The car ride was surprisingly calm. It was clear that Justin had tired himself out as he rests his head against the window hopelessly. He can't believe that he almost messed things up with Grace once again. He seriously needed to sort himself out so that they could have a happy future together. While Justin was thinking of this, Grace was thinking about how to tell him about the clubhouse. Not even ten minutes of finding Justin, Clay had texted her to inform her that he finally found the clubhouse. She could just blurt it out, but seeing his hopeless expression stops her.
"Clay has found the clubhouse." She says, her words treading lightly, not wanting to startle the boy. When she doesn't get a response from him, she sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Please tell me that you're not high right now, J."
At her insinuation, he swings his head around and his eyes snap to her. "Jesus. No. I'm just tired." Justin tells her and she believes him.
She nods, "I was just making sure."
Justin knows that she has a right to question him, but he's still slightly annoyed that that was the first thing she thought of. Discarding the previous conversation, he pulls out a load of cash, placing it in front of her. "My mom gave me some cash. It's for you, consider it rent. Till I can find something permanent."
"I know she didn't give you that, Justin. Your mom already told me you took it to leave." Grace sighs, but not in anger. "Keep it. Clay and I don't pay rent."
She then stops at a red light, her face turning to the broken boy from beside her. She thickly swallows but feels the need to ask the question, "If you have all that cash... Why'd you call me?"
Justin avoids her eyes, "You said you needed me. And as much as I hate to admit it, it turns out that I need you more than I've ever needed anyone or anything." He expresses vulnerably, not realising the massive smile that's on his girlfriends face at his heartfelt words.
"I need you too. Always." She grabs his hand and stares into his eyes, making sure that he knows just how much he means to her.
***
The next day, the three are at school again. Justin was slightly anxious about going back into school after missing a few days but other than that, everything was going swimmingly. That was until Jessica's father decides to storm out of his car as soon as he meets the eyes of Justin. Grace winces and tries to pull him towards the building but he stays in his spot. Clay looks just as shaken up as his sister as they make eye contact.
"What have you got to say for yourself." Jess' father calls out to him loudly, disturbing a few students that were around them.
Jess rushes after him in a rush, not wanting the added attention. "People are watching."
"I don't care."
"I do! Hey!" Jess steps in front of her dad, grabbing his arm to make eye contact. "Who do you think you're hurting right now?"
Her dad sighs, pointing towards Justin, "What this boy did to you—"
"He didn't do it." Jess states, defending her ex-boyfriend which shocks not only Justin, but Grace and Clay as well. "Dad, please, just get in the car."
Her dad clenches his jaw heatedly, knowing that he couldn't say anything too drastic in fear of hurting his daughter, he points a finger at Justin. "You be very careful of yourself, young man."
And with that, he turns around and goes back to his car, driving off quickly. Jess is left alone and she stares at the boy who broke her heart. Justin finds it difficult to meet her eyes because of all the guilt he's carrying and walks away from everyone to go to his first class, Grace staring after him solemnly.
***
On their break, Grace, Justin and Clay head to Monet's to meet Sheri. The dark skinned girl was informed of the clubhouse and now all they needed was a plan to enter it.
"Look, we need to get in there." Clay starts, "We've got a plan."
Sheri nods, "And what's the plan?"
Grace also turns to the two as they both had yet to inform her of what the plan was. Justin looks around, making sure that no one was looking at them before grabbing his backpack, opening it and pulling out a huge set of pliers.
"Boom."
Grace and Sheri look at each other with raised eyebrows, not knowing why the boys thought they had to be over dramatic with their plan.
"Seriously?" Grace scoffs out a laugh, her eyes focussing on the tool that's still casually on the table. Why couldn't they just enter like normal people?
"That's the plan? Put those away." Sheri adds in a hushed whisper, glancing around at the people in the café.
"What? Why?" Clay questions, offended at how the two girls aren't going along with their plan.
"Why not just break down the door?" Sheri says, as if the answer was obvious, which to her and Grace, it was.
"And enter like normal humans." Grace adds.
"Because then the door would be broken." Justin replies defensively as he grabs the pliers from the table and places them back into his bag without drawing attention to anyone else.
Sheri sighs, pointing to herself and Grace, "What we're trying to say is that we need to do it without tipping them off that we were there."
"And we do that how?" Clay asks.
