The Beginning and the Memory// 13RW

09 Broken Girls and Douchey Dudes

Clay was right. Your own tape broke you.
    The next few days were rough as ever. I couldn't even bring myself to listen to the last two tapes. All I could think about was what happened at the party, and all of the aftermath.
   
    "I'm not going, I don't feel good," I mumbled, my eyes still closed. Mom sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed.
    "You've been in bed for three days straight, Emmalee, what's going on?" She brushed the hair out of my face, tucking it behind my ear.
    I didn't answer at first. I opened my eyes, though. I wanted to tell her what was going on. I wanted to tell her that I couldn't face anyone at school because I was embarrassed. I wanted to tell her what happened at the party. I wanted to tell her about Hannah. But I couldn't seem to get it out. Just the thought of it made my stomach twist and my eyes tear up.
    "I really just don't feel good," I told her, closing my eyes again.
    "Okay," she kissed my forehead before standing up and leaving me alone.
    I sighed, glancing over at the Walkman that sat on my nightstand. In sat number 13, waiting to be played.
    I couldn't take it anymore, I gave in and grabbed the Walkman, putting my earbuds in and pressing play. 

No ones POV

    "Where the hell is Emmalee? Why hasn't she been at school?"
    Zach, Justin, and Alex sat at a table in the cafeteria during lunch, trying to talk as discretely as possible. But that was kind of hard when they were so paranoid of everything around them.
    "Chill, Alex," Zach told the worrying boy, "she listened to her tape the other night."
    "Oh, shit," Justin butted in, "did she say she remembered anything?"
    Zach shook his head slowly, "the whole ride home was silent, she just looked out the window and wouldn't talk to me until I had her sitting on her doorstep. Even then, all she said was 'thanks'."
  Justin looked around, "do you think Bryce.. y'know.."
   "What?" Alex asked, raising his voice slightly, "you think Bryce raped her, too?"
    "Keep your fucking voice down, dude," Zach warned, looking around to see if anyone had noticed them. He was relieved to find that everyone was actually minding their own business for once.
    "That's the only thing that could have happened," Alex stated, "Hannah said something about the upstairs bedroom, and where was Bryce? Upstairs, in a bedroom."
    "That doesn't fuckin mean anything," Justin snapped.
    "I don't know why the fuck you're both trying to protect Bryce," Alex shook his head, "he raped Jessica, he raped Hannah, and now possibly Emmalee. Who knows who else."
    "Justin!" Jessica laughed, running up and kissing Justin roughly. "Come on, I wanna show you something."
    Jessica ran off with Justin, leaving Zach and Alex at the table alone.
    Alex sighed, "look, Zach.. Bryce raped Emmalee. How does that make you feel?"
    Zach exhaled through his nose, slamming his fist on the table, "you don't know that."
   He stood from the table, throwing his bag over his shoulder and walking out of the cafeteria, leaving Alex alone.

Emmalee

    A continuous stream of tears ran down my face as the tape clicked to a stop, my heart completely shattered.
    How many girls had Bryce forced himself on? And how could he get away with it? Something needed to be done.

    I looked at the pictures on the walls in the upstairs hallway, sipping from the red solo cup in my hand. Jess had a beautiful family, she was lucky that her dad was still in the picture.
    I sighed, pushing one of the doors open and walking inside. I looked around, noticing that it was Jess's room. There were pictures of her and Justin on the mirror. I took another drink, and almost scared myself to death when I noticed there was someone on the bed behind me, watching me.
    "Whoa, what the fuck, you scared me," I laughed nervously as I turned around to face him, holding the cup closer to my chest.
    "Sorry," he laughed slightly, a smirk on his face.
    "I'll just go," I jabbed my thumb in the direction of the door, "since this rooms occupied."
    I turned to walk out, but he grabbed my arm tightly in his hand so I couldn't go anywhere.
    "No, it's okay, stay," he told me, "let's have some fun."
    I struggled to get away from his grasp, and failed miserably.
    "No, it's okay, I was having fun downstairs," I told him, panic clear in my voice.
    "Let's have some different fun," he told me, pushing me into the wall.
     "No, Bryce, stop," I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. It came out as a scared whisper.
    His hands fumbled with the zipper of my jeans as he left sloppy kisses down my neck.
    "Stop!!"

