TROUBLED || thirteen reasons why

028.

Tristan didn't get much sleep last night, and as she trudges down the hall of Liberty High, she can feel her energy draining. It hasn't helped with all the rumors of Justin coming up and biting her in the ass, but she can't think of anything that could make this day any worse.

Trey McPhail is waiting by her locker, and Tristan presses her lips into a smile as she approaches him, "Hey,"

"Hey, Tris," He replies, he looks around before continuing, "I, uh, heard about Seth last night."

"How the fuck do you know about that?" Tristan spits, her mood plummeting more and more by the minute.

"My guy buys off of him, so of course I fucking know about him. I also know that it was a teacher here at Liberty who beat the shit out of him, so who was it, Tris?" Trey questions. Tristan feels uncomfortable with the intimidating look in his eyes as he looms over her.

"Just drop it, Trey. Seth doesn't mean shit to me." Tristan says, as they both walk towards the cafeteria.

Trey chuckles maliciously and shakes his head, "Yeah, whatever you say, Tris. Just know I can't get you anything until my guy finds a new supplier."

"I don't want it anyways," Tristan says, sitting down at a table at the back of the cafeteria. "I'm not doing anything else. I'm done."

"Yeah, I probably wouldn't either if I were you. I heard that Seth, you know..." Trey cockily points towards the girl's healing bruises.

Trista's face heats up with embarrassment as she angrily looks back at the boy, "Shut the fuck up."

Caroline walks up to them, and thankfully Trey doesn't say anymore. Tristan knows that Caroline dislikes Trey, and now Tristan is starting to see why. Trey is an asshole.

"Hey Tris," The girl says as she sits across from Tristan. Tristan notices her voice makes her seem on edge.

"Hey." Tristan replies, looking back at the sandwich sitting in front of her.

"So, um, have you talked to Zach today?" Caroline asks as she carefully eyes Tristan.

Tristan rolls her eyes and sharply looks at the girl, "No, and I am not going to. I'm done with him."

"Tris, you can't be serious," Caroline interjects, her expression contorted to pure confusion, "Just the other day you were talking about how you can't stop thinking about him and wanted to make everything right?"

"Nothing is ever going to be right. I know that now." Tristan spits.

"You know his trial is today..." Caroline's eyes quickly search Tristan's face for any reaction.

"Caroline," Tristan snaps, making the other girl jump from the harshness. "Stop. Please. Don't talk about him, or that fucking trial. I'm done."

Trey smirks after a beat of silence, "So you're finally done with that baseball asshole?"

"Shut the fuck up, Trey," Tristan growls, her irritation for the boy growing stronger. Trey doesn't say any more, but his jeering demeanor is still jabbing into Tristan's mind. The three sit in silence within the loud cafeteria. Tristan could feel Trey's eyes staring at her but she did all she could to avoid it.

"Oh my fucking God." Tristan looks up to Caroline, who is looking past her and towards the entrance of the lunch room.

"What?" Tristan confusedly responds back, whipping around quick to see what the worry was about.

Tristan feels her stomach drop to her feet. Her face pales and her hands are frozen by the time she stands from her seat, "What the fuck."

Justin Foley pulls his hood from his head and reveals himself to the cafeteria; the whole room goes silent. He looks terrible. Purple bags bulge out from his sickly skin, and Tristan's stomach churns as she can't imagine what he has been through in the past months. The girl's heart is pounding in her throat as he walks forward, she doesn't know if she wants him to see her or not. But either way, he doesn't. He walks towards Jessica and stops in front of her, "Hey Jess."

Tristan watches her brother that she hasn't seen in months as he tries to talk to his ex girlfriend, "I missed you. Can we go somewhere else to talk, alone?"

"No."

"I came back," Justin timidly responds, "For you... and Tristan. For good this time."

Tristan's face burns with anger and embarrassment, she can feel the looks from her peers and she squeezes her eyes shut in an attempt to block them out.

The crowd is hushed as Justin continues, "It's the only reason why I'm here. If you want me to stay, I promise you I'm here for good. If you want me to go, I'll go... forever this time."

"You said that before." Jessica whispers.

"I tried," Justin cries, "I tried to go away. I tried to forget about you, I tried so fucking hard. But I can't stop thinking about you."

Jess doesn't say anything for a moment, "Yeah, I think about you too, and how I wish you were dead."

Tristan's heart aches for her brother as he looks tearfully at Jessica. He fumbles with his bag strap as he avoids Jess' eyes, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you more."

Justin gives Jess one last look before slowly turning around. Tristan's head is pounding as Justin makes eye contact with Bryce Walker, who has been carefully watching Justin since he has walked in.

"You." Justin spits before he collapses to the ground.

"Justin!" Tristan screams as she races towards him on the floor. The room is roaring with noise as people watch Tristan, Clay, and Tony rush to Justin's aid. Tears form in the girl's eyes as Clay and Tony argue amongst one another about what to do. She glances away from her brother and her eyes meet the piercing gaze of Bryce Walker. Her breath gets caught in her throat and she quickly bends down to where the three boys are, "We have to move him from here."

Tony and Clay nod in agreement and slowly get Justin up and walking towards the exit. Tristan follows closely behind and once they are out, Clay turns to Justin, "What the fuck were you thinking?"

"I... I just thought-"Justin starts, but nearly collapses once more.

"Goddammit, Tony, please, we need to get him back to my house." Clay pleads with Tony, but the other boy shakes his head.

"I told you, Clay. I'm done with this, I'm sorry." Tony gives Tristan a quick look before he heads back inside.

Clay curses to himself as he looks back towards Justin, "Justin, can you walk on your own?"

"Yeah," Justin breathes with his eyes closed in pain, "Just give me a minute."

Tristan looks towards Clay, "What are you going to do?"

"I don't fucking know," Clay expels as he paces in circles, "I need to get him home."

Justin's eyes squint open and they meet Tristan's for a short moment before she looks away. She can't look at him.

Clay grabs Justin's arm and begins to help him walk towards the direction of his car. Tristan stands by herself for a minute, watching the two boys slowly walk away. She heavily sighs, "Clay, hold on. I'm coming with you."

——
so this doesn't really relate to the book  (i mean Madison Davenport (AKA Tristan) is in the series so that counts as book related right? hehe), but I just finished Sharp Objects on HBO & omfg it was amazing and the ending was fantastic
have y'all seen it? if so pls tell me what you thought about it, the show is literally all I can think about rn

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