𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋. 𝙁𝙄𝙁𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙉 ─── 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝟭
❝ 𝖡𝖤𝖤𝖭 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘, 𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝖳𝖧𝖠𝖳 ❞
❪ 𝙏𝘼𝙋𝙀 𝙁𝙊𝙐𝙍, 𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘌 𝘈 ❫

𝟣𝟧. ╱ ✷ ❝ 𝗼𝗯𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 the shit 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 work because i'm 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹
𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 and 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴, aren't i ❞

"𝙄 𝙒𝘼𝙎 𝙁𝙀𝙀𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙂 desperate, so I texted someone I thought was my friend."

"His Audi? You....," Tony stares at Clay in shock as he sat at a table in Monet's with Clay and Riley, "....You don't fuck with another dude's car. Riley, why would you let him do that?"

"I didn't know he was going to key the side of his freaking car! I just wanted to get water!" Riley tells him.

"I know. I know. I just...I listened to his tape," Clay started to explain to the two of them, "And he just got away with everything. And he scored, like, thirty points."

"You keyed his car 'cause he scored thirty points?" Asked Tony.

"No, because it's not fair, Tony." Clay says, "It's not fucking faily, guys. Those tapes are messing me up. They're doing shit to my head."

"We get it. We get it."

"I don't think either of you do."

"We do. Believe us."

"This is all so easy for you. Both of you."

Tony shakes his head, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Then tell me."

Brad - Tony's boyfriend - walks over to the table, "You seem like a tall vanilla latte, I mean, for a drink."

"Thanks." Clay stands up, "I was just leaving."

"Clay." Tony stops him before he could actually walk out, "You're gonna get through this."

"I don't know if I will."

"I should go, too." Riley sighs, standing up, "I was his ride here. I don't know how he expects to get him."

"Have a nice night, Riley." Brad smiled at the blonde.

"Thank, Brad. I'm gonna need it."

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"𝙄 𝙏𝙀𝙓𝙏𝙀𝘿 𝙔𝙊𝙐, Jessica. And you said you'd come. And then you didn't. I get it, Jess. I gave you a ride home. That didn't make us friends again. So, I guess I didn't have any friends...at all..anymore."

"Clay! Riley!"

There's a loud knock on both of the teens doors, "Wake up! You need to come downstairs, both of you!"

"I don't wanna get up!" Riley groans loudly, rolling over in her bed and hitting a warm chest, the arm around her waist tightening with her movements.

"Seems important." Scott mumbled, slowly falling back to sleep.

"No, you need to get up and leave for school." Riley shoves at his chest as she gets up to put her clothes on.

Scott groans, but he stands up from the bed and gives her a few pecks on the lips as he reaches for his shirt hanging on her desk chair, "Fine. I'll see you later."

"Don't let anyone see you crawling on my room, Mrs. Gallagher is a fucking snitch." She said before kissing him once more and walking out of her room, closing the door behind her.

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"𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗬. 𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗬." 𝗧𝗛𝗘 teens followed behind Matt outside of the house, "You both remember Zach's mom, Mrs. Dempsey."

"Hi, Karen." Riley smiles warmly at Zach's mom, who was quick to flash her a smile back.

"She stopped by because something happened to Zach's car during the game last night...," Lainie trailed off, pointing towards Zach's car, the words "Why Me?" scratched onto the door, "She wants to ask you guys if you know anything about it."

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"𝙊𝙆𝘼𝙔, 𝙄𝙏'𝙎 𝙏𝙄𝙈𝙀 to look at our anonymous class discussion bag and see what we have this week." Mrs. Bradley stood at the front of the class, a brown paper bag in hand, "She clears her throat before speaking, "Mrs. Bradley has nice ankles", well, I'm not sure that it's appropriate to objectify anyone in this way, and certainly not a teacher, so far as this was meant as a compliment, thank you.'

"They're real nice ankles, Mrs. B." One of the students in a Letterman jacket spoke, making the class laugh.

"Moving on. 'What if the only way not to feel bad is to stop feeling anything at all, forever?' Wow. Okay, um...this is serious. This is someone who's in a great deal of pain. Who would want to open our discussion? Any initial feelings?"

"You had to know I wrote that note, Zach. And you said nothing."

"I think whoever wrote this is just looking for attention." Courtney spoke.

"Or maybe, it's like, a call for help." Sheri says.

"But then, why not sign their name?" Asked Courtney.

"Are you really that stupid?" Riley asks, rolling her eyes.

'"Cause it's anonymous." Pratters tells her.

"Maybe it's just a joke, like someone's just fucking...," Justin spoke up, getting elbowed by Riley, "Sorry. Messing with us. Something."

"That's idiotic." Skye spoke up, causing eyes to focus on her, "It's not a joke."

"How do you know, Skye?" Pratters questions her.

"Because who would joke about that?"

"Why don't you tell us, Skye? You see what it's written on?" Pratters points towards the napkin, "Don't you work at Monet's?"

