𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙒𝙊 ─── 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝟭
❝ 𝖳𝖧𝖠𝖳 𝗗𝗔𝗠𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗦𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗘 ❞
❪ 𝙏𝘼𝙋𝙀 𝙊𝙉𝙀, 𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘌 𝘈 ❫

𝟢𝟤. ╱ ✷ ❝ that smile. that
𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲 ❞

❝𝘿𝙊𝙉𝙏 𝘼𝘿𝙅𝙐𝙎𝙏 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍 - whatever device you're hearing this on." Hannah Baker's voice comes through the boombox speakers, and shocks the boy, "It's me, live and in stereo. No return engagements, no encore, and this time, absolutely no request. Get a snack. Settle in. Because, I'm about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically, why my life ended. Anyway, the rules here are pretty simple. There are only two."

"Whatcha doing?" Lainie touches her son's shoulder as she comes into the garage unannounced.

Clay jumps, rushing to turn the stereo off, "Jesus!"

"Sorry." Lainie apologizes.

"What have we said about helicopter parenting?" Clay turns to look at his mom.

"I didn't mean to scare you. You were just lost in - what is that you're listening to?"

"It's, uh, it's nothing." He lies, turning around to take the tape from the boombox, "It's for history class."

"Cassettes are history now? Hmm." Lainie reached out to pick one up, "'Course they are. Can I listen?"

"No, uh, it's dumb. I'm gonna head up to my room." Clay tells her, "Homework."

"Clay, school emailed against today." Lainie stops him from leaving the shed.

"Which explains why dad showed interest in my life." Clay realized, "You two are dangerous when you coordinate. Why aren't you asking Riley?"

"We both know where she's at right now." Lainie chuckled.

"Asleep." The two say simultaneously.

"You know I hate being that kind of parent who asks if you want to talk about anything, but if you want to talk about anything....,"

"I didn't really know her, mom." Clay already knew that she had been talking about the death of Hannah Baker.

"Didn't you two work together at the Crestmont?" Lainie questioned.

"Yeah, for a little while-,"

Lainie cuts him off, "But you didn't know her very well?"

"Not really. I need to get to work." He pulls the boombox off the table, dropping it to the ground since he hadn't unplugged it before, "Shit!"

"Language."

"I'm sorry." He unplugged the boombox and picked it up to walk out of the shed, "I gotta...I gotta go work. This is due in two days, so I gotta go."

"Clay. Slow down, hon. It's just homework."

"Yeah. Thanks mom."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗘 𝗜𝗦! How was your after school nap?" Lainie asks as her niece walks into the kitchen.

Riley shrugs her shoulder as she walks towards the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water before sitting down at the table, "Where did Clay go? He wasn't in his room."

"Oh, he went to see Tony since they're partners for their History project." She answered.

"What history project?"

"Something that has to do with cassette tapes." The woman tells her teenage niece. "Don't you guys have the same history class?"

Riley shakes her head, "I'm taking AP History. My class is a grade ahead of him."

Matt walks into the kitchen, pointing at his niece. "You got your brain from your mother. Your old man was terrible at school."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

𝗔𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢𝗡𝗬'𝗦, Clay sat on a bench in the park as he pulls out the Walkman he had grabbed from Tony's car. Putting the tape inside of it and pressing play, the sound of Hannah's voice starts to play again.

"The rules here are pretty simple. There are only two. Rule number one; you listen. Number two; you pass it on. Hopefully, neither one will be easy. It's not supposed to be easy, or I would have emailed you an MP3."

"When you're done listening to all thirteen sides, because there are thirteen sides to every story, rewind the tapes, put them back in the box, and pass them on to the next person."

"Why the hell am I on this?"

"Oh, and the box of tapes should have included a map. I'll be mentioning several spots around our beloved city. I can't force you to visit them, but if you'd like a little more insight, head for the starts. Or - you know - just throw the map away and I'll never know, or will I?"

"You see, in case you're tempted to break the rules, understand I did make two more copies of the tapes, and left them with two trusted individuals who - if this package doesn't make it through all of you - will release those copies in a very public manner."

