𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋. 𝙁𝙄𝙁𝙏𝙔 𝙊𝙉𝙀 ─── 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝟯
❝ 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖱𝖢𝖧 𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗧 ❞
❪ 𝘛𝘏𝘌     𝙒𝙊𝙍𝙇𝘿     𝘾𝙇𝙊𝙎𝙄𝙉𝙂     𝘐𝘕 ❫

𝟱𝟭. ╱ ✷      ❝ 𝗂𝗍'𝗌   𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲,   𝗂𝗍'𝗌   𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿.   𝗹𝗲𝘁   𝗂𝗍   𝗴𝗼,   𝖻𝗋𝗒𝖼𝖾. ❞
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     "𝙄 𝙉𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍 knew Hannah Baker. I wasn't around. I didn't know the story but it seems to me like if anyone would have a reason to want Bryce Walker dead, it would be her mother. And you might have looked more closely to her. If you hadn't had all your eyes on Clay Jensen."

"Did you guys see the picture they used?" Riley laughed, walking into the bedroom belonging to Justin and Clay, dressed already for school. "Not your best look at all."

Justin chuckled, "That's what I told him!"

"Shut up, both of you."

"You're not looking too good right now, either. Did you sleep at all?" Justin asked.

"Yeah." Clay lied, picking up his coffee mug from next to him.

"The nightmares again?" Asked Riley, a frown on her face.

"Not again, they never stopped." Clay admits.

"Shouldn't you be talking to someone?" Justin asked, looking over at Clay with a concerned look on his face.

"Shouldn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Who do I talk to? What do I say, 'I didn't kill Bryce. I'm not crazy.'?" Clay looks between Justin and Riley, "I feel like that actually makes me sound like a crazy person who killed Bryce."

Justin picks up Clay's phone that buzzes on the table, "Mrs. Baker? Sorry. Is she back in town?" He passes the phone over.

"What?" Clay takes the phone from Justin's hands, looking over the text message."

"Clay didn't tell Riley and Justin that it wasn't the first time he'd heard from Mrs. Baker. He knew exactly why she was in town. He just didn't know everything she'd done."

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

     "𝗦𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 reached out to either of you, texted you, anything?" Clay asked Tony and Riley as they sat in class, curious since the two of them were the ones to tell Olivia Baker about the tapes in the first place.

"No, Clay."

"No."

"And neither of you think that's weird? That she didn't reach out to you?"

"Maybe she's not staying for long." Tony points out, Riley agreeing with him.

"She was here two weeks ago and she's back now." Clay said to them before shaking his head, "I can't believe she didn't reach out to either of you."

"Well, she didn't, okay?"

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

     "𝙄 𝙆𝙀𝙀𝙋 asking them what happened. I wanna know why. You know?" Tony sits in front of Mrs. Baker, talking about his parents and brother's, "But the lawyers say it only takes one phone call. So....Oh, shit. Olivia, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to unload all of this on you. Riley usually sits and listens to me. She's just . . . spending time with Scott while's here. You're back, so we should be celebrating. You want a beer for old times' sake?"

"Tony...," Olivia stands up, only to move to sit in a new spot, "I think I know who made that phone call."

"What are you talking about?" Tony asked, sitting in her previous seat.

"Your family, they were picked up right after the trial, right?"

Tony nodded his head, "Yeah, why?"

"Well, I mean, attorneys from both sides dug up stuff on the witnesses. And I remember when Dennis told me .. that the Walkers discovered your family's status." The Baker woman told him, "At first I was worried they'd use it against you when you were on the stand, but then they didn't. And I just assumed that they let it go."

"Olivia, what are you saying?"  Tony asked, not meeting the woman's eyes, "That .. their lawyers tipped off ICE?"

"The lawyer, or they have private investigators." Olivia says as Tony stands up from his seat, "It could have even been the Walker family if they were upset about Bryce's arrest."

"Hey, sorry, I'm late." Riley rushes into the room, a smile on her face that slowly fell as she took in the faces of both Olivia and Tony, "What? What did I miss?"

Tony stays quiet before he flung a chair to the wall, making both women jump slightly at the sudden movement, Tony's eyes void of emotions at he looks over at Riley, "Fucking Bryce."

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

     "𝗕𝗢𝗧𝗛 𝗢𝗙 you did see Mrs. Baker." Clay walks into Tony's auto shop where he was under the hood of Riley's car, the blonde leaning against the door as she and Tony joked around, "Tony saw her more than once. She told me about the Walkers."

"What about the Walkers?"

"How it was their fault. That's why you didn't tell me, right?" Clay asked the boy, "It makes you look guilty."

