When Paths Cross, Unbreakable Bonds Form, 1/?
Title: When Paths Cross, Unbreakable Bonds Form
Author: Hollie_1201
Pairing: Sinead & Aisling
Rating: PG
Summary: This is a story about how Sinead and Aisling met and what they have gone through to still be together.
Word Count: 3,631
Disclaimer: This is an original fiction using my own characters and ideas. Please do not use these characters without permission.
Authors Note: Please comment. I wrote this story as some friends wanted to know more about Sinead and Aisling from my fic Escaping Ireland.
( Part 2) ( Part 3) ( Part 4) ( Part 5) ( Part 6) ( Part 7) ( Part 8) ( Part 9) ( Part 10) ( Part 11) ( Part 12) ( Part 13) ( Part 14) ( Part 15)
( Part 16) ( Part 17) ( Part 18) ( Part 19) ( Part 20) ( Part 21) ( Part 22) ( Part 23) ( Part 24) ( Part 25) ( Part 26)
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The winter’s air was cool as it blew softly picking up small leaves and scattering them over the ground. It was her first day of high school; she had made it into the seventh grade. Sinead stood at the front gates gripping her Mother’s hand, not wanting to enter the building this early.
“Mum, why do I have to come here so early? It’s only just hit 7:00am. I don’t want to go to school anymore. No one else is here,” Sinead said, looking into her Mother’s green eyes.
“Sinead, sweetheart, I have to go to work and you know this. I will see you this afternoon when I pick you up though. Try and have fun and make some friends, sweetie. School isn’t as bad as what you think; I have to get going now so I won’t be late for work,” her mother said bending down, pulling her into a hug and kissing her on the head.
“Okay, bye Mum,” Sinead said as she watched her Mother walk back to the car and drive off.
Sinead turned and faced the school. It was a big building, made of concrete with no colour. The state of it made her feel as though it was not a happy environment to be in. The uniform was a grey chequered dress with a white long sleeved undershirt. She didn’t like it much as she started to make her way into the building. The school was empty except for a few teachers who all nodded their heads at her. She made her way through the school taking note of where everything was. She came across the library building and entered it.
Sinead walked over to one of chairs in the corner near the heater as it was extremely cold. She rubbed her hands together letting the warmth she felt travel throughout her body. Twenty minutes had passed as she saw another student enter the building. He looked to be in his final year as he threw some books into the return shaft and left.
Lost in thought she didn’t hear the bell ring, she felt a hand on her shoulder as she looked up to see who it belonged to.
“Hello dear, the bell for assembly has rung; you may want to start to head off. All new students are to meet near the silver seats next to the bell tower. You will see them when you enter the main quad area,” the librarian said, with a friendly smile on her face.
“Thank you,” Sinead said, getting up and walking out of the library, making sure to collect her bag from the foyer.
She made her way through the mass of the student body, being pushed and shoved in every direction. Sinead finally got to the silver seats and sat down at the end of one next to a group of girls who were giggling to each other.
The bell rang once more as the students all fell silent. Sinead sat there and half listened to the principal. The bell rang again signalling the end of assembly and the start of first period. The year advisor walked over to them and started talking once silence fell.
“Good morning students. I’m Mr. McKenna and with me are you first period teachers. I’m going to read out your names and place you into your classes. Your teacher will give you a tour of the school,” he said as he started to pull out some papers, calling out students names.
Sinead looked around her, half listening for her name to be called, “... Siobhan McArthur... Cian Byrnes... Shauna O’Neill... Seamus O’Shea... Chloe Vesper...”
Most of the students had disappeared and she started to feel nervous and worried. She worried that her name wouldn’t get called and she would be left on the seats with no one else. The year advisor started calling out names once more, “... Ronan McCrae... Brooke Sinner,” she noticed the blonde girl in the middle of the group which was next to her stand up and walk over the teacher, her high pony tail swaying side to side. “Aisling Pendergast... Colm O’Brien... Sinead Mulcahy,” her name had been called.
She got up and walked over to the small group of students standing beside the teacher. The teacher was of medium height and he was going bald with grey hair. He looked like one of those teachers you never would want to mess with as a scowl seems to permanently reside on his aged features. Sinead walked to the end of the line not noticing any of the other students. Once the class of no more than twenty students had all been accounted for their teacher, Mr. O’Malley, took them on a tour of the grounds.
