Know what’s really fucked up? Clover never told me we were going on a trip.

Well, she did tell me, she told Shamrock, who is me, but she didn’t tell Sam, who is also me.

She literally just assumed I had no plans or anything else going on. For all she knew I could have started a summer job, or been over in dingle with my granny.

Well, I didn’t have anything planned, but she should have had the decency to ask beforehand.

I’m getting to wrapped up in arguing details with myself- point is I'm sort of pissed at her, but not really.

It had been a couple days since I was at Clover’s place, and I still hadn’t gotten any word from her. I was getting ready, and by that I mean, I visited my granny, because I hadn’t seen her in weeks. She was very happy to see me, but she didn’t really have anything different to tell me.

It was the usual dump of gossip. It’s too bad she can’t tell me about any supernatural stuff, I’d have liked to hear about Feoli.

She’s not really the type of person to care about any weird rumours like that. Both because she’s a first worlder, and because her gossip is primarily focused on local competitions and what old person died that week.

Actually, if I was in her position, I guess I'd be focused on that too. That powerlessness in the ever-marching beat of time.

There’s the toll it takes on your body, sure, but you have to watch as everyone else goes away.

Well, at least things aren’t going to end up like that for me. I don’t have friends to lose.

Once I save Clover from herself, I suspect she’ll start to hate me. I’m starting to realise that things won’t stay so good, not with me being the way I am...

When I was waiting for that call from her- the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind- that she had no intention of bringing me.

Maybe I felt that it was a possibility, I was uneasy over the last few days. I attributed it to the fact another fight was coming up, but honestly, I’m not too worried about it anymore.

If Clover’s right, and I’m guessing she is, then I've got this. I’ve fought two Unit’s at a time before, Pugal and Noah. I handled that really well looking back. Three Unit’s against, me, Clover, and a handful of armed men. Even if they’ve got troops, were still winning that part.

Something I was worried about was the man himself. The man in control of Belfast. To have that many Units under him he’s unambiguously powerful. ‘Sea-Through Gurl’, as Schism spells her name, did not have a powerful ability, she was just... annoying.

It set the bar low.

There was always the chance that she was fulfilling a support role, but she’s taught me what to expect from this group.

For example, the Ints hit hard and with a lot of numbers, regardless of how well the Units work together. They through money at their problems, is a bold over simplification.

The mountain coordinates, the Units actively thinking of ways to use their powers in tandem. From what I’d seen of Belfast they do the same thing on a lower level, Gurl planned for our fight. And that’s what I have to be cautious of, getting led into a trap.

Which was the exact scenario that Clover was inviting. She really causes half my headaches.

I cause the rest...

I got back to my mum’s house, bag still packed, when Saoirse finally called.

I practically scrambled for my phone.

“Hello, what’s happening,” the words came out in a bunch, not fitting together well.

She hesitated before saying, “Hey Sam, uh, where are you right now?”

“My mum’s house, why?” I would have been pacing if there was room it.

“Well, I know this is kind of sudden- or, I guess a better way to phrase it is-”

I heard a knock at the door, “-surprise!”

My face froze. The stillness sank through my body.

“Uh, sorry, there’s someone at the door, I’ll call you back.”

My mum was at work, I thanked fuck. I half believed that it couldn’t be Saoirse at the door. I never told her my address. I think. I might have actually mentioned that I lived on this street when we were looking for a haunted house. But how the hell did she know where I...

It was the first motion that I made in a couple seconds; a smack to the face.

Did she really waste her lucky draw on picking which house Sam lived in? What is the point of that!

I paced over to the door, keeping away from the window like there was a debt collector there. I doubled back. I got my Shamrock costume from my room, tossing it in a bush outside my window. I wasn’t planning on letting her in, but better safe than sorry. I spent a second, my legs still chattering, resisting the urge to jump out the window with it.

My face twisted. Why? Why couldn’t she have knocked on my granny’s door? She just had to show up here.

I stood my ground for another second.

Finally, I turned around, and did a quick clean of the living room, which was also the kitchen. I cleared up the pizza my mum had last night, and wrapped up the bin bag.

