The Thoughts Between Us // CHALEX

Twenty-Six

So my guess was correct. Diego and his friends did messed up with Clay.

"I was unconscious." Clay snapped back at him.

"No. You were gone." Diego shook his head. "I don't know what you think you're up to,
but we know shit now."

His words kind of made me worried, but Clay didn't seem fazed by them. Instead, he decided to target someone else.

"You." Clay said, coming to stand in front of Winston. "Was it you? Are you working with them now?"

"I..." Winston stuttered in a confused tone. "Seriously, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Clay." Jessica interrupted them in hopes of calming Clay, but he started glaring at her then.

"But what about you?" He snapped at her too. "You knew Diego was gonna fuck with me. You said so."

"Hey." My Dad interrupted this time. "Campfire's ready. Let's go."

Thankfully, all the drama was over and I'm sure each one of us was relieved by the fact that Clay didn't spilled anything.

Like the previous night, we all found ourselves sitting around the burning campfire once again. I decided to sit by Tyler tonight, and on contrary to last night many more worried glances were passed among us.

"The traditional question for the final campfire." Mrs. Jensen was saying, standing beside me. She was reading from that old journal again, while also holding the conch. "Um... The traditional question: 'How has this weekend changed you, and what memory will you take with you forever?'"

"I'll start." Winston volunteered and held his hand out for the shell. Mrs. Jensen passed it to him, as he sighed loudly while turning the conch in his hands.

"It's great to finally be a part of the Liberty community, to see how folks really are. I didn't know before, so... that's really great."

I could sense the sarcasm dripping from what he said, and he didn't really shy away from looking at me and my friends. But Mrs. Jensen obviously didn't, as she smiled at him in appreciation.

"Wonderful, Winston."

"Yeah...Welcome to Liberty fucking High School." Zach said which made Mrs. Jensen awkwardly laugh.

"Yeah. Welcome. Okay." She nodded along. "Who's next?"

She looked around for a second, and then her eyes landed on her own son.

"Clay Jensen, help me out here."

Every one of my friends got flustered as Mrs. Jensen handed the conch to Clay.

We were all worried about what Clay will say. It was his email who had put us all in panic mode.

Clay stayed silent for a while and looked down at the shell in his hand.

"How has this weekend changed me?" He asked. "How has this weekend changed us? It hasn't."

He paused for a second, then continued speaking.

"'Cause I know that my friends and I... we'll be friends for life. There will always be a... a bond between us... that we can never break... even if we wanted to."

He had a point. We were always going to be bonded by Hannah's tapes, Bryce's murder, and Monty's framing too.

"Can I go next?"

Everyone looked at me in surprise, as I stood up and the white conch was passed to me.

"Buddy. Hey, buddy." My Dad was worried about me, and he tried to stop me too.