[ 'sorry it's kinda later in the day, also don't mind the background of the gif...' ].
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THE FOLLOWING MONDAY morning before school, Cassie visited the post office with Hannah's tapes. She had repackaged the shoebox and wrote Jessica's name on the package paper before leaving the house. After she went through the process of sending it off, she drove the route to the high school, and hesitantly walked through the double doors.
Cassie was instantly embraced with an arm around her shoulder, and she shuddered in memory of his tape, "hey sassy Cassie."
She pushed his arm off her, "please don't touch me."
Bryce gave her a confused expression, wondering what he had done to make her uncomfortable, "what's your problem?"
"I just don't want you to touch me. Is that too much to ask for?" She demanded lightly, trying to walk ahead of him.
Bryce scoffed, shaking his head in disapproval at her out of the blue actions, but quickly dismissed it and left her alone. When she got to her locker, she leaned against it, and closed her eyes. Even though Hannah was gone, she had found some way to stay in their lives forever. How could anybody on the tapes forget something like this?
As someone's hand bumped against her wrist, her eyes snapped open and she grabbed the person's hand unintentionally.
"Sorry," Cassie apologized coming face to face with Justin.
He looked almost alarmed, "are you okay?"
She let go of his wrist, and leaned off her locker while shrugging in the process, "I don't know."
"Did you pass them on?" He asked quietly.
Cassie nodded, "this morning." Then silence washed over them absently. After last night, she didn't know what to say anymore. He had pleaded for her forgiveness, and she barely had any words. The last thing she had said to him before he crawled back out her window replayed in her head;
"I think you should go."
She couldn't forget the heartbroken expression that came over his face. It was like his whole heart had been taken away and his emotions were gone. She didn't want him to leave, but she didn't know if she could promise him anything. After all, some promises were meant to be broken.
Cassie felt like she was wasting time. Someone truly cared about her, and she cared about them, too. The only difference was one of them had broken the other's trust. In due time, Justin might stop trying, and she'll have lost him for good though. How will she know if she is ready to be with him again? Cassie was waiting for the signs, but it was possible she needed to create her own.
❁❁❁
Two weeks later, and things were almost the same. Justin still talked to her frequently as if they were only good friends, and she went on with cheer and schoolwork. As the days went by in those two weeks, she noticed looks she were receiving. Looks from specific people that she heard on Hannah's tapes. They have her looks almost begging to talk to her about the tapes, or it was as if they were surprised their high school's best cheerleader had been apart of Hannah Baker's death.
When the bell rang, Cassie scooped up the book from her last period in her arm, slung her backpack over one shoulder, and caught up with Jessica. It was like she was in a hurry to be somewhere, but Cassie had other plans with her.
"Jess!" Cassie called out abruptly, "J. Davis!"
Jessica stopped at the old nickname, and Cassie caught up to her. Receiving an irritated glare from her, she noticed things about Jessica. The bags under her eyes, and the fatigue that crept over her that couldn't be seen easily.
"If you want to talk about the tapes, I'm not interested," she snapped, her jaw clenching.
"Do you know who has them now?" Cassie questioned with actual interest.
"I don't know. I passed them onto Alex, and he finished them a week and a half ago. I'm guessing Zach or Sheri," she replied monotonously.
With small hesitance, Cassie bit her lip before opening her mouth again, "are you okay? Be honest."
"Am I okay? Do I look okay, Cassie?" Jessica demanded harshly, and pulled her into an empty classroom, "I'm just trying to move on. Hannah Baker is— selfish isn't the right word, but how could she have sent out tapes blaming us for her death? We can take responsibility for our actions, but she didn't. She put it in our hands even after making the choice to take her life, Cassie. We didn't force her in the bathtub."
She was speechless at Jessica's words, because they had never been so right and so wrong at the same time. Some things still confused Cassie; for example: why would a person do such a thing as horrendous as this? To take down the students that wronged her, make them feel guilty for the rest of their lives? It was hard to understand considering Cassie would never do something like this. Life would go on though, even if she couldn't keep up.