Eventually, I walked over to the door.

Before walking away again.

There was another knock at it.

I cursed myself. Did I even need to let her in? Couldn’t I just grab my bag and go?

TI gathered my shit, and went back to the door.

I opened it quickly, before another knock could ring out.

“Hey, sorry, I had to clean up, my mum left the place in a mess while I was at my granny’s, Ahahaha.”

I was a little taken aback by who I found at the door.

“Right,” he answered, a weirded out look on his face.

It was Mullet. Though, maybe that name didn’t suit him as much anymore. He’d gotten it cut off, or maybe just cut back. He scratched at his face as I stood there blankly.

“Uh, so,” he started, before a honk came from the dinkey car behind him.

The back seat window rolled down, and Saoirse poked her head out, “Surprise!” She shouted.

It did nothing to change the awkward silence between me and Mullet.

Mullet regained his footing, an expression that told me he was unwilling in this, “We’re going on a trip. Saoirse’s taking us on a trip.”

I was quiet until the car door popped open, “Sorry to drop this on you Sam,” came that cheery sadistic voice, “but if I gave you a choice, you’d eventually shrink away from the idea. Me and Mullet’ll help you pack!”

Mullet looked over my shoulder and my stomach tightened, “That’s okay! Haha! I’ve already packed!”

Mullet was sceptical, “In five minutes? You got all your shit together? Toothbrush, clothes and cash-”

Saoirse interjected as she approached the door, “I’ll pay for what Sam can’t!”

I basically pushed Mullet off my door step as I took a barging step forward, “Haha, yep I've got everything!” My eyes were spinning, I blindly reached for my door handle and closed it to a crack, trying to put my body between Saoirse and it.

She was a second away from seeing- actually seeing the disgusting conditions I lived under.

Mullet already had, and that’s why I was feeling sick to my stomach. He had a real look of disgust on his face as I smiled widely, a sweat breaking out over my face.

“I, uh- I saw your car out front- well, I already had my bag packed to go to my granny’s house-”

He cut me off, “You just said you got back from your granny’s. Doesn’t that mean the clothes in your bag are dirty?”

A blood vessel burst, this was coming from Mullet, of all the people to call me dirty...

“Oh, did I say that? I must have fumbled my words, haha,” I was laughing way too much, but Clover didn’t seem to take notice, “Listen Sam, I know this is a lot to ask, that you come with us and the others on this trip up north-”

Did she just say others? As in more people? I could understand if it was just Mullet’s girlfriend Izzy coming along, but more than that? Maybe it was just Trixie O’Neill, I’d be fine with that.

“I’m totally on board!” I gave a thumbs up, trying to ignore Mullet’s glare.

Clover was surprised, but my change in character went unnoticed next to her excitement, “Really?”

Her eyes went wide like her smile.

“Yep,” I went along with her as best I could, “Where are we going?” I closed the door, locking it.

“Oh, first we’re going to go to a place in Dublin, I booked two rooms there, and Adonis booked a place for everybody else when we get to London-Derry.”

That made at least five people. If I had to guess, he’d bring his girlfriend as well. I was thinking about how awkward it’d be going on a five-hour car ride with people I don’t know... but there was also the fact all of them were being put in danger.

Over something so stupid as Clover’s selfish desire to take her friend on a trip.

Though I guess all actions are taken as a result of desires. I was being just as selfish as Clover.

I am putting all these people at risk, even when I don’t have to. I could have stood my ground, asked Clover to settle things with Belfast before this little trip, but I let things play out like this.

So long as I get to fight people I don’t like, and save people who can’t save themselves.

“Oh, wait a second, I think I forgot my phone in my house, You guys wait in the car, I'll be five minutes,” I had to make some sort of excuse so I could get clean underpants.

Mullet leaned over to me as I was walking by him, “Hey, listen Sam,” he checked with Clover who was excitedly running back to the car, before whispering, “I don’t really know how to say this, but don’t lead her on, you know?”

I laughed.

Seriously, and he could tell it wasn’t just from my awkwardness, “That’s ironic coming from you.”

