TROUBLED || thirteen reasons why

006.

Tristan stands next to her locker the next morning, and anxiety runs through her body when she never sees Justin walk through the doors. She knows that today is his big basketball pep rally, and his coach will kill him if he doesn't show. The bell rings and she sighs, grabbing her bag off the floor and starts walking towards her first class.

"Hey, Tristan."

Tristan looks over and sees Clay Jensen walking towards her from the gym, "Clay?"

"Hey have you seen your brother around? I need to ask him a question about some homework." He asks point blank.

"Uh, no. I haven't seen him since yesterday." Tristan replies bitterly. She looks away from him, wishing that Caroline wasn't tutoring in the library so she could excuse herself from this conversation.

"Oh, well thank anyways. You haven't heard him mention anything about-"

"Jensen!" They both turn and see Marcus Cole walking towards them with an unreadable expression. He clasps his hand around Clay's shoulder and spares Tristan a glance, "What are you guys talking about?"

"We were just talking about homework..." Clay gives the girl a desperate look as if pleading for her to go along with his lie. Tristan rolls her eyes, but smiles at Marcus.

"Yeah, we were Marcus." Tristan lies. She looks back over to Clay to seal the deal, "So just meet me after third and we can discuss the book for the project. If you see him, tell him to find me okay?"

"Okay." He nods. Marcus is still hanging around and watching their interaction. "Oh, Coach Patrick wanted to talk with you, by the way. He is still in the gym doing a morning practice."

Tristan gives him a fake smile and thanks him before walking to the gymnasium. She pushes the heavy doors open and sees all the cheerleaders and basketball players practicing for tonights game. Coach Patrick sees Tristan out of the corner of his eye and yells back to his players, "Alright, good work boys! Hit the showers and head to class; don't be late!"

The basketball players clap and start talking to each other as they head to the locker room. Tristan adjusts the strap of her backpack as Coach Patrick sits down on a bench and pats beside him for her to join him, "Clay Jensen said you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah," He says, looking her over through his glasses, "Just wanted to ask if you have seen Justin, since no one else wants to give me a straight answer."

Tristan's heart beats against her ribcage as Coach Patrick's eyes glance back at her jaw. She prays she put enough makeup on the hide the purple marks. "He hasn't been home since last Friday, I think."

"Mhm, and is everything okay at home?" He asks, biting the end of his pen. Tristan shifts in her seat, and the basketball coach notices, "You know, if you two are in some kind of trouble, I can help. I only want you and Justin to be safe."

Tristan adverts her gaze and she notices Zach Dempsey walk out of the locker room with his wet hair stuck to his face. He looks over and sees Tristan and his coach talking, he frowns and quickly walks out. Tristan turns her attention back to the man, "I'm sure he's fine. I have to get to class, I have a test and I don't want to miss it."

She stands up and so does Coach Patrick, "Tristan, I just want to help."

"Thank you, sir, but I really need to get to class. Good luck with the game tonight!" Tristan says and rushes towards the exit. She hears the coach calling for her, but she ignores him as the door shuts behind her.

The day goes by fast, and before Tristan knows it, they are being called out of fifth period to go to the pep rally in the gym. She hurriedly packs her notebooks away and walks into the hallway where every other student is laughing with their friends or pushing past people to get a good seat. Once Tristan enters the gym, she looks over to wear the basketball players are standing, but doesn't see Justin. Nerves fill her stomach and she anxiously looks around the court and her eyes catch Jessica Davis who is looking at her too. They exchange looks and they both shrug in defeat as neither of them have seen Justin. Tristan walks over to the bleachers and starts to search for either Caroline or a free seat.

"Tris!" Tristan's head snaps to the sound of her name and she sees Bryce and Marcus sitting at the end of the first row. Bryce smiles at her as he shoves the person next to him away so that she can sit by him, "Come on, there's room for one more!"

Tristan glances at the stands one last time in an effort to find Caroline in the crowd, but sighs and gives up. She smiles back at Bryce and makes her way across the court to sit between the two boys. Marcus sees her sour expression and leans down close to her, "You okay?"

"Will everyone stop asking me that? I'm fucking fine."Tristan snaps, tired of the same two words being said to her by multiple people in the past week.

"Jesus, Tris, calm down. It was just a question." Bryce raises his eyebrows at the girl, but she looks away, heat rising to her cheeks. The cheerleaders finish their cheer, and their principal, Mr. Bolan, makes his way to the podium to fire up the pep rally.

"Hey there Liberty Tigers! It's an exciting day at Liberty High. " The crowd erupts in cheers. "Our varsity basketball team is kicking off its preseason today, the first step on the road to returning to the state finals. By Liberty tradition, I'm happy to welcome to the podium the winner of this year's Captain's Award to introduce the varsity squad."

Student's cheer again, and people are starting to shout Bryce's name. Tristan turns to him, "You got the Captain's Award?"

Bryce grins at her, "Well I mean-"

"Welcome to the podium, Bryce Walker!" Mr. Bolan announces, and the crowd erupts with applause. Bryce winks at Tristan before he stands up and runs to the podium, grabbing his award in the process.

As Bryce accepts his award, Marcus scoots closer to Tristan and leans in so no one else can hear him, "So I saw you talking with Clay this morning..."

"Yeah, so what?" Tristan rudely interrupts, not sparing him a glance.

"Look, all I'm saying is Clay can't be trusted. He is going through some shit, and his head isn't in the right place," He says over the loud cheers for our basketball team, "Whatever he is telling you is a lie."

"Thanks for your insight, Marcus, but I don't really need your help on who I should talk to." Tristan spits. She picks up her backpack and marches out of the loud gymnasium. She sees Clay talking with Jessica outside, but before she can go to them, the pep rally ends and everyone files out of the gym.

She spots Bryce walking out with his friends, sporting his new award in his hands. Tristan jogs to catch up with him and touches his arm to get his attention, "Hey, can we talk for a second?"

"Sure, Tris," He says and walks away from his group of friends and follows the dark haired girl to a less crowed hallway.

"Tell me the truth, is Justin at your house?" Tristan searches his blue eyes for an answer.

Bryce sighs before saying anything, 'Yeah he's there. But hear me out, he didn't want-"

"You asshole! I texted and called you all fucking night last night! Why didn't you just tell me he was there?" Tristan screams in his face, pissed that she has been worried for nothing.

"Tris, shut your mouth." He whispers, looking around to make sure no one heard her outburst. He steps closer to her, making her take a step back, "Look, if you want you can come home with me after school, and you can yell at him all you want then, okay? Just don't mention anything about him here."

"You'll take me?" She asks, not believing him.

"Yeah, Tris. Meet me by my car after eighth and you can see him." Bryce says before heading back towards his group of friends. Tristan turns away and immediately catches Jessica's eyes again. Tristan glances away from Jess's confused expression.