"No, it's not that." Tony shakes his head, looking over at Riley who was looking down at her feet.

"Then why wouldn't you tell me?"

"Clay, it was complicated." Riley sighed, running her hand through her hair.

"But the two of you did keep it a secret?"

"We did." Tony nodded.

"Why?"

"All I can tell you is that I'm trying to protect my family, Clay."

"Do the cops know? About the Walkers and your family?"

Tony shakes his head, "They don't."

"Did you go to Bryce with it?"

Riley bit the inside of her cheek before she spoke up, "We did."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

      "𝙏𝙊𝙉𝙔? 𝙍𝙄𝙇𝙀𝙔?" Bryce calls out as two figures come out of the dark as he was getting out of his car in his driveway.

"What's up, Bryce?" Tony speaks up.

"Ah, I wouldn't be lurking out here." Bryce tells the two, "Grandpa's got a gun. And he's racist and senile. So. . .,"

"You weren't doing me a favor, were you?"

"Sorry?"

"Buying my Mustang. At twice the asking. You know, for a minute, I thought you were doing me a solid."

"And the check that you gave me? For no reason?" Riley shrugged; her voice harsh. "That was pretty stupid of us, wasn't it? To actually take the money?" 

"No, I mean, I just wanted to help out." Bryce looks between the two of them.

"You wanted. . . to buy your wat out of a guilty conscience." Tony was angry as he stood in front of the Walker boy.

"And what was I feeling guilty about?"

"The trial."

Bryce looks at them confused, "What does that have to do with you?"

"Your family dug up dirt on mine and turned us in." Tony walks closer to the Walker boy.

"What? That's crazy."

"They deported my whole fucking family."

"That's impossible. That's not — Tony, I swear, there's no way."

"Why should we really believe anything that comes out of your mouth, Bryce?" Riley asked him, eyebrows pinched together as she grows more frustrated with the boy, just wanting him to spill the truth about what his family had done to Tony's.

"I don't know what to say, but I'm sure we didn't have anything to do with it." Bryce shakes his head, "And I'm . . . I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" Tony asked, "Fuck you!"

"Bryce?" Nora calls out to her son, "Is that you?"

"Tone, come on." Riley tugs on the boy's arm, pulling him away.

"Riley. . . ,"

"Don't." She holds her hand up to halt Bryce's words, "Just . . . don't."

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

     𝙍𝙄𝙇𝙀𝙔 𝙎𝙄𝙏𝙎 in the backseat of Tony's car, him and Bryce sitting in the front seat with the box of Hannah's tapes in between them.

"You could've sent me the files." Bryce tells the two of them.

Riley pulls her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on the top of them, "Hannah wanted them to be tapes."

"We made a promise to see to it that everyone on the tapes hears the tapes." Tony tells the boy sitting next to him, "Tonight, we keep that promise."

"And you're both not gonna let me listen alone."

"We could. . . we think it's a bad idea."

"Yeah. Okay."

"Are you ready?" Tony asked, holding the first tape up.

"Could I ever be?"

"No."

"Hey, it's Hannah. Hannah Baker. Don't adjust your . . . whatever device you're hearing this on. It's me. Live and in stereo."

Riley closes her eyes tightly, a tear rolling down her cheek at the sound of the voice that still haunted her dreams even a year later.

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

     𝘼𝙏 𝙏𝙃𝙀 sound of Hannah's voice retell the night of the car crash, of the memories from the night Riley really lost apart of herself, the blonde pulls herself out of Tony's car, tears streaming down her face as heartbreaking sobs begin to leave her lips.

In all honesty, Riley had pushed the memories to the back of her mind, only thinking of Jeff when something happened that reminded her of him, or when someone brought up a moment with the baseball player, and she had wanted to keep it that way.

But having Bryce listen to all of the tapes, it stirred something inside of Riley that broke her all over again.

Gravel cracks under shoes as a figure walked over to Riley's crouched down figure, stopping right in front of her. More harsh sobs leave her lips, her entire body trembling as she cried.

"Riley. . . ," Bryce's voice cracks as he takes in the sight of what was once one of his closest friends break down, "Can I . . . can I hug you?"

The blonde nodded her head, standing up and letting Bryce bring her into a tight hug, Riley's sobs now muffled by his shoulder. And back in the car, Tony closes his eyes, letting silent tears roll down his face as he listens to the cries leaving Riley.

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

      "𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙂𝙍𝙄𝙋𝙋𝙀𝘿 my wrists and pushed yourself inside of me. I begged you, "Please, Bryce", but you told me to relax. You said you would go nice and easy, but you went harder and faster. When I cried out in pain, you grabbed my hair, like the sound of my pain made it better for you."

