Next To You

Mean Girls Never Win

When Monday morning arrived, Mya had already talked to Heather and was told all about what happened Saturday night. Eoin talked to her, too, and she just smiled at him.

Eoin was clearly worked up, "don't you worry about her? Is she crazy or something?"

Mya laughed, "okay, I'm going to have to stop you right there, Eoin. That's not even the scariest thing she's done, but she doesn't make a habit of it either. Every once in a while, she'll get a little daring, but that's only when things get too stressful or boring for her. She'll be fine."

"I'm almost afraid to ask this, but what is the scariest thing she's ever done?" Eoin looked a little pale.

"Well...one year we spent spring break at my grandpa's lake cabin, and she got into it with another girl, and they raced kayaks down a huge waterfall. There was also that time she climbed to the top of a huge pine tree during a windstorm. Oh, and there was this other time she ran across this rickety old rope bridge over a deep ravine. Yeah, she gets a little crazy, but it's actually a pretty rare thing," Mya tried to cover up a giggle as she watched his eyes widen in horror.

Eoin stared at her in disbelief, "she definitely didn't seem like the extreme type to me, but I'll never make that assumption again."

Later that day, about halfway through lunch, Honora got in Heather's face. She had noticed Eoin had been spending more time with her, and she was furious.

"Who do you think you are? You little tramp. You think you can just waltz in and steal the attentions of my guy? You're plain, you're dull, yet they keep chasing after you. I don't get it!" Honora stomped her foot angrily.

Heather laughed at her, "are you serious? I'm not trying to steal anyone from you, Kelly. Why would I want anything to do with someone who hangs out with the likes of you? You're delusional."

Honora's face turned red with anger, "how dare you speak to me that way?! I'm more popular and prettier than you are, show some respect!"

Some of their peers had gathered and were watching intently.

Heather turned serious, "you have to give respect in order to receive it. Don't think for a moment you can intimidate and threaten me like you do with everyone else, I can see right through you."

Honora screamed, "that's it! You and me, let's go. There's an obstacle course in gym class today, I challenge you, to prove once and for all, who's better."

Everyone gasped.

Heather put her hands on her hips, "are you really sure you want to do that, Kelly? If I accept, and you lose, there will be no coming back from it."

"Yes, I've had enough of you, I want to end this, and I'm going to put you down like the dog you are!" Honora chided.

Heather leaned in, "then I accept your challenge."

Mya and Eoin had witnessed the exchange. Heather had dropped the metaphorical hammer, her words were final and foreboding.

Mya shook her head and smacked her palm to her forehead, "here we go again."

Eoin looked over at her, "again?"

"Yeah. Another girl challenging Heather, Honora just set herself up for a humiliating defeat," Mya gathered her things and walked off.

Gym class was starting. When Eoin got there, Heather was already dressed down and stretching.

He walked up next to her, "so you're the competitive type, Ms. Librarian? I never would've guessed."

"Get out of here Flannery, you're being a nuisance," Heather stared straight ahead, and didn't even glance over in his direction.

Eoin shrugged and started to walk away, "as her royal highness commands."

Heather grabbed his shirt and glared at him, "don't you ever call me that."

She nudged him to the side and joined the rest of the class as Mr. Hanna explained the course to everyone. Eoin stood back and observed. Honora had been giving Heather dirty looks since class had started.

Mya stood next to him, "it's going to become very unpleasant between the two of them."

"More than it already has?" Eoin looked intrigued.

Mya nodded her head, "Heather caught her bullying one of our friends again in the locker room. This won't end well."

Eoin looked back at Heather. Her face was expressionless, but everyone could feel the tension rolling off of her and Honora.

Mr. Hanna finished explaining, "only two can go at a time, let's go down to the field and I'll show you."

They all headed down to the field, and after he went through it again, he started pairing the students off. Two by two, they ran the course. Finally, the last two had stepped up, Heather and Honora.

They exchanged glares and got ready. Mr. Hanna told them to go and started his stopwatch. The first obstacle was a series of hurdles, next was a long tube they had to army crawl through, then they came to a tall wall they had to climb up, which led to a high balance beam leading to another wall, where they had to swing on a rope over a mud pit. The last obstacle was a 200 km sprint to the finish line. It was a tight race, but as they neared the end of it, their classmates started chanting Heather's name. That gave her the boost she needed and she ran faster. Honora tried to catch up, but she was already winded. Her side cramped up and she had to slow down. As soon as Heather crossed the finish line, Honora threw herself to the ground and screamed out in anger.