Sinead was never one to pay attention to tours. She enjoyed exploring her surroundings even if it involved getting lost on occasion. Today was not one of those days though. It was twenty past nine and the weather and look of the school were both depressing. Lost in thought as she walked she didn’t realise that one of the girls in her class, Brooke, had stopped walking. Sinead felt herself smack into something hard as she stumbled back, jolted by the impact. She looked up to see the tall blonde looking down on her. Brooke was tall for a twelve year old, almost 165 centimetres with a very sporty build.
“Watch where you’re walking, you stupid dumbass, bump into me again and I’ll make you regret it,” Brooke hissed through her teeth, threatening her.
“I... I’m sorry,” Sinead stuttered, scared by the girl. She noticed two of the boys in her class snickering at her as she flinched away.
The tour had finally ended and Mr O’Malley, who was a math teacher, had them sit in the classroom while he handed out their timetables for the year. Sinead sat right up the back of the room in the corner, she was very shy and all the people in her class scared her. They were all bigger than her; she was 140 centimetres tall, the size of a fourth grader. The person closest in height to her was almost 10 centimetres taller than her. She felt as though she already had one enemy in her class, she didn’t want anymore.
The bell rang for second period. Everyone hurried out of the door pushing and shoving, Sinead felt an elbow against her shoulder as she turned to see who it belonged to. She was shoved forward, impacting the concrete barrier in the walkway as the classroom was on the second floor. Her hands stung as she had put them out in front of herself to stop from falling, she turned to see who it was; she came face to face with Brooke for the second time within that hour.
“What did I tell you before, dumbass?” she said, spit flying from her mouth.
“I... I’m sorry, it won’t happen again, I... I promise,” Sinead stuttered, wiping her face with her sleeve.
“It better not, next time I won’t be so nice,” Brooke deadpanned, pushing her back into the barrier for emphasis.
Sinead waited till the corridor was clear before she moved to her second class, English. She moved slowly and as she reached the room, she saw Brooke once more. Avoiding her, she walked around the block of classrooms joining the end of the line. English class was uneventful as she kept her eyes on her work, only paying attention to the teacher and what she had been given. It was her first day and they had already been given an assignment.
The recess bell rang, not soon enough though. Once the classroom was empty, Sinead made her way down the stairs to the ground level of the block. At the bottom of the stairs near the bubblers she saw Brooke once more who was filling up a water balloon, tying up the end of it.
“Well, look who we have here,” Brooke said walking over to her, water balloon in hand. “What’s your name?”
“Sinead,” she responded looking in both directions hoping to see a way of escape.
“Well, Sinead, you see this is how things are going to work around here. You are going to keep out of my way, I cannot stand you, you’re too short and you look like a ten year old. I already don’t like you so unless you want to experience pain and humiliation you will stay away. Oh, and if you tell anyone, I can assure you, you will not want to be seen around here ever again,” Brooke said holding eye contact with her, her eyes almost as black as coal.
“O... Okay,” Sinead said, feeling the panic well inside her.
Brooke started to walk away, throwing the water balloon up in the air, “Oh and Sinead, this is for confirmation that I’m not joking,” she said, throwing the water balloon hard and fast.
Sinead felt it impact against her face, it stung. She closed her eyes wishing the tears forming there would go away. She wiped her face, removing the water from her blue eyes. The front of her school uniform was soaked, it was winter and she had forgotten her jumper. ‘Just great, day one of high school and I already want to run home and never return,’ she thought as she brushed aside the strands of her brown hair which had stuck to her forehead.
The tiny brunette entered the library and sat in the exact same position she was in this morning. The heat radiating from the heater made her feel slightly better as it slowly dried her uniform. It was ten past eleven and the bell signalling the end of recess rang. Sinead retrieved her timetable from the side pocket in her dress and looked at it seeing what class she had next, History.
The History room was warm and covered in pictures of the seven great ancient wonders of the world, almost as if the room were a giant mural. Sinead was in awe as she looked around the room, the Great Pyramid of Giza adorned half of the back wall situated next to the Temple of Artemis. The left wall held a depiction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and a drawing of the Colossus of Rhodes. The right side of the room was adorned with the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Statue of Zeus. Closing the door behind her as she was the last one to enter the room she noticed the Lighthouse of Alexandria painted on it, leaving the front of the room plain.
