"Hey, Finn, did you hear, dude, did you hear?" Kevin was speaking in excited tones as he, Finn, and Mack all walked down the hallway.

"Hear what?" Finn asked. With Kevin, one would never know just what popped into his head.

"The man, dude. The man is coming." Kevin could barely contain his enthusiasm.

"Mack, are we about to be invaded by 60's era business tycoons?" Finn asked.

"No, Tommy Sherman is coming into town. You didn't hear about that?" Mack replied.

"I've heard that name before. He's the quarterback when Lawndale won state a few years back, right?" Finn asked.

"That's right, dude!" Kevin cheered. "He's coming back, the man is coming back to Lawndale!"

"Too much hero worship isn't always healthy, Kevin." Mack lectured. Finn agreed. Tommy Sherman was, by all accounts, an incredible quarterback. The fact that he won the state championship was incredible. However, heroes didn't win your games for you; you won them yourself.

"Aren't they giving him a new goalpost or something?" Finn asked. He had heard they were replacing one of the goalposts on the field with a collapsible one, in case anyone ever ran into it. For the life of him, Finn couldn't figure out just how stupid someone could be to run straight into a goalpost, but he supposed that, during the hustle and confusion of evading a tackle, worse things had happened. People did go out of bounds, after all.

"Yeah. Jodie's giving a speech about it." Mack explained. Hardly a surprise, Jodie did everything.

"Hey, Mack Daddy, you think she might need any words of advice, from, you know, a QB's point of view. I'm sure Tommy Sherman would love it."

"I'll ask her." Mack replied sarcastically.

"Give her a sack of potatoes before you do." Finn posed, knowing Mack's sarcasm with the topic. "Get her to mash `em up. Productive rage." Mack laughed a little at that one.

"We having mashed potatoes at lunch today?" Kevin asked. Both Finn and Mack winced.


Kevin split off from the group to see Brittany, and Mack and Finn were soon joined by Jodie.

"Hey." Finn smiled. Jodie returned it.

"How's the speech coming?" Mack asked politely. Jodie frowned at Mack's asking. Did she not want to give the speech? If so, why even do it?

"It's coming along fine." Jodie replied tersely.

"What'd I say?" Mack asked. Jodie huffed and walked away. Finn resisted the urge to say anything about Jodie's behavior; Mack was a great guy, but a comment like that would just make him upset.


Finn kept his eyes open for Tommy Sherman, but didn't see him when he was going to Barch's class. After the class was over, Finn started to walk down the hallway, only to run smack straight into Brittany Taylor.

"Oof!" Both fell to the ground.

"Watch it!" Brittany stated angrily. Finn was amazed. Brittany looked seven degrees of pissed.

"Sorry, Britt." Finn helped her to her feet.

"Oh, Finn." Brittany seemed to calm down a little bit, but she still seemed angry.

"Hey, you alright?" Finn asked. He resisted the urge to ask if Kevin had admitted to an affair of some kind.

"No!" Brittany said angrily. "That guy...he's such a jerk!"

"Who is?" Finn asked, but Brittany didn't answer him. Instead she angrily stormed down the hall.

"Whoa, better watch out for that hurricane. Good luck with her tonight, Kevin." Finn laughed to himself.

"What would have caused that? Brittany knows most of the guys here already. I mean, how many has she slept with or at least groped their marbles. She doesn't get turned off by something that simple. I mean, I think. Oh well, it makes no difference to me." Finn continued down the hallway towards the lunch room.


On his way there, Finn saw someone he had never seen before. A very tall, buff man, probably in his early 20's. He was talking to Ashley Beaker, a girl who was one of Finn's present-giving sycophants. Finn couldn't hear what they were saying, but the man appeared to be very pleased with himself, while Ashley looked a bit repulsed.

"Someone coming on to her? Well, she doesn't look happy. Won't get in the way of my profit." Finn chuckled to himself. He had to walk past them to get to the cafeteria. As he got closer, he could hear what the two of them were talking.

