The Tapes; A 13 Reasons Why Fanfiction

Tape 7 Side A

Y/n's POV

"Hey," Justin greeted as I walked back into my bedroom. "What's that?"

"This," I say and hold up the big yellow envelope. "Is a subpoena."

"What? You've got to be kidding me," Justin muttered.

"Nope. And if I got one, I'm gonna assume that everyone else did too. I don't want to worry about it right now though. Lets just go to school," I urge and grab my backpack.

Here we are. Tape 12. If you've listened this far and you haven't heard your name, well, I bet you know exactly what's coming now. Or maybe you don't have any idea. Could that be true? Could a person be that sick? Let's find out. But first, we have to start at the beginning of the worst day of my life.

I wanted to tell Clay everything. How could I tell him anything anymore after that night at the party? It seemed like, no matter what I did, I kept letting people down. I started thinking how everyone's lives would be better without me, and what does that feel like? It feels like nothing. Like a deep, endless, always blank nothing. For those of you who will now be looking for signs everywhere, what does it really look like? Here's the scary thing: it looks like nothing.

After school, all of us that had been on the tapes met up at Monet's to discuss the subpoenas and what are plan was gonna be. Well, all of us was a stretch. There were a few people missing. But to my surprise, Tyler was there as well. I had a mug of hot chocolate in front of me, and I was gripping it so tightly I thought it might shatter. This morning I told Justin I just wanted to forget about the subpoenas, but I hadn't been able to. It's all I've been thinking about all day.

"The first thing we need to do is find out what they know," Marcus insisted.

"Or the first thing we need to do is tell the truth," Alex put forth.

"I'm with Alex," Zach agreed.

"I don't think it's as easy as you think. What exactly is the truth?" Marcus posed.

"Profound, Marcus, truly profound," Ryan uttered.

"And bullshit," Zach added.

"I think it's clear what they know. Look around," Ryan requested. "What do we all have in common?"

"We don't know who got the subpoenas. Sheri didn't," Marcus pointed out.

"Or she didn't get one yet," Ryan countered.

"Well I told her to come anyway. Maybe she's hoping she'll avoid the whole thing." Marcus said.

"Your dad must know something from the other deputies, right?" Courtney asked Alex.

"My dad is more of a 'sweep it under the rug' kind of guy," Alex claimed.

"That works for me," Marcus admitted.

"Well I don't think he gives a shit about you," Alex retorted.

"If we don't get our stories straight before these depositions, it's bad for all of us," Courtney declared.

"But what is the story exactly?" Alex questioned.

"That Hannah was a liar," Courtney answered. "She was jealous and needy and emotionally unstable. She thought everyone was out to get her. We tried to be her friends. We did. She blamed us when things went wrong, but she was the one with problems."

Zach frowned. "That's the story?"

"Yeah," Marcus replied. "What would you say it is?"

"It doesn't matter what I say it is because there are three people who aren't here who are likely to say whatever they want," Zach brought up.