"This place is a zoo," Feely declared when the two finally found each other at big lunch. Meanwhile, Gibs and Kav were nowhere to be found.

"I've never felt so intimidated my life." Sinking into the chair beside Hugh’s in the lunch hall, he unscrewed the cap a bottle of Tanora and took a deep swig. "I'm not sure about this school, Hughie, I’m really not." He took another gulp of his drink before whispering, "The girls here fucking terrifying."

After spending the last eight years in an all-boys school, Tommen College felt lik we had been transported to an entirely new planet, and Hugh felt acutely grateful to his sister for preparing him for this alternate universe.

"See the blond over there, the one with the ponytail?" Feely gestured toward group of girls sitting at the table opposite theirs. "She full on grabbed my ass at the lockers this morning and when I turned around, she didn’t even look away. She just stood there and winked at me.”

"No shit" Hughie laughed. "What did you say to her?"

"I didn't have a fucking chance," Feely replied, pulling at the collar of his shirt. "She laid it on me before I could get a word out."

"What do you mean she laid it on you?"

"I mean she stuck her tongue in my mouth!"

"Who stuck their tongue in your mouth?" Pierce O'Neill asked, joining the two.

"Well, Biggsie?" Pierce turned his attention to Hugh. "Don't tell me you got the shift already, you jammy bastard."

"I have a girlfriend, asshole." Hughie snapped back defensively. "I'm hardly going around shifting randomers."

"You're still knocking around with your sister's friend?" Pierce asked in an incredulous tone.

"And?"

"Isn't she somewhere else?"

Hughie narrowed his eyes in challenge.

"And?"

"And nothing," Pierce muttered, looking uncomfortable. "I thought you would've binned her off by now."

"Why would I do something as absurd as that?"

"Look around ya, Biggsie," Pierce replied, sounding genuinely confused. "Why would you want to be tied down to the same girl you've been with since primary school when you could get with a hundred girls here?"

"Because I don't want any of these girls."

"How can you say that?"

"Because I already have the girl I want."

"But how can you know for sure if you don't at least test the waters?" Pierce continued to push. "You're a shoo-in for the number ten jersey, lad. You're going to have girls falling at your feet, and you're telling me you're going to give that all up for—"

"The blond at the next table," Feely swiftly interjected, only too aware of how this asshole rubbed Hughie up the wrong way. "She kissed me."

"No fucking way," Pierce cheered, attention immediately shifting to Feely. "You're a legend, lad."

Several of the lads from Scoil Eoin joined the table then and quickly set to work on ranking, rating and eyeing the girls up. Meanwhile, Hughie pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Scrolling through his phone, Hughie noticed he had one unread text message and quickly tapped into it. His pulse quickened when I saw it was from {{user}}, with the time marked 08:39.

You can look but don’t touch. x

Keeping his chin ducked low to hide his smile, Hughie tapped out a response and pressed send.

The only girl I'm looking at is my girl, and she's the only girl I'll be touching. x