Beyond the Reasons || JUSTIN FOLEY

Twenty-Six

LIBERTY HIGH SCHOOL
SPRING FLING DANCE
IMOGEN'S POV

Zach and I walked in the dance together after took some pictures outside, and were immediately greeted by Justin and Clay. Zach didn't ask me to be his date, but he did ask me if we wanted to go together as friends, and since Zach is one of my best friends, of course I said yes.

"Hey guys." Zach greeted my brother and Justin when we walked in.

"Hey. . you guys look good." Justin said, and I smiled at him.

"Thanks. You guys do too." I said, gesturing to him and Clay.

"Well, if we have to do this. . let's do it." Clay said which made me laugh, because dances really weren't his thing. But they were Jeff's thing. I wish he were here to enjoy this with us.

"Alright." Zach said, wrapping his arm around me. Clay dragged us out onto the dance floor by saying that if Jeff were here, he would want us to dance. So we did. We went out to the middle of the floor, we danced around, we jumped around, we laughed, we smiled, and for the first time in a long time, things seemed like they were looking up.

Like everything was going to be okay.

But then when I took a break from dancing, I saw Bryce approach Justin and start talking to him and I watched his entire demeanor change, and then he walked off alone. His head was hanging, so I decided that I was going to follow him, because something was obviously wrong.

What the hell did Bryce say to him?

Just as I was about to walk out, the song 'The Night we Met' started playing, and I knew that I had to find Clay. He and Hannah danced to this song at the Winter Formal last year. I saw him walk out to the middle of the floor, and I laid my hand down on his shoulder before wrapping my brother in a hug. Then Tony walked up to us, and he wrapped his arms around us.

Jessica joined, and she wrapped her arms around us too, and I kept clinging onto Clay as Alex, Zach, Courtney, Ryan all walked over. They enclosed me and Clay in their arms because we all knew how much this song meant to Clay. My brother started crying in my shoulder as he held onto me with one arm and probably someone else with his other arm.

"It's okay, Clay. . it's okay." I whispered to him. We continued to rock with him until the song was over, and then I decided to go find Justin, and I did. He was sitting in the locker room, by himself in the dark.

"What are you doing sitting alone in the dark?" I asked him. He looked up when I walked in, and I smiled a little. "It's creepy." I said.

"I'm not alone anymore, am I?" He said.

"What's with these mats?" I asked, gesturing to the mats that were on the ground as I walked closer to him.

"They must have had a wrestling meet yesterday." He said.

"Wait. . we have a wrestling team?" I asked.

"You were the captain of the cheer team, Immy." Justin said, which made me laugh.

"Not for the wrestling team." I said, taking a few steps closer. "And I was a shitty captain." I said, shaking my head.

"Yeah, you were." He said, and I looked at him with wide eyes and he looked up and laughed. "What? You said it." He said.

"Still, you're not supposed to agree with me." I said, and we both laughed, but after the laughter came silence. I was still a few feet away from him, and Justin looked at my outfit, and I ran my fingers back through my hair, suddenly feeling nervous under his gaze.