𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋. 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙍𝙔 𝙏𝙒𝙊 ─── 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝟮
❝ 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗕𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗘 ❞
❪ 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝙎𝙈𝙄𝙇𝙀 𝘼𝙏 𝙏𝙃𝙀
𝙀𝙉𝘿 𝙊𝙁 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘿𝙊𝘾𝙆 ❫

𝟥𝟤. ╱ ✷ ❝ the 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 fucking 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 that i 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 about right
now 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 ❞

"𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 gonna be okay?" Riley asked as she holds her phone in between her ear and shoulder, Zach on the other ends as she put her stuff in her bag for school, "Going on you own, I mean?"

"I should be fine on my own, Lee. Thank you for asking though."

"Call me when you finish."

"Okay. Let me know if anything out of the ordinary happens at school today."

"I will.

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞𝗦 before you went to the hospital, you received the tapes. Do you remember how?" Clay asked Alex as the two and Riley sat in the library, going over what Alex needed to know before the taps in case he was able to testify.

"At school?"

Riley shakes her head, "No. They were mailed to you."

"On tape five, Hannah talks about running into you at the winter formal. Do you remember what she said to you two?"

"That we looked good together?"

"No. You weren't at the dance together." Riley says, "You just talked to her there."

"Well-,"

"Did you - have you been studying?" Clay asked, glancing at his cousin then back to Alex.

"Yes, I've been fucking studying." Ale tells them, "Riley, Clay, I've listened to the tapes, like, four times. I don't even know if the doctor is gonna ask me any of this today."

"Clay looked it up online." Riley begins.

"Some doctors test marines that had TBI with dates and memory questions to see if they could continue serving." Clay tells him.

"I'm not a fucking marine, Clay. I shot myself in the head."

"I gotta get to Porter's stupid class." Riley mumbled, standing up and grabbing her bag, "The class is literally abbreviated to ass. Guess he wanted it to resemble what he is."

The two boys watched her walk out of the library with amusement on their faces.

"She is a piece of work." Alex laughed.

"Yeah." Clay nods in agreement, "Try living with her."

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝗠𝗥. 𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗥 is out this morning." The substitute teacher brought a TV out into the middle of the classroom floor, "I'm Ms. Paul, and we're going to be watching a very interesting film."

Cyrus gasped, "Human Centipede?"

"Well, no. It's not a nature film." Ms. Paul tells them, "It's uh....it's about life after high school, and how it gets better."

"That's great, but what the hell are we supposed to do until then?" Riley asked as she leaned back in her desk, a bored expression on the blonde's face.

"Riley and I super-glued the DVD player shut." Cyrus leaned over to tell Tyler as the blonde smirked, showing Tyler the tube of superglue in her hand.

"So now, we wait to see how long it takes her to figure it out." Laughed Riley.

"Dude, come on, celebrate us." Cyrus tells the Down boy.

"My neighbor saw us shooting." Tyler tells him, 'causing Riley to raise an eyebrow as she turns her attention to the two boys, "So my dad's calling your dad."

"Shit."

"But now he wants to take us shooting." Tyler says.

"So, wait, we're getting in trouble for shooting guns, so they're taking us to go shoot guns?"

"Essentially, yeah."

"Do adults think these things through?"

"I know, but-,"

"No, dude, I'm there." Cyrus says, "Fuck, yeah."

"Alright." Ms. Paul chuckled as she stood up, "Who is good with electronics?"

Cyrus and Riley smirk at each other as they bring their fist together for a fist bump, leaving Tyler to shake his head at the two with a laugh.

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝗦𝗢, 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 did your doctor say, Alex?" Clay asked as he, Alex, Tony and Riley sat in the cafeteria, eating their lunch.

"I'm sorry, I tried." Alex shakes his head, "But they're not gonna let me testify."

"Shit."

"Did he say why?" Asked Riley, stealing a Frito from Tony's plate.

"Hey, no." Tony smacked her hand playfully pointing a finger at the blonde in a teasing manner.

"Holy shit." Riley breathes out as she looks up from her lunch.

Walking into the cafeteria was the missing boy himself - Justin Foley.

"Clay." Riley slaps the table as she keeps her eyes on Justin, "Clay, it's Justin."

Clay's head snaps up, his own eyes landing on Justin's walking figure. He stood up, whispering the boy's name, trying to get his attention, "Justin."

Everyone in the room watched silently as Justin walked over to Jessica, who stood up in shock, nobody making a sound.

"Hey, Jess." Justin comes to a stop, "I miss you. Can we go somewhere else to talk, alone?"

"No."

"I - I came back for you." Justin tells her, Riley and Tony are now standing up with Clay, "It's the only reason why I'm here."

Bryce stood up from his seat, arms crossed over his chest as he looked like a disappointed father, while Scott kept his eyes straight on Riley to make sure that she was okay.

