Taming 7

The first day of school goes poorly. One boy, Ronan McGarry, calls Aoife a “slut,” causing Joey to fight him and get suspended for two weeks. Shannon’s little brother, Tadhg, also gets in trouble for joining in the fight.

At lunch, Shannon sobs over Joey’s first day at Tommen, while Johnny comforts her. To lighten the mood, Gibsie brings muffins from Johnny’s mother. As he feeds them to Claire, the other rugby boys joke about it. When one player, Danny, takes it too far, Gibsie jumps out of his seat and starts fighting him. Soon, all the rugby players join in, a full-out brawl breaking out in the lunchroom. It only stops when Johnny steps in and pulls them apart.

After school, the rugby coach punishes the players with hours of extra exercise. Gibsie notes how, after the fight, all the players are back to being friendly with each other as if nothing happened.

After, Gibsie finds Claire, Shannon, and Lizzie. Lizzie immediately tries to incite an argument, noting how Principal Twomey punished Joey for fighting, yet did nothing to any of the rugby team. She comments on the fact that the school does everything to protect them. When Claire tries to get her to stop, Lizzie angrily leaves, blaming Claire for always choosing Gibsie over her.

After she goes, Gibsie thinks of how he will never tell anyone the truth about what happened with Claire’s sister’s death. He knows the full story of what happened with Caoimhe and Mark, but it’s easier to take the blame rather than talk about it.

Claire spends her day with Gibsie at the bakery where he works. His father used to own it—naming it Gibson Bakery—then his mother took it over when his father died. Now, Gibsie spends most of his time there, as Claire hopes that he will turn baking into a career.

After, Claire convinces Gibsie to come back to her house. She fills the bathtub with water, then asks him to get into it, hoping to help him get over his fear of water. He is adamantly against it. Claire slowly coaxes him into first standing, then kneeling, then finally sitting in the water. They spend a couple hours together in the water, with Gibsie slowly relaxing as Claire sits behind him, holding him.

Gibsie asks Claire why she “wastes” her time on him. She responds that no time with him is ever wasted, as he’s her “favorite person” (112). She tells him to think of this moment each time he panics, replacing his bad memory of the water with this one.

The school secretary, Dee, calls Gibsie to the office. Over the last couple years, Gibsie and she have been engaging in sex acts after school. For Gibsie, it always helped him get the affection he wanted from someone without costing him much time or effort.

When Dee proposes going to her car, Gibsie turns her down for the first time. He tells her that he isn’t “interested” anymore and that their relationship never should have happened in the first place. She reacts defensively, blaming Claire for his change of heart. She bitterly tells him that Claire will not “understand […] how [his] mind works” and that he’ll “never be able to make it work with her” (117).

Claire goes over to Gibsie’s house. She can hear the song “Shiny Happy People” by REM blasting from his room. She knows that he is playing overly happy music to hide his terrible mood, as he often does so when he’s at his lowest point.

When she goes into his room, she sees him standing on a chair in the middle of it. He is using bright yellow to paint a smiley face on the ceiling. She mentally steels herself to try to fix his mood.

Claire turns down the music, then demands to know what Gibsie is doing. He insists that he is just trying to make his room brighter and happier to help himself sleep. He then picks her up and puts her on his shoulders, lifting her to the ceiling so she can add to his work.

At four in the morning, Gibsie is still awake. He wakes up Claire, who is sleeping beside him. She groans, complaining that he woke her up from her dreams about him. He admits that he doesn’t usually dream, but when he daydreams, he is always thinking about her. He tells her that he loves her, and she answers that she loves him, too.

A month after the first day of school, Claire, Lizzie, and Shannon go over to Johnny’s house where Aoife, Joey, and the baby, AJ, are now staying. They watch the baby while Aoife showers. Joey has stayed out of trouble at school since being suspended, while also working long hours to take care of Aoife and AJ. Overwhelmed by sadness thinking about it, Claire steps outside to calm herself down.

In the hall, Claire runs into Johnny. She apologizes for being upset but admits that she was just thinking about how difficult Joey’s life has been, and will continue to be as he recovers from his substance dependency and the abuse he has been through. Johnny assures her that Joey is more “resilient” than anyone he knows and that he is working hard to “build a future” for himself and his family (129).

