☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ
°•. ┊ Delicate┊.•°
✧ ˚ ━ that meteor strike, act one
CHAPTER FIVE — tape 3, side a
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Library
Clay and I are sitting across from one another in silence waiting on Jeff to start studying. The door to the library busts open loudly causing both of us to look up from our books to see where it came from. We see Jeff walk in much happier than he was this morning and headed towards our table. Clay glances in my direction with a look that questions my knowledge of the sudden change in Jeff's mood, I shrug and turn my attention to the boy who finally approached us. Soon after, a second loud bang echoed its way through the whole library due to Jeff slamming the paper in his hand on the table in front of Clay. I leaned over to see what it was and laughed, "So Jensen has to attend a school function, more importantly a dance. This'll be good." I said earning a glare from Clay and a chuckle from Jeff.
"Time for you to buy a ticket and boogie." Jeff added.
"Boogie? God, what are you, 80?" I asked him sarcastically, he just flipped me the bird. "Well, we've established that hell will freeze over this Saturday," I start while looking at Clay, "But can we please study for this stupid bio test already? I'm tired of failing." The boys agree with a nod and we spend the next hour cramming vocab words into our brains and periodically taking breaks and discussing trivial high school crap.
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Now
"Clay!" I hear a familiar voice yell from behind me on the stairs. I turn and see Clay a few steps down and Justin fast approaching. I grab Abbie's arm and pull her to the side of the landing' placing her in front of me to eavesdrop. She starts to ask what I'm doing when I raise my pointer finger to my mouth saying 'shh' and point slightly at the scene behind her. "That's a pretty picture you took of Tyler.
"Not as pretty as the one you took of Hannah." Damn. Clay isn't holding back.
"You made your point. Now shut it down." Justin threatens.
"Shut it down? Who talks like that?" Clay laughs slightly as Justin takes another step up.
"This is beyond just us now. This is the whole school. If we fall, you go down with us." Justin's attempting to keep Clay quiet, which won't work. Clay doesn't fear Justin nor does he fear any of the fallout. He doesn't really have to. He didn't do anything wrong. Nothing legally.
"Maybe I don't care." Clay remarks.
"Maybe you should." Justin says before turning to walk away. I shove Abbie to the side and tell her quietly to go to class and tell our science teacher that I'm talking to a teacher and will be late. I start to pass Clay, when he grabs my arm.
"What does he mean by that?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Clay." I try to stop this conversation, because I want to go find Justin.
"Don't bullshit me, Ang. You heard that whole thing and Tony told me that you have the other copy. What did I do to her? Is Justin right? Should I care?" Tony really ratted on me. Damn.
"Okay, rule number one, never listen to Justin. He's just worried about himself. Number two, watch your back. There are a lot of people you can't trust. And finally, don't, under any circumstances, go anywhere without some form of protection. Like a taser or something. Because people want you quiet and if I'm being honest, I'm afraid of how far they'll go to get you to stop." I explain.
"So, why should I trust you?" He asks a valid question.
"You shouldn't, but Hannah did. If that counts for anything." I tell him and go to find Justin. I get to the bottom of the stairs and a hand gets placed over my mouth and someone pulls me under the stairwell. They release me and it's Justin. "What the hell, Foley." I punch him in the arm. "You can't just do that to a girl. Especially in this school." I scold.
"Look, I'm sorry, but I saw you using Abbie as a shield and decided to listen when I heard Clay stop you. I'm not just worried about myself. You know I'm protecting Jess. And why the fuck do you care about Jensen? You and Tony seem pretty determined to keep him out of harm's way." Justin argues.
"We wouldn't have to, if you dickwads left him alone. Just because he actually cares about Hannah and her story, doesn't give any of you the right to beat him down because you're afraid." I storm off and ask Sage if she wants to skip. We meet in the parking lot and take my car to Monet's. "I'm exhausted, S." I say slouching in my chair and twirling the spoon in my coffee around.
"I know. What happened with Hannah and Jeff is awful and the lawsuit isn't making it any easier to deal with, but you'll get through it. You always do. It would be helpful to talk about it though." She suggests, in another attempt to get me to open up. It fails.
"I can't. There's nothing I would love more than to talk about it, but it's not for me to tell. I just wish that we could go back in time and stop Jeff from leaving that party. Because then maybe everything would be okay. It would at least be better than it is." Sage nods her head in agreement and we sit in comfortable silence for the next half hour. Sage goes to cheer practice and I have her tell our coach that I went home sick. I continue to drown myself in espresso, when Justin texts me.
hey, can you come over for a bit?
sure. be there in 10.
