The door slammed as they exited the guidance counselor's office. The wind of the door slamming caused college advertisements to flip up on their pins on the school bulletin board. Donovan trailed behind Mrs. Shaw, who looked like an Einstein groupie with the way her hair stood on end. "I just don't know what you were thinking, Donovan," she said shaking her head. "You know better."

Nora and Kaden had been walking together down the hallway. When they were just close enough to hear what was going on, Nora's steps faultered. "Oh, no, this is all my fault. I hope he didn't get into too much trouble."

Kaden, who was distracted, tripped over his own two feet when Nora grasped his arm to stop him.

"Whoa, there, Slick," Nora laughed, catching him by the elbow more firmly before he fell over.

"Shhh..." She whispered, tugging him behind a school building column. "Wait."

Figuring out what she was all about, Kaden reluctantly joined Nora. "Why are we hiding?"

Not that he needed an explanation.

Kaden knew right away why Nora had ducked into this little alcove. She clearly wanted to eavesdrop on Donovan and Mrs. Shaw. An idea with many problems, the least of which were the stars Kaden was glimpsing in Nora's eyes.

Seriously?

The Faoladh*?

Kaden frowned.

Great.

Just great.

This is so not what he needed to deal with on top of everything else.

Alarmed by Mrs. Shaw's next words, however, brought that thought to a screeching halt. Not knowing what else to do, because he most definitely had to do something before all hell broke loose, Kaden faked a sneeze to alert the others, cutting Mrs. Shaw off at, "You're supposed to protect her, I get it, but-"

When Nora squinted her eyebrows in confusion, he knew she'd overheard too much.

Nora came out from behind the pillar, and questioned them, "What do you mean, 'he's supposed to protect me'?"

It was evident by their looks of surprise that they'd been caught off guard. Despite having been so, Mrs. Shaw made a good recovery. "Oh, you know what I mean, Nora," she said with the flick of the wrist. "He had to be chivalrous and all that. It's a guy thing."

When Nora squinched up the side of her mouth, deciding whether or not to believe the malarky being shoveled her way, Donovan stepped forward. "I was just explaining to Mrs. Shaw how nasty Eamon has been to you, Nora. Don't worry about it."

Donovan reached for Nora's hand, grasping it reassuringly, and Kaden stewed quietly next to them. If looks could kill Donovan would've been a dead man.

Knowing Kaden couldn't intervene, Donovan's smile grew.

He needed to distract Nora and knew just how to do it. Having a little fun at Kaden's expense would be just the thing. Sure, he spent most of his time around Nora 'sleeping' in class, but he wasn't oblivious. He knew what he looked like. He'd heard the comments people made about him when they thought he wasn't listening. Half of them thought he was a freak. The other half? Well, let's just say their mothers would wash their mouth out with soap with the way they spoke about him.

"You wanna go over to Alex's Pizza after school, Nora?" Donovan asked, turning on the charm.

Turning to Kaden, Donovan invited him along as well. Couldn't leave him stew too long. Kaden might do something stupid, which they could not afford. "What do you say guys? It'll be fun."

"Yeah, sure, Donovan," Kaden replied through clenched teeth. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Good," Donovan laughed, draping his arm across Nora and Kaden's shoulders as they walked down the hall and away from Mrs. Shaw, "It's a date, then." He winked at Nora and it was all Kaden could do not to smack the smugness from Donovan's face.

When they reached the school's Chemistry lab, Donovan turned towards Kaden and grinned. "Well, this is our stop, ol'chap. Nora and I have Chemistry lab together. We'll see you in a few hours."

Speechless, Kaden could only manage a pathetic, "Whaaat?" before the door was being shut in his face and the 6th period alarm bell began blaring overhead.

Right before the Chemistry lab door closed, Kaden heard Nora giggle and reply, "Sure, I'll be your lab partner, Donovan. We can share a science table."
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* "Faoladh" in Irish sounds like "Fway-ah-la."

Pronunciation Reference: BridEilis. (n.d.). How to pronounce faoladh. Forvo. Web Search: 13 June 2020. Website:https://forvo.com/word/faoladh/
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More on Faoladh in Case You're Interested:

*Bergloff, A. (2018). Werewolves that fish and fight in battles: The Scottish wulver and the Irish faoladh in folklore. Folklore Thursday. Web Search 13 June 2020. Website: https://folklorethursday.com/legends/werewolves-that-fish-and-fight-in-battles-the-scottish-wulver-and-irish-faoladh-in-folklore/.