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"Cara, wake the fuck up" Michelle said shaking me by the arm. James and Michelle were the only people left in the room aside from me. The blinds were pulled open and the bright morning sun lit up the room. "Aye, I'm awake" I got up rubbing my eyes, trying to adjust them to the bright light. "The wee pedo over here was watching you sleep. Tried to get him to fuck off but he just wouldn't" Michelle said making me think about how bad I probably looked sleeping.
"I was packing, Michelle" James, quick to defend himself with a huff. "Aye, and I am here to make peace, James" Michelle said sarcastically as I made my way down off the bunk and changed into my hiking clothes which consisted of a dark green jacket and white waterproof pants, in the bathroom while they continued to fight.
We made our way down to breakfast and sat there on the old rickety tables were : Alex, Harry, Jon, Erin, Orla and Claire. "Nice morning hair, Cara" Alex complimented me sarcastically which I just responded with a roll of my eyes and a tight smile. The rest of breakfast was spent in awkward silence with Erin trying to start a conversation with them every few seconds, only to be turned down.
Erin and Michelle walked up in front of Claire, who was acting all sad, and me, who separated with Alex because he was walking with his friends and I was walking with mine. I kept asking if she was okay but only to be met with little grumbles of 'I'm fine'.
"I think we can all agree that for generations there's been a deep lack of trust between your community's" Father Peter said, nodding at everyone.
"And there's where's abseiling comes in"
"Jesus" I complained under my breath, rolling my eyes to the excuse of a priest.
"Abseiling is a great trust building exercise because what your doing is: your saying to your buddy 'lean on me, I'm here for you'"
I looked over at my 'buddy', Alex. Who was also starring at me, making me instantly look away from the eye contact. James, from beside me, noticed Alex looking over at me and thought he was looking at him so he waved making me let out a little laugh. "What, Cara?" He asked, peering down at me. "Oh, nothing. How's the 'becomes friends with some lads' going?"
"It's..okay...really well actually." He replied with a proud smile on his face. I knew Jon thought he was a bit weird because...well if you see the looks he was giving him you'd understand. "Aye, bet you miss your 'mates' back in England"
"Yeah. We write to each-other, you know. It's not the same but it's grand" James said as we looked back up to Father Peter.
"Now, let me see who's first. Ah, Clare, Clare Devlin. There you are" he looked at the clipboard he was holding in his rather large hands.
"I-Im not sure about this" Claire stuttered, I felt bad for her I really did. She's probably scared of height, sure she's been looking up at the ledge like it's 1,0000 meters high. That's probably why she was grumpy all morning. "Ah, you'll be grand" Michelle said shoving her forward. "No, listen. You don't understand"
"Now, where's your buddy?" Peter asked, as a uninterested looking Protestant put his hand up hesitantly. "Good man yourself. Come on up" he walked right up to Claire, obviously making her uncomfortable. Jesus, do these prods have any idea for personal space.
"Philippe with control Claire's descent by feeding her role through, what's called, a belay device" father Peter explained, as I looked up to the mountainous ledge Claire was getting tied up to abseil down.
"So he'll be the one actually dictating the speed of her drop" Peter explained, changing my features completely. My life is going to be in Alex's hands. Oh my god. I looked over at him and mouthed 'don't you even think about it' when he looked back at me. He just shrugged in reply, making me completely nervous. "Okay everybody so on three" Peter began as Claire started hanging off the edge. "1...2.."
"AHHH" Claire screamed with her whole heart as she began getting lowered down. "3"
"Stop...stop it! He's trying to kill me! He want to kill us all! All the Catholics! Look at his eyes! He's a madman! A fein and a madam! Please don't let him hurt me, please!" Clare screamed out with sobs. I shook my head and looked over at Alex who had wide eyes the size of saucers.
"Jesus, Claire" Erin said still looking up at her. "Fuck-a-doodle-doo" Michelle laughed by her side as I just looked around, waiting for something to happen. Or for him to kill her and let her drop. They began to fight but I couldn't hear anything, all I could see was confusion on the boys face.
"I said I hated athletes! Not much of a sports fan" the lad said shaking his head and look down at all of us. "But, We weren't even talking about athletes!" Claire said in her defense. "Right, well I thought we were"
"But why you you think we would've been talking about athletes!" Claire huffed again, shaking the wire she was attached to and making me nervous for fear she would fall. "Because, I'm deaf in one ear!" The boy said, forming a 'o' shaped on my mouth. Now it all makes sense.
"Catholics sounds a bit like athletes to be fair!" Michelle shouted up at them. "Aye, it does. No harm done!" I shouted up laughing the tension off with a smile, hoping Claire doesn't get in major trouble.
"They're all arseholes" the lad who was either Michelle's or Claire's partner..I'm not really sure anymore, complained with his hands in his pockets. "Athletes?" I asked Orla, who was behind me. "Aye, that makes sense"
"What the hells that supposed to mean." Erin asked him in a threatening way, turning her whole body to him. "You tried to swap us" Harry peaked out from behind Dee. "Oh, us" I whispered to Orla again who nodded her head.
"Because all Protestants are the same...aren't they girls!" Dee looked around at everyone, practically forcing us to say yes but I told Orla to keep quiet, Dee was talking a threatening voice and I didn't want to get involved.
"Yes"
"No" Michelle and Erin told them after each-other. Michelle, as if it's simple and true. Erin, drawing out the word, as if she was scared she got it wrong.
"And this guys really creepy and bit sorta sexist" Jon...I think his name was. Said to James, pointing at him as James face feel dramatically, making me turn around and glare at Jon. "And she carry's and knife and makes people hurry their own excrement" he then gestured at Orla who looked confused as hell. "Oi, come off of it" I said glaring at the boy, who only smiled sarcastically back at me.