"So? I don't have a monopoly over the napkins there, asshole. Besides, Riley works there, too. Maybe it was her." Skye gestures towards the blonde.

Zach shakes his head, "Riley wouldn't write something like that."

"In case some of you have forgotten, I've already been down the road of trying to kill myself once." Riley keeps her eyes on the piece of paper in front of her as she shades in the drawing of Justin's eyes since she had been drawing them.

Hannah looks over her shoulder with wide eyes as she looks at the Jensen girl, never having known that about the blonde.

Riley continues, not looking up at all of the eyes now looking at her with different emotions on their faces, "Been there, done that. Obviously the shit didn't work because I'm still here and breathing, aren't I?"

"Hey.' Justin hit her arm with a frown on her face, "Come on, we've talked about this. Don't joke about that shit lied that, Riley Nicole, "You're here where you're supposed to be."

"That's all that matters to us." Zach rubs her back before dropping his hand.

"Okay, okay, let's not call people out, alright?" Mrs. Bradley said, "Whoever wrote it was in pain."

"So what? They're in pain, I'm in pain. High school's painful." Pratters speaks up again, "Get over it."

"Okay, enough. I think it was very brave of this person to tell us how they're feeling, and I want them to know that they are not alone." Says Mrs. Bradley, "There are a lot of excellent resources for people struggling....,"

"You let everyone think it was Skyle, and you and Justin made sure to shoot down the rumor that Riley was the one who wrote it. Why didn't you speak up? Wait, what did Riley mean by trying to die once?"

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"𝗜'𝗠 𝗦𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗬, 𝗕𝗨𝗧 what makes you think our son had anything to do with this?" Matt asked, none of the adults - or Clay - noticing the silent conversation that Zach and Riley were having with only their eyes.

"He was at the game, acting completely strange." Karen told Matt and Lainie. "The ref had to kick him off the court because he was trying to harass my son."

"But nobody saw who keyed the car?" Lainie asked.

Karen spoke up, "Kids get jealous."

"I'm asking if anyone saw who keyed the car." Lainie interjected.

"I don't think he was jealous." Zach spoke up from where he was leaning against the pillar.

"You hush!" Karen tells her son, "Look, I came here as a courtesy. I could have called the police."

"Well, maybe you should."

"Lainie."

"No." Lainie looks at her husband then back to Karen, "Maybe they should let the authorities figure out who did this instead of coming here, pointing fingers and accusing our son of vandalism. I don't see you pointing a finger in Riley's direction."

"I love that car." Riley looks at her aunt with an offended look on her face.

Zach lets out a sigh, replying at the same time the blonde had, "She loves the car."

"I did it." Clay says, but nobody pays him any attention.

"Just because our son doesn't drive an expensive car-,"

"That's not the point here."

"I did it!" Clay says louder than the last time, gaining everyone's attention, "I did it, okay?"

"Karen, Zach, why don't you come inside? We'll sort this out." Lainie says, walking between her husband and son to go inside of the house.

"I'd like to talk to Zach for a minute, If I could." Clay says as everyone walks towards the house.

Karen turns to look at them as she was going up the stairs, "Absolutely not."

"Mom, please?"

"Two minutes." Karen walks inside, along with Matt which left the cousins and Zach standing outside.

"Look, I...," Zach pauses, "I told her to forget about it. I didn't want to come here or anything like that."

"I'm glad you did." Clay tells him, causing Zach and Riley to share a confused look with each other, "Let's go inside and explain to your mom why I keyed your car."

"Why not?" Clay asked him.

"Because....," Zach trailes off, "Well, do your folks know? About you and Hannah?"

"Why'd you do it?"

"I didn't think she'd react like that. I mean, come on, Clay. You knew her as well as anybody else. The girl was too much."

"You knew she needed help." Clay shook his head, "When Mrs. Bradley read that note-,"

"I freaked, okay? The letter. That shit was heavy, and...I don't know what to do." Zach tells him.

"So you threw it away."

Zach shook his head, "No. I didn't. Hannah lied about that. Maybe that's what she saw, I don't know. I freaked out." He pulls his wallet out and shows the letter to Clay, "But I never threw it away."

"Holy shit."

Matt walks to the door, "Boys, Riley."

"We're coming, Uncle Matt." Riley calls out to him.

"I'm sorry, Clay." Apologizes Zach, "I'll always be sorry. Do you want to read it?"

"I don't think I could." Clay shakes his head, "I don't think I ever could."

"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?"

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𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗣𝗨𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗗 𝗛𝗘𝗥 car up to the curb of Tony's house a little after the incident with the Dempsey, and Clay had demanded a ride to the boys house, the box of tapes in hand as he did so.

Both got out of her car, only she stayed to the driver's side, a frown on her face as Clay walked up to Tony.

"They're all yours. I'm done." Clay held the shoe box out to him, "Take 'em, share 'em, release 'em to the world, I don't give a shit."

Tony looked up at Riley, who in return just shrugged her shoulder, just as confused as he way, "Really? You - you don't give a shit?"

