It doesn’t come as much of a surprise to Alex Ryan when she finds herself falling head over heels for Connie O’Reilly. How could she not? There isn’t a person alive who wouldn’t be drawn to the irresistibly beautiful and charming Connie. It seems impossible she could reciprocate -- not when Alex is so awkward, so timid, so very much a girl -- until what starts as a sweet friendship blossoms into something so much more than Alex could have dreamed of. Alex knows what they have is a momentary thing, not enough to be called forever. Connie’s the most popular girl in the school, wealthy and admired. She’s going to go to Trinity, maybe marry a lawyer. She’s going to have everything Alex could never give her. She isn’t stupid, after all. Status and reputation might mean nothing to Alex, but to Connie they are everything. The only out-lesbian they know is ridiculed by everyone she meets, and it’ll be a cold day in hell before Connie lets that be her. But when rumours spark and new faces enter the picture, they’re both set to discover that, while it may be easy to walk away, it’s a lot harder to move on.

The Night Belongs to Us

I pieced together, over time, that it was exactly the kind of word to describe the kind of person I knew myself to be.


“I—uh—I’m really not sure—But I don’t think—”


“We should tell people they are,” she said, an edge of unbridled excitement clipping her words. “So that everyone knows.”


I glanced at Connie. She was looking out to the sea, apparently deep in thought.


“Connie? Did you hear me? I said—”


“I heard what you said,” she snapped, and turned her head around. “It’s a stupid rumor, Molly. Nobody even knows who they are. Why don’t you tell everyone—I dunno—Aidan gave Rosin chlamydia or something if you’re so desperate to stir someone’s shit up?”


Molly pondered it over for a moment before nodding. “That’s actually way better, yeah.”


Chapter 10