Sinead sat up the back once more soaking in the feeling of the room. She loved history and felt right at home. She listened to the teacher as if she were reading the most epic thing ever, even though she was just talking about the Williamite Ware or the ‘Cogadh an Dá Rí’ in Irish which translated roughly to the ‘War of Two Kings’. Only one other student seemed as interested as she did in the subject, it was another girl who sat up the front of the classroom. She had long brown hair, slightly darker than her own. Sinead couldn’t see her face or remember her name though. There were only four girls in her class including herself, she already had gotten to know Brooke and planned on avoiding her like the plague. There was another blonde girl and the brunette up the front of the room. The other blonde girl had already taken to Brooke as well as half of the boys in the class.
The brunette was handed a text book full of information on present and ancient history and as she held it in her hands, her eyes shone with eagerness. She knew how she was going to be spending her lunch hour. Sinead flipped the book open just as the bell rang signalling the end of third period. She sighed not wanting the class to end. Looking at her timetable once more, she noticed she had sport next and it was practical. Sinead hated to play sport and if her day could get any worse than Brooke, she believed it just had.
The class gathered on the seats outside of the change rooms and waited for the teacher. Sinead had so far managed to avoid Brooke, but as she had no other choice but to sit next to her on the end of the seat, she hoped and prayed the blonde would leave her be. The teacher stopped in front of the class holding a clipboard as he read out the roll. After everyone was marked present and had placed their bags in the change rooms, he informed them all that a game of volleyball was to be played so he could see their sporting ability.
The game went smoothly as Sinead hid in the corner, avoiding being noticed by the teacher or any of her fellow students. Half way through the period the teacher noticed her and called her over, demanding she stand in the court. The ball started to flying towards her as she ducked and screamed avoiding it, not wanting anything to do with it.
“Sinead, come on. It’s only a ball, it’s not going to hurt you,” the teacher said, looking at her like she was a lost cause. “Okay, boys I want you to move over to the main quad and play in teams. Girls, the four of you stay here and practice serving. Brooke, you seem to be a natural, can you please help them?” he asked throwing Brooke one of the harder balls.
“Of course, Sir,” Brooke replied smiling sweetly, looking as innocent as an Angel.
As the sports teacher walked over to check on the boys, Sinead gulped feeling her stomach turn to knots. Brooke walked in front of them, talking about something which she paid no attention to. Sinead already decided Brooke wasn’t worth the time of day. The other blonde, Kelsey, started to practice her serve with Brooke. The other brunette whose name she still didn’t know had her back turned to them, ignoring Brooke as well. Sinead leaned against the wall, her attention drifting off as she felt a sharp pain tear through her shoulder. She looked up, her eyes glistening with unshed tears as she saw Brooke and Kelsey laughing at her, they had intentionally thrown the ball at her. The other brunette turned to face them, wondering what they were laughing at as she spotted Sinead up against the wall, holding her shoulder as tears ran down her face.
“You seemed to have enjoyed that, Sinead. Would you like me to make your other shoulder feel the same,” Brooke asked, retrieving the ball.
“Hey! Leave her alone,” the other brunette said, walking over to Sinead.
“Oh, you’re no fun,” Brooke stated mockingly as Sinead started to walk away from her class, trying to stop the tears which had spilled down her face.
Brooke and Kelsey started to joke around with each other as the brunette ran off after Sinead.
“Hey, wait up,” Sinead heard, as she walked away, faster than before.
She heard the light sounds of someone running as she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see who it was and it was the other brunette girl. Sinead was stunned, she was beautiful. She had warm brown eyes filled with so much joy and when she smiled her perfect smile, dimples adorned her cheeks.
“Don’t let them get to you,” the other brunette said, giving her a warm smile.
“I’m trying not to but it’s so hard,” Sinead responded hiccupping as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name; what is it again?”
“Aisling,” the brunette smiled, wrapping her arm carefully around the shorter girl’s shoulders. “I’ve noticed you’re in most of my classes Sinead, stick with me and I’ll try and keep Brooke away from you. I went to primary school with her; she’s a piece of work. I’m sorry she has chosen you to pick on.”