"This is not a spur of the moment decision. Do not take me for granted. Not again."

"I never did!" Clay exclaimed as he rode his bike back to his house, "Whoa!"

The Jensen boy loses control of his bike as a car honks his horn at him, causing him to crash into a car that was parked on the curb, sending him to the ground. Clay brings his arm up to wipe at the blood trickling down his forehead, hissing as he rubbed the large cut on his forehead from his fall, "Oh, shit."

Looking around him, he finds the Walkman he had dropped and moved to pick it up, putting his earbuds into his ears and presses play with the hopes that he hadn't messed up like his dad's boombox.

"Do what I say. No more, no less. You're being watched."

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"𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗢𝗞𝗔𝗬?" LAINIE walks into her son's bedroom where he scrambled around, searching for the map that had been in the shoe box when he had gotten the tapes.

"Yeah. No, I just forgot something." Clay says, looking over at his mom.

"Clay, you're forehead!"

"What? It's nothing." He shook her off, turning back to keep looking for the map.

"Did you fall off your bike?" She asked.

"Low-hanging branch. I went through the woods. It was dark."

"I'll get the first aid kid."

"I don't need a first aid kit." Clay shakes his head.

Lainie gives him a look, "You are bleeding. You need ointment."

"Mom, please don't say ointment. I'm fine." Clay notices his cousin coming out of her own bedroom, and moves quickly to grab her arm, stopping her from moving. "Riley is taking those nursing classes, I'll just get her to patch it up."

"You do know that it's only classes, right?" Riley raises an eyebrow, "What happened anyway?"

"Bike, branch, skin." Clay gives her the short made up version.

"That's all?" Questioned his mother.

"Mom, I tell you everything about my life because it is so fascinating. I promise. Riley will clean it. I have to go. Tony's waiting."

"Ah-ah." Lainie stops him from leaving his room, reaching behind the door to grab the helmet from the nob, "You're helmet, please."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗗 to your forehead?" Riley asked as she dabbed an alcohol soaked cotton ball against the cut on her cousin's forehead to disinfect it so that it wouldn't get infected.

"I wasn't paying attention and a car almost hit me. I moved out of the way and face planted the ground."

"Ouch." She throws away the cotton ball, placing a band-ait on the cut, and leaning up to kiss the covered wound. "And you are good to go."

Clay chuckled at the blonde's actions, placing his own kiss on her forehead as he stands up, "I'll see you later."

"Stay safe!" Riley called after him.

"Always!"

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙃𝙀𝙇𝙈𝙀𝙏." Hannah's voice came from behind Clay as he took the bike helmet off of his head.

He would have asked Riley for a ride, but she hadn't been home all weekend, having stayed with Jeff like they did every weekend. Their own version of a "tradition", with Leah and Scott being added as the years went on.

"It's adorable."

"You mean "adorable" in a helpless baby animal sort of way, I'm guessing." Clay said.

"Are you afraid of helmet hair?" Hannah asked him.

"My hair does the same thing no matter what. Just sits there."

Hannah ran her fingers through his hair, "You just need some product, a little effort to style it, blow-dry in the morning."

"And sacrifice my masculinity?"

"That ship has sailed, don't you think?"

"Forgive me for wanting to keep my brains in my head." Clay followed her towards the ticket book of the movie theater.

"Instead of, say, some other regions, like most boys?" Hannah wondered as they walked towards the door, "Come on, helmet. You've got bathrooms to clean."

"You mean we've got." Clay follows her again.

"Mmm. I don't actually. Oh, uh, party at my house tonight." Hannah turned to look at him, "You're invited. It's mandatory. Don't bring the helmet."

"Cool. Where, uh, where do you live?"

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙋𝙐𝙏 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝙁𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙀𝙍 on "c", your other finger on "four". Bring them together. That's our first red star. I know, right? A map. Old school again. No google maps, no apps, no chance for the interweb to make everything worse, like it does."

"I hate following him around." Riley says as she sits back in the passenger seat of Tony's care which was following behind her cousin, who was headed to the first spot on Hannah's marked map, "I hated following any of them."

