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WHEN CASSIE GOT home, Netflix had been waiting for her. In the past five hours since she set foot in her house, she's been piled up in episodes of different medical tv shows. Only she knew her dream of wanting to be in the medical field just as her mother has been doing for the past seventeen years.
Cassie brushed some hair out of her face, and switched positions, one leg under the blanket, one leg over the blanket. Her cotton plaid pajama shorts were stretchy enough for comfort, and her plain grey t-shirt was snug.
Being as invested as she was in her tv show, Cassie didn't bother answering the door when hearing her doorbell ring. With a pack of twizzlers by her side and a tv in front of her, nothing was going to keep her from laying down on her couch.
"Cassie!" Someone yelled, irritated outside her door.
Too impatient to care, Cassie could hear her front door open and close, and following were a pair of footsteps coming into the living room. She knew who the person behind her couch was having a fit, and she knew exactly why.
Pausing her show, and turning her head to face behind the couch, she was met with Justin, as she bit into a twizzler, "how did you get into my humble abode?"
"You leave an extra key behind the closest bush on the left side of the house," Justin replied, without his usual smugness, "what the hell happened in English Literature?"
"What do you mean?" Cassie asked, sitting up to fully face them.
"You knew Marcus put drugs in Jensen's bag, but he didn't get caught when they searched him. That only means you helped him out," Justin elaborated, crossing his arms, his stance firm.
"You're too wrapped up in this," she argued, "Clay hasn't done anything wrong. What happened to Hannah on your tape isn't murder, yet you continue to mess with Marcus and Zach. We need to all accept we played a part in Hannah ending her life. It doesn't matter how much you meddle, this won't stay quiet for long. You know who the last tape is for."
Justin shook his head, "we have futures ahead of us. Why would you want this preventing you from going to college?"
"I don't. You and I may be one of the only people who really didn't do anything wrong, but that doesn't mean we're innocent. If we pretend this is nothing, it means Hannah took her life for nothing. I know what she did was wrong, but if it hasn't been a wake up call for you, then I don't know what to tell you, Justin."
The room was full of tension, and heat from the anger bubbling in both of them, mostly Cassie. There were good morals and bad morals. She couldn't say she was all about it for the most part, but she knew when something was wrong.
"If you're not with me, you need to say it," Justin finally said.
"I won't let you lay a finger on Clay—"
"Are you fucking in love with him or something?" Justin swore loudly, hands planted on his sides now.
"No!" Cassie reiterated, "I thought I loved you, but you're really getting on my nerves, Justin."
"Well, you're supposed to be on my fucking side, and you're not," Justin stressed.
His voice had lowered, but a slight crack in it had rose, and caught Cassie's attention. She had no intention on hurting him, but he was making it extremely difficult to talk to him. She knew she wasn't making it easy, either, though.
Firstly, they had been strung down off a kiss that shouldn't have happened, and as distraught as it was, they were sunken yet again to a level they knew fairly well. It wasn't rock bottom, but they were arguing over tapes that shouldn't even exist, because Hannah should be alive. She shouldn't have stepped into the bathroom, just like how she shouldn't have kissed Zach Dempsey.
Just like Bryce wasn't supposed to rape Hannah, (or anybody for that matter), Sheri should've found a way to pick up that stop sign, and prevent a car crash. Just like how Ryan shouldn't have posted personal stuff of Hannah's, Zach shouldn't have dissed her cry for help, and, Marcus shouldn't have tried to sexually assault her. Or how Courtney shouldn't have made guys think she was easy, while Tyler shouldn't have been a pervert, Alex shouldn't have participated in a crude list, and Jessica shouldn't have pushed Hannah away in order to date Alex. And although she knew this beforehand, Cassie shouldn't have lashed out at Hannah, and Justin shouldn't have let Bryce spread that picture.
Everything was a ripple effect, and while the tapes were an effect of Hannah's death, the arguments and the secrets were an effect of the tapes, and so on it would continue.
"We don't get to choose what happens with the tapes," Cassie said calmly, "we listen, and pass them on."
"It's not your place to be deciding what happens with the tapes, Cassie—"
"It's not your place to be barging into my house, either, so get the hell out if all you have left to say is bullshit!" Cassie snapped, standing up to point towards her front door.
She fell on her couch to show her resign on bickering. She didn't want to fight anymore, she didn't want to fight at all. Bryce was still a rapist though, how could she let that go? She knew Justin wouldn't let her do anything about it, but what she was supposed to do? The tapes weren't in her possession anymore, and those people could really go after her for bringing their situation to light.
"I'm sorry, but I can't let those tapes out. This isn't just for me. This is fro Marcus, and Zach, too. They're my friends," Justin said, walking closer to the back of the couch.
"I thought I was your friend, too, more importantly, your girlfriend. We have different opinions, though. I won't make you change yours, I just wanted you to see it the way I do," Cassie reasoned.
"I can't do that," he responded solemnly, "I'm sorry."
"Just go, please," Cassie sighed, her head down and eyes never leaving her blanket.
The only noise seconds later was the sound of Justin Foley leaving her house, and shutting the front door behind him. Disappointment and question hung in the air, solidifying the wall that grew between the two individuals.
[ authors note ]: im getting better at updating (: already writing the next chapter. have a good night/ day, xx.
