It was now Friday, the end of week 2 of school and the month was halfway over. Even though it was only halfway over it still hadn't been the best month. And it was only September. We had 8 more months to go. The last day of school was May 30. Graduation followed, on the next day, May 31.
Kate and I were sitting in the cafeteria that rainy Friday, eating. A dark haired girl came over to us.
"Hello," she said.
We looked up.
"Hi," I said, and smiled.
"Hi. Mind if I sit with you?" the girl asked.
"No, please, there's plenty of room. Sit down," Kate said, and smiled herself.
The girl sat across from us and resumed eating her granola bar.
"Hi I'm Shannon," she introduced.
"Hi I'm Lizzie," I replied.
"Hi."
The girl smiled.
"Hi I'm Kate," Kate said.
"Hi. It's very nice to meet you."
"Thank you," I said.
"You're welcome."
"You're very polite," Kate noted.
"Thank you."
"Mmm hmm," I said.
"So where ya from?" Kate asked.
"Originally, from Ireland."
"Ireland wow," I said.
"Yeah. It's a long way from here.'
"Yeah, it is," kate agreed.
"And for awhile I lived in New York."
"Seems to be a common theme around here," I said.
"Oh?" Shannon asked.
"Yeah. Our friend Ashley's also from New York. New Orleans, originally. She's Irish, French and English." Kate informed Shannon.
"Hmmm. I've seen you around."
"Yeah," I said.
"Then we moved to Seattle and then here," Shannon told us.
"Wow." Kate
"Yes so we've moved around quite a bit."
"Mmm I can tell," I said.
Pause.
"Hey aren't you Enya's cousin?" Kate asked.
"Yeah. We've met, already. I had forgotten."
"It's ok."
"Wow," I said.
They looked at me.
"What?" Kate asked.
"6 degrees of separation," I explained.
"Oh."
Our friends Lily and Ashley came over to our table and sat down.
"Hey," Ashley said.
Shannon smiled.
"Hi," she said.
"Hey I'm Ashley," Ashley introduced, smiling.
"And I'm Lily," Lily said.
"Hi I'm Shannon," Shannon replied.
"Nice to meet you," Ashley said.
"Thank you you too. Hey haven't we met before?" Shannon asked.
"Um no not that I recall…….." Ashley replied.
"Oh. Well, I'm just asking because you look familiar."
"Oh."
"In……….Ireland?' Shannon asked.
Ashley smiled with remembrance.
"Oh yeah. Yeah we have."
"It's ok. That's not the first time that's happened today."
"Ok."
Pause.
"We know about pain around here," I spoke up.
"Yes, yes we do," Lily said.
Shannon looked at me and lily and raised her eyebrows; "oh?"
"Yeah. You see, Shannon, my father died August 31 of this year," I explained.
Lily already knew this. We had met her in ballet. She was a friend of ash leys.
Shannon tilted her head; "oh. Wow. Lizzie I don't know what to say."
"Well it's a hella lot better than apologisin," I replied.
"It hasn't even been a month," Lily observed,
"No, no it hasn't."
"And I tried to kill myself several times in the River Shannon, for which I was named. That's another reason we had to move out of Ireland," Shannon informed us.
"Can't say I haven't tried the same thing myself."