"I'm sure there's a closet somewhere no one is using." The man replied. "Why don't we finagle our way in, and you can worship Tommy Sherman with your mouth."

"What!" Finn looked about as horrified as Ashley was. She slapped him and walked away in a huff.

"Is that what horrified Brittany so much." Finn wondered.

"Cocktease!" The man called after her. He could only be one person: Tommy Sherman himself. He was old enough, and he'd be the only person, aside from Kevin, to have such a high opinion of himself that he'd name his johnson after himself. Finn shuddered at the thought of Kevin doing something like that, but quickly turned his attention back to Tommy Sherman.

"You're Tommy Sherman, aren't you?" Finn had seen this guy for all of five seconds, and already he wanted to punch him. What the hell was this guy's problem, coming up to girls like that.

"That's my name. You in the fan club or something, little boy?" Tommy was no less polite to Finn than he was to Ashley, although, thankfully, he wasn't asking Finn to get on his knees.

"No. I'm Finn Morgendorffer. I'm the center for the Lions."

"The center? A wimp like you? What, for like, intramurals or something? Or are you just the football dummy?"

"No, I'm the varsity center." Finn was ready to clock this asshole, but he knew he'd get into trouble with Ms. Li for hitting a guest, no matter how much of an asshole he was.

"Did you meet him before, Jodie? Is that the reason why you don't want to give the speech? If so, I take it back. I don't have anything to say about this guy fit for a public audience either."

"You, on varsity? Wow, the cheerleaders got better, the players got suckier. No wonder this team couldn't carry state after Tommy Sherman left."

"I'm sure it was all you." Finn huffed, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Of course it was. Who do you think ran in all the touchdowns?"

"If that's indicative of how many times you've broken your nose, then congratulations. It's great to see how many strike-outs you've had with the ladies. I don't see anyone in the closet with you."

"Maybe I should let you watch, loser. After all, it's the only thing a loser like you can do. Watch the winners."

"Some winner. Can't even get a single girl." Finn returned.

"Please. You should have seen them line up the week we took state. Every girl in the school, lining up, asking for more of Tommy Sherman's magic mojo."

"That was three years ago. So, what, you've been blue balled since high school? Good work, hot shot." Finn didn't like this sexual discussion. He was, after all, still a virgin, and wasn't about to go all the way anytime soon. He still recalled Stacy touching him when Finn had his shirt off, and the cold feeling still remained.

"You know what, punk. Tommy Sherman's sick of listening to all this loser talk. You talk a big game, but here you are, walking alone to your next class. While Tommy Sherman can remember all the ladies who loved him and wanted to be loved by him, you're just leftovers, can't play, can't score, can't do anything, because you're such a loser!" Tommy Sherman walked off angrily, and Finn seethed in anger for a moment.


"That little douche-bag calls me a loser!" Finn growled. He wanted to hit something, anything. Perhaps, if the asshole had spoken to Joey, Jeffy, and Jamie, the guys would need to arrange an all-out four-way brawl after school.

"This is completely absurd. How do you manage to think you're somehow great." Finn cursed Tommy Sherman.

"I hope you get what you deserve." Finn thought. He started to head towards the lunch room.


As soon as lunch ended, Finn walked down the hall towards the gymnasium. He sincerely hoped that the gym teacher, wouldn't be bringing that asshole into class to talk to the students. He entered the men's locker room and started to change, but, just as he was getting started, he heard a loud wooden "snap" from the direction of the football field.

"Did that new goal post fall?" Finn wondered. Did they even set that up yet? Maybe that asshole was testing out the new toy, and seeing if it actually worked. And there'd probably be a crowd of football players and other fans, cheering him on as he did it.

But, soon after the crash, he heard the sound of people rushing down the hallway towards the field.

"Huh? The post is already shattered. There's a little late, aren't they?" Finn wondered. He stopped changing and headed out into the hallway. There was a large throng of people clustered, trying to get out of the door towards the field.

Finn noticed Jeffy in the crowd. He grabbed his buddy's arm to get his attention.

