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The sound of Erin’s complaining pierces your ears as you make your way downstairs to grab some food before school. It’s only the first day back and yet Erin has found more than one way to make the day terrible. First the mess she made in the upstairs bathroom, now this. You sigh, opting to focus on pouring yourself some cereal as opposed to listening to your family bicker. The sound of the tv being turned louder draws your attention, “There’s a bomb on the bridge? How are the kids gonna get to school?” your mum says, rubbing her forehead.
“Their bus can go the long way, relax Mary,” your dad assures.
Aunt Sarah enters the room and the chatter resumes as normal, granting you the peace to return to zoning out as you munch on your breakfast.
“We better head out,” Erin informs, grabbing her jean jacket and pulling it on. You and Orla clean up your dishes quickly as your Mum begins nagging your twin sister about her jacket. “I’m not a clone, I should be able to express my individuality,” your sister argues, you roll your eyes, not bothering to get involved. “I’m sorry, I’m not wearing me blazer, end of story.”
“Jerry, pass me the wooden spoon,” you have to hold back a laugh as Erin hurries to take her jean jacket off and grabs her blazer, quickly tossing it on, rushing out the door.
You walk alongside Orla on the way to Dennis’ Wee Shop, the two of you have long been the quietest of the group and often get grouped together. When Erin spots David outside as you’re leaving, you smile to yourself, this outta be good . Your sister walks towards him and begins laughing at nothing, scaring Claire who’s stood back beside you. “No way! Are you serious?” Erin asks no one at all.
“Erin, what are you doin’? Who are you talking to?” Claire exclaims, rushing forward.
This actually draws David’s attention to the two, “Erin, have you got a light?”
“Me? No, I don’t smoke,” Erin responds.
Beside you, Orla digs in her pocket, fishing out a lighter, “I have one,” she tosses it his way, “I don’t smoke either, I just like meltin stuff.”
David's head tilts in curiosity as he lights his cigarette, which you actually find kind of cute. Erin promptly ruins anything you felt though, her annoying voice cutting through your thoughts to ask him about his poster for his gig. You nudge Claire, pointing to your watch, she looks at her own, and rushes to pull Erin away, saying you were going to be late.
“MOTHERFUCKAAAS” Michelle yells from behind you, tossing an arm over your shoulder when she reaches you, “Motherfucker, it’s my new thing, watched this film last night with me dad…” she trails off talking about the plot of the movie, you notice your sister and Claire looking disturbed to your left, and turn your head, almost jumping in surprise at the boy standing over your shoulder.
“Who owns the fella?” Erin finally asks in a break of Michelle’s rant.
Michelle looks back at him, then to you, where you’re looking at her with a raised eyebrow. “Me,” she shrugs, “Well c’mon on bullock, are you introducing yourself or what?” She pushes away from you to address the boy.
You turn to him as he flails his hand in a wave, “Hi, I’m Michelle’s cousin, James,” he practically mumbles, no doubt trying to downplay his very obvious English accent.
“Why is he making that funny noise?” Orla asks Erin, which entices Michelle to go on a rant about the English and his mother.
You listen for a moment, as Michelle says some awfully crass things about his Mum, following her and Erin as they lead the group to the bus, before you turn to the boy and introduce yourself, “Hi, I’m Y/N, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Yeah,” James seems speechless, “Yeah, you too,” he smiles gently.
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The few weeks James has been with the group, he has somehow become very close with you. The other’s still have yet to warm up to him, but the two of you seem to get along great, you both love Doctor Who and other nerdy shit. He has really helped you come out of your shell, you talk more than ever, but mostly to him. And in turn, you have made James feel semi-comfortable in Derry. Little did the two of you know, you would become even closer than you thought.
Michelle had spontaneously invited your lot to her house. Although apparently, she had negated to tell James about it.
“Where’s James?” You ask Michelle as the others plop down on the sofa.
“Upstairs probably, little weirdo,” she says the last part under her breath and you roll your eyes as you hurry up the stairs to find him. You had been to Michelle’s house many times so it wasn’t very hard to locate where James would be hiding out.
Knocking on the guest room door, you call out, “James?”
There's shuffling on the other side of the door, then a weak “Come in,” followed by him clearing his throat and repeating himself.
You open the door to see him sitting on the bed, shoulders slumped. “Is everything okay?” you ask when he doesn’t look up at you.
He wipes his eyes, sniffling a little, “Yeah, no I’m good,” replies weakly.