Gibsie asks his teammate, Patrick Feely, to help him build a home for his pet hedgehog, Reggie. He and Claire found Reggie as a baby and have raised him ever since, as they consider him their child. Feely jokes with Gibsie about it, insisting that it’s weird for him to care for a wild animal.

The conversation turns serious when Feely brings up Lizzie. He asks Gibsie to talk with her, insisting that they should’ve talked about Mark and Caoimhe a long time ago. Gibsie gets angry, yelling at Feely that it’s not his fault Lizzie hates Mark, yet he gets the brunt of her anger. He curtly thanks Feely for his help, then makes him leave.

On Friday night, Gibsie convinces Johnny to go out to Biddies, a local pub, so Shannon and Claire go over to Johnny’s to hang out with Aoife. As they watch TV together, Aoife talks about how big of a mess AJ always makes between spitting up and going to the bathroom.

Aoife warns Shannon and Claire about being careful when they have sex, describing how much damage childbirth did to her body. Claire admits that she’s a virgin, while Shannon assures them that she and Johnny are using protection.

At the bar, Gibsie, Feely, and Hugh coax Johnny into drinking with them. A few hours later, they sit and talk about Johnny’s rugby career and how much he has missed while he’s been away. Johnny insists that he knows what’s been going on, jokingly pointing out that Gibsie is still in love with Claire.

The conversation gets serious, as Hugh tells Gibsie that he needs to change if he is going to pursue Claire. Johnny interjects that they have all done things they aren’t proud of, while Gibsie insists that he is already trying to change, pointing out that he ended things with Dee. Feely then supports Hugh, telling Gibsie that he needs to make a choice: Either pursue Claire or let her go so that she can find someone else.

Gibsie goes over to Claire’s house the following night after being forced to work out all day with Johnny. He collapses onto her bed, joking that he is rethinking asking Johnny to train him for the Academy. Claire’s mother comes into the room to tell them that Feely and Katie are downstairs. She offers to order food before she goes to work.

Two hours later, Claire and the others play games while talking about Halloween. It is Hugh’s 18th birthday, so she is planning a huge formal party. They discuss different famous couples that they could dress up as. When they bring up Lizzie, Claire points out that she and Pierce are broken up again. Gibsie makes a joke about disliking Lizzie, which Claire can tell bothers Hugh, so she changes the subject, insisting they need to play another game. Katie suggests Never Have I Ever.

As they drink whiskey and play, things get heated between Hugh and Gibsie. They both bring up things that they have done with girls in the past. Hugh brings up Dee, saying that he has never slept with a member of the school administration. Angry, Gibsie dumps out his shot instead of drinking it.

Claire breaks the tension by telling Gibsie that she needs to go to bed. Gibsie can tell that she is drunk, so he quickly helps her up to her room. Once there, Claire expresses her frustration that Gibsie doesn’t “love her” the way she “need[s]” him to, and she “can’t wait forever” (161). She then tells Gibsie that he should kiss her. Gibsie responds that he loves her in “many ways,” helping her into bed and resisting the urge to kiss her.

Claire, Lizzie, and Shannon go to a café, celebrating Claire getting the job as a lifeguard. When Feely walks in, Claire can see that Lizzie is looking at him. She comments that Lizzie should try a relationship with him, but Lizzie insists they are just friends.

Feely joins them at their table. Shortly after, Gibsie arrives. Claire tells him about her job, and he excitedly hugs her. Lizzie scoffs, insisting that Gibsie is only acting excited to “seduce” her. An argument then ensues, escalating to the point that Lizzie says that “Peter Biggs saved the wrong child from the wat—” (172), with Shannon interrupting her before she finishes her sentence. Instead of responding, Gibsie simply gets up and leaves the café.

Angry, Claire confronts Lizzie about what she said. Shannon tries to explain to Lizzie that both she and Gibsie lost their sisters, so Lizzie should be more sympathetic. Lizzie responds that she “had nothing to do with his sister’s death and he had everything to do with” hers (173). Claire then tells her that she is done defending Lizzie if she is going to be so vicious toward Gibsie, then gets up and follows Gibsie out.