“Thank you,” Sinead said sniffling, giving the other girl a watery smile.
“Hey, no more crying now. How’s your shoulder?” Aisling said softly.
“A little sore, that ball was hard,” Sinead said, wiping the tears from her face once more.
“Let’s go up the bathroom and get your faced washed,” Aisling said, steering her in the direction which they just came from.
“Sounds like a good idea,” Sinead said the tears finally stopping. “Are you from the area?”
“No, I’m from Cork. Mum and Dad moved up here three weeks ago and got me enrolled in this dump of a school. Better for their jobs, they said. They’re never home though,” Aisling said with a shrug of her shoulders. “How about you, are you from here?”
“Yeah, always lived in Dublin since I was born, Mum said she loves the town and the people. She’s always working though. I got dropped off at 7:00am this morning and she’s taking part of her evening shift off to pick me up. She has two jobs as my Dad left when I was a few weeks old,” Sinead said, feeling completely comfortable telling this to Aisling.
They entered the bathroom and as Sinead washed the tear stains from her face, Aisling made jokes trying to help her to forget about the earlier events of that day. Sinead really enjoyed Aisling’s company; the brunette was wonderful and made her feel safe. Sinead felt butterflies in her stomach every time she saw Aisling smile at her; she loved how the dimple on her right cheek always showed.
“All done,” Sinead said turning to Aisling.
“Awesome, let’s get our bags and head off. Lunch starts in eight minutes and if we’re lucky we can go off somewhere and avoid Brooke,” Aisling said, as if reading Sinead’s thoughts.
“Does the library sound good?” Sinead asked, hoping not to sound like a nerd.
“I was going to suggest that, I really want to go through the text book we got given in History. It looks very interesting,” Aisling responded, causing Sinead to grin as they walked off.
The two brunettes sat in the library in front of the heater as they read through their text books. They discussed sections of the text which interested them and talked about how much they loved the subject. Not long into the second half of lunch they decided that food was a must. They sneaked their lunch boxes into the library and ate their sandwiches in silence, giggling to each other as the librarian didn’t notice them.
It was time for their fifth and final period for that day; Monday’s were one of the shorter days, something which Sinead was grateful for. She really enjoyed Aisling’s company but trying to avoid Brooke for most of the day had drained her. Waiting outside of the classroom, she stood next to Aisling, looking at her new found friend for the thousandth time that day noticing the massive height difference between them. Aisling was almost ten centimetres taller than her. Aisling was also considered short for her age. She was a year younger than her, only being eleven. Sinead always got told by her mother that she would be a late bloomer and would eventually catch up with her friends. Sinead felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Aisling once more.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem to be lost in thought,” Aisling said, looking at her, slightly tilting her head to the side.
“Oh, sorry, just thinking about nothing really,” She said, entering the classroom when she realised everyone else had went inside.
Sinead and Aisling sat up the back next to one another, on the other side of the room to Brooke. Today for their Home class they were to build a house out of paddle pop sticks and glue, in pairs. The houses, when finished and painted would be placed in the display cabinet running along the back of the room.
The two brunettes excitedly started to plan their house, they pulled out their history text books and mutually decided to try and build a paddle pop replica of the Bunratty Castle or ‘Caisleán Bhun Raithe’ as Aisling had said in Irish. They drew up how they were going to build it and started to make the base, taking care with their project. They both sighed as the bell rang signalling the end of the school day.
All the students grabbed their bags and left the room, pushing past each other after they had set their paddle pop houses to the side. Aisling and Sinead walked out of the building together, talking about what they were going to do with their house, and to the front gates. Sinead looked up and down the row of cars, looking for her Mother’s one. At the same time Aisling noticed her Mother’s car.
“My Mum is here, I will try and come to school earlier tomorrow to keep you company,” Aisling said giving her a hug and running off.
Sinead made her way slowly to her Mum’s car, watching as Brooke walked across the road, getting into a new expensive type of car owned by her Dad.
“Hey sweetie; how was your day?” her Mum asked as she got into the car.
“It was good, I made a friend. She’s very nice,” Sinead said, yawning.
“You’re tired, we’ll go home and I’ll make you something for dinner but then I have to go back to work for a few hours, darling,” her mother said with an apologetic look.
