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𝐌 𝐀 𝐃 𝐍 𝐄 𝐒 𝐒 ₊˚.༄𖥸 ── 𝚂𝙲
𝗩𝗢𝗟𝗨𝗠𝗘 𝗜 ────── ❪ 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘛𝘈𝘗𝘌𝘚! ❫
𝗧𝗔𝗣𝗘 𝗦𝗜𝗫, 𝖲𝖨𝖣𝖤 𝖡 ─── ❪ 📼🎧! ❫
𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝖮𝖭𝖤, 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗩𝗘
𝟤𝟦. ╱ ✷ ❝ 𝗳𝘂𝗰𝗸 off, courtney ❞
"𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗟𝗟 drinking coffee?" Matt asks his son as Clay walks into the kitchen and over to the coffee pot sitting on the counter.
"You're still drinking coffee."
"Yes. I guess we just hope for more for our children." Matt says.
Riley walks into the kitchen, moving to take Clay's coffee cup from his hand, "We'll probably live longer, if that helps."
Clay rolls his eyes playfully at Riley before pouring him another cup of coffee, "If your generation doesn't destroy the planet first." He smirked at his dad.
"It's too late, I'm afraid." Matt tells his niece and son.
"Clay, Riley, about the Baker trial--,"
Matt cuts his wife off, "Can we just have one morning without discussing that?"
"The subpoenas go out today." Lainie ignores her husband, continuing anyway.
"Who's getting one besides us?" Clay questioned.
"Sorry, kids, I'm not at liberty to discuss it." Lainie says, "The other day, you asked me if a person could be prosecuted if they hurt someone, but the victim didn't come forward You said it was hypothetical, but...you were talking about Hannah weren't you?"
Riley looks down at her feet, not wanting to meet the gaze of her aunt seeing as it was Clay that she was talking too.
"I wasn't, actually."
"Because if something happened to her and you were involved in anyway...,"
"You think I hurt her?" Asked Clay.
"You think Clay hurt her?" Riley questions at the same time.
"Lainie."
"I don't."
"If I did hurt her, and I admitted it, I could go to jail." Clay tells his mom.
"W -- well, this is a civil proceeding, not criminal." Lainie started, "But it is sworn testimony."
"So if we lied." Clay motioned between him and his other half, "It's perjury."
The doorbell rings.
"Why would you need to lie?" Lainie looks between the two teenagers.
"If I knocked down a stop sign and got a kid killed." Clay started and Lainie looked over at her niece, who was trying to push back her tears at the mention of what had happened to Jeff, "Is that manslaughter?"
"Clay, what the hell are we talking about?" Lainie questoned her son.
"I'm sorry, mom. I'm not at liberty ot discuss it." Clay tells her as there was another knock on the door, "It's probably for us, don't you think?"
ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧
"𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 sure you wanna do this?" Riley asked as she walked up to the table where Clay sat, having picked up a couple extra shifts at Monet's to keep herself occupied until her five day suspension was up, "You aren't gonna like what you'll hear on that tape...about who's on that tape."
"I gotta finish them." Clay tells her, putting the headphones over his ears and pressing play on the tape.
"Here we are. Tape twelve. If you've listened this far and haven't heard your name, well, I bet you know exactly what's coming now. Or maybe you don't have any ideas. 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."
ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧
"𝗜 𝗚𝗢𝗧𝗧𝗔 tell you, the prefect disguise for Clay Jensen is not a hoodie." Tony walks into the empty classroom where Clay was waiting for him.
"Did you bring it?" Clay asked.
Tony pulled his backpack off his shoulder and pulled the switch out, "As requested."
"I knew you'd have one."
"Mind telling me why the switch?" Tony asked.
Clay sighed, "I'm sorry. I'm not at liberty to discuss it."
"We had a deal that we could do this together. Me, you and Riley." Tony tells him.
"The two of you said when I got to the end, we'll do what we have to do." Clay says.
Tony asked, "Are you at the end?"
