THE FINAL STRAW || 13 Reasons Why

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IT WAS ZACH'S TIME TO TESTIFY, JUSTIN WAS MISSING AND EVERYTHING WAS A TOTAL MESS, Cleo sat in the courtroom, listening to Zach explaining his relationship with Hannah, she obviously knew about it already and she also knew Clay would definitely go berserk after that testimony. He would go even more berserk when he'll hear about Cleo's testimony, which was right after Zach's.

He will be mad that his sister managed to get what he didn't, things he wished he could have had, Cleo knew about all that, she knew Clay liked Hannah, she always did, but she didn't what her testimony was gonna do to Clay. 

Cleo was eating lunch with Jessica, there was another girl with her, Nina Jones, a girl Jessica met at the group therapy, she introduced herself to Nina's fried  before sitting down.

The whole lunchroom suddenly went quiet, making Cleo turn around."Shit" she mumbled when she saw Justin's figure, standing behind her, Cleo got up at the same time as Jessica and stared at Justin, wide eyed, the boy walked towards Jessica as he took his hoodie off. "Hey, Jess. I missed you" he said "can we go somewhere else to talk, alone?"

"No" Jessica answered 

Cleo shot a look behind Justin to see Bryce staring at him, his arms crossed, like Justin did something unforgivable.

Justin nervously looked away "I came back for you" he said "It's the only reason why i'm here, if you want me to stay i'll stay and if you want me to go i'll go forever this time"

Jessica lowered her eyes "You said that before" she mumbled before getting interrupted by Justin

"I tried to go away" he said, his voice on the verge of tears "i tried to forget about you, i tried so fucking hard but i can't stop thinking about you"

Jessica looked into his eyes "Yeah i think about you too" she answered, glaring at the boy "And i wished you were dead"

Cleo shot a look at Justin when she heard those words, Jessica was everything to him and those words were like knives went right through his chest, when the boy turned around to walk away, he stopped when his gaze fell on Bryce "You..." he said before dropping on the floor

 Leo stood back as Jessica attempted to rush over him, she didn't and just took her bag and walked out of the school.

Later that day, Cleo was sitting beside Clay in her class when everyone suddenly pulled out their phones, the two siblings shot each other a glance and took out theirs, it was about the trial, Clay shot a glance at his sister, she refused to look up at him and he instantly knew, it was true.

"You knew?" he asked "Cleo what the fuck?" he asked as he got up, she could see how hard he was trying not to yell

The girl slammed her phone on the table and looked up at him "Hannah and Zach had sex, what about it?"

Clay looked around and got out of the class, dragging Cleo with him, when they arrived outside he shot her a glare. "What about it?" he repeated "You couldn't think to even tell me?!" he asked, slightly raising his voice.

Cleo clenched her jaw "It's not my job to inform you of every detail of Hannah's life" she answered

Clay clenched his jaw "He didn't fucking deserve her" he said 

Cleo let out a scoff "Why? You're the one who decides that now?" she asked in a harsh tone, she knew Clay couldn't answer to that.

as his gaze fell on Zach, he walked away from his sister and rushed towards Zach, Cleo stared at him and walked away.

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When Cleo got back home, she knew the atmosphere in the house was wrong and her doubts were confirmed when she saw Justin sitting in the living room with her parents. She tried to quietly walk up but "Cleo, get over here" her mom called

Cleo let out a sigh and walked in the living room and sat beside Justin, making sure to not touch him, after telling them about the night at Jessica's party, she knew her parents didn't like Justin, she knew they just wanted to kick him out of the house as soon as possible but she couldn't let them do that. "He's going to help" she said

Her mom shot a glare at Justin "After leaving you in a room with a rapist? Are you crazy, Cleo?!" she asked

"Look, mom, i wanna help the anonymous girl on tape nine and Justin just happens to be a witness and he can help"

Justin intervened, his voice on the verge of tears once again "I'm really sorry for what i did, i could never forgive myself for it no matter what i do, but i wanna do anything i can to help"

Cleo uncomfortably shifted under her mom's gaze, she knew her dad was currently using all his strength to not ram his fist in Justin's face, he let out a heavy sigh "I mean as much as i don't want him here, if she let him stay here, it's for a reason" he said 

"I am still angry" Cleo said "but when Clay brought him here, i just-"

Clay walked in the living room, his parents looked back at him "So Clay was the one who brought him here" he mom, said, Cleo immediately put a hand over her mouth

Clay came sitting beside his sister, avoiding his parent's eyes "I was trying to help Hannah's case" he said

"By hiding Justin here? In the home of a lawyer who's firm is trying the case? Do you any idea how that could look?"

"It's not the appearances we're worried about" his dad retorted 

Laine shot him a glance "Matt, i'm an officer of the court, Justin failed to respond to his appeal, he's in contempt" she said "Do i need to start about about what he did to Cleo again?"

Clay intervened "Look, i was hiding him here because i didn't have any other option, okay?" he said 

"You could've talked to us" his dad said 

Justin intervened again "I had nowhere to go, that's why he had no other option" he said as he leaned forward "My mom is a junkie and her boyfriend, he's a dealer and not a very nice guy, i knew that they wouldn't take me back. Clay and Tony they found me and saved me" he said "And Cleo, despite what i did still helped me, they didn't tell you because i was too ashamed for anyone to know" he added as he broke into a coughing fit

"And he's sick" Clay added "With the flu, which is why we were waiting for him to testify"

Cleo leaned forward "Mom, please" she begged "Let him stay"

The woman let out a sigh, before shooting a glare at Justin "You can stay but i will have to report you to the lawyers, it's the law" she said in a harsh tone

 Cleo let out a sigh of relief and got up, pulling her parents into a hug, which was rare, Laine and Matt shot each other a look when Cleo let go of them

"It's okay, i understand. Thank you Mrs. Jensen and Mr. Jensen" Justin said 

Matt looked at the teens "Who's hungry?" he asked in a softer tone

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