Gold Dust Woman- Lip Gallagher

school or leave

Diana and I went to the next football game. The boys found a new coach: Steve. 

We sat next to Fiona who tried calling Lip a thousand times but got left to voicemail every time. Lip got expelled, and Fiona was furious. She had every right to be given it was 100% his doing. I mean, he threw a chair out a fucking window and almost hit a freshman.

"Seriously, dude? Seriously? Explain this to me."

She shook her head and hung up.

"I've tried calling him three times already. He won't pick up," I said, "Is there anything we can do?"

"I don't know," Fi said, "I mean Mr. Healy was able to get him into another school, so there's that."

"He's lucky," Diana said, "Mr. Healy isn't as big an ass as people make him out to be."

Carl scored, and we all cheered for him. It was a success. 

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We all went back to the Gallagher's, and Diana and I were about to start dinner when Steve and Estefania walked in. 

"D'You have a pairing knife?" Steve said.

"You're not cooking dinner," Fi said.

"Oh, come on!" Debs said.

"Let him!" Carl said.

Steve had a lot of groceries, so Diana and I sat back down. 

The front door opened as Lip walked in, finally showing his face for Fiona to chew him out.

"Hey! Expelled?" she said.

"You win," he said, making me scoff.

"I win," she said, "That's all you have to say?!"

"What, I lose?"

"You're lucky for a loser. Mr. Healy got you into another school."

And as expected, he said he wasn't gonna go, leading to an argument. 

"Guys! Guys, calm down," Steve tried to intervene, but Fiona stopped him. 

"Hey, Jimmy. Butt the fuck out!" she said. At this point, I wasn't sure whether to call him Steve or Jimmy, "You are finishing high school."

"I've done a year more than you," Lip said.

I shook my head. She had a way better reason to drop out than he did. If she didn't, those kids would've died or been on the streets. How do you even compare the two situations? 

"This isn't about me!"

"So, what? You want me to bust my ass?!" he said, "Get a diploma and a high-paying job, so I could buy you all houses and shit, while you lay around doing fuck-all?!"

Lip was missing the point, and it frustrated me so much. 

"I'm down for that," Carl said, making me place my hands on his shoulders and shake my head. 

"Why's that on me, huh? What because I've done alright on some tests?!" Lip raised his voice. There was silence for a second as Estefania spoke on the phone silently in the background. 

"No. I'll pull my weight, but I'm not gonna be the fucking golden goose!" 

"School or out!!" Fiona said.

"What?!"

"My job is to keep this house going," she said, "Busting my ass for you. Working eight jobs, making meals, and keeping everything straight. Your job is school! School or leave!!" 

I hated watching this. The Gallaghers were dysfunctional, but they were a tight-knit family. And I hated to say this, but I was on Fiona's side. Lip was such a selfish person to not want this for himself. 

Lip scoffed and ran upstairs. Fiona went back into the kitchen and started setting the table when he came back downstairs with a backpack.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I'm not going back to school, so I guess that means I'm leaving," he said before walking out of the house. Diana, Ian, and I exchanged glances, and I held onto Carl before he ran off after Lip, and I could hear him yelling for his brother to come back. 

_____________________________________________________

Dinner was pretty quiet that night, and when Diana and I went home, we stayed up just talking about Lip.

"Do you think Fiona was right to do that?" Diana said.

"Without a doubt," I said, "She's the one who runs the house and pays the bulk of the bills."

"I don't understand it," Diana said, "If I was half as smart as him, I'd want to take as many opportunities as I could."

"I don't know what's going on with him," I said, "Even before Karen, he never wanted to go to college. I mean, the kid sets no goals for himself."

"Where do you think he's gonna stay?" 

"Karen's probably," I said, pondering a little more, "You know what? I need to get over him faster. Does Jason have any single hot friends?"

Diana chuckled, "You know Matt Turner?"

"Isn't he dating Tina Kost?" 

"Nah, they broke up two weeks ago," she said, "Next game Carl and Blake have, Jason's gonna come with. I'll see if Matt wants to come too. He's a nice guy too."

I smiled and kissed her on the head, "Thanks, babes."

She nodded and smiled, "Yeah, no problem."