She could hear her father out there beside her mother. ‘Ask her if she’s been careful with that young fella.’

‘I will not. She’s not doing anything with him,’ her mother hissed.

‘He could be carrying something.’

‘Don’t be so ignorant, for God’s sake.’

‘Don’t be so ignorant? Them gay fellas are dropping like flies.’

‘Get down those stairs before I lay hands on you. They’re only kids, you stupid man.’

Deirdre didn’t leave the room until her dad had gone to work, and even then she ran out of the door before her mother could give her a few quid for her lunch.

At school that day, Principal Young announced during lunch hour that the fifth year and Leaving Cert classes could take a half-day to join the search for their classmates. There was a stampede to the front door. Dave, Mitch, Jonno, Deirdre, Mel and Casey were left sitting around a table in the canteen.

‘You goin’?’ Dave was the first to speak.

‘Of course,’ Jonno said. Mitch nodded in assent.

‘I’m going,’ Casey said. It was the first thing she’d said all morning. Casey had a tendency to bite people’s heads off when she was in a bad mood and she was definitely in a bad mood. She had a face like thunder. She didn’t eat. She just sat there, giving the evil eye to every kid who dared look her way.

‘Me too,’ Deirdre said.

Mel’s mouth was full of chips so she raised her hand. ‘I’m in,’ she said, as soon as she’d swallowed them.

‘Rave’s gonna be seriously pissed off about this gay thing, I’ll tell ya that,’ Mitch said.

‘So is Jeremy.’ Tears stung Deirdre’s eyes. She didn’t know why she’d said it. Who was she protecting? Me, Jeremy or both of us? Was he gay? It was all so confusing.

‘Yeah, of course, but Rave has a worse temper,’ Mitch said.

‘It’s bullshit, isn’t it?’ Jonno said.

‘Of course it is,’ Mitch told him.

‘What do you think Beany was doing with the porn, then?’ Jonno wondered.

‘It wasn’t his,’ Deirdre said, out of nowhere, and Casey stared straight at her, boring a hole in her with her eyes.

‘What?’ Dave said, and all of the faces turned to her.

‘We found it in a bush and I told him to get rid of it in case little kids saw it.’ She was telling the truth: that was what had happened.

‘So why’d he keep it?’ Dave said.

‘He was probably waiting for the bin collection. I don’t know.’ She was blurring the truth now. They had found the porn but it was months ago. He kept it in his room.

‘Thank Christ for that. I was beginning to think I was the only non-fudge-packer in the whole of Tallaght,’ Dave said.