The Story of Tom Brennan: Chapter Three Summary & Analysis

The next morning is tense; it's Kylie and Tom's first day of school in Coghill. Tom kicks a ball around outside while Kylie spends hours on her hair. In the car, Tom pretends he's choking on the fumes from the product in her hair, which makes Kylie very angry. Tom doesn't stop until Kylie attracts Dad's ire by cursing. Dad has a thing about girls swearing, which is why he liked Daniel's girlfriend Claire so much—she never swore.

Dad pulls up at the side entrance of St. Benedict's and tries to give Kylie and Tom a pep talk, but his suggestion that this is a challenge from God makes Kylie even angrier. She throws herself out of the car. Tom follows her and looks back to see Dad leaning over the wheel, his head in his hands. He wishes he hadn't looked back as he follows signs to the office and steps in behind Kylie. As Kylie leaves the office, Tom notices that her bag hitched up her skirt, revealing her underwear. He tries to get her attention and when he finally does, he sees that she's crying. Tom lets her go, understanding that it's easier to keep it together when you don't have to talk about it.

Tom is assigned Michael Harvey for homeroom. Tom is somewhat uncomfortable that Harvey apparently knows what happened with Daniel. Fortunately, Harvey introduces Tom quickly to the class and then tells him to sit next to Rory. Rory greets Tom and Tom thinks of the promise he made himself: that he'd only stay in Coghill until he finishes Year Twelve. He's not sure what he'll do next, but he knows he can't go back to Mumbilli for a while. Tom hopes that after Daniel's done his time, maybe they can go back.

The bus home is crowded with kids from four schools. Tom is able to slip into a seat and check out girls. He notices several sexy girls and thinks that before, Daniel would've been able to get whichever girl he wanted. The only girl Daniel ever messed up with was Claire. Tom explains that in the lead up to the accident, Daniel had been having a rough time and unlike girls before her, Claire put up with it. Daniel would rage and then sulk, and Tom wondered if Mum and Dad were scared of him since they never tried to do anything about it.

Tom also knew that Daniel liked Claire more than he'd liked any other girls, which made him extremely possessive. This was the case in particular with their cousin Fin. Tom wonders if Daniel was so awful because he could see that Claire also liked Fin, not just the other way around. In the weeks before the accident, Fin had started to grow up and become more confident. His skills on the field began to make him look better than Daniel and Tom, and he looked even better since Daniel was often playing hungover.

Tom notes that he's spent hours dissecting the changes that took place before the accident, trying to figure out what exactly changed. Specifically, he wonders if things started to change before the party or during the party. Daniel had gotten too drunk and aggressive and in the days that followed, Mumbilli had started to whisper that Daniel was an accident waiting to happen.

Because Gran's house is so far out of town, Tom and Kylie are the last off the bus and then have to walk ten minutes. Tom tries to ask Kylie about her day, but she won't engage with him. She says that he doesn't want to talk about what she wants to talk about (the accident) and asks Tom what teacher he got for homeroom. When Tom says he got Harvey, Kylie begins to cry and shouts that rugby has always saved him and Daniel. Tom explodes in anger, yelling that he's stuck in Coghill just like she is, and points out that rugby didn't save Daniel from jail. Kylie runs home, and Tom sits on the side of the road. Tom thinks there's no point in trying to talk about anything.

The night of the accident, Tom arrived at the scout hall late, as he had to convince Matt and Snorter that they should actually go. When they arrived, Daniel and Luke were already drunk, though Daniel was still happy. Tom went outside, where Snorter was telling everyone about his trail bike and two girls, including Nicole, were singing show tunes. Matt pointed to Claire, who was walking out of the hall looking like she was crying. Tom approached her and though Claire initially tried to brush him off, she told him that she broke up with Daniel. She rambled on, almost to herself, that she should've waited to break up with him, as he scares her when he's so drunk.

Tom watched Fin walk into the hall and Claire said that when Daniel doesn't get his way, he snaps. Tom assured Claire he wasn't mad at her, and Claire told Tom that Daniel said he was going to kill "him." From the hall, Tom heard shouting and Matt yelling for him. Tom and Claire ran into the hall to see a circle of people chanting, "fight," with Fin and Daniel in the middle. Daniel called Fin a weasel and yelled at Tom to not get involved. Finally, Daniel pushed Fin and shoved his way out of the circle.

Tom followed Daniel outside, yelling that Daniel did this to himself by treating Claire horribly. Daniel slammed Tom against a pole as Fin and Luke tried to talk Daniel down. When Daniel finally let Tom go, Tom walked away towards home, yelling that Daniel deserves everything he gets and is going down. The party started to break up and a line of cars started down the dirt track, most of them stopping to heckle Tom on the way. When Claire passed Tom, she yelled that Fin was with Daniel. A minute later, Snorter and Matt pulled over next to Tom. They said that Fin, the only sober one, would likely take Daniel and Luke home. Snorter remembered he left his jacket at the hall, so he and Matt turned around and promised to pick Tom up on their way back through.

Tom enters Gran's house and thinks it's dark and creepy. Dad is in the kitchen and cheerily invites Tom to come with him and Kylie to the pool. Dad says that Mum is "having a lie down," which Tom knows means that she's been in bed all day. Dad convinces Tom to go down to the sheds and talk to Brendan and then heads outside. Tom wanders down the hall and stands in Mum's bedroom door. The air is stale and Mum is nothing more than a pile of blankets. Tom whispers that school went okay.