"I can't - I can't anymore. I can't listen. I can't hear it in her voice." Clay tells him, "People are just mean, Tony. They're messed up. Zach didn't throw out the letter, you know that?"

"No, I didn't know that."

Clay nods, "He showed it to me and Riley, though I'm sure she already knew he still had it. Asked if I wanted to read it. And I couldn't....read it...because...it's starting to make sense to me...why she did what she did."

"Riley and I, we can help you through this." Tony tells the Jensen boy.

"Can either of you tell me why I'm on the tapes?"

"You have to listen to them on your own." Riley walks closer to them, "It's what Hannah wanted."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. What Hannah wanted." Clay scoffed, "What you're both so sure of, but you won't say how? Neither of you, huh?"

Riley and Tony stay quiet.

"Fine. Forget you, then. Riley, drove me to fucking school."

"Let me help you." Tony calls out to the boy.

"What? Like you've been helping me so far? Or how Riley seems to be helping everyone else that's on those tapes, too? No, thanks." Clay says, "But look on the bright side....you don't have to follow me anymore. Riley, let's go."

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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."

Clay walks into the school with a smile on his face as Riley trailed behind him with a look of concern on her face, "Hey, Bryce. What's up?"

"Hey, Jensen." Bryce looks at him in confusion as he walks by.

"And if that goes for me, it must go for everyone. Even cheerleaders."

"Hey, Sheri. How was the rest of your weekend?" Clay asked the girl who was going through her locker.

"Sorry, what?"

"You were great at the game." Clay tells her, "Jessica. Hey, how are you?"

Jessica looks at him confused, "Hey, Clay."

"Hey, Justin, good game the other night." Clay points at the Foley boy as he walks by, slapping him on the shoulder as he goes.

Justin grabs Riley's bicep as he stopped to look at Jessica, "What the fuck is going on?"

"Who knows anymore." Jessica says before the two look at Riley with questioning looks on their faces.

Riley sighed, running her fingers through her blonde hair, "I have no fucking clue."

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"𝗦𝗢, 𝗔𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨 can see, it's one of the finest high school parking lots in the world." Clay walks with Courtney and a few of the foreign exchange students across the school parking lot, "Oh, and right here is the library, where you can find books, and tables, and chairs, and all that stuff...state-of-the-art computers, at least if the art was ten years ago...and friendly librarians. Not super bright always, but friendly."

The double doors to the school open and Clay walks inside with the small group and Courtney behind him while Riley, Zach and Justin lean against a wall, talking to each other.

"Oh, wait, everybody." Clay's voice filled Riley's ears as she looked over at him with a frown, "It's Riley Jensen, Justin Foley, and Zach Dempsey; the sweetheart and the star basketball players here at Liberty High. Hey, Justin, where's my bike?" He asks before turning to the foreign students, "Justin stole my bike."

"What the fuck?" Justin asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm giving our foreign exchange students a tour." Clay tells him, "Figured they should know who owns the school, right you guys?"

Zach blinks at the boy, "Clay."

"Right. Right. Moving on." Clay turned to the group, "Where were we? Right. The auditorium. Oh, uh, but before we go...I want to show you something super cool, okay?"

"Clay, cut it out.' Riley hisses to her cousin.

Clay ignores her, "Look at these lockers. They all look alike, right?" He walks over to the locker that once belonged to Hannah, "Not this one. This one is special. It belonged to a girl who killed herself."

"Clay, come on." Courtney spoke up.

"You see these 'don't kill yourself' posters up on the wall?" Clay motioned to the posters plastered on the walls, "They put them up when she killed herself. Because the kids here treated her like shit! Get this, before those posters, you wanna know what was on the walls? Riles, you wanna do the honors and tell them? Tell them, Riley!"

Riley can feel the tears building up in her eyes as she watches her cousin, "Clay, stop."

"They had drinking and driving posters posted! Put up after her best friend drove himself to death - literally - while drunk with her in the car! How long were you in the hospital again?!" Clay kept going, "Oh! And before that - before she lost her best friend - she almost lost herself. All because she swallowed a bunch of pills!"

"Jensen! That's fucking enough!" Justin snapped, pulling Riley into his arms with the hopes that it would stop her from crying.

"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." Clay keeps going, not caring what was going on in that moment - or who he was hurting. "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."

Riley slips her hand over her mouth to stop the sob that wanted to escape her lips as the doors came open and Tony walked inside.

"Right, Tony? Right? You know the truth." Says Clay, "Riley, you know the truth, too!"

"Clay," Mr. Porter walks to him, "I think you should come with me right now. Get to class, everybody! All of you, get to class!"

"Lee-," Justin tries to grab her arm as she breaks away from his hold and quickly moves towards the double doors. "Riley!"

"Just let her take a breather." Tony tells him.

Zach, Justin, Sheri, Tony, and Jessica watched as Mr. Porter walks Clay down the hallway.

"Okay, new game."