hardships | 13 REASONS WHY

eighteen

Tatum and Bryce had a conversation a couple days ago about what happened between him and Jessica. She didn't forgive him for his actions, but they are siblings so she decided she will be civil. She will talk to him and she will stand up for him, but only for the right reasons.

She was walking down the hallway holding hands with Monty, while Scott, Bryce, and another baseball player tagged along. They were headed to Bryce's locker when they started talking about the stupid ribbon cutting ceremony that was taking place this afternoon.

"Yeah, the ribbon cutting," Bryce started to say.

"So, with a giant pair of scissors and all that?" Scott asks, he obviously has no idea what a ribbon cutting ceremony is.

"How the fuck else do you cut ribbon, Scotty?" Bryce pushed Scott forward as they were rounding the corner to get to Bryce's locker.

Tatum realized that everybody was staring at them. They had stopped what they were doing and just stared at the group, gossiping about them.

"Hey! Who did this?" Monty yelled as he let go of Tatum's hand and ran towards Bryce's locker, "Get the fuck back here!" For some reason, Monty still protects Bryce even with all these allegations against him and after what happened to Tatum.

"Hey, relax. It's fine. It'll come off. Just a stupid fucking prank, right?" Bryce said, trying to play it off.

"It's messed up,"

"You wanna call it rape, call it rape. She wanted me. Me. She was practically begging me to fuck her," Bryce's voice played over the speaker as everyone around them stopped what they were doing. Tatum stood there, dead in her tracks, frozen.

"If that's rape, then every girl at school-"

"Where the fuck did you get that?" Bryce yells as the four boys run into the classroom. Tatum still standing still, feels Zach place a warm and gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Was that you?"

"Yeah that was me," Bryce states running over to the door, looking outside. He sees Tatum standing there, in shock. "Tate, hey come here." Zach leads her over to Bryce who has concern written all over his face. "How the fuck did this happen?"

"Someone posted the tapes online, last night." Great. Another thing to make Tatum freak out.

"Someone?"

"Anonymously." Zach replies. Tatum runs her hand down her face, walking over to Montgomery who grabs her hand.

"What are you going to do?" Monty asks.

"Uh, I, I just- I need to think for a minute,"

"I'm on those tapes too guys. The whole thing with Chase is on there. I really don't want to bring that all up again,"

~

It's time for the presenting of Walker Field. The cheerleaders and baseball team were ready, in their uniforms. Tatum sees her parents walking over with Bryce. She dismisses herself from the conversation she was having prior and jogs over to them.

"Mom, dad, hey."

"Hey Tatum," her mom replies, turning back to the conversation.

"I just don't want it to seem like I'm hiding from this,"

"And it won't. You will explain it all when you testify."

"Wait, you're testifying?"

"We better go get seated," Her parents walk passed the two siblings to go find their seats. Bryce and Tatum quickly follow after them.

After finding their seats, Marcus heads up to the podium. "Good afternoon. I'm Marcus Cole, student body president." The Walker are placed in the first row. Chole on the end next to Bryce, then Tatum, and then her parents. Montgomery was standing up in front next to Scotty, the rest of the baseball team, and cheerleaders.

"Since 1913, Liberty High has been committed to helping students achieve academic excellence in a safe, supportive environment. But in recent years, our values have gone to shit."

Tatum leans over to Bryce, "What's he doing?"

"I don't know," he whispers back. 

"I'm part of the problem. I lead a group called EnGUYtened, which is supposed to be for enlightened guys. But today I'm officially resigning from that group because I'm a hypocrite." Tatum leans back in her seat, fully aware of what's about to happen. She sees Bryce and her mom make questionable eye contact.

"How can I say that I care about protecting girls, when I've been protecting a rapist like Bryce Walker?" She crosses her arms, Bryce finally getting what he deserves. He probably shouldn't be getting embarrassed in front of hundreds of people, but I guess that's what he gets for doing what he did.

Marcus runs off the stage as one person from the crowd, taped off, calls out, against Bryce. Montgomery focuses his eyes on Tatum, seeing if she's about to run off, or have a panic attack. She looks over at him, giving him a small smile, and a head nod.

"Well are students are playing some sort of prank. One that's in poor taste, obviously. But lets move ahead with our program." Principal Bolan says.

"What the hell is going on at this school?" her dad asks, shaking his head at the sudden events.

"He probably felt burdened by something and needed to make a confession," her mother adds.

"It's blackmail. Someone's got something on him."

"Maybe he's just telling the truth," Tatum adds, shrugging her shoulders. Her parents give her a stern look before turning their attention back to Mr. Bolan.

"Would you please join me, in giving a round of applause to Berry and Laura Walker, parents of our team captain Bryce Walker, and cheerleader, Tatum Walker." The family of four stand up, Tatum plastering a fake smile on her face.

Up next on Hardships:

Rapists was written on the boys baseball teams field. Tatum and Chloe go watch their boyfriends play.