꧁ 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ꧂
"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬?" Clare Asked horrified, the scene behind her was absolutely disgusting and she had the right idea staying out of it
Teagan wished she had that option, instead she was right in the action with michelle digging up Toto.
"At least I can cross digging up a body off my bucket list" Teagan huffed as she wiped off a bead of sweat from her forehead. Digging up dead dogs was a lot of work.
The group all turned to look at her with wide eyes and eyebrows knitted in concern, Teagan had always been a bit morbid and interested in dark things but that was weird even for her.
Teagan didn't falter under the gaze and held her head up high,
"who are you to judge me?" She cocked an eyebrow and lent her arms on the shovel she had planted into the ground, "We're all literally digging up a body right now"
Clare looked at Toto's half dug up grave and shrieked "oh my god she's right!, Teagan's right"
"Shut ya hole, Clare" Michelle snapped
Clare didn't listen and carried on freaking out but this time she was angrier "what has become of us!" She yelled.
"Keep an eye on that kitchen window, you" Erin ordered
Clare shook her head and backed away from the scene "I want no part in this" she gasped
"Well, you're in too deep now, Clare" Erin said in laboured breaths.
The group were all breathing heavily because of how fast they were digging up, Teagan had a wooden baking spoon and had rolled up her leather jackets sleeves. James was next to her and only had a tiny metal spoon.
"We're stealing a body!"
Clare carried on complaining but none of them were listening to her, Instead Teagan threw her wooden spoon out of anger and it went flying over James's head.
He ducked and gasped, "shit"
"Fuck, I'm sorry, James" she quickly muttered gently and placed a hand on his shoulder to apologise.
James stopped digging and lent into her touch and they shared a loving smile.
Teagan felt like they were in their own little world and nothing could tear them apa—-
"Dickos!" Michelle angrily cheered in front of their faces. They both jumped and got back to work.
Teagan resorted to using her hands to dig because it was much quicker.
"A body!" Clare snapped
"We're digging up a body!"
James shook his head and also abandoned his spoon and used his hands like Teagan.
"Let's just get this over with, and never, ever speak of this again" he Told Clare face to face.
"Jesus, my nails are fucking ruined" Michelle complained and examined the state of them.
Teagan stopped digging and looked up at her best friends nails, Michelle was right, they looked awful.
"Aye, I know a girl on the market who does 'em well cheap, we should get ours done tomorrow, Michelle" Teagan informed Michelle.
Michelle looked up from her nails and nodded "sounds like a plan and I bet we'll get them free now that we're local celebs"
she smirked at Teagan and she returned the gesture.
"Less talking, more digging!" Erin ordered.
Orla gasped and dropped her digging tool, "I've got something!" She called out.
She tried to lift the box but couldn't so James helped her out.
Teagan watched the exchange and internally 'awed' at how cute and helpful James was to everyone.
"Give it here" Erin told Orla.
Orla gave her the box and Erin couldn't bring herself to look at it, she looked like she was about to vomit but carried on, not once looking at the box.
"Right" Erin started - "me and Michelle go stash him somewhere, and the rest of you all fill it back in" Erin stumbled on her words as she made the plan in her head.
Teagan and James nodded and bent down to start digging again, but the voice of peter made the two of them jump up.
Teagan backed up and accidentally bumped into James chest, he didn't react and just put his hand on her arm.
Both of them were waiting anxiously to see what was about to happen.
"Open the box, Erin" peter ordered as he strides up on the grass near them.
Erin's lips turned into a frown and she looked so guilty "oh, god" she whined.
Peter misinterpreted her cries and started walking quicker "yes, he is with us. Do not be afraid, child" he tried comforting her.
Erin shook her head and she squinted her face in shame.
Teagan gripped onto James's hand that was on her arm, squeezing it in anticipation. She knew the whole plan was about to go to shit but she was still praying for a miracle.
Painstakingly slow, Erin hesitantly lifted the lid off the box and frowned, not being able to look down at the box.
The lid slowly lifted up and inch by inch, Teagan waited to see Toto, but she never did
Toto wasn't in the box, Toto wasn't there, Jesus Christ.
Teagan gasped out loud and stumbled back from shock, James supported her and stumbled as well, He was speechless and couldn't close his mouth.
Clare was shocked and grabbed onto James shoulder to support herself.
