SURVIVORS |J.FOLEY ¹

V. the butterfly effect

CHAPTER FIVE
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

Madison sat in that same spot for hours upon hours. Eventually, school ended and she still hadn't touched her phone. She was too busy listening to the tapes. The tapes of a dead teenage girl. Tapes that would reveal the whole reason she took her own life. Or the thirteen reasons. And Madison was one of them.

Madison changed the tape inside of the small radio. She wasted absolutely no time in clicking the button of the radio. She had to listen. She had to find out more. She'd been asking herself the same questions for the past two weeks. Was she truly responsible for her friends death? Was she guilty? And she couldn't waste any time, she had to figure it out. She had to heard it from Hannah herself. But, it wasn't her turn yet.

"You've heard of the butterfly effect, right?" Hannah asked through Madison's earphones. "That if a butterfly flaps it's wings at just the right time in just the right place it can cause a hurricane thousands of miles away. It's chaos theory. But see, chaos theory isn't exactly about chaos. It's about how a tiny change in a big system can affect everything." Hannah explained, softly.

Madison pushed her head into her hands, knowing that she should have gone to school and been at the assembly. She knew she'd be in trouble because of it but nothing was more important that listening to Hannah's tapes.

"Chaos theory. Sounds dramatic, but it's not." Hannah began once again. "Ask a mathematician. Or better yet, ask someone who's been in a hurricane. Alex Standall. You caused the hurricane. It's your turn. Little did I know you would F. my L. forever. Little did I know you would be my hurricane. Maybe you think I'm being silly. I'm some stupid girl who gets all worked up over a little thing. But little things matter. For instance, you never told me when you started dating Jessica. But I remember just how it ended. With your list."

That stupid little fucking list.

"Alex, we hadn't talked since you two got together. And then it seemed like maybe you might not be together anymore. Is that why you did it Alex?" Hannah asked, curiously. "Maybe you say it's nothing, Alex. It's just words. Maybe, Alex... you were just being a dick. Alex, maybe you think I'm being silly, like I get my titties in a twist over the tiniest things. But you didn't walk that hall. You didn't feel those eyes on you. You've never heard those whispers."

The bell rang for class, to which Madison made her way through the door, alongside Hannah. After the situation with Justin, Madison finally decided to hear him out. She wasn't sure wether she believed him or not. About Bryce stealing his phone. But then it all made sense to her. Because she remembered how she approached them that day and Justin was thrown up against a wall and Bryce was holding his phone.

She felt silly for giving him the silent treatment and ignoring him for days. Because she knew how much he needed her, and she needed him too. So when Madison walked into that classroom that day, she expected everything to be back to normal. Wrong. As Hannah stood at her desk, throwing her bag down. Madison looked around the room, wondering why everyone was looking down at pieces of paper. She wondered why Zach and Justin did not look so impressed.

Madison said a quick goodbye to Hannah before finding her own seat, just as Mrs. Bradley began to speak at the front of the classroom. Madison sat down on her chair and Justin filled the seat beside her shortly after, a frustrated look on his face.

Before Madison could begin to question it, a piece of paper was handed to her by Sheri who's lips were pushed into a thin line. Madison took the paper out of Sheri's hand with a confused expression. She noticed how Justin was watching her every move.

Madison began opening up the crumpled piece of paper until it revealed something that looked awfully like a list. The list consisted of many things, girl things. Best lips, best face, best ass, best tits and countless other things. And then worst lips, butterface, worst ass, worst tits and more. Well, wasn't Madison so lucky to get best everything. Whatever the fuck that meant.