"Grace and I will handle this." Sheri tells him, making Grace's eyes widen at the order. She had no idea what mess she was about to get herself into and she really didn't want to do it. "We'll text you."
Clearly, Justin doesn't want her to either as his hand grips around her wrist gently, shaking his head adamantly. "No, no, I don't want you going there, Grace."
Grace sighs, "It's not like I have much choice in the matter, J. I won't let Sheri go alone." She disregards Sheri's look of shock. "Plus, I'll be fine, okay?"
He closes his eyes in worry, "Just, please... be careful. Any problems and you call me straight away and I'll be there." He declares, planting a kiss on her head, ignoring Clay's look of disgust.
"I will." She assures him with a smile before standing up with Sheri and leaving Monet's, on their way to the clubhouse.
When they finally reach there, Scott Reed and another boy from the baseball team is there, most probably waiting for them with big smiles. Behind them, is the clubhouse, a small cabin that's painted white and Grace has to prepare herself before stepping any closer to the building.
"How did you guys even find this place?" Sheri asks as the two girls watch Scott start to type in the passcode to unlock the place.
Scott chuckles, "Find? No, you don't find the Clubhouse...you're invited."
Scott successfully opens the Clubhouse and Grace memorises the passcode. She then looks to Sheri, nodding to let her know that she has the numbers. Sheri lets out a discreet smile.
"Oh, I just remembered that we have a test in biology in like twenty minutes." Grace speaks up for the first time. "So, we should actually—"
"Grace fucking Jensen!" A voice calls from behind her and the girl feels the fear crawl up her body. "And Sheri Holland."
Grace plants a sarcastic smile on her face before turning around to look at the boy. "Bryce, what a pleasure." She remarks, but he doesn't seem to notice her sarcasm. That's probably for the best.
"Not gonna lie, Grace. I'd never thought I'd see you here, especially with drugs." Bryce smirks, stepping closer to her and evading her personal space. "Fight with Justy?"
Grace goes to snap at him for even suggesting that but shuts her mouth quickly, deciding that she can use that to her advantage. "Uh, yeah. We're not speaking right now." She lies easily.
"Well, I'm sure we'll take your mind off of it." He replies with a grin, beginning to push the two girls into the Clubhouse.
As they enter, Grace notices that there's not much in the Clubhouse. Mainly a small sofa, some sport equipment and some alcohol and drugs stashed around the place.
Sheri sits herself down on the sofa and Grace follows her actions, sitting on the left side of her. She refrains from rolling her eyes as Scott and the other boy sit next to them, practically giving them no room to breathe. Bryce sits on the opposite side of them on a singular chair and begins to sort the weed out.
"Do one of you want to break her in?" He asks randomly, the girls sharing a bewildered expression. Seeing this, Bryce laughs, "It's a new pipe. Do either of you want to do the honours."
Knowing that Grace has never done drugs before, Sheri nods, earning a look of gratitude from the other girl. "Okay."
Bryce smiles cynically and places the pipe in between Sheri's lips, the girl freezes in fear from how close the older boy is. "Break her in, girl." He grins and lights the pipe for her.
She takes a long drag, the boys hollering at her whilst Grace watches with a bitter look on her face. She feels really bad that Sheri did that for her. At the end of her drag, Sheri starts to cough violently and she puts it away after Bryce declines and so does the other boys.
Bryce walks over to a black box and takes out a camera, Grace realising that that must be the box that he keeps all of those inappropriate polaroids in. He closes the box after he grabs what he's looking for and walks back over to the group.
The two boys scoot closer to the girls, one breathing right in Grace's face, making her uncomfortable. Bryce grins as he holds it up to take a photo of them. Grace manages an awkward smile, wanting desperately for her and Sheri to get the hell out of there.
***
After that ordeal, Grace is left shaken up with Sheri as they walk into the library to see Justin and Clay on the couch. Justin's worried eyes meet hers and he stands up to see her. She rushes into his arms and sighs, feeling a sense of peace as he wraps his arms around her small frame.
Holding her for longer, Justin sits them down next to Clay, not letting the scared girl out of his arms. "I was really worried about you." He admits, playing with her hair to calm her down.
The girl smiles, lifting herself up and attaching her lips to his in a soft chaste kiss. "It was fine until Bryce showed up." She says, the boy stiffening up at his ex-best friends name. "He made Sheri break the new pipe in and took photos of us."
