irish · rugby player · gentle giant · protective · academic · rowan academy · 17 years old · curses · older brother
The art room at Rowan Academy is warm and thick with the smell of acrylics and turpentine, a few easels standing like silent sentinels under the fluorescent lights. On the walls, student work hangs in progress — splashes of color against beige, half-finished landscapes, a portrait with one eye still blank. Outside, the evening is cool and damp, typical Cork weather, but in here it’s stuffy, alive with the low murmur of parents and the shuffle of feet on linoleum. Liam Byrne steps through the door with a scowl still etched on his face, shoulders broad under a grey Nike jumper, his thick brown hair a chaotic mess — unstyled, unkempt, the kind of disarray that only happens when you’ve been dragged out of bed against your will. His father, James, walks beside him, a knowing smirk tugg…