Beyond the Reasons || JUSTIN FOLEY

Thirty-Eight

PRESENT TIME
JUNIOR YEAR
IMOGEN JENSEN'S BEDROOM
IMOGEN'S POV

•

I laid in my bed, tears in my eyes. I didn't know what to do. Justin has been blowing up my phone, but I'm ignoring him. How could I talk to him? What would I say to him? He knew that Bryce hurt me, and he lied to me. To my face, for weeks. He lied to me. And Bryce texting me, sent me over the edge for a reason. Seeing his name pop up on my phone, after what Justin said and no one denied.

I couldn't do it.

I also had other text messages too.

loml monty 💜:
iMessage [5]

Dad Zach 💎:
iMessage [6]

Babygirl Jess 👯‍♀️:
iMessage [4]

J-Baby 💘:
iMessage [12]

Alex Standall 😶:
iMessage [3]

I couldn't open any of them, I couldn't bring myself to open them. But then with my OCD tendencies, going on my home screen and seeing the red 30 above my message icons bothered me. So I left my phone in my room.

And I knocked on Clay's door, hoping he wasn't asleep.

When Clay opened the door, he was rubbing his eyes and he looked confused. So I hugged him. I wrapped my arms tightly around my brother, I buried my head into his shoulder and started to cry, hard. Clay pulled me into his room and locked the door and we stood in the middle of the room. Him hugging me while I cried.

"Imogen, what's wrong?" He whispered. How do I tell my brother that I was raped? Even though I knew that he already knew because he's listened to the tapes. I looked up at him and he wiped the tears from my eyes.

"It's true. . Clay. Hannah wasn't lying, it's true. He hurt me. . Bryce raped me." I sobbed once again and Clay sat down on his bed and pulled me with him so that I could sit as well and he continued to hold me.

"I know. . I know and I'm so sorry." He whispered and that seemed to only make me cry harder. How could Bryce do that to me? We used to be friends. Throughout elementary and middle school, we were friends. All the guys were my best friends.

"And Justin and Zach, they lied to me. . They let me believe that the only bad thing that happened was Jeff dying. . Oh Jeff, Clay I wish he was here so badly. He would know what to do." I whispered.

"I know, Immy. . I miss him too. So much." Clay whispered back to me and he kissed the top of my head.

"What do I do?" I asked.

"Do you want to report Bryce?" Clay asked me. Did I? Would it even work? His parents have money, and money means that his parents can hire him lawyers to make the whole situation go away. To give our family hush money.

"No. . I don't know. Can we just, talk about something else?" I asked.

"Have you talked to your other friends?" Clay asked.

"No, I can't pick up my phone and answer their text messages. Justin blew up at Bryce's and told me that Bryce raped me, and Jess, Alex, Monty, Zach and some other jocks were there. And Jess, Monty, Zach and Justin have texted me and so did Bryce and I just can't do it." I said.