The Unfortunate Occurence at Shenandoah High 2020 - 7. Chapter 7

I’m standing in the front hallway of Finn’s house and … remember the scene in Beauty and the Beast, the cartoon, not the remake, where the Beast realizes he’s in love with Belle and he shows her his library? Well, I’m Belle right now and Finn is the Beast minus the whole being kept in captivity and the subsequent Stockholm syndrome part.

There’s tons of marble statues and gigantic antique vases aka expensive rich people shit lining the walls. The ceiling is high and painted a bright blue. There’s a large, framed photograph of Finn and presumably his brothers prominently featured on the main wall. They’re all tanned and handsome and wearing expensive-looking suits.

Finn sidles up to me and starts pointing at the picture. He starts at the top and works his way down.

“That’s Franklin III – we call him Frankie. He’s the oldest. He turns 30 this year. This is Forest and Fabian – their twins. Forest is older by ten minutes. Forest lives in Arizona with his wife and two kids. Fabian just got divorced so he moved back to town. He’s living with his girlfriend in an apartment downtown. He and his ex share custody of their daughter Cassie. And that’s Ferris – he’s at NYU. This is his last year.”

Finn then looks at me and says, “And then there’s me. I’m the youngest. I’ll be the last one to fly the coup.”

“Wow, all these boys,” I say. “And all F-names.”

“Yeah – that was Dad’s idea. My uncles all have names beginning with the letter S but my dad’s name is Franklin. I think it pissed him off that my grandparents didn’t give him an S name so he was hell-bent on making sure we all had names that began with the same letter.”

“Is Finn short for something?” I ask.

“I swear if you tell anyone … well, I reckon you’ll find out at graduation anyway.” Finn sighs and rolls his eyes. “My actual name is Finnegan – Finnegan Patrick Montgomery. I’m named after my great-grandfather.”

“Finnegan,” I say, trying the name out. Is the guy standing in front of me a Finnegan? Am I a Tristan? Finnegan’s a cool name but there’s something … sexy about Finn.”

“I think I’ll call you Finn.”

“Thanks,” he says. We both turn away from the photograph and continue our way through the front hallway.

“Would you like something to drink?” Finn asks depositing his backpack and gym bag on a fancy looking marble table that looks like it weighs a metric tone. “We got Cokes, Gatorade, water of course and coffee.”

“Coke will be good,” I say as I follow him across the super shiny tile lining the entire front room.

“I’m gonna make a pot of coffee. I have a Pre-Cal test first thing tomorrow morning and I’m struggling. Have a feeling I’m gonna be up all night studying for it,” Finn says as we both enter the kitchen.

The kitchen is top to bottom stainless steel. Fluorescent lighting bounces off every single counter top and cabinet. Everything is also very clean. My house isn’t exactly dirty but this place looks like it was cleaned by a professional. I wonder if Finn has a maid. Is maid politically-correct?

“You sure you don’t want any coffee?” Finn asks reaching into an overhead cabinet. A sliver of his stomach is expose and I try so hard, really I do, not to notice.

“I’ve been told I make a pretty mean cup of coffee.”

I grin and shrug my shoulders. “Fine then – eighty-six the Coke and I’ll take a cup of coffee.”

“Sugar and cream?” he asks walking over to the biggest coffee maker I’ve ever seen which sits on the countertop next to the massive refrigerator. I guess when you have five sons, you need a big refrigerator.

“No sugar, extra cream,” I say taking a seat at one of the barstools surround the island in the middle of the room.

“One cup of coffee, no sugar, extra cream coming up,” he says.

As Finn fiddles with the coffee maker, I try to process my surroundings. I thought houses like this only existed in places like Beverly Hills, not a small town twenty miles outside of Atlanta.

“How long have you lived here?” I ask fiddling with the zipper on my jacket which I haven’t bothered to remove.

Finn turns around to face me and looks thoughtful for a moment. “Mom and Dad moved here in right after I was born so this is pretty much the only home I’ve ever known.”

