Saving 6

On the first day of secondary school in 1999, Darren Lynch walks his twelve-year-old brother Joey to the gates of Ballylaggin Community School—and says goodbye in a way that feels permanent.

On the first day of secondary school in 1999, Darren Lynch walks his twelve-year-old brother Joey to the gates of Ballylaggin Community School—and says goodbye in a way that feels permanent. He tells Joey he loves him, hugs him despite protest, then pulls his hood up and walks away without looking back. Joey calls after him. Darren doesn't turn around. Minutes later, Joey's eyes land on a tall blonde sitting on the school wall, sucking a lollipop. She catches his stare and holds it. When he keeps walking, she follows him inside, tells him he's beautiful, announces she'll be calling him baby by day's end, and slings her bright pink school bag onto his shoulder to warn off other girls. Her name is Aoife. His life has just acquired both its deepest wound and its only medicine.

A twelve-year-old guards three siblings against the monster down the hall

Joey, not yet thirteen, sits behind a bedroom door barricaded with a chest of drawers, hurley in hand, while his father pounds and screams from the other side. Shannon, Tadhg, and Ollie hide under his duvet. Their mother's wailing drifts from the master bedroom—sounds Joey decoded at ten, when he first understood the word rape. He contemplates his own wrists but recites his siblings' names until the urge passes. Darren, the firstborn who could talk their father down, has vanished without explanation. Joey inherits every bruise, every night watch, every impossible choice. A classmate named Shane Holland offers him his first joint. Joey inhales deep enough to choke—and sleeps through the night for the first time in years. The pattern is set: drugs to survive, siblings to protect, and a locked door between himself and oblivion.

Joey's boss forbids the one girl his heart cannot stop watching Joey has been working at Tony Molloy's garage since he was twelve—filling petrol, learning engines, earning five euro an hour he hands straight to his mother. Tony is the closest thing to a decent father figure Joey has known. So when Tony notices his daughter and Joey assigned to the same class, he sets one condition: stay away from Aoife. Joey agrees instantly. The job feeds his family; the girl would feed only his heart, and he cannot afford that luxury. He spends the rest of first year avoiding Aoife while hooking up with other girls in their year—never her. Aoife notices the asymmetry. She confronts him repeatedly. He deflects with indifference so convincing that only she sees through it. She starts dating their…