TROUBLED || thirteen reasons why

033.

Tristan stirs in her sleep the next morning, the sound of someone rustling in the room keeps waking her up. She reluctantly peels her eyes open and sees Justin scurrying around Clay's room looking for clothes.

The girl grunts and swings her legs onto the floor, her back aching from the hard cushions of the couch. Her feet touch the sleeping bag Justin has been using on ground beside her, and when she looks up she notices her brother eyeing her.

"Hey," He says, his wet hair hangs low on his face as he changes into a t-shirt. Tristan smiles in return, not wanting to wake Clay up, who is still peacefully asleep in his bed. Justin walks towards her and sits next to her, releasing a long sigh.

"Are you nervous?" Tristan whispers, already knowing the answer from her brother's face.

Justin doesn't say anything for a moment, his mind somewhere deep in thought, "Remember when we were little and you were too scared to go to our new school, so I had to walk you to class every day for a week?"

Tristan nostalgically smiles as she reaches over and grabs ahold of his hand, "You're going to be fine, okay?"

Justin squeezes her hand in his and brings Tristan into his embrace, not wanting to forget the girl she used to be. The girl that looked up to Justin as if he was her hero, but now looks at him and thinks he is the one needing saving.

He sends her a small smile as he stands up, "Go get ready, Tris."

Tristan nods and heads to the bathroom to start her morning. When she returns to Clay's bedroom, both of the boys are up and Justin is changing clothes once more.

"Clay," Tristan starts, but is taken aback when she is met with a fearful look in Clay's eyes, "I, uh, I don't have anymore shirts, so... I was wondering if I could just borrow one of yours for today?"

Clay noticeably relaxes and nods at the girl, "Yeah, take whatever."

Tristan smiles and grabs a grey Liberty Tigers sweatshirt from his closet, slipping it over her body and rolling the long sleeves up her arms. She glances at Justin again and can see the nerves on his face as he fixes the sweater he pulled over his shirt.

Tristan's phone rings as she is putting on her shoes. When she sees Caroline's name pop up on the screen, she reaches over to answer it, but Clay's voice stops her, "Tris, we need to ask you something."

"What?" She asks, letting the phone go to voicemail, not noticing the other six times her friend has called. Tristan looks at the two boys, who both won't meet her eye. Justin turns to Clay and gives him a look as if to say go ahead.

Clay fumbles in his backpack for a moment before retrieving what looked to be three polaroids. Both Clay and Justin carefully look at her as Clay speaks, "Tris, I know this is hard for you but... did Bryce ever take you to a place called the Clubhouse?"

Tristan's stomach drops at the sound of his name. She wants to forget about him, but it doesn't help when everyone brings him up all the time. Her forehead creases in confusion as she notices how serious her brother and his friend are about this subject. "No, I've never heard of it... Why?"

Justin grabs the photos from Clay and hands them to Tristan. She gives him an anxious glance before looking at the pictures in her hand. A gasp escapes her mouth when she sees the explicit content of the photos, but there was one that stuck out more than the others. Bryce. Hovering over some girl with his pants down. Tristan throws the cards down and pinches her eyes shut, trying everything in her power to not let memories that she's pushed deep down come back up.

"I'm going to wait in the car." Tristan exhales as she shoves past the two boys with a void filling her eyes.

Clay parks at the school and as soon as Tristan steps out, she can tell something is wrong. She looks over the parking lot at the multitude of people watching her, Clay, and Justin walk towards the entrance. Justin notices too, as he constantly looks over his shoulder at his peers observing his every move. The boy looks over to Clay, "Listen, this is weird, right?"