𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍 . . . 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐥

13. 𝙖 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙚

13. a dangerous ride

season one, episode five: tape 3, side a

▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▃ ▂

Nessa sat in Alex's car, watching him drive from the back seat wedged between Justin and Zach. Alex had mentioned that they were going to talk to Clay today, and she had insisted on coming. She wanted to be involved with everyone else on the tapes, even though they barely knew that she had them. Alex didn't have a good excuse to tell her no, so he had to let her come. To be fair, she had no idea what they were planning to do to Clay, or she would have never come.

Besides, Nessa could be extremely convincing.

Zach had been all too unhappy when Alex had picked him up and he saw Nessa in the car, but he had no way to protest without talking about the tapes, and he wasn't ready to admit that he knew she had them yet. He figured that she would tell him when she was ready.

Alex slammed on the car brakes as he saw Clay appearing on his bike, lurching Nessa forward.

"What the hell, Alex?" she said.

Justin jumped out of the car, opening the door while it was still moving.

"Want to go for a ride real quick?" he taunted Clay.

"No." Clay quickly responded as Zach and Alex jumped out of the car too, leaving Nessa alone, wondering what she had gotten herself into.

"We think you do." Zach said as he grabbed Clay's bicycle and forced it out of his grasp.

"What are you doing?" Clay asked.

"Get in the car." Justin demanded, motioning toward the passenger seat.

"Come on, I'll take you home." Alex said as he leaned up against the driver's side.

"Why are you doing this?" Clay asked Alex nervously. Alex thought for a moment.

"What else am I gonna do?" he replied.

"I don't understand." Clay said.

"You will, just get in the car." Alex encouraged him. Clay stumbled as Justin pushed him toward the passenger seat before opening the back door and plopping right beside Nessa.

"What the hell are we doing?" Nessa asked.

"Chill, Ness." Zach said to his sister. "You'll be fine."

Alex had driven for a while, so long that the sun had set and it was dark. Nessa didn't even really know what road they were on. All she knew was she was tired, and she was pretty damn nervous. Finally, Alex pulled over and stopped the car in the middle of the road.

"What are you guys doing?" Clay asked for the hundredth time since he had gotten into the car. Nobody answered, Justin just smirked as Alex turned the car back on, shifted back to drive, and slammed on the gas pedal. The abrupt start lurched all five of them back into the seat, and Nessa had slammed into Justin's shoulder with her own.

"Alex, what the fuck?" Nessa cried as his eyes stayed locked on the road.

"Yo, Alex." Clay warned, but Alex ignored him.

"We know what you did to Courtney." Justin told the boy. Nessa had heard about Clay's adventure with Courtney from Alex before all of this. Truthfully, she thought it was heinous. Nobody deserves to be traumatized like that, in her mind.