“My grandfather was in the Marines so my dad says they would move like every three to four years to a different town. It really took a toll on my dad. He had a hard time making friends and when he did make friends it was time to move again – and this was before social media.”

“That sucks,” Finn says as he scoops coffee grounds into the machine.

“Yeah – when he married my mom, he told her that if they ever had kids they would stay in one place. So, long story short, I, too, have lived in the same house my whole entire life.”

“That’s cool. It’s really gonna be weird not being here next year. You know, with college and stuff.”

Keisha and I have been talking about what university we’re going to attend for undergrad since sophomore year but this is the first time it’s hitting me that this time next year, I’ll be in another city – in another state – and time zone. With Everett on the other side of the country and me maybe living in Chicago or Virginia, Dad will be all by himself.

“You okay?” Finn’s standing across the kitchen island from me. Concern is etched in the lines crisscrossing his forehead.

I shake my head and laugh. “I was just thinking about next year. I’ve never been away from home before?”

“Not even to travel?”

“Does driving to Savannah to visit my grandparents every summer count?” I ask.

“Well, I was thinking along the lines of leaving the country,” Finn says settling onto the stool across from me.

“No,” I say. “I mean I’d love to go to Paris one day. I would love to go on one of those boats in Italy and float down the canals.”

“My parents plan a big trip every year. On Christmas Eve, my parents, my brothers and their wives, we all vote on where we want to go the following summer. This year we’re going to Thailand.”

“Wow,” I say. Dad and I can barely afford to go to my grandparents every summer and Finn gets to go to a different country every year.

“I’m really pumped about this year. I got really bad food poisoning at Emily’s birthday party back in July so I didn’t get to go to Australia this year. I was really bummed.”

“I would be, too,” I say quietly. I barely flinch at the mention of the she-devil’s name.

There’s a beeping noise coming from the coffee maker which prompts Finn to hop up from his seat.

“So,” he says as he walks over to the coffee maker. “I have a bit of a proposition for you.”

My left brow arches involuntarily as I the word proposition echoes in my head. I sit up as straight as I can turn on my stool to face Finn. He’s pouring coffee into two bright-yellow mugs. When he finishes he brings them over to where we are sitting.

“I fucking suck at Pre-Cal,” he says as he slides a pitcher of creamer across the island towards me. “Emily’s best friend, Hayden was in your Pre-Cal class last year and when I told her I was struggling she mentioned that you had the highest grade in the class.”

Actually Shane Isom had the highest grade in the class but I was a lovely runner-up if I do say so myself. Math isn’t my favorite subject in the world but it’s never been a challenge for me. Math is black and white, you’re either right or wrong, and that’s why I like it.

“I know I invited you over here to help me with my printer and email but would you be willing to help me study for my test tomorrow?”

Finn’s eyes are big and brown and he looks like a puppy at the shelter begging to be adopted. There’s absolutely no way in hell I’m going to say no to him even though I did promise Keisha we’d hang out some tonight. I’m sure she’ll understand. There’s nobody on the planet who’d understand more than Keisha Alston.

“Sure,” I say. “We wouldn’t want you to fail.”

“Coach will literally kick my ass if I fail this test.”

And I believe it. There’s a rumor that Coach McHurk ended up having to take court-mandated anger management a few years back for punching one of his players in the nose. Not only did the kid and his family drop the charges, the kid actually told the police that it was his fault that Coach McHurk punched him.

“Don’t get me wrong, Mrs. Richards is a great teacher and she’s been super patient with me but me and math … we just don’t mix.”

“Well,” I say hopping up from my stool. “With that attitude you might as well go to Coach right now and tell him you failed.”

Finn looks confused.

“Freshman year, I took Wellness with Coach McHurk and every single day we had to play dodgeball which is every kid who looks like me worst nightmare. Every day I would show up to class and I’d get picked last and then I ended up being the first person out of the game.