"If you want me to stay, I promise I'm here for good." Justin tells Jessica, "Look, if you want me to go, I'll go. Forever, this time."

Riley's heart broke as the words came out of the boy's mouth. Jessia might not have wanted Justin to stay, but Riley always saw Justin as her brother more than a best friend. They grew up together, they were each other's rocks.

Him leaving - for a second time - would break her even more, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to pick up the pieces of her own broken heart if did.

She had already lost her parents and her best friend, she couldn't lose Justin too.

"You said that before." Jessica says.

"I - I tried to go away. I tried to forget about you. I....tried so fucking hard." Justin was almost in tears, "But I can't stop thinking about you."

"Yeah, I think about you, too." Jessica tells him, "And I wish you were dead."

"I'm sorry." Says Justin, "I didn't mean to hurt you more." The boy turned around, coming face to face with Bryce. "You."

"Justin!" Riley cried out as the boy falls to the floor, sliding across the tiles in order to catch his head in time before it could hit the ground.

"Justin." Clay shook the boy along with Tony.

"Justin, wake up." Tony keeps trying to wake the boy up, "Justin. Justin."

"Wake up. Wake up, Justin."

"Come on, bubba." Riley lets a tear roll down her cheek, "You gotta wake up, Justin. Justin! Wake the fuck up, please!"

"Fuck." Tony curses under his breath as the Foley boy stays on the floor.

"Yeah, we gotta get him back to our house." Clay tells the two crouched down next to him.

Tony shakes his head, "No, I can't do this anymore. Okay? I'm out.'

"What do you mean you're out?" Clay questions.

Tony looks around, his eyes going to Bryce for a split second, "We gotta get him out of here. We gotta get him out of here. Riley, grab his stuff."

"Come on, Justin. Use your legs. Use your legs."

Riley quickly gathered her bag from where she was previously sitting, taking Justin's bag from the ground that he carried inside with him.

"Hey." Bryce quickly reaches out and grabs Riley's arm as she rushes by him, holding her back from following after Clay and Tony, who rushed out with Justin.

"Let go of me, Bryce."

"Riley, why didn't you tell me that he was back?"

Scott clenched his jaw as he watched Bryce and Riley from his place beside Monty, taking notice of how Riley had tensed up the moment Bryce touched her arm.

"I don't have to tell you a fucking thing, Walker." Riley spat, yanking her arm from his arm, leaving.

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗔𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 three brought Justin back to the Jensen house, Riley decided that she was going to stay with him for the rest of the day just to make sure he didn't leave and take any more spontaneous trips.

So now, both of them were laid out on Clay's bed, Justin reading one of the many comic books that Clay had laying around the room, and Riley was cuddled into his chest on the verge of almost falling asleep when the sound of glass breaking from downstairs was heard.

Riley lets out a startled gasp, both of them getting up from the small bed, "Justin."

"Lee, come here." Justin walked towards the door and closed it as quietly as he could, turning back around and pulling Riley with him to hide away in the closet.

Riley lays her forehead against his chest, the Foley boy bringing his hand up to rest on the back of her head as he ran his fingers through the blonde locks, which calmed down her racing heart just a bit as a hooded figure came into Clay's bedroom.

Justin could see the figure through the small crack in the door, going through Clay's stuff before turning and going through the gym back that he had been carrying around for months.

The front door could be heard opening from downstairs, Matt's voice soon following, "Clay! Riley! Are you guys home?!"

As the guy in the hoodie quickly went out the window, the two run out of the closet as Justin raced towards the open window to see if he could get the guy, or even to see if he could catch a glimpse of who it was.

Matt came into the bedroom, bat in his hands as he noticed his niece and a boy in his son's bedroom, "What the hell?!"

Justin spun around as his voice scared him, "Ah! It wasn't me!"

"Don't hit him!" Riley quickly rushed between her uncle and Justin, the boy resting his hands on her hips to make sure that her uncle couldn't get to him with the bat that he held in his hands.

He really didn't want to get hit with the wooden object.

"Who the hell are you?!" Matt exclaimed, looking between his niece and Justin.

"Uncle Matt! I can explain! Ju - Just don't hit him!" Riley cries out.

"Who is he, Riley?"

The blonde mentally cursed Clay out in her head as Matt looks between the two teenagers.

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝗛𝗘𝗬, 𝗜'𝗩𝗘 been looking for you everywhere!" Sheri gets into Clay's car, closing the door behind her, "It's called 'The Clubhouse'."

Clay looks at her in confusion, "Wait, what?"

"The place in the Polaroids." Sheri says, "It's called the Clubhouse.

"Jesus. I don't care anymore."

"What? How do you go from-,"

"Look, I don't fuckign care, okay?" Clay cuts her off as his phone starts to ring, Riley's name popping up on his screen, "I'm done. And I have to take this, it's Riley. So, I'll see you."

