Boy Who Made It Rain by Brian Conaghan

that you cannay keep anythin a secret, the world is too small man, walls have ears an all that. Rosie must’ve known. But the funny thing about it wiz that Cora didnay tell her, now that wiz dead weird coz if that’d been ma best mate I’d’ve told him there an then, but Cora said nothin. Maybe she knew somethin we didnay. Some folk still think Rosie got wind ay somethin coz she’s no that stupid. Rosie Farrell may be loads of things but she’s no thick. If she did, it just shows you how much she wiz intae yer man. Maybe he wiz threatenin her or somethin an that’s why she didnay dae anythin. A dunno, it’s pure mental man. A still cannay get ma heed roon it.
    A just think he hated it here, that he hated all the teachers, apart fae Miss Croal, an all the students. The NEDs used tae give him a hard time aboot his accent, slaggin him all the time, doin bad impressions an all that. They slaughtered him aboot his clothes as well, which wiz a pure joke considerin they’re all sittin there wey their Primark trackies an white trainers on. A actually thought Clem’s clothes were cool as. He looked a wee bit like a singer, but no one who looks like they’ve been dragged through H an M . Cooler than that. Anyway, it wiz a sin fur him coz you couldnay even say anythin back tae them in case he’d git leathered after school. A cannay blame him. That’s why a thought he went tae those classes after school, tae get away fae the NEDs. It wiz a sin for him man, am tellin you. A felt dead sorry fur the guy, coz he wiznay that bad so a had a wee brainwave, a approached one of the NEDs who played in the football team an ask them tae lay aff a bit. Bad move man. Bad move. A just said, give the guy a break, man. An he turned roon an said, ‘A’ll fuckin break yer jaw if you speak tae me like that again, ya cheeky cunt’. Aye, it wiz Fran McEvoy. A thought a wiz in for it; that the squad would be waitin after school. For about two weeks a wiz terrified of them. At the end of the day a had tae let Clem fight his own battles on that front. Look after number one. But, dude man, the guy wiz getting a hard time fae all angles, the Croal stuff an the NEDs. He wiz one brave boy though, no doubt about that. One brave mother. A’d defy anyone tae do nothin in that situation.
    Sometimes a think that maybe the fellas an me could hiv done a wee bit more, you know, iz a support fur the guy. Bring him intae the clan. That we could’ve invited him oot with us sometime. Up the town. Gigs. Shoppin. But, at the end of the day, if it doesnay click, it doesnay click. It would’iv been like tryin tae fit a triangle intae a circle, or somethin like that.

Rosie Farrell’s Mortification
    I might be daft but I’m no stupid, or the other way around. Do you think for one minute that I walked around that place and never heard a thing? Of course I heard what everyone was saying. Even my best pal was saying it, well, she wasn’t exactly saying it but she was part of all the gossip groups. Oh, I know Cora she’d have been right in the middle of them all, stirring it up. Although she told me afterwards that she was trying to shut them up, I didn’t know if I believed her. We just had one of those rubbish arguments that nobody wins. I was saying to her:
    â€˜Aye some pal you are, didn’t even say a word.’
    And she was like, ‘what do you mean, ‘never said a word’ I was the one trying to make sure your name was kept out of it.’
    â€˜Aye right,’ I said.
    â€˜Aye right,’ she said.
    â€˜You should have told me,’ I said.
    â€˜You should be thanking me I never,’ she said.
    â€˜There’s no way I’m pure thanking you,’ I said.
    â€˜Aye right,’ she said.
    â€˜Aye right,’ I said. And it went on like this for ages and nobody won the argument. I won’t bore you with the rest of it. At the end of the day I