In His Shadow

Bitch of Kinsale

I groaned as I rounded the corner and spotted the familiar blonde figure leant up against my brothers locker. As much as I loved Johnnys best friend, it was really hard to not have a soft spot for Gibsie, he was a prized eejit and I had somewhere I needed to be. I did not have time for his antics. If I was not on the bus in the next ten minutes then my Coach would absolutely flay me alive! And that woman was built like a Russian shot putter...

"Well well well it is little Amaya Kavanagh" Gibsie drawled winking like a wee creep.

"Hello, Gerard Gibson" I replied rolling my eyes at him employing my full name. "Have you seen Johnathan?"

Wherever Gibsie went my brother was not far behind, mainly because Gibsie did not really understand the concept of personal space. So if this big blonde buffoon was here then in theory Johnny was nearby.

"He got kept back in Irish" He shrugged, a smirk playing across his features.

That smirk told me everything I needed to know he was clearly taking the wrap for Gibsie again. Gerard did not know how to behave at the best of times, when I was younger I had found it infuriating. But the older I got the more I understood that Gibsie used humour as a shield...If he was playing the cheeky chappie in class then nobody would notice that he was struggling to do the work.

"Well then Giblets can you do me a favour?"

I only needed to pass Johnnys car keys off - he had palmed them to me at the end of lunch so I could drag my gear bag and hockey stick out of the boot. He would need them back in order to get to training and then home. Gibsie would willingly drive him back to the manor but he would not be driving him all the way to the Academy. Quite frankly I do not think that Gibsie could drive that far without killing himself or someone else...His driving was a thing of terror.

"I'd do anything for you mini Kav, especially in that skort"

I burst into laughter as my brother rounded the corner just in time to hear that particular remark trip off his best friends tongue.

"Gibs, lad, you are such a gobshite! That is my baby sister" Johnny snapped. He had a face like thunder so whatever mess he had been cleaning up on Gerards behalf clearly had not been pretty.

"Enjoy dealing with his wrath" I quipped between fits of laughter. As Gibsies face went absolutely bright red in mortification; he knew best mate or not Johnny would now give him a hiding.

"Here JJ I just wanted to give you these" I tossed his keys to him.

"We are playing Kinsale so I should not be late I'll ring if I need a spin home" I called over my shoulder already jogging down the corridor, hockey stick and gear bag bouncing a rhythm of my back. As much as I would love to stick around and watch Gibsie get put back in his box it was bad form for the Captain to be late.

I scrambled onto the bus dropping my gear bag and hockey stick onto the floor in a messy jumble. Before dropping into a seat next to my best friend and Vice Captain. She was busy pulling her strawberry blonde hair into tight braids ahead of the game, Tommen war paint already smeared across her freckled cheeks.

"Bout time Skip" My team chorused causing my best friend to start snickering.

"Shut up you" I grumbled digging her in the ribs with my elbow causing her to drop the braid she was working on.

"You class A eejit" She groaned diving on me in an attempt to unravel my own braids as revenge.

I squirmed out of the way laughing at her outrage. There was no way I was letting her get her hands on my hair it was thick, dark and curly. As a result it had taken me thirty minutes to slick it into game day braids this morning; I had even gone to the effort of threading red ribbons through them for team spirit. Unfortunately, for me my best friend was a determined langer and was now practically in my lap. I wiggled backwards the whole bus now cheering and egging her on while I laughed too hard to defend myself.