* * * *

Connie sidled up and greeted me with a one-armed hug that I struggled to return in the crowded corridor.

“The trials were good on Monday,” I complimented, nudging her side with my elbow. “You did a great job.”

“It was better than good, Alex. Please.”

“Sorry. I just don’t wanna inflate that ego of yours more than necessary.”

We shuffled forward. “First game will be a friendly against Mount Sackville, in two weeks. I expect nothing less than perfection from my girls.”

Molly and Orla were waiting for us outside the Home-ec kitchen, huddled together with mouths moving a mile a minute. I smiled warmly at Orla who grinned back at me, tried to catch Molly’s eye to greet her in turn, but her gaze was focused somewhere up ahead. Connie frowned at her. “What’s up?”

“D’you see the girls standing up beside our lockers?”

I stood up on my toes to try and steal a glance. There were six girls standing next to our lockers, none of them instantly recognizable, though I gathered from the hockey stick one of them held that they were members of Connie’s squad.

“Yeah?”

We stopped walking and stood to the side where we could lean in closer, the four of us huddled in together. “So I heard, right, from Lorna Smith, Michael’s cousin? She’s in Third Year but she’s mates with Maeve Wheeler—”

“From my team?” Connie interjected.

“Yeah. Well, Maeve told her, right, that her cousin who just moved is in our year now. She only just moved here from the Southside or something so she’s only new—”

“I hate the Southside. Posh pricks.”

I stared at Orla in confusion, given the fact that her house was quite possibly visible from space, but Molly cut in first. “Yeah, well—apparently she’s a massive lezzer.”

Connie scoffed. “And people know this because…?”

“Because she’s Maeve’s cousin? Everyone in her old school knew she was a lesbian and she was bullied loads so that’s why she moved here, and Maeve’s got a massive mouth so obviously, she told everyone.”

“They could’ve just been rumors, in her old school.”

“No, apparently it was some massive thing.” Molly huffed, rolling her eyes. She waved her hand dismissively. “So, like, literally everyone knew. Isn’t that mental?”

“Molly…Exactly why would we care if some young one we’ve never fucking met likes girls?”

Molly shot her an indignant look. “Because she’s standing next to our lockers! She’s probably looking to join your team, gobshite.”

We all glanced across the corridor again, to the group of girls gathered where Connie had left the sign-up sheet taped to her locker. They appeared to be deep in conversation, five of them all facing one girl in particular. A rather stout girl with flushed cheeks and a frown.

Connie let out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a groan, marching forward swiftly. I followed her closely as she pushed the small group of Second Years in front of us out of her way and the next few students, peering over their shoulders, quickly stepped aside. She stood behind a girl I knew to be Saoirse O’Doherty, hands on her hips, and loudly cleared her throat. I edged up toward her, and glancing around, I could see that a number of students had ceased their conversations to listen in.