"You've turned everyone against me! It's not fair!" she cried.

Heather rolled her eyes and knelt down in front of her, "before you start pointing fingers, Honora, you need to take a good, long look in the mirror. If people don't like you, it's because of the horrible way you treat them, it has nothing to do with me, and you know that."

Before Heather walked away, she put a bottle of water in front of her, then she and Mya walked to the locker room to clean themselves up. No one realized at that moment that such a small gesture of kindness could turn a bully neutral, but after that day, Honora Kelly stopped picking on others and focused more on her own short-comings.

Just like that, Eoin's fascination had turned to admiration for Heather, and he quickly started noticing her ever kind, and unyielding spirit, and how it was touching other lives.

Heather was walking down the hall when she noticed a flier for the Young Humanitarians club. It was for a service project , and they were looking for some volunteers. She read more and saw it was to fix the old covered bridge. She smiled, knowing it was because of Eoin. She met Mya at their spot and they walked to her house from there. Mya lived in a large two story house on her grandfather's property, which they shared. It was Mya, her mom, and her brother Aiden in the bigger house, and her grandfather lived in a slightly smaller house further back on the property. Mya's grandfather used to work for Heather's grandfather at O'Reilly Corp.

Aiden came running out of the house, almost crashing into them.

"Aiden! Watch where you're going!" Mya yelled after him.

He got on his bike and shouted over his shoulder, "sorry!"

Heather laughed, "well, at least he apologized."

"Well, Eoin apologizes to you every time he runs into you, and you still haven't forgiven him," Mya teased.

"Hey, I forgave him, every time. We became even though when he caught my fall," Heather followed Mya into the house.

Mya raised an eyebrow at her, "even, huh? Are you sure that's all?"

"I don't know what you mean by that," Heather looked down as she pulled her pencil case out, and hung her bag on a hook, in the hallway next to Mya's.

Mya smirked, "come on, you don't like him? Not even a little bit?"

"Don't start with me Mya, I have too much on my mind as it is," Heather grabbed some paper, "let's get to work."

Heather had come to Mya's house to work on a school project, and when they were finished for the evening, Connelly was sent to pick her up.

Connelly glanced at her through the rearview mirror, "Mrs. O'Reilly wished me to remind you, you have an interview with the headmaster at Hill Crest Academy, Friday afternoon."

"How many times are they going to try to enroll me there? They do this every year, I already told them I have no interest in attending that school," Heather folded her arms and crossed her legs stubbornly as she glared out the window.

"She knew you would say that, so you're also going on a tour of the establishment," Connelly added cautiously.

Heather sighed irritably, "like I have a choice."

The next day, Heather dragged herself out of bed. She wished she could've stayed there all day, but she had a lot of things to do that day. After she got ready, she headed down to the kitchen to see what she could eat for breakfast and grab her lunch. She snatched up an apple and passed her grandmother in the hallway on her way out.

"Oh, Heather, I've taken the liberty of picking out what you are to wear to the meeting on Friday. Now remember, 4:30, sharp, don't be late," Fiona finished speaking, then walked away.

Heather rubbed her temples and stormed out of the house. Connelly already had the car running and waited with the car door open. She met Mya at the usual spot, waiting for Connelly to drive away, then told Mya about the scheduled meeting. They reached the school courtyard and passed Eoin with his group of friends. He waved and called out to them, then left his group of friends to walk with Heather and Mya.

"Good morning ladies, we have our first game of the season this Friday, you should come watch us, then we could hang out afterwards," Eoin grinned.

Heather didn't care much for basketball, and the idea of going just because Eoin asked her, she cared even less, but she had to admit to herself, she'd rather go watch their game instead of going to the meeting.

"I can't, but I'm sure Mya would love to go," she grabbed Mya and placed her between herself and Eoin.

Mya shrugged, "sure I'd like to go, but I won't unless you can go too, Heather."

Heather scoffed, "it's not very likely."

"Well, then I guess I can't go either. Sorry Eoin, can we get a rain check?"

"Sure, I totally get it. Can we at least have lunch together?" Eoin was determined, like always.

