Breathe

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

*~*~*~*

"Tyler! Yo, Tyler!" I heard Bryce yell as I stood in front of the school, waiting for Tony to show up since I had walked to school today, rather than catching a ride with him. I looked up from my phone just in time to see Bryce pull down his pants, mooning Tyler. I frowned at the jock's antics, pitying the other boy. Last night Clay had decided to send out a picture of Tyler's naked butt to the entire school, making his a laughing stock.

"Come on." I looped my arm through Tyler's as I walked past him, heading inside. He didn't argue with me as we left Bryce and his friends behind. Even if Tyler had done some bad things to Hannah, he didn't necessarily deserve this ridicule.

"Thanks," he muttered to me, keeping his head ducked to avoid the looks other kids were throwing his way. "Why aren't you cracking jokes?"

"While you definitely deserved payback for what you did to Hannah, no one deserves to have Bryce's pale ass flaunted in their face." I shook my head. "Though, I have to say, you might want to consider getting a tan. You could use some color."

"What the hell, Clay?" Tyler swore, pulling his arm away from me to walk over to the other boy. I sighed, following after them to walk alongside Clay. "That picture's all over school."

"Yeah. That can happen, can't it?" Clay nodded, clearly referring to the photo of Hannah that had been leaked last year.

"What are you trying to do?" Tyler asked.

"Anything." Clay stopped to look at him. "I'm trying to do something, anything, which is more than any of you did."

"Yeah, well, I'm the only one catching any shit for it, okay?" Tyler pointed out, nervously glancing around us. "Who the whole school's laughing at, the only one you've done something about."

"So far. You're the only one so far." Clay pointed out, adverting his gaze over to where Courtney was walking with a couple of her friends, placing new flowers at the memorial for Hannah. For the corner of my eye, I could see Tyler hurrying off down the hall, covering his face with his hand as he went.

"I have to say, I like this plan." I told Clay as I watched Courtney myself. "I personally favor mind games, but flat out revenge is always nice."

"Yeah," Clay nodded as the bell rang. I followed him as he headed upstairs, towards our first class.

"Clay." I heard Justin call the other boy's name as we headed up the stairs. "Clay! Jensen!"

"Hey, Justin." Clay and I stopped on the stairs, looking back at the basketball player.

"That's a pretty picture you took of Tyler." Justin commented.

"Not as pretty as the one he took of Hannah." Clay shrugged.

"You made your point. Now shut it down." Justin narrowed his eyes at us. "Both of you."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I feigned innocence.

"'Shut it down'? Who talks like that?" Clay asked, only making Justin take a step closer, getting in his face.

"This is beyond just us now." Justin warned. "This is the whole school. If we fall, you both go down with us."

"Maybe I don't care." Clay shook his head.

"Maybe you should." Justin countered.

*~*~*~*

"Clay! Clay!" Tony got the other boy's attention when we found him sitting on the bleachers in the gym. "You're missing out on the fun run."

"Fun and run." I shook my head. "Two words that should never be used in the same sentence."