Everyone stared down at the empty box with their mouths hanging wide open, all except Erin who still had no idea.
"Listen,I can..." Erin grimaced and looked down at the box.
When she saw there wasn't anything but dirt she looked back up at peter with her eyes wide open in shock, Teagan still hadn't let go of her death grip in James's shoulder.
"Oh, no, actually, I can't" Erin gasped "I can't explain" she breathed out.
Peters eyes were wide and he looked up from the box, a smile spread onto his face and he raised his hands up. "Thanks be to God" he happily declared.
James happily joined in and dropped his hold of Teagan and raised his hands in the air "thanks be to god" he prayed with a wide toothy grin on his face.
Teagan and Michelle both shared a look with each other, it no doubt said 'what the fuck do we do?'
Michelle's mouth fell open and she looked around at the others, James and peter had their arms raised high, So she looked back up at Teagan and slowly shrugged her shoulders and they raised their arms at the same time.
"He has risen!" Teagan Yelled enthusiastically
" I don't understand it" Erin muttered standing over the box on the kitchen table.
The Quinn's were all gathered round the table and so were the girls, James included.
Peter was standing at the head of the table and had an accomplished smile on his face, Teagan thought he looked smug and she looked equally as concerned as Erin.
"The lord's work is often difficult to comprehend" he sighed, he was too busy feeling proud to look at any of them.
"No, I mean I really, really don't understand it" she repeated her previous statement but looked more confused.
"You're right, father" Mary struggled to get her words out, she gulped and carried on. "He has risen" she agreed and raised her hand up to motion.
Mary looked around at the group and stumbled again, "it's truly a miracle"
Teagan looked at Mary and thought it was strange that before she was having none of it but was now a true believer.
It was doubtfully suspicious, Teagan knew there was something bigger going on and by the look on her face , so did Erin
"So, what happens now,Peter?" Sarah Asked
"Well, I think the next stage is Rome" he replied.
Teagan's eyebrows shot up and she didn't care about her concerns about Mary anymore.
"Rome?" She asked excitedly, she whipped her head to look at peter.
"We're going to Rome?" She asked again, this time with an uncontrollable grin on her face.
Peter turned to look at Teagan and nodded "Audience with the big man" he confirmed.
Teagan guessed the 'big man' was probably the pope but she didn't care to fact check.
The only thing she cared about was their trip to Rome, she was absolutely buzzing.
"Pavarotti?" Orla guessed and smirked.
"John Paul II" Gerry corrected her. Orla raised her eyebrows and looked at him confused, no doubt not knowing who that was.
"But first, let us pray. Please join hands" Peter gestures for them to all take each other's hands.
Mary quickly exited the kitchen and Erin excised herself, Teagan was about to join her but James grabbed her hand and she thought it would be a crime to let go.
So instead she stood in the prayer circle and held onto James and Gerry's hands.
She had no idea what to prayer for ( she was starting to regret never paying attention in religion class ) so she instead resorted to reciting the lyrics to the macerna.
They were all silent in their prayers until the gruff voice of Joe shook them all out of their silence, " Don't you mention that lowdown, deceitful, cheating, old witch!" He shouted.
Teagan coughed and let go of Gerry's hand, still keeping hers wrapped up with James's.
"So...., Peter when will we be going to Rome?" She asked him
He looked over at her and seemed to be thinking about it in his head "things like this could take time but I'm sure when he hears he'll want to speak to us immediately"
Orla gasped and looked at Clare next to her, "Pavarotti wants to speak to us"
Teagan decided against correcting her, instead she focused on the feeling of her hand in James's, she could happily get used to it.
And when she finally told him how she felt, no doubt she would be.
Erin popped her head round the kitchen door with a wide grin on her face, "the papers here"
The six of them stood in front of the Quinn's fence and were poising for pictures.
Teagan was posed next to James and they were both making prayer motions with their hands.
He looked down at her and smiled, she returned it without hesitation.
"Lovely. And another one" the photographer muttered
Erin and Michelle squatted on the ground and got into a different pose.
Teagan saw her chance and took it, she stood on her tip toes and kissed James on the cheek, his eyes glazed over in shock and appreciation.