Heather wanted to say no, but she couldn't think of anything to get out of it, "sure, why not?"

Eoin couldn't contain his excitement, "awesome! I'll see you two at lunch then!"

He jogged off and caught up with a couple of his buddies. Heather's face turned slightly red. She didn't know why he wanted to hang out with them so much, but she figured it would be best to get it over with. Mya was clearly excited, too.

When lunch period started, they met at a corner table in the cafeteria. Eoin and Mya instantly started talking and chatting with each other. Mya tried to bring her in by asking her questions.

"Hey Heather, do you remember that time we added too much sugar to our cookies in home economics?" Mya giggled.

Heather just nodded and ate her lunch. Mya finished eating and nudged Heather under the table, but only got stared down. Mya had to finish telling the story. Eoin observed Heather as he listened to Mya. Heather glanced over at the two of them from behind a book, they really seemed to enjoy each other's company. She couldn't help but feel lonely. Mya got up to throw some trash away and started talking to another one of her friends.

He turned to Heather, "you and Mya have an interesting friendship, but I can't help but feel under different circumstances, you two wouldn't have become friends. You're very different from each other."

Heather took a sip from a bottle of water, then looked over at him, "you're probably right, but Mya is a very important person to me. Let's just say, if it weren't for her being there for me, I wouldn't be where I am now."

"You don't want to share any details?" Eoin was slightly amused.

"What for? In this case, details are unimportant."

"I'm just wondering why you don't want to tell me anything, any reason in particular?" Eoin smiled charmingly.

She could feel herself start to blush, "I hardly know you Flannery, why would I want to tell you personal things about myself?"

Eoin was about to respond, but the bell rang to end lunch. Mya came running back.

"Sorry, I got distracted, thanks for having lunch with us Eoin, you're really cool for doing that," Mya beamed.

"Who wouldn't want to have lunch with two of the cutest girls in school?" Eoin winked at Heather and got up to leave.

Mya giggled, "Eoin, you big flirt. Heather is pretty cute though, isn't she?"

Heather gave her a look of warning, then threw her trash away. They both watched her leave.

Eoin chuckled, "thanks for trying all the same Mya, but it looks like I'll have to find my own way."

Mya giggled again, "that's probably best, I think I was being too obvious there."

After school, Heather walked to town for her shift at the gym. Ellie Fitzwalter greeted her warmly.

"Hi Ellie, I'll go change then get started on cleaning the equipment," she went to the employee locker room and put her Fitzwalter shirt and track pants on. When she came out, she went straight to cleaning. It was still light out and she could see the people walking by. Ellie had her wash windows next, but for some reason, she didn't see Eoin coming. He didn't seem to notice her either and walked right past her as he entered the gym, heading straight for the counter where Ellie was.

"Hello there, I'm Eoin Flannery, I'm a student at North Ridge High School, and part of the Young Humanitarians Club."

Heather heard his voice and froze in a panic. She glanced over and found he had unintentionally blocked the employee door. She turned her head away and tried to quietly edge herself around him before he saw her.

"North Ridge, huh? Heather, are you acquainted with this nice young man?" Ellie called out to her.

Eoin's eyes lit up, he turned in her direction and spotted her, "Heather? You work here?"

Heather smacked her forehead and turned to face him, "yes, and I have to get back to work now, so excuse me."

She quickly steered away from the employee door and walked to the back of the gym, out of his sight.

Ellie snickered, "it seems like she's always hiding from someone. Now, how may I help you Mr. Flannery?"

She heard Eoin tell her about the bridge project, and that he was looking for volunteers. Heather was sweeping the floor around the kickboxing ring when she saw Eoin hand a flier to Ellie to put on their bulletin board.

He came walking over to her with a big grin on his face, "so, what all do you do here? Speaking as an individual who might be interested in joining this athletic establishment, of course."

Heather sighed, "I maintain the equipment and building, I also teach survival training classes and train with the kick-boxers who come in here."

By his expression, it was obvious it wasn't the answer he was quite expecting, "I see you maintaining, but wow, I never would've guessed the other stuff. What's survival training?"

Heather rolled her eyes, "I guess it would be easier to just show you."

She lead him to the biggest and furthest part of the building, where she showed him the elaborate, large scale obstacle course that almost perfectly replicated a wilderness setting. Then she showed him a small classroom off to the side, used for teaching first aid classes.

