SURVIVORS |J.FOLEY ¹

XIV. forgive me

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
FORGIVE ME

"He can't be prosecuted, okay?" A breathless Clay stated as Justin opened his door. Clay threw his hands in the air. Justin scrunched his face up in confusion.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Justin asked the boy across from him, raising his eyebrows.

"I know it was Bryce, alright?" Clay told him, nodding his head. "She said he was your friend." Clay continued, staring into Justin's eyes.

Justin paused for a moment before waving his hand. "Alright, get in here." Justin told him, moving out of the way for Clay. Clay wandered inside before turning to Justin who closed the door behind him.

"You have to tell her, Justin. You have to tell both of them." Clay shook his head, repeatedly with a scared look on his face.

"When the fuck will you give up?" Justin asked him, throwing his arms up as the door slammed. Justin took a step towards Clay, clearly growing annoyed.

"Okay, I get it!" Clay exclaimed, meeting Justin's eyes. "You're trying to protect your friend, you lied to Jessica and you told her Hannah made it up. And you've told Madison the exact same thing."

"I did?" Justin questioned, furrowing his eyebrows at Clay. "So I guess it's my word against Hannah's. Huh?" Justin leaned forwards.

"Exactly." Clay stated, nodding in agreement. "So, the one witness is dead, Bryce will get away with it. And you can stop protecting him. It's a legal fact." Clay explained in a hurry.

"Did you talk to somebody?" Justin asked him, his voice growing louder in anger. Justin took another step closer to Clay. "Tell me what the fuck you did." Justin warned him.

"Are you fucking listening?" Clay asked, raising his eyebrow. "I just told you, I can't go to the cops!" Clay yelled, causing the pair to fall into silence. Justin looked in between his eyes, his mouth falling open.

"What do you want from me?" Justin asked, harshly.

"I want you to tell Madison and Jessica the truth about what happened to them that night." Clay answered, truthfully.

Justin looked Clay up and down with dark eyes. "They know what happened. Go and ask her. Go and ask Jessica. Madison promised me that she wouldn't listen to the tapes anymore. You know what they would do to her."

"I asked Jessica and she repeated the whatever bullshit lies you fed her!" Clay's voice grew louder again. "She knows something's up. Look at her, she's messed up. She was drunk at school today. So was Madison, so it's pretty obvious that Madison didn't keep that promise and she's either listening or listened to that tape!"

The oven dinged from behind Justin and he tried to hide the terror in his face. "They're fine." Justin stated, turning his back to the Clay to walk towards the oven.

"They're fucked up. And so are you." Clay followed after Justin in disbelief. Justin took his food out of the oven and grabbed a fork. "Jessica, and Madison deserve the truth, and Madison's never gonna believe it unless it comes from you and Jessica won't unless Madison does."

Justin held his head down low, stabbing his fork into his food. The pair fell into a tense silence.

"There you are!" Bryce called out from down the hallway as Justin stood outside of Madison's bedroom. Justin smiled as his best friend approached him. Though, it fell slightly as he wasn't alone. "Hey, they're playing beer pong out the back. Come on, dude!"

"I'm fine." Justin told his best friend, shaking his head as he knew he had to stay with Madison to make sure she was okay. "Um, where are you going with her?" Justin asked, confused, pointing towards Jessica who was barely conscious.