“Okay,” Sinead said, used to the fact that her mother was rarely ever home anymore.
To be continued..
Author: Hollie_1201
Pairing: Sinead & Aisling
Rating: PG
Summary: This is a story about how Sinead and Aisling met and what they have gone through to still be together.
Word Count: 3,631
Disclaimer: This is an original fiction using my own characters and ideas. Please do not use these characters without permission.
Authors Note: Please comment. I wrote this story as some friends wanted to know more about Sinead and Aisling from my fic Escaping Ireland.
( Part 2) ( Part 3) ( Part 4) ( Part 5) ( Part 6) ( Part 7) ( Part 8) ( Part 9) ( Part 10) ( Part 11) ( Part 12) ( Part 13) ( Part 14) ( Part 15)
( Part 16) ( Part 17) ( Part 18) ( Part 19) ( Part 20) ( Part 21) ( Part 22) ( Part 23) ( Part 24) ( Part 25) ( Part 26)
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The winter’s air was cool as it blew softly picking up small leaves and scattering them over the ground. It was her first day of high school; she had made it into the seventh grade. Sinead stood at the front gates gripping her Mother’s hand, not wanting to enter the building this early.
“Mum, why do I have to come here so early? It’s only just hit 7:00am. I don’t want to go to school anymore. No one else is here,” Sinead said, looking into her Mother’s green eyes.
“Sinead, sweetheart, I have to go to work and you know this. I will see you this afternoon when I pick you up though. Try and have fun and make some friends, sweetie. School isn’t as bad as what you think; I have to get going now so I won’t be late for work,” her mother said bending down, pulling her into a hug and kissing her on the head.
“Okay, bye Mum,” Sinead said as she watched her Mother walk back to the car and drive off.
Sinead turned and faced the school. It was a big building, made of concrete with no colour. The state of it made her feel as though it was not a happy environment to be in. The uniform was a grey chequered dress with a white long sleeved undershirt. She didn’t like it much as she started to make her way into the building. The school was empty except for a few teachers who all nodded their heads at her. She made her way through the school taking note of where everything was. She came across the library building and entered it.
Sinead walked over to one of chairs in the corner near the heater as it was extremely cold. She rubbed her hands together letting the warmth she felt travel throughout her body. Twenty minutes had passed as she saw another student enter the building. He looked to be in his final year as he threw some books into the return shaft and left.
Lost in thought she didn’t hear the bell ring, she felt a hand on her shoulder as she looked up to see who it belonged to.
“Hello dear, the bell for assembly has rung; you may want to start to head off. All new students are to meet near the silver seats next to the bell tower. You will see them when you enter the main quad area,” the librarian said, with a friendly smile on her face.
“Thank you,” Sinead said, getting up and walking out of the library, making sure to collect her bag from the foyer.
She made her way through the mass of the student body, being pushed and shoved in every direction. Sinead finally got to the silver seats and sat down at the end of one next to a group of girls who were giggling to each other.
The bell rang once more as the students all fell silent. Sinead sat there and half listened to the principal. The bell rang again signalling the end of assembly and the start of first period. The year advisor walked over to them and started talking once silence fell.
“Good morning students. I’m Mr. McKenna and with me are you first period teachers. I’m going to read out your names and place you into your classes. Your teacher will give you a tour of the school,” he said as he started to pull out some papers, calling out students names.
Sinead looked around her, half listening for her name to be called, “... Siobhan McArthur... Cian Byrnes... Shauna O’Neill... Seamus O’Shea... Chloe Vesper...”
Most of the students had disappeared and she started to feel nervous and worried. She worried that her name wouldn’t get called and she would be left on the seats with no one else. The year advisor started calling out names once more, “... Ronan McCrae... Brooke Sinner,” she noticed the blonde girl in the middle of the group which was next to her stand up and walk over the teacher, her high pony tail swaying side to side. “Aisling Pendergast... Colm O’Brien... Sinead Mulcahy,” her name had been called.
She got up and walked over to the small group of students standing beside the teacher. The teacher was of medium height and he was going bald with grey hair. He looked like one of those teachers you never would want to mess with as a scowl seems to permanently reside on his aged features. Sinead walked to the end of the line not noticing any of the other students. Once the class of no more than twenty students had all been accounted for their teacher, Mr. O’Malley, took them on a tour of the grounds.
