SAOIRSE STOOD SLOUCHED AGAINST the banister inside the local church, she was sulking. Her parents made her go because there were foreign exchange people coming for a couple of days. She asked if the could house one of them but she got a strong 'no' as she was still in the 'bad books' as they said.
There was a banner above the foreign strangers reading, 'We Welcome the Children of Chernobyl'. The O'Doherty family sat close to the Quinn family. The Quinn's were taking in a foreign stranger which made Saoirse extremly jealous and pissed.
The only reason the O'Doherty family were there was because Saoirse mother was insanly nosy and the biggest gossip in Derry. "A reading from the Holy Gospel." Father Conway spoke up.
Saoirse started to drown it all out, pulling the rubix cube out of her pocket and began to solve in while also hiding it away from her parents eyes knowing they'd majorly scold her. Eventually, everyone sat down, Saoirse cowering away from everyone and continuing to solve her rubix cube.
"And today we welcome some very special guests. The wains from Chernobyl, who've come over to give their wee lungs a bit of a clear out, because, ah, sure, there's all sorts wafting about in their neck of the woods. Sister." Father Conway finished gesturing for Sister Michael to talk.
Sister Michael was one of Saoire' favourite people. She was so unbelievably funny and she didn't even have to try. Saoirse aspired to be her when she's older minus the nun part, she struggled a little with her religion.
"Lovely job so far, Seamus, but you know, keep it moving. Rawhide's on in fifteen minutes. Now, one might well question the wisdom of sending you here, of all places. Out of the frying pan and into the...well maybe not the fire but certainly a different type of frying pan. Or some sort of wok at the very least. But please, don't worry yourselves too much about the whole civil war, sectarian conflict carry on. There's really only one thing you need to know. We're the goodies. Welcome to Derry."
✞
After meeting up with Clare, Michelle and James, all four of them made their way to the Quinn's to meet th person they had taking in. It was exciting but still annoying that Saoirse couldn't have a new roomate of her own.
Michelle barged through the door to Erin's bedroom, anxious to meet the new girl. "Your ma said we could come up and have a look at the Russian."
"Ukrainian." Erin corrects rolling her eyes. "Is this her?" Michelle rhetorically asks as they all observe the unkknown girl.
"Isn't she cracker? She's half mine." Orla stats, her eyes never leaving the Ukrainian searching every part of her. "No, she's not, Orla." Erin scoffs at her cousin. "Aye, she is. Mammy said so." Orla defends her previous words.
"You're so lucky, Erin. I begged my ma to let me have one, but she said we've no room now that my dickhead, ballbag, English prick of a cousin's moved in. I'm talking about you James, in case you're wondering." Michelle aggressively spits glaring at her cousin.
A frown made it's way upon James' face. "Yeah, that much was clear. Thank you, Michelle." James sighs making Saoirse place a hand on his shoulder to try comfort him.
"Ma mammy wouldn't let me have one either. Says I'm to irresponsible and they can barely handle me as it is nevermind a Ukrainian." Saoirse huffs crossing her arms over her chest.
"Have you seen the one Jenny Joyce got, the fella? Massive, massive ride. I've been thinking. Might be time for me to lose the rest of my virginity. And he's definitely a contender." Michelle smiles flipping her hair before leaning towards the Ukrainian girl. "You. Help. Me. You put in good word with your Cossack friend. So we can..." She makes a sexual gesture to the girl to help get the message across.
Erin sends Michelle a harsh glare because of her words and rude gestures. "Would you stop that?" She scoffs. "I'm very sorry for all your trouble, you know, the whole hoo-ha at the power plant." Clare nervously laughs.
The unamused Ukrainian just let out a small 'Okay'. "When you think about it, we've actually got a lot in common, cause we understand what it's like to be a young person from a troubled place." Clare tries to relate to the girl and bond with her.
"It is not the same. Chernobyl was a terrible nuclear accident. You people like to fight each other, and to be honest, no person really understands why." The Ukrainain girl shook her head completely disagreeing with her.
"Well, there's actually a political element to it, Katya, and there's a religious element." Erin defends Clare and well herself and her beliefs. Katya, finally Saoirse could pin a name to the unknown girl.
"Mmm, but you're not two different religions here. You're different flavours of same religion, no?" Katya questions adding to her argument. Saoirse was begining to seriously dislike this girl and her awful attitude.
