Today was the day of Clay's testimony at court. Grace was desperately nervous for him, but Clay was on another level. Five months ago, he thought he'd be done with all of this; Hannah, the tapes, the trial. But that was only the beginning.
Grace smiles when she sees Justin making himself completely at home with her parents, eating breakfast, it was a good sight to see, more like an adorable one. She could definitely get used to this.
"Good morning, Grace." Her mom greets her, Grace recalling the heartfelt conversation with her yesterday.
"Morning mom, dad." She grins, taking a seat next to Justin and kissing his cheek, the adults secretly smiling at each other. "Morning, Foley."
"Morning, babe." Justin replies, his mouth full of pancakes causing her to giggle.
"This is weird." Clay speaks up, just now entering the kitchen, eyeing the four of them sitting with each other at the kitchen table.
Justin looks down momentarily before gesturing to the breakfast. "You should have some pancakes. They're fucking amazing."
Grace snorts as her parent's eyes widen at the foul language. Due to his upbringing, Justin didn't really know any morals or have any rules, so this kind of behaviour was normal to him. It surprises Grace at how polite and kind of a human being he is.
"I'll get you a plate." Matt smiles, standing up.
"Clay, your dad's taking you to court today. Grace will be there with you too." Lainey informs him and takes a sip from her coffee.
Clay finds himself smiling uncomfortably, taking a pancake right from Justin's plate making the boy look up at him. "Great."
"I'm sorry that I won't be there with you."
"It's no problem. I've got this. And you've got alt-Clay here, so..." Clay says, pointing at Justin.
Clay then goes to leave with his pancake, Grace calling after him, "You're being a jerk!"
***
"How was Hannah to you?" Is the first question Clay gets asked by Dennis since sitting down by the podium. Clay's trying is ultimate best, not stuttering on his words like and fool and telling the truth.
"She was faithful. She was always kind to me and cared about what happened to me." Clay lists easily, honestly, it was easy for him to talk positively about Hannah, discarding his anger for what she did to herself. "She never gossiped, or told lies about people."
"And what sort of things did you do together?" Is the second question.
"We had some classes together, we ate lunch together sometimes, and we work together at the Cresmont along with my sister Grace. And we talked, a lot." He answers and Grace could see from where she was sitting that Olivia Baker was smiling fondly at him.
"What sorts of things did you talk about?"
"We talked about... about books and shows and songs and eclipses and zombies and bike helmets and I guess our... our hopes and dreams." He tells him, but then looks down shamefully, "For the summer, I promised I'd write her letters. But I never wrote her. I just... summer gets away from you and stuff happens and I guess I didn't really think that she'd be thinking of me. I mean, I didn't think I was that important. And you always think that... you think that you'll have plenty of time."
Grace closes her eyes painfully when Clay begins to cry and whimper, knowing that she can't go to him and comfort her brother.
"I'm sorry." He apologises, wiping away a tear.
After that, Dennis was finished with his questions so it's time for Sonya to stand up. Grace grimaces, watching the woman walk up to him cockily, she knows that this will not end well.
"Clay, you've testified today that Hannah was a victim of a culture of bullying at Liberty High." Sonya starts off gentle like she usually does before going for her prey. "But isn't it true that you are also a part of that culture?"
Clay's response is clipped, "No, I don't think I am."
"Well, isn't it true that you agreed and helped Grace Jensen take pictures of Tyler Down through his window that you then circulated around the school via social media?"
Grace sighs shamefully, feeling utterly guilty that her actions are now having a negative cause on her brother.
"Yes, but—"
Dennis stands up from his seat, "Objection, Your Honor. Beyond the scope of the direct."
"Your Honor, he's already testified to the nature of bullying at Liberty." Sonya defends.
"I'll allow it." The judge states.
"Of course you do." Grace thinks bitterly.
"Clay, isn't it true that you were suspended from school for possession of marijuana?" She asks.
Clay's eyes shut in frustration, "It wasn't mine because I was set up."
"I see." Sonya hums. "And at any point subsequent to that suspension, did you attempt to buy more marijuana?"
"Yes, but I was—"
"And isn't it true that your vandalism caused thousands of dollars of damage to Zach Dempsey's car?" She enquires.
"I was angry at him." Clay defends himself, not making any eye contact. "I... I paid for the damage."
"What did you do when you were angry at Courtney Crimsen?"
"I just took her to Hannah's grave." Clay sighs.