Mullet shrugged, feeling where his namesake should have been, “Right, shits and giggles, yeah? No. I know a thing or two about girls, man, and I'm telling you that trying anything on this trip, or lying to her to build yourself up isn’t going to end well for either of you.”

I would have kept laughing, if hadn’t brought up lying.

“No, no, me and Saoirse are just friends, we-” I started getting ideas, “No, she’s just-”

She paid for a hotel room for me, she was there to listen to my problems, she cried for me, she laughed at my shit jokes... She talked to me. She got me a phone so she could talk to me.

I was suddenly getting red in the face as I turned to my door.

Mullet got up in my face, “She’s just doing what makes her feel good. Listen Sam, she doesn’t fancy you. I know what I'm talking about here, she’s not that type of girl.”

I moved away from him, unlocking my door.

“She needs all the friends she can get. You wouldn’t know it from looking at her now, but she’s lonely. She lost everything man, friends, family, her home, probably a boyfriend,” he didn’t know how right he was, “and she’s looking for the next best thing.”

I left the door open for some reason, I didn’t care if it was just this guy looking at the mess.

“Let me tell you something about women,” my eyes rolled as he started, “they look for guys that are better than them, you know? It’s, like, biology. I’m not just talking about having more money or being better looking, if that were the case, there really isn’t a way she could get strung on by you.”

He looked around my living room, saying nothing about it, “but well, she’s the type of person who takes a lot of comfort from things going right. She gets everything she wants, she’s rich, you know? So, a guy like you? A blank slate with no plans, and a lot of spare time? Dude, you can easily rewrite yourself to make her like you more. You’d be crazy not to, people change depending on who they hang out with, subconsciously.”

I was stuffing my back pack with everything I could, three shirts, two trousers, and a hoody. Some spare change and my phone in my pocket, and I started walking out.

Mullet stopped me by a step, “That’s what I mean by stringing her along, I’ve flirted with a lot of women, and you know what I've learned? The easiest way to get girls is to lie.”

I laughed, “Well, you must be a good liar then, huh?” I was trying to be friendly, though I wasn’t doing a good job. Afterall, I'd be stuck with this guy for half a week

“Wrong. I’ve only had one girlfriend. You want a couple going at once, you need to lie, obviously.”

He was looking me in the eyes, the awkward feeling I was getting, drilled into my skull.

I scrunched my face before he said, “telling the truth is good. It’s right. Little kids know that. I think people lie because their selfish, you know? Like they need people to see them as something they're not so they can feel good. A buddy of mine says it’s the oldest drug. And from that baggy on the table over there-”

That struck a chord, “Maybe you should mind your business. You're acting like I'm some sort of manipulative freak because I didn’t let her see my mum’s shit. All this- shit.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He shook his head walking towards the car, “Right man whatever. But that’s what I'm talking about! You’d rather be a nobody then yourself. This house has a lot of character y’know. You’re so stuck in your head that you think I give a shit where you come from. It doesn’t matter to her. If you keep this door closed all the time-”

“I don’t, it’s just-” I couldn’t believe that mullet was poking holes in me.

“Don’t let her think you’re some sort of pet project for her to fix, because they love that, that ‘we complete each other’ crap. The longer you make her think your somebody you're not, the higher the chance that she falls in love with you. Speaking from experience, only assholes do that.”

“Like you.”

He rolled his eyes, “No, I already told you-”

We got to the car, and for a second I thought he was going to stop talking in Saoirse’s presence.

As the door handle clicked open. He kept going, “Well, I do lie, everybody does, just not about myself. I lie around myself, get it?”

I got in the back of his car with that crinkled expression, Saoirse was in the front passenger seat.

Saoirse looked back at me, then to our driver, who was now fully engaged in this conversation. “Like everybody knows who I am, right? For example: Saoirse, when you stretch in your school uniform your shirt shows off your boobs and it looks really hot.”

She put on the same face I had on, “You know, between this and what you said on the drive here, I'm starting to regret inviting you.”

He raised a hand, pointing up, “Ah, but you still decided to bring me! Because when you invited me, you knew what you were in for!”

