Keeping 13

When Shannon goes over to Johnny’s house that night, he tells her what he did and apologizes. She has a lot of emotions but is mostly concerned that Johnny will get in trouble. However, Johnny insists that Joey was not upset. Joey is sure that the kids won’t say anything to their mother.

The two go to Shannon’s room. They take off most of their clothing as they kiss. Shannon touches him through his boxes and insists that she is ready to have sex with him.

Johnny and Shannon take the rest of their clothes off and get into bed. They begin having sex, with Johnny moving slowly and continuing to check that Shannon is okay.

They are interrupted by Edel knocking on the door. When she starts to come in, Johnny stops her while Shannon hides under the bed. However, she finds the open box of condoms on the ground and demands that Shannon and Johnny meet her downstairs.

That night, Shannon lies in bed, “mortified” after being lectured about sex by Johnny’s mom in their kitchen. After the talk, Johnny’s mom gave Shannon a ride home and continued to explain to her that she should not let Johnny’s hormones control her. She then hears tapping on her window and opens her curtains to find that Johnny has climbed up the house. He tells her that he promised to spend the night with her the first time they had sex, so he sleeps in her bed.

Johnny gets a call from his rugby coach at the Academy. He tells Johnny to come Saturday morning for practice and to bring all his medical reports; the coaches from the U20 National Team are going to be there to scout him.

Johnny tells Gibsie, and the two celebrate together. However, he realizes that impressing the U20 coaches will mean being away from Shannon for a month, then even longer if he makes the team. He makes Gibsie promise not to tell anyone until he gets through Saturday’s training.

Monday morning, getting ready for school, Shannon thinks of how Joey always understands situations better than she does. Weeks ago, when their father was arrested, he told Shannon that their situation wouldn’t work. Now, she realizes that Darren is becoming more and more distant, spending more time back in Belfast with his husband. The social workers are coming around much less frequently, and their mother continues to be completely absent from their lives. She wonders how long it will be before their father comes back.

At school, Shannon runs into Bella and two of her friends in the restroom. Bella confronts her, commenting how Shannon probably deserved to get beaten by her father. Shannon tells herself to fight back and shoves Bella aside. However, Bella pins her to the floor. Bella smashes her lunch all over the front of Shannon’s clothes. She writes “Slut” and “BJ-13” on Shannon’s cheeks then dumps her water bottle all over her. Shannon angrily swears at Bella, who continues to pin her to the ground as she takes pictures with her phone, then leaves her on the ground.

Shannon looks at herself in the mirror, shaking and sobbing. She calls Joey to come pick her up.

Johnny is in the parking lot when Joey arrives, angry and demanding to know where Shannon is. Aoife calms him down as Principal Twomey comes over. Everyone stops when Shannon shows up, wet and covered in food.

They ask Shannon what happened, and Gibsie points out Bella and her boyfriend, Cormac, who are walking into the parking lot. Johnny realizes that Bella must have done it and angrily heads toward Cormac. Before he can hit Cormac, however, Joey steps in, punching Cormac first. Bella yells at Joey to stop, calling him “scum,” which infuriates Aoife. Aoife punches Bella in the face, knocking her to the ground, then continues to hit her as she yells at her for hurting Shannon. Meanwhile, Joey continues to hit Cormac.

Finally, Gibsie pulls Joey off Cormac, then Joey stops Aoife. Twomey tells everyone to come to his office. However, Joey turns to Aoife and insists that she leave. He tells her that he will be fine, but she needs to get out of there so she won’t get in trouble.

Shannon, Bella, and all the guys sit outside Twomey’s office. They watch as Joey is taken away in handcuffs. They continue to argue with Bella and Cormac but are interrupted by Twomey’s door opening and their parents coming out. Bella’s mother stops in front of her and demands to see Bella’s phone. When she finds the photos of Shannon, she angrily scolds her daughter. She demands that Bella apologize to Shannon; however, Johnny stops her, saying that Shannon does not need her apology—she just needs Bella to stay away.

Last out of the office are Darren and Johnny’s father. Mr. Kavanagh tells Twomey that he plans to represent Joey in court and that he will represent Shannon as well if she decides to press charges against the school. Twomey tells them that Bella is being suspended for three days, but Darren insists that this punishment is insufficient after everything she has done to Shannon. Flustered, Twomey asks Mr. Kavanagh to come back into the office. On his way back in, Mr. Kavanagh assures Shannon that Joey will be home that night.

Darren turns to Johnny and apologizes to him. He admits that he “misjudged” Johnny. Johnny acknowledges that Darren was wrong but tells him that he doesn’t need an apology. Darren then asks Shannon if she is coming home with him. Shocked to be given a choice, Shannon considers, then tells Johnny that she should go home with Darren so that Johnny can go to practice.

Johnny returns home that night and finds Joey in his kitchen. Mr. Kavanagh tells them that he got Cormac’s parents to drop the charges against Joey. Bella has been expelled. However, he was unable to convince Joey’s school not to expel them given his history of getting in trouble.

While Joey goes to the bathroom, Mr. Kavanagh tells Johnny that he and Edel have been working on adopting Shannon and her siblings. They have already gone through the work of getting approved as foster parents, and they are now going through the legal steps of getting the Lynch children removed from their house due to neglect. Johnny is ecstatic, realizing that he would feel much better about leaving if he knew Shannon was safe.

