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Outside school, Aoife watches Joey walk up with fresh bruises. She thinks of how frustrated she is by what he has to deal with at home but also how “selfish” of her it is to hate the fact that he protects his siblings.

Joey and Aoife greet each other, but then Shane pulls into the parking lot and flashes his lights at Joey. Despite Aoife’s protests, Joey goes to talk with him.

Inside, Shannon and Aoife are walking together when Ciara calls Shannon a “cunt.” Aoife angrily confronts her, telling her that fighting with Shannon means fighting with her. Aoife reassures Shannon that they are friends.

Joey is ashamed of himself for having texted Shane, but he feels as though he “needs” to use drugs to help get through everything. However, Shane does not have any pills, and instead offers Joey heroin. Joey is adamant that he doesn’t use heroin and that it’s unsafe, but Shane assures him that it is cheaper and only temporary until he can get pills for him again.

Joey misses the entire morning of class. When he shows up, Aoife immediately recognizes that he is on drugs. She yells at him and then quickly takes him out of school and to her car.

Joey wakes up on Aoife’s bedroom floor several hours later. She tells him that he got sick everywhere, but she has already cleaned it up. She demands answers for what drugs he took and why. Joey tries to argue and then realizes that he has to be honest with her. He tells her that Teddy broke Tadhg’s nose, hating himself for “dragging her deeper into [his] fucked-up world” (382). She begs him to stay off drugs because it hurts her too much to see him like this. Joey hugs her, thinking how she is “too good” for him.

Aoife thinks of how terrible her day was and how big of an admission it was for Joey to let her into his home life, even a little. She notes how her “self-preservation instincts” are telling her to run (384), but she can’t bring herself to walk away from Joey.

On Aoife’s 18th birthday, her parents organize a party at the bar. She and Casey watch as Joey and Tony spend most of the night talking together at the bar. Casey jokes about how it might be the night that Aoife loses her virginity.

Joey watches as Aoife dances, thinking of how many people came out to celebrate with her. As he goes up to her, she jokingly tells him that she “absolutely [doesn’t] love [him]” and “always won’t” (390).

When Aoife and Joey get back to Aoife’s house, Aoife can tell that something is wrong. She asks him multiple times until he finally admits that he hates being away from home all night. Although Aoife knows that his family needs him, she also realizes that the only way to make sure he is “safe and unharmed” is to have him in her house (392).

A few hours later, lying in bed together, Joey gives Aoife her birthday present. It is a locket with the first date he saw her etched into it. He admits to her that when he says he doesn’t love her, it is “the furthest thing from the truth,” but he doesn’t know how to not “reject human affection” (393). Aoife promises him that it’s okay, assuring him that they can take him talking about his feelings slowly—just as Joey agreed to take their physical relationship slowly.

Aoife convinces Joey to let her officially meet his mother. She assures him that she needs to meet her eventually and wants to be there to support him in every part of his life.

Inside Joey’s house, Tadhg calls Joey upstairs to fix the toilet. Once Joey is gone, Marie confronts Aoife about their relationship. She first tells her to use protection when they have sex—even if Joey doesn’t to use it. Then Marie warns Aoife that Joey has a drug addiction and “will never want [her] more than he wants his next fix” and that he is a “walking reincarnation of his father” (399). Horrified that she could talk about her son that way, Aoife scolds her, insisting that she is wrong.

Oblivious to the conversation he missed, Joey comes back into the kitchen. Joey starts to argue with his mother about the toilet, but Aoife interrupts to ask to see his room.

In his bedroom, Aoife tells Joey that she wants to have sex with him. He tries to talk her out of it, but she insists that she wants him to have at least “one good memory” of his house (402). The two have sex.

On the walk back to Joey’s house, Aoife asks Joey what he is going to do for his birthday. He says that he doesn’t want a party or anything, but Aoife tells him that they should spend the day before—Christmas Eve—together and then sleep over at his house.

When Joey and Shannon don’t come to school, Aoife goes to Joey’s house. Teddy answers the door and is dismissive, but she doesn’t back down, instead calling him a “deadbeat.” Teddy eventually tells her that Joey’s at the Garda station.

When Joey found several girls beating up Shannon, Joey stepped in and shielded Shannon. He refused to hit them back but instead dragged Shannon away and made her make a statement to the police. Now, they sit together in the station, and Shannon asks him about Aoife. He admits that he’s in love but that it’s “painful” to “expose” himself that much to another person.

