9 Finnegan's House

During class, we just worked with our partners the whole time. Finnegan told me he had the branches woven and dried into circles, but they still needed a few more days before they would be ready to attach the electron berries and nucleus. He showed me some pictures of what he had done so far. I had no idea he was so crafty.

I told him all we would need for the project tonight was any kind of vinegar, any kind of mustard, olive oil, and a few seasonings to make it tasty, like dried oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. He was sure he had all of that already. After we discussed this, we just pulled out our packets and tried to finish them. He already had five pages completed, which was two more than I had, but he helped me catch up to him and we were able to finish the rest of the packet by the time the bell rang. All we had left was to write our essays and finish our projects. We were way ahead of most of the class who had barely even completed two pages, but we still had the rest of this week and three days of the next to work on it. Finnegan was like me and read the chapters at home, so we didn't have to flip through the book as much to find the answers.

Finnegan walked with me to the library before he went to his last class. When he left, I stood at the library door for a while watching him walk away. I wonder if he will ask me to be his girlfriend. It felt so surreal to have your crush, who you loved from afar for a year, finally be walking you to class and inviting you to his house, even if it was only to work on a school project.

I went into the library, and a few students came in to return books, but they didn't stay. It was a few weeks before the fall break, so midterm tests were coming up. Most teachers just assigned a paper and gave out a study guide for the topics the test would be over. About 20 minutes into class, the library was empty, so I went into the computer lab to type up the English paper I finished last night. When I finished with that, there was still 10 minutes left of class. I switched over to the internet and wrote down some research notes on emulsion and polar and non-polar molecules in case I needed to explain my project in more depth. However, I was probably over-achieving since the teacher wouldn't have very high expectations for most of the students in class. The bubblegum girls and football jerks usually only did enough to complete the assignment, but they never really seemed to get it. They pretty much just read enough of the chapter to paraphrase what they could understand, and then they went back to writing notes to each other.

The bell rang, and I straightened up the computer lab and library desk before saying goodbye to the librarian. When I got to my locker, Finnegan was already there waiting.

"Hey," I said to him as I walked up. "I just need to put my English folder away and get my Math book out. I'll be ready to go in a sec."

"No problem. There's no hurry." He stood patiently while I entered the combination to my lock. "By the way," he added, "I'm glad things worked out at lunch today. I really didn't expect them to act that way at first. And I'm sorry about your friend. Was everything ok when she talked to you at recess?"

I closed my locker door after I finished zipping my book bag and pulled it on. "Oh, well it wasn't too bad in the end. Kimber and Ashley are pretty nice, and Weston is ok too. Cheyanne tried to give me a lame apology and excuse, but I realize that we're just going in different directions. She did try to invite me along with the cheerleaders at first, but I don't really like girls like that. It's ok. It's probably for the best anyway. She never seemed to listen to my concerns before either."

"Hmm," Finnegan was quiet as we started to his car. When we got to the parking lot, he finally said, "Well, I'm glad I asked you to sit with us today. I was a little worried you might not want to."

"I really appreciated it. To be honest, I have been curious about you for a while."

He smirked. "Curious about me? Me specifically?"

"Uh," oh crap. "What I meant was, you and your friends kind of stand out since you wear all black all the time. I always wondered about that."

"Oh, yeah. I guess so. I don't know. It's just a style. My parents have a lot of black clothes too, and Weston is a skater boy, so he kind of has that style. As for Kimber and Ashley, I guess they just like to be different. Like, they really hate popular stuff and try to be obscure. They're alright though."

It took about 20 minutes to get to Finnegan's house. As he said, the road was really rocky and forested. It was pretty bumpy and he had to drive slow. When we got to his driveway though, I could see his house. It was actually pretty big. Well, a lot bigger than my house, which isn't saying much since my house was tiny.

"Well, here we are." Finnegan said as he pulled in to park under a carport beside the garage. "Looks like we made it here before my parents, but they should be here any minute. I'll show you around."

I suddenly felt nervous. Maybe this was his plan all along. Was he planning to make a move? My heartbeat accelerated as I got out of the car, taking my time to get my bag on and close the door. Finnegan had already walked up to unlock the front door.

I stared up in wonder at the house as I approached the door. It had white siding and a brown roof, and around the side I could see a porch that seemed to wrap around. "Wow, your house is really nice."