Shannon waits at home for Joey to return. When he finally gets home, she texts Aoife and then goes to Joey in the kitchen with Darren and his mom. Shannon realizes that he is high, as Darren confronts him about it. When their mother says something, Joey turns on her. He tells her that he is messed up because of her—her fear and inability to do anything about their father’s abuse all these years is worse than anything their father ever did. She angrily slaps him. Joey continues, saying that she did nothing for them and everything for her husband, and his mother slaps him again. Darren intervenes, but Joey just turns and leaves the kitchen, saying that he is leaving the house for good.

Outside, Shannon sees Aoife try to stop Joey. However, he insists that he is only making her life worse. As he walks away, Aoife breaks down crying. Darren tells Shannon to go back inside as he gets in his car to find Joey.

A while later, Shannon hears a car and goes downstairs, thinking that Joey or Darren is back. However, she instead finds her father coming into the house. Horrified, she tells him he shouldn’t be there, but he just calmly greets her and goes to his wife in the kitchen. Marie tries to tell him to leave, but he just continues into the kitchen as if nothing is wrong. Panicked, Shannon runs up to her room and locks herself inside. She calls Johnny, who tells her he is coming.

Shannon waits in her room, watching for Johnny out the window. She hears her father knock on the door and ask if she’s in bed. She answers yes, then tells him goodnight and hears him go away.

When Johnny gets to Shannon’s house, he hears her yell to him from her window and helps her climb down. He tries to call the police, but Shannon insists that it will only make the situation worse. Johnny tells Shannon to wait in the car so he can go inside and get her brothers.

Johnny makes his way into the house. He finds Sean on the stairs and picks him up, realizing that Sean is covered in whiskey. He looks around and realizes that the entire floor is wet. He makes his way with Sean to Ollie and Tadhg’s room. Talking through the door, he convinces them to let him in. Ollie tells him that Shannon’s keys to unlock the front door are in her coat downstairs. As quietly as they can, they make their way through the house. As they pass the kitchen, Johnny hears their parents talking, with Teddy sitting with his back to them.

When they get to the door, Johnny turns the key and hears Marie cough as the door opens. He sees her staring at him through the kitchen door. As he swings open the door, she coughs again, and he realizes that she is muffling the sounds of the door from her husband. She hears Marie say that she is going to have a drink with Teddy, and then she gets up to close the kitchen door. As she does so, she mouths to Johnny to take the kids. Johnny tries to get her to come with him, but she refuses, saying that she “can’t.” As Johnny turns to go, Marie mouths the words “Tell them I’m sorry” as she shuts the kitchen door (489).

Johnny drives Shannon and her brothers back to his house. When they get there, Shannon sees Edel come out of the house, looking angry and demanding to know where Johnny was. However, she seems him soften as Johnny explains what is happening. Johnny then returns to the car and tells the boys to come in for ice cream.

Back at Johnny’s house, he watches as Shannon interacts with her siblings. They seem calm after what happened, but Johnny feels strongly that he needs to go back to get Marie. Mr. Kavanagh’s phone rings. A few minutes later, he tells Johnny to come into the kitchen.

Mr. Kavanagh informs him that the police are on their way. When he called emergency services, they were already at the Lynch house, as it went up in flames just moments after Johnny left. Distraught, Johnny refuses to believe it, saying that he still has to go back and get Shannon’s mom. However, his father assures him that Johnny did everything he could and saved the lives of Shannon and her siblings. Johnny then realizes he has to tell Shannon, just as she comes into the kitchen. At the same time, Darren walks into the house, upset. He tells Shannon what happened, and Shannon breaks down, sobbing. The police come and confirm what happened. Johnny holds Shannon, feeling helpless and like he is “drowning in the unfairness of her life” (502). He stays with her in the kitchen, singing the song “Here Comes the Sun” over and over, but can hear the children in the other room as they are told what happened.

Shannon remembers people arriving and someone giving her a shot as she is overwhelmed by “grief and anger” (504). When she wakes up later, she realizes that she is in Johnny’s room. She asks Johnny about Joey, and Johnny promises to find him as she falls back asleep.

As Shannon’s brothers grieve and the police speak with them, Johnny goes with his father back to Shannon’s house. The fire is still going as they pull up. They see Joey thrashing around out front, insisting that he go into the house to save his family. Johnny gets out and Joey runs to him. Johnny comforts him, telling him that his siblings are all safe back at his house.

They take Joey back to their house. Joey is still angry, insisting that no one touch him and that he is responsible for what happened. When Edel comes out of the house, she embraces Joey, and he lets her. He sobs in her arms as Darren comes out of the house and joins them. Not able to handle the grief anymore, Johnny turns to go back down his driveway. Just as he starts down it, Gibsie arrives, and Johnny collapses into his arms.

A while later, Johnny and Gibsie sit together in Johnny’s old tree house. He tells Gibsie what happened and insists that he should have realized what Shannon’s father was going to do. However, Gibsie assures him that Johnny did what he could and helped give Marie “some serious peace” (512), getting her kids out of the house because she must have known what was going to happen. Johnny realizes that Marie must have sacrificed herself to save her kids. The two sit together and watch the sun come up.