Eoin was impressed, "this really explains a lot."

"What do you mean?" she was inspecting the course as he watched her nearby.

"Well, now I know, no kid could ever hope to beat you at anything, especially obstacle courses, which probably wasn't a challenge for you at all," Eoin saw her cheeks turn red, loving every moment of it.

Heather shook her head, "I don't do this to be the best at gym class Flannery, I do it because I like being prepared for things."

"Like what? Do you travel to a lot of wild places or something? Are you afraid you'll get stranded somewhere?" Eoin was curious.

Heather tightened a knot on a rope that resembled a vine, "no, but I will someday, and I'm not afraid of getting stranded. I'm simply preparing myself for the worst case scenario, if something like that were to happen to me..."

"Well this is a first, you're actually sharing stuff with me, why now?"Eoin smirked.

"Because you're already here, and you keep finding things out about me, so I figured I might as well tell you some stuff. Don't let it go to your head though," Heather ruffled his hair as she climbed down from the ledge she was checking, and walked to the front desk.

Eoin touched his hair in surprise, this was a new side of Heather he wasn't expecting to see. She seemed more friendly and open. He didn't want to go, but he had promised his siblings he'd take them to eat at the diner.

"I guess I should be going now, see you around?" Eoin looked hopeful.

She smiled a little, "yeah, we go to the same school. Oh, here, you said you might be interested, so I'm supposed to give you this brochure."

Eoin gladly accepted it. He took one more look at her before he left, she had her head down and was writing something down in a binder. She looked up in his direction and was surprised to see him still standing there.

"I thought you were going," Heather teased.

"Uh, yes, I will, I mean, I am, maybe we'll run into each other again," Eoin winked at her again, "I'm counting on it, anyway. See you later."

Heather started to blush again, "it's possible, but don't get your hopes up."

Eoin chuckled and waved as he walked out, she was too cute. He was getting tingling sensations just thinking about her, it felt like she had been flirting, but with her, he just couldn't tell. He peeked through the window as he passed it, and saw her talking to another young man, wearing the same t-shirt and track pants she was wearing, obviously a co-worker. The guy playfully tugged at her pony tail and laughed, she responded by playfully swatting his arm, that's when he felt he had seen enough. He resumed walking, and felt even more confused than ever.

Heather finally finished her shift and clocked out. They had already locked up for the night, she went to the locker room and changed into her jeans, a navy blue v-neck sweater, and slipped into her usual boots. When she left the gym, she went straight to the diner. She sat down in a booth and started to do some homework. That was when a little red-headed boy came walking by. His movement caused a breeze and blew some of her notes off the table.

He saw her rush to pick them up, "I'm sorry miss, I didn't mean to."

Heather smiled warmly at him, "it's alright sweetie, no harm done."

He turned red at the term she used, then became excited when she saw what book she had, "you like Charles Dickens?!"

She glanced over at her stuff and saw her copy of Great Expectations, "oh yes, I love his books, do you?"

"Of course, other kids think I'm weird, but I don't care, I love reading," he said proudly.

"That's wonderful, don't let anyone make you feel weird, that's what makes you special. What's your name?" Heather asked.

"My name is Ryan, and I'm 10 years old," Ryan answered confidently.

Heather opened her notebook to an empty page, "I'm Heather, lovely to meet you Ryan, do you have very many of Dickens' novels?"

"I have David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, that's it. Do you have very many?" Ryan asked in deep interest.

Heather laughed, "I have all of them, and then some."

He watched her quickly write something down, then close her notebook and put it to the side. He wished she knew what she had written down.

"That sound's awesome, you must have a really big bookshelf at home," Ryan enthused.

Heather thought about the vast library she had at home and smiled, "yeah, something like that," then she grabbed her book and held it out to him, "you can have this one if you like, I have another one at home."

Ryan accepted it graciously, "for real? Thank you so much," he became shy and aware of how long he had been standing there with her, "you should come sit at our table with my brother and sister, we're all sitting back this way."

"You're sure they won't mind? Because I would love that," Heather grinned with a brilliant white smile.

Ryan smiled back, "no, at least my brother won't, he's really cool. Tara is kind of mean sometimes, but she can be cool, too."

Heather started gathering her things and watched where he ran to. Her stomach fluttered anxiously when she saw who he sat with.

