—

Melanie could feel her throat tighten as she shoved open the school doors.

It felt like all eyes were on her the minute she stepped foot into the hallways. Truthfully, it was a simple glance to see who was entering and then looking away when they realized it wasn't their friend, girlfriend or bestfriend arriving.

The chattering around her seemed to fade as she made her way to her locker. Putting in her memorized combination, she stopped short at the familiar picture hanging on the door.

She and her ex boyfriend, Scott Reed, smile brightly at the camera, their faces would be considered baby-ish compared to how they both look now.

She pulled the photo down.

Despite the breakup being mutual, she couldn't help the hurt in her heart whenever she thought about him.

With Scott wanting to fully focus on school and both of them losing such close friends, Jeff Atkins and Hannah Baker, Scott and Melanie knew they wouldn't be enough for each other relationship wise.

One could argue that they could seek comfort in one another during hard times but the former couple knew that even if they stayed together, it was only a matter of time before Scott left for college a year before her. And Melanie has stated plenty of times before how long distance wasn't her thing.

The two decided to stay friends, neither wanting to completely lose the other over a simple breakup.

Mel snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of the locker next to her opening. She blinked harshly to hopefully get rid of the tears she hadn't realized were forming in her eyes.

"Hey, Mel." A voice said. A very familiar one, she noticed.

"Hi, Clay." She smiled softly.

The two hadn't spoken much since Hannah's death. Clay assumed it had something to do with the Melanie was grieving, but Melanie knew better.

After hearing her tape, Melanie did whatever she could to avoid Clay Jensen. She felt like she owed that to Hannah. Though she believed she had really done nothing wrong, she didn't want to upset the girl any further, even in death.

The dreading sentence was practically engraved in her mind.

'Hey, it's Hannah. Hannah Baker'

When she first got the tapes, she assumed it was a sick joke and Hannah would show up at her doorstep with a goofy smile on her face and claim it as 'payback', or whatever. But the second time, she realized this was far from a joke, and her former friend was really dead and decided to haunt her for being a bad friend.

"How are you?" Clay couldn't help but ask.

He hadn't spoken to her in what felt like forever and he really missed being in her presence nearly every day. Given the way he looked at her with such softness, Mel could only assume he hadn't got the tapes yet.

Not that she thought he'd hate her for being on them. Everyone who's had the tapes has approached her at least once and assured her that she did nothing wrong. She couldn't help how friendly she was, and even then, it's not like she was mean to Hannah.

"I'm okay." Her voice cracked, "You?"

"I miss them."

Them.

She was glad Clay wasn't one of the people to forget that they've lost two classmates in less than a year. It happened often.

Either one of the athletes forgot that Hannah was no longer roaming the halls, or Jeff was never mentioned in conversation when it came to speaking of the hole left in someone's heart.

Though she figured, with him being relatively close to both, Clay would be least likely to forget either of them.

She whispered a soft, "Me too." Before turning away.

Their eyes locked on two girls faking a pout in front of the small memorial the art students left on Hannah's locker.

"She was so pretty."

"Totally."

Probably doing it for likes, Melanie thought.

Snapping a picture, the blonde hardly looked away from her phone as she asked, "What was it again?"

"Hashtag never forget."

Definitely doing it for likes.

Melanie inhaled softly as tears flooded her vision. Even in death Hannah couldn't catch a break.

She could feel Clay place a reluctant hand on her shoulder. He opened his mouth to speak, only to get cut off as she abruptly pulled away, slamming her locker shut and walking in the... complete opposite direction of her class.

He furrowed his brows. Clay knew that she'd be emotional, but if he were ever nearby when she did, she'd waste no time in turning to him for comfort.

Recently he brushed it off as the girl was only now returning to school and he hadn't seen her in a while but her behavior was definitely odd. It's like she wanted nothing to do with him.

Clay shut his own locker as he wondered why.

•••

Mattias' face was stone cold as he brushed past his brother's rowdy group of friends.

It wasn't unusual for him to get caught up by Monty's group, but it was completely normal for him to be irritated everytime it happened.

He couldn't stand the fact that he was popular by association.

The idea of random people approaching him with the usual 'oh, you're monty's little brother' pissed him off endlessly. First of all, he was only a year younger than Montgomery. And secondly, the answer was the same every single time.

'there's no other de la cruz's in the school. what do you think?'

His snarky attitude definitely got him in trouble. Though it was nothing compared to how his brother acted. It was part of the reason why Monty flunked. His nasty attitude and need to fight constantly got him suspended, which in turn hurt his grades and finally landed him in the same class as his little brother.

It blew Matti's mind how Monty was on any sports teams with the way his grades were.

An arm wrapped around his shoulder, "Hey, bro—"

"I'm not your 'bro', Bryce, get off me." His shoved was much harder than intended, leading to Bryce's back hitting the lockers roughly. The sound echoed loudly throughout the empty hall.

"Come on, man. Relax." The Walker chuckled, looking to Montgomery for any sign of help.

The older De La Cruz didn't react, instead continuing to playfully shove Scott. He kept an ear out for his brother, though, knowing he too got his anger from their father. He knew it didn't take much to push Matti's buttons and if anyone could, it was definitely Bryce Walker.

He liked Bryce, but Mattias was blood. And right or wrong, Mattias would always come before Bryce.

"Don't touch me."

With that, Mattias continued his walk, already irritated that the second bell has rang just as they arrived to school. Now he'd have to argue to the teacher that him being late wasn't his fault. He already hated talking as it is, so arguing his way out of detention at eight in the morning was the last thing he wanted to do.

He left out an annoyed grunt as a body collided with his. His fists clenched in anger before he heard a small sniffle.

"I'm sorry."

His nails slowly made their way out of the palm of his hands as he looked down slightly. He wasn't much taller than the girl, so thankfully, he didn't have to look far.

He'd be an idiot not to realize that the girl in front of him was Melanie Dempsey, older (and much smarter) twin sister of Zachary Dempsey, one of his older brothers closest friends and teammate. He vaguely remembered her dating Scott Reed.

"Are you okay?" The words sounded robotic coming out of his mouth, having only asked this question to his siblings a couple of times.

"I'm fine. Sorry." She apologized for getting in his way.

Usually, he'd leave it at that, huffing to himself how some bitch's head probably added another bruise to the collection of ones his father left of his chest.

But unfortunately for him, Melanie Dempsey wasn't a bitch.

Sure, the bruises might still be there as she definitely slammed into him pretty hard, but that was the last thing on his mind at the moment.

"You want me to call Scott? He's down the hall—"

"No!" She cut him off, unaware of the wide eyed look he was giving her, "I'm not his problem anymore."

"What, you guys on a break, or something?" He pretended to care.

"Or something." She shrugged, "I'm sorry for running into you."

Mattias didn't even have the chance to mention her brother before she darted down the hall.

Instead of calling out to question her, he loosely shrugged his shoulders before continuing his journey to his locker.

—