PURE HEROINE II 13 REASONS WHY

another funeral

"How was your weekend?", I asked Monty with a smile when we sat in class next to each other waiting for our teacher. "Good, good", he nodded happily, "You were right, I owe you." "Didn't you spend the weekend together?", Luke joined us confused since Monty actually declined his party on Friday to hang out with us. 

"See, Luke, I met that girl after our game. Man, her body", Monty lied grinning. "Monty, man, had a good night huh", Luke replied as if this was the greatest achievement so far. I rolled my eyes and was ready to say something to him but we heard Mr. Bolan's voice.

"Attention please, our Sheriff has just told us about tragic news. Unfortunately, I have to inform you that our former student Bryce Walker was found dead this morning. This is all that we know so far." "Okay, everyone, I know that those are sad news but can we go on with our lesson now?", our teacher walked through the door as if nothing has happened.

Bryce Walker was found dead.

Bryce said we would see each other on Monday. He said we would see us today and now he's dead? No, this can't be true. I had to ask someone who really knows the truth. "Miss Lennox, would you concentrate on this lesson?" "Fuck this", I hissed packing my stuff into my handbag and storming out of the classroom angrily.

They just said Bryce was dead and no one cared about it? They just reacted as if they would want to throw a party. Even if they weren't his best friends, he died.. "Wait up, Els", Monty shouted after me which made me turn around angrily. "What?!", I snapped.

"Wherever you want to go, I'll drive you. Your knee is still injured and you shouldn't be alone right now. And maybe I don't want to be alone, too", he gave me a weak smile. "You're right", I nodded giving in, "I want to go to Nora, she's the only one who knows if this is true and I want to be here for her then."

Nora confirmed what has been announced in school. She was heartbroken, who wouldn't that be if they found out that their son was dead? Monty and I stayed with her. She was cautious with Monty. The police officially claimed this a murder case so she suspected that someone from school has killed Bryce during the night of the game between our school and the Hillcrest. She also asked me if I could hold a speech at the funeral which I agreed on, of course. And I promised her to let her know if I find out something about his death.

A few days later I stayed with Monty at his house. He had called me because he needed distraction and I could need that, too. But soon his dad interrupted us and started a fight with Monty. He told me to stay in his room but they wouldn't stop shouting at each other and sometimes, I could hear one of them beating the other.

"You fucking asshole. You're a damn criminal!" "I'm not a criminal!" "Come on, get out of there. I'll beat you down, you fag!", I heard his dad shout and break a bottle of alcohol so I stormed out of his room to make sure that he didn't hit Monty with that bottle, "Hey, I see you, don't move."

"Are you alright? Did he hurt you?", I looked up at Monty but he shook his head and stepped to his dad who was laying on the ground. "You're not so hard anymore, you damn piece of shit", Monty moved his dad around with his leg but his dad was asleep or unconscious, I don't know.

Monty moved forward to the street, it seemed like he was something or someone. So I followed him only to see the great Ani and Clay. "What the fuck do you want here?", Monty asked them still aggressively from fighting with his dad and it was very impolite of them to just follow Monty to his house and watch him there.

"We.. uh.. nothing", Clay stuttered obviously lying when I stood next to Monty. "Is that blood?", Ani had the nerves to ask. "What's it to you?", Monty replied still aggressively, he wasn't even angry towards them. "Is it Bryce's?" "What?", Monty whispered confused but soon understood why they were here, „No, it's mine and his. Do you want something?"

"No, thanks." "He was my best friend. Ellie's, Sheri's and my best friend. Leave us the fuck alone." "I don't know who you think you are but I give you two a warning, especially you, Ani. Stay the fuck away from my friends, Bryce's friends, and I. I only give one warning before I make you pay for following and suspecting us. Ask your own friends what they've done in the evening. Charlie, Sheri, Jeff, Scott, Monty and I haven't done anything. Or do you want everyone to know about your secret, Ani?", I threatened them angrily since Monty was hurt anyways, he shouldn't have to deal with their bullshit and accusations.

It was the day of Bryce's funeral. I came with Will and my dad, Sheri and the boys were here anyways since they came as a team and with their jerseys. Zach was holding a speech for the team as the team captain before me. Then it was Nora to talk about her son. After her, it was my turn.

"Well, I think we can all agree on the fact that we all thought about Bryce in a different way. I've never justified some mistakes that he's made but I forgave him. To me, Bryce was my best friend. I grew up with him. Sheri, Monty, Bryce and I grew up together. And Bryce was the one who always made sure that we were fine. He took care of us when we had a problem and he comforted us when we were sad. He helped us when we made a mistake. He always defended me when others were talking mean things about me. He made my life better. Bryce gave me trust and a long friendship, almost nineteen years. He showed me how to trust other people and how to forgive. I'm not saying that it's been easy, it wasn't always perfect between us, we've had our problems, too. But our friendship was real. Bryce Walker is a-"

"Bryce Walker was a rapist!", one girl suddenly interrupted me loudly. "Believe the survivors!" "Bryce Walker should go to hell!"

"Hey!", I shouted into the microphone, "Will you bitches shut up now? I get that you've got a problem with him but then leave, go away. Some people want to remember him here. Will the police finally do something?"

Luckily, they did. "Okay, good, thank you all for making them leave. I also want to apologize for calling them bitches, that wasn't quite nice", everyone chuckled by my honesty, "What I'm trying to say is that Bryce was a multifarious person. But was also a son, grandson, friend, best friend. Someone who helped, supported, smiled, had fun, shared love. I don't know about you all sitting in this church but I'm going to never forget him as the positive person that he was. Thank you all."