𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐊 . . . 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝

𝟎𝟒. 𝐜𝐡𝐥𝐨𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐳𝐚𝐜𝐡

04. chloe and zach

season three, episode two: if you're breathing, you're a liar

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Clay placed his iPad down in front of everyone involved in the Spring Fling fiasco. Well, everyone but Zach, who had explicitly told Nessa when she got home from Monet's that day that he would not be a part of this.

"I set up a schedule." Clay told the group. "Who picks him up in the morning, who takes him between what classes, after school, nightly check-ins. If we spread it around, it's actually not that bad."

Nessa squinted her eyes to look at the color coded calendar before picking the tablet up for herself, chuckling as she examined it. Clay was seriously anal about this.

"I'll text everyone the URL, it's password protected."

Jessica craned her neck to look at the iPad next to Nessa, Alex doing the same as they all scrolled through, wide-eyed.

"There's like, the insanity of us doing this at all, and then there's the insanity of, 'Oh, my God, you built a website'." Jessica said through a half-smile, and Nessa nodded beside her. The rest of the group snickered, shaking their heads.

"Yeah, I gotta hand it to you, Clay." Nessa told the boy. "This is dedication."

"I didn't build it per se, it's really just storage space."

"That's a lot of coordination." Alex said as he swiped the tablet from his girlfriend beside him. "My brian injury hurts."

Nessa laughed as she playfully slapped his arm, noting how adorable he looked in the beanie that was sitting on his head.

"How long do we have to do this?" Cyrus asked with an eyebrow raised.

Justin sat forward in his seat. "Until he gets better."

"So...forever?" Jessica asked, taking the word right out of Nessa's mouth. She truly had no idea how much it would take for Tyler to get better. It was a scary thought.

"People do get better." Justin said, keeping eye contact with Jessica as she smiled softly. Nessa noted the tension between the two as she watched. "They do." Justin repeated, fiddling with his hands.

"I guess we get to summer and see how he is." Clay told the group. "And maybe senior year, it'll all be fine."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It was senior year, and it was not all going to be fine. Not even close, actually.

Nessa pulled herself out of bed, rubbing her temples as she realized she had yet another long day ahead. That was her life now – long days and longer nights. She looked over at the empty half of the bed next to her side, smiling as she remembered who occupied it for most of the night.

As if on cue, her phone buzzed.

Message from: Scotty – Good morning :)

Nessa giggled as she quickly texted him back before getting ready for the day. Her outfits were getting better, as she no longer felt the dark cloud over her when she went to school, because Bryce was no longer there to make her feel like she had anything to feel anxious about. Senior year had at least started decently.

"Zach!" Nessa yelled through the hallways as she opened the door to her room, backpack perched on her shoulder. "You ready to go?"

The door to Zach's bedroom flew open, and he hobbled out a few moments later, a sour and disgruntled look on his face as his crutches hit the floor with each step. Nessa chuckled, much to Zach's own annoyance. He hated being hurt.