TROUBLED || thirteen reasons why

045.

"Do you know what the fuck you just did?!"

"Justin let go of him!"

Justin Foley's tight grip of Cyrus does not loosen as Tristan Foley tries to pull him off. Justin continues to scream at Cyrus over the thumping music of the Spring Fling.

"I didn't do it, man!" Cyrus yells, shoving Justin away from him.

"Like hell you didn't!" Justin retorts, his face burning with fury.

"It was me!" Justin's hands fall from Cyrus' shirt as he snaps his head to Zach. "I called the cops."

"What the fuck!"

"He brought guns to school! What the fuck were you guys thinking!" Zach's voice is deep with rage as he stalks towards Justin.

"Don't you get it?" Justin yells, his face inches away from Zach's, "If Tyler goes to jail, so does Tony, so does Clay."

"EVERYBODY ON THE GROUND!"

Tristan looks away from the group and sees the police entering the building and surrounding the gymnasium. The once blaring music is shut off and the lights turn on. Tristan looks back towards her brother as panic washes over her.

"DOWN NOW!"

Justin's eyes meet Tristan as he gets down on the floor. The girl's stomach hits the ground and she watches as the cops begin to search the perimeter. Justin turns back to Zach, "Look at this. Is this what you wanted? If you take down Tyler, you're taking Clay and Tony, and me and Jess, and Tristan with him. There's no way around it. We can figure this out, Zach. No one has to get in trouble."

"Zach," Tristan turns to the boy, his eyes don't look at her, "please."

"They're going to know it was me." He says, glancing at the cops patting students down.

"We can still fix this," Cyrus looks at them, "I have an idea."

An hour later, the group of teens are out the gym door, met with a large crowd of parents looking for their frightened kids. Justin turns to Tristan, "Tris, Jessica is going to take you home. I'll be back soon."

"What about Clay?" Tristan's stomach churns at the thought of Clay getting hurt.

"He's going to be fine," Justin assures, "He's going to call when they figure it out."

Cyrus calls out her brother's name, and Tristan gulps. This better work.

Justin pulls his sister into a tight embrace before he nods towards Cyrus. Tristan notices Zach standing close to her.

"Tristan, just hear me out-"

The girl's eyes snap to Zach, "I can't... I can't talk to you right now."

Zach tries to scramble together words, but Tristan has already walked away and met Jessica at the bottom of the steps. 

The two girls sit in silence in Jessica's car, both traumatized of what they have done.

"Do you think Clay..." Tristan starts, a lump forming in her throat.

"I don't know," Jessica's voice shakes, "Tris... Tyler pointed his gun at us. He was ready to-"

Tristan chokes back a sob. Tyler could have killed them. He would have killed them.

Jessica releases a breath before she puts her car in drive to take Tristan home.

"Oh thank God!" Lainie Jensen shrieks once Tristan closes the front door of their house. Lainie and Matt quickly meet the girl and pull her into their arms. Lainie takes hold of the girls face as she looks her over, "Are you okay? We've been trying to call you; Matt was about to head to the school."