"What just happened?" Finn asked. Something had to have gone down if this many people were clustered around. This wasn't some victory celebration for Tommy Sherman shattering the goal post. At least, Finn hoped it wasn't.

"I don't know. I just followed everyone else. Hey, there's Joey and Jamie!" Jeffy called. Finn's other two buddies were rushing up.

"You know what happened?" Jeffy asked. Both Joey and Jamie shook their heads.

"I know, let's go out through the locker room." Finn thought quickly. The other guys agreed, and the four went through the locker room and outside. From there, it was a short walk to the field.

There was a cluster of people around the bleachers, as well as an ambulance and a police car. Ms. Li appeared to be on the field, along with Mrs. Morris, Coach Gibson, and a few other teachers. Everyone looked to be a combination of sad and stressed out as paramedics were working around a large wooden crate.

"Everyone, clear the area!" The police officer shouted into a megaphone, trying to get the students to disperse. Although everyone moved away a distance, no one went back into the school

"What do you think happened?" Jamie speculated. They weren't about to get close enough to see the details.

"Look at that." Jeffy pointed to the ground near the wooden crate. It was hard to make out with all of the people rushing back and forth, but Finn saw a lot of red.

"Blood!" Finn was aghast.

"Someone must have been under that crate and it fell." Joey pointed out.

"Aw, man, that's awful. That thing must have been heavy." Jamie noted. Finn agreed, it was doubtful anyone could survive being crushed under there.

"So, who was it?" Finn wondered. One of the janitors or maintenance crew who were preparing to set it up. How exactly did that thing fall anyway.

"Heh, I wonder if Tommy Sherman will talk about this tragedy, or just try to get into Jodie's pants when they talk about the speech. Times like this, I wish Barch was a student. Wouldn't that make for some amusing fireworks." Finn tried to laugh.

"Oh, God, am I making jokes about the dead guy? That's pretty weak." Finn criticized himself.

"Hey, hey coach!" Joey called as Coach Gibson started to run past the guys towards the school.

"What are you guys doing out here. Get back to class, it's not pretty out here." The Coach explained.

"What happened. Is someone hurt?" Finn asked. The Coach sighed, and place a hand on his chest.

"It's horrible. So tragic. That poor man."

"Who?"

"Tommy Sherman." The Coach replied. "He was out here reading the plaque they were going to put on the new goalpost, and the crate fell on top of him. He's...he's gone boys. Tommy Sherman is dead."


All four guys stood on the field for an extended moment, clearly lost in their own thoughts. Finn's brow furrowed when he received the news from Coach Gibson.

"So...he died." Finn thought. He wasn't exactly sure how to feel about that. He didn't feel grieved at the man's passing, or even a sense of poetic justice as Finn recalled the first, and only, conversation he had with the man. Virility-related insults were all the two men traded.

"We should get back inside." Finn told his buddies. Jeffy stood motionless, watching the police and ambulance crew move around the dead man's body.

"We shouldn't look." Finn told them. "We'll get sick."

"That's not funny." Joey did not look pleased.

"I'm not trying to be." Finn returned. "We should just go back in the school. The police and paramedics are here. They can do this stuff a lot better than us."

"Yeah, I guess so." Jamie agreed softly.

"Sorry, dude." Joey apologized. "Guess I was just angry."

"Eh." Finn shrugged. He grabbed Jeffy's arm and the four men slowly started to move their way back into the school.


Unsurprisingly, there was an assembly called in Tommy Sherman's honor, but Finn barely played attention to it. He wondered if he should find a quiet place to skip out, but reasoned that would be tasteless.

Jodie wasn't giving a speech during the assembly. Instead, Ms. Li was the only one talking. She started talking about the tragedy, and how one should use events like this to spread joy and light to others, like Tommy Sherman did.

"Lady, did we meet the same man?" Finn thought. Tommy Sherman spread a lot of things, but joy and light were not it. He spread insults, put-downs, and probably herpes to girls stupid enough to get close. Although, if Brittany was able to see through him, perhaps that last one wasn't as bad as Finn thought.