Tony gives her a look of sympathy, "Yeah, me too. But we have to make sure he sticks to the rules, just the others did."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙔𝙊𝙐'𝙑𝙀 𝘼𝙍𝙍𝙄𝙑𝙀𝘿 𝘼𝙏 my first house in this shitty town where I threw my first - and only - part, and where I met Justin Foley, the subject of the first tape."

Rock music plays throughout the house as Clay and Riley walked inside the open door, one dressed up more than the other.

"It was just a party, I didn't know it was the beginning of the end. Justin, you were in love with my friend Kat. One of my only friends."

"He came! Clay's here!" Kat exclaimed as she and Hannah raced down the stairs of Hannah's house, "And he brought the life of every party with him!"

"I win. You owe me five dollars." Hannah came down the stairs next to her as Kat pulls the blonde into a quick hug.

"Clay is worth five dollars" Riley jokes, letting a squeal out as Clay pinches her hip.

"You bet on me?" The Jensen boy asked.

"Against you." Kat tells Clay, "Last party I saw Clay at..mmm, my birthday, fourth grade."

Clay nods, "I still remember that clown."

"Oh, my god! He was a heroin addict!" Riley laughed, leaning against her cousin and not noticing the frown that seemed to appear on Hannah's face for just a second as Clay wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"My mother, the social worker, hired a recovering heroin addict." Kat explained the story to Hannah, "He had the shakes. Okay, uh, drinks. Come on. Excuse me." She grabs Riley's hand, pulling her along with her through the crowd.

"I just thought he was nervous." Clay tells Hannah, both of them chuckling.

"Hey."

"Hey, Kat."

"Hey, Riley!"

"Lee's here!"

"This is quite the turnout. People are happy to see you go." Clay followed behind the three girls as they walked into the kitchen.

"I just really threw it so Hannah could finally meet some people before I depart this realm." Kat states.

"I met helmet."

"Clay doesn't count." Kat tells her, "You met him at work."

"I feel like that should count." Clay added.

"Of course you do." Riley teases him, earning a playful shove from her cousin.

"Oh! Hannah, this is Riley. Riley, this is Hannah Baker. She just moved here." Kat introduces the two girls to each other.

"Nice to meet you?" Hannah shook the blonde's hand, recalling how she had only seen her for a brief second when she had come to the movie theater with Jeff to borrow Clay's house key. "How do you know Helmet?"

"I live with him." Riley scanned the different drinks on the counter top, "He's the baby cousin."

"You are two days older!"

Riley grinned up at him, "Still makes me older, CJ."

"Okay, refills. Clay, what is your drink?" Kat asked as Riley was already bringing a red cup up to her lips, enjoying the bitter taste and burn of the alcohol as she drank.

"Uh, Sprite." Clay says as he takes the cup from Riley's hand, "And so will Riley. You know you aren't supposed to drink."

"Oh, my god, are you priceless. You are a gem." Kat held two ups in her hand, pointing at the boy, "You'll have a beer."

"Sure, I like beer."

"Kat. Riley." Tyler Down calls, holding his camera up towards them.

"Oh. Picture."

Kat and Riley stuck their tongues out towards the camera as Tyler snapped the picture before Kat made her way towards the keg outside.

"Stop having so much fun, Clay." Hannah tells the boy as she unbuttons the top buttons of his shit.

"I'm having fun, totally." Clay tells him.

"You're too buttoned up."

"Hey, there." A new voice spoke, coming up behind Riley as a hand rested on the small of her back.

Riley frowns, moving away she takes notice that it's Bryce Walker. The two of them hadn't really talked to each other in a while despite having a couple of the same friends, and when they all hung out together. But they had a past that neither of them really liked to talk about, and it's what had torn their friendship apart.

Hannah smiled at him, "Hey."

"You're, um, you're the new girl."

"Apparently." Hannah laughs.

"Uh. I like your understated sense of fashion."

Bryce chuckled, "Thanks."

"Bryce." Kat walked back into the kitchen, "Better go hit up the keg and catch up. You're an hour behind."

"I'll see you later..I hope." Bryce tells Hannah before glancing down at Riley with a small smile as he walks off.

