BAILE (Where We Come Home)

Chapter 15 Too Hot to Handle

I ignored Mr. O'Sullivan for the next two days, pretending I didn't know the answers when asked in class and walking the other way when I saw him around school. April and I were still on talking terms, I wasn't complaining. Alick was still dating various hockey girls and Charlotte was being as nice as ever.

"Isla, you almost look too hot to handle." April commented as she applied my makeup.

"Almost." I smirked at my reflection. According to April I would never be as hot as her.

"Almost." She repeated while Charlotte curled my hair into soft waves. "Now you are." She finished my smoky eye makeup, shooing me out of the seat so Charlotte could go next. I looked in the mirror, my eyes looked so big when they were lined with eyeliner and thick mascara. I worked on Charlotte's blonde locks while April applied foundation to her face.

"How are you and Joe?" April asked.

"Really good actually." She smiled. "He invited me to watch his football game this weekend."

"Mm." April applied her pink lipstick. "Alick's in that game."

Alick didn't have an athletic bone in his entire body. He loathed sport of every kind, preferring to paint or read instead. What prompted him to join the team, I didn't know.

"It's against Dublin."

"The bastards." April made a face and I smirked. All the Dublin teams thought they had an edge on us country folk, they couldn't have been more wrong.

"Oh and Isla, Mrs. Walsh wants you to do extra training from now on." Charlotte remembered.

I tied off her hair. "Of course she does." I had missed quite a few days of training.

"Well, trials for regionals are coming up and she wants to have a good team."

"I know."

"Let's stop talking about school and start talking about me." April finished Charlotte's makeup and we all gathered by her bed to present our gifts to her.

"Happy birthday." Charlotte handed hers over first.

April undid the ribbon, tearing the polka dot wrapping paper to reveal a beautiful traditional Irish necklace. "I love it, thank you Lottie." She gave her a hug before clasping it around her neck. I handed over my present next, a Polaroid camera in a stunning red. April adored the colour red.

"Thank you so much Isla." She pulled me in for a hug, her hair smelt like heaven. "I am sorry, about trying to push you into a relationship." It was the first time she had apologised to me about anything.

"Thank you." We shared a smile and everything felt perfect again.

The three of us left the dorm, sharing a ride to April's house in her mother's car. It was a short trip into the woodlands to find her house, a huge three stories with a swimming pool and a large deck that circled the entire building.

Hopping out of the car we entered through the front door, April immediately assigning us all jobs to do before the party started in an hour.

"Glitter balloons in the corner." She gestured.

I tied them to the plant in the corner.

"Food on the sides of the room, dance floor in the middle." She rushed about, trying to busy herself in any way she could. "Everything has to be perfect."

"It will be." I tried to calm her nerves.

The doorbell rang.

"What the fuck? We still have twenty minutes." She smoothed out her dress before answering the door. "Callum." She let out a sigh of relief.