Everything went black.
***
‘Mum wants me to drop Drama,’ Finn said.
Kelly screwed up her face in disgust. ‘What? Why would you do that?’
‘She thinks it’s a waste of time.’
Kelly rolled her eyes. ‘For fuck’s sake, Finn. How many times are you going to have this conversation with her? You want to be an actor, not a fucking accountant.’
Finn chuckled. ‘Take it easy, Tarantino.’
They stood in front of the new release section. The DVD store had the titles stacked three and four deep rather than along the shelves, so you’d know straight away if a movie was unavailable by the big fatRent me next time!sticker on the last copy. The exception was the movie of the month guarantee, which had so many copies it filled its own section. This month it wasThor, the latest instalment in a disturbing trend of comic book movies that were taking over the world.
Finn reached out and picked up a copy. ‘How about this?’
Kelly shook her head in mock disgust. ‘What am I, twelve?’
Finn put Thor back where he belonged. ‘You’re an impossible person, you know that?’
Kelly shrugged. ‘What? You want to be an actor. Shouldn’t we watch something that actually contains acting?’
‘Fine. You choose.’
Kelly scanned the shelves and, more to infuriate Finn than anything else, she picked upTransformers: Dark of the Moon. ‘This one.’
‘You’re kidding.’
‘I’m more of a Shia LaBeouf girl than Chris Hemsworth. If you’re going to make me watch a brain-dead action film, I might as well enjoy the view.’
Finn shook his head. He was trying to look disdainful, but she saw the grin at the corners of his lips. ‘You’re paying.’
‘What’s new?’
***
It was a short bus ride and then a ten-minute walk back to Finn’s place. They didn’t speak much on the bus; neither of them liked talking when other people were around. It felt, to Kelly, like strangers were invading their personal space, threatening their special connection. Not that they were going out. They’d never even kissed. That would ruin everything.
Finn was the kindest, smartest and most complex person she had ever met. She knew he was damaged in some fundamental way, and it called to the brokenness in her own soul. A brokenness she didn’t understand or know how to manage. But she had found a companion in this tall, strong, sixteen-year-old boy with the haunted eyes. There was no way she was going to risk all that for a stupid teenage romance.
As soon as they stepped off the bus, Kelly took up the fight. ‘All right, so your mum doesn’t want you to do Drama in Year 12. She’s being irrational, but let’s figure out a way to get her over the line.’
Finn slipped as naturally into the conversation as if it had never been interrupted. ‘I don’t know if I can, Kel. She keeps going on about stability and security and how acting can be a hobby but will never make me any money.’
‘I get all that. But would she really prefer you were in some soul-crushing finance job?’
‘As long as it’s a steady pay cheque.’
Kelly sighed. Finn’s mum was a difficult character. Kelly had been tempted to simply write her off as a selfish and over-protective mother who wasn’t willing to hand control of her son’s life over to her son. But after what happened with Finn’s dad, she could hardly blame her.
Still, Kelly had to stand up for Finn. She knew he couldn’t do it on his own, so it was up to her. ‘I’ll talk to your mum tonight,’ she said.
Finn glanced at her as they walked side by side down the leafy suburban street, the trees in full spring green and the warm air soft on their skin. ‘You really think that’s a good idea?’
Kelly knew what he was getting at. Not only was Finn’s mum overly protective when it came to his school and career choices, she was also irrationally vigilant against the influence of teenage girls – and one teenage girl in particular. She’d never really warmed to Kelly, despite the amount of time Finn spent with her. Or perhaps because of it. At first, Kelly had been confused, then hurt. But as she grew older and had started to become a young woman herself, she could see that Finn’s mum felt threatened by her – afraid that she would be replaced, forgotten, discarded by the most important man in her life. Again.
‘I’ll be nice,’ Kelly said.