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Winter Formal
There are rare moments when school dances are fun. Tonight isn't half bad, but I feel bored or at least I'm feeling just how single I am. Tony has amazing taste in music. I'm dancing with Sage to some upbeat, high tempo dance song, which soon comes to an end. Mine by Taylor Swift begans blasting through the gym and Justin approaches me. "Do you want to dance? I know we aren't on amazing terms yet, but I want to dance with you." He says in a tone that I can't quite make out. I look at Sage, who flashes me a knowing smile before turning on her heel and disappearing into the crowd.
"I guess it won't kill me to dance with you. But just one. And no funny business, Foley." I warn with a laugh while he snakes his hands around my waist and we start to sway to the rhythm of one of my favorite songs. "So what's up, Justin? You didn't show up with a date. You didn't ask me to be your date. What's going on here?" I ask, breaking the silence between us.
"I would've asked you, but you and your girls bought your tickets together, so I figured you already had plans to go with them. And if I'm not mistaken, the token rule for dances in your group is; either all of you go with dates or none of you do and you go together." I smile and nod my head in agreement. "Plus, I wasn't sure you would say yes. I asked Zach what he thought and he told me that you'd shut me down."
"Well, he was right. I would've said no. Personally, I would've been sure you were asking me on a dare." I spoke, honestly. He looked slightly hurt, but I mean no one could blame me. Look at who he hangs out with and the shit they pull. I manage the baseball team and the way those guys talk about girls makes me physically ill.
"That's fair. Listen, I wanted to know if you wanna go out with me? You know, like a date. I'm not the most gentleman-like guy, but I like you. A lot." I'm a little surprised by his question and sure, I like him, but after everything that's happened; I'm not sure I could trust him, not in that way.
"I don't know, Justin. We just got back to being friends and I don't want to ruin anything." I try to think of an excuse to avoid this conversation while not hurting him.
"Okay, let me rephrase. I like you, Evangeline. Do you like me?" He words it in a way that I can't avoid answering.
"Yes, but-"
"Nope. A 'but' implies that there's more to be said, but there isn't. I'll pick you up tomorrow night at 7. And thankfully our song is over, so I'm gonna go find the guys. And leave you with the lovely Sage." Justin rushes away and Sage takes his place. Tony starts playing another upbeat song and we both jump around to the beat. I notice Hannah with Courtney and her friends. I excuse myself from Sage and Mack who joined up not too long after the song started.
"Hey, Han. You look amazing. Purple is definitely your color." I compliment as I approach the group of girls. Giving small hello's to the rest of them. The thing about Courtney and her "Courtnettes" is that they're all extremely fake and super judgy. I feel them looking my outfit up and down as I stand here talking with Hannah.
"Hi, thank you. You look gorgeous. I thought you were gonna stay home?" She asks.
"I was, but I had already paid for my ticket and gotten a dress. So, I decided to tough it out and enjoy the dance. Plus, I had to see Clay at a school dance at least once in my life." I explain with a laugh. "You work with him, right?"
"Yeah, at the Crestmont. Why didn't I know that you guys were friends? I feel like I would've seen you together at some point." She mentions.
"Well, unless you spend a lot of time in the library, you probably wouldn't. Clay, Jeff, and I are study buddies. Jeff bet that if he got higher than a C on his paper that Clay would have to come to the dance. And thankfully some divine power in the universe made sure that happened." I explain with a laugh. "Have you seen him yet?" She shakes her head no and before she can say anything else, Bryce wraps his arm around her and Courtney's shoulders. He goes on about the photo that went around school of these two girls kissing. I don't get why everyone freaked out over it as though they've never seen anything like it. It's 2015, not renaissance times. Hannah makes a joke about Bryce not having any friends and I laugh before walking back to my friends. We continue to jump around and I notice Jeff and Clay sitting on the bleachers. "Well hello there lads."
"Lady." They greet. I sit down next to Clay. "Tell this fool to go get her." Jeff says gesturing across the gym. I follow his movement and see Hannah sitting directly across from Hannah.
"Oh my god, dude. Go fucking dance with her. Don't make me change your nickname to Village Idiot." I tease.
"It's a dance. Go dance." Jeff adds.
"I told you when you made that bet, I can't dance." He argues.