She walked to their table, as coolly as she could muster, "I thought that red hair looked familiar."

Eoin looked up at her and beamed, "hello Ms. Librarian, I see you've met Ry-man, and this brooding princess over here is my kid sister Tara. I see you gave Ry a book, that's really generous of you. Please, join us."

Ryan chimed in to correct Eoin, "her name is Heather, and she's really nice and smart."

Eoin chuckled, "of course, I knew that, we go to the same school. Tara, stop what you're doing and say something to her."

"Hey," Tara said, without looking up from her phone.

"Tara, don't be rude, you can do better than that," Eoin scolded.

Tara rolled her eyes and plastered on a smile for her, "hello Heather, so nice to meet you."

Eoin smiled in relief, "thank you, Tara."

Tara shrugged and went back to what she was doing, "yeah, whatever."

Eoin laughed awkwardly, "she's kind of going through a phase, please excuse her behavior."

"It's okay, I'm guilty of the same thing sometimes, I apologize for that, Flannery," Heather laughed.

Eoin propped his head up with his arm and smiled flirtatiously at her, "nah, you weren't that bad. No worries though, I still like hanging out with you."

Heather scooted into the booth next to him, since Ryan sat on the other side with Tara, "so, have you eaten already?"

"Yeah, we had some roast beef sandwiches and fries. We were just trying to decide if we should get dessert or not," Eoin looked around at Tara and Ryan.

Ryan propped up his head with his arm also, trying to act cool like Eoin,"yeah, like pie, or something."

Heather giggled, she thought it was adorable, "well, order any dessert you like, it's on me."

Eoin chuckled, "are you positive you want to do that? These kids kind of pig out when it comes to dessert."

"It's totally fine, in fact, it would be my pleasure," Heather insisted.

"Okay, if that's what you want, but I warned you," Eoin snickered.

They all ordered dessert, and Heather felt happy. For the first time, in a very long time, she was having fun. She adored Eoin's siblings, even Tara's sarcastic remarks and sassy attitude. After they finished, she paid, and they left together. Tara and Ryan walked ahead, while Eoin and Heather lagged behind.

"Thanks for dessert, that was really cool of you. It seems my brother and sister are quite fond of you now. Of course, Ryan is easy, but it surprised even me when Tara put her phone down and joined in the conversation. Has anyone ever told you that you're really good with kids?" Eoin smiled down at her.

Heather smiled back, "not often, but I have heard it before. I had fun, I don't get to do stuff like this, because, well, I'm an only child, so it really was my pleasure."

"I actually wanted to ask you something..." Eoin hesitated.

"Ask me what?" Heather tensed up.

"This is going to sound really nosy and awkward, but... do you like anyone, or are you seeing anybody?" Eoin looked anxious.

Heather scrunched up her nose, "like, romantically?"

"...yes, just wondering, it's okay if you don't want to answer, I just thought it couldn't hurt to ask," Eoin stumbled over his words.

Heather smiled in amusement, "no, I guess I've never found the time for stuff like that. There has to be a reason for your curiosity though, why do you ask?"

"I saw you with that guy at the gym, and saw you two playing around with each other. You seemed like you were really close," he couldn't look her in the eyes, but he was stunned by her next reaction.

Heather laughed melodiously, "Scotty Fitzwalter? We are close, but not in the way you're thinking. He and his family have been there for me through some very difficult times, he's more like an older brother to me. By older, I mean a lot older, he's like in his late 20's or something."

Eoin could feel the relief pulse through him, "that's awesome, I'm still blown away by this turn of events though. I'm really happy that you're talking to me, and I hope it can continue."

Heather couldn't help feeling glad herself, but she still couldn't bring herself to be completely open with him. She wasn't sure how he'd react to learning about her whole self, and she wasn't willing to take that chance just yet.

She stopped at the edge of main street, "this is where we part ways, goodnight Flannery."

Eoin reached out and gave her hand a squeeze, "goodnight Heather, I'll see you tomorrow."

He slowly released her hand and followed after his siblings. She watched him walk away, then headed home. She reached the bridge and suddenly felt overwhelmed. That's when she climbed up onto the railing and stared down into the raging river below. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest and she felt lightheaded. She didn't want to feel this way, but she knew she was getting attached to Eoin Flannery.