Stereotype Read Online Free PDF Page A

to do.
    I actually love careers class, even if half the time it’s devoted to a lecture on the importance of having a study timetable. It’s like a glimpse into the future, the post-secondary-school bliss. I can’t wait.
    Sophie and the Bleach Brigade are amusing themselves by asking stupid questions and then not bothering to listen to the answers. Ha. Ha. Yes, hilarious. Ever thought of doing stand-up comedy, girls? Here’s a tip – don’t.
    In two and a half years’ time they will be the ones with not enough points for the course they want to do, or finding dead-end jobs which will leave them bitter and hardened before they’re thirty.
    Now , they waste time and annoy the hell out of the rest of the class. Well, me, at least.
Must – resist – the – urge – to – strangle –
     
     

Chapter Fifteen
     
    I am still seething when the bell goes. What I really don’t need is another dose of band fever. I might end up saying something I’d regret. I don’t want that to happen either.
    I’m in luck. Sarah is waiting outside the classroom for me when we’re finally let out (after yet another reminder of the importance of good study habits, which is completely relevant to Transition-Year students) with a please-don’t-hate-me look on her face.
    “Shane wants me to go over to his house today, so I’ll be walking back there with Fiona,” she says in a rush.
    I shrug. “Have a good time.”
    “You don’t mind, do you?”
    “It’s ten minutes. I’ll cope.” I smile.
    She beams. “See you tomorrow.”
    And it’s another Alanis-accompanied walk home for Abi. When you think about it, it makes sense. Angry-girl music for angry-girl Abigail. Call me the stereotype, then, but what you don’t know is that there’s more to me than meets the eye. I can be reasonable-girl. I can be reliable-girl. I can be contented-girl, even. I refuse to fit into any set category, so don’t even try to stick a label on me because it’ll never fully describe who I am.
    You might have noticed that I have a slight problem with conformity.
    But anyway. I arrive home. Turn on TV. Check phone. My life is so mundane. One message. From Graham. Cue shudder from me.
    You know, before I explain about Graham I’d like to state for the record that we were never a couple. Never. Because a lot of people seem to be under the impression that he’s my ex, and that’s why I can’t stand him.
I never went out with Graham!
    Sorry. I’m still a little uptight about the situation. Possibly because he told everyone we were going out. Possibly because people believed him. Possibly because before he turned into such an asshole, he was actually a really good friend.
    I first started hanging out with Sarah, Fiona and Karen the summer after Second Year. Actually, Karen wasn’t around much that summer, between the Gaeltacht and her month in America, but when she was, she was part of the group. Anyway, it was then that we got to know Graham and a couple of his friends, Kieran being one of them. Sarah and Kieran became SarahKieran as the summer drew to a close, and feeling rather sorry for myself now that she was spending all of her time with him , I ended up turning to Graham for, if not comfort, then companionship.
    Fast forward to the following summer. The SarahKieran unit has been permanently shattered, Sarah celebrating with a night out and Kieran “mourning” with a new girl. Graham has become a very good friend to Abi, although Abi doesn’t realise that she only thinks of him as a good friend because he knows when to compliment her and make her feel validated as a worthwhile human being. The other half of the time he is using her as an unpaid therapist/devoted listener to trivial problems (let’s put it this way, if he’d been born a girl he’d be the type that would bemoan the fact that they’d broken a nail) and subtly eroding her self-esteem.
    Seriously. He’d make some snide comment, but me, being the emotional mess that I am,