Tape 5, Side A | | thirteen reasons why

1 | | 6

Dior glared down at her phone as if it were her boyfriend himself, staring down at the texts from last night.

Foley 💙

Are you going to be at school tomorrow?

Yeah, sure

Dior scoffed, fucking liar, she thought bitterly. It was the period after lunch and Justin still hadn't shown up to school, probably still stoned out of his mind at Bryce's house. 

"Go to him," Dior looked over at Jessica, who was standing next to her, "Come on, you're obviously pissed and it's better for you to go and talk to him than sit here and let it bubble up uncontrollably."

"I talked to him yesterday," Dior said flatly, "and we both see how well that turned out."

Jessica let out a laugh before nodding to the poster on the wall, "Do the costume contest, then make him come in."

Dior raised her eyebrows, "When have you ever seen me dress up for the school costume contest?"

"There's a first for everything," Jessica said, waving her hands in a shooing motion, "Now go to him."

After a brief deliberation, she walked out of the school and to her car.

As she drove over to Bryce's house, she thought about what could possibly be bothering Justin so much that he couldn't go home, he couldn't talk to Dior, and he felt getting high at Bryce's was the only option.

He couldn't be cheating, the thought yesterday had passed as quickly as it had come as she not only thought about Justin and who he was - who they were but after she heard Marcus and Zach's appalled response at her hesitant question last night.

Is he in trouble?

As soon as the thought hit her, panic struck her chest. Is he in trouble? Did Seth do something? She fumbled for her phone and dialed Bryce's number, putting her phone down as the phone began ringing.

Bryce answered after two rings, "What's up, little Dio?" she heard Bryce ask from the other side of the phone.

"It's Justin," she said, "He won't tell me anything - is he in trouble, Bryce?" 

Bryce paused on the other side of the phone, "I don't know," he said, "I asked him this morning and he didn't respond to the question. I told him that you and I could handle whatever trouble he's in but he just laughed it off. I'm in the same boat as you, Dior, he's not telling me shit."

Dior let out an angry sigh, "Alright," she said, "Thank you, Bryce."

She hung up as she parked in Bryce driveway, ringing the doorbell. No one answered for a moment and Dior debated on going around back, but just as she stepped back, the door opened. Dior opened her mouth to snap something but before the words left her lips, she saw exactly what state Justin was in.

Oh, fuck, she thought as he put a hand over his mouth and a broken sob escaped his lips. Dior reached forward and moved his hand away from his face. She pressed her lips softly against his own and he cupped her face with his shaking hands before he pulled away, pressing his forehead against hers as another sob wracked his body.

She wrapped her arms around his trembling frame and he sighed into her hair, holding her as close as possible.

"Justin, please tell me what's wrong," Dior said quietly, rather than responding, her boyfriend just held her tighter and took in a brief, shuddered breath.