The Lies We Tell | Justin Foley

Chapter 9: Tape 5, Side A

*Content Warning: Depictions and discussions of sexual assault*

"I've got a question for you, Justin. Not the one you think. Not yet.

What's the best part of high school? The great friends you make? The romance?

No.

We both know the best part of high school is summer break.

It's the great reset button.

And after everything that happened to me sophomore year, I couldn't wait to start fresh. To tear the rest of the pages from my journal and forget it all.

Except I didn't get very far."

Flashback

Summer

Crestmont Movie Theater

Violet walked out of the theatre with a yawn and an empty bucket of popcorn. When she realized it was empty, she quickly volunteered to leave and get more, seeing it as an opportunity to avoid the boring movie. This is what happens when she lets Justin decide what they do for date night--they end up at some boring spy movie. Violet had spent most of the runtime scarfing down the popcorn and trying not to fall asleep.

She headed towards the counter to buy more popcorn, hesitating slightly when she saw who was working there. "Hey, Hannah." The two hadn't talked since before the end of the school year. Violet didn't want to be mean, but she hated running into Hannah. It was always awkward catching up and neither one of them knew what to say, which was almost unbelievable considering how close they were once upon a time. "I didn't know you worked on Friday nights."

Hannah nodded. "Yeah, I picked up some extra shifts for the summer."

"Cool." Violet didn't have anything else to say and she considered just walking away, until she remembered why she was there. "Oh! Uh, I'll just have a large refill." She put the bucket on top of the counter and Hannah quickly grabbed it and handed it to the boy that was working the counter with her. He looked familiar, she thought she had seen him hanging around with the football players before. "Scott, right?"

The boy stopped scooping the popcorn into the bucket for a moment, looking over his shoulder at Violet, surprised she knew his name. "Yeah."

"When did you start working here?"

"Uh, a little over a week ago." Scott replied, returning to his job. "Hannah's still attempting to train me."

Violet faced the brunette girl. "What happened to Clay? I thought you guys always worked together."

Hannah let out a soft laugh. "He's spending the summer with his grandparents, leaving me alone here with Scotty."

"Hmm," Violet acknowledged her answer, reaching for her wallet once she noticed that Scott put the freshly refilled popcorn bucket on the counter for her to grab.

Hannah rushed to stop her. "Don't worry about it. It's on the house."

Violet smiled at her, shocked at Hannah's generosity. "Thanks. See you guys around."

"At work, my usual partner in crime was spending the summer with his grandparents. His temporary replacement was nice enough, but entirely too normal. And I couldn't escape my past.