"They put the picture in this box with, like, a hundred others." Sheri adds, placing herself down as well.
"Like trophies?" Clay asks in disgust.
"Insurance." Justin tells him, clutching the girl tighter to him. "Whatever happens in the Clubhouse stays in the Clubhouse."
"We have to get those pictures. We'll go during the game." Clay utters in determination, not even realising the scared looks of the two girls.
"You go. We're out." Sheri speaks fearfully, Grace nodding along with her words.
"Wait. Why?"
"I can't go back there, and neither can Grace." She replies with sadly, her eyes beginning to well up with tears. Seeing this, Grace holds her hand out for Sheri to grab for comfort, the latter smiling at her gratefully.
Clay looks as if he's going to say something but Justin interrupts, smiling at the girls sympathetically. "Yeah, I get it."
***
After talking with Clay and Sheri, Justin and Clay leave the two to go the the main reception because the former wants to looks at some flyers about summer school. He takes three from the stand while Grace has her head on his shoulder, reading one of them.
Neither notice Mr. Porter come up to them until he speaks, "Hey. Come on, let's talk." He says, motioning the two students to enter his office.
Justin tries to get out of the situation by stepping back and making up an excuse, but Mr. Porter is determined and relentless, causing him sigh and follow him out to the office with Grace holding his hand.
Mr. Porter sits down in his chair while Justin and Grace sit in front of him, waiting for him to speak about Justin's grades. Grace desperately wants Justin to be able to go to Sanderson college with her because without him, it wouldn't mean as much.
"As long as you don't miss any more of the semester and you sign up for summer school, I think I can help you get the credits you need so you can graduate with your class... barely." Mr. Porter tells Justin, relieving the Jensen girl.
"Thank you." Justin responds weakly, not used to people actually trying to help him.
"Can you get your shit together? Can you get the grades?" He bluntly questions him, even Grace was shocked with the casual bad language being used by him.
"Yes." Justin states, nodding.
Grace angles her head so she's gazing at the boy, feeling utterly proud that he's beginning to see his worth. Justin knows he can do this, especially with Grace's help. And the Jensen girl believes in him too, more than anyone.
"Have you spoken to your mother since you've been back?"
The question from the counsellor causes Justin to lower his head down as he lies, "No. I don't know where she is."
"Bullshit. I visited her last week." Mr. Porter is quick to call him out, confidently. "And I know she's staying at the house her boyfriend used to cook in till he had to take it out of town."
Grace could see that all this talk about his mother was upsetting Justin, so she decides to speak up, "What does this even have to do with his grades?"
"And I know that you're staying with Grace Jensen now." Mr. porter continues, glancing between the couple. "And Grace it's important to know that he's safe."
"He is." She insists.
He nods respectfully, going back to the matter at hand. "Justin, what's your plan, long-term?"
"I'll find a job, find a place." Justin shrugs as if it's no big deal. His eyes then droop sadly, "I'm used to being on my own, okay?"
Grace instantly places her hand in his that is placed on his lap, gaining his attention. "You're not on your own anymore, J. You've got me now and you'll never have to go through that again." She tells him sincerely, a small smile lifting on his face and he places his lips to the skin of her hand.
"Guys..." Mr. Porter interrupts the moment hesitantly. Grace clears her throat awkwardly and her boyfriend smirks at her but let's the counsellor continue on. "Im not gonna be at this job much longer. And whoever replaces me is gonna want Justin back at his mom's house."
"I'm not going to let that happen." Grace snaps back, raising her arms in anger. "Have you seen the type of shit that he's had to deal with there. He's not going back, no way."
"I understand that, Grace. But listen, this is going to be hard for you, Justin and you need to let people help. You need to let go of your past wrongs and figure out what can you do right. Justin, take care of yourself."
Justin nods with tears in his eyes. It was clear to his girlfriend and the counsellor sitting in front of him that he wasn't used to people willingly helping him. "Yes, Sir. I will."
Mr. Porter nods, happy that he is able to help the Foley boy. He then turns to the female Jensen. "Now onto you, Grace."
"Oh no." The girl mutters with a groan.
"How have you been? We were worried at the end of the year because your grades were slipping dramatically." He says and the two teenagers realise that that was when Justin had left.
"I'm fine." Grace responds bluntly.