"And isn't it true that you accused her of being responsible for Hannah's death?"
"She is responsible." Clay finally snaps, sticking up for himself. "All of those kids are responsible."
"Are you responsible, Clay?" Sonya then taunts, Grace fuming in her seat, Matt having to whisper to her to calm down. "Are you responsible for Hannah's death?"
Clay thickly swallows, "Yes, I am. I let her down. But there are kids who did a lot worse, kids who you let skate, who did things that you won't even talk about. And adults at Liberty don't—"
Sonya cuts him off, "Request to strike that as non-responsive."
"So ordered." The judge says. "The jury will ignore that answer."
"Clay, you've testified that you were Hannah's friend but never her boyfriend, is that correct?"
Grace scoffs lowly, finding this questions to be totally not relevant and annoying. Why should it matter if they dated or not?
"Yes."
"And you said that you kissed once. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Did you ever spend a night together?"
"You mean, have... have sex? No." Clay states, confused. It was clear that he had no idea why she was questioning him on that topic either.
"No." Sonya shakes her head with a patronising smile. "I mean, spend a night together, evening, night, into the next morning."
Clay just looks at her blankly, making her repeat the question. "Clay, did you and Hannah spend the night together?"
"Yes."
"And did you do drugs together?" She questions, causing Grace to tense up and hold in a gasp. She could feel her dad freeze up from beside her.
"Yes." Clay admits, shocking Grace. He had never told her about the drug incident with Hannah, Alex, Sheri, Leah and Jeff. If he was honest, it was because he didn't want his little sister to think badly of him.
"Clay, isn't it true that you heard Hannah say that she wanted her life to be over? And isn't it true that you did nothing? You did nothing to help her." Sonya pesters, overwhelming Clay.
"I didn't think she meant it like that." He stutters, feeling himself panic. "Ask me why she was depressed. Why she was destroyed. Ask me who did that to her."
Sonya holds in a amused smile, finding it amusing how angry the small boy was getting. "No further questions." She tells the judge.
"Jury will disregard. Witness stand down."
***
After Clay finishes his testimony, he immediately leaves the room to go outside of the building. And of course, Grace chases after him, not wanting him to be alone in such a distressed state.
She places herself on the wall, copying his position. "Why didn't you tell me?" She asks softly. She wasn't mad at him for it, she was simply curious why he never told her about it.
"I didn't want you to be disappointed of me." He lets out and Grace's eyes soften. "I'm the older brother, by two minutes, so I guess I just want you to have a good role model."
Grace simpers, placing an arm around his shoulders. "I could never be disappointed in you."
"You're just saying that."
"You're my brother and I love you, nothing can stop me from loving you. Even when I caught you picking your nose which, by the way, was vile." Hearing Clay's chuckle of relief she continues, "I'm also proud of you for doing what you did today, Clay."
"I love you, too, Grace." Clay smiles a tearful smile. "We should probably start telling our parents things."
"Probably." She agrees, nodding.
***
Not offence to Alex, of course but this is not what Grace had in mind when he texted her that he was having a party. Alex only invited a few, his inner circle of friends which included Zach, Jessica, Clay and her, along with his family. But Jessica wasn't there yet.
They were all at an arcade, Alex's parents thinking that this would be the less dangerous option rather than an actual birthday party.
Alex clearly didn't want to be here, as he casually walks off on his own to play some arcade games, his parents following him. Once he leaves, Alex's brother, Peter, faces the group.
"Uh, so tell me the truth. How's he doing, guys?" He questions lowly, not wanting Alex to hear their conversation.
"He's good." Zach nods, knowing first hand due to him helping Alex everyday with getting better. "His balance is getting better and so is his strength."
"I mean, he's still working on his memory, but..." Clay adds solemnly.
"But he's doing great." Zach smiles, speaking positively about his friend.
It's then that Alex and his father comes back, taking a seat at the table. "Turns out, you only need one hand to whoop your old man at Skee-Ball." Deputy Standall remarks.
"You should have challenged me at Dance Dance Revolution." Alex jokes, sighing as no one laughs. "It's my birthday. You're supposed to laugh at my jokes."
Jess finally walks into the arcade place and Grace's mouth curves into a smile, waving the girl over, "Hey, Jess!"
Alex struggles to stand up, eventually being able to stumble over to Jess to have a quick conversation with her.
