Helping 11

Tadgh

" um no but I can just walk" Nora replipes

"Or me and joey can take her" I offer because her walking home alone seems unsafe even though it's the middle of the day.

" No it's fine, I'll walk" she is very quick to reply which is odd.

20 minutes later he lets Nora go wait in the parking lot for Joey but I have to wait to have a little chat in his words. But before Nora left he made sure to tell us that we both have lunch detention all of next week. Jesus, I don't know how much stricter this school can get. When Nora leaves he turns to me.

" Tadgh I was told what happened in the changing room" he says dimly. Shit I was really hoping that it wouldn't get back to him. If i get detention for being 10 minutes late, I'm going to be hanged for punching Connor

" What, Mr you should have heard what he was saying" I argue because there is no way i'm going to be the one getting in trouble.

"But with that being said some of your teammates told me the reason that he was punched" he continues after I'm done talking.

" So this time I won't give you more punishment but next time it happens there will be" That makes me really fucking happy because I fear I would be given lunch dection for the rest of my school years.

" Oh thanks" I say surprised that I was getting away with it. I begin to walk out of the office but he calls out.

" Look out for her, she needs it" and then he shuts the door in my face leaving me wondering what that means.

When I walk out Joey and Nora are deep in conversion and she looks happy to be talking to him. When Joey sees me he calls out.

" hey kid"

" Already getting in trouble and you're only on the first day" he added, sighing but not in a disappointed way.

I snot " just following in my big brother's footsteps' ' I retort because he will not lecture me when he got sent home every other day for punching someone.

Joey's turn to Nora and I go to introduce her just so everyone knows everyone's name but when I look at her she's just standing there watching me and Joey interact. Looking sad again. I clear my thought

" Joey this is Nora" I incline my head

" Nora this Joey my brother"

" Hey kid" Joey responds, he calls every human being younger than him a kid.

"Hi again" she smiles, her smile that makes me want to smile.

" Are you sure we can't drop you home O's, I would be no problem for us" I ask again because I really don't like the idea of her walking alone.

" No, no I'm fine, I walk home everyday, '' she replies quickly again.

" Are you sure?" I really need to make sure she is fine walking home because I am sure as not.

" yeah I'll be fine" she seems so comfortable saying those words, like she has been her whole life because I know if I just found out that person I'm dating cheated on me then I sure as hell wouldn't be fine, I'd be angry. I'll always take being angry over any other emotion because I can deal with that, I can get rid of anger but I don't know how to get rid of any other emotion. I think I'm like my dad in that way, because all he felt was angry towards us, no other emotion was present in that household.

" Tadgh come on we need to go now if I want to pick AJ up from school on time" Joey says looking between me and Nora with a slight smile on his lips.

" yeah fine, let's go" I say because now I'm angry. I hate how my dad is still in my mind and I hate how I'm so angry and I just hate the world. I hate it for putting me through that in the first place. If god is really real then why would he put a 12 year old boy through that. But most of all I hate that sometimes I don't hate my pretant, sometimes I just miss them.

" Bye Tadgh" Nora says and then she's gone, beginning to walk away from me. I turn to joey.

" Just give me one minute, i'll meet you in the car" joey just nods his head and walks to the car.

" Wait up O's" I yell to her. She turns towards me looking surprised that I'm still there.

"oh hi" she say shyly

" Hi" I smile at her and when she returns it, my heart is happy. I pull my phone out.

" Just let me give you my number so you can text me when you're home"

"Really?" she looks up at me with a look on her face that I can't tell what it means.

" yeah here" I take her phone and put my number in making my name on her contact tiger. I hand it back to her.

She laughs which is even better than her smile.

" Tiger" she says amused.

" Yeah you know I thought I'd make tribute to the og Tadhg the tiger, let him have his moment" I say mostly to make her laugh again and it works.

"Anyway sorry I have to go, Joey needs to pick up AJ soon" I say it disappointed that I need to leave her.

" Oh yeah, my sister needs to be picked up soon so I should go too" If her sister needs to be picked up too it must mean her and AJ are simpler age.

" Ok well I'll see you on Monday for detection" I internally groan remembering that we have detection for the whole week. That is so great for us. Can't wait for that.

" Shit" and it looks like she is remembering too.

" Well see you later tiger" she says with a laugh.

" Don't forget to text" I remind her because I won't be able to fall asleep tonight if I don't know if she is safe or not.

" yeah bye" and then she gone walking away from me but this time it feels better

" Bye O's" I call out after her and then it's my turn to walk away.

We had gotten a full five minutes into the car ride when Joey turned to me.

" So the girl huh" I stifled a groan because of course he would say that.

" I only just met her" Joey hmm in response.

" She looked sad, was she alright?" Joey asks, taking on that fatherly tone he used to and still uses on me.

" I asked her and she said she was but she overheard her boyfriend talking about how he was cheating on her so i'm not sure how fine you can be after that" Another thing to add to the list of things I hate. Connor smith. I would never wish death upon someone but some people do deserve it and he is one of them.

" Shit that's rough" he sounds generally sad for her. And then we fall into a comfortable silence for the rest of the drive.

When we get home he turns around in his set to be facing me and says

" Just don't hurt her and I'll think you'll be fine" and then he leaves the car, leaving me for the second time today what someone means.

I get out of the car and walk into the house. I like how quiet it can be in this house but that only happens when most of the people who live in it are gone. Ma and da are at work, Johnny and Shannon might be here or they might be out and the same with Aoife. Joey will be leaving to get Aj in a minute but right now the house is peaceful and I live for it. My old house was never like this, it was always fight or flight and nobody in that house got a rest. I'm happy for them now, that they got their peace and I just hope I get mine soon.

Author notes

Sorry that this one took so long to put out. I've just been soooo tired this week. I don't know what's going on but this weekend I have an extra day off of school and then in a week my Breck starts so then I can write a lot and have more chapters to post sooner. There might be some spelling mistakes but that's fine. Thank you so much for all the reads and I can't wait because in the next few chapters you get to meet Mickey and tilly and I love their friendship xxxx

Word count : 2170