Beyond the Reasons || JUSTIN FOLEY

Seventeen

PADILLA AUTO
IMOGEN'S POV

Tony actually called me when the police let him go, so I immediately went down there after I left Liberty. I was there because I forgot something in my locker that I needed. I didn't expect to see Monty, and I didn't expect to talk to him, but I was glad I did. No, we aren't friends again, and we probably won't be friends again. . for now, but it felt like I got some type of closure.

"And the lawyer?" I heard Clay ask Tony.

"Was a bust. My family got deported at the end of the summer." I heard Tony say, and then I'm pretty sure they could hear my heels against the tile, because Tony looked up and I immediately ran to him and gave him a hug. Yes, I can run in heels without killing myself, it's a special skill.

"Tony, thank god." I mumbled as he hugged me back. We held each other for a few moments as Clay continued to talk, but I looked at Ani. "I take it you're here because you thought Tony killed Bryce, huh? How does it feel to know you were very wrong." I said, and Tony gently squeezed my shoulder and shook his head.

"Wait, why didn't you come to me?" Clay asked.

"And say what, Clay? I barely knew what to say to Imogen when it happened. You can't save the world." Tony said to my brother.

"But you can try to save your friends. I should've been there for you, like Imogen was. Like you were there for me. With Hannah." Clay said. Honestly, hearing her name again. It feels like everything that happened with her was so long ago, but it was only last year.

"You were really there for me during that time too, Tony. Of course I had to repay the favor. I'll always have your back." I said to him.

"I. . There's a lot of shame involved, you know?" Tony said, and Clay shrugged his shoulders.

"No, I don't know." He said.

"Maybe that's why I didn't come to you." Tony said.

"We love you, Tony." I said, and Clay nodded his head.

"She's right. I love you, man." Clay said.

"I love you guys too." Tony said to us before wrapping an arm around each of us, and the three of us were now in a group hug. What happened to Tony and his family honestly broke my heart. I remember sitting in his and Caleb's apartment in the gym, sobbing as Tony explained what happened after our training session.

He didn't deserve this.

―

Clay and I immediately went home, and as we approached the front door, he rang the doorbell. My parents were both sitting in the room that was next to the door and could see us in the window. "Why would you ring the doorbell, we both live here." I said, and our parents looked just as confused when they opened the door.

"Clay, Imogen. . what the. .-Why are you ringing the doorbell?" She asked us. Clay immediately wrapped our mom in a hug, and I noticed our dad walk to the door, so I immediately wrapped my arms around him tightly, and he seemed a little caught off guard, but he hugged me back.

"I love you, Dad." I said, and then me and Clay switched parents. He walked to our dad and wrapped his arms around him, while I walked to my mom and wrapped my arms around her tightly. "I love you, Mom." I said. After learning that Tony's parents got deported, I started looking at my own choices and have severely been taking my parents for granted.

And hearing Tony talk about it again today, just made me want to tell Lainie and Matt Jensen that I love them all the time. "We love you guys too." Our dad said to us, and then Clay walked in the living room and I followed behind him to see Justin standing with a bowl of cereal, so I walked up to him, and I gestured for him to put down the bowl.

"Dude, what's wrong with you two?" Justin asked as he set his bowl of cereal down and when he did, I immediately hugged him as well and took a deep breath. I wanted to tell him that I love him, because I do, and I always have, but I want that to be a personal moment, not one in front of my whole family. "Immy. . what's wrong?" He whispered to me as we pulled away and I shook my head.

"Nothing. . I'm just. . really glad that you're here." I said.

"At this moment, here? I'm good." Clay answered his question, before walking into the mainliving room and looking at all of our family pictures, and we followed him. Clay moved some of our baby pictures and make a space on the ledger before pointing to it. "We need to put Justin's picture up." He said, and I smiled because that was a great idea, and our parents smiled too, while my mom nodded her head.

"That's a great idea. Yeah, we'll take some pictures."

―

POLICE STATION
THIRD PERSON'S POV

"Justin and I talked him down and we all walked away." Imogen was explaining to deputy Standall. The Sheriff himself was questioning Clay and Justin was being questioned by another deputy. Apparently, Barry Walker had turned over his digital files from their old house and of course on camera was the incident last spring when Clay brought a gun to Bryce's house and Imogen and Justin had to speed over there to make sure that Clay didn't do something he would regret later.

But the two of them were more concerned about Clay hurting himself.

"What do you think would've happened if you and Mr. Foley hadn't been there to talk him down?" Deputy Standall asked.

"I don't think anything. I mean, Clay wasn't going to. . If anything, Clay would've hurt himself. We were more worried about him than we were about Bryce." Imogen said.

"Why was your brother there in the first place?" Deputy Standall asked.

"It was the day we found out that Bryce was going to get away with. . well, everything." Imogen said.

"But he didn't get away with everything." Deputy Standall said.

"Yeah. . he did. He got three months probation. That is getting away with everything." She said back, and Deputy