𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍 . . . 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐥

53. 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙗𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚

53. the clubhouse

season 2, episode 10: smile, bitches

▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▃ ▂

Nessa climbed out of the backseat of Clay's Prius with him and Justin in tow. She could hear the cheers of the crowd erupting from the baseball stadium, letting her know that the game was in full swing, and that no one would be coming by to bother them anytime soon. She led the boys to the same place that Scott had led her this morning, silence between all of them.

She saw the same combination lock from earlier, and quickly fumbled with the numbers to line up perfectly, leaving no room for error. The lock pulled open easily, and Nessa sighed a breath of relief whenever the lock came off and she was able to push open the heavy door of the Clubhouse.

There was barely any light, which made searching for things a lot harder than usual. Nessa took one end while Clay and Justin shuffled through the other end, crashing things around like bulls in a china cabinet.

"You'd think they'd know better than to just leave this shit lying around." Justin muttered as he fumbled through some things.

"Except then they'd know better than to take pictures in the first place." Clay replied back, digging through the shelves for evidence.

The three teenagers stopped dead in their tracks when the big door opened, shining in light from the outside. Nessa paused and looked over at the door, as she was bound to be the first one spotted. She was in the center of the room, completely unhidden.

"What the hell, Zach?" Nessa said as her brother stepped into the Clubhouse, still dressed head to toe in his baseball uniform, catcher's vest and all.

"What the fuck are you doing in here, Ness?" Zach asked, speeding toward her to catch a glimpse of Clay and Justin.

"We know about the Clubhouse." Clay blurted."We know everything, and we're not the only ones."

"Oh, you know everything." Zach taunted breathlessly as he looked around. "I don't think so."

"We know enough." Clay spat, and Zach stepped closer to him.

"Hey, just back off, Dempsey." Justin warned, putting his hand up to stop Zach from going any further.

"Or what, Justin?" Zach hissed back, turning his frustrations to someone else. "Gonna come at me? I wasn't scared of you even before you fell apart."

"Zach!" Nessa exclaimed, raising her voice. "Enough. At least Justin isn't afraid to defend me."

Zach cut his eyes at Nessa, but it wasn't anger he was feeling. He knew she was right, and that his actions towards Bryce have been nothing short of disappointing, especially for his sister.

"Do what you want, Zach." Clay said sharply, diverting the attention back off of Nessa. "I've had the shit beat out of me once this week already. It's not gonna stop us."

Zach looked at him, right through him. "Really?"

"Yes." Clay said, no hesitation.

"It's going to keep happening, Clay. To all of you. It doesn't stop." Zach said through his own quickened breaths. "You can't take shots at the top and expect to not get hit back."

Clay kept eye contact with him, shaking his head as he clenched his jaw. "I'm not afraid."

"Good." Zach said, and he walked off, digging into one of the shelves to grab the box of Polaroids that Scott had messed with earlier. He made Nessa look away when he hid it, to protect the secrets of the Clubhouse.