Bryce stood outside of the car, sobbing as he listened to the sound of Hannah's voice talk about how much pain she had gone through when he had raped her.

"I tried to forget the anger and pain. Over and over. Until you realize it's too late."

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

     "𝗔 𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞 later . . . a week later, Bryce was dead."

"Did you see Mrs. Baker again after that?" Clay asked, looking between his cousin and Tony.

"No, not since then."

"No." Riley shakes her head.

"I did see Bryce once more." Tony tells him, glancing at Riley, "And so did Riley, but separately."

"What did you tell him?"

"To steer clear of Mrs. Baker." Tony stated, "That she wasn't in a place to hear his apology. He was . . . he was disappointed."

"Do you think he listened?"

"I hope he did."

"And you knew all this when the police picked me up?" Clay asked.

"You knew Mrs. Baker was in town when you asked." Riley jumps in to defend Tony against her cousin. Of course, she would be on her cousin's side one hundred percent, but she would always come to Tony's defense.

"I hate what's happening." Clay shakes his head, "No one can trust anyone. We're supposed to be friends!"

"I am your friend, Clay. I am your friends." Tony says, "I have a family to take care of."

"Right."

"Clay! Come on, you gotta give me some time—,"

"Where were you that night, Tony? After the Homecoming game?" Clay asked before looking at Riley, "And where the hell were you?"

"I was with Caleb the whole night." Tony tells him.

"You already know that Scott was home for the game." Riley shrugged her shoulder, "I was with him."

"With your boyfriends? Who loves you?" Clay asked, looking at them. "Who would do anything for you?"

"Yeah."

"Yes, correct."

"Where were you?" Riley asked, crossing her arms over her chest, "Since you wanna accuse us, where the fuck were you, Clay?"

Clay stays silent for a moment as he looked into her eyes, "I was all alone."

"Trust is . . . the hardest thing, isn't it? Can someone trust a lover? A friend? A brother? Can you trust me?"

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

     "𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗗𝗜𝗗 you and Bryce talk about?" Clay moves into Riley's bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Riley looks up at him in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"Tony said that you saw Bryce again before he died. What did the two of you talk about?"

"Not here."

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

     𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗦 down at the tombstone, arms holding her leather jacket closer to her, with a frown on her face.

"Do you usually come here?" Clay broke the silence, keeping his eyes on Jeff's name.

"Not really. When you brought Courtney here, that was the last time I came . . . before Tony and I let Bryce listen to the tapes. Hearing Hannah talk about the crash after a year of not thinking about it brought back memories." Riley tells him.

"You don't . . You haven't—,"

"Relapsed? I've thought about it." She swallowed the lump in her throat, "But like I've said, I have a lot of people that would disappoint in me if I did, him being one of them.

"So, what did you and Bryce talk about?"

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

     𝙍𝙄𝙇𝙀𝙔 𝙈𝙊𝙑𝙀𝙎 around tables in Monet's, refilling drinks and taking down orders, having come in to work Justin's shift so that he could see Jessica. She didn't mind, she needed the extra money anyway.

"Hey." Bryce stops in front of her, blocking her path from heading towards the counter.

"Seriously? I'm working." Riley rolled her eyes, turning around to go the other direction.

"Riley, wait." Bryce grabs her wrist, turning her around, "Can we please talk?"

"Let go of me right now, or so help me God, I will scream fucking bloody murder." Riley spoke through clenched teeth, causing Bryce to let go of her wrist and hold his hands up.

"I'm sorry. I just . . I wanted just five minutes of your time just to talk."

"Like I said, I'm working."

Bryce looks down at his feet, nodding his head before he turned to leave.

Riley watches, letting out a sigh as she called out his name, "My lunch is in five minutes, can you wait?"

"Yeah, yeah. I can wait."

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

     𝙎𝙄𝙇𝙀𝙉𝘾𝙀 𝙁𝙄𝙇𝙇𝙎 the air as Riley and Bryce sits across from each other in Monet's, away from prying ears but close enough that the Jensen girl could make a scene if she needed to.

"You wanted to talk so talk." Riley shrugged, leaning back in her chair, trying to keep as much distance between the two of them that she could with the circular table already doing much of the work.

"How — how are you after?"

"Don't do that." She shook her head, "Okay? Don't. I only let you hug me the other night because I was a fucking mess after having to relive something I've tried so hard to push away as much as I can. I don't need you of all people trying to ask me if I'm okay."

