THE FINAL STRAW || 13 Reasons Why

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CLEO GOT OUT OF THE CAR, FOLLOWING HER BROTHER, CLAY JENSEN, SHE DIDN'T LOOK UP, SHE DIDN'T WANNA SEE THOSE SUICIDE PREVENTION POSTERS ON THE WALLS, PAINTED BY HANDS THAT strangled Hannah to death, read by mouths that bit into her soul and cut every pieces that was left of her, Cleo flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she quickly pushed it off before looking up at the person. Her brother, he looked at her, concerned.

"You good?" he asked

"Yeah..." Cleo answered as she narrowed her eyes at him before walking into the shitty school 

She walked to her locker, which was next to Hannah's she stared at the picture, reminiscing Hannah's features, how she used to smile every time she looked at her.

Cleo looked over her shoulder when a motion caught her attention, Clay Jensen, she stared at her brother, following his gaze that fell on Hannah's picture, she got interrupted by a Justin, who slammed himself against the lockers, making her look at him.

"How you doing?" he asked, concerned, she frowned at the boy's question, Cleo wasn't close to Justin anymore, she had stopped hanging out with the jocks and now Justin was talking to her, the bell suddenly rang, the girl ignored him as she let out a sigh, she closed her locker and walked away from the boy, she could see him talking to Clay from the corner of her eyes.

When she arrived in class, she directly put her head on the table, so she wouldn't look around to check who was judging her, as usual she was ignoring the teacher's speech about suicide prevention, if Hannah hadn't killed herself, the school wouldn't have done anything about anything, Hannah's suicide was an opportunity for them to show that they cared, but they never cared, they hadn't done anything to protect Hannah, no one did.

Cleo was disgusted by the students even more, they even made a memorial for the girl, as if they weren't the ones sharing the rumors about her, not that Cleo was any better, she didn't notice what was going on until Hannah died, as they say, you only notice the signs when it's too late, Hannah was a perfect example.

"I mean it's been over a week, isn't it healthy to like move on?" A boy said, earning the teens' groans, the teacher trying her best to calm them "i know, it's tragic but i don't wanna keep being reminded of it all the time, it's depressing" 

"We're never done with it, mr. Pratters" the teacher answered, Cleo quietly scoffed, trying to swallow the lump in her throat, she bit her lip.

"Cleo Jensen...?" The teacher called, making the girl raise her head, she shot a glare at the teacher "are you with us?" she asked

"Where else would i be? Up your ass?" The girl retorted, making the class burst into laughter, the teacher cleared her throat, embarrassed, she tried to calm the students, she looked at Cleo who put her head on the table again.

The teacher ended up calling out Clay, pulling him out of his thoughts

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Cleo walked out of the school beside her brother when suddenly Courtney came out of nowhere and hugged Clay, Cleo's face twisted in a grimace when the girl wrapped her hands around her, hugging her, she didn't know why everyone was acting so weird.

"I just feel like we all need to be there for each other, at a time like this" Courtney said 

"Sure"

"It's all just so sad, it just doesn't make sense, right?"

"No" Cleo answered "a lot of things don't make sense" she added, looking at Courtney up and down, the girl seemed to notice since she lowered her eyes.

"I'm glad we could talk" she said before walking away, leaving the two siblings confused, they shot each other a look when a voice called out to Clay. Tony stood in front of his car.

"Want a ride home?" He asked

"Sure" Clay answered, Cleo shot him a look as she started slowly walking away before the boy grabbed her bag and dragged her to Tony's car, earning a groan from the girl.

"No bike today?" Tony asked when the two siblings got in the car

"Mom wanted to drive us and you know, talk about things" Clay answered, Tony turned to Cleo who sarcastically showed a smile as she put her headphones on, Clay threw his bag at her, making the girl slap his forehead.

Tony drove the car away from the school, the girl let her eyes wander on every building before her eyes stopped on the movies, where Hannah used to work. When they arrived at their house, she got out of the car first, Clay following her. They stopped to the front door when they noticed a package. Cleo picked it up.

"Did a nut job drop this here?" She asked before turning it, seeing her name on it, she frowned as she turned it to the other side, seeing Clay's name "the fuck is that?" she mumbled before walking in the house, Clay following her, she threw the package on the table

"Watch out" Clay said as he slowly picked up the box, he took scissors from the drawer. Annoyed, Cleo ripped the paper wrapped around the box and opened it. "Tapes..." Clay mumbled 

Cleo ran up the stairs, she walked into her dad's office "Dad" she called, the man turned around "where's your boombox?" she asked

"Workshop" the man answered as he turned around to look at his daughter "how are things at school today?" he asked 

"Everyone still acting weird...?" Cleo answered 

"And you?" the man asked as he moved his glasses on top of his head "how are you?"

"Can we skip the father-daughter talk...? Clay's waiting for me" Cleo said, the man nodded 

"But, keep in touch" he said as the girl left the room

The two siblings picked up the boombox and put the tape in, Cleo stood behind her brother , munching on her spicy chips. Clay clicked on play, but as soon as the tape started playing Cleo dropped her chips on the floor.

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"Hey. It's Hannah. Hannah Baker." The voice says.

"What the fuck..." Cleo mumbled as her heart started pounding in her chest

"That's right. Don't adjust your... whatever device you're hearing to this on. It's me, live and in stereo. No return engagements, no encore. And this time absolutely no requests."

Cleo moved closer to her brother, as she put a hand on her chest

"Get a snack. Settle in 'cause I'm about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically why my life ended. And if you're listening to this tape, you're one of the reasons why."

Cleo felt her gut rip when she heard those words, she held onto her stomach, wishing it was just a dream, but the pain was everything but a dream.

"I'm not saying which tape brings you into the story, but fear not. If you received this lovely little box, your name will pop up, I promise."

Cleo looked behind her, when she noticed her mom standing at the door she rushed towards the player.

"The rules here are pretty simple. There are only two..." she paused it, as their mom sneaked up behind them.

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"What you doing?" she asked, Cleo took her chips from the floor and ran out of the workshop, ignoring her mom calling after her.

She entered Clay's room, waiting for her brother "Come on, Clay..." she mumbled, her brother didn't take long to walk in the room "what the actual fuck is this?" she asked "are you trying to prank me or something...? Clay i swear..."

"Shut the fuck up, Cleo !" Clay shouted, making his sister glare at him

Clay ignored her and put the player on the table, he tried playing it but it didn't work, Cleo got closer, realizing what was wrong she cursed under her breath.

"Tony has one..." she said, Clay shot her a look before the two teens rushed out if the house, they both got on their bikes, heading to Tony's house.

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