Beyond the Reasons || JUSTIN FOLEY

Eight

PRESENT TIME
BURNHAM WOODS
IMOGEN'S POV

"He says he was hacked," Alex said to me and Jessica. I did call Clay last night after we got that email and he told me the same thing, that he didn't send the email from his account and he asked me if I believed him. And I did. I read the email again, and I know that Clay wouldn't send anything like this. He wants our secrets to stay secrets just as much as we do. And I'm the one who will have the biggest fallout if the truth comes out, and I know Clay wouldn't do that to me.

"You can't really believe that," Jessica said and I shook my head.

"I do," I said.

"We have to do something. We have to take control of this." Jessica said.

"But is that maybe exactly what whoever wrote the email wants, for us to do something that makes us look crazy or guilty?" Alex asked and he had a point.

"Someone wants a confession. They're sure as hell not getting it from me, so we have to make sure they don't get it from anyone else." Jessica said and she also raised a good point.

What the hell were we going to do?

―

"Do you have a condom?" I asked Diego as I was sitting on his lap. We were on our one in one of the atrium's at the camp, I'm not too sure, but we were in a tent, so that was the main thing. We had snuck away from everyone else once we got our tent's set up. I was, of course, bunking with Jess and I think Diego was bunking with Luke.

"I gotta go help the guys..." He said and I raised an eyebrow.

"Help the guys with what?" I asked.

"Just help them..." He trailed off and I rolled my eyes which made him laugh. "Does it matter?" He asked.

"Hmm, well..." I trailed off as I got off of his lap and leaned down towards him. "It does when you're turning down sex to do it, so..." I said as I sat down next to him on the bench. "Is it about messing with my brother, because I already warned you about that," I said.

"Why does it matter? You said it yourself that he's not in the right mental headspace to me on this trip." Diego said as he wrapped his arm around me which I moved.

"It matters because he is my twin brother and I told you that if you keep messing with him, you and I are finished. But I guess it could work out for me. You push him, he snaps, you both get suspended again, and I can move on to the next stupid, hot guy." I said while shrugging my shoulders.

"Is this really about Clay? Or is this about Justin?" He asked which made me roll my eyes as I stood up.

"Don't worry about Justin," I said and then I could hear the football players coming.

"So, will you drop the subject if I tell you I won't fuck with Clay?" He asked.

"If you want whatever you and I have going on to continue... you'll stop fucking with Clay," I said and then I leaned down to kiss him. "Don't make me tell you a third time," I whispered before standing back up as I heard one of the guys.

"Shut up, Imogen's here."

Then I grabbed my jacket and started to leave as the boys walked in. "Also, I'm not stupid," Diego called out after me and I turned around.

"Really? Because you're letting me walk away."

―

CAMPFIRE

"Okay, then, the question for senior share. 'Looking back on your time at Liberty, do you have any regrets?' You know, let's pick something a little happier. Uh... who do you trust most in your life and why?" My mom asked and everyone sat around in silence, so I decided I'll break it.

"I'll go, Mom," I said. I know Clay wants to act like he's the embarrassed child because she's here, but like... everyone knows she's our mom, no use in pretending she's not. Instead of the talking stick, we had the talking conch, and it was tossed to me.

"Thank you." My mom mouth to me since I volunteered and I smiled at her.

"Um... I would say the person I trust the most is Jessica. No offense, mom... or Clay." I said and I laughed a little bit. "But um... as everyone definitely knows, junior year was a really dark time for me. I lost someone that I really loved... Jeff, and if he were still alive, he'd probably be the one I'd be sharing about, but um, anyway... Jessica and I had fallen out sophomore year and then I lived with her that summer and after that she was really there for me, I mean through everything really. I don't think I would've made through my junior year if I didn't have Jessica by my side." I said and I could see my mom smiling and Jessica wrapped her arms around me since I was sitting between her and Diego.

"I love you, MiMo." She whispered to me which made me smile.

"Uh... I'll go." Diego said. I nodded my head and passed the conch over to him. "I, uh... I always trust my boys to have my back. And I... I trusted Monty... always... He was the one that got me to play. Freshman year, I um, remember telling him, 'Dominicans don't play football.' But uh, he wouldn't take that. He taught me pride, he taught me what it was to trust someone, and... and I miss him."

Hearing him talk about Monty made me want to get up and leave the campfire. As much as I hate him for what he did to Tyler and how he chose Bryce over me, I still miss my friend. After the tapes, when Justin left for five months, Monty was really there for me. I would not have been able to get through those five months without him. Even before we started messing around, he was my friend. I was the one who kissed him first and he asked me if I was completely sure if this was a line I wanted to cross.

He was gentle, he was kind, and he was loving. And as much as I try to hate him for all the bad stuff he did... I can't forget the good. I can't forget the boy that I helped take care of whenever his dad would beat him. The secret hospital trips, I never told Monty but, my parents always offered to pay his hospital bills, I told my parents about the abuse, since they called me out about sneaking Monty in, but I told them he didn't want the police or CPS involved, so they just quietly paid his hospital bills whenever his dad beat him too badly. And as much as I hate the Monty who assaulted Tyler.

I miss the Monty who was my best friend. I miss him so much.

―

Oooh, you got an inside look of Imogen's complicated feelings about Monty and about him being dead.

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xoxo.