked up at me with big, blue eyes. “You’re going to get in deep trouble because of me.”
“I don’t care,” I told her. “He hurt my friend. He made you cry.”
“Yeah, but you made him bleed,” she replied, chewing her lip. “You’re going to get punished.”
I knew that.
I saw how angry my dad looked when he went into the office with our teacher and the principal. How they all looked. All the angry faces all looking at me.
I didn’t feel bad, though.
I didn’t feel like screaming.
