" 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚘 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎'𝚜 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚜? 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚘 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎'𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍? "
_
in which colin keoghan had been living the dream ever since he had been liberated from his old home, until the...
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< the boys and girls in the clique, the awful names that they stick - you're never gonna fit in much, kid >
《<>》
COLIN KEOGHAN had been laid in bed the next day, reading one of Seán's old 70s comics and listening to the tapes that had been left to him from the same decade, when the telephone in the kitchen suddenly gave a shrill ring.
He heard the ringing stop and then a moment later his father called for him and he sighed, marking his page and pausing the boombox he had stolen from his brother's room before slumping out of the room and down the stairs.
"Who is it?"
"Think it's Beverly," Martin told him in an undertone, holding his hand over the receiver, "she sounds a bit upset."
Colin tensed, taking the phone from him and waiting until his dad had shuffled back into the living room to bring it to his ear, "Hello?"
"Colin?" A quiet, terror-struck voice permeated down the line, only adding weight to the stone that had dropped into the pit of his stomach, "It's - it's me, it's Bev, I - are you alone?"
"What happened?" He demanded, holding the phone between his ear and shoulder as he leaned into the hallway and bent down to pull on his sneakers from where they had been tucked under the sidetable, "Are you still at your place? What did he do? Bev, what happened-"
"I just... I think I just started my..."
Colin stilled, feeling his blood go cold, "Oh, God. Bev-"
"He can't know," She rushed out, sounding like she was trying very hard not to cry, "I have to wait until he goes to work until I can go to the store. I'm sorry, I know it's stupid but I just - I don't want to be alone right now... can you meet me at Keene's in an hour?"
"Of course, yeah - shit, Bev." Colin ran a hand through his hair anxiously, shoulders slumped, "You can't stay in that place now. You know that, right? Whatever excuses you can make, just... shit, Bev."
"My mom told me I probably wouldn't start until I was 14 like her," Beverly exhaled shakily, "I thought... I thought I had more time-"
"It's gonna be fine, we'll figure it out." Colin assured her, still fastening his laces, "Look, I'll meet you at Keene's and we can talk it all out then. You're gonna be okay, Bev."