"No one can. Who cares? Just get off your ass and go." I say with a shove. Clay stops arguing with us and stands. Hannah follows his actions and soon enough Jeff and I are laughing at whatever the hell they're doing on the floor. But they're doing it together and that's what matters. The music fades out and a slow song starts as Ryan's voice booms through the speakers.
"Alright Liberty High, let's slow it down a bit. Nice and smooth."
Jeff stands and turns towards me. "Let's go. We're dancing." I shake my head knowing I won't get out of this. "Come on, M'lady." He says, reaching his hand out for me to grab. I take his hand and follow him down the bleachers. We start swaying to the music. "So, I saw you and Foley dancing earlier. There was some conversation happening as well. What uh what were you guys talking about? You gotta give me some details."
"He asked me out." I state and Jeff has this sarcastic surprised look on his face because he called that a long time ago. "Initially, I said no, but you know Justin. Always gets what he wants. So, he's picking me up at 7 tomorrow night."
"Wow. You ready for that?"
"No, but it's just a date. Not like he's asking for my hand in marriage." I joke.
"Not yet." He says under his breath. I smack him upside the head. I open my mouth to say something, but stop when I hear Jessica Davis laughing, absurdly loud. I see her dancing with Bryce and Hannah leaving Clay to go intervene. But instead she gets stopped by Monty and then rushes out of the gym. Jeff and I just brush it off and dance for the rest of the song. The rest of the dance kind of rushes by and soon enough I'm standing with Jeff and his date by the punch bowl when none other than Justin Foley stumbles over, clearly buzzed. I inch slightly closer to Jeff, wanting to avoid conflict and just to get out of Justin's way. "What's up, Foley?" Jeff asks uninterested, while I give him a head nod.
"Hey, Jeff." He starts, "Nothing just fucking stupid high school dances. There's vodka in the red shit if you want." I laugh dryly under my breath, figures those assholes would spike the punch.
"Nah, I'm good." Jeff tells him. "I'll be right back." He tells his date and glances at me. Jeff walks away and leaves me to deal with Justin in his inebriated state. Dick.
"Hey, Ang? Can we talk?" Justin slurs slightly.
"Sure, when you're sober. I'm not dealing with you like this. I'm not a babysitter, Justin. We danced, I said I would give you a chance, I meant it, but not, not like this. Goodnight, Foley. I'll call you to make sure that you're alive tomorrow. Get home safe." I sigh and begin to round up the girls. Once I rallied Sage and Abbie, I had to wrestle a tipsy Kenzie away from her boytoy of the night, and then we were off to Monet's to reel from the night.
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Now
I pull up to Justin's building. It's always been very eerie. I knock on his door and within seconds he's standing in front of me. He moves to the side to let me in. "Want something to drink? I'd offer food, but we don't have any. I can order take out, if you want." He asks.
"No, I'm okay. I was just at Monet's, so I'm good. I feel like an ass, I totally should've offered to grab you something. My bad, J." I apologize.
"It's okay, Ang. You didn't have to offer at all. Let's go sit." As we head for the couch, Justin gets a text. "What the fuck. Clay brought Courtney to Hannah's grave." He tells me. Sitting down next to me, he shows me the text he got from Marcus.
"What the hell. That's pretty low even for Clay. I mean Courtney isn't a saint, but damn. That's a lot of emotional damage." I say in disbelief. "I wonder how much worse this is gonna get..." I wonder, more to myself than to Justin.
"Not much. I'm ending this shit. Now." He tells me, while picking up his phone. We hear a knock at the door and I tense up a little. "You okay? It's just a knock at the door. Nothing to be scared of." He laughs a little, still looking down at his screen. "Can you get that though?" I nod my head and make my way to the front door. I open it and on the other side is Jessica. This is gonna go over so well. (note the sarcasm.)
"Angie? What are you doing here?" Jess asks and Justin answers for me.
"I had a few questions about our history assignment and I'm already on coach's radar, so I asked Evangeline for some pointers and her notes." He lied.
"Oh. Okay. Well, um, Justin I really needed to talk to you about that thing. The thing with Courtney, remember?" She tries covering up the tapes.
"Ang knows." I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh heavily. "About the tapes and what Clay did to Courtney." Apparently the sigh wasn't loud enough, so I slap him on the arm. First, Tony rats me out to Clay and now Justin sells me out to Jess. And I do not have faith that Jess will keep it to herself. I didn't want anyone knowing because I want to be kept the fuck out of their drama as much as possible.