"Almost."
"You and I both know Hannah wanted them to get to number thirteen, but if I give them to number twelve, that's the end of it." Clay said, "Just give me a day. I have a plan."
"Clay."
"Do you trust me?" Clay asked.
"Yeah."
ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧
"𝗛𝗘𝗬, 𝗪𝗘 all need to talk." Zach walked over to Riley as she comes out of the back of Monet's.
Riley glanced over to where he was gesturing, finding almost everyone on the tapes sitting at one of the tables, "I'm working. Gotta keep myself occupied while I'm suspended from school."
"Riley."
She looks up at his tall figure before letting out a sigh, turning towards Skye, "Skye, I'm taking my hour break."
ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧
"𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 thing we need to do is find out what they know." Marcus says, Riley and Zach walking up to the table.
"Or the first thing we need to do is tell the truth." Alex says.
"We're with Alex." Zach sits down and pulls the chair out between him and Alex for Riley to sit down next to him.
"I don't think it's as easy as you think. What exactly is the truth?" Marcus asked.
"Profound, Marcus. Truly profound." Ryan bluntly states.
"Oh, my God. How did you find us?" Courtney asked as Tyler walks up and stands before Riley's chair.
"I deserve to be here." Tyler tells them.
Courtney waved them off, "No, you don't."
"Because you don't like him, Courtney?" Riley speaks up, leaning on her arms as she glares at the girl, sticking up for Tyler, "Cause Tyler embarrassed you? Because you cried over a fucking picture where you were kissing a girl? Because you don't want anyone to know what we already know? Get the fuck over yourself."
"Amen, sister." Ryan praises Riley.
"I'm getting it worse than any of you." Tyler tells them.
"Just let him stay."
"Yeah, Courtney. How did you get to run this meeting, anyway? It's not the fucking dance committee." Zach says, causing Ryan and Riley to snort out a laugh."
"I sit, or I start taking pictures."
"Sit down." Ryan moves his stuff out of the empty chair next to him so that Tyler could sit down.
"And calm down." Marcus tells him.
"I think it's clear what they know." Ryan says, "I mean, look around. What do we all have in common?"
"We don't know who got the subpoenas." Marcus says, "Sheri didn't."
Riley scoffed, "Of course she didn't."
"Or she didn't get one yet." Ryan concluded.
"I told her to come anyway. Maybe she's hoping she'll avoid the whole thing."
"Your dad must know something from the other deputies." Courtney looked over at Alex.
"My dad's more of a "sweep it under the rug" kind of guy." Alex stated.
"Works for me."
"Yeah, I don't think Alex's dad gives a shit about you." Riley says as Syke walked over to sit two plates down on the table, the table going silent as she looks at them.
"If we don't get our stories straight before these depostions, it's bad for all of us." Courtney says once Skye was gone.
"But waht is the story, exactly?" Alex questioned
"Hannah was a liar. She was jealous and needed, and emotionally unstable." Courtney said, "She thought everyone was out to get her"
"Aren't you describing yourself?" Tyler asked as he looked at her.
Courtney ignores him as Riley leans over the table to fist bump the boy with a smirk on her face, "We tried to be her friends. We did. She blamed us when things went wrong. But she was the one with problems."
"That's the story?" Zach questioned.
"Yeah."
"What would you say it is?"
"I say it doesn't matter what we say it is." Riley said, "'Cause there are three people who aren't here who are likely to say whatever the fuck they want."
"Where are Jessica and Justin?" Marcus asked.
"They weren't at school." Tyler says, "Either of them."
"What?" Courtney asked, noticing the looks Zach, Riley and Alex sent each other.
"Justin went to Bryce's last night. He freaked because Jess was flirting with Bryce. So, he called Bryce a rapist, and told Jessica that everything on the tapes was true." Zach tells them.
"No, fucking way." Marcus shook his head in disbelief.
"Monty and Jamie, a few other guys heard everything." Riley said.
