𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍 . . . 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐥

14. 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙮𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡𝙨

14. courtyard brawls

season one, episode six: tape 3, side b

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Nessa woke up after a long, restless night, which is what most of her nights were like since she had received the package of tapes on her doorstep just a few days ago. Everyday had seemed tougher and tougher to make it through, and Nessa was tired of it.

To think that she was only on tape number six.

"Ness, you ready?" Zach asked as he poked his head into her door. Nessa hadn't felt like driving much since Jeff had passed, so Alex, Zach and Monty juggled the task of taking her to school. She promised herself that someday soon, she would get behind a wheel again.

"Yeah, let's go." Nessa said, grabbing her backpack and rushing down the stairs. Most of Nessa and Zach's rides since she got the tapes were pretty quiet, considering neither of them wanted to bring them up.

Zach eventually parked, and the two siblings made it to school. They were both passing through the courtyard when Nessa spotted Alex, and she almost screamed when she noticed Montgomery's car inches away from him, almost running him right over.

"God, help my soul." Nessa muttered as she walked away from Zach and towards her almost pummeled boyfriend.

"The fuck!" Alex yelled, and Nessa sped up her pace. "Man, people are trying to walk here!"

Nessa made it over to the near car crash, and saw Monty behind the wheel with Justin in the passenger seat, both with shit-eating grins on their faces.

"The fuck is your problem?" Alex terrorized the two boys as he took his backpack off and made his way to the driver's seat.

"Alex, please just let it go." Nessa begged, but Alex was not going to do that.

"Dude, Alex, chill." Monty said from the car. "It's all good."

"Oh, it's all good?" Alex asked. "You think you can just run people over like everyone else at the fucking school?"

"You're tripping, man." Monty replied. "Ness, control your boyfriend."

"Stop being a dick, Monty." Nessa said.

"Get out of the car." Alex demanded, and Nessa wanted to curl up into a ball. It was way too early for her boyfriend to be picking a fight with not only one of her best friends, but someone who definitely had the power to beat him up.

"No, Monty. Stay in the car." Nessa ordered from behind Alex.

"Get out of the car!" Alex screamed as he punched Monty's car door. "I'm gonna kick your fucking ass! Get out!"

"Alex, calm the fuck down!" Justin said as both boys got out of the car, and Nessa backed away. There was no saving this, no toning this down. And she sure as hell didn't want to be caught in the crossfires.

"You calm down! I am calm! Man, I'm so fucking calm." Alex continued screaming as Monty got in his face. Zach had made his way over to the scene, standing behind Nessa.

"What the hell is going on?" Zach asked his sister.

"No fucking idea." Nessa replied.

"You don't want to do this." Monty warned the boy.