Skipping School Was A Bad Idea

Finn stood in the men's restroom of Crestwood High. He had bruises on his face and had already started to swell. Hell, his nose was bleeding too. He could barely see out of his right eye, and the burning tears that streamed out only made the swelling worse. He was a small guy as it is, so there was really no chance in him winning that fight. He had been anticipating this fight with Darrel for a while but he didn't think it would really happen. Darrell and a few of his friends had caught him on the way to the library between classes and jumped him in a janitorial closet. He was too scared to tell anybody since the school was pretty corrupted anyway. Who would believe him? He sniffled softly as he dabbed wet 1-ply tissue on his face to try to combat the swelling, gazing in the mirror. He started to sob at the image in the glass and hung over the sink, his aching back and shoulders flinching from his sniffles and sob. Tears and blood dripped into the sink. He was physically and emotionally hurt. It would be even worse if someone came in but he really had nowhere else to go for privacy.

The sound of feet walking towards the bathroom stall could be heard and he immediately began to panic. He turned on the water for noise and wiped at his face, pulling the hood up. It was Jackson. His best friend. Jackson would normally ignore whoever was in the bathroom but had immediately recognized Finn. He dropped his bag and rushed over, it didn't take long to see that Finn was hurt and hiding his face. Jackson stood beside him, pulling away the hood to see the damage. "What the fuck?" He blurted. He was more on the aggressive side. He was an angry person but laid back and easy to get along with. He had a soft spot for Finn, so he immediately got worried and angry that he was hurt.

"Don't worry about it,I'm fine-" Finn stuttered out, but Jackson just shook his head. "Don't give me that bullshit, tell me what happened, and who did what, so I can stick my foot up their ass." he growled to him with tightly clenched fists, maintaining eye contact. He was serious. "Look,I don't want you to do anything. You doing something will make it worse. It was Darrell and..some other guy. " Finn explained with a wince as he found it hard to lean against the sink because of his aching body. "Skip class with me?..I just wanna go home..I don't wanna go to class, I don't want to answer everyone's questions. I don't want to be here right now.." His voice trembled, he was on the verge of tears again. Jackson calmed down after realizing such, and just gave Finn a reluctant nod. "Alright.. Come on," Jackson said, pulling his keys out his pocket. "Want nuggets? I’ll buy them this time" He questions, instantly dropping the subject to try making Finn feel better. He knew his way didn't always work and respected his words. Finn gave him a nod with his head down.

This definitely wasn't the first time they had skipped class, which would explain how easily they helped each other out of the bathroom window. Even though Jackson was rough around the edges and seemingly The complete opposite of Finn, they got along quite well. They both liked the same music, and hated the same people, which is how they bonded. It didn't take long for a friendship to grow. In all honesty, in the back of Finn's head, he knew he liked Jackson for more than his personality. Jackson was mesmerizing. Masculine. Intimidating in all the right ways, and with a face like that, who wouldn't hang around? They were pretty close, and had been close since freshman year. Now seniors, they had a bond stronger than ever.

When they got to Jackson's car,Finn noticed it looked nothing like his 2013 black mustang. It was a pick up truck, grey. Presumably his fathers but Finn felt the need to ask anyway as he got in the truck. "Who's truck is this?" He pondered aloud. "My dads. Mine has a flat tire so i'm driving this for a few days. This baby can drive, I might have to trade with my dad," he said playfully, grinning as he glanced to Finn. He returned the grin and began to explore the car, opening the glove box. "Don't explore too much..my dad is very particular about his truck" Jackson warned. He ignored the warning and pulled out a small black book. "Don't worry, i'll put it back, i'm just looking," Finn claimed, analyzing it a moment before finally opening it. All of the pages were blank except for one random one which had weird writing and a map of some sort. "What the fuck is this?" Finn asked in a more worried tone. He flipped the page and would find a few Polaroids taped to the fragile old paper. One of which was seemingly a body and the other a dirty barrel which was seemingly half buried. Finn's eyes widened at the possibilities of what the map would lead to. "Dude, pull over, you dad didn't kill anybody did he?" Finn asked in a more worried tone.

Jackson sighed as he pulled the truck over in front of a grocery store and held his hand out lazily for the book. "Oh come on, I'm sure it's not that bad, " he claimed before finally seeing the mysterious pictures and map. He grew quiet while he pulled the pictures off the paper, finding an address scribbled on it. Finn leaned over closer to see, his imagination and curiosity grinding gears in his head. "Please tell me we're gonna go there to see what the hell is going on." Finn begged, Jackson returning his words with an eager wide grin. "Damn right!" he said with a giddy laugh, starting to pull out his phone to type in the address. "17 minutes away," Jackson updated aloud, starting to drive off and out the parking lot.

Finn pulled a leg towards his chest while he gazed out the window. "What do you think it is?..what if we find a dead body?..or like..something else scary," Finn pondered to his friend as they soon reached an abandoned barn at the end of a long dirt road. Fear started to melt through Finn's body in a shiver. But he remained quiet. It was a bit too late to turn back now.

They decided to get out and walk the dirt road in case someone lived in the barn. Finn grabbed Jackson's hand and Jackson gave it a comforting squeeze. Once they reached the end of the long road, they began to walk the perimeter to look for a way in since it was discovered to have a locked door. It didn't take them long to find a window, where Jackson gave Finn a boost and was helped up. The barn seemed empty for the most part. Finn pulled out the book and began to look at the map, scratching the back of his head. "Says it should be..here," he said, looking down at the dirt. Jackson was way ahead of him, and was walking over with a shovel.

He began to dig in the dirt, and after a foot of dirt was moved to a pile, the top of a barrel was revealed. Finn got on his hands and knees and began to dig around it to open it, revealing a dangerous amount of money. "$20,000" was written poorly on the top of the barrel. As soon as Finn grabbed a wad of the money, a shadow enveloped him, and a gun was pressed against Jackson's temple. "Who sent you?" A man in a thick Russian accent says viciously. Upon looking up, Finn saw a much taller, older looking man holding a gun in both hands at the both of them. What have they gotten themselves into?