Although Finn found himself disinterested in Ms. Li's speech, it was Kevin whom the center could not take his eyes off of. The quarterback sat in the front row, along with Brittany, and the man was visibly distraught, sobbing in the front row uncontrollably. Finn was too far away from Kevin to do anything for him, but the sight of him made Finn think. Finn had seen Kevin without his shoulder pads on, and the quarterback was less buff than Finn himself. If Tommy Sherman had known that Kevin had committed the sacrilege of taking his position, he would have cut him down worse than he cut down Finn.

And yet, Kevin, blissfully unaware of Tommy Sherman's complete contempt of the team, wept for his fallen hero like a grieving widow.

"Or did you meet him?" Finn wondered. Kevin would certainly be oblivious enough to ignore his hero's insults of him. Perhaps, Finn wondered, that wasn't a completely bad thing.


After the assembly, Finn had his study hall. It was unsurprising that many of the discussions during the time were somber, about Tommy Sherman. Most of them must not have met the guy either; Finn had no idea when, exactly, that guy came to school.

Finn was frustrated and angry, and the entire school felt more like a cage then usual. All of these people were talking about the hero, or martyr, Tommy Sherman, and the guy wasn't praiseworthy at all.

Finn noticed Ashley Beaker out of the corner of his eye, and was eager to sit with someone that he knew was not a fan of the fallen quarterback.

"Hey, Ashley, do you mind if I join you?" Finn asked pleasantly.

"Sure, Finn." Ashley smiled eagerly, as she always did. Finn had not exchanged many words with Ashley; the girl herself just wasn't that pretty or popular. Decent, but not overly great. She was little more than a gift-giver, but she made some killer homemade sweets.

"Hey, I saw you earlier, talking with Tommy Sherman. Just before lunch." Finn wanted to hear this girl say something about how much of a jerk the football star was.

"Show me some sanity." Finn ordered her. "And I'll give you a great date."

"Yeah." Ashley seemed bummed. That wasn't a good sign.

"You're down." Finn noted. He really didn't want to hear about her problems, but maybe she'd tell him what she wanted with a little prodding.

"Well, it's just..." Ashley clammed up. "I wonder if I could have saved him."

"Saved him?" Finn asked.

"Well, he...uhh..." Ashley wasn't about to speak.

"I did see you too, in the hall, you know." Finn replied. Ashley's eyes widened.

"Oh." Ashley replied. "So you saw me slap him."

"Yeah." Finn replied. He was about to tell her it was okay, since he heard the other part of the conversation leading up to the slap. But instead, Ashley started crying.

"Hey..." Finn stated, but Ashley blubbered, ignoring him.

"Why did I hit someone and then he died! I'm horrible!" The girl wailed. She was starting to make a scene, and Finn decided it was best that he leave. She wasn't going to give him what he wanted anyway, and, if Tori showed up, this would be another Brooke Cameron saga.


There was supposed to be a practice after school today, and Finn wondered if it would be cancelled. He hoped not. This whole day was making him think some extremely unpleasant thoughts, and he wanted them out of his head. He wanted to have an intense practice in the rain; to feel nothing but cold and pain, and then pass out from exhaustion into a sleep with no dreams. Then maybe, he could wake up and just ignore Tommy Sherman and the misery he left in his wake.

But there was a sign on the men's locker room door from Coach Gibson, instructing the team to just go into the auditorium and not change for practice. Finn entered to see a number of the guys already there. He saw his buddies, clustered around Kevin, who sat on the bottom bleacher. He was still bawling, although he was calmer than he was during the assembly.

Coach Gibson was nowhere in sight at first, but the man soon came out a few minutes later. He walked over towards the guys, and everyone took a seat on the bleachers.

"Lions, I know you were expecting a practice today, but, in case you haven't heard, we had a guest today: Tommy Sherman, who was varsity quarterback a few years back when Lawndale took state." Coach Gibson was usually as proud as Ms. Li when he mentioned the state trophy, but now he was somber in his speech from start to finish.