Bryce sighed, wrapping his hands around the coffee mug sitting in front of him, "Riley, I know that there are not enough sorries in the world that I could tell you in order for you to forgive me. But I am so sorry for all of the shit that I put you through."

"I don't need you to tell me that you are sorry. I needed you to stop — I needed you to tell me sorry the moment I started hating you for what you let happen to me." Riley moves forward, lowering her voice. "You're a couple years too late, don't you think?"

"I did my research, and you can still tell the police what he did to you." Bryce gulped, "I can go with you and—,"

"No." Riley shakes her head standing up, "No, we aren't going to do anything. You are going to let this go and you are going to leave me the hell alone. Okay? Because I've gotten over what happened to me. It's done, it's over with. Let it go, Bryce."

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

     "𝙐𝙂𝙃, 𝘼𝙇𝙇 of these homecoming proposals are making me sick." Riley sits down across from Ani and Clay, a pout on her face as she opened the bottle of apple juice that she had. "Absolutely disgusting."

Clay smirked, "You are only saying that because Scott isn't here to ask you."

"That's not why I'm saying it, all of it actually makes me sick." Riley rolled her eyes, "Eric Hartley wrote a cheesy ass poem asking Clair Kelley. I mean serious, violets aren't even fucking purple."

"Uh, Zach is coming your way." Clay tilted his head in confusion as Zach sits down at the table, a bouquet of pretty white daisies in hand.

"Awe, Zachy, are you bringing me flowers?" Riley pouted as she turned towards him.

"While I did pay for them, they aren't from me." Zach hands them to her before turning and clearing his throat, "Riley, you are forever my girl, my one and only. Okay, no, I'm not saying that. There are things that I now know that I wish I didn't know about you and Scott. Which some are really . . . questionable."

She laughed.

"Anyway, Scott was going to come in and ask you to homecoming, but his flight got cancelled so he's waiting for the next available." Zach explained to his best friend, "He got be to buy you the flowers as gesture of asking you to homecoming with him, and as a gesture of not being here in person to ask you."

"Thank you, it was really sweet that you are helping him out." Riley grinned, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.

"Yeah, yeah, just stop trying to take my boyfriend away from me." Zach joked as he stood up, a loud laugh leaving his lips as he dodged the carrot her threw at her. "I love you!"

"I love you, Zachy!"

  ˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

      "𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗚𝗘𝗧 on my nerves!" Riley laughs as she and Justin walk into the house.

"I get on your nerves? You and Scott, with all your cute couple shit, gets on my nerves! I just had to sit through the two of you practically fucking each other over the phone." Justin grinned, the two of them walking into the kitchen where Clay was looking through the refrigerator.

"Oh, hey, Clay." Riley grinned.

"Where are the folks?" Justin asked, putting his hands on one of the backs of the chairs.

"Uh, moms at work." Clay keeps looking through the refrigerator. "Dads at the Crestmont, pretending that life isn't happening."

"Cool."

"So, um, Jess . . . Jess told me you spoke to her."

"Oh. Shit. Look, I'm sorry. I wasn't — I was just trying to help." Clay shakes his head. "I thought maybe if she knew what was going on with you, maybe she'd understand."

"You're right. I couldn't tell her, so I'm . . . I'm glad you did." Justin tells him, making Riley smile at her two boys.

"Okay."

"So . . . what are you gonna do now?"

"I don't know." Justin says just before there's a harsh bang at the door.

"Fuck!" Riley jumps at the sudden banging on the door, placing a hand over her fastly beating heart.

Clay looks at the two before he made his way to answer the door.

"Clay Jensen." Sheriff Diaz's voice carries to the kitchen, causing Justin and Riley to look at each other with wide eyes. "We have a warrant to search your property."

"What? How is that possible?" Clay asked.

"Step aside or you'll be charged with obstruction." Sheriff Diaz hands him the search warrant, him and all of the officers coming into the house just as Riley and Justin walked out of the kitchen.

"Fuck."

"Clay, keep your fucking mouth shut."

"Alright, turn around. Lock your fingers behind your back."

Riley and Justin are turned around by two police officers, getting cuffs placed on their hands as Clay was going through the same thing.

"Spread your legs."

"I really fucking hate the cops." Riley mumbled under her breath.

"We're gonna need the shoes you're wearing, along with any electronic devices you may have. Is this your cell phone?" Sheriff Diaz asks Clay as he patted him down, "I'm gonna reach into your pocket and get your cell phone. Alright, you can relax."

"Why . . . why do you need my phone?" Clay asked, turning around.

"I think you know."

The three teens look at each other as the police search through the home.