Sinead was never one to pay attention to tours. She enjoyed exploring her surroundings even if it involved getting lost on occasion. Today was not one of those days though. It was twenty past nine and the weather and look of the school were both depressing. Lost in thought as she walked she didn’t realise that one of the girls in her class, Brooke, had stopped walking. Sinead felt herself smack into something hard as she stumbled back, jolted by the impact. She looked up to see the tall blonde looking down on her. Brooke was tall for a twelve year old, almost 165 centimetres with a very sporty build.
“Watch where you’re walking, you stupid dumbass, bump into me again and I’ll make you regret it,” Brooke hissed through her teeth, threatening her.
“I... I’m sorry,” Sinead stuttered, scared by the girl. She noticed two of the boys in her class snickering at her as she flinched away.
The tour had finally ended and Mr O’Malley, who was a math teacher, had them sit in the classroom while he handed out their timetables for the year. Sinead sat right up the back of the room in the corner, she was very shy and all the people in her class scared her. They were all bigger than her; she was 140 centimetres tall, the size of a fourth grader. The person closest in height to her was almost 10 centimetres taller than her. She felt as though she already had one enemy in her class, she didn’t want anymore.
The bell rang for second period. Everyone hurried out of the door pushing and shoving, Sinead felt an elbow against her shoulder as she turned to see who it belonged to. She was shoved forward, impacting the concrete barrier in the walkway as the classroom was on the second floor. Her hands stung as she had put them out in front of herself to stop from falling, she turned to see who it was; she came face to face with Brooke for the second time within that hour.
“What did I tell you before, dumbass?” she said, spit flying from her mouth.
“I... I’m sorry, it won’t happen again, I... I promise,” Sinead stuttered, wiping her face with her sleeve.
“It better not, next time I won’t be so nice,” Brooke deadpanned, pushing her back into the barrier for emphasis.
Sinead waited till the corridor was clear before she moved to her second class, English. She moved slowly and as she reached the room, she saw Brooke once more. Avoiding her, she walked around the block of classrooms joining the end of the line. English class was uneventful as she kept her eyes on her work, only paying attention to the teacher and what she had been given. It was her first day and they had already been given an assignment.
The recess bell rang, not soon enough though. Once the classroom was empty, Sinead made her way down the stairs to the ground level of the block. At the bottom of the stairs near the bubblers she saw Brooke once more who was filling up a water balloon, tying up the end of it.
“Well, look who we have here,” Brooke said walking over to her, water balloon in hand. “What’s your name?”
“Sinead,” she responded looking in both directions hoping to see a way of escape.
“Well, Sinead, you see this is how things are going to work around here. You are going to keep out of my way, I cannot stand you, you’re too short and you look like a ten year old. I already don’t like you so unless you want to experience pain and humiliation you will stay away. Oh, and if you tell anyone, I can assure you, you will not want to be seen around here ever again,” Brooke said holding eye contact with her, her eyes almost as black as coal.
“O... Okay,” Sinead said, feeling the panic well inside her.
Brooke started to walk away, throwing the water balloon up in the air, “Oh and Sinead, this is for confirmation that I’m not joking,” she said, throwing the water balloon hard and fast.
Sinead felt it impact against her face, it stung. She closed her eyes wishing the tears forming there would go away. She wiped her face, removing the water from her blue eyes. The front of her school uniform was soaked, it was winter and she had forgotten her jumper. ‘Just great, day one of high school and I already want to run home and never return,’ she thought as she brushed aside the strands of her brown hair which had stuck to her forehead.
The tiny brunette entered the library and sat in the exact same position she was in this morning. The heat radiating from the heater made her feel slightly better as it slowly dried her uniform. It was ten past eleven and the bell signalling the end of recess rang. Sinead retrieved her timetable from the side pocket in her dress and looked at it seeing what class she had next, History.
The History room was warm and covered in pictures of the seven great ancient wonders of the world, almost as if the room were a giant mural. Sinead was in awe as she looked around the room, the Great Pyramid of Giza adorned half of the back wall situated next to the Temple of Artemis. The left wall held a depiction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and a drawing of the Colossus of Rhodes. The right side of the room was adorned with the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Statue of Zeus. Closing the door behind her as she was the last one to enter the room she noticed the Lighthouse of Alexandria painted on it, leaving the front of the room plain.
