𝐒𝐎𝐅𝐓𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐄 ━━━━ 𝖢𝖧𝖠𝖯𝖳𝖤𝖱 𝖲𝖨𝖷
𝐓𝐀𝐏𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐎 | 𝖲𝖨𝖣𝖤 𝖠
𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝗅𝗎𝖾 𝗌𝗉𝗈𝗍 !
"IT'LL BE FUN," Maddie told Justin as they walked out of the store together. Maddie had taken Sheri's advise and convinced Justin to join her in the costume contest, so after he was done having his miniature breakdown, she took them to the store. "I promise."
"So this contest is tomorrow?" Justin asked his girlfriend, as he pushed the cart toward her car.
Maddie nodded, "Yeah, but you actually have to be there to participate."
"I will."
Maddie turned toward him with an unamused look. He put his hands up in defense, "I promise."
"Yeah, you promised before," she mumbled as she popped her trunk.
"There's just been a lot of shit going on at home, okay?" Justin told her as he started passing her bags. "Seth is back, so it's just... easier for me to stay at Bryce's, that's all."
Maddie nodded as she took that bag, "Okay, but I also miss having a boyfriend-" before Maddie could finish her sentence, Justin had a mask on his face with his tongue sticking out. "Am I supposed to be scared?"
Justin shrugged as he turned back toward the cart. "Should I be, Justin?" Maddie asked. "Scared?"
Justin shook his head as he placed the mask on top of his head, put the last bag in the car, and slammed the trunk shut. "Never. There's nothing to be scared of."
Maddie hummed as the boy pulled her into a hug, before leaning in and kissing her.
"Justin!" At that familiar voice, Justin was quick to pull away from the girl. Maddie wrapped her arm around his waist as she followed his gaze.
"Uh, hey, Coach," Justin rushed as he threw the mask off and unwrapped himself from Maddie.
Maddie stepped away, making her way to the cart, as Justin spoke to his coach. Maddie put it away before returning. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. I've just- I've just had this stomach virus."
Maddie nodded as she wrapped an arm around Justin again, "Yeah, we just got his medicine."
"Mm-hm. Is everything alright at home?"
Justin nodded, "Yes, sir, I've just been sick. I'll be there tomorrow. I won't let you down."
"I'm not worried about you letting me down, son," his coach told him. "Colleges look at things like school attendance, game attendance, your grades."
"Yes, sir."
"Okay, now take that medicine. And, son... get yourself some eye drops while you're at it."
As soon as his coach had his back turned toward him again, Justin mumbled our a few cuss words before joining his girlfriend in her car.
►
You want evidence, Alex? You want storm clouds and thunder? Let's go to E-3 on your maps, everyone. The Blue Spot liquor store, where butterfly met hurricane.
The Blue Spot was a block and a half away from my first house here. And I went there when I desperately needed chocolate, which was, like, most days of the week.
It seems like nothing, until the hurricane hits. Because when you put my name on that list, you put a target on my... well, it wasn't just my ass. You made it open season on Hannah Baker.
❚❚
Maddie sat outside the Blue Spot liquor store with Justin, Bryce, Zach, Monty, and Alex, after Justin had convinced her to join him and the rest of the boys. Bryce was gone, dissappeared into the store to retrieve some beers as Maddie sat next to Monty on the hood of his jeep.
"No, that's not even close-"
"It is!" Monty opposed, after the two had started arguing over god knows what.
"No, it's not!" Maddie exclaimed. "Tell him, J."
Justin gaze at the girl with a dumbfounded look on his face before shrugging. Maddie rolled her eyes, "Thanks for being my knight in shining armor, boyfriend."
Justin smiled at her, "No problem, girlfriend."
Maddie rolled her eyes as the boy leaned up to place a kiss to her cheek, before Bryce made his way back outside to his friends. "Yo, Mads. I just bought your brother a cold one."
"Clay?" Maddie asked, surprised. "He's never had a drop of beer in his life, and you just bought him one?"
"A forty, to be exact," Bryce told her as he handed Money the bag of alcohol.
Maddie's eyes widened, "Good luck with whomever has to deal with that."
Bryce and Justin both laughed before Justin handed Maddie a beer. Maddie smiled as she accepted it, before Justin turned his head back toward the store entrance.
"There he is!" Maddie turned around, attempting to figure out who her boyfriend was shouting to before she saw her brother stood next to the trash can, holding the forty ounce Bryce had bought him. "Jensen! Come on, come drink with us, Buddy!"
Maddie chuckled as her brother shook his head, "I, uh... Thanks, but I gotta get home for dinner. Mads, you should be there, too."
Maddie groaned, "Clay, it's four o'clock."
