“Yeah, but it’s on my medical file for the rest of time,” she shot back with a cackle. “You gave the receptionist my name and details, remember?”
“Because you had your medical card with you at the time, and my mam keeps mine in her purse,” I replied, cringing at the memory of how incredibly na?ve I used to be. “God, I was a pure thick back then.”
“Back then?”
“Funny.”
“Okay, so back to business,” Casey said, tapping her hand on the desk to garner my attention. “Give me those sexy details, Molloy. Heavy petting?”
I grinned. “Maybe.”
Her eyes widened to saucers. “Oral.”
I shrugged, but didn’t respond, as my face burned with heat.
“Oh, come on.” She grabbed my arm and squeezed. “Who’s doing who?”
I scrunched my nose up before admitting, “Both.”
“Omigod!” Clapping with a ridiculous amount of enthusiasm for my sex life, my best friend asked, “Okay, okay, okay, so if we’re talking in comparisons here, you know, between Paul and Joey.“
“Ugh, Joey all day long.” I gave her a look that said please, bitch. “Hands down, Case. There’s no competition.”
“Jesus. So, I guess it’s true what they say about the boys from my terrace.” Casey blew out an impressed breath. “They fuck like they fight; all in and with one hundred percent effort.”
“Casey!” I laughed, shoving her arm.
“I disagree,” Danielle hissed from the desk behind us, and we both turned to face her. “At least Paul has an actual functioning brain when he’s with a girl.”
“Yeah. A brain that only functions on one frequency; me, me, me,” Casey was quick to shoot back.
I tried to strangle my laugh but ended up looking like I had the face of a blow fish.
Danielle glowered. “How’s life on the outskirts treating you, Aoife?”
I grinned in return. “Why it’s fantastic, Danielle, thanks for asking.”
“Outskirts?” Casey snorted. “Get a handle on yourself, girl. We both know that you’d still be happily skulking around the outskirts if Joe hadn’t sacked you off for my best friend here.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” she huffed. “And do you want to know why?”
“No, but I’m sure that you’re going to tell us,” I drawled.
“Because Joey Lynch might be beautiful, and charismatic, and have a million other qualities that draw girls to him, but he’s broken in the head. Sure, he might be riding the high life right now, with his bad-boy status at school, and his ability to master a hurley and sliotar, but that’s as good as it’s going to get for him,” she told us. “He’s already peaked.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know that you made a huge mistake when you threw away a boy with a bright future ahead of him for a boy with no future.”
“Fuck you, Danielle.”
“I would say fuck you right back, but you already did that to yourself,” she snapped, releasing a frustrated breath. “Listen, Aoife, I’m not nearly thick-headed or spiteful enough to deny that you’re a ten around here,” she said. “You’re clever, and funny, and beautiful and had your pick of the bunch in first year. You could have picked any one of the lads at school, but you made the smart decision when you chose Paul. He is going to be a solicitor, Aoife. He is going places, and if you had only managed to keep your head, he would have taken you right along with him. He adored you, Aoife, and he would have given you a good life, with a nice house, and a stable bank account. We both know that kind of a future doesn’t come along often for girls who come from where we come from.” She shook her head and added, “But you couldn’t resist the temptation of the school’s bad boy, and now you’re screwed.” Folding her arms across her chest, she arched a brow and said, “Because boys like Joey Lynch never go anywhere in life, and girls like you go nowhere right along with them. You only need to look at his parents for proof of that.”
“Oh, get a handle on yourself, Danielle,” Casey was quick to interject. “It’s not that deep.”
“Isn’t it?” Danielle looked me right in the eye when she said, “Enjoy becoming his mam, Aoife. I doubt you’ll make it to sixth year graduation without a baby Joey in your belly.”
“Listen, bitch, Aoife is nothing like you,” Casey hissed, jumping to my defense, which I was grateful for, because I had been rendered speechless. “She doesn’t drop her knickers the second a fella beckons. And she doesn’t need Paul Rice or any other fella to give her a leg up in life. She’ll do that just fine by herself.”
“While she’s claiming loan-parent allowance off the government. While her junkie baby-daddy sits it out in a prison cell for finally pushing the law too far,” Danielle tossed back dryly.
“Oh, you mean the same junkie you’ve been chasing after since first year?” Casey shot back. “Give it a rest, Danielle. You reek of jealously, girl.”
“Yeah, I was jealous,” she offered. “It hurt me when I saw them together that day.” She spoke directly to me now. “But instead of being mad at you, I should have been thanking you.”
“For?”
“For swapping futures with me. You’re with my ex and I’m with yours.” Smiling, she flashed a shiny gold bracelet on her wrist. “And unlike you, I’ll be sure to appreciate the upgrade.”
“Oh yeah? Well make sure you appreciate the feeling of being treated like a glorified mannequin while you’re at it.” Twisting in my chair, I leaned over her desk and said, “All of those expensive dinners and flashy gifts might seem tempting now, Danielle, but the shine will quickly fade. When it does, you’ll be left with the knowledge that all you are to him is a pretty face and nice pair of breasts.” I hardened my stare when I added, “Because that’s all you’ll ever be to him. Paul will never care about what’s inside your head or put your feelings before his. He’ll come first in every way and everything, and if that’s enough for you, then I’m happy for you, I sincerely am, but it was never enough for me.”
The bell sounded then, and I didn’t wait around to hear Danielle’s smart response.
Instead, I quickly packed up my books and hurried out of the classroom, with only one destination in mind, the front of the line at the tuck shop for my daily fix of a packet of Rolos, and a Roy of the Rover bar.
Yeah, I was in no mood to be beaten by the hordes of lads in our school and get left with only a damn Wham bar to choose from instead.
Besides, I needed the sugar rush to steady the tremor in my hands.
Danielle was wrong about Joey.
Yeah, she was so wrong.
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“I hope you’re not letting that pinhead, with only boobs for a brain, get inside of your head,” Casey warned, a little while later, when we were sitting in the canteen. “Danielle is full of crap, Aoif. She was only venting because she’s still salty over Joey dropping her ass like a bag of coal for you.”