He turned back to me while his car started up, “and that’s why you tell the truth. If I did lie, then Izzy would eventually find out that I'm an asshole or poor, and our marriage would fall apart. So, it’s a good thing she already knows everything about me.”

In Clover’s presence I felt the need to make a joke, to sort of steer the conversation from where he was taking it, “Don’t you keep the fact that you hound after other girls secret from her?”

Saoirse shook her head “No, she pretty much knows.”

I’m guessing he didn’t tell her though.

Mullet shrugged, “Hey, it’s never anything serious. I don’t love those girls or anything.”

He rolled down his window with a crank, “I just love women,” he announced to my entire street, “I like, at least in some way, every single woman. Their faces, their hair, their lips, their thighs, their lips, their teeth, their feet, their back, their nape, their eyes- every woman’s got something going on and I want a piece of it.”

“Your disgusting,” Saoirse stated the obvious.

“I’m honest. Everybody's thinking the same thing. Psychologists figured out that the thing in your brain that makes you fall in love is different from the thing that makes you stiff or wet. I love Izzy, but if I was stuck listening to her deep voice all day, I'd go insane. She knows what I'm capable of. It’s like a game to see if she can stop me.”

I laughed, completely joking. I referred back to what he’d said, “Right, with that ‘game’ going on, you can forget about getting married to her.”

He went dead serious. He had been completely serious about everything he’d said, I'm sure.

“Sorsh,” he nodded, “open the glove box.”

She did as she was told.

“Mother of fuck!”

She turned to him, more or less repeating herself, “What th- whu- holy fuck!”

I leaned forward, it was hard to do in that small car packed with luggage, “What,” I asked, still putting on a joking attitude, “did he buy a ring, haha-”

Saoirse showed it to me, a little box.

I turned to Mullet, shouting “HAA? Your eighteen! Wh-wh-what? Does she know your- you're planning this whole- thing?”

Saoirse actually got a little hostile with me, “It being a surprise is typically the point dumbass,” she turned her hostility to Mullet, “What do you really think she’s going to say?”

He thought bout it for a second.

“Yes?”

I couldn’t comprehend it. Neither could Saoirse, “Okay, right, that’d be great, but- what the fuck- like after school, what do you think will happen? You're jumping into a life time commitment-”

“I thought you were protestant?”

She ignored his snide remark, “you don’t have a house or a job, neither of you can actually support a family.”

He nodded, “And that’s what people like you two don’t get about us. I don’t care about money, or work, or how I think people see me.”

“Because I love her.”

I was stuck leaning forward, slowly backing up. Saoirse slumped back quickly, crossing her arms. “Horse shit.”

Mullet pointed, “And that’s why you’re single. You’ve dated, unlike him,” he thumbed back to me, “Saoirse, you’re hot and rich, I bet what you look for in a guy is somebody who doesn’t care about all that, you want somebody who’ll see you. You want somebody who makes you think they love you. It doesn’t matter if you don’t love them.”

He started messing with the CD player, I’m sure that speaks to the age of his car, not that I know much about that.

“I mentally planned this entire trip, assigning a song to every single part of it. Guess you could say I've seen the future”

Saoirse seemed a little fed up with the guy, “And what does that mean?”

“This-” He started up the first song, ‘Material girl’.

She looked back at me, “He has a car, that’s all,” she mumbled to herself, “God I can’t wait to get home.”

A couple minutes passed with us in silence before her frustration took over, “I’m not a ‘material girl’, you said as much.”

“Yep,” the chorus came in, “but you're living in a material world, and you are a girl with a lot of material. It’s no surprise that you’ve got no time for love,” he enunciated.

She scoffed.

I sat in silence, trying to think of what I should say, if anything at all.

“Do... Do you have a song planned for me?”

“Uhh,” he was thinking about it, “you know, I didn’t even think about you. I mean Sorsh told us you were coming pretty last minute.”

I nodded, “yeah, okay.”

Eventually the song ended and things felt really awkward. I was trying to think of something to ask, to get some conversation going.

“Where are we going right now? I’m guessing we’re going to pick up Izzy and- Adonis did you say?”

Mullet asked, “You know him?