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝗣𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗨𝗣 the phone, pick up the phone." Riley paces her room, glancing over at Justin who was sitting on her baywindow, "Pick up the fucking phone, Clay!"

"Riley, I - I really can't talk right
now-,"

Riley cuts him off, words rushed out, "Matt and Lainie know about Justin. Some - someone broke into the house and Uncle Matt came home, found him. You need to get home. Now."

Clay curses silently under his breath as he looks over at Hannah's mom, "Okay, uh, I'm talking with Ms. Baker. I'll be home as soon as I can. Just - just stall them."

"How am I sup - That little fucker hung up on me!"

*******************

"𝗪𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 only trying to help Hannah's case." Clay told his parents as the three teenagers sat on the couch in front of the two adults.

"By hiding Justin here?" Lainie looks between her son and niece, "In the home of the lawyer whose firm is trying the case? Do you have any idea how that could look?"

"It's not just about appearances we're worried about." Matt says to his wife.

Lainie turns her head to look at him in disbelief, "Matt, I'm an officer of the court. Justin failed to respond to his subpoena. He's in contempt."

"Look, we were hiding him here because we didn't have any other options, okay?" Riley spoke, her voice full of anger.

"What about the option of coming to talk to us as promised?" Matt asked the teens.

Riley lets out a bitter laugh, "I didn't promise either of you shit."

"I had nowhere to go." Justin says, slipping his hand into Riley's for comfort, "That's why the two of them had no option. My mom--,"

"Justin." Riley cuts him off, turning her head to look at him.

"It's okay, Lee." He mumbled, turning back to the adults, "My mom is a junkie. And her boyfriend is....he's a dealer and not a very nice guy. I knew that they wouldn't take me back. Clay and Tony, they found me...and saved me. They didn't tell you guys because I was too ashamed for anyone to know."

"And he's sick with the flu." Clay lied to his parents, "Which is why we were waiting for him to testify."

"You can stay as long as you need, Justin." Lainie tells the teenager, "But I need to report you back to the lawyers. I'm sorry, it's the law."

Justin nodded, running his thumb across Riley's knuckles, "That's okay. I understand. Thank you, Mrs. Jensen and Mr. Jensen."

"Now....who's hungry?"

***************

"𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗡'𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 staying here?! Why didn't you tell me?!" Scott crawls into Riley's bedroom as the blonde pulls a t-shirt over her head since she had just gotten out of the shower.

"I didn't know I had to." She walks by him to put her phone on the charger since it was close to dying. "And would you lower your voice? Other people live in this house."

Scott throws his hands up, "It would've been nice to know."

"Why? So you could report it back to your friends? Let Bryce know that his old buddy was back in town? Let everyone in goddamn town know that he was back?"

"Do you not trust me? You don't trust me, and that's why you didn't tell me that Justin was sleeping under the same roof as you."

Riley turns around with an offended look on her face, "When have I ever said that I don't trust you? When have I ever shown that I don't have a single ounce of trust for you?"

"When I had to watch you chase after Justin when he was being carried out of the cafeteria by your cousin and Tony." He tells he. "How can I trust you because of that?!"

She scoffed, "Are you fucking kidding me? Because I care about someone that gives you the right to assume that I don't trust you? That you shouldn't trust me?"

"I don't know what the hell is going on behind closed doors, Riley!" Scott argued, "Not when you don't tell me things!"

Riley lets a sarcastic laugh slip past her lips, "Okay, wow. So, you just automatically assume that because my cousin and I have been hiding Justin in Clay's bedroom, that I'm spreading my legs for him? You think we'd do that to you? To Jessica? I'm so happy that this is how you see me, Scott. Three years? Three fucking years of letting you into my life, you can't trust me?"

"I never said that I didn't fucking trust you! You're putting words into my fucking mouth!"

"I'm just telling you what you implied."

"No! I didn't imply not a damn thing! You drive me crazy! Do you know that?" Scott reaches out to grab the sides of her face, pulling her close to him. "You've been driving me crazy since the moment Jeff decided to introduce the two of us! And I am so fucking sorry that you don't like that I hangout with Bryce. But I can't just fucking drop them due to the face that we're on the baseball team together!"

"I don't care that Justin is across the hall! I don't care about Bryce! I don't care about Monty! I don't care about the fact that you don't want anyone to know about us! The only thing, the only fucking person that I care about right now is you!"

"Scott....,"

"Because I love you! I am in love with you to the point that it hurts when you aren't near me. And I mean absolutely every word that is coming out of my mouth."

"I love you, too."

Scott looks down at her in confusion, "What?"

"I. Love. You." Riley mumbles, brushing her lips against his, "I love you so fucking much, Scott."

The boy lets out a sigh of relief as he pulls her into a hug, burying his face into the side of her neck.