"Well, yes, but, it's a little bit more complicated than that, Katya." Erin protests. "To me, it's stupid." Katya simply and bluntly shares her opinion. "Oh my God. It is stupid." Realisation suddenly hit Clare.
Katya now noticing James eyed him. "Who is this?" She asks, intrigued by the boy causing Saoirse, for some reason, to slowly step in front of him trying to block the Ukrainian's view of him.
"Oh, that's just James." Erin brushes off. "You are handsome." Katya confidently pointed out.
Saoirse' eyes widened, a sudden urge of emotion surged through her body. Jealousy. But also confusion. Why was she jealous? Its not like she liked James...did she? No, no way. Did she actually have feelings for someone? She'd never seriously liked anyone before so how would she know? She just masked a fake smile hoping no one would notice.
"And also sexy." Katya added. James looked rather pleased with the Ukrainian's words but subtly checking to see Saoirse' reaction. He frowned a little when he saw her unfazed and with a smile on her face.
"Is her English not great?" Michelle asks furrowing her brows in confusion and disgust. Katya ignored the girl and becoming immensely bored, she got up pushing everyone out of the way and suddenly kisses James. Saoirse felt her heart drop and her eyes slowly watering.
The others stood in shock of what was happening. "What's happening..?" Clare stutters. "Why would she do that? Why?" Erin crinckles her faces up in utter confusion. "Fuck knows. He's minging." Michelle scoffs disgusted by the girl.
'He's really not' Saoirse thought sadly watching the pair. She couldn't stop herself from letting a few stray tears leak from her eyes. She quickly covered her face faking shock to hide the fallen tears.
"She seems to be really enjoying it." Orla comments seeing Katya really going at James. James' eyes are wide as Katya continues to kiss him and run her hands through his hair. His eyes tried to to drift to Saoirse but he couldn't see her as Kayta kept running her hands all over him.
"Is he enjoying it?" That's what Saoirse wanted to know as well, she prayed the answer was no. "It's hard to tell." Michelle states eyeing the pair.
"Well, if he's not enjoying it, isn't that sort of sexual harassment?" Clare suggests getting a little worried for the boy. "Yeah, we should put a stop to it." Erin states not even moving a muscle.
"Aye. Does anyone want a Fruit Pastille?" Orla questions out of the blue while they continued to watch them kiss.
"If he wasn't enjoying it he would've stopped it by now." Saoirse huffed wiping her face from tears as they continued kissing. "Well, I'm not staying around to watch them shag." She stormed out not even looking back. As the tears streamed down her face she ran all the way home.
✞
Opening the front door, she sprinted up the stairs ignoring her parents calling for her. "Saoirse, are you alright, hen?" Her mother chapped on the door. Saoirse ignored her and curled up in a ball on her bed and let herself cry.
The door to her room opened and in walked her mother. Before closing the door Eileen shouted down to Cillian to make them a cup of tea.
Eileen crept in and placed herself at the end of her daughters behind. "What's happened, love? Is it cause we didn't get you a wee Russian?" She softly questioned with a pout.
"No, ma. Please just leave me alone." Saoirse pleads as she sobs. Her mother pulls her up and hugs her tightly. "Is it about a boy?" Eileen questions.
Sitting up properly, Saoirse looks into her mothers eyes. "How'd you know?" She asks furrowing her brows. "I was your age once. Beside it's always about a boy. Trust me they're stupid little bastards who live to make girls cry." Eileen smiles softly.
"Listen, don't be daft sitting her crying over a boy who probably isn't worth an ounce of you. You must really care about this boy if you're gonna cry over him, so tell him don't just sit about like a daft cow. Do something. Show him you care and if he doesn't feel the same then forget him. You don't need him and there are plenty of people out there that will appreciate you for you." Eileen rambled on trying to comfort her daughter.
Saoirse smiled at her mother. "Thank you. Wait a minute...you're usually the mean one. Who are you and what have you done with my mammy?" She jokes letting out a breathy laugh.
"Oi, you cheeky wee shite! I can be nice sometimes." Eileen chuckled nudging her now calmed daughter just as Cillian walked in holding to cups of tea. "So, who is this boy anyway?" She wriggled her eyebrows teasingly.
"Its James." Saoirse sighed but waas startled upon hearing shattering. The cups of tea were dropped to the floor and smashed into pieces, the tea flying everywhere staining her white carpet.
"The wee English fella?!"