Beyond the Reasons || JUSTIN FOLEY

Twenty-One

PRESENT TIME
JUNIOR YEAR
JENSEN HOUSEHOLD
TAPE 3, SIDE B
IMOGEN'S POV

"Uh. . hey, guys."

When I walked inside of Clay's room, I saw Sheri sitting on the ground next to his bed, which was something that I didn't expect and Clay quickly turned around to look at me. "What are you doing in here?" He asked.

"I heard talking and just assumed you were talking to yourself." I said, and Sheri laughed, while Clay rolled his eyes.

"Don't you have anything else you can be doing?" He asked.

"Not particularly. . why? Trying to get rid of me, Clay?" I asked, and he sighed before taking another deep breath and he shook his head.

"No. . I'm sorry. Look, I promise, we're just working on an English paper." He said, and I shrugged my shoulders.

"I wouldn't care if you weren't. Your room, your business, Clay-Clay." I said, and he rolled his eyes.

"You know I hate it when you call me that." He said.

"Which is exactly why I do it." I said and winked at him and then I gently pat the doorway I was standing in. "Alright, well you two kids have fun." I said, and then I winked at Sheri and mouthed that we would talk later, and she nodded her head before I went back to my room.

Then I decided I wanted to see my boyfriend.

•

JUSTIN'S HOUSE

"Hi."

When Justin opened the door a couple seconds after I knocked, he looked a little surprised to see me. Mostly because I did come over here unannounced, I didn't tell him that I was coming, but sometimes I get these random moments where I just want to see him, so I did. I asked Mom if I could borrow her car, told her exactly where I was going and she said not to stay out too late.

"Hey." He said, and then he motioned for me to come in. "Just be quiet, my mom's going through one of her things." He said in a hushed tone and I nodded.

"I was just worried, I mean I saw you at school obviously during their fight and then you were just gone and you weren't answering your phone." I said.

"I had to help my mom." He said.

"I just wanted to come see you." I said.

"Okay, be quiet." He said, slightly hushing me, and moving me back towards his room.

"Can we talk?" I asked.

"Okay, but Imogen. . seriously, just be quiet." He said, and I nodded my head, as he closed his door and I sat down on his bed and he sat down at his desk chair. "What's going on?" He spoke softly and quietly, so I did the same.

"I looked for you after practice." I said.

"Yeah, my mom needed me. She broke up with her boyfriend, she's all fucked up." He said.

"Well at least Meth Seth is out of the picture." I said, and he didn't say anything. "They let Alex off and suspended Mont." I said, and Justin shrugged his shoulders. "Are you serious." I said.

"What?" He said.

"That's fucked up, J. . and things are getting fucked up." I said.

"Immy, things are fine." He said.

"Really? That fight? Some scary shit. Why did Alex even freak out on Mont in the first place? Something is going on with him." I said.

"Why the fuck are you so worried about Alex? He completely disrespected you." He said.