Come Wander With Me (13 Reasons Why)

Chapter 2

"You don't want to go in there either?" Alex asks, when he finds Clay standing in the street, looking up at Jess' house. "Did Hannah force you to come?"

"Pretty much. Are you here for Jessica?" Clay asks. "I know you two were on a date the other week."

"Yeah. But this isn't exactly the kind of thing I had in mind for a second date," Alex admits. "Do you know if Bryce and Monty will be there?"

"I think so. Zach will be there, and I don't think he goes anywhere without the other guys, so..."

"Right..."

"Are they still giving you shit?" Clay asks, but when he sees Alex's pale face, he already knows the answer. "Look, man, they used to do the same thing to me. Just try and ignore them."

"Sure, I'll just ignore getting my head kicked in every other week."

"Have you told anyone at school?"

"What's the point? They'll give them a warning, and that's it. They'll only have it in for me worse if I get them in trouble."

Clay wishes he could say something to make it all better, because he has been where Alex is now, and he knows how much it hurts, but he doesn't know how to fix it either.

"Maybe now that you're with Jess..."

"You think that'll stop them?" Alex scoffs. "Those guys are bullies, Clay."

"Yeah, I know."

"Whatever, let's just go inside, yeah?"

"Talk to someone, okay? If it gets too bad, tell someone," Clay says, but the other teenager ignores him, and he walks off.

--

"See? I told you it'd be nice," Hannah says, as she crashes down next to Clay, who has been chatting to Jessica and Alex since getting away from the kitchen, where somehow he had ended up in charge of the drinks.

"Yeah... whoohoo," Clay sarcastically says, and Jessica can't help but laugh.

"It's really not so bad. Besides, the view is pretty nice, isn't it?" she asks, nudging her head into the direction of Justin, who is on the other side of the room, hanging out with Bryce and the other guys.

"Please tell me we're not talking about Bryce Walker," Alex says, looking more disgusted than anything. "Seriously, that guy is..."

"We're not," Jessica quickly says, as Zach joins them, his arms sliding around Hannah's waist, before kissing the top of her head.

"Justin?" Alex asks, the blush on Clay's face enough to tell him he's right. "Shit."

"What about Justin?" Zach asks.

"Nothing," Clay quickly says. "We were just talking about..."

"Clay having a crush on Justin," Hannah laughs, her colleague sinking down deeper into the couch, really wishing he wouldn't have come here tonight.

"Isn't he straight?" Jessica asks, looking back at the guys at the other side of the room.

"Who? Justin?" Zach laughs. "No, he isn't."

"But didn't he used to date Kat?"

"Yeah, but he is definitely into guys. Trust me."

"Wow, do I want to know how you're so convinced he is?" Hannah laughs, gripping tightly onto her boyfriend's arms around her waist.

"Because he got into a fight with Bryce about it when he came out," Zach explains. "They made up again, obviously. But yeah, it was a whole thing."