You step forward into the room and take a seat next to him, “No you’re not… What’s wrong?” you place a hand on his back comfortingly.
He finally looks up at you through bloodshot eyes, still wet with tears. “I just… still can’t believe my mom would just leave me here, like this, alone.” At the last word he broke out into a sob, leaning forward and into your chest.
Wrapping your arms around him, you rub his back soothingly, “Hey, it’s okay, you’re not alone… You have me,” you nudge him lightly. He lets out a laugh, but his breathing is still shaky. The two of you sit like that for a while as he calms down. Finally, he lifts his head, looking into your eyes again, “You okay now?” You ask.
“Yeah, thanks,” he practically whispers, distracted by how the afternoon sun casts a halo around your hair and the flecks in your eyes make them even more alluring. You smile softly at him. His eyes are drawn to your lips as you lick them for moisture. “Can I kiss you?” the words tumble out of his mouth before he knows what he’s saying, though he doesn’t regret it, especially when you smile brightly at him.
“I’d like that,” you agree, leaning into him as he does the same. Heat blooms in your chest when your lips meet, and it lingers as you pull away, grinning wildly at the boy beside you.
The sound of footsteps stomping up the stairs snaps the two of you out of your daze, both of you scooching further away from each other on the bed to avoid looking suspicious, though the way James continues to look longingly at you doesn’t help your situation. “WANKERS!” Michelle yells as she slams the door open. “Are ya coming down to watch the film or what?”
You look at James but he’s still MIA, so you just nod, hopping up off the bed, “Yeah of course, c’mon James!” and you drag him down the stairs by the elbow.
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Hiding that you and James had kissed would have been easy, that is, had you not continued to sneak around together. The other’s never paid you two any attention anyways, so holding hands in between your bodies on the couch, or falling behind them when you’re walking as a group so that he could wrap his arm around you, was pretty safe. But managing to slip away from them to be alone was harder, because you all had done everything together for the past decade or more.
The only way the two of you had managed to get any time alone together had been sneaking around at school. Which was not an easy task, given you had most of your classes together, but when you didn’t, if you timed things right…
You looked both ways down the hall as you approached the secluded closet. You knock 3 times, and hear the sounds of the door unlocking, and see James peeking his head out, a big grin spreading on his face when he sees you. His hand reaches out and pulls you in the closet. You let out a giggle and James shushes you by pulling you into a greedy kiss. Your fingers rake through his hair, as his circle your waist, pulling you as close as possible. This isn’t the first time this has occurred, and like clockwork James hands wander upward, pulling up your sweater and shirt. Before and skin is revealed, the doorknob jiggles, a loud sigh coming from the other side. You and James pull away from each other, a panicked look in each of your eyes.
“Oh you’ve got t’be shitting me,” Sister Michael sighs, when she sees the two of you, looking like deer caught in headlights. “C’mon, out wit ya!” she sighs again, ushering the two of you down the hall to her office.
As you sit in the chairs opposite her desk, you look at each other, tight-lipped smiles on your faces. Sister Michael calls your mum and Michelle’s mum, asking them to come down to the school.
When they arrive, they are shocked to see that it's you and James who have caused quite the fuss, and not Erin and Michelle.
“Thank you for coming down,” Sister Michael sighs as the mothers sit down beside the two of you. “I regret to inform you, but I found these two sneaking around in one of the broom closets. I’m gonna have to suspend them.”
“Sneaking around doing what?” Michelle’s mum asks.
Sister Michael looks at you? but you quickly avoid her gaze, “They were… kissing.”
“I thought he was gay!” your mum exclaims, more towards Michelle's mum than anyone else.
“Me too! James, why didn't ya tell us you fancied girls?”
“I tried to! No one believed me!” James explains.
“How long are they suspended for?” your mum finally asks, after taking a long look at you.
Sister Michael ponders for a moment, “2 days.”
“2 days! What am I supposed to do with her for 2 days?” your mum argues.
“Yeah some of us got to work ya know!” Michelle’s mum agrees.
“I don’t care what you do with with them, I just don't want to see them back til thursday!” Sister Michael raises her hands as if to say she's said her final piece.
Grumbling, the two mums pull you and James out of the office, where you find the rest of the lot waiting. End of the day must’ve come while you were waiting for your mum. “Well? What’s all this about?” Michelle asks, arms crossed, eyeing you and James.
“These two were caught kissing in a closet!” your mum exclaims. A chorus of gagging and puking noises sound.
“Y/N, how could ya?” Claire asks sincerely. You just shrug.
They're never gonna let you live this down.