NAVIGATING 5 - tadgh lynch

2- Tadgh

"Meeting you was like listening to a song the first time and knowing it was going to be my favorite." 

September 1st, 1998

I'm tired. It's my first day of senior infants, and last night mammy and dad were shouting again. Joey said Darren was 'sorting it out' while he rocked baby Ollie to sleep. Shannon was making sure we all had our uniforms for tomorrow, and I was just trying to get to sleep. I couldn't, but I perked with interest when our teacher, Miss Lundy, introduced us to a girl I had never seen before. She was tan like she was on holiday, and her hair was a dark brown and thick. I couldn't see her eyes from here, but they were dark. 

"Boys and girls, this is Lilibeth Gibson. She's joining our class this year, and i expect you all to make her feel very welcome," Ms. Lundy told us, "You can go take a seat beside Tadgh, pet." 

She told the girl, pointing at me. She walked down to sit beside me, and set her pink bag on the ground beside her. 

"Hi," She chirped, turning to me, "I'm Lilibeth." Woah. Her eyes were cool. They were brown mostly, but had specks of blue and green through them. "Do you talk?" She asked me when I didn't answer her. 

"Uh, yeah. Sorry." I coughed. "My names Tadgh." She smiled. But not like the sad smile mammy gave us when we left for school, but like the smile you did when you were really excited to meet someone. 

"It's nice to meet you Tadgh." She spoke weird. Like a different weird. Shannon said people talk weird when they're from different places. Maybe she wasn't from Cork. When I asked her, She said she was from this place called Derry, and it was a long drive away from here.

 "Why did you leave your home?" I asked, and she said her mammy couldn't take care of her anymore. That probably made her sad, but if it did, she didn't show it. By the end of the day, I had a new friend, and I knew lots about her. She plays Gaelic, she lives with her auntie, cousin, her aunties new husband and his son. I don't think she likes his son very much, because when she talked about him she went all quiet until I switched the topic, but she said she loves her big cousin, I can't remember his name. George, maybe? She said he goes to a different school, one that's just for boys. She gave me half of her chocolate bar too. I spoke to her all day, and she borrowed me her colours because mine were Shannon's old ones and they were all broke. I didn't see her at lunch because I went to play football and Annalise, another girl in my class, stole her away to play tag with a couple other girls. 

I barley knew the girl, but i knew i wanted to keep her close to me.

for context, they're 5 in this chapter, I know some people start primary school at 5, but i started at 4 and its easier for me to understand if I do it that way

also, I don't know if the school classes/years are different everywhere else, but i do know if your in the states, theres a translation from classes/years-grades in the glossary in all of the actual boys of tommen books.