"We were dedicating a new goalpost in his honor, but unfortunately, as he was outside looking at it, it fell on top of him. I'm afraid he didn't make it." The Coach finished. As if on cue, Kevin broke out in bawling again.

"I know that we're all used to getting hurt on the field, some of us have even been hospitalized for injuries, all things we do willingly for the good of our team. But this is a truly tragic incident, and I us all to take this time as a team and, if there is anything anyone wants to say about Tommy Sherman, my door's open." Kevin continued to wail during Coach Gibson's speech, and Finn's buddies patted him on the back and told him words of encouragement, softly, so as not to disturb the coach.

"This incident was a tragedy." Mad Mack spoke up from the bleachers. "We don't wish this horrible sort of thing on anyone, and to watch it happen is awful. I just hope everyone here is inspired to be more careful in the future, and that we take strides to be better people, on and off the field. I don't want to scare anyone or be morbid, but accidents like that happen at any time, and we want people to only think good things about us when we're gone."

"Best speech I've heard all day." Finn thought to himself, and he smiled for the first time since hearing about Tommy Sherman. Perhaps because it was the only speech he heard that wasn't really a sycophantic kiss up to the colossal asshole.

"Are we gonna have practice, Coach?" Finn asked. Coach Gibson took a deep breath.

"No, not today, Finn. I just wanted us all to assemble here so we could talk about this tragedy. Does anyone hear have anything they'd like to say?" The Coach opened the floor. No one said anything, but Finn looked around. Everyone was solemn, looking down at the wood grains on the floor. No smiles, no nothing.

"Okay, team dismissed. I want you all to take the day and think about things. I'll be here a while longer if you all need me."

For a second, Finn thought he should go talk to Coach Gibson. The Coach had been here for a long time, and probably would have coached Tommy Sherman. He would knock what a colossal jerk he was.

But at the same time he thought of it, Finn decided against it. Coach Gibson was a great coach, but football was the primary concern on his mind. He thought nothing of the fights Joey picked as long as he made it to every practice. He wouldn't care about Tommy Sherman's bad attitude.


So Finn decided to follow orders and head home. However, before he could make it there, he saw Brittany, talking with someone in the parking lot. She seemed to have regained her bounciness, and talked energetically to a man seated in his car.

Finn didn't want to interrupt her, so he waited until the man drove off.

"Oh, hi, Finn!" Brittany cheered.

"You're in a good mood. Find out about a killer party?" Finn asked.

"No, I just feel a lot better." Brittany stated.

"That's kinda vague. Can you be more specific?" Finn asked. Finally, someone who wasn't lackluster and morose.

"I just talked to Daria a few minutes ago, and she told me something good!" Brittany replied.

"Now the world's gone completely insane." Finn thought.

"Daria said something good?" Finn replied.

"Yeah. I mean, I was feeling really bad about Tommy Sherman. I thought I wasn't feeling bad enough because he was such a jerk to me, but then Daria said since I'm worried I'm not feeling bad enough I'm actually very good." It took Finn a second to piece through Brittany's words. It still sounded weird to him that Daria would encourage anyone.

"Then again, when I was in the hospital..." Finn thought.

"Ummm...Brittany. You said Tommy Sherman was a jerk, right?" Finn asked. Brittany twirled her hair with her finger, clearly unsure of what Finn meant.

"So you know he wasn't a nice person, right?" Finn asked.

"Well, yeah, but I mean, just because he wasn't a nice person doesn't mean I shouldn't feel bad. I mean, I didn't want him to be squished like that." Brittany replied.

"All the fancy speeches in the world do nothing, and the dumbest chick in Lawndale actually says the smartest thing of the day. Way to go, Brittany." Finn thought.

"I gotta go, okay. Bye, Finn!" Brittany cheerful went towards the school, probably to find Kevin.

