𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝟖 (𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐂)

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟗 |𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭.

JAMES GIBSON

Johnny had his eyes locked on something, and right when I was passing by he had grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me towards him. I yelped in surprise and swatted his hands off me. "What the fuck?"

He frowned, cocked his head forward. "Go get your brother before coach flips a lid on us." He motioned to the table with a familiar blonde with curly hair and my brother sitting right across from her. Behind him had a smaller girl with dark hair.

"Why me?" I frowned.

"Gibs! Come on." He barked again, a thick Dublin accent threaded to his voice. Gibsie shot us a look and held two fingers up at us and ignored him. Johnny snapped his head to me, giving me a hard look.

I shagged forward, holding the straps of my backpack. "Fine." I huffed, annoyance frowning my face. I approached the table, outraged.

"Gibsie!" I snapped, slapping a hand on his shoulder. "Coach said now." I grit out, giving him my best glare.

"Oh, Hi James." Claire, or as my brother called her; Claire-bear smiled at me warmly.

Claire was a year older than me, and Hughie Biggs sister, our neighbor. Our Mams were best-friends, meaning we had to be inseparable when we were just wee lads. Claire was my favorite Biggs.

I smiled back at her, giving her a small wave. "Hi, Claire." I coaxed, a soft tone in my voice. I admired Claire and her outlook in life. She was bright and basically the reincarnation of the Sun. She radiated warmth and compassion towards everyone, and didn't let people use her as a stepping stone.

She was so happy.

Gibsie gaped at the two of us, an offended look on his now. "Why're you being so sweet to him suddenly?" He huffed in outrage. Crossing his arms stubbornly. "I thought I was your favorite."

Claire rolled her eyes and slapped a hand dismissively. "James is sweet." She says, and I grin at that, a feeling of pride in my chest suddenly. "Really? Why thank you, Claire." I winked her for better measure and she snorted.

Gibsie gasped, looking at me in betrayal. "Don't wink at my lady, you fecking whore!" He snapped, narrowing his eyes at me with a deadly look in them. I rolled my eyes and instead trailed them to the small brunette stuck behind the big idiot.

She looked so familiar: With dark brown hair and swollen lips. But she was missing something, She had blue eyes. Very, deep and sad blue eyes. Shannon was her name. She was the girl Johnny had hit in the head with a ball.

She was also the girl who had happened to accidentally flash the entire rugby team.

If it wasn't for Johnny's threats, I bet people would be whispering about her in the hallways. I would've thought it to be ridiculous and cruel. I think the entire ordeal was unfortunate, which had me smiling at her sweetly. "Shannon, it was." I say.

She furrowed her brows in confusion, tilting her head. "Um, Hi, Yeah." She strangled out, a nervous lint in her tone. I grinned. "My names James Gibson, Gibsies brother." I introduced myself when I had realized how weird it was for me to say her name with her not knowing me.

With my stomach twisting with guilt, I leaned forward to speak lowly. "I'm sorry about what happened at the pitch." She blinked at me, confused. And then a look of realization dawned on her and had her cheeks pinkening. "Oh.." She whispered.

"I didn't look."

She furrowed her brows more, another look of confusion pinching her face together. "W..What?" She croaked, cheeks turning even more pink. "I promise." I sweared, holding my hands up.

She blinked and then she realized again. "Oh, Um.." She stuttered. "Thanks?" she said hesitantly.

I gave her another smile before reaching back and smacking my hand on my brothers shoulder. "I'll be going now, we have practice." I shot Gibsie a hard look as he frowned at me.

"Who's the older brother here? Me or you? Because you're sure acting like it, with the way you're bossing me around." He swatted my hands away as he sat up.

I shrugged. "If the boot fits, lad."

"Oh fuck you, you skinny banshee." He snapped before turning to the girls with a smile. "Bye Claire-bear, Bye Little Shannon." He sent them a quick wink before jogging off. I said my hasty goodbyes and jogged off after him.

A skinny banshee?

____________

"Oi, when do we get to meet this lucky girl?" Oscar chipped, bringing the bud of his cigarette up to his lips before inhaling the polluted air and blowing it out in our direction. He shot me a glare afterwards and it made me smirk.

"Whenever I decide the time is right." Cathal shot back, picking at the tips of the green field grass. I rolled my eyes, frowning. "Now, I'm starting to think this girl might not be real after all."

Cathals jaw dropped open, sending me a look of betrayal. "How could you? She is perfectly real and perfectly beautiful, and fuck you for doubting that" He huffed, pointing a finger in my direction.

I raised my hands in surrender. "Okay, I'm sorry." I muttered, too tired to fight.

Sometimes I didn't sleep at night. It was too hard.

I didn't want to think about that.

Instead, I thought about Shannon. How familiar she looked to that mystery girl. Only the more I thought about it, the more she didn't look like her.

Yeah, they both had brown hair.

And the same swollen lips, extra pink.

But she had Blue eyes, mystery girl had green eyes. Sparkling, dead green eyes.

Shannons eyes might have been sad.

But hers were dead. Empty, dull and so very dead.

And her hair was longer than Shannons. She wasn't as small as Shannon either. But both had this.. aura surrounding them. And I couldn't deter what it was, or what it felt like. But I knew they were somewhat the same, with minimal differences.

I wanted to know this Aura better, get to know it.

I wanted to get to know her. Mystery girl.

I wanted to find her.

To ease the guilt eating at my insides and calm the storm of questions I had in my mind every time I thought about her. What if she was dead? That was a constant one.

_____________

I know it's so very short, but I didn't know what to say after this point.

sorry.

thanks for 10k <3

TIKTOK **ADORABLISS*