"Wait, wait, wait. They...they heard? They know about the tapes?"
"Well, Justin didn't go into detail about the tapes, no. But they did hear him call Bryce a rapist and that Hannah was telling the truth."
"Good for Justin." Ryan shrugged, "And Bryce is a rapist."
"If you believe Hannah." Courtney butts in.
"Seriously? You are the only girl here, besides Riley, and that is the position you take?"
"Hannah lied." Courtney says, causing Riley and Ryan to scoff. "We know this."
Riley raises her hand lazily, "I don't know that."
"We can contain this. We have to control the narrative." Marcus said.
"You're deluded. The narrative is, Jess knows Bryce raped her." Ryan lowered his voice.
"You guys would make shitty chess players." Said Alex, "We're two more moves away from being checkmated."
Riley crosses her arms and lays her head on Zach's shoulder.
"Not necessarily." Marcus said, "Not if we bring Bryce into it with us."
"Bryce?" Riley questioned in disbelief.
"Bryce. The rapist." Ryan raised an eyebrow.
"Alleged rapist."
"Fuck off, Courtney." Ryan and Riley synchronized.
"Or we turn him in." Tyler spoke up, "Bryce is dangerous. I don't get why we're still protecting him."
"Thank you."
"We're not! We're protecting ourselves!" Marcus argued, "I applied early to admit to Columbia, Zach's got scholarships. Ryan, I know you've got big plans. Courtney? Alex? Lee?"
"Don't call me Lee."
Alex shrugged his shoulders, "I've got no plans. I'm good to tell the truth."
"Come on, Alex. Just 'cause Hannah fucked up her life doesn't mean she had to fuck up ours." Zach tells him.
"Hear me out. If Clay gave the lawyers our names--,"
"Which he didn't."
"--and Justin is running around saying everything on the tapes is true, then it's only a matter of time until we're all screwed." Tyler kept going, "But if we can get ahead of it--,"
"What do you mean?" Marcus cuts him off.
"What if we confirm Hannah's stories about Bryce?" Tyler asked, "What if we gave the school their scapegoat? They have to blame someone. They have someone to blame. The Bakers have someone to charge with a crime. Then whatever we did, doesn't matter as much."
"So you want to sacrifice Bryce to save your own ass?" Marcus asked.
"Yeah. Of course."
"I would." Riley mumbled.
"The Bakers are broke, right, and Bryce's family has the money to make this all go away?" Ryan asked.
"Nothing we did compares to what he did." Courtney said.
"You're fucking joking, right?" Alex asked.
"What? Are you defending Bryce?" Zach asked, wrapping an arm around Riley's shoulders.
"No, but aren't you? You've been doing it for weeks now." Alex said.
"Fuck you, Alex. No, I haven't. I just didn't want this to blow up."
"Well, boom."
"Justin let Bryce do it, then lied." Riley has a frown on her face, "Justin will go to jail, too."
"Justin is my best friend. You think he gives a shit about me right now?" Zach looks down at her.
"Don't you give a shit about him?" She asked, "Because I give a shit about him."
"What about Jessica?" Ryan questioned, "Doesn't se get a say in all of this?"
"She should have answered when I called." Courtney said.
"My God, Courtney. You should fucking listen to yourself." Ryan tells her.
"I can't imagine Jess won't want Bryce in jail for life." Tyler says.
"Wanna know what's worse than being a rapist? Hiding behind one." Alex tells them, "Fucking justifying a fucking rapist, that's worse."
"You want to get the story straight? We all know the story." Riley says, getting up from her chair, "Everything Hannah said on those tapes is true."
"You're gay, so what?" Alex looks at Courtney, "Tyler, you're a stalker. Ryan, yo're an arrogant asshole. Zach, you're just an entitled idiot who does curel, stupid things even though you probably have a decent heart. And Sheri's a fucking coward who got a kill killed -- who killed Riley's best friend."
"Alex, that's enough." Marcus tries to shut him down.