As she left, however, a different thought flooded Finn's mind. Everyone today was talking about the tragedy of Tommy Sherman, how awful it was, how they wouldn't wish it on anyone. All nice things about this total jackass.

Finn felt his blood run cold. He was the only one. He was the person who couldn't say something kind about this guy. Even though Brittany acknowledged the man was a jerk, she was able to say that she had absolutely no desire to see him dead.

Finn didn't, either. He didn't wish for his death; he just wished that he'd disappear, or that everyone would see what a jerk he was. This was a guy who said nothing nice to anyone, no matter who they were.

"Is there a difference?" Finn wondered. "A difference between the man's death and the man's disappearance? Did you want him to be miserable?" Finn started chastising himself in his head, fiercer than he had ever done before.

"Loser!" Tommy Sherman's voice echoed the last word he had said to Finn in the center's mind.

"I am not!" Finn thought to himself. "I'm not like him. I say good things to people, I get dates. I am not that horrible man!" Finn's rationalization calmed him down a bit. But Tommy Sherman's insult still echoed in his mind.


Finn didn't feel any better when he got home. The house was dead quiet. His parents were, of course, still at the office, and Daria must have been out. She didn't make much noise even when she was here It was one of the more tolerable things about her.

Finn went straight up into his room. Although he planned on working out, he couldn't even muster the effort to change into his gym shorts. He lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling. His mind was racing too fast to take a nap, and he couldn't concentrate on anything to accomplish.

Tommy Sherman's insults were still ringing in Finn's head. He didn't understand why they were. Finn didn't listen to people he didn't respect, and there was no way in hell Finn would ever have respected Tommy Sherman. The guy was a slew of nasty words, and Finn would have liked nothing more then to beat him senseless.

"But little good that would do me know." Finn thought. "He's dead. That's it." The accident was a little depressing, but Finn found himself more depressed by the fact that, even though he died, he couldn't bring himself to say a good thing about the guy. And Finn knew good things about the guy already: he was a talented football player, after all.

But Mack, and Coach Gibson, and all of them, they weren't thinking of condemning the jerk.

"Am...am I that bad a person?" Finn stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. It was a ritual he performed at least three times a day, more if he had a date or other excuse to be presentable. And the mirror, just like before showed it's reflection. Finn's hair was a little in disarray because he had been laying on the bed, but he still looked as handsome as ever.

Except for his mouth. Finn couldn't smile. No one would expect smiles after an accident, but even now, in private, where Finn didn't have to pretend to like Tommy Sherman, Finn found himself on the verge of tears. Nothing was giving him joy, and he was unable to do anything except hear Tommy Sherman's insults echo in his head.

"I'm not a loser." Finn thought. "Tommy Sherman was the loser. Sure, he could play, but that was all he could do. Probably just talked a big game on his conquests like we all do in the locker room. Some hero." Finn's insults of the dead man just made him feel worse, and he couldn't even look in the mirror anymore.

"That never happened." Finn lay back down on the bed, and stifled his tears again. No matter what he did, he couldn't praise the late quarterback, and the fact that he couldn't do so was making him feel worse.

"Am I...am I as bad as he is? Is that me in five years, trying to drag underage girls into the broom closet for a quick screw? No, no! That can't be me! I never do things like that. I have taste, I have style. I never ask for such crap!" Finn protested in his head, but the thoughts weren't going away, no matter how much he tried.

Finn thought to call Joey and see if they could spar together in the boxing ring. When they fought each other, both of them were vicious, beating each other near-unconscious. Finn had to work hard and keep his head level in order to beat a fighter with as much tenacity as Joey. There wouldn't be time to think of Tommy Sherman.

Finn sighed. He loved boxing, and fighting. While Finn did not discount the importance of words and diplomacy, nothing was as pure as speaking with his fist. There were no lies or deceptions, no manipulations or tricks. Just two fists and the justice of the man who wielded them.

But Joey wasn't picking up the phone. Although both Jeffy and Jamie loved a good brawl; and they were decent enough fighters, they would never agree to such a brawl. They didn't have the passion for fighting that Joey did.


