Sweet as honey • James Maguire

2,6•well, who is she?

We were in the kitchen, having breakfast and listening to the radio. Erin shot me a huge grin at the announcement that Bill Clinton would be coming to Derry, and I smiled back at her. I had kept my eye on her since the whole prom fiasco, but overall, we were ok. "He's here! He's landed!" Granda shouted while running into the house. "I know he has, Da! And look at the state of this place!" Mary said, looking around the house, as if the Clintons themselves where coming into our Home. "I better tell Jim across the road!" Granda told us before scurrying out of the house again. "Christ, I'm at my wits end" Mary said, panicking. "Firstly, he's not coming to Derry until tomorrow." Gerry tried to calm his wife down. "Have you seen the Heck of those skirting boards, Gerry? I'd need a week to tackle them." Mary interrupted him. "And secondly, I think it's unlikely he'll call to our house" Gerry said honestly. "He might call, Gerry" Mary reminded her husband. "Aye, he might take a notion." Sarah agreed, before handing her cigarette back to Orla to hold. "I think presidential visits are quite carefully planned. I'm not sure there's an awful lot of room for notion-taking." Gerry told his sister in law. "Hope yOurE right, Gerry. For it's like Beirut in here. I mean, when was the last time these were bleached. I couldn't hand Hillary that." Mary responded, panicking about my mug. "It's dirty because it's half filled with tea, aunt Mary." I tried to tell her while taking my tea back. "I'd say she keeps her place shining, Mary." Sarah told her sister. "Sure she'd put you to shame." Mary whispered. I went upstairs to get dressed as uncle Joe walked back In the door.

We were in assembly again, listening to Jenny Joyce's god awful singing, before Sister Micheal sent her away and started speaking. "What a joy all together. A fitting rendition of what I consider to be the most godawful song ever written. Just one announcement today, girls. I'm sure many of you have guessed what it's about." Sister Michael started, making me and James grin at each other. "Although tomorrow is not officially a public holiday, schools across the city have decided to view it as such. Because tomorrow, the president of the United States of America, is coming here, to Derry. You're a Little young to perhaps understand the enormity of this. A few short months ago, this would have been unimaginable. But here we are. And I for one can barely believe it. I mean, people in this place stop killing each other for five minutes as the whole world loses the absolute run of itself. This visit concerns me for a number of reasons, girls, but mostly because I am scared it will give the pope ideas, and that's the last thing I need. No. Our Lady Immaculate will place no part in this farce. And I expect to see you all here tomorrow morning, business as usual. Is that clear?" She asked outrageously. Only to receive silence. "is that clear?" She repeated. "Yes sister Micheal." We all sadly responded. No way. There's no way in hell.

"She can't do this. She simply cannot do this." Clare proclaimed from her seat. "Well, she's done it Clare." Michelle told the girl. Making me nod in agreement. "But it's history! She's making us miss history!" Clare protested. "Ich, but I really wanted to find out what that Cromwell fella got up to next. I really enjoy him." Orla said, mistaking the type of history we were being forced to miss. "Not history class, Orla! Real history! History being made!" Clare expressed. "And Irish people aren't allowed to enjoy Oliver Cromwell, Orla." Erin informed our cousin. "Why?" Orla asked, not understanding. "Because he was a fucking arsehole." Michelle responded. "Look, Bill doesn't even get here till four o'clock tomorrow." James said, making me look at home strangely. "Bill? Who are you? His Ma?" Michelle asked the boy. "Haven't you heard? They're best mates! Used to go to the pub together and all!" I sarcastically told Michelle, making her laugh, while James shot me his puppy dog eyes in order for me to stop making fun of him. I grinned at him and pecked his cheek. "We've got plenty of time, is all I'm saying." James told us both. "Do you know how packed that Guildhall Square is gonna be, James? You'd have to camp overnight just to get a glimpse of him." Clare rushed out. "Chelsea will sort us out." Erin tired to calm her friend down. "Och, I'm not even sure I trust Chelsea any more." Clare said, making Erin glare at her. "Aye, Chelsea might be flaky." Michelle told the group. "She does have crafty eyes." Orla admitted, making me nod along. "Aye she does, always looks like she's planning something" I voiced my opinion. "Okay, I'm not comfortable with the Chelsea-bashing, girls." Erin told us, seriously. "This is the biggest thing that's ever happened here. That's ever likely to happen here. We should be a part of it." Clare brought us back onto the topic at hand. "We will be." Michelle said, smirking at the short blonde girl. "Are you suggesting that we play truant?" Clare whispered. "Okay, normal people don't call it that, but, yes, yes I am." Michelle suggested to us. "Aye, I agree. We have to be apart of this." I told them, grabbing James hand. He nodded in agreement with me. "You know what, girls? Sometimes in order to do the right thing, you have to do the wrong thing. And on this occasion, right is wrong and wrong is right." Clare said, weirdly Inspirational. "What the fuck are you going on about?" Michelle questioned, not catching onto Clares message. "Are you gonnae Sack off school or not?" She asked impatiently. We all looked at Clare for her reply, knowing she'd be the only one stopping us from going. I squeezed James hand in anticipation.

"Let's do it." Fuck yes!!

We were in Dennises wee shop, with Dennis trying to sell us some dud flags. We stormed out after he screamed at us, not planning to get him any more wound up. "What first attracted him to a job in retail, Do you think?" Erin asked, only getting no answer due to a red car pulling up in front of us, with the driver winding down the window. The women smirked at us strangely, making me grab onto James hand out of fear. "Hello there" she said. "Why don't you hop in?" I grabbed Erins blazer and pulled her backwards away from the strange women. "Come on now. Don't be shy." The woman continued to press on. "Help! Stranger! Stranger danger!" Erin started to shout. "Jesus Christ, Erin." Michelle shouted at my cousin. "Help! This woman is trying to abduct us!" Erin continued. "Help! Fire! Theres a Fire!" Clare joined in, making me jump out of shock at her high pitched screams. "Fire? What the fuck are you on about?" Michelle asked the girl. "It gets more attention, I read it somewhere." Clare said panicked. Before her and Erin started screaming again. "Will yous all just shut the fuck up? It's fine. She's not a kidnapper!" Michelle tried to calm everyone down. I looked at James, and he was blank faced staring at the woman in the car. "Well, who is she?" Erin asked, not understanding. "My aunt Cathy." Michelle told us, making my jaw drop as I stared at James even more. "Hello, mum." He said. Oh fuck, what? No no no? What will this mean?

When we went home, I went straight upstairs to bed as Erin and Orla went to tell their Mammys about Cathy Maguire. I was majorly concerned, did this mean James would leave me? Surely not. He lives here now, and he knows that. We all loved him here when that witch never could. He surely wouldn't leave, of course not. He'd never leave me.

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1341 words!

AHHHH ONE MORE CHAPTER TILL THE END!

But poor Caoimhe:(

Sorry this is a bit of a shorter chapter, but we all know where the real drama is going to be ;)

Talking of that, the next Chapter may take me longer to write, so if it's not up tomorrow (which I'm hoping it will be) it'll be up Saturday.

But I'm sad and excited at the same time

As always, vote and comment if you enjoyed <3

But yeah, cya tomorrow (hopefully)