The next morning Gene and Finny are confronted about their absence at dinner by Mr. Prud'homme, one of the teachers at Devon School during the Summer Session of 1942. Finny quickly offers a long-winded explanation, his eyes wide and voice rolling incessantly. Gene worries about them getting into trouble and then marvels at his friend's skills at manipulation. Finny speaks innocently about how he was preparing himself for the war by swimming in the water and jumping out of the tree. If not convinced, Prud'homme is at the least amused and lets the matter of his misbehavior rest. Unlike the normal school year, the summer is filled with a crowd of instructors that is unfamiliar with the rigid rules usually inflicted upon the students. Gene muses,
"I think we reminded them of what peace was like, we boys of sixteen....We were careless and wild, and I suppose we could be thought of as a sign of the life the war was being fought to preserve....We reminded them of what peace was like, of lives which were not bound up with destruction. Phineas was the essence of this careless peace." Chapter 2, pp. 16-17
The summer cast a certain spell across the school's campus and Finny's crowd runs largely unhindered despite Gene's constant fretting about breaking the rules. To the boys, the war is distant and to Finny it is all just a fun game.
After speaking with Mr. Prud'homme, the two return to their room where Finny, invigorated with thoughts about the war after his long monologue about jumping from the tree, puts on a pink shirt. He claims that, since there is no flag to hold aloft, he will wear this bright shirt to celebrate an Allied bombing attack in Central Europe that he had heard something about. Gene mocks his friend for the shirt's silliness and its girlish color but Finny laughs, declaring that it is his "emblem." When confronted by Devon's substitute Headmaster, Mr. Patch-Withers, he launches into an elaborate explanation about the deep significance of his shirt and, captivated as Prud'homme had been earlier, Patch-Withers allows Finny to go on wearing the shirt. Gene is struck at how Finny "could get away with anything. I couldn't help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little." Chapter 2, pg. 18 Phineas' talking and being the center of attention, raving about the bombing of Central Europe and his shirt , continues during a tea event at the Headmaster's house held for all of the Upper Middlers.. Then, when Patch-Withers discovers that Finny has tied his Devon school tie around his waist as a belt, Gene hopes that his friend will finally get into trouble. Yet Finny rambles on about how the tie is in fact a symbolic representation of Devon Academy, wrapped around his waist, meaning that Devon is tied to all that goes on around it, including the war. Patch-Withers and his wife are both charmed and amused while Gene is secretly disappointed by yet another victory for Finny.
After leaving the little party, Gene is surprised that such a special person as Phineas has chosen him for a best friend. The two walk together back across the playing fields, towards the tree, following Finny's suggestion of jumping again. As they walk, the landscape is so serene and calm that Finny murmurs that he doesn't really believe that Central Europe was bombed.
"Between the buildings, elms curved so high that you ceased to remember their height....an untouched, unreachable world high in space, like the ornamental towers and spires of a great church....We seemed to be playing on the tame fringe of the last and greatest wilderness....Bombs in Central Europe were completely unreal to us here...."Chapter 2, pp. 22-23
Because of the beauty of Devon's landscape and its isolation from the rest of the world, the students can't even imagine such things as war and bombings.
They arrive at the tree, swim for a bit in the river and, after Finny's urging, Gene agrees to climb and prepares to jump out of the tree first, although he is very afraid. Finny declares that they should start a club devoted to jumping out of the tree, to be called the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session. Stumbling, Gene nearly falls off of the branch until Finny steadies his balance. Then he jumps down into the deep water, followed by Phineas. Later, after dinner, Gene is struck at how Finny had saved his life. He had almost fallen off of the branch at a perilous point where it was still over the riverbank before being steadied by his friend's hand. Gene resents even more the increasing control and power Finny seems to have over him.
