Beyond the Reasons || JUSTIN FOLEY

Four

FLASHBACK
AFTER SPRING FLING
LIBERTY HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY
IMOGEN'S POV

"Hey! How'd you sleep?" I asked Tyler when he walked into school and I greeted him in the hallway. With our system that Clay came up with for all of us to look after Tyler after what happened at Spring Fling it was my turn. I have to be honest, I know I used to be a bitch to Tyler, but after seeing the fear, and the hauntedness in his eyes the night of Spring Fling, and seeing how timidly he walks through the hallways now, and how shy he speaks, and how he always avoids eye contact or flinches when Monty gets near.

Something happened, and I just want to help him.

"Better." Tyler said as we walked together.

"Alex stayed with you, right? And then Tony gave you guys a ride?" I asked, just wanting to make sure that everyone was on schedule and nothing got messed up, Tyler nodded his head.

"Mm-hmm." He mumbled.

"Great. . so, hey. . I was thinking. How about making an appointment to talk to Dr. Singh?" I said to him. Obviously, I can tell whatever happened, Tyler doesn't want to talk to us about it, but he needs to talk to someone, and someone who is a professional. We are not professionals. Shit, I still meet up with Dr. Singh to talk about everything I went through this past year, because we can move forward, but we never truly get over trauma.

"Why?" Tyler asked, and he stopped walking, and I noticed he looked scared that I had even suggested that.

"You know, just so you have something to talk things through with, who can help." I said.

"But I have you guys." Tyler said, and I smiled at him while nodding my head.

"Yes, you do. You definitely do, but. . Dr. Singh can help in ways that we can't. I mean, you know what's happened to me this past year. . shit, everyone knows and Dr. Singh has really helped me through the things that I can't really open up to other people about, not even Jess, and I tell her everything." I said. Tyler only looked at me, and I continued to wear a smile on my face.

"I'm not saying that you have to. . but, I would consider the option."

―

LIBRARY

"I set up a schedule. Who picks him up in the morning, who takes him between what classes, after school, nightly check-ins, and if we spread it around, it's actually not that bad." Clay spoke to me, Jess, Alex, Justin, Cyrus, his sister and a few other people who were involved with keeping the secret about Tyler about his system that I mentioned earlier, but this time, he made a full website out of it.

"Wow, Clay. . you've really outdone yourself." I said, turning the iPad towards me and Jessica as Clay continued.

"I'll text you the URL, it's password protected." Clay said.

"There's like, the insanity of us doing this at all, and then there's the insanity of, oh my god, you built a website." Jessica said, which made me laugh, because she was correct.

"I didn't build it per se, it's really just storage space." Clay said.

"That's a lot of coordination. My brain injury hurts." Alex said, which also made me laugh.

"How long do we have to do this?" Cyrus asked.

"Until he gets better." Justin said.

"So. . forever." I said.

"People do get better." Justin said looking right at me. I could see what he was trying to communicate to me through his eyes. He was talking about me, and he was talking about himself, but then he looked down at the table and away from me. "They do." He said.

Even though he wasn't looking at me, I still couldn't help but smile at his words, because he was right, and his hidden message was too. People do get better. I did get better, and so did he. Are there still days of struggle? Of course. Going through something that traumatic, there's probably never going to be a day where my mind doesn't drift to it, but it does get better.

"I guess we get to summer and see how he is. And maybe senior year it'll all be fine."

―

AUDITORIUM
IMOGEN'S POV

"And now I'd like to introduce our next candidate for Liberty president, Imogen Jensen." Courtney introduced me, and everyone started to clap. After Jessica and I talked, I decided I would run for President, but I told her that any decision I made, I would run it by her first because she's really one of the only people I can trust to do this with me. I took a deep breath before looking down at the speech that I prepared.

"My name is Imogen Jensen. I'm running for president because I want change. I don't mean better dances or new cheer uniforms. ." I said, shaking my head.

"Sexy!" Some random boy called out, and I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously?" Another girl snapped, and as a couple people laughed, I took another deep breath before continuing.

"New cheer uniforms or healthy choices in the vending machine. I mean real change." I said, and then I watched as Monty covered his mouth with his shirt.

"Bitch!" He said, which made people. . no, the athletes start laughing, and I bit down on my lip. You know what, fuck this speech. A part of me was hurt by Monty calling me a bitch. All of the shit we've been through together over the years and that's how he talks to me, but it's okay. Yes, it broke my heart to make the decision to not be his friend anymore, but I did what was best for me.

"Oh, shit!" I heard a boy exclaim.

"Wait. . weren't they like dating a few months ago?" I heard another voice ask and I rolled my eyes before setting my gaze right on my ex-friend.

"You know what? Fuck you, Monty! I could embarrass you right here on this platform but unlike you, I actually know how to be mature. Fuck all of you jocks. I was one of the most popular girls and this school and I was raped by the king of the school and I stayed silent. I protected the jock who raped me because. . I don't know. Maybe because we grew up together and I knew a different side of him that was long gone. Or maybe because I thought it would hurt more to speak up. . or shit, maybe because I thought it would ruin my reputation. I mean, Captain of the cheerleading team, dating a football and basketball player, and I got hurt? But you know what, I'm no longer staying quiet. No more." I said, everyone had fallen silent and I looked at Monty who had a hand over his face and his eyes grew somber.

That's what I thought.

I leaned forward on the podium with a smile on my face. "So here's my promise. If you elect me. My Vice President, Jessica Davis and I will take down the jocks at this school." I said, turning back to look at Jess and she gave me a smile. After everything we've been through together. I'm glad we were able to grow close again.

"Yeah!" A girl exclaimed.

"Put an end to their bullshit. I will not tolerate the ones who protect them, and I will demand that their victims no longer remain silent." I continued.

"Go, Imogen!" I heard a girl exclaim.

"Because their silence destroys us all." As I finished my speech, the majority of everyone in the room was cheering and clapping for me, but the jocks were booing. Honestly, I didn't care what they thought. I noticed Chloe get up and leave, and probably because she's still coddling Bryce, she's pregnant by the monster, but she won't break up with him, even though I know she wants to.

That girl has major Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to him.

―

Jessica's speech was literally my favorite.

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xoxo.