𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋. 𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙔 𝙊𝙉𝙀 ─── 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝟯
❝ 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝖡𝖸 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗦 ❞
❪ 𝘠𝘌𝘈𝘏, 𝘐'𝘔      𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝙉𝙀𝙒     𝙂𝙄𝙍𝙇 ❫

𝟦𝟣. ╱ ✷ ❝ these kids were 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 their 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘀 ❞
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𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑

"𝙈𝙔 𝙉𝘼𝙈𝙀 is Amorowat Anysia Achola. I'm a Senior at Liberty High school. My mum's a home healthcare worker. We just got to Evergreen last Spring. I started at Liberty in April. About eight months ago. Do I like Liberty? Sure. It's an...interesting place."

"Stuff happens at Liberty High School, you know? I'm guessing that's why I'm here. You think I know something about what happened? Well, I do. I'm sure you got the pieces from other people. I can help you put them together."

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 still haven't told your aunt and uncle?" Jessica asked as she and Riley stood at the blondes locker, both girls grinning down at the sparkling diamond that rested on the blonde's left finger.

"No." Riley shakes her head as she takes her hand back, crossing her arms over her chest, "Scott and I want to wait a little bit before we make an announcement to anyone. I don't even wear the ring when I'm home."

Jessia grinned at her excitedly, "I'm the first person to kn--,"

"Jess, Lee -- Riley...," Ani, the new girl that had shown up and had thrown herself right into the middle of the chaos that revolved around the group, walks over to the two girls.

Riley's smile is instantly wiped from her face, the blonde not being the biggest fan of Ani at all.

"If you're gonna apologize about the homecoming game--,"

Ani cuts Jessica off, "The police took Clay."

Jessica and Riley share a confused glance as Jessica closes the locker door, "What?"

"Just now. I saw them out front." Ani whispered.

"Shit! Why now?" Jessica questioned.

"It's November, Spring Fling was last April." Riley scoffed, "And why my cousin?"

"There are things I'm sure no one has told you. Secrets that have been well-kept. And yes, the keeper of those secrets is often Clay Jensen."

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗪𝗔𝗟𝗞𝗘𝗗 behind Jessica as the girl slams her backpack down onto the table where Zach and a few other football players sat in the library.

"Do you mind?" Jessica asked the boys sitting around, causing them all to get up and leave.

"One secret goes back to last Spring."

"What the hell do you want, Jess?" Zach asked the Davis girl.

"The cops took Clay. They perp-walked him out of school. Ani saw just now." She tells him.

Zach sits up straighter, a hushed "shit" falling from his lips as Riley takes a seat in front of him, laying her phone on the table, "Do you think they know...about....Tyler?"

"Do you think so?" Jessica asked, "Did you tell them?"

Zach scoffed, "Are you fucking serious? No, of course I didn't tell them."

"Really? 'Cause you've been pretty hostile to everyone lately."

"No, I've been pretty hostile to you lately." Zach stated, "Plus, the whole Tyler thing happened seven months ago. Why would I say anything now?"

"Why else would they want Clay?" Riley frowns.

"Did something happen this weekend? What did you do after the homecoming game?" Jessica asked him.

Zach looks back at the crutches he had been using since after the homecoming game just as the bell rings, "Not very damn much."

"Zach."

"I....I have to get to History." He says as he stands up from the table, "RJ, you coming?"

Riley nods her head, following the boy out of the Library, sending Jessica a soft smile as she went.

"These kids were connected by their secrets."

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘, 𝗜'𝗟𝗟 help you with that, in terms of iconic things happening." Alex walked towards the two, reaching for Zach's backpack.

"Don't bother, I already tried to carry it." Riley tells the Standall boy, "Apparently, it's not manly to let your friend -- who's female -- help you carry your books when you have a hurt foot."

"I wasn't going to let you carry my stuff, broken foot or not." Zach tells her before directing his attention to Alex, "And it's not my first time on crutches."

"Oh, I forgot about Elementary school."

"Alex!" Jessica walks over to the three, "The cops were just here. They took Clay in."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, I mean, Clay's not gonna say anything about anybody." Alex says, "Jess, come one."

"I have to go." Jessica walks away.

"What's up with her? Hasn't it been a few months since you guys--,"

Alex cuts him off, "Yeah, I guess it's a quick slide from "we can't be friends" to "don't fucking touch me". Your knee seems worse today."

"Friday night you could put some weight on it, right?" Riley looks at him with curious eyes, "Without the crutches?"

"Yeah, I mean...that's how these things go." Zach said, "It swells up. Your eyes looking worse today."

"Yeah, that's the problem with fighting football players. It's like they have...they have helmets."

