scrawny & broken | zalex 13rw

10

I bite my tounge as I look through the windows of Zach's car, Zach sitting next to me with a worried expression on his face. We were on our way to Clay's house after what Justin told us.

Apparently Clay and Tony might be facing prison charges for "assisting" Tyler in his act of trying to shoot up the school. Obviously that's not what happened but because there was Clay's DNA on the gun and Tony drove away with Tyler, they might get charged.

It's so fucking stupid, I mean, if it wasn't for Clay and Tony, Tyler would have shot up everyone at the dance. If anyone should go to prison, Tyler sure as hell takes the cake.

What happened to Tyler really sucks though, don't get me wrong. I guess he just got so pushed over the ledge after that, that well, he couldn't think clear. But the thing is, he was still going to do it, had it not been for Clay and Tony. The whole situation just messes with my head.

Zach glances over at me for a moment, and I feel his hand be placed over mine. It was like suddenly all the tension and stress was minimized. "Hey don't think on it too much, everything will work out." I glance at him and then glance out of the window, not saying anything.

He goes to pull his hand off of mine, but I hold onto his hand and clasp our fingers together. I can feel him smirking even though I'm looking out of the window. "Pretty sure the law says both hands on the wheel sticks." He says, a hint of amusement in his voice.

I scoff and in reply, hold on slightly harder to his hand. It was just comforting, and right now I need comfort. Me and Clay and well, Tony may have not been the closest of friends, but we all feel a sort of connection to eachother after everything that happened.

I don't know how I would cope if they went to prison for something that they didn't do. Just the thought of them facing charges while Bryce Walk-intoroomsatpartiesandrapegirls-er got like what, a couple months of community service? The system is so corrupt.

We finally arrive at Clay's house, Zach helping me out of his car like always. We walk up to his front door and wait someone to open the door. I glance down at Zach's hand, desperately wanting to hold it in mine's again, but now probably isn't the time to be like "Surprise, we're dating everyone woohoo who knew!".

Clay opens the door with a somewhat worried look on his face, letting us in. I walk in and Justin is laying down on the couch, twiddling his thumbs. Ugh.. Justin. "Is Tony here?" I say.

"Nah, Tony's at home explaining all this shit to his parents." Clay says, running a hand through his hair and sitting down on the couch, motioning for Justin to sit up to make space for him. Justin rolls his eyes in response and sits up.

Zach and I sit on the other couch. "Where are your parents man?" Zach asks Clay. Clay scoffs, "Lawyer hunting. My mom can't represent me because well, shes my mom, so now they have to find someone willing to fight for me if it does get taken to court."

"Man, I thought all this court shit would be over after everything with Hannah. Now theres this to worry about." I say, slightly biting my lip and resting my cheek on my hand that's propped up on the couch.

Clay sighs, "So did I. But no, the universe had to say "Fuck you Clay for stopping a bunch of kids from getting shot!" He says with sarcasm but also a hint of anger in his voice. I notice Justin glance at Clay with a certain look, almost like, a look of admiration and pity at the same time? I don't know how to explain it. Whatever.

"Don't beat yourself up on it too much, I'm sure everything's gonna be fine man." I say, trying to sound as convincing and comforting as possible. But really? I don't know. I don't know if everything is gonna be fine. If it isn't, theres a long road of pain ahead of us.

———

We talked about everything for an hour or so. Zach goes upstairs to use the bathroom. The room is just filled with silence until I finally break the ice. "So Justin.. you and Jess again huh?" I say, raising my eyebrows and taking a sip of the glass of water I now had.

Justin's eyebrows scrunch up, and funny enough, so did Clay's, but Clay's was ever so subtle. "Excuse me?" He said with amusement in his voice as if he was about to burst into laughter."

"Really man. I mean, did you really think none of us would find out about what happened at the dance. Other than the whole Tyler thing." I say and give a small laugh, amused by his reaction.

"I'm gonna um- grab some.. pretzels." Clay says as he clears his throat and gets up from the couch, walking to the kitchen.

Justin sighs and gets up, glaring at me. As Justin walks past me, he says "No, there's nothing going on between me and Jess, fuckwad" and follows behind Clay. The hell was that?

I get up and go to the stairs so I can tell Zach what the hell just happened. They've been actin really.. weird? I look at the stairs. Fuck my life. Getting up these stairs is going to be literal hell.

After about six years later of me trying to get up the stairs, I finally reach the top, doing a mini victory dance since nobody could see me anyways. I head down the hall. "Zach?" I say out loud, not knowing where the bathroom is.

I pass a room and the door is immediately opened and I'm pulled into the room. "The hell?" I say in panic as the door closes until I realize it was Zach that had pulled me into the bathroom.

He pushes me onto the door ever so slightly and connects his lips with mine, tucking some of my hair behind my ears with one hand as he lightly holds my chin up with the other. I feel like melting in this moment.

He smirks. "Sorry, I've kinda been wanting to do that since this morning." He says as he stares into my eyes. I can feel myself blushing like crazy. "Uh, I, okay-" I say in return, not knowing what to say. He chuckles.

"We should really stop doing this in bathrooms though." I say and laugh as well. "It adds to the excitement. You should have seen your face." He says and smirks, me rolling my eyes and smirking in response.

We walk out of the bathroom together, not knowing that Clay would be standing in the hallway. We both look at Clay, and Clay looks at us, scrunching his eyebrows slightly.

"Uhh.. why were you guys just.. in the bathroom together?" Clay asks, pure confusion on his face. "Uh- I," I start to go into panic mode but then Zach talks over me and says "Oh  um, the toilet was clogged and Alex was helping me fix it."

It takes all I have in me to not laugh at that excuse, and I don't really know if Clay bought it. "Uh.. alright then." He says and chuckles a bit, heading back downstairs. I look at Zach and we both start laughing quietly. "Nice save."

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HEY EVERYONE. Wow. I'm really the worst author ever.. I haven't updated in like over a month. I'm so so sorry! Everything with school has just been so crazy and so many mental health issues came to be. Thank you for reading and commenting, yall are the mf BEST. Love you all.