SKYFALL, Johnny Kavanagh

Rugby boys

Walking down an empty hallway looking for my cousin, whom I hadn't seen since that morning, I ended up crashing into a hard wall of muscle of a familiar blonde boy and falling down.

"Sorry, didn't see you there." Said some blonde guy I vaguely recognized. "Have we met before? I feel like I've seen you somewhere."

"Not really, no" I lied, not wanting to bother myself with another conversation. I had hit my social quota for the day.

"Wait I do know you. You were that girl that Paul prick got handsy with a couple of months ago." The blonde guy almost screamed in realisation.

"Will you please lower your voice, I don't like people knowing my business" I said frustrated with myself for not running away from this guy the first chance I got.

"I'm sorry for what happened that night, and for screaming now. Though I wish you would have admitted we knew each other, I was pretty worried about how you were doing." Said the lad, confusing me because why would he be worried about me when we hardly knew each other?

"I'm Gerard by the way but everybody calls me Gibsie, what's your name?"

"I'm Maeve, I don't have a nickname, and I'm fine thanks." I replied feeling unsure about this whole interaction.

"Well, Maeve what are you doing out in the corridors, aren't you supposed to be in class?" Gibsie asked, seeming genuinely curious.

"Aren't you?" I replied.

"Touche. So?"

"So, what?" I asked exasperated.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for my cousin, it's her first day too and I haven't seen her since morning." I stated, deciding to tell him the truth in case he had seen her.

"And what does this cousin look like?" He asked suddenly looking panicked.

"She's very short, skinny, brown haired and blue eyed. Why, did you cross paths with her?" I asked curious.

"So, Maeve I know we haven't known each other very long but I'm going to need to ask you a favour. I'm going to tell you a story and you are not going to be mad." He said looking a bit guilty.

"Um... okay." I replied, utterly confused.

"So, during practice my centre – Johnny Kavanagh, you know him? – kind of hit her with a rugby ball to the head. I think they went to the principal since Majella, our nurse, is on maternity leave. Before you start screaming at me that we are all a bunch of irresponsible eejits, which – fair – we are, I want you to know that it was a complete accident and that none of us would ever intentionally hurt a girl." Said Gibsie all in one breath.

"What. The. Fuck." I said fuming.

Their bigshot rugby player, featured in all kinds of articles and known all around town for his talent and his reputation, had decked my cousin in the head on her first day.

Not even bothering to warn Gibsie, I sprinted down the corridor looking for the principal's office. A few minutes later, when I finally found it, I opened the door and spotted my concussed looking cousin, missing a skirt, and wearing what looked like a rugby jersey that barely covered her legs.

"What the hell happened here?" I exclaimed furious. That is when my eyes found the steel blue ones of what obviously had to be the famous Johnny Kavanagh.

After a few second of shocked silence, I repeated my question, which seemed to get Johnny out of whatever momentary shock he was in.

"Yes... I... um..." said Shannon trying, and failing, to stand up and explain the situation.