Tadgh Lynch doesn't lose focus. He's sharp, volatile, and not here to play nice. First year at Tommen, he's already collecting enemies-and Leah Daly's at the top of the list. Leah Daly's fierce, stubborn, and hiding the kind of damage you don't talk about. She's built for survival, and Tadgh's the last person she wants anywhere near her. She hates him. He hates her. That should've been the end of it. But the more he sees, the more it looks like his history repeating itself. And once he recognises it, walking away isn't an option. Even if saving her burns him all over again.

Tadhg lynch doesn't do feelings. He does trouble. Charm. And saying exactly the wrong thing at the right time. Sixteen, mouthy, and impossible to handle, Tadhg is the kind of boy teachers warn you about- and girls don't listen. Then there's Bethany Gibson. She talks too much. Laughs too loud. Acts like nothing in her life has ever gone wrong. He doesn't believe it. And for some reason, he can't leave her alone. What starts as messing with her turns into something else- something a lot harder to ignore. Because Bethany's hiding something. And Tadhg's starting to look a little too closely.

Everyone remembers the Lynch fire. Everyone remembers the bodies carried out. But no one remembers the boy left standing in the middle of it all. Tadhg Lynch isn't the golden Lynch boy. He isn't the baby who got shielded from the worst, or the oldest who carved a new life with a family of his own. He's the one in between. The one who saw everything, took the blows meant for his younger brothers, and carried scars no one wanted to look too closely at. Brave. Bold. Mouthy. A joker when he can manage it. And broken enough that nothing ever really sticks. Bethany Gibson is the girl who shouldn't have lived. She was three when the water took her under, when her father gave his life to save hers. She grew up in the shadow of grief, wrapped in the protection of a brother who bled for her in ways she only half understands. Sweet, funny, too kind for her own good-Bethany knows what it is to survive, but not yet what it means to live. When Bethany collides with Tadhg at Tommen, it's fire meeting oxygen-sharp words, sharp looks, a pull neither of them can shake. He's crude, cruel with his jokes, too much for anyone to handle. She's soft where he's jagged, sunshine where he's ash. He calls her Barbie. She calls him an arsehole. And somewhere between the laughs and the fights, they start to see the cracks in each other. But fixing what's shattered isn't simple. Not when trauma festers. Not when grief never loosens its grip. Not when love means putting your hands into the fire all over again. Funny. Raw. Heartbreaking. Fixing 9 is a story about the girl who wouldn't stop caring, the boy who didn't know how to be cared for, and the brutal, beautiful mess of trying to save each other when the world already tried to burn or drown you alive.

Keegan, Callum, Lennon, Maidhc, Lux, and James were placed in foster care pretty young and grew up all apart. Now, the 6 Kenney children are all growing up, barely knowing what's going on with each other. With minimal connection to her family, Lux is more than used to looking out for herself. She can do so easily, with quick fists, quicker wits, and a long hurley. Lux is moody and agitated-unused to being cared for or watched-and feels suffocated underneath the weight of the extra attention given to her by a blonde-haired hurler across the pitch. Tadhg Lynch has always been attracted to blondes. When he encounters pretty, seemingly tortured camogie player Lux Kenney on the fields, he is smitten from the get-go, but gets the inkling-when she smacks him with a hurley for suggesting a fight with her brother-that she might be harder to win than he thought.

Niamh Lynch tries not to be angry. While her older brother and sister feel the weight of their situation on their shoulders every moment of the day, Niamh chooses to be gentle. She's always been sweet, even in the face of a terrible secret she keeps about her father. Owen Gibson is nothing like his brother. With a dead twin and a father he can't remember, Owen has only known tragedy since before he was in primary school. After being a "depressed loner" for his entire life, with a single friend in the world, he finally hangs with his brother's rugby-obsessed friends, including one with a bright-eyed younger sister that makes him want to spill all of his secrets.

IN WHICH: TADHG LYNCH X LEAH DALY "You always were two steps ahead of everyone. We'd walk behind while you would run. And the years have proved to offer nothing since you moved. Now you're long gone, and I can't move on, and I miss you." - Missing, No Mercy "Shut up, Lynch." "Shutting up, Daly." Started: June 5th, 2025 Finished: March 25th, 2026 word count: ≈150k words ‼️ I'VE WRITTEN "TADGH" INSTEAD OF "TADHG" THROUGHOUT ACT 1 AND ACT 2 I'M SORRY

Tadgh Lynch is angry, angry at the world. It seems the rest of his siblings have forgotten the hurt of their past, let it go. But he can't forget, his father haunts him, has been haunting him for years and he's losing hope that he'll ever be free of Teddy Lynch. Maeve Holland is desperatly searching for the will to live. Her older brother hates her, her mothers dead, her dads as good as dead and life isn't looking like it's going to get better any time soon, but then she meets him. An angry boy who changes everything.

Aeliana (AYE-LEE-AH-NA) Holland, the little sister of the drug dealer Shane Holland. Aeliana and Shane's parents died from a unexpected accident. So Shane was now Aeliana's legal Guardian. Shane has always been a good brother and Guardian to Aeliana until he got into drugs and dealing. Ever since then, Shane has been intimidating and domestic to Aeliana. In the same instance of Shannon Lynch, Aeliana had to be transferred to Tommen due to bullying and other reasons. Because of that, Shane has been more Domestic to Aeliana, due to lack of money and other problems. Aeliana was scared she wasn't going to fit in. Until a beautiful girl showed her that she doesn't need to fit in. Viola Kasette was the girl who showed Aeliana the beautiful in the world and showed her the boy she would soon fall in love with. Tadgh Lynch.

He didn't believe in second chances. She didn't believe in people. Tadgh Lynch had spent most of his life angry. Angry at his father. Angry at himself. Angry at a world that didn't stop burning even after everything he loved had already gone up in smoke. Now sixteen, living under someone else's roof, wearing the number 11 stitched into the back of his jersey, he was still trying to outrun a ghost with his mother's eyes and a monster's voice. Everyone in Tommen knew who he was - the hothead with a rugby number and a bruised knuckle, the smile that meant trouble, the boy who never stayed long enough to get hurt. Flora Feely? She didn't care. Quiet, awkward, sharp as broken glass when she spoke, Flora had mastered the art of staying unnoticed. It was easier that way. People couldn't leave if they never really saw you. And she was tired - tired of silence in her house, tired of being Patrick Feely's little sister, tired of pretending her heart hadn't gone cold the day her father walked out and her mam didn't ask him to stay. She didn't plan on noticing Tadgh Lynch. He didn't plan on needing her. But sometimes the fire in you recognizes the fire in someone else - and it doesn't matter how much you try to smother it. It burns anyway.

Marie Murphy never expected her life to unravel so fast. At just fourteen, she's pregnant, scared, and caught in the tightening grip of a relationship that's turning darker by the day. Teddy Lynch, the boy she once loved, has become someone else-someone cruel, someone dangerous. Surrounded by pressure from family and haunted by secrets she can't share, Marie is forced to grow up far too soon. As the world closes in around her, she must choose between the life everyone else has planned for her and the fragile hope of freedom-for herself and the baby she already loves. A raw and emotional coming-of-age story, this novel explores the complexities of abuse, family loyalty, and the unbreakable bond between a mother and child. Gritty, heart-wrenching, and full of quiet strength, Marie's journey will stay with you long after the final page. ⸻ 📌 Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters depicted in this story. This work is purely fictional and created for personal and creative purposes. All names, characters, and events are products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.