"That's cute, Clay," Justin told the boy as he pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head. "You come all the way out to Blue Spot, let Bryce-y buy you a beer. The least you could do is drink with us."
"No, I really gotta-"
"Clay," Maddie warned after Justin had dragged him over toward Monty's jeep. "Don't spent your high school days being a buzz kill. Let loose and have fun, for once."
"I have plenty of fun, Mads," Clay protested.
Maddie shook her head, "Being alone in your bedroom all day does not count as fun."
Justin nodded, "Come on, drink your 40. Alex! You're up, man."
"Oh!" Bryce cheered as Monty reached for the other forty. "Yes, I love it. I love it. Freak versus Geek! Time trial. Forty ounces. Let's do it."
"Don't you have a concert?" Clay asked Alex, attempting to wiggle his way out of this.
"I did, yeah, but, actually, I quit jazz band," informed Alex. "It's just pointless."
"Oh, look!" Brye exclaimed as Tony's car parked on the other side of the street. "Your boyfriend's waiting for you."
"The record is eighteen seconds," Zach told Clay while standing up and placing a hand on Bryce's shoulder.
Maddie cleared her throat.
"Sorry," Zach mumbled. "Seventeen seconds."
Maddie smiled sweetly at him, "Thank you."
"Wait. To drink it all?" Clay asked his sister.
"Yes. To drink it all." They laughed.
Justin leaned over, "There's two ways you leave, Jensen: buzzed or beat down."
"Come on, Jensen," Zach encouraged. "Don't be a bitch."
"Like I said, Clay," Maddie told him. "Don't be a buzz kill."
"Alright, here we go. Ready? Five, four, three, two one. Go!"
As soon as the five teenagers were done counting down, Clay turned toward Alex before starting to down his beer. Alex was a lightweight, and Clay never drinks, which is why Maddie had no clue who would win.
The four boys continued to shout for the boys to keep doing. Maddie did too, but she could see the pain begin Clay's eyes as he tried his hardest to finish the toxic liquid.
"It's so fucking close! Go, go! So close! Oh, my God, Jensen!" cheered Bryce as Clay downed the last of the drink. "Attaboy! What the fuck? Okay, alright. That was pretty good. Mads you're brother might be better than you."
"Don't even start with me, Walker," Maddie warned before she leaned forward, taking Justin's sunglasses form his eyes and placing them over hers. "See you at home, Clay!"
»--•--«
A few hours later, after the girl had lost track of time with her friends at Bryce's, the girl had made her way back home. Only, now, it was dark, and almost three hours past the specific time her mother told her to be home.
"Madelyn!" Lainie Jensen called out for her daughter as soon as she heard the front door close. Maddie was hoping she wouldn't hear, but she had parent ears.
The girl winced before she walked into the kitchen, "hey, mom."
"What are you doing home so late?" Lainie asked as Clay stood in front of her, across the table. "You said you would be home hours ago."
"Yeah, sorry," Maddie apologized as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I just lost track of time, and-"
Clay had tripped over... well, nothing, inevitably cutting Maddie off and diverting their mother's attention onto him. "Are you drunk?"
Clay nodded, "I think so."
Maddie chuckled slightly, but managed to cover it up as a cough. "Wow, this is escalating fast," Matt commented.
"You've never done anything like this before," Lainie grumbled. "Drinking on a school night? Riding your bike drunk?"
"I'm sorry about that-"
"How much did you drink, son?"
"Just one beer," Clay admitted. "It was a big beer, though. And it was disgusting. Ask Maddie, she was there."
Maddie's eyes widened as her parents attention was turned toward her, "I was not drinking. I promise."
"Bullshit," Clay mumbled, out of breath.
Maddie's eyes widened again as she threw her hands in the air, in dramatics.
"Alright, enough," Lainie excalimed. "You two are grounded."
"I didn't even do anything!" Maddie shouted.
"I don't care! For the next two weeks, you two will go straight to school and come straight home afterwards. No after school activities, no hanging out with friends."
Maddie groaned, "That's bullshit! Mom, I didn't-"
"Okay, okay," Matt interrupted his daughter. "Before we get into the sentencing phase, let's all just sit down to dinner. Clay, you need to get some food and water in you, and then we can talk about-"
"No, I don't, actually," Clay interrupted. "I'm not that hungry. Um, I think I'm just gonna... just go to my room..."
Maddie was quick to back up after Clay's lunch from that day had managed to get from his stomach to the kitchen table.
"I'm sorry."
►
The butterfly effect. It started with Justin, then on to you, Alex. And the rest of you. Maybe these tapes will start a new butterfly effect. Who knows? Everything effects everything.