TROUBLED || thirteen reasons why

032.

Tristan slams the door to Clay's car as he drops her off at his house before he goes to Alex's birthday party. Clay had asked Tristan if she wanted to come too, but the mere thought of what Alex said earlier today made the girl sick to her stomach. Clay speeds off and Tristan watches the car leave until she can no longer see it anymore. The girl reaches in her bag and pulls out a tightly rolled blunt and tousles it in between her fingers. She wants to stop, to stop getting drunk or high to avoid the truth. The truth that Alex shouted in front of everyone this morning. The truth that she is terrified of. But she can't.

In Tristan's mind, the only thing in between that truth and a peaceful mind will be the high she gets from the roll in her hand. She fumbles around her bag once more until her hand finds there cheap lighter she keeps in there. She lights the end of the paper and takes in a deep breath of smoke, the familiar tingles returning to her body. It wasn't as good as Trey's stuff, but it put her racing mind to ease.

There she is, the girl with so many demons, sitting on the top step of the Jensens' family home, smoking a joint. She ought to be ashamed of herself, but the high of the smoke is blocking out any feelings she could have previously had. She stubs out the end of the roll and rubs the dirt off her jeans before heading inside. She knows that the Jensens aren't home to sniff the marijuana out, but Justin is and he surely can. Her red eyes scan the bottom floor for any sign of her brother, and when there is none, she heads upstairs.

"Tris?" The girl cringes as she reaches the last step and sees Justin walking out of Clay's bedroom. His nose instantly scrunches up and his soft eyes turn harsh, "Tris, what the fuck?"

"What?" Tristan responds, her heavy eyes not noticing Justin following her back into the bedroom.

"'What?' Tristan, you smell like fucking dope." The anger in his voice prompts the girl to look at him.

"So what, Justy?" Tristan laughs as she flops onto the couch she slept on last night.

"These are good people, Tris," Justin fumes, stalking over to where his stoned sister sits, "I'm not going to have you fuck this up for us."

Tristan rolls her eyes, "Oh fuck you, Justin. I'm not fucking anything up."

"If they find out about this... they might kick us out." Justin glares at his sister. He loves his sister so much, but her recklessness is going to get them in trouble. And he can't have her go back to their mom and Seth.

"You used to smoke-"

The front door slams shut, followed by a feminine voice, "Clay? Justin? Are you here?"

Laine's voice makes Justin freeze and he looks at his sister once more in fear. He quickly snatches the girl's arm and drags her towards the bathroom, he gives her one more look before slamming the door in her face, "Get a shower. We cannot fuck this up."

Tristan slowly blinks at the closed door a few times as she hears Justin call out to Laine on the bottom floor. Why was Justin so freaked that she smoked weed? It's not like he never did it. Hell, he used to smoke when their mom was in the next room. She doesn't understand, but she would hate for Mrs. Jensen to be disappointed in her so she strips out of her clothes and turns the shower on. The girl scrubs the marijuana odor off her skin, and as she dries off she can hear footsteps come up the stairs.

"What do you want me to say, Laine?" Mr. Jensen's voice booms through the second story.

"Matt, just listen to me," Mrs. Jensen's voice follows Matt's into their bedroom, "If he had been honest with us about the drugs-"

"Did you know they were going to ask?" Matt sharply questions, Tristan steps closer to the bathroom door to figure out what they were talking about.

"No, of course not. I removed myself Matt," Laine's voice is offensive as it grows quiet, "If I were to interfere with a witness-"

"A wittness? He's your son." Matt barks, irritation pumping through his body.

"If I were to interfere in any way, I would be fired. I could be disbarred, Matt." Laine deadpans.

"Our boy did drugs and we didn't know. He hid a homeless boy in our house for a week, we didn't know. I mean, what the fuck, Laine." Matt yells as he slams their door shut, making Tristan jump.

The girl releases a shaky breath as she wraps herself with a towel and creeks open the door to make sure she wasn't interfering with anything. The two adults' yelling still echos through the house as the girl steps into Clay's room, she quickly looks down and sees her brother sitting beside the door, "What are you doing?"

He looks up at her, shaking his head in defeat, "Maybe this was a mistake."

Tristan squeezes her wet hair onto the floor as she squats next to him, "This wasn't a mistake. Everything is going to be okay."

"I'm going back tomorrow." Justin doesn't look at his sister as he stands up and heads for Clay's bed.

Tristan's eyes follow him, "Back where?"

"School," Justin slowly says, "Clay's mom got all the paper work filled out today, so..."

"You do know what they've said at school, right?" Tristan whispers, too embarrassed to even look at her brother. "About me and Bryce... and you."

Justin abruptly stands and grabs onto Tristan's shoulders, "I'm not going to let anyone say shit about you, do you understand? I'm not letting anything bad happen to you again."

Tristan's eyes meet his and a small smile appears on her lips. She wraps her arms around him and rests her head on his chest. She knows he means well, but she can't help but think that it is already too late.