"Even the ones that didn't like each other that much, there's a bond. They show up for each other. So, yeah, the story begins back in April. I mean, if we're going to understand how we got here."

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝙍𝙄𝙇𝙀𝙔 𝘼𝙉𝘿 Scott sat in the backseat of Tyler's car with Clay driving it as his phone starts to ring.

Picking it up, Tony's name appears on the caller ID with Clay quickly answering as the couple looks at each other in worry.

"I'll be there in two minutes. I have Riley and Scott with me. We're free and clear, I don't think they looked as I drove by. Yeah, Justin and those guys are gonna talk to the police."

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝘾𝙇𝘼𝙔 𝘿𝙍𝙊𝙑𝙀 Tyler's car to where Tony was waiting with the boy, the three of them getting out of the car.

"You brought Scott Reed with you?" Tyler asked in disbelief, a slight look of fear in his eye at the jock in fear.

Scott holds his hands up in surrender, "I'm not on their side, I'm on your side. Tyler, I promise, I'm on your side."

"Ty." Riley spoke softly, the boy turning to look at her with a more relaxed expression on his face, "It's okay. You can trust him. Tyler, I promise, Scott is the good guy."

"Hey, Tyler. How are you doing?" Clay asked him, "Shall we get you home?"

"Oh, my God....my parents." Tyler spoke, causing the four teens to look at each other.

"Tyler....what did you do?" Clay questioned.

"I don't know everything that's happened since that morning but I know it was Bryce Walker's last night at Liberty. And I'm the new kid, right? I watch. I listen. I know quite a bit. And I'll tell you everything."

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝙒𝘼𝙄𝙏, 𝘽𝘼𝘽𝙔, slow down. What happened?"

"The police took Clay in this morning." Riley leaned against her locker, phone pressed against her ear.

"What? What do you mean they took Clay in?!"

"They hauled his ass to the station in front of everybody. I have no fucking clue why, but I'm worried about him." She sighed, running her fingers through her blonde hair.

"Everything will be just fine. Clay knows what he's doing. Riley, if you need me, I'll come home. Just tell me and I'll be on the first flight home."

"No, no." Riley shakes her head, "You stay where you are. You don't have to run home every time something is wrong."

"Baby, I'm here for you. I'm here for Clay. Hell, I'm here for all of them." Scott says to her as he sat in a chair in his dorm room. "But I can't be stuck in the dark here when I could be helping you guys there."

"I know. And I love you for that." Riley smiled softly, "I'll text you and let you know what's happening when I hear something."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too, Scotty."

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙂𝙃 𝙏𝙊 tell the truth, I don't really know Clay Jensen all that well, or his cousin for that matter. They were classmates."

Clay walks out of the police station finding Ani and Riley waiting for him, a wide gap in between the two girls, "Why am I not surprised that you're here?"

"Was it about Tyler?" Ani questions as Riley hugs Clay.

"Not here."

"Do I think he's capable of being violent? I don't know. Do any of us really know what we're capable of?"

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝗜 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 to tell the group text that it wasn't about Tyler." Clay tapped away on his phone screen, "Ry, text Scott and give him an update. He's blowing my phone up."

"Already on it." She mumbled, pulling her phone out of her back pocket.

Ani follows next to the cousins, pushing the bike that once belonged to Clay beside her. "As I'm not on that group, are you gonna send me a separate text as to what it was about, or should I ask Justin or someone?"

Clay looks at her as the three come to a stop, "You're telling me you don't know? Bryce is missing. He hasn't been seen since Homecoming Friday night. It didn't come up at home?"

"Well, my mum had the weekend off and I made myself scarce, as you might expect."

"They think something happened to him, and that someone did something to him, and they think that someone is me."

"Sweet Jesus."

"Yeah. Prayers welcome. Riley, come on." Clay grabs her by the arm as he walks away from Ani but the girl follows behind the two cousins closely.

"Does Clay have influence over his peers? I don't know. I mean, he's not like...the captain of the football team. And have you talked to Jessica? I mean, there's a whole story there."

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝗪𝗘'𝗥𝗘 𝗚𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗚 to Monet's to talk about Bryce." Clay tells Tony as the three teens found themselves in Tony's work office.

"And?"

"And..we need you?"

"Why?"

"Well, we always need you." Ani smiles at the Latino male.

"You don't know him enough to need him." Riley scoffed, rolling her blue eyes at the girl standing next to her.

"Aren't you worried about it?" Clay questioned.

"Why would he be? The only thing we need to worry about is Tyler." Riley tells her cousin, crossing her arms over her chest, moving over so that she wasn't as close to Ani as she was before.