After going trick-or-treating with Joey’s siblings, he and Aoife go back to his house for the night. While they are having sex, Teddy starts yelling that he wants “that whore” and “cunt out of [his] house” (415). Joey stops and becomes angry, but Aoife begs him to stay in bed with her instead. He initially argues and then relents. As he lays on top of her, Aoife feels his tears fall on her shoulder as her “heart crack[s] clean open” for how “broken” he is (416).

Teddy leaves Marie, claiming that he has found a new woman. As a result, Marie spends three days in bed. Joey begs her to get up so that he can go to school, but she refuses, forcing Joey to stay home and care for Sean.

Joey misses school and work for two weeks. On the second Friday, Aoife goes against Joey’s wishes and comes to his house. When she gets there, she finds Joey being arrested. She runs to him, but he insists that everything is fine.

Aoife goes inside. She finds Shannon sobbing. Shannon explains that their father was gone for two weeks and then came home and started a fight with Joey; for the first time, Joey managed to “get the better” of Teddy (422). Teddy went to the hospital, and Marie went with him. Aoife insists that she is going to go to the station and tell them what happened, but Shannon begs her not to.

When Joey is released the next day, he finds Aoife sleeping on a bench in the station. She asks Joey what happened, and he surprises himself by telling her the truth. When Teddy came home last night, Marie told him to leave, so Teddy started hitting her. Joey came downstairs and saw him slap Shannon and then couldn’t control himself.

He then explains to Aoife that social workers will come around, but everyone will tell them the same story until they go away. Shocked, Aoife insists that they need to tell the social workers the truth. However, Joey angrily tells her that she promised not to say anything. Aoife continues to try to argue, so Joey walks away from her.

Joey ignores Aoife the entire week. She talks about it with Casey and then sees that Joey is outside fighting Paul and Mike.

Aoife runs out to him, stepping between him and Mike. She realizes that Joey is on drugs. She finally manages to pull him off Mike, as Joey tells her that Mike’s sister, Ciara, hurt Shannon again.

Joey lies on his bed. He can hear his parents fighting downstairs, but he listens to Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and tries to ignore them. He uses heroin, drifting in and out of consciousness.

Aoife hears nothing from Joey until Sunday night when he texts her to meet him at the bar. She finds him waiting for her at a table. She is nervous, convinced that he is going to break up with her. He starts by telling her that he was suspended from school and faces possible expulsion. However, Shannon is leaving BCS to go to Tommen College, which he hopes will change her life. Then, Joey shocks Aoife by apologizing for being so distant.

As Joey prepares to go out with Aoife, he thinks back to a couple of nights before when, in the middle of the night, Aoife caught him snorting drugs. Instead of getting angry or yelling, she simply took him to bed with her. He realizes that Aoife is the only thing in his life worth living for.

Joey goes downstairs and finds his parents arguing in the kitchen. He steps between them, and his father immediately backs down. Joey realizes that Teddy is afraid of him now. Marie tells him that she is pregnant again. Joey leaves them in the kitchen, thinking how the new baby “tightened the chain around [his] ankles” and how he has “completely fucking unravel[ed]” with no hope of stopping it (440).

Aoife and Joey go to the bar, and Aoife watches with Casey as Joey dances. She can see that he is extremely high, full of energy, and reckless. When he leaves the bar with some other guys to smoke, she follows them. She finds Joey destroying a car in the parking lot. She steps in and drags him off as police sirens sound in the distance.

On the walk, Aoife keeps trying to force Joey to talk. Eventually, he breaks down, yelling that nothing in his life matters. He admits to her that all he feels is pain that is “so fucking strong [that he’s] drowning in it” (444). She assures him that he is fine to feel that way but that he has to care about himself. However, he insists that Aoife needs to get away from him because he is exactly like his father.

After not hearing from Joey all day, Aoife goes looking for him, finally realizing that he must be at Shane’s house. Shane insists that Joey isn’t there, but Aoife demands that he let her in the house. When she calls him a “prick,” Shane grabs her around the throat. However, when Aoife doesn’t back down, he lets her go and laughs.

Aoife finds Joey in a bedroom, lying on an old mattress with a needle in his arm. She sobs over him, trying to get him to respond. When he says her name, she tries to drag him from the room. Shane makes fun of her, but another older man offers to help her. He carries Joey and puts him in Aoife’s car. Aoife asks him what she should do to help Joey, but the man insists that Joey will be fine “with a lass like [her] in his corner” (449). When Aoife asks why the man helped her, he tells her that he was in Joey’s position once, and he wishes that someone had helped him.

