TROUBLED || thirteen reasons why

054.

Tristan opens her sock drawer and pushes a ziplock bag to the bottom. Her nose burns and even when she wipes it, the pain is still there. She looks at her watch and quickly grabs her bag before rushing downstairs where she thought her brother and Clay would be impatiently waiting for her. Instead, she hears voices coming from the kitchen, and when she walks into the room, she is met by the Jensens and her brother turning and watching her.

"Tristan," Matt announces, taking a sip of his coffee, "why don't you take a seat."

The girl's insides burn as she sits next to her brother. Clay turns his attention back to his mother, "What can I do?"

"Nothing," The woman frowns. "Dennis was very clear about that."

"You don't want to give the police or Mrs. Walker anything they can use against you." Matt explains.

Tristan scrunches her eyebrows together, "Wait, what's going on?"

"My mom got me a lawyer. So that I can prove that I didn't do anything." Clay states back with harsh sarcasm. He stands up from his seat and walks into the living room, Tristan watches as he leans against the door frame and closes his eyes.

Matt Jensen clears his throat as he glances up at the clock on the wall, "Right now, you three need to get to school."

Justin gets up from his seat and motions for Clay to follow him back out to their room.

"Tristan, sweetie," Lainie's voice brings the girl's attention back to the kitchen. "We talked to Dr. Warner and she said that she can squeeze you in on Friday."

"But my appointment isn't until the end of the month?" Tristan looks confusingly to the adults.

"We asked to be rescheduled. We know how hard the past few days have been, and you probably want someone to talk to." Matt nods at her, placing his hand on top of hers.

Tristan shakes her head, "No, I'm fine. I swear."

"Of course," Lainie says, eyeing the girl carefully, "but it may do some good to talk to someone, don't you think?"

Tristan turns to Mr. Jensen who gives her a tight smile in response. He wants her to go as well.

"Yeah, I guess." The girl shrugs.

The back door swings open and Justin strides in alone. Tristan looks at him as he pats her shoulder, "Come on, Tris. We gotta go."

Tristan glances back to the Jensen's one last time before retrieving her bag from the floor and following her brother out the front door, "Where's Clay?"

"He... left."

"What do you mean left? How the hell are we getting to school?" The girl shakes her head as she grabs Justin's arm, pulling him to face her.

He huffs, "He said he had to talk to Mrs. Walker. I'm handling it."

"Handling it? His mom literally just told him not to do anything suspicious." Tristan exclaims.

"Tristan, drop it. I know." The boy squeezes his fingers to his temple, "We'll figure something out, but not right now. Zach's picking us up."

Tristan steps out of her boyfriend's car as she and Justin wait on the crippled boy to get his crutches from the backseat. She grabs Zach's bag from him as the three start to walk towards the school.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you guys later, I've got to do something," Justin says, his eyes not even meeting theirs before he takes off down the hall. Tristan rolls her eyes as her brother disappears from her sight.