"What? So you know everything?" I nod my head 'yes,' at her question. "Holy shit. You're the other person Hannah trusted with the tapes. That makes so much sense. I should've guessed that." She puts two and two together. "Look, if Clay has gone this far already. I can't imagine what he's gonna do when he gets to the tapes about my party. He's gonna believe Bryce. And what if someone hears something and thinks that-"
"No one's gonna hear anything. Like I told Ang, this ends tonight." Justin assures her. It's not a promise he should make. It's going to fall through. Clay is too deep into vengeance to stop now; no matter what Justin does. He looks at me, signaling for me to back him up, but I don't. I'm not giving Jess false hope that her life in denial won't crumble to pieces. It will, whether it's because of Clay or not. Jess sees the looks being shared between us and gets suspicious.
"So, what's your history assignment about?" She asks, gaining the attention of both Justin and I.
"I'm gonna go. See you later, J." I grab the door handle. "Jess." I give her a smile and as the door starts to open she leans her body against it.
"No. I think you should stay. I mean, Justin wants you here, so stay." She's looking back and forth between Justin and I. She knows. And I am the biggest bitch in the world. "Neither of you are over each other. Just admit it. You didn't bring her here because you needed help with history. You brought her here because you're still in love with her. Justin, I've known for a long time. It's painfully obvious." Jess states. "And you. I slept with your boyfriend and you forgave me."
"You didn't know we were together, Jess." I defend.
"Yes, I did. I knew you were dating and I got with him anyways. Bryce was talking about how Justin, and I quote, bagged the shrew." I rolled my eyes so hard, I'm surprised they didn't get stuck. "Bryce was also going on about how Justin was panicking because things were getting serious. And I thought he was cute and I knew you didn't hang out with the guys, so I would have a chance to get Justin alone. I'm sorry. I was such a bitch and I didn't realize that when Bryce said serious, it wasn't what they deem serious, but it was actually fucking serious. Like I love you type of serious. But it's no excuse. I totally understand and forgive you for punching me in a few seconds." She rambles. Justin and I look at each other and burst out laughing.
"I'm not gonna hit you, Jess. I should, but at this point it's in the past. And hitting you won't change anything. Justin didn't have to cheat on me, but he did. He got scared, which is why he's been forgiven. You made a bad judgment call and you've grown from it, so you're forgiven." I tell her. Justin gets a text from Zach. We all agree to put this conversation on the back burner and Jess leaves. Within 10 minutes, Alex and Zach are outside. "What exactly are we doing?"
"Well, we're all gonna get food and hang out. Alex just needs to run an errand first." Justin explains, as we walk out of his apartment and through the building.
We're in the car going, well I'm not sure where, but it's Alex driving, Justin in shotgun, and Zach and I in the backseat. The car comes to a halt; Justin, Zach, and Alex exit while I stay put. Soon enough Zach is back in his seat behind Alex and Justin is shoving me to the middle, while Clay sits in front. We drive for around ten minutes and Alex brings the car to a stop. He switches gears and starts speeding up. I feel the hairs on my neck stand and a pit forms in my stomach. The guys continue arguing loudly, but it sounds like I'm under water. I can only focus on the speedometer rising and Alex's hands gripping the wheel so hard that his knuckles are white. Soon enough the arguing stops and there's only the yelling of Alex's name; sirens begin to blare as red and blue lights flash behind us. Some more protests of Alex's actions are said and then he lifts his foot from the gas and the car starts to slow. But someone's still yelling. My vision blurs and I realize that tears are falling from my eyes. I feel hands shaking my shoulders. I start to refocus on my surroundings. "Evangeline!!" Justin calls loudly as he grabs a hold of my tense frame. The yelling stops and it gets quiet. Unbeknownst to me, I was the one yelling. Justin shoves my body against the seat and Zach puts on my seat belt. "Don't say anything." Justin whispers to me. Dick.
"You ever been to jail before?" Alex asks, while looking at Clay. An officer knocks on the driver side window and Alex rolls it down.
"Okay, you kids wanna tell me why you were going 90 in a 40?" The officer asks calmly.
"We were just out for a ride." Alex answers.
"We're sorry." Justin says. Zach, Clay, and I stay silent. I'm still shaking from the speed. After what happened to Jeff, I refuse to go any higher than 5 mph above the speed limit.
"Yeah, well you know, I could bust you for reckless driving. You know how much that ticket would be?" He asks, while Alex shakes his head no. "Five-hundred dollars and three points on your license. You want that?"