I shook my head, “I know about him. He’s as rich as Saoirse. For some reason he can’t go to a better school than ours though-” Mullet interrupted, “Why did you come to our school Sorsh? It’s not the worst, but it’s not the best, you know?”

She laughed, coming back to life, she pointed up and down Mullet, “Clearly.”

Saoirse fell back into her chair, “Well, I didn’t really think about it, you know? Guess I chose at random.”

I bet she did. Probably put a blind fold on and threw a dart at a board to pick where she was going.

“Man, people like you have it easy. Going to live of your dad’s money then? I’ll probably get an apprenticeship, become an electrician.”

Mullet turned back to me, while he was driving, “What about you, anus face? What are you going to do after school?”

I unpuckered my lips, leaving my mouth hanging open for the usual response to come out.

“I don’t know.”

Saoirse smacked Mullet to bring him back to the road. She looked like she wanted to say something.

Mullet brought the discussion back to the now, “You know Adonis’ rich, but he’s actually made his fortune. His parents gave him a leg up, but he got into stocks or something. That guy's got everything figured out.”

He was quiet for a while, “you know, you're actually a good match for him Saoirse. You should seduce him so he breaks up with his girlfriend.”

We both laughed at that, and he continued, “Right, then Sam can go out with her after she gets dumped. Everybody wins there.”

I wasn’t laughing at that. I probably should have just glossed over it as a joke.

Instead, I went quiet and leaned back, shirking away from my current situation.

There was no way that either of them didn’t pick up on the fact that I was embarrassed, though at the time I told myself I'd done a pretty good job of hiding it.

Eventually we got there, to the meetup point.

Just on the fringe of Tralee is a store chain called apple greens, it’s pretty close to the main road leaving town, so it’s no surprise that’s where they decided to meetup.

That’s not to say I wasn’t surprised when we got there.

“That’s Adonis’ car. Let's get our shit together.”

We all got out of the car and walked over to see them. They were all faces I recognised. Just barely.

Sam’s life seemed so far away now, and some of these people I'd seen months ago, and only spoken to them for about five minutes at a time.

Iggy was the prime example of that, I can’t remember the last time I spoke to her, and it was probably only because Clover was with her. She always looked like she was frustrated, and I understood her pain a little better now, after getting a reminder of how Mullet can be. Her hair was dyed like Clover’s but it wasn’t half as well done, honestly the only thing I'd say about her is she’s an average person.

With a weird boyfriend.

Who somehow passed as normal in the right lighting.

Adonis was exactly how I remember him; he was standing tall against his large white car. I know nothing about motors, but that thing was expensive. Usually seeing somebody with a car’d make me a little jealous, but for some reason I didn’t envy him. He clearly had a lot going for him, a lot of things that I should be envious of, but I guess I was caught up in his charm.

He has that type of smile that you can trust, it was like he practiced in the mirror. It was like if you took a politician's face and removed that cheekiness, the deceitful tinge. The one thing I was proud of, my smile, he did it better. I’m sure he had a healthier diet to, he was taller than me, and broader. I’d say his muscles were better built than mine, I'm sure he goes to the gym, he can afford a trainer.

He was also a second worlder, a positioned I'd once been envious of. He’d handled the whole thing so well, better than me. I guess one of the reasons I didn’t envy him was because I didn’t want his life anymore.

Then here was the girl from my art class, his girlfriend. I had liked her for a while, but now I’m not interested. I wish it was the fact that she has a boyfriend that put me off, but I think it’s just because the person I've grown into since the start of the school isn’t the same anymore. And she’s not the same either.

She was standing beside Adonis, or rather, under his arm. She really had changed a lot since I last saw her a month ago. She’d dyed her hair. And I guess with Adonis’ money, maybe, she was able to get a dye job that looked as good as Clover’s. It was platinum blonde and it came out in waves in the back, leaving her fore-head clear. She’d had an acne problem before, but it’d pretty much cleared up.

Honestly, she wasn’t that attractive, that wasn’t why I'd been interest in her. It was always because of her paintings. They seemed so hopeful. In a way that could be applied to someone in my situation, somebody who was living under an overcast sky with hardly a chance of clear skies.