Grace finds herself missing Justin's presence, wishing that he was here with her to liven up the atmosphere. But unfortunately, Alex and Justin hate each other and the latter was still sick.
After speaking to Alex, Jessica takes the chair out by Grace, sitting beside her and giving her a short hug in greeting. Hearing that Jessica wishes her boyfriend was dead did but a strain on their friendship, but they were still friends.
"Hey, where've you been?" Grace exclaims happily, getting of the hug. "You're late."
"I had to babysit my brothers." Jess explains, noticing everyone else but Zach going off to play some arcade games together.
Grace hums and her eyes narrow suspiciously when Tyler walks into the building. "How come Tyler's here? I didn't know he was invited."
"I'm sure he wasn't." Jess says, getting up from her seat, Grace sighing and following after her to make sure no arguments take place. "What the hell are you doing here, Tyler?"
"Alex told me to come." The boy informs them.
"Tyler, he was just being nice. He doesn't want you here." Jess snaps at him, rudely. Although Jess is only trying to protect Alex, Grace feels sorry for the boy. He's been through so much crap, it was about time someone stuck up for him.
"Jess, don't. I'm sure Alex wants you here, he's over there with Clay now." Grace tells him, pointing to where the two boys were sat playing a game.
Seeing the Down boy, Zach walks up to them, "Get out. Now." He demands, Grace scoffing at the unnecessary rudeness coming off of her two friends.
Giving up, Tyler sighs and sadly leaves the arcade, Grace feeling her heart break for the boy. She begins to go after him but Jess grabs a hold of her arm, stopping her from moving.
This makes Grace angry, pulling out of her hold and turning to her and Zach. "You know, you don't need to be so rude all the time." She spits loudly, raising her arms up for a second to show her annoyance.
"Where'd Tyler go?" Alex questions, coming up to them with Clay.
"Don't worry. We got rid of him." Zach replies.
"No, I told him to come." Alex says, shocking the two. The boy didn't want any hassle today, on his birthday and he didn't know why the others were causing drama that wasn't necessary.
"Alex!" Jessica scolds him, before sighing. "Look, I know he visited you in the hospital, but he's a fucking pervert."
"After what he did to Hannah—" Zach doesn't get a chance to finish his sentence as Clay interrupts him.
"What he did? Seriously?" Clay asks in disbelief. "At least Tyler tried to help Hannah in court. That's more than you can say, Zach. You helped turn her into Hannah the Slut."
"At least we didn't do drugs." Zach huffs.
"Guys, come on." Jessica sighs, getting tired of the arguing. But this only seems to annoy Clay more, him then turning on her.
"You come on. You didn't help either."
"I tried."
"From what you said today in court, you hurt her more than any of us did." Zach defends.
"Zach, you can't act as if you didn't hurt her either. You slept with her for a couple of weeks and then bunked her off." Grace interferes, having enough of Zach digging into her brother.
"What, like Justin is going to do to you?" Zach snaps at her, which causes her to take a step back in shock from the blow.
"You don't know anything about my relationship!" She scoffs, shoving him back a slight bit. "Don't pretend that you do."
"Plus, in court, they took all of that out of context." Clay rushes out, not wanting Grace to be the victim to Zach's verbal attacks.
"So you didn't let her down?" Alex speaks up in annoyance. "How are you any different than us?"
"We should just all shut the fuck up and chill out." Grace snaps, moving away from them and sitting back down, the rest of them following.
Despite all of them arguing, they all knew that it wasn't the time or place to do this, where anyone including Alex's parents could hear.
After a while, Zach went home, Alex having a go at him for lying about where her was to his mom. Alex felt betrayed and hurt. His own friend couldn't even admit to him mom that he was out with him, telling her that her was out with the guys instead.
He uses his cane to retreat back to the games, not wanting to deal with the tense situation. Everyone else watches in concern as he plays a shooting game, then all standing up to walk over to him.
"Hey, buddy." Deputy Standall says wearily, Alex continuing on with the game. "Maybe this isn't the right game to be playing right now."
"Why not? I'm really good at it." Alex remarks, the clear meaning of his words haunting them.
"Let's play another round of Skee-Ball—"
Alex doesn't listen and his dad tries to take the gun out of his hand making Alex try his best to push him away roughly, but ends up falling to the ground as he loses his balance. Deputy standall sighs, trying to help him up.