Outside, Gibsie thinks of how Lizzie was right. The only reason Bethanie died was because Gibsie was teasing her with a toy laser. She chased the light on the boat, then fell overboard. Gibsie jumped in after her, despite not being able to swim. He reasons that if their father had not tried to save them both, he could have managed to stay afloat, or Pete could have helped them. Instead, Gibsie was the only one Pete could save.

His thoughts are interrupted by Claire. She insists that he is allowed to be upset about what Lizzie said, but he tells her that he is fine. He assures her that he is “always okay” (177). She convinces him to go back to her house so that they can spend the day watching Dirty Dancing.

On Monday, Lizzie joins Claire in the common room. Claire realizes that she has already forgiven Lizzie for her outburst, even though Lizzie refused to apologize. Lizzie tells her that she overheard some boys talking about Claire. Jamie Kelleher is planning to ask her to the cinema. Claire thinks about how Jamie is the only boy other than Gibsie that she has ever kissed, as they dated for two weeks back in second year. Despite Claire’s protests that she doesn’t like Jamie, Lizzie begs her to give him a chance. She insists that she needs to stop waiting for Gibsie.

Their conversation is interrupted by Gibsie, Johnny, and the others coming in from rugby practice. Lizzie tells them about Jamie, and Claire can see Gibsie’s annoyance. Lizzie angrily tells Gibsie that he can’t “ruin” this for Claire.

Outside, Gibsie is overwhelmed with anger at the thought of Claire going out with Jamie. Johnny and Joey confront him about it, insisting that he needs to ask Claire out if he is so upset about it. He repeatedly insists that they are too young; he wants to be with Claire forever, not ruin his chances with her with a high school fling.

Their conversation is interrupted by Dee. She flirts with Gibsie, who dismisses her, then goes into the school. Johnny pulls Gibsie aside to tell him that he is concerned about Dee. He expresses his guilt that Gibsie initially started a relationship with her to keep him and Gibsie out of trouble, as he used her for help with the school. He points out that Dee took advantage of and “groomed” him. Gibsie argues, insisting that he never had penetrative sex with her and that it was always his choice. He assures Johnny that he is done with her, regardless.

Jamie stops Claire in the hall. He asks her to go out on a date with him. As Claire hesitates, Lizzie interrupts, telling Jamie that she will. Shannon then shows up, thanking Jamie and telling him that Claire needs time to think. She then escorts Claire into the lunchroom, leaving Jamie standing in the hall.

That night, Gibsie sits in his room, reading the same line of a letter over and over: “I don’t know how to make it right” (200). When Claire comes into his room, he quickly hides it under his mattress.

Claire confronts him about not talking to her after school, telling him that she knows it’s because Jamie asked her out. She demands to know why Gibsie won’t go out with her. Their conversation is interrupted by Gibsie’s mom, who tells him goodnight.

Claire gets into Gibsie’s bed. She tells him that she is going to sleep there that night. When Gibsie climbs into bed next to her, she kisses the back of his neck. She then lowers her hand to his shorts. Gibsie stops her. He thinks of how desperate he is not to ruin their friendship, but also how much he loves her. Claire then takes his hand and puts it on her own shorts.

Claire holds Gibsie’s hand against her shorts, staring into his eyes for several minutes. Finally, giving up, she rolls over. Gibsie then rolls with her, leaving his hand where it is and pressing his lips to her ear. He asks her if she wants him, and she nods, but Gibsie insists that she say it out loud. She tells him twice that she wants him.

Gibsie moves his finger inside of her. As she reacts to the pleasure of it, Gibsie assures her that she is “safe” with him. She thinks of how she knows that both her body and her heart always will be. She orgasms, then Gibsie pulls her to him and kisses her shoulder, telling her goodnight.

Gibsie stays awake the entire night, racked with guilt over “cross[ing] the point of no return” when he “had no right to” (208). When Johnny calls, he immediately gets ready and goes to the gym with him, leaving Claire in bed.

While they work out, Johnny makes a comment about how hard Gibsie is working and how quiet he is. Gibsie insists that he is fine and that he is “always okay.”