Derry Girls: A New Arrival Part 2

Chapter 2: Fight for this love

Marco's POV: Date October 15 th 1996 5:50pm

Marco lay propped up on his bed, he leant against the wall as he read his book. The small bedroom that had been his home for the past month or so was ideal as it had very little distraction. The only main features were a very small kitchen counter which had a kettle and a box of PG tips on top. The second being a single bookshelf over the bedside which Marco had used as a shrine to his friends in Derry. More specifically, it was the only place where he could line up all the Kinder Surprise Toys that Orla had sent him in her letters, along with the now small, framed polaroid. The safe house had a community kitchen and lounge area two floors down, which had a pool table and a TV, but Marco scarcely ventured down to socialise, he was more resided to passing his GCSE resits. Marco had also gotten a part time job as a waiter not too far away in an Italian restaurant. The job was a nice escape from classes, as it was easy work, the people who ran the restaurant were nice, he could speak both Italian and English to the other staff members, during the past month, Marco had become friends with the restaurant's head chef, a mature man in his mid-50s called Alfonso who had taken Marco under his wing.

Even though he desperately missed Orla, and the rest of the gang; Marco had finally started to see things clear inside his own mind for the first time in a long time. The probate for his Nanna's estate was now complete, and the read out for the will was only 1 week away. He had seen his mum, who attempted to coax him again to come home, but when she accidently slipped that her on/off partner Billy Foreman was once again back in the fray. Marco refused point blank to come home. To him, that wasn't home anymore. The newfound friendship with Alfonso, along with the advice from Sister Michael had helped Marco gain an idea with what he wanted to do with his life.

Unfortunately, Marco's clarity had also come at a cost. Two weeks previously, he finally received a phone call from Sister Michael's friend, a priest and tutor at Belfast College called Father William Ashton. However, the phone call did not bring Marco the news he wanted to hear. As much as he wished to help, Father Ashton was unable to offer Marco anything without the relevant GCSE qualifications in order to get into the college. Marco felt compelled to keep this sad news from Orla, as much as he didn't want to keep anything from her, he worried that the news would crush her. However, Marco had just begun to read Steinbeck's story 'Of Mice and Men' as part of his final GCSE English Literature coursework paper. Marco knew that he couldn't allow himself to be distracted by the sad news, so he cast it aside and chose to stay focused on the task at hand.

Marco sighted the time; 5:55pm. He was due to start his shift at 6:30pm, and he was due to give Orla a call before he started work. They may have been apart, but 6pm had quickly become their favourite time of the day. Marco was already dressed for work; he locked up his room and made his way down to the payphone that was in the reception area. Marco smiled as he heard the phone ringing, he looked up as he counted his blessings for managing to get through this time.

"Hello, Colm?" Joe answered, with a sense of dread.

"Hello, Joe?"

".... Ach, Is that you, Marco?!" Joe asked, relieved.

"Yeah, it's me!"

"By Christ! How bout ye, lad?" Joe asked, smiling.

"I'm good thanks, how about you?"

"I'm grand, thanks. How's college treating ye?"

"Pretty good, thanks."

"Aye? Good lad. I take it ye rang because ya wanna talk to Orla instead of me, hi?"

"Well, yes.... Not that I don't like talking to you, Joe." Marco laughed embarrassingly.

"Ach, catch yourself on." Joe joked, Marco chuckled.