Sinead sat up the back once more soaking in the feeling of the room. She loved history and felt right at home. She listened to the teacher as if she were reading the most epic thing ever, even though she was just talking about the Williamite Ware or the ‘Cogadh an Dá Rí’ in Irish which translated roughly to the ‘War of Two Kings’. Only one other student seemed as interested as she did in the subject, it was another girl who sat up the front of the classroom. She had long brown hair, slightly darker than her own. Sinead couldn’t see her face or remember her name though. There were only four girls in her class including herself, she already had gotten to know Brooke and planned on avoiding her like the plague. There was another blonde girl and the brunette up the front of the room. The other blonde girl had already taken to Brooke as well as half of the boys in the class.
The brunette was handed a text book full of information on present and ancient history and as she held it in her hands, her eyes shone with eagerness. She knew how she was going to be spending her lunch hour. Sinead flipped the book open just as the bell rang signalling the end of third period. She sighed not wanting the class to end. Looking at her timetable once more, she noticed she had sport next and it was practical. Sinead hated to play sport and if her day could get any worse than Brooke, she believed it just had.
The class gathered on the seats outside of the change rooms and waited for the teacher. Sinead had so far managed to avoid Brooke, but as she had no other choice but to sit next to her on the end of the seat, she hoped and prayed the blonde would leave her be. The teacher stopped in front of the class holding a clipboard as he read out the roll. After everyone was marked present and had placed their bags in the change rooms, he informed them all that a game of volleyball was to be played so he could see their sporting ability.
The game went smoothly as Sinead hid in the corner, avoiding being noticed by the teacher or any of her fellow students. Half way through the period the teacher noticed her and called her over, demanding she stand in the court. The ball started to flying towards her as she ducked and screamed avoiding it, not wanting anything to do with it.
“Sinead, come on. It’s only a ball, it’s not going to hurt you,” the teacher said, looking at her like she was a lost cause. “Okay, boys I want you to move over to the main quad and play in teams. Girls, the four of you stay here and practice serving. Brooke, you seem to be a natural, can you please help them?” he asked throwing Brooke one of the harder balls.
“Of course, Sir,” Brooke replied smiling sweetly, looking as innocent as an Angel.
As the sports teacher walked over to check on the boys, Sinead gulped feeling her stomach turn to knots. Brooke walked in front of them, talking about something which she paid no attention to. Sinead already decided Brooke wasn’t worth the time of day. The other blonde, Kelsey, started to practice her serve with Brooke. The other brunette whose name she still didn’t know had her back turned to them, ignoring Brooke as well. Sinead leaned against the wall, her attention drifting off as she felt a sharp pain tear through her shoulder. She looked up, her eyes glistening with unshed tears as she saw Brooke and Kelsey laughing at her, they had intentionally thrown the ball at her. The other brunette turned to face them, wondering what they were laughing at as she spotted Sinead up against the wall, holding her shoulder as tears ran down her face.
“You seemed to have enjoyed that, Sinead. Would you like me to make your other shoulder feel the same,” Brooke asked, retrieving the ball.
“Hey! Leave her alone,” the other brunette said, walking over to Sinead.
“Oh, you’re no fun,” Brooke stated mockingly as Sinead started to walk away from her class, trying to stop the tears which had spilled down her face.
Brooke and Kelsey started to joke around with each other as the brunette ran off after Sinead.
“Hey, wait up,” Sinead heard, as she walked away, faster than before.
She heard the light sounds of someone running as she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see who it was and it was the other brunette girl. Sinead was stunned, she was beautiful. She had warm brown eyes filled with so much joy and when she smiled her perfect smile, dimples adorned her cheeks.
“Don’t let them get to you,” the other brunette said, giving her a warm smile.
“I’m trying not to but it’s so hard,” Sinead responded hiccupping as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name; what is it again?”
“Aisling,” the brunette smiled, wrapping her arm carefully around the shorter girl’s shoulders. “I’ve noticed you’re in most of my classes Sinead, stick with me and I’ll try and keep Brooke away from you. I went to primary school with her; she’s a piece of work. I’m sorry she has chosen you to pick on.”
“Thank you,” Sinead said sniffling, giving the other girl a watery smile.