But know I don’t need hope. I’ve got resolve. Guts. Things'll get better because I make them better.

I know I spent a lot of time describing those guys, but I didn’t spend nearly as much time looking at them. What had caught my attention, what had pulled me out of any awkwardness I'd display from being included in a crowd of seven?

Well it was the seventh member of course.

Her hair was raven black, consistent to the point where it almost seemed like a wig, like it was manufactured. Her skin wasn’t much different, it was pale, but not in a way that seemed sickly, it was unearthly. She had a very light brush of blue makeup.

Though I knew it wasn’t actually makeup.

The clothes she was wearing and her height made her seem like a mature woman, but from talking to her, I’d learned she was nearly a year younger than me.

It was Feoli. Disguised as a surface dweller.

I looked at her until she looked at me, at which point I quickly averted my gaze.

I kept my eyes down.

I’d noticed her talking to Adonis at that birthday party, but what the hell was she doing here?

“Hey lads and ladies,” said Mullet, keeping his gaze fixed on the new girl longer than I had, “Let’s get this started, eh?”

Saoirse greeted everybody, and I meekly said hello to the group. Eventually Clover came to Feoli, maybe she noticed something about her.

Despite them both being Units that I'd fought, and despite them living in the same general area, this was there first time meeting.

“And this is-” opened Saoirse, waiting to be introduced in a very Clover manner.

“Feoli,” replied the tall woman in the cable knit sweater.

After a second, Feoli stuck her hand out. I’m assuming she was going for a handshake. Saoirse hit it lightly with a high five, then gave another at the back.

“Well, I’m Saoirse. You another friend of Mullet’s? I’ve already said I'm not paying for any more people.”

Feoli shook her head, “I don’t know who Mullet is, Adonis invited me as a-”

Mullet stepped in, “I’m Mullet. Man, you’ve got pretty tall legs. You know, I usually think of height in a woman as a bad thing, but for you it works pretty well.”

Feoli’s mouth was a centimetre open, I guess she understood that this man was not to be taken as the average, she’d been living on the surface for a month at least.

When she closed her mouth, she gestured between me and Mullet, “I wouldn’t say I'm that tall. Maybe you and your friend are just short.”

If I was Shamrock, I'd have snapped back that she was really tall, in fact when I was watching movies with her, I debated putting on that one Netflix original about a teenage girl that’s really tall. I decided against it because my goal was to highlight what was and wasn’t strange on the surface.

I guess I could have used a few Netflix originals to show what the world isn’t like, but whatever.

Mullet had no problem snapping, just not at her, “uh, no, that guy definitely isn’t my friend.”

Clover kicked him in the shin, but I wasn’t offended at all. I do not want to be friends with Mullet.

“So you’re Sam?”

I turned to see who was asking.

Looking up to Adonis who had a friendly face, any toughness from Shamrock that had boiled up in Feoli’s presence fell away.

“Oh, me? Yeah...” I looked down at my feet, even though I was trying to keep my head up.

Saoirse left whatever beef she was surely going to form with Feoli, and came to my rescue, “Sam’s the one who gave me the idea for this trip, so you guys should thank him for all this!”

Everybody who was there except Feoli and Mullet jokingly said, “Thank you Sam,” and had a good laugh about it.

I could barely go along with it. I hated the fact that I'd literally been circled. I was half looking for an exit, half trying to reason why Feoli was there.

Saoirse piped up, keeping as much of the levity as she could, “I’m sure you’ll be paying for Feoli Jane Doe here, right Adonis?”

He shook his head, “Oh, no, she can pay for herself, there’s no problem there.”

That raised more questions, brought my attention away from Sam’s situation. Since when can Feoli pay for a hotel in Dublin? Last I saw her she was nearly out of money for that dinky place in dingle.

That’s a little cruel, the owner was nice, and I'd even say there was less mold there then at my mum’s. Maybe Feoli got a job there? The owner lent her clothes, it wasn’t out of the question.

Though I don’t think she’d be able to pay for herself on this trip.

