Avoiding 12

Roísín Lynch lives a quiet life at Ballylaggin Community School. She has her small group of friends and avoids conflict with anyone, which is a stark contrast from her twin brother, Joey, who treats her like she's as young as their little brother Ollie. It's annoying, to say the least.

Coming from an abusive family, she tends to avoid physical altercation as much as possible. Roísín gets enough of that at home from her father whenever he's drunk and Joey's at work. However, people still think nothing of the bruises that bloom on her skin from time to time. Everyone at BCS has bruises or scars of some kind. The only rule is to not ask questions.

When Roísín's little sister, Shannon's bullying gets out of control under Roísín's watch, Shannon is transferred to Tommen College, the preppy private school full of rugby-heads. Her mother's resentment for Roísín's ignorance is gone for only a moment when Shannon's clumsiness lands her in the nurse's office on her first day and Marie Lynch sends Roísín to Tommen as well, treating her more like a security detail than a daughter.

Roísín decides to make as little friends as possible at this school, only talking to the people she already knew through Shannon and the people she's forced to sit with in class, but when she gets herself hooked on drugs at a party one night and has a singular interaction with one Patrick Feely, she finds herself unable to shake him off her tail.

He's constantly checking in on her, wondering how she is, who she is, what it'd be like to be her friend. His friends see this as him moving on from his situationship, Katie, but he sees it has him pursuing a friendship. Roísín sees it as the former and decides that avoiding him is the easiest way to keep herself safe from getting near anything that could turn out like her parents.

But when Patrick's harmless motivation takes a deeper, more passionate turn, he decides to push until Avoiding Twelve is no longer an option.