“One day something snapped inside of me and one day I walked into the gym and I told myself, I may get picked last today but I am not going to be the first one out. So of course, when teams were picked, I was the last one picked – but when Coach blew that whistle and the game started, when the other team all aimed at me, I fell to the floor and everyone behind me got hit. At least five guys ended up being taken out of the game at the same time.”

“So, you finally learned the dodging part of dodgeball,” Finn says smirking around the rim of his mug.

“Yes – it took a month but I finally got it and by the end of the semester I became pretty decent at dodgeball … and I lost eight pounds.”

“That’s cool,” Finn says.

“So, if I can learn to appreciate dodgeball, there’s no reason you can’t learn to appreciate Pre-Calculus.”

“Well, I hope you brought your sleeping bag,” Finn says after taking a long sip of his coffee. “Because this is definitely going to be an all-nighter.”

“I’ll have to call my dad to let him know where I’m at,” I say.

“Tell him I promise to make sure his son is returned home safely.”

I peck out a quick text to Dad letting him know where I am and what I’m doing. Outside of Keisha, he doesn’t know about any of my other friends and the reason for that is because I don’t really have any other friends. Neither does Keisha for that matter.

I also send a text to Keisha letting her know I will have to cancel our plans. She quickly texts back a series of heart emojis followed by an eggplant emoji.

“Well,” Finn says, sitting down his mug, “We have our work cut out for us so we better get started. My laptop’s up in my bedroom let’s head upstairs.”

As I follow Finn out of the kitchen and up an opulent spiral staircase to the second-floor, I notice how quiet and empty the house is.

“When do your parents get home?” I ask as we move down a dimly-lit hallway.

“Oh, my parents are out of town. My older brother is receiving some sort of an award at NYU so they flew out this morning to attend the ceremony. Then they’ll take the train to DC to meet up with one of Dad’s fraternity brothers. They won’t be back until next week … which reminds me …”

Finn stops walking and turns to face me. “Are you free this Saturday … around 9ish, 10ish?”

9ish, 10ish on a Saturday I’m usually dozing on Keisha’s pull-out sofa in her den – but I’m certainly not going to tell Finn Montgomery this tidbit of info.

“Yeah,” I say a little bit too enthusiastically. “I’m free.”

“Awesome,” he says slapping me on the back, a little too hard – not that I’m complaining. “It’s tradition that when Mom and Dad leave town, the Montgomery boys throw a huge-ass party and since I’m the last Montgomery boy still standing, I have to carry on the tradition. So, this Saturday, I want you to come over. Feel free to bring your boyfriend, too.”

“I-I don’t have a boyfriend,” I sputter.

Finn looks confused again. “Really? I thought you and that Nick kid were together. I mean, I saw you two eating lunch and whatever you two were talking about … it looked real intense. I assumed … my bad.”

“No,” I say placing my hand on his bicep. “It’s fine. Nick’s just a friend. He was having a really rough day that day so I was talking him through it.”

“Oh,” Finn says. “Well, feel free to bring anyone you want. I already talked to Keisha about it and I think she and Sheldon are coming.”

Okay, so first Keisha’s going out on a date with Sheldon and now they’re attending parties together? And why am I hearing this from Finn and not best friend?

“Sounds fun,” I say.

“Oh it is,” Finn says as we arrive at what I presume is his bedroom. It’s a plain brown door with a faded Keep Out sign nailed to the door. I’m trying to imagine an angsty version of Finn nailing a Keep Out sign to his bedroom door but with the current version of him standing two feet away, it’s hard.

“Just a warning – my room is a mess,” he says with a grin. “Enter at your own risk.”

“I’ll take my chances,” I say. “One of us needs to print off a paper, get back into their email account and study for a very important test, so march.”

Finn gives an exaggerated salute and says, “Sir, yes, sir”, before placing his hand on the doorknob.

I can’t believe it. In less that two weeks I’ve gone from being the guy who just so happens to be in the same theater class as Finn to becoming Facebook friends with him and now I’m about to enter his bedroom. I pray my heart holds out long enough for me to tell all of this to Keisha in the morning.