Saoirse huffed, “Lucky. I’m stuck paying for my driver and that woman with terrible taste in men. Speaking of Izzy, where the hell did she go?”

Adonis’ car door popped open, and Izzy re-emerged from inside, three bags being carted behind her.

Clover stopped her, “Where the hell are you going with all that?”

Izzy nodded, “The car.”

Clover put on a smile, “Your boyfriend's car is too small to fit all of that in it. It doesn’t have a boot.”

“I’ll chuck it in the back seat, I’ll need’ya te keep this one up-right, ‘else my drink’ll get spilled.”

Clover was still putting on a front though it started to slip, “But if you put all that in the back there’ll be no room for Sam.”

She was talking about me like an object.

“So? He can just sit in Adonis’ car for the ride. It has air conditionin’. Why wouldn’t he want to go in there, like?”

“Because he doesn’t know any of them?”

Izzy nodded, “Well, that’ll give him time ta get to know ‘em won’t it?” With a smile she got all the way over to Mullet's car before Saoirse could say anything else.

There was a final spark in Saoirse’s eyes, “Right. I’ll just go in Adonis’ car with him then. It’ll give me time to get to know Feoli and the (The girl from my art class), settled.”

Mullet whispered, “Hey, that’s not really... even, is it? Like, we should split ourselves more evenly, right?”

Clover whispered quieter, “Do you... not want to be alone with your girlfriend.”

There was a moment where he chose his words very carefully.

“Not for a second.”

Clover mouthed the words I was thinking, ‘Isn’t that the girl you’re going to marry?’

Mullet tried to cover himself, “look, that’s just how we are, if we’re alone, there isn’t going to be anything to keep us from fighting.”

Again, the girl he wants to marry.

Adonis stepped in, “Listen, it’s not that big a deal. I’m sure that Sam and the girls have a ton in common,” He smirked, and for a second I imagined that he was making the crocodile smile of a politician, like he was planning something else. It left my mind soon after, I’m guessing it has something to do with Mullet’s plans?

His girlfriend pushed in, a little more forcefully than I remember, “Adonis, remember how we met? At that beach. He told me about that place.”

Adonis’ face lit up, “No way! He’s the guy from your art class?

She nodded, “The guy from my art class.”

“So how did you know about that place? You live in that area?”

I shook my head, “I- uhm, my granny used to take me there.”

I realised I should say more after couple seconds silence, “she lives up in dingle. With a lower case d? You probably haven’t heard of it-”

Adonis’ face lit up a little too bright, maybe I only thought that because I wasn’t enjoying my situation, “Me and TGFMAC go to dingle sometimes! That’s where we met Feoli.”

She nodded, looking down on me, “dingle’s my home away from home.”

I smiled stiffly at that parallel, “heh, yeah”

Adonis nodded along pointing at each of us, “dingle-dingle-dingle, see? Tons in common.”

His charisma was concentrated on Saoirse, who began to buckle.

She looked over at me, as if to ask if it was alright with me.

Everyone else's eyes followed hers, staring at me.

I shrugged, trying to remove the glare from me.

“Sure. That's fine.”

Adonis laughed; his enthusiasm made me think back on how adamant he’d been on Feoli showing up at that birthday party. It was almost a desperation, one hidden by a veneer of confidence.

Despite what I'd told him about Feoli, he still wanted her to come. Now he was inviting her on a trip across the country? He was such a normal guy, there was no way he was eccentric enough to just go with it.

Unless, after getting to know Feoli, he was starting to understand that she was no longer the person I had described her as.

I looked to her, and she was, literally, a different person to who she’d been.

Mullet said, “Well, I'm gonna take a leak. You guys wanna get ready to go, you can shove off.”

I snorted at that a little.

I took one last look at Saoirse before getting in the back seat of a stranger's car.

She gave a smile, like she was confused. I reciprocated.

Opening the door, the cold air coming out, I thought to myself that there might actually be a chance of me, just like Feoli, changing for the better.

I got in the car, not with a hope for a better life, but the resolve to go to new places, find new things. I’m leaving home to find out what it is normal people have to offer. What it means to live life.