    I couldn't stop crying as I laid there, unable to move. I felt like an empty shell that would never be whole again. When the accident happened, it took my mind away from that moment and all I could think about was how I was going to walk again. But the tapes brought it all back to my mind. Hannah called it out, and now I couldn't even face them. How did Jessica feel? Even though Justin told her Hannah was lying, did she really believe it? No matter how much she wanted to believe it wasn't true, deep down did she know that it was?
    That night, I finally go out of bed. I put on some new clothes with the help of my mom, and I texted Jessica.

Me: Where are u?

Jess: Bryce's house. U should come!

Me: Ok omw

Jess: yaaayyyy!

    My heart beat fast. I couldn't believe I was going to Bryce's. But Jess was there, and I didn't trust that at all.

    "Emmm!!!!!" Jess hugged me when I got to Bryce's, pushing me inside.
    "I'm so glad you're here," she told me, "we're playing poker."

    "Ayyyeeee look who decided to join the party!" Bryce shouted, causing everyone to look at me. Zach was there, with A few others. I looked at Zach, and he gave me a look that said 'what are you doing here?'
     I put on the best smile I could, "We playin poker or what?"

    Zach stayed close to me the whole time, eyeing Bryce. Jessica sat in the seat right next to him, giggling and throwing herself at him. Why was she doing that? What about Justin?
    Then I realized, she's doing this because of Justin. Because Justin lied to her and she knew it.
    "Jess, what the fuck are you doing here?"
     Everyone stared at Justin and Alex, who had just showed up to the party.
     "Come on, bro, let's play some cards," Bryce told Justin, and Jessica acted as if she didn't want Justin there. But, she made room for him by sitting on Bryce's lap.
    "What the fuck?" Justin flared at the two of them, and I knew this wasn't going to turn out good.
    I looked at Zach, and I could tell he had the exact same feelings.
    "Hey, Emm, wanna go somewhere?" Zach stood behind the wheelchair, ready to get me out of there.
    "What, no way, she just got here!" Jess protested, still sitting on Bryce's lap.
    "Okay, what the fuck is going on with this?" Justin gestured to Jess and Bryce. My stomach turned, my mind thinking back to tape 9- Justin's second tape. Jess really knew what she was doing. This was the only way that she was going to get close to receiving the truth.
    "We're leaving," Justin stood from his chair, grabbing Jess's arm and pulling her out the door while she protested and the rest of us followed.
    I couldn't slow my heart rate or stop the turning of my stomach as I watched and waited for everything to go down.
    Jess yanked her arm from Justin's hold, standing a few feet away from him. "Why don't you want me around Bryce?"
    "This doesn't need to happen," Zach stated, stepping a bit closer.
    "You know, maybe it does," Alex stepped in, holding Zach back.
    "Let's just go," Justin told her, not making eye contact.
    "Why don't you want me around Bryce, Justin? Why?" Jess raised her voice.
    Justin stepped closer, "because he fucking raped you!"
   
    Ever one of us froze- shocked that Justin had finally told her the truth.
  
    "I fucking hate you," Jess cried after smacking him so hard across the face that even I felt it. Then, I thought back to Jess's tape, where she smacked Hannah after accusing her of being the reason her relationship with Alex ended. Everything lead back to the tapes.
    Jess stormed off, and I followed her despite Zach's protests.
    "Jess!" I called after her, and she stopped. She wrapped her arms around me, crying.
    "Come on, let's go," I told her. She nodded, pushing me to her car.

AN//

I know this isn't exactly how the scene went but, as I said in the description, it's not going to be exactly the same. I'm not really one to quote word for word from something that I didn't create in a story that I'm writing, if that makes sense.

Anyway I hope you guys like this chapter!! Feedback is appreciated and motivative💖