Joey tells Aoife that his mother is pregnant. He then says he loves her, but she tells him it doesn’t count when he’s on drugs.

Joey wakes up, slowly remembering what happened the last couple of days. He turns toward Aoife, lying next to him, and realizes she is sobbing. He tries to apologize, but she tells him that he is breaking her heart. She tells him that the part of Joey she loves is still inside him somewhere, so she’s not going to stop trying, but that he is ruining her. Joey realizes that he has no choice but to break up with her to “save” her.

Joey tells her that he needs to leave and gets up. She tries to stop him, but he insists that he can’t keep ruining her life. He is adamant that he can’t change despite Aoife’s desperate attempts to get him to stay. He hugs Aoife and kisses her forehead, telling her that she has been the only good thing in his life. She begs him not to leave, but he goes.

When Joey gets home, his siblings are excited about Christmas. However, he sees Tadhg—who is almost 12—sitting by the tree, playing with a train. He looks at the tag and realizes that it is a toy donated by a local charity. He tells the kids to go to his room and find the presents Santa left there and then goes into the kitchen to talk to his mother.

Joey confronts Marie about how she didn’t buy them the presents they wanted. He gave her 200 euros the week before, but she used it to pay Teddy’s gambling debts. Joey angrily scolds her, but she repeatedly says that she is “embarrassed” about everything, too, and is trying to change. Joey tells her that he can’t keep living this way, suggesting that the kids might be better off in foster care. He ignores his mother’s pleas and goes upstairs.

At home a few days later, Aoife struggles to get out of her bed. She forces herself to do simple tasks—brush her teeth, shower, get dressed—all while replaying Joey’s last words to her in her mind. She can’t get the image of Joey with a needle in his arm out of her head.

For three days, Joey forces himself to stay off drugs. After seeing his family on Christmas, he realized that he couldn’t continue in the same cycle if he ever wanted to get away from his father. Shannon comforts him as he vomits in the toilet. He has hope that, if he can survive withdrawal, Aoife might, someday, want to take him back.

Aoife gets through several days by focusing on work and studying. When her parents go out for New Year’s, she stays at home. However, she can’t stop thinking about Joey. Finally, she decides that she needs to speak with him one last time—at the very least to get rid of the thoughts in her mind.

Joey stays home with Shannon and watches his brothers on New Year’s Eve. He refuses to go out and drink, knowing that will only cause him to risk relapsing. He continues to think about Aoife’s “heartbroken face,” which drives him to stay sober.

He and Shannon sit on the couch and talk about the last time they were together on New Year’s. It was six years ago when Darren told his parents that he was gay. Teddy broke Marie’s arm and Joey’s nose and then left for a month. A knock on the door interrupts their conversation.

Joey opens the door and finds Aoife standing there. He realizes that she looks “more broken and more beautiful” than ever before (482). She asks him to talk, so he steps outside with her.

Aoife is shocked to find Joey at home on New Year’s Eve. However, he tells her that he is trying to fix himself. She forces him to admit that he messed up, and then she angrily yells at him. She tells him that she has given everything to him—she fought through her trust issues, lied for him, and even went into a drug dealer’s house for him—but that it would never be enough for him because her “love doesn’t come in the form of a powder” (486). Joey finally interrupts her, insisting that he is the “problem” and knows how much damage he has done to her.

As Aoife demands answers from Joey about why he can’t get over his addiction for her, he thinks of all the things he can never explain to her. Drugs control his life because they’re the only thing that ever helped him with the “sheer fucking misery that was his life” (487). They started as a temporary fix and eventually took over his life. He feels ashamed every time he uses drugs, but so far, he has never been strong enough to stop. Instead of telling her any of it, he simply tells her that he doesn’t know why he can’t fix himself.

Aoife continues to try to argue with him, insisting that he can get through it and that she can help. However, he tells her that he needs to protect her by doing this on his own. After what she had to go through on Christmas Eve, he needs to make sure she never goes through anything like that again. He finally tells her that he loves her. Aoife tries to get him to “promise” that they are only temporarily broken up, but he tells her that he can’t. Instead, he tells her that they will still see each other in school, continue to love each other, and he is going to do his best to “fix” himself.