Secrets Left Neglected

Chapter 1C

Caoilainn

Siofra hands me the end of the string and I take it gingerly, trying not to poke myself with the sharp point of the sewing needle. Courtney laughs as Pearl tosses some popcorn into her mouth. "Ten points, Pearl," she says chewing on it. "Who's next?"

Siofra grabs a finger-full and tries to get some into my mouth, too but she misses. I close my mouth and make a funny fish face at her before laughing out loud.

"Where'd the guys go, Pearl?" Courtney asks her moving some strung popcorn forward on the string. We're lacing some snacks for the birds this winter. We're going to finish making this popcorn and dried fruit string to hang on the evergreens outside. Then we'll move on to making bigger pinecone bird feeders. Jenny's already working on one now, the supply trays overflowing and sitting next to her on the table top.

"I think they're outside at the tie-dying station," Siofra replies, interupting their conversation. "I heard Cian say he was going to make a camo green and grey shirt for his dad. Nick's making one for his brother, Gabriel too."

Our school's celebrating the season with a winter wonderland festival tonight. After tossing our intentions into the Yule log, we started to feel cold so we came inside to warm up over some hot cocoa, and the arts and craft stations.

"Hurry up, guys," I hear Archer shout from across the gym. We turn to look his way and see Pete is with him. Courtney drops the popcorn and reaches up to smooth her hair. She has a huge crush on Pete.

"Hi, Courtney," he says to her, before turning to greet the rest of us. "Come on, guys, they're about to sing the caroles."

"Aw, Pete," Siofra teases him. "Did you miss us? Are you going to sing tonight, too?"

"What?!" he asks, stepping backwards, tossing a look at Archer, who shrugs back at him. "We were just coming to see if you were done.

Hey, Jenny," Pete says to her. "I heard Ruari was looking for you tonight."

"You did?" she asks tentatively, looking up in surprise from the sunflower butter she's digging out of the jar.

"Yeah, I think he wants to talk to you about something. Last I saw him, he was shooting hoops with Brody in the south campus gym."

"Oh," Jenny says, closing the jar as she wipes off her popsicle stick on a pinecone. "Okay, thanks for letting me know."

Pete turns towards Courtney. "We wanted to...uh...hey, are you guys coming or not?"

I laugh and shake my head. "Yeah," I answer for her. "We'll be right out. Just give us a minute to get cleaned up."

When they're gone, we all turn and look at each other conspiratorly. Courtney breaks first, squealing in excitement. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" She's so full of excitement I'm surprised her feet don't float ten feet off the floor.

"I know! I know! I know!" Pearl replies, echoing her enthusiasm as she jumps up and down with Courtney.

Siofra rushes over to Jenny and grabs her hand. "Are you going to go talk to Ruari?"

Startled, Jenny looks up at Siofra wide-eyed before replying. "No way! Are you serious?"

"You're not?" I ask her.

"Uh-uh." Jenny responds, shaking her head with her eyes in a trance like a deer caught in the headlights. Something clicks and I smile.

"What about Walker?" I probe. I love my step-brother, Ruari, but his infatuation with Jenny is ill-placed. Things would never work out between them. With Walker, however, now there's another story altogether.

Jenny looks my way and a slow grin catches her mouth. When she squints and lifts her chin, I take a step back. I know that look.

"What about Tadhg, Caoilainn?" she asks, answering my question with one of her own.

"Tadhg?" I reply, caught off guard. I look around and all the girls are looking right at me in eager anticipation. They have my number alright. I take a step back, bumping into the bucket of pinecones and send them skittering across the floor.

"Dag Nabit!" I curse. I rush forward to grab them and bump heads with Siofra who has come to my aid.

As we stand up, Siofra hands me her pinecone and laughs. "Uh-huh. Jenny and Courtney aren't the only one with the hots for someone tonight, are they?"

I shake my head vigorously at them. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Liar! Liar! Liar!" I yell inside my head. "Just tell them," I say to myself. But the words don't make it out of my brain.

Suddenly, Pearl loops her arm around mine and bustles me and Courtney forward. Siofra links her arms with Jenny and grabs my other one. "Let's go, ladies," Siofra says out-loud. "The boys are waiting for us outside. Can't keep them waiting too long."

Pearl laughs and looks down the line at her. "And I suppose you haven't yet noticed how hot Cian is looking tonight, Siofra?"

"Hey," Siofra says, wagging a finger back at Pearl. "Back up off my man, Pearl. He's all mine."

"No worries," Pearl replies. "I got my eye on someone else anyway."

"Oh yeah," Jenny asks. "Who?"

I turn my head towards Pearl to catch her answer. "Not who, as in singular," she replies.

"Mean-ing?" I ask, lengthening the word as I say it.

"Meaning," she replies. "I have my eye on a couple of guys, but I've decided I'm too young to pick just one."

Even though my jaw has dropped open, Pearl continues unaffected. "I'm sixteen! Hello! WAY too young to settle on just one guy. I'm going to wait and see. Meanwhile, I shall survey the eye candy as I do. No need to eat just one piece right now."

"Oh my GOSH!" Courtney hoots, rolling her eyes up into her head.

In a fit of giggles, we march outside, tossing our scarves and hats on our heads before the gym door slams shut behind us.
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Thank you to @BrittaSwann and @WriterontheIsland for their editing advice on this chapter!

In case anyone would like to know how to tie dye t-shirts here is a YouTube video on how to do it:
https://youtu.be/rM1M932ieD4

Thank you, @MFOshin for giving me the idea to post this video so others can see how it's done.