Mars? Yeah Right!

Chapter 21

21

I stared at the McGregors' front door with something close to sheer terror. I couldn't do this. It was physically impossible for me to even try to do this. And anyway, I knew it was going to go horribly wrong. There was no way Kevin would still like me, not after all that had happened between us this summer. But Teresa had told me I needed to tell him my feelings and, much as I hated to admit it, she was right.

She had been ridiculously smug about the whole thing when I called her an hour after my denial phase ended and I had calmed down enough to regain a passable amount of control over myself. "So, you've finally copped on, eh? About time."

"Shut up," I snapped. "I'm freaked out enough as it is about the whole thing without you acting all superior about it!"

"Sorry." I knew she wasn't; I could practically hear her smiling. "But anyway, what are you going to do? Tell him?"

"God no! Are you crazy?" I was appalled by this suggestion. Me, go over and announce to Kevin that I had feelings for him? Yeah, because that'd go well!

"Well what then? You're hardly just going to walk around feeling like this for no reason are you?"

"Terry, the guy probably hates me by now anyway. There would be absolutely zero point in me doing anything about this. Plus, it'd be too..."

"Scary?"

I winced at her tone "Well...yeah."

"Aine. Elizabeth. Corcoran." I could almost imagine Teresa's expression at that moment...it was quite frightening. "Are you seriously telling me you're too much of a wimp to confess your feelings to a guy? You, who defended Grainne last May, after all the girls in our year called her a slut and refused to talk to her after she shifted Mary Byrne's boyfriend?"

"Terry-"

"You, who took on half of the transition year boys' Gaelic team when they snuck into the girls' changing rooms and stole Maya Simons' bra and knickers?"

"But Ter-"

"You, who is still the only girl in the history of our school to spurn the advances of Mick "The Dick" MacNiell and live to tell the tale?"

"I don't-"

"Because if you are then I want to know who you are and what you've done with my best friend. This is the first guy you've ever liked and I'll be damned if you aren't going to tell him that, especially when there's an almost one hundred per cent chance he likes you back. And if you won't do it, I'll tell him for you!"

There was a long, scary pause.

"You wouldn't," I said in a low voice.

"Oho, I would, my friend. This needs to be done. Come on, what do you have to lose? You guys lost touch before and you can always stay out of each others' way again, if this really does go as horribly wrong as you and your paranoia-infested child-brain think it will."

"You're being so mean to me!" I complained. "You know that this is all complicated and shizz. And anyway, there's still the Parent Factor to consider. I have a funny feeling that my dad wouldn't be too pleased with the idea of  his baby girl going out with a big, scary sixth year!"

Terry snorted down the phone at me. "Oh please. You are not going to use that crappy excuse to derail me. Your parents have known Kevin for years now. Surely during that time, your dad must have noticed that the guy is about as threatening as a cuddly toy and therefore would probably make the most gentleman-like and non-worrying boyfriend since the beginning of time."