PRESENT TIME
JUNIOR YEAR
LIBERTY HIGH SCHOOL GYM
TAPE 4, SIDE A
IMOGEN'S POV
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"Maybe you think you deserve everything you get. . and more. Maybe you're just used to hearing the cheers of the crowd. Maybe you can't imagine what it feels like to be on the sidelines, Zach. . like most of us are. You can't imagine why a little piece of paper could mean so much. Maybe you don't know what it's like to need a lifeline, Zach. The day after you insulted me in the cafeteria, my compliment bag was empty. Not even a cute bunny. By the end of the end of the second week, I knew something was up. Maybe I should've let it go, but I didn't."
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"Clay, what are you doing here?"
I quickly pulled my brother off of the basketball court, since everyone was yelling at him to get off the court. I know he told Dad he was thinking about coming to the game, but I didn't think he would actually show up. Everyone in my family knows that cheering is my safe haven, and it's not that I don't want them here, but I show them videos and pictures after the game.
"Told Dad I was coming." He said, shrugging his shoulders and then walking off.
"Yeah, but I didn't think you would actually show up!" I called out after him, and then our coach walked up to me and Sheri.
"Where the hell is Jessica?" She asked, and Sheri and I looked at each other before Sheri spoke.
"She texted me and Immy. . told us she was babysitting brothers and she has to wait for her mom to get home before she can leave." Sheri said, and our coach shrugged.
"Well, we can't wait for her." She said, and then she stepped to the side. "Okay ladies, let's go!" She exclaimed, and all the girls ran out onto the court, cheering and waving their pom poms so we could get to the section of where we stand, but I was waiting for Sheri.
"Jensen, come on, throw the damn ball!"
I looked up in the crowd, because we cheer in front of the crowd, and my brother had the ball in his hands and he was just staring at Zach, I sighed, because I really wish he wouldn't have came, I was trying to give nothing away in my face, but this was so embarrassing.
"Clay, give him the damn ball!" I hissed, but my brother's eyes didn't move from Zach's, and Sheri gently touched my arm and I looked at her. "This is so fucking embarrassing." I whispered.
Then Tyler took the ball out of Clay's hands and threw it back onto the court, and then I tapped Sheri because I noticed Jess came in and coach was storming over to her, so Sheri and I quickly walked over too, because we know how our coach gets.
"Uh-uh. No way. You've been late to practice twice this week." She snapped.
"Coach, so have I." I said, and she looked at me, like she was saying shut up because I did not want to be dragged into this.
"Yes, but she also missed most of the first quarter, at least you showed up on time." She said to me, and Jessica sighed.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know I was going to be so late." She said, and then Coach looked at the both of us and shook our heads.
"Look, Jess. . Imogen, I don't know what the hell is going on with you two, but if you've got a problem, come to me and we'll work it out, but I'm sorry Jess. You're out of today's game." She said, and I shook my head.
"That's not fair. I should be out too. I was late to practice this week too." I said.
"Fine, then you're benched too." She snapped and walked away, as the first quarter ended, so we had to do part of a routine. Jess looked at me and I shrugged, because I didn't know what to say, and I rolled my eyes. Sheri put a hand on my shoulder before following the girls out, and then I caught Justin's eyes and he was looking concerned, but I just rolled my eyes and turned away.
"Hey, Jess. Imogen. You guys aren't leaving are you?" Bryce Walker asked.
"We're benched for the game. Or didn't the entire gym just hear that?" Jessica said, and Bryce moved over in his seat.
"Well, if you're benched, take a seat. Make some room you guys." He said as he hopped off the bleachers and walked towards us. Jess looked at me, and we both had the same unsure look in our eyes about sitting with Bryce and his friends.
"I don't know." I said.
"Come on, Immy. You don't want to miss your boyfriend's big game." He said, and then he opened up his jacket pocket and showed a flask. "And. . we're having fun up there." He said, and then I nodded my head.
"Fine, let's go." I said.
"Immy." Jess said, and gently grabbed my arm and I looked at her.
"What? I'm not cheering, I didn't drive, I walked, so I don't see why not. You coming or what?" I asked her, and she sighed, before following Bryce and I back to the bleachers. Bryce helped the two of us climb up before he did as well.
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"I wrote you a letter. I poured my heart out, opening up about personal things I hadn't had the courage to admit to anyone: how hard life was getting. . how lonely I felt. . and how those stupid compliments actually meant something to me. And then I set my trap. I was hoping once you read the letter, you'd get it, you'd realize how much I needed those silly things you were stealing from me. But I guess I wasn't even worth your reaction."
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"Stop it! Stop! Stop it! Stop playing! Stop the game!"
I looked up and saw of course, my brother was starting to freak out over nothing, and I sighed before putting my hands over my face, not even wanting to watch what was about to happen. Everyone on the court stopped and everyone was just looking at my brother, and Jess tapped me and I shook my head.
"I can't watch." I said, and I heard someone else mumble.
"Is he crazy?"
And then Clay ran out of the gym, which is exactly what he needed to do and I let out a breath of relief. You would think that I should go after him, but I was a little tipsy, so I don't think that I was in my right mind to be try and give some sisterly advice.
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"Why me, Zach? Why me? I was feeling desperate, so I texted someone I thought was a friend. I texted you, Imogen. And you said you'd come. And then you didn't. I get it, MiMo. We talked a little at the dance, but that didn't make us friends again. So I guess I didn't have any friends. . at all. . anymore."
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I remember that, and why didn't I show up? When I got back home from Bryce's house, I resumed Zach's tape and I remember exactly what Hannah is talking about. It was probably because I was with Justin. Our relationship was still new, so I just wanted to be with him, all the time, everyday, but I'm such a bitch, because I told Hannah I would come, and then I didn't, and then she even texted me and asked if I was still coming.