"And my buddy's too scared to touch me because I'm Protestant" Alex said, pointing to me up and down. "Not because your a dirty Prod, 'buddy' , but because I don't fecking like you" I said stepping on his foot and making him yielp like a little girl. While someone commented "fucking Catholics"
Instantly, everyone began looking around for the voice. "Who said that!" Michelle threatened, looking around.
While I looked around as-well, i felt someone stamp on my foot. Alex. "Oh, your gonna wish I'll never touch you now" I said, trying to sound as mean as possible, looking at him dead in the eye and taking a swing at his tanned face. Oisin taught me how to punch, just in case, and I think right now I'm putting that knowledge to good use.
At some point Alex almost stubbled and fell but his friend caught him and pulled him back. I went to go take a swing at the prod that pulled him back until I felt someone lift me by the waist off the ground making me shriek. "Feck off!" I said pushing someone's strong arms away from me. I looked around to see who it was, only to meet the green eyes of James. "What are you doing?" I asked, slightly calmer now. "I'm saving you from getting suspended" James replied, smirking as he pointed to the principles who were watching with cups of tea in their hands.
"Who's not a sports fan, for gods sake" I asked my friends as we all walked down the hill in a silence after getting given out to. "I am" Erin scoffed looking down at me. "I'm a total sports head, but I like the players, you like the game." Michelle nodded, with a little chuckle easing the mood. "I like some sports" James said from beside me. "Oh what sports-"
"Aye, sure you do dickhead" Michelle scoffed from in-front of us as we stumbled down a little hill and reached the church. "I do"
We all walked into the hall, ending the conversation on that note as I saw Sister Micheals glare at us.
We all sat in a circle, as instructed by father Peter. While we waiting for our parents to come in. The whole McCool/ Quinn family came through the door with the baby first..soon followed by Claire's and Michelle's parents. I waiting impatiently, tapping my right foot on the wooden floor as I waiting for my dad to walk though the door. It opened, and all of my family walked in. Dad, Oisin, Conor, Paul and a Girl with light brown hair with highlights, wearing black trousers and a loose white top with lace at the collar. Holy shit, I instantly recognized her when I saw her face. My favorite and only sister, Kate, who I haven't seen in like 2 years because she was off studying in Cambridge with a scholarship.
I wanted to run over to her and hug her right there, but I couldn't with everyone's eyes on me, so I just gave her a massive smile and waved at her, to which she returned with the same enthusiasm. They all greeted the other parents and sat down in the circle in the black plastic chairs.
"Is that everyone?" Father Peter broke the silence, with both the principles sitting on either side of him in the steps with arms crossed. "Lovely stuff. Okay, so there was a bit of a misunderstanding on the expedition today.."
Father Peters voice drowned out of my head due to how boring and awkward this is and I began to let my mind wander. First about how my family is going to react=I don't think they'll be that mad. Then, what I want to be when I'm older and how different life will be then= rockstar and amazing. And then, what does James want to be when he's older=unknown but planning to find out.
Everyone got out of their seats and started talking. The second I saw the chance that no one was looking at me, I took it and ran over to Kate to pull her into a hug.
"Jesus, I've missed you, Cara" kate said with her voice muffled by her head being stuffed into the side of my hair. We eventually pulled out of the hug,Kate pulled her arm around me and soon noticed the smiles the lads of the family were giving us.
"I knew you'd like the surprise. Look, we need to pretend we're disappointed or something right now. So don't look so happy." My dad rushed with a doopey smile on his face. "Which one did you punch?" Oisin asked, turning me around and pointing at the group of prods. "Christ, don't point Oisin, it's rude. But, you see the blonde one with the red eye that's sorta swollen?" I asked, nodding. A bit too enthusiastic about my handy work. "Aye, bullshit, no way our little Cara could do that" Conor said, eyeing him as all of us looked over at the boy being given out to by his mam.
"I did, I swear. Ask anyone!" I replied, ready to list out the people that saw. "Aye, i taught her" Oisin said, mentally giving himself a pat on the back. I pulled my hands out of the pockets of my pants and high fives Oisin before he brought me in one of the 'lads hug' type of thing. A smile spread across his face as my dad glared at him. "Don't you be teaching Cara that kinda stuff, Oisin" da began to scold him as Kate took me aside to chat.
"Now," Kate began as she gazed around the room "which of them is the wee english lad you fancy?"
I gasped in shock at her words "what, what English lad? I don't even know a english lad. Well, I know James, if that's what your on about. But he's hardly English. Sure, okay, he has a accent-" I rambled as Kate just looked at me with a smile on her face.
"Dad told me all about how he hates him and I just had a feeling" Kate said with a shrug. I groaned, burying my, now red face, in my hands in embarrassment as now someone knows her biggest weakness.
"Is it the tall, curly haired one?" Kate asked, unashamed and pointing at him. "The one beside Michelle and her mum. He does look a bit like how dad described him, aside from the rapist part of course" Kate chuckled, as my eyes widened as the newly found information about her dads description of him.
I pushed myself away from her, shaking my head "Kate, I love you, but, there's no way I'm telling you about my love life"
"It is, isn't it?" Kate said with a smug smirk on her face in a 'a-ha' tone. "Oh, this is great. I think I'm going to tell him-"
"Don't you dare, Kate!" I exclaimed as I ran up to her, pulling her back easily from where she was skipping up to him.
"You cant hold me back forever" Kate shrugged as her and I followed the lads to the car.