"Oh, thanks. We just moved into it last year. We used to live in a trailer, but my Nanna begged my dad to move closer to her. Dad said we got lucky when we found this house, but it still needs a lot of work. When my Nanna passed away, mom and dad decided to use part of the money to fix it up, so we recently redid the floors. Mom wants to paint too, but she and my dad can't agree on a color. Come on."

I followed him in. The first room I saw was the living room to my left when I walked in, and it was huge! The living room was probably the size of my whole house. They had it broken into sections. A tv area was in one quadrant, a computer desk with some potted plants and a trash bin were in another, and there was a fireplace on a platform in another corner with a card table and some chairs in the corner across from that. The floors were tile around the fireplace area, but some kind of wood laminate throughout most of the house. There were floating shelves on the walls with large crystals displayed and it smelled earthy.

"So this is the living room. Through those doors you'll be on the porch that wraps around this side of the house," he said pointing and gesturing vaguely. We walked into the kitchen, which wasn't super big, but definitely bigger than the one in my house. All of the appliances fit into it, with ample counter space. They even had a dishwasher. It opened up to a dining area with a table big enough for six. There was a hallway leading farther into the house with a door to the right of the hallway.

"Here's our kitchen. That door," he said gesturing to the door by the hallway entrance, "leads to the basement, which we haven't really finished. You can put your bag here in the dining room, and I'll show you the rest of the house."

I set my bag in one of the dining chairs and followed him down the hall. As we walked, he would open and shut doors, briefly explaining the rooms beyond. There was a study that his dad used, an extra bedroom, a bathroom that was big enough to fit a clawfoot tub and a stand-in shower, and across the hall from the bathroom was Finnegan's room. He paused in front of his door, but left the door closed.

"The door at the end of the hall is my parents' room. They have a bathroom in there too. It's actually ridiculous how big that room is, but we won't look in there. This is my room, but before I show you, I have to ask, are you afraid of snakes?"

I had been looking around and admiring the natural looking décor and thinking how nice it must be to have all of these rooms. His question startled me because after the tour, I wasn't expecting it. Was it a euphemism for something sexual? No, he probably meant actual snakes. Let's go with that.

"Snakes? I mean," my face twisted as I tried to think of a way to respond. "I don't really know. I really hate spiders, but I can't understand people having spiders as pets. But I've never really seen many snakes up close."

He smiled at that. "Ok, good. Well if she bothers you, I can cover the habitat, but I have a pet snake in my room. Her name is Dolores." He opened his door and led me in. Oh my gosh! I'm in Finnegan's room! This is where he sleeps. These are his things. Fortune has truly smiled on me by granting me my dreams of glimpsing into Finnegan's life.

His room was not huge, but still pretty big. He had a queen-sized bed with a big dark-brown frame. The dresser, bedside table, and headboard all matched. There was a closet with panel doors. He had a tall bookshelf filled with books. He also had a tv console table with a 50-inch flat screen tv and an xbox system. There was a plastic container, like the kind of container you would keep Christmas decorations in, but instead there was a log and a bowl that looked like a rock formation with water in it, and some kind of dark brown earthy material covering the bottom about an inch deep. The plastic was clear, but kind of a foggy white. I couldn't really see a snake in there.

"So, anyway, that's my house," he said, trying to fill the silence. "This is my snake, Dolores. She's hiding under her log, but I won't take her out unless you really want to see her."

I realized I hadn't said anything since I walked up to the front door. "Wow, your house is really nice." Doh! I said that already. "I mean, it's nicely decorated. Your room is nice too. And, um, maybe later I'll meet Dolores."

"Thanks. We should probably go get everything ready for the project anyway. We'll have to wash our hands pretty thoroughly after handling Dolores, so we should wait until after dinner if we get her out." He looked around his room. Maybe he was trying to find something else to show me. Was he nervous too? I started to blush just thinking about the fact that he might like me too. Was it warm in here?

Just then, we heard the front door open. "Oh, my parents are here. Lets go back to the kitchen." I nodded and followed him down the hallway again.

...

"So far so good," Finnegan thought to himself. I could have sworn she was blushing just then. Why was being alone with this girl so awkward and exciting? I don't normally get nervous around girls, but I've never invited one to my room before. At least she wasn't super freaked out about Dolores. I don't think I could enjoy her company if she was one of the girls who was vexed by every creeping, crawling, or slithering thing. Even though Elise was super nice and a little shy, she didn't really seem fussy about things like that.