Finn heard footsteps going down the hallway, and he realized that Daria was home. He remembered what Brittany had said; that Daria made her feel better. Finn couldn't imagine why: Daria would never take the time to say something nice to Brittany. Brittany, to Daria, was a complete and total idiot. Not that she was wrong, but it was still as harsh and cruel as Daria was.

"But Daria is honest, and you feel like hell already. She couldn't make you feel worse." Finn thought. He went to her room and opened the door. She was laying on her bed reading.

"Daria?" Finn asked.

"I'm not chipping in for new boxing gloves. They don't cause lasting damage when I hit you with them." She replied sarcastically. Finn ignored her.

"Daria, I wanted to ask you something. About Tommy Sherman." Finn stated. Daria huffed a little.

"I don't know what to tell you about that, Finn. I only met him once."

"But you did?"

"Yeah, just before the accident happened." Daria replied.

"So, then, you knew how much of an asshole he was?" Finn asked.

"You don't need glasses." Daria replied. It didn't surprise Finn that Daria wouldn't condemn him for calling the quarterback out. If she had indeed spoken to him, her opinion of him was probably just as low, if not lower, than Finn's, although Finn didn't know how the hell that would be possible.

"The only words out of his mouth to me was that I was an insult to the Lions and he insulted my...prowess." Finn elaborated.

"To say nothing of his." Daria replied.

"He tried to pick you up?"

"Not me, but I saw him in the halls."

"Brittany turned him down." Finn stated.

"Sometimes those two brains cells of her actually collide." Daria replied. Finn let the insult slide; Brittany was very stupid.

"I probably saw worse. He asked Ashley Beaker to come with him and find an empty closet, and I can't even finish the rest."

"You didn't come in here just to insult Tommy Sherman, did you?" Daria replied. "I already knew all of this stuff."

"But no one else seems to notice. We had a football meeting, and Coach Gibson acts like he lost a son."

"Don't coaches get attached to their star players?" Daria asked.

"Coaches aren't supposed to play favorites, they encourage their players individually and as a whole to make the team the best it can be. Anyway, I talked to Ashley and she was wondering if she did...that, that maybe she could have saved him or something."

"It's a tragedy, people always think that, especially when they speak to someone just before it happens."

"Are you thinking that?" Finn asked.

"No." Daria replied. "Tommy Sherman insulted me, I insulted him, then he left to look at his goal post. I couldn't have done it any differently."

"Well, anyway, err...It's really just bumming me out how everyone just says all these great things, and the man himself is nothing like the legend. I mean, did you see Kevin at the assembly."

"I heard him."

"Good enough."

"Finn, I'm sure other people have noticed that Tommy Sherman was a jerk. They just weren't talking about it."

"But why not? I'm just worried something is seriously wrong with me or something because I can't feel bad about it. I don't think I wanted him to get all crushed under the goal post, but I had already planned on how to skip out of the goalpost dedication ceremony."

"You can't feel bad about it, although you want to." Daria restated.

"Yeah."

"So, what do you feel bad about?" Daria asked. Finn couldn't answer, as he wasn't honestly sure of it himself.

"I...well...I feel bad because all my buddies are sad, and that makes me sad. I don't like feeling sad."

"Feeling sad is natural, otherwise, being happy would have no meaning." Daria returned. "At least you're the happy guy."

"Huh?"

"Ever since Tommy Sherman's accident, everyone's been coming to me looking for advice. All I hear all the time is 'I knew I could talk to you, Daria, because you're the misery chick.'"

"Misery chick?" Finn asked. "You're not a misery chick." Now it was Daria's turn to look at her sibling in shock.

"What did you say?" She asked.

"Misery chicks just say mean things about everyone because they think everyone else is to blame for their problems. They don't get dates and think the problem is with the men. Other girls are funny, and they're just superficial rejects. Tommy Sherman was a misery chick. Or dude." Finn quickly caught his error. Daria actually smiled, although Finn didn't think it was due to his word-switching.