“Hey, no more crying now. How’s your shoulder?” Aisling said softly.
“A little sore, that ball was hard,” Sinead said, wiping the tears from her face once more.
“Let’s go up the bathroom and get your faced washed,” Aisling said, steering her in the direction which they just came from.
“Sounds like a good idea,” Sinead said the tears finally stopping. “Are you from the area?”
“No, I’m from Cork. Mum and Dad moved up here three weeks ago and got me enrolled in this dump of a school. Better for their jobs, they said. They’re never home though,” Aisling said with a shrug of her shoulders. “How about you, are you from here?”
“Yeah, always lived in Dublin since I was born, Mum said she loves the town and the people. She’s always working though. I got dropped off at 7:00am this morning and she’s taking part of her evening shift off to pick me up. She has two jobs as my Dad left when I was a few weeks old,” Sinead said, feeling completely comfortable telling this to Aisling.
They entered the bathroom and as Sinead washed the tear stains from her face, Aisling made jokes trying to help her to forget about the earlier events of that day. Sinead really enjoyed Aisling’s company; the brunette was wonderful and made her feel safe. Sinead felt butterflies in her stomach every time she saw Aisling smile at her; she loved how the dimple on her right cheek always showed.
“All done,” Sinead said turning to Aisling.
“Awesome, let’s get our bags and head off. Lunch starts in eight minutes and if we’re lucky we can go off somewhere and avoid Brooke,” Aisling said, as if reading Sinead’s thoughts.
“Does the library sound good?” Sinead asked, hoping not to sound like a nerd.
“I was going to suggest that, I really want to go through the text book we got given in History. It looks very interesting,” Aisling responded, causing Sinead to grin as they walked off.
The two brunettes sat in the library in front of the heater as they read through their text books. They discussed sections of the text which interested them and talked about how much they loved the subject. Not long into the second half of lunch they decided that food was a must. They sneaked their lunch boxes into the library and ate their sandwiches in silence, giggling to each other as the librarian didn’t notice them.
It was time for their fifth and final period for that day; Monday’s were one of the shorter days, something which Sinead was grateful for. She really enjoyed Aisling’s company but trying to avoid Brooke for most of the day had drained her. Waiting outside of the classroom, she stood next to Aisling, looking at her new found friend for the thousandth time that day noticing the massive height difference between them. Aisling was almost ten centimetres taller than her. Aisling was also considered short for her age. She was a year younger than her, only being eleven. Sinead always got told by her mother that she would be a late bloomer and would eventually catch up with her friends. Sinead felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Aisling once more.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem to be lost in thought,” Aisling said, looking at her, slightly tilting her head to the side.
“Oh, sorry, just thinking about nothing really,” She said, entering the classroom when she realised everyone else had went inside.
Sinead and Aisling sat up the back next to one another, on the other side of the room to Brooke. Today for their Home class they were to build a house out of paddle pop sticks and glue, in pairs. The houses, when finished and painted would be placed in the display cabinet running along the back of the room.
The two brunettes excitedly started to plan their house, they pulled out their history text books and mutually decided to try and build a paddle pop replica of the Bunratty Castle or ‘Caisleán Bhun Raithe’ as Aisling had said in Irish. They drew up how they were going to build it and started to make the base, taking care with their project. They both sighed as the bell rang signalling the end of the school day.
All the students grabbed their bags and left the room, pushing past each other after they had set their paddle pop houses to the side. Aisling and Sinead walked out of the building together, talking about what they were going to do with their house, and to the front gates. Sinead looked up and down the row of cars, looking for her Mother’s one. At the same time Aisling noticed her Mother’s car.
“My Mum is here, I will try and come to school earlier tomorrow to keep you company,” Aisling said giving her a hug and running off.
Sinead made her way slowly to her Mum’s car, watching as Brooke walked across the road, getting into a new expensive type of car owned by her Dad.
“Hey sweetie; how was your day?” her Mum asked as she got into the car.
“It was good, I made a friend. She’s very nice,” Sinead said, yawning.
“You’re tired, we’ll go home and I’ll make you something for dinner but then I have to go back to work for a few hours, darling,” her mother said with an apologetic look.
“Okay,” Sinead said, used to the fact that her mother was rarely ever home anymore.
To be continued..