"Fucking let me go!" Alex screams at him, his dad taking a step back at the sudden shout. Grace has noticed random people turning their way to look at the scene. "I'm broken!" Alex then manages to grab onto the game machine, helping himself up. "I'm fucking broken. That's just how it's gonna be. Why don't you just live with it?"
"Alex, you're not broken." Peter intervenes.
"How the fuck would you know?" Alex shouts in distress, pouring all of his anger out on his brother. "I've seen you twice since I got out of the hospital."
"I had school." Peter tries to defend.
Alex's voice somehow gets louder, "I had fucking school, too! And I had friends. And now I don't have anything, except all of you standing around feeling sorry for me, not fucking knowing what to say!" He shouts, tears leaking from his eyes. He doesn't seem to care about the tears falling down Grace and his mother's cheeks. He then grabs a fake gun from the game he was playing, raising it up to his head. "Maybe it would've been better if it had worked. You know, put the bullet through the middle of my brain the way it was supposed to go?"
"Stop!" His mother cries, Grace putting an arm around her for comfort. She couldn't even pretend to understand what the poor woman was going through.
"Wouldn't that be better?" Alex continues on. "You could all get on with your stupid fucking lives."
Jess, having enough, step towards him aggressively, pouring out all her anger from the past five months, "Fuck you, Alex. Just shut up! Listen to me, you asshole. How could you do what you did? After Hannah, I needed you. You were the only one I could trust, who understood what I was going through, and you were going to fucking leave me behind? That's messed up, Alex! It's messed up."
"I'm sorry." Alex cries.
"Everybody here loves you. And you just don't care?" She questions him in disbelief.
"I do care. I care. I'm sorry."
Jess doesn't say anything else, deciding to turn around and leave everyone there staring after her. Alex cries harder, so Grace takes this as an opportunity to pull him into a hug, letting him cry into her.
"It's okay." She assures, squeezing him tighter.
***
Meanwhile Justin sat in the corner of Clay's bedroom, by the door, listening to Matt and Lainey argue. He was used to arguing, he used to hear it all the time from his mom and her boyfriends. But this time, he was more scared. He was scared that Matt and Lainey would kick him out, that he'd have to leave again, and leave Grace. He'd never cared about anyone else more than himself before. That was until he met Grace.
Lainey sighs from her position on the landing, "If he had been honest with us about the drugs—"
"Did you know they were going to ask?" Matt interrupts her rudely, in the middle of removing his tie. He was curious to know whether not not his wife was still a little bit involved in the case.
"Of course not. I removed myself, Matt." She responds, taking out her second earring out of her ear. "If I were to interfere with a witness—"
"A witness? He's your son." Matt scoffs.
"If I were to interfere in any way, I would be fired." The woman clarifies, getting annoyed that Matt thought she only cared about the case.
"Our boy did drugs and we didn't know." Matt sighs, getting ready for bed. "He hid a homeless boy for a week, we didn't know. I mean, what the fuck, Lainey?"
Justin tenses, hearing his name spill from Matt's lips. He looks down in shame. He didn't want to be the reason Grace's parents were now fighting. He knows he should leave, so that's what he was going to do. It wouldn't be forever, only for a little bit. Plus, it wouldn't be far. He'd still be in Evergreen, visiting his mom, just until things calms down in the Jensen household.
"He was trying to help a friend in need, and Grace, she was falling apart without him." Lainey shouts, sticking up for her son's actions and Justin closes his eyes painfully, hearing another person admit how depressed she was after his leaving.
"Our son is in need!" Matt yells back.
"Yes, Matt. I'm aware."
***
Grace chuckles in amusement, walking in through the door and into the living room, her eyes catching Justin sitting on the floor eating popcorn in front of her parents. She found it amazing how they were getting along because Justin has never really had positivity growing up. Grace believes that Justin deserves the world.
"That's great. This is perfect." Clay remarks sarcastically, noticing the scene. He then leaves the three there, walking upstairs to go to bed.
Lainey is quick to follow him and Grace places herself in the now vacant spot, leaning forward to start playing with Justin's hair from behind. Justin grins, tilting his head back to look at the girl, giving her a loving look.
Grace pecks his forward twice before leaning back and watching the movie that's on the TV screen, not even realising that Jessica is outside, watching Justin smile from her spot in her car.
______________
Let me clear some things. Yes, Jessica and Grace are friends but Jess is still in love with Justin. I mean, who wouldn't be 🙄 but Justin doesn't love Jess in that way 👍