"Who called you a misery chick, anyway?" Finn asked.

"Tommy Sherman."

"You listened to him?"

"It's hard not to when everyone else thinks you're miserable."

"Daria, when have you ever cared what other people think?" Finn asked.

"It's just wrong, that's all. I'm not miserable."

"I know." Finn replied. Daria looked at him strangely.

"Tommy Sherman called me a loser." Finn noted after a moment of silence.

"Why?"

"Because we aren't taking state, because I called him out for not getting any." Finn answered.

"If that didn't matter to you, why do you still remember it? You'd just forget if you didn't care."

"Because...I do care." Finn replied sadly. "I can't get it out of my head. I feel like such a loser because that guy died and I can't feel bad about it. I'm the misery dude. And I'm worried I'm going to end up like Tommy Sherman. I don't want to be that jerk!" Finn felt like he was about to cry again.

"So don't." Daria replied rather simply. "You know what he was like, so don't do it."

"But how do I change not feeling bad about something?"

"You do feel bad." Daria replied. "I feel bad too. We just aren't going to kid around and say he was a nice guy when he wasn't. So ask yourself why you feel bad, and then go from there." The two siblings were quiet for the longest time.

"I feel a lot better." Finn replied.

"Of course you do. Lawndale's misery chick helps another customer."

"You're not the misery chick. I already said that. Misery chicks wouldn't make someone like Brittany feel better." Finn replied. Daria didn't say anything else, but she seemed to take in Finn's repetition slowly.

"You're not a loser." Daria returned.

"Okay then." Finn replied.

"I'm going to Jane's." Daria stood up, and Finn left her room and returned to his own. After he got back, the phone started to ring. Joey was on the other line.

"Hey."

"Yo, dude. How ya doing?" Joey asked.

"Better." Finn replied.

"Hey, I was thinking, why don't we all hit up Pizza Palace. Some guy I know told me when, you know, people die, it's good to be around people you like."

"Sounds good. I'll meet you guys there." Finn hung up the phone. He thought for a second, then quickly dialed Stacy's number. Sandi answered the phone; there must have been a Fashion Club meeting. Finn invited them all, and Sandi eagerly agreed.


At Pizza Palace, the group of freshmen all sat around the table. At first, Jamie mentioned Tommy Sherman, but Finn effectively managed to silence him by stating they should only discuss pleasant topics. Jeffy agreed, and moved into a rousing talk about an embarrassing thing that happened during Mr. O'Neill's class. The jokes lightened the mood, and Stacy joined in to discuss other events that happened over the weekend.

It wasn't easy to keep the conversation going. The guys and the Fashion Club had diverging interests, and Finn often had to steer the conversation.

"Well, think it's time to go." Joey noted once the guys's extra cheese and the girls's cheese-less was gone.

"Yes." Stacy started to reach into her purse.

"I'll just...I'll just take care of the bill." Finn replied. Everyone look in surprise at him. Finn never paid the bill all by himself. Girls always bought him food when they went on dates, and when Finn went out with the guys, everyone just went Dutch.

"Two pizzas, seven sodas, that's only thirty-five. I can handle it. I won all that money from the roller hockey bet, after all." Finn noted. He had given most of that money to DeMartino, but that lie would stop them from thinking he was having some sort of illness. The guys shrugged and replied they didn't mind if he did that. The girls didn't seem to care either. As Finn started getting the trash together, he realized he wasn't hearing Tommy Sherman's condemning remarks anymore.

He hoped it wasn't just because he bought everyone pizza; that would have gotten expensive after a while. But he did feel better, between Daria and hanging with his buddies.

"Is that why I felt bad? Because my buddies were all sad? No, I don't think that's the whole reason. But at least these guys are happy. I feel better about that, at least."

Finn threw all his garbage away and started to walk home.

"Tommy Sherman, the legend himself. Yeah, maybe he did have a lot going for him. But he ruined all of that. I'm not like him. He was the legend, he called me a loser. And now look where we are now."