Tony points to Riley in agreement, "RJ's right. Tyler's the only thing I gotta worry about. Bryce means nothing to me."

"Can you give us a ride to Monet's?" Ani asked.

Tony stands up and wraps his arm around Riley's shoulder as they walked out of the office first, "So, Little Jensen. How's that boyfriend of yours?"

Riley grinned at the mention of Scott, "He's great. Loving college and baseball."

"Yeah? Well, if he messes up while he's there and you're not smiling as brightly because of him, I know how to scare the shit out of him."

"I wouldn't doubt that."

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝙏𝙊𝙉𝙔 𝙋𝘼𝘿𝙄𝙇𝙇𝘼 and Riley Jensen, also secret-keepers, especially for each other."

"I don't care about Bryce. I hope he stays gone." Tony tells them as they stand at the trunk of his car.

"Amen, brother." Riley mumbled under her breath, Ani frowning as she had been the only one to hear.

"I don't think it's a good idea for us if he does." Clay says, "Any of us."

Riley raised an eyebrow at her cousin, "After the shit he's done to us? What makes you say that?"

"I mean, if they start digging. Spring Fling and everything."

"Bryce Walker has been no part of my life for a long time, and my life has been better because of it. I'm at Peace." Tony closes his trunk.

"Especially for Clay."

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝙏𝙊𝙉𝙔 𝘾𝙇𝙊𝙎𝙀𝙎 the trunk of his car, "Okay, Tyler. We're gonna drive you home. We're gonna go inside, it's gonna -- it's gonna be okay."

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝙄 𝘿𝙊𝙉'𝙏 have my keys." Tyler spoke as the five teenagers stood at his front door, Scott and Tony looking around to make sure that nobody had seen them.

"Clay, you drove his car here." Scott says, looking around them.

"Oh, right...here." Clay handed the car keys to the boy, who unlocked his doors and all of them walked inside.

A gasp sounded from around them and Tyler's mom rushed towards him, "Tyler! Oh, Tyler. You're okay. Oh! We were so worried. What happened to your head?"

"He fell earlier." Clay made the lie up right on spot, something him and Riley had been good at doing since they were little kids and didn't want their parents to know what they were really doing.

"We got the text and then you weren't in your room. We didn't even know you'd gone to the dance." Tyler's mom tells him.

"Sorry, Mrs. Down. There was a text?" Riley asked, tightening the grip she had on her boyfriend's hand.

"About the shooter." She tells them, "We got the text that the dance was being evacuated. We couldn't find you. Your father is down there now. Do your parents know that you're okay?"

"Yes." Tony and Scott answered.

"I should check in." Clay says, pulling his phone out.

Riley didn't even bother, moving her hand from Scott's to pick his arm up and wrapping it around her shoulders as she stepped closer to him since it gave her a sense of comfort.

"Okay, well, they must want you home but you're welcome to spend the night." Mrs. Down tells the teens, walking around them.

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙏𝙒𝙊 cousin's followed Tyler to his room, leaving Scott and Tony in the living room. Once they walked in, the two of them noticed the note that Tyler was holding onto, and Riley felt her breath hitch in the back of her throat.

"If they'd found this...," Tyler spoke, "Do we...tear it up?"

Clay looked towards his cousin who nodded and slowly walked towards Tyler, reaching for envelope in the boy's trembling hand.

"I just...I never thought I'd see my mom again." Tyler tells them.

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝘽𝙐𝙏 𝙒𝙃𝙔 tonight?" Clay questioned as the four stood around Tyler's bedroom, watching over the teenage boy, "He just got back. I heard he was better. Did something happen?"

"Where did the bruises come from?" Tony asked, turning to look at Clay.

Clay shook his head, not knowing where the bruises had actually come from, "We have to get him help. But if anyone finds out why--,"

"Then we're all fucked." Scott sighed, leaning his head back against the wall.

Both Riley and Tyler slept soundly on the Down boys bed, his hand clutched tightly with one of hers.

"So...,"

"So we'll figure it out. We saved him, he's our responsibility." Tony says.

Clay swallows, "Thanks for...getting into this with me. Both of you. You're good friends. Even you, Scott."

"It's my blessing and my curse." Tony tells him.

"Love makes you do stupid shit." Scott sighed, arms crossed over his chest as he looked over at his girlfriend.

𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗥'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘
Welcome to season 3! It only took
me 2 years to actually finish editing
and finishing all the way! The next 2
seasons are gonna be tough on Riley
cause almost everyone she's truly cared
about had died!

Also, am I the only one that didn't really
like Ani? For some reasons she just didn't
sit right with me and I don't really know
why.