Choosing 13 | Johnny Kavanagh

chapter twenty six

Lilia

After leaving Johnny outside, I sigh and walk over to Ethan, looking through his locker, "why do people want to be friends with me?" I lean against the next locker next to him.
I'm more stressed than I felt this morning.
You can't hurt me.

The two weeks of his suspension was bliss, but now Johnny is back and the weird feeling of being his centre of attention feels so good.
I don't like it, because I know I will mess it up and make him run, then I will end up alone.
Smirking mockingly, he shakes his head in disbelief, "define people?" He looks at me with an amused expression.
I push his head away, laughing lightly, "you know who," I dawl, looking back at the door I just came through.

Pretty much everyone in our little group knows about me and Johnny, only from the parties and Liz told them about the shed skipping school situation. They just don't know what happens when we are alone.
My best friend snorts, grabbing his rucksack and slamming his locker door, chugging his energy drink. "Don't you have the girls to talk this out with??" He asks, but more like pitying me as we walk through the busy hallway.

"Dickhead," I groaned, pulling on his jumper, "seriously, is it because I'm socially attractive and everyone wants to sleep with me?" I half-heartedly joke.
Ethan chokes on the drink, laughing quietly, "well, that's a bit self-obsessed," we both turn into the cafeteria, going to the vending machines.

"Someone has to be," I exclaim, leaning on the machine again, "I hate people." I roll my eyes at myself.
"That's the understatement of the year, Lils," Kenji says, coming behind us to get a drink from the machine, "what's the problem?" He nudges my arm.
Ethan smiles even bigger, the little shit. "Lilie girl," he starts mockingly, "is confused about why people would want to be friends with her," E explains, grabbing his crisps from the machine.

Laughing, Kenji walks in front of the machine to get what he wants. "Did Kav say something again?" he asks, putting the numbers in the pad.
I scowl, "why- what no!" I say a little too defensively.
"Okay," he drawls, his smile turns cheeky, "people want to be friends with you because you're hot," he jokes, grabbing his drink before we all go back into the hallway.

Ethan grunts, I roll my eyes.
"Or they want to hookup with us?" Kenji adds with a shrug, opening his drink and taking a swig.
I smirk to myself, "so Johnny Kavanagh wants to hookup with you guys?" I snort, feeling better about the situation.
Ethan pokes his tongue against his cheek, "or he wants you?" He smiles condescendingly.

I smile sarcastically back at him, "I'm going to steal your children if you talk to me like that again," I tell him, rolling my eyes.
For the past few days, I've been at Sof's or Ethan's houses with Jacks, who loves playing with Alfie. Really, I have never seen the boy be so excited to go out and I'm really glad for my baby brother.
But, Sof and Ethan are both very great parents, and their parents, they all took Jack in like their own.

"Alfie would love that," E shrugs nonchalantly, the same smile spread across his face when he is talking about his twins.
I smile too, "I can't believe you have children," I say, the fact almost sounding unreal.
"I always thought Libs would have children first out of everyone," Kenji states.
"Liv loves kids,"  Ethan chuckles at that.

My phone starts ringing and I see Carden's name across the top. "Umm, you guys go ahead," I say to the two, "Aoife and Harvey's with you, right Ji?"
"Um, yeah," He nods, "everyone's good?"
I exhale air, slowly shaking my head, "don't know," I look up to Ethan, "can you tell Miss that I might not make it."
He throws me a thumbs up as they both walk away in different directions.

The call rang out when I got to it so I brought up Carden's number and put it to my ear, pacing back and forth between the lockers.
He picks up on the fourth ring and he sounds tired, "hey Lils..." he deadpans, I hear people talking over the phone.
I stop in my tracks, waiting for him to continue, "what Carden?" I exasperated, running fingers through my hair, "is everything alright?"

"Urm... Y-yes," pause, I'm getting impatient now. "Jack needs to go to the A&E..."
Well fuck's sake.
Not even a month at his new nursery, and Jack is already having trouble. What is up with us and schools being so difficult, literally!
I groan as I walk down the hallway, "can't Tony or Trish take him?" I asked him, sort of confused why he called me.
I hear footsteps and a door open and closed, the line is quieter now. "First thing that I did, Dumbass-"

"Don't call me a dumbass, Dickhead," I argue, "why can't they do it?" I grumble, rubbing my head.
"'Cause Trish is in the city and traffic is bad," he says first, "and Tony isn't picking up his phone so I guess he's busy," Carden explains, sighing to the phone.
And he can't do it because he's on the other side of town and would take a good twenty minutes.

"So where's our baby brother?"
"At fucking nursery," he groans, definitely annoyed with me. "The teacher called to say that he hit his shoulder against the ground pretty hard and they wanted us to get him checked out."
I blow air out of my mouth, "how the fuck did that happen?" I shake my head.

"A kid pushed him off the swings," my brother says with a sigh, "can you do it, Lees?"
Swallowing hard, I nod even though he can't see me, "yep," I grumble, "I'll get Harv and Aoife's keys."
"Thank you," he says with relief, "I love you little sister..."
I nod again, "love you too," I say before I hang up and rush to the food tech room.

Knocking on the door, Miss Folvas gestures to me to come in, "Lilia, are you okay?" she asks me as I approach her.
I nod once again, "I need to take Harvey out of class," I sigh tirelessly.
Her brows furrowed in confusion, "is something wrong?"
"Family emergency, little brother," I replied, she nodded once and let me go to my twin brother.
"What's wrong?" Harvey drops the packet of pasta when I stand in front of the group.

I sigh, "some dickhead pushed our baby brother off the swings, so he possibly broke a bone," I shrug my shoulders.
Aoife's eyebrows raise, "where's my parents?"
"Trish is in the city and your dad isn't answering his phone," I tell her, drumming my fingers on the table, "can I have your keys please?" I hold out my hand for her.

She pulls out the keys and drops them in my hand, "do you want me to come?" she asks, standing up.
"It's fine, Aoif," Harvey puts his hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze, "I'll call ya," he tells her, picking up his bag.
We walk between the tables but Liz calls us over, "is everything alright, babe?"
"Jack needs to go to A&E," I half-smile, sighing.

  Nessa reaches out and squeezes my hand, "call us if anything happens?" She smiles softly and I nod.
And fuck, I hope nothing happens.