I just didn't respond.
What kind of person am I? Listening to this tape, I realized that, Hannah really needed a friend that day, Hannah really needed me, and I wasn't there for her, because I hadn't been there for a long time. She was right, in my head, being cordial at the dance didn't make us friends again.
How stupid am I?
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"You had to know it was me who wrote that note, Zach. And you said nothing. You let everyone think it was Imogen, because she had the biggest outburst and given what happened to her freshman year. How could you do that to someone you claimed as your best friend? Why didn't you speak up? See, I have this theory, Zach. I have this theory that you're lonely too. Could that be possible? What kind of lonely could the great Zach Dempsey possibly feel? Maybe that kind where you think no one truly sees you. I know that kind of lonely, do you?"
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"So, you disappeared last night."
Justin was in my car. . well not my car. One of my parent's cars. Clay and I don't have our own cars, but we both have our licenses, so I don't know it's a weird situation. Justin said he wanted to talk, so I figured we could, even though I was still kind of mad at him for acting like an asshole.
"Yeah, that game got sad. Zach's good. Whoo-hoo. Every jump shot he took, he kind of left out the jumping part." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Who cares? We left early." I said.
"Who's we?" He asked.
"Me, Jess, Bryce and some of the other guys." I said.
"You couldn't have texted me?" He asked me, and I shrugged my shoulders.
"Bryce said he texted you." I said.
"Yeah, he texted me to come over, not that you were there." Justin said, and I shrugged once again. Then I guess he should've taken Bryce up on his offer and came to the house. "I mean I texted you like, four times. You couldn't have hit me back?" He asked.
I slightly gave him a look, but not for too long, since I'm driving. "You are so not one to ask that, by the way. I was in the hot tub with Jess, okay? I didn't have my phone, what's the problem?" I asked him. "You can live at Bryce's, but I can't hang out there?" I asked.
"I don't live there, now. And you hate going to Bryce's house, you told me yourself that you hate being over there, so why would you go?" He asked.
"I mean, I hated you when I first got back from rehab and look at us now." I said, and Justin didn't say anything, so I didn't say anything, so I continued to drive further.
Didn't know where we were going.
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"No one knows what's really going on in another person's life. And you never know how what you do will affect someone else. And if that goes for me, it must go for everyone. Even cheerleaders."
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LIBERTY HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY
IMOGEN'S POV
"Oh, wait, everyone. It's Justin Foley, Zach Dempsey and my sister Imogen Jensen."
The next day in the hallway, I looked up to see Clay, Courtney and a crowd of students following behind them. What the hell was going on and what the hell was Clay about to do? I looked at Justin and Zach and they looked just as confused as I did.
"Star basketball players here at Liberty High and Imogen? Star cheerleader, who is dating said basketball star, Justin Foley. Hey, Justin, where's my bike?" Clay asked, and I looked at Justin.
"Justin stole my bike." I heard Clay say to the students.
"You stole his bike?" I asked him. I knew that what Clay said about Tony fixing it was a lie, but I had no idea that Justin was the one who stole it in the first place.
"What the fuck, what are you doing?" Justin asked him.
"I'm giving our new foreign exchange students a tour. Figured they should now who owns the school, right, you guys?" Clay said, and I shook my head.
"Clay. . stop it." I said to him.
"Right, right. . moving on. Where were we?" He asked, turning back to Courtney. "Right the auditorium. Oh, oh, but before we go. . I want to show you something super cool, okay?" He said, and now Courtney looked worried.
"Clay, cut it out." She said, but Clay walked away from her.
"Look at these lockers. They all look alike, right?" He said, and then he put his finger on Hannah's locker. "Not this one. This one is special. It belonged to a girl who killed herself." Clay said, and Courtney shook her head.
"Clay, come on." She said, looking down at the ground. Honestly, at this moment, I wasn't even embarrassed. My brother missed the girl he loves, he's lashing out, but at least he's telling these kids what it's honestly like at Liberty instead of giving them the fake, everyone here is so great.
Because we're not.
"You see all these 'don't kill yourself' posters up on the wall? They weren't up before. They put them up because she killed herself. And why did she do it? Because the kids here treated her like shit!" Clay said, and then Justin started to walk to him and I tried to stop him, but he shook out of my grasp and walked up to my brother.
"Jensen, that's enough." He said, calmly trying to grab him, but Clay jerked out of his hold.
"But no one wants to admit it, so they paint over the bathrooms and put up a memorial because that's the kind of school that this is. Everyone is just so nice until they drive you to kill yourself! And sooner or later, the truth will come out. It's gonna come out." Clay said, and all of us stood, not knowing what to say.
All of us being me, Jess, Justin, Zach, Sheri, Courtney, all people who were on the tapes. Well, maybe not Sheri, and if she is on the tapes, I haven't gotten to her tape yet, and I haven't gotten to mine either. And then I noticed Tony walking down the hall and Clay turned towards him, his arms opened wide.
"Right, Tony? Right? You know the truth." He said.
"Clay!" All our attention turned to Mr. Porter who was walking down the hallway on the other side and he stepped in the middle of the circle that had surrounded my brother. "I think you should come with me, right now." He said.
And then he looked at all of us. "Get to class, everybody. All of you, get to class." Clay turned back to where all of us and the foreign exchange students were standing with a smile.
"Welcome to Liberty High."
"Let's go." Porter said, and Clay turned back around and followed him down the hallway.
What. . the. . hell?
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Can someone please explain to me why Dylan Minnette still doesn't have every award known to man for his performance in that final scene? Please and thank you.
Don't forget to vote/comment.
xoxo, Micah.