"Oh, god, no. Solid no, Hannah." Kat tells the brunette, "He is, like, frat boy Darth Vader."

"He didn't seem that bad."

"I was being kind."

Riley nods her head in agreement, "She kind of was. Bryce is a dick, Hannah. I should know since I've known him since daycare."

"I think I want a beer, too." Hannah tells the three before turning around and walking off.

"Okay then, Princess Leila."

Hannah turned around, looking between Clay and Kat as he held her hands up, "Oh, my God. You're both nerds."

"RIley, where is your other half?" Kat asked since usually the two best friends were joined at the hip, always inseparable. Platonic soulmates if you will. "And your other, other half."

"Jeff had a date with Leah. And it's family night for Scott. His aunt is in town." Riley tells her before turning to her cousin and wigging her eyebrows in a playful manner.

Kat laughed, seeing the girl as she turned to Clay, "Are you gonna tell her?"

"Tell her what?" Clay questioned.

"Oh, please. I've known you this entire century." Kat stated, sharing a look of boredom with Riley.

"Well, give me a break. I'm good with the..you know, and the gay rumors only recently subsided thanks to Riley." Clay tells the two girls.

"Hmm...so the stakes are high for you."

"It's like, around her, I can be different, you know? I'm the new and improved Clay Jensen - high school Sophomore, archaeologist-slash-adventurer." Says Clay.

"Clay, sweets, you're a prize." Kat puts her hand on his shoulder, "But from our limited observations, she had terrible taste in guys."

"Amen." Riley says.

Clay shoots his cousin a look, "Montgomery De La Cruz is one of your best friends."

"Monty isn't that bad." Riley defends one of her good friends.

"Oh, honey." Kat shakes her head, "He isn't that bad around you, but to others-,"

"He's a dick." Clay gives her a smug smile.

"We're talking about you, not me or my friendships." Riley rolls her eyes. "Back to Clay."

Clay's face drops as he looks between Kat and Riley, "The two of you won't say anything to her?"

"Only if it comes up." Riley winked at her cousin as she and Kat started to walk out.

"Kat! Riley!" He chases after the two of them.

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"𝙈𝙀𝙀𝙏 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘽𝙊𝙔𝙎. Aka, Riley's boys." Kat tells Hannah as the four now stood on the porch, watching as Justin Foley and Zach Dempsey wrestled around the front lawn of the house, the sprinklers coming in, "Justin Foley is mine, and Zach Dempsey is for you."

"Zach Dempsey? Really?"

"What? Zach's a sweetheart." Riley hells her cousin.

"I can't see!" Zach calls out, "Not the mane!"

"Okay, yeah, he's kind of dumb, which is the best kind." Kat said before sitting her cup on the porch railing and clapping her hand together, gaining the attention of the two boys, both of them standing up quickly, "Yes."

"Liberty High's star athletes, ladies and gentlemen." Riley gave the two boys a sweet smile, "So impressive."

"Sorry, boys. Can't have you in Hannah's house soaking wet." Kat tells the two.

"Seriously?" Justin questioned his girlfriend.

"Oh, my God, look at yourselves." Kat gestures to their dripping wet clothings.

Justin pulls his shirt off his body, holding his arms out with a smile, "Better?"

"Improvement for sure, but sorry, it's still a no-go." Kat said.

"Come on! It's not a party without us!" Zach says, throwing a wink in Riley's direction, "Isn't that right, Lee?"

"We'll take out chances, boys." Kat tells them, "Go dry off. Idiots, I can't even."

"But they're sweet idiots." Clay teases, following behind her back into the house.

Hannah stood there for a moment, looking towards Justin as he squeezed the water out of his shirt, and smiled at the Baker girl when he noticed that she was looking at him.

"So, you see, that's where the trouble began. That smile. That damned smile."

"Come on, you idiot." Riley walks past Hannah and off the porch, shoving Justin's bare chest in the direction of where she had parked her car, "I have spares in the trunk of my car."

"What would we do without you, Lee." Justin teased as the three walked off, Hannah watching the three friends.

Riley shrugged, "All of you would crash and burn."