The flash of the camera brought him out of his trance and he stared down at her, adoringly. Teagan suddenly grew shy and wimped out of looking in his eyes, instead she stood in front of him and put up a peace sign up for the picture.
"Beautiful. Another one" the photographer said again, but this time Erin muttered something and left.
Michelle grabbed ahold of Tegan's wrist and dragged her into the middle with her, she pushed the others out of the cameras frame "right, Get one of us now" she told the photographer.
Teagan and Michelle put one hand behind their head and the other on their waist. They then threw up peace Signs and winked.
James started to walk off towards Erin and peter.
Teagan excused her self from their photoshoot and jogged up behind him.
"Peter" James happily called for the priest, but peter didn't listen and carried on walking off
Teagan didn't know why peter was acting like such a dick, it was probably the first and last time a boy would be happy to see a priest.
"Peter, Peter, where are you going? Peter, wait" James called as he jogged after his idol.
Teagan waited by Erin's side.
James finally caught up to peter but Teagan couldn't hear what they were saying because they were out of earshot.
A couple of seconds later, James stopped dead in his tracks and peter walked on, Teagan started to walk up to James to see what was wrong with him.
As she approached him she put a hand on his upper arm, "what did he say?" She asked,
She hated peter this morning but she had taken a shine to him.
Only after he mentioned going to Rome.
James stood there with a confused smile on his face, Teagan knew he only did that when someone was mean and he didn't know how to respond.
"James" she shook his shoulder.
"What did he say, James?" She asked louder
"Peter, said I was a dick" James Sadly replied,
Teagan suddenly saw red and reacted before she even had time to think.
"I'm gonna kill him" she seethed. She left James's side and marched to catch up with peter.
Erin Yelled after her "Teagan!" She was probably scared that Teagan was gonna hurt peter.
"Teagan, it doesn't matter" James weakly called but she didn't pay him any attention.
When she finally caught up with peter she roughly tapped him on the shoulder and she crossed her arms over her chest when he looked down at her. To anyone who didn't know her, she didn't look threatening. But peter had no idea what Teagan could do when someone upset her friends.
She once slapped a second year who was mean to Clair.
"What?!" Peter spat at her.
"You know what! You called James a dick"
"You're sick, all of you are sick" he harshly shook his head and started to walk away.
"Listen, you bible-basher! You're lucky I'm in a good mood other wise I'd kick you in the dick, you dick"
Peter looked looked down at Teagan's feet and noticed she was wearing black combat boots and he suddenly decided not to anger her.
"I'm done" he roughly sighed and whipped of his white priest collar, he threw it on the ground and stared down at it.
Teagan knew peter was going through a lot at the moment so decided to take pity on him. She didn't forgive him for calling James a dick but she wouldn't kill him because of it.
"Okayyyyy" she awkwardly looked back up at him.
"Is the trip to Rome still on?" She asked with a hopeful smile on her face.
Peter looked up at her with a look of disbelief on his face.
"You're psychotic! You're all psychos!" He Yelled before walking away again.
Teagan didn't chase after him this time, instead she just stood there, sad about the loss of the trip to Rome.
Erin, James, Michelle, Clare and Orla all walked up behind her and stared at peters distant figure.
"What did he say?" Erin Asked
"There's no free trip to Rome" Teagan muttered
"What?!" Michelle roared
"All thanks to Erin" Teagan turned around and pointed at her friend.
"Erin told him the truth"
"I thought we had a connection" she sighed
"I'm done, first we loose Paris, now Rome" Teagan shook her head.
She grabbed James's hand and pulled him up to stand next to her.
"We're going" she said and turned around and started walking off, Michelle Yelled after them
"Where are you going dickos?"
Teagan didn't answer and instead held tighter onto James's hand.
"Where are we going, Teagan?" He asked
"I dunno" she shook her head
"The park? I don't care as long as it's far away from them. I'm sick of them ruining things"
It was apparent that Teagan was upset about more than just the cancelled trip to Rome.
James knee this and decided to take her mind off it.
"I'll go any where with you, Teagan"
and he truly meant it.
AN/ The next chapter will be an original one and will just feature James and Teagan talking about how they feel and getting to know each other.
Also sorry for taking so long to update, college has been a bitch and I've got loads of art work due and this book takes up a lot of time!!
Thanks for always being so patient with my uploads and for always leaving lovely comments
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