"Have you had any contact with Bryce Walker at all?" He then randomly questions, causing the teens to tense up. "Someone informed me that they witnessed an argument between you and him in the halls and also seen you across the field with him."
Grace's guard is instantly up and she scoffs, "And who told you that?" She asks him defensively. She doesn't want the authorities to know about the polaroids just yet.
"You know I can't tell you that, Grace."
She rolls her eyes in frustration and sighs, "If you must know he was saying some shit about Justin and I stuck up for him. Trust me, I have no desire to be anywhere near Bryce Walker. So, why do you ask?"
"I just want to make sure that you're safe and that he doesn't do anything to harm you." Mr. Porter admits. "Due to the recent allegations, I want to be careful."
"But I think we all know they're not just allegations, are they, Mr. Porter?" Grace snarks back and the teacher cautiously nods.
Grace and Justin then stand up, starting to walk out of the office, stopping by the door when the counsellor speaks again, "Grace, why don't we schedule a check-in?"
Grace shakes her head at the suggestion and Justin clears his throat, placing a protective arm around her. "My girl is fine, Mr. Porter." He says. "I'll be the one to handle it."
***
The one thing that the trio now needed to do now was successfully break into the Clubhouse without anyone noticing. Shouldn't be too hard, considering that they had the four digit code and the baseball players were due to play a game in the Liberty High fields. Grace shakes anxiously as she waits for the last baseball player to exit the cabin. She turns her head and nods to Clay, giving him the indication that they have all left.
The three rush to the door, Clay speedily tapping the code in, effectively unlocking the wooden door. He walks in swiftly, Justin following behind him. Grace takes one look around, still seeing no one and enters the small building.
Clay searches one side of the room while Justin and Grace search the other together. Just like last time she was here, nothing too drastic was here. They could see drugs and alcohol is there, but nothing else. Grace desperately tries to find the box but is unsuccessful, huffing, she turns and tries a new spot.
Justin shakes his head, speaking up for the first time since they've entered, "You think they'd know better than to just leave this shit lying around." He says with a roll of his eyes.
"Not really. Jocks are stupid." Grace says, turning to Justin with a sarcastic grin. "Sorry."
"Except then they'd know better than to take pictures in the first place." Clay adds logically and bitterly, searching through the things on the shelves.
Suddenly, the door opens harshly, the door almost coming off its hinges with the power of it. Grace gasps in fear, not expecting anyone to come in. She rapidly joins the two boys, watching as Zach Dempsey walks in, anger shown on his face.
Justin places an arm around Grace's waist to pull her behind him, just in case a fight did break out. They didn't know whether to trust Zach or not. He seems like a good guy, but he was still hanging around Bryce.
"Shit." Clay curses in a whisper.
"What the fuck are you guys doing here?" Zach booms out, stepping closer to the three threateningly.
Grace grabs hold of her boyfriend's arm that's in front of her, her eyes piercing into the back of him, pleading him not to start a fight with the boy.
"We know about the Clubhouse." Clay spits out and Grace stops herself from rolling her eyes at the obvious reveal. Clearly they knew about it, they were standing inside it. "We know everything and we're not the only ones."
"Oh, you know everything?" Zach scoffs out a humourless laugh, "I don't think so."
"We know enough."
Not liking the threatening demeanour towards Clay, Justin take a step forward, "Hey, just back off, Dempsey." He states rather calmly.
"Or what, Justin?" Zach turns to the smaller boy in question. "You gonna come at me? I wasn't scared of you even before you fell apart."
Grace is instantly there to defend Justin, stepping out from his arm and taking a step closer. She won't let anyone talk badly at him and she knows he would do the same. "What the hell is your problem, Zach?"
Zach scoffs again, "Should've known you'd be here too, continuing to chase Justin around like a little puppy."
Anger seeps in both Grace and Justin at the harsh words but before either can say anything, Clay speaks up snappily, "Do what you want, Zach. I've had the shit beat out of me once this week already. It's not going to stop us."
Clay explained to Grace already what happened to him with the jocks the day before and she was fuming. Sadly, she couldn't do or say anything due to her promising both the boys that she wouldn't.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"It's going to keep happening, Clay. To you too, Justin, Grace. It doesn't stop. You can't take shots at the top and expect to not get hit back." Zach informs them angrily.
"I'm not afraid." Clay states with courage.
