Beyond the Reasons || JUSTIN FOLEY

Thirteen

PRESENT TIME
JUNIOR YEAR
LIBERTY HIGH SCHOOL
TAPE 2, SIDE B
IMOGEN'S POV

Since it was the costume contest today, you wore your costume all day. Since Spiderman and Mary Jane were kind of hard to do, because Mary Jane doesn't exactly have a costume. We went with my second favorite movie, of course about Superheroes because those are the best movies, and our actual costumes were.

Mr. and Mrs. Incredible.

Now, I love the Mrs. Incredible costume, mainly because I bought black thigh high boots to wear with them. My dad did compliment me on my way out to school, so that was nice. I think it's safe to say, I am closer to my dad then I am to my mom, because sometimes my mom can just be really overbearing, and with my dad, I know he's there for me, but he also doesn't try and force me to talk to him, like my mom does.

"These tights are stupid." Justin complained as we were standing at my locker.

"J, come on. You said you wanted to do this." I said to him.

"I am, and I'm here right. . I'm doing it." He said, sarcastically and then he was looking past me. "What the fuck are you looking at, Jensen?" Justin snapped, and I turned around to see my brother was looking at us, and I laughed.

"Okay Clay, if you're going to tell me that I look ridiculous, don't, because you're the one not in costume at all, so you actually look ridiculous." I said, and he shook his head.

"I wasn't going to say that. You look great, Immy." He said, and I smiled, while wrapping my arms around Justin and I looked at him.

"See, my brother gets the costumes, right?" I said, looking at him and he nodded his head.

"Yeah. Mr. Incredible, most known Superhero of all time, retires from that, marries Elastigirl, has three kids and they all get back into the Superhero business, still waiting on The Incredibles 2." Clay said, and I laughed.

"Thanks, brother." I said, and he nodded his head, before walking down the hallway and I looked at Justin with a smile on my face.

"See, my big and sexy superhero husband." I said, and he rolled his eyes, and moved his arms around my waist, but he still had a smile on his face.

"Well lucky me, for nailing such a hot wife." He said, and his hand ventured down and gently smacked my butt before he grabbed it, and I laughed while leaning up and giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

•

LIBERTY HIGH SCHOOL GYM
IMOGEN'S POV

"Alright, drum roll please."

Courtney Crimson was speaking into the microphone and she was announcing the finalist for those of us who entered into the costume contest. Although everyone in school was in a costume, not everyone made it through, but I was pretty positive that Justin and I were going to win because, The Incredibles is a favorite for everyone.

"Tight race, you guys, but I think we've narrowed down our finalists. We're going to choose the winner by applause. The costume with the most applause takes home 200 smackers, so. . mud divers!" Courtney said.

The mud divers were Bryce, Zach and Alex, they were standing next to me, and Justin, and there was also another person who had a box on his head, I had no idea what it said, and of course because they were jocks, people clapped for them, but I also have a jock on my side too. Bryce jumped on Zach's back and I rolled my eyes.

"Mr. and Mrs. Incredible!" Courtney exclaimed. Justin and I smiled and when the music started playing, I decided to do a couple of dance moves on him, which caused the crowd to clap even more, and then Courtney started speaking again as Justin kissed me.

"Ladies and gents, I think we have a winner!" She exclaimed, and then she pointed to me and Justin. "Imogen and Justin as Mr. and Mrs. Incredible!" She exclaimed, and Justin grabbed me by my waist and pulled me into a longer kiss than the first one as everyone around us cheered.

I knew we would win.

►

"So, yeah, we kind of lost track of the plan. But it was so nice having a new friend. It's hard to say exactly how things turned, but. . let's just say, that night. . things escalated quickly. While Courtney didn't hear my stalker arrive. . I did. Thankfully, I found a way to kill two birds with one stone. Remember when I said you wouldn't believe the skeletons Tyler found? Turns out they weren't mine. They were Courtney's. I guess we all have secrets, and nobody likes it when their secret gets out. Funny thing is, no one ever found out it was us. That whole fall, everyone looked at that picture. I'd imagine some boys more than once. But no one ever knew who it was. Well, now you know. Like I said, we're a society of stalkers. We're all guilty. We all look. We all think things we're ashamed of. The only difference is, Tyler. . you got caught."

  ❚❚ 

I remembered that picture, and like Hannah said. At the time, I had no idea it was the two of them,  but now that she's explained it, I don't see how anyone could miss that it was the two of them. You could obviously see Hannah's long, brown and wavy hair. Courtney's short and dark hair, but she said the skeletons in the closet weren't hers that Tyler found, they were Courtney's.

She's in the closet.

I feel like in a way I knew that about her, because sometimes you can look at someone and just tell that yes they are gay, but Courtney, she did really good at trying to hide it, but the pictures with Hannah, the one that got sent out, you could tell on Courtney's end, she was more into it than Hannah was. In a way, Hannah almost seemed caught off guard, but according to the tape, I knew that wasn't the entire case.

►

"Thing is. . even though Tyler stopped coming around. . I never stopped feeling afraid. So what could I do after that? First the school, then my house. . even my own bedroom. Nowhere was safe. You took all that away. You made me paranoid, Tyler. So now, I'm giving that to you. Maybe I'll never know why you did what you did. But I can make you understand how it felt to be me. That's why I'm outside your window, Tyler. And after people hear this, I bet I won't be the only one. Knock knock, Tyler."

◼

As I listen to these tapes, I really start to wish Jeff was here. Because if Jeff was here, I knew that I would be able to trust him with this information and he wouldn't go tell anyone. I can't confide in Justin or Zach, because the fact that both of them never told me about the tapes just lets me know that there's something on these tapes that neither of them want me to know, but I wanted to find out.

Obviously, I can't talk to my brother, because he didn't tell me about the tapes either, so I think he's trying to hide something from me too. That's where Jeff comes in, at least with Jeff, there was someone I could talk to this about, and actually, Jeff was the one I was with when the picture of Hannah and Courtney got sent around.

I'll never forget that day.

•

Aw, I think we can all agree with Imogen she says she misses Jeff because man I do too! That's why I try and include him in all of the flashbacks since he and Imogen spent hella time together.

Anyway, feedback is always appreciated. Shout out to cashmoneycalx for faithfully commenting on every chapter of every story I've ever published ❤️

xoxo, Micah.