"No, Marcus. You'll do anything to keep up your perfect reputation. And yeah, Ale is a fucking weak, pathetic lose who ruined the one good thing that he ever had because he wanted a rapist to think he was just like him -- no offence on the weak, pathetic loser part." Riley looks down at Alexx for a second. "And I'm the girl who lost her parents, overdosed in a fucking house party bathroom, and lost the one and only person who truly knew me." She stands up, "Hannas was my friend. And we should tell the truth about her. Because Ale and I know if we had still been friends with her...if any one of us had still been friends with her, she'd be alive today."
"So we tell the truth." Zach is the first one to speak up.
"Truth doesn't just land on Bryce." Marcus told him.
"So let the truth land on us." Ryan said, "I published a poem. A fucking good and meaningful poem."
"I didn't mean to tell the truth about everything." Tyler says.
"Why not, Tyler?" Zach asks him, "You got more secrets you're trying to hide from somebody?"
"Tyler, you can do whatever you want. No one's going to believe you." Courtney tells him, "People'll just laugh at you, like they always do."
"They won't."
"Hanna's truth is not my truth. No way." Said Courtney.
"I gotta get back to work." Riley starts to walk away from the table before turning back to them, "If any of you aren't going to buy more coffee or something, then get the fuck out."
"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 deep, endless, always blank, nothing. And 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."
"It wasn't a short walk. I walked forever that night. Through my old neighborhood, where the houses were nicer than the one we lived in now. All the way up the hill where the rich people live. Where you live. And from blocks away, I heard it. The music. The murmur of voices. The siren call of a party."
"You'd think I'd know better than to follow that call after Jessica's party. But my feet followed it. My mind and heart were still in the big, blank nothing."
ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧
"𝙄 𝙒𝘼𝙎 surprised to see Jessica at another party. But then, I was surprised to see myself at another party. And I can't explain it...but sitting there under the stars...I felt at peace for the first time in days. The way I see it, there are two different kinds of death. If you're lucky, you live a long life...and one day your body stops working and it's over."
"But if you're not lucky, you die a little bit...over and over...until you realize it's too late. I know some of you listening might think there was more I could have done, or should have done. BUt I lost control. And in that moment, it felt like...it felt like I was already dead."
ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧
"𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗥𝗘 you thinking about?" Scott walks up behind Riley assshe stared out of his bedroom window, wrapping his arms around her waist and placing a kiss on her shoulder, "You've been super quiet since you got here."
"I...I've been thinking about Jeff a lot lately." She tells him, "It's been a couple of weeks. And I should still be grieving the loss of my friend -- my best friend -- but I've been so busy trying to make sure that Clay is alright, that I haven't been able to think about anything else. And it doesn't help that I was in the fucking car with him, and the only thing to happen to me was a concussion and a night in the hospital when Jeff...left."
"Baby.....,"
"I feel like it was my fault that he died, even though I'm not the one that knocked down the stop sign. He was laughing at me and wasn't paying attention to the road. I woke up and Jeff didn't."
Scott whipped the tear away that rolled down her face as he turned her around, pulling her closer to him, "It's not your fault, baby. It wasn't your fault."
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"𝙄 𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙂𝙃𝙏 maybe I could forget about what happend. But thanks to you, Bryce...I'd finally lived up to my reputation. And there was no way I could live that down. But I thought at least maybe I could set the record straight. So, I started making a list....trying to piece together exactly how my life had gone so wrong."
"And the names that came out. Life is unpredictable...and control is just an illusion. And sometimes all that unpredictability is overwhelming. And it makes us feel small and powerless."
"Riley! Riley!" Lainie shakes her niece awake, Matt standing at the door trying to stop his wife from messing with the teen.
"What?" What's going on?" The blonde sits up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "What is it?"
"Have you seen your cousin? Have you seen Clay?"
"And once I took a look back...and I finally understood how everything happened...I decided that no one would ever hurt me again."