Secrets Left Neglected

Chapter 1B

Tadhg

"Yo, what did it say, Tadhg?" Fionn asks me, poking me in my side.

I shrug him off, though and don't answer.

Caoilainn has a crush.

I look up towards our school in the direction of the bathrooms. Caoilainn's just turning the corner of the doorway and I watch her run inside.

"Hey, what's up, man?" Fionn asks me. "What's your problem?"

Like coming out of a fog, I break away from watching Caoilainn and look at Fionn. I paste a fake smile on my face and laugh. Then I jump at him, grabbing him in a headlock. When I plant a nuggie on his head, he starts to wrestle back with me, laughing and jeering at me. Walker and Cian stand back, and let us have at it, sipping something hot from the concessions stands.

After getting the restless energy out of my system, we break apart and Fionn announces he'll be right back. He's going to hit the dessert table. "Sounds good," I tell him, before turning back around to watch the Yule log burn.

I finger the intention I have in my jacket. I rock back and forth on my feet, wishing I had listened to my mom before coming out tonight. She told me to put my heavy coat on, that the temperature was going to drop, but I didn't pay her any mind. I grabbed my lightweight rugby jacket and tossed it on as I ran out the door. Thank goodness I have a heavy hoodie on underneath of it.

As my fingers round the corner of my intention, I frown. When I opened Caoilainn's intention, her words cut right through me. I don't know who that note was about, but whoever he is, he's one lucky guy.

I sigh as I think about what she said.

Damn.

Then I frown and shake my head. She sure knows her heart for someone who's only sixteen. The things she wrote in her letter....wow.

Man, I thought I could make a move on Caoilainn tonight. But, I can't do that now. Not if she feels like that about someone else.

That'd be---damn!

I wonder who it is?

I didn't think Caoilainn had ever looked at any other guys in our class. I never see her talking to any of them, outside our little group that is. Or, if she does, it's usually because she has to, like for a classroom assignment or something.

She's a very quiet, private person, though. Maybe I just never noticed.

While I'm wracking my brain, Walker comes up on my right. "Hey," he says. "You dropping your intention into the fire tonight, or what? Everyone else has already gone."

I turn to look at Walker and then around the field. When I see Caoilainn dropping her letter into the flames I realize I must've been gazing off.

"Um, I don't know. Maybe I'll just-"

When Caoilainn steps back she turns to glance at me. I tilt my chin and try to make out her expression. She's giving me a look I can't decipher and right then I really wish I knew who her intention was about.

"Come on, Tadhg," Walker beckons me, dragging me forward. "Just drop it in."

My feet move on their own accord and before I give conscious attention to what I'm doing, I toss the paper in. A light breeze catches it as it unfurrows in the flames, and lifts it upwards before it drifts back down again. I watch as my thoughts go up in smoke, my wishes blowing in the wind to be carried as they will towards our collective futures. I close my eyes and make a heart-felt wish as the flames engulf the paper.

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Thank you to @BrittaSwann and @WriterontheIsland for their editing advice on this chapter!