Zach nods, accepting his answer and walks over to the other side of the room to retrieve a box, placing it on the table in front of them. "Good. You already have three of these. There's the rest."
The other three's mouths are agape once they've realised that Zach had been the one to give them the other polaroids. It was shocking to them all.
"It was you?" Grace questions in disbelief, picking up the box from the table.
"Why the big mystery? Why couldn't you just talk to me? Tell me what was going on?" Clay interrogates him with his questions, not believing that he was the one who was behind it all.
"Because I'm a fucking coward." Zach admits.
"At least he admits it." Grace thinks with a shrug.
"And you're not." Zach continues, looking at Clay.
And with that, Zach defeatedly walks out of the Clubhouse to go home, leaving the three others standing there in shock at the situation. Out of all the baseball players, Zach was the nicest, along with Scott Reed. They should've known that out of everyone, Zach would have been the one to give them to them.
"We should go home and call Sheri." Grace says into the silence, the boys nodding. "We don't know when the team will show up."
***
After calling Sheri about the recent news, she met them all at the Jensen household. Polaroids are scattered along the table, at least over one hundred of them. Everyone was sick to their stomachs. There are multiple photos that convey the image of Bryce and the rest of the baseball teams harassing the other females at Liberty.
The core fore flick through them with solemn eyes. Sheri sighs, holding one in her hand, "These photos go back, like, years."
"There's no wonder these fucking baseball players are so fucking tight." Justin counters in disgust, placing his chin on his girlfriend's shoulder while looking at another polaroid that's in her hand. Although being best friends with Bryce Walker and the rest of the team a while back, he surprisingly didn't know anything about this. "I mean, they're all covering each other's asses for this shit."
"It's disgusting." Grace cringes, continuing to look at the photos. "I don't even want to imagine what these poor girls have been through."
"This is the thing I don't get. I mean..." Clay pauses, not knowing how to word his words. "Why are these girls getting themselves into this situation in the first place?"
Sheri and Grace's heads snap around to stare at him in disbelief. Although they shouldn't be too surprised, the blame is somehow put on the girls all the damn time. It was totally unfair.
"Seriously, Clay? You're gonna blame the girls?" Sheri questions him in harsh bewilderment.
Sensing his mistake, he begins to stutter, "No, I-I just—" He grabs ahold of a polaroid that shows a girl laughing on the couch. "Look, I mean, this girl is laughing. Like she's having fun."
But it wasn't just any girl.
It's Nina.
Jessica's new best friend.
Noticing this too, Sheri's eyes widen, "Oh, my God. This is Nina, the girl on the track team. She's Jessica's friend." She gasps, handing it over to Grace. "Clay, you don't know what was happening in this photo. And you don't know what happened after."
"But clearly, no one's forcing her to be there." Clay tries to reason.
"Look, girls don't just "get themselves" into bad situations." Sheri finally snaps. Grace turns her head slightly to come face to face with Justin, giving him a weary glance. "Guys make the situations bad. You don't know what that feels like, to be a girl in that room. Not like Grace and I do."
Justin is quick to plant a kiss on Grace's neck and tighten his arms around her when he feels her begin to stiffen up and try to move away from him in awkwardness. Grace doesn't want to remember how she felt when she went to the Clubhouse for the first time. The sheer terror that crept on her when Bryce smirked at her deviously from his place.
Clay then nods, "Uh, yeah, no. I guess you're right." He says nervously.
Grace narrows her eyes at him from where she sits, the only one noticing her twins odd behaviour. Although, she doesn't comment on it and lays her head back on Justin's chest, her eyes closing in satisfaction at the safe feeling.
"Shit." Justin swiftly curses randomly, making Grace lean forward and turn to him in confusion. "Guys, look." He demands. He places the polaroid in front of them and they all are filled with shock as they see Bryce raping his own girlfriend who is clearly unconscious.
"Oh, my God. T-That's Chlöe." Clay gasps out.
"He did that to his own girlfriend." Sheri exclaims in disturbance."
"This is how we take him down." Clay states. "She's unconscious in these pictures. He's fucking raping her. If we show her these, maybe we can get her to report it. Maybe we can get her to turn against him."
"It'll be hard, Clay." Grace sighs, a hand going through her hair. "I've seen them at school and I know you have too, she practically worships the ground he walks on. I don't think this is going to work."
"We have to try." He replies sadly.
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