"No, sir." Alex replies. The officer takes a long look at each of us, before returning his gaze to the driver.
"I suggest you drop these kids off and get your ass home in time for dinner." He tells Alex. What? How did I forget that Alex's dad is a cop? That's why he was too calm and asked too many damn questions. Justin and Zach share a glance. Clay looks stunned. And Alex asks if he'll be home for dinner. "Tell mom to save me a plate. And stick to the speed limit kid. Cause next time, I'll ticket you." He stands and taps Alex's shoulder telling him to wear his seatbelt. Justin and Zach begin to laugh.
"No shit. Your dad's a cop?" Zach questions. Alex gives him a short and uninterested 'yup.' Clay and I are both still too stunned to speak. Of course, Justin doesn't seem to have that problem.
"Fucking brilliant. You can't touch us Clay. You got that? We're fucking bulletproof." He states, he and Zach continue to laugh. Clay looks at me, very confused. I shrug and slouch in an attempt to hide from the idiots I'm stuck with. "Come on, let's go." Justin tells Alex and soon enough we're driving again. My right hand is wrapped tightly around my seatbelt, while my left grips Zach's arm tightly.
"My house is closer, drop me off. Now." It's the first thing I've said in minutes. We arrive outside my house and I shove Justin to get out of the car. I open the passenger door and tell Clay to get out. "I'll take you home, myself." I offer and he nods, grabbing his bag and exiting the car. Justin's still standing, waiting for something. "What?"
"I just thought we were all gonna hang out." He starts. "Or at least that you and I were." I scoff and start to laugh at his statement.
"Me too, but after that stunt you assholes decided to pull; I'll pass."
Zach's now standing on the other side of the car. "Come on, Ang. It was a joke-"
"Really? You find that funny? One of my best friends died in a car accident, less than three months ago. And putting me in a situation like that, is a joke to you guys? Jeff was Clay's friend too. So this whole stunt was bullshit. What if Alex's brakes gave out? Or if he lost control of the car and we spun out? Or if we hit another fucking car? I mean seriously, you're supposed to be the decent jocks. And you're supposed to be my friends. How fucking dense can you guys be?" I huff and unlock my car. "Come on, Clay." I shout, entering the driver's seat and starting my ignition. Once he's in and we're both wearing our seatbelts, I begin to drive to the Jensen house. The ride is silent for the most part, besides the radio playing softly.
"This is probably a stupid question, but; are you okay?" Clay asks, timidly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It just pisses me off that they fight so hard to protect themselves and instead of having a civil conversation, they continue to threaten and warn you. It's fucking ridiculous. They need to grow up and learn to take responsibility for their actions." I rant.
"That can't be the only reason, Angie. I have never seen you that angry before. Yes, they deserved it, but there has to be more to it." He pushes me to respond.
"I was supposed to be in the car. When- When Jeff died. I told him that I would go on the beer run with him and I didn't. I ran inside to use the bathroom and got completely sidetracked, so he went alone." I explain. Clay just looks at me, unsure of what to say. "I just can't help wondering what would've happened had I gone. Or had I stopped him from going entirely. I know it doesn't help anyone to think of the 'what if's' but my mind won't turn off. And I can't let it go." By the time I'm finished, I have arrived at Clay's house and pulled into the driveway, placing the car in park.
'I know what you mean. Well, sort of, I mean I talked to him before he left and I had the ability to stop him, but I trusted that he wasn't drunk. He didn't seem drunk. Not from what I could tell. I don't know. Maybe he was and I just want to remember it differently. I-" I interrupt him.
"Clay. He wasn't drunk. I have seen Jeff drunk before and he wasn't. Hell, he wasn't even tipsy. You're not remembering it differently. I would not have agreed to get into a car with him behind the wheel if I felt he was even the slightest bit intoxicated. He was fine and he shouldn't have died." I say, my voice breaking slightly at the end. When I look over at Clay, I notice that I wasn't the only one crying. We both had a few tears on our faces. We lock eyes and start laughing. "God, he'd be so pissed at us for crying." I laugh, while wiping my face.
"Yeah, he would totally make fun of us. He probably is making fun of us." Clay responds. We both laugh and just enjoy talking about our friend. "Well, I should get in there before my parents send out a search party. I'll see you tomorrow." I nod and bid him ado. I take myself home and just enjoy the first moment since Jeff died, where I could actually laugh about remembering him.
[word count: 4764]
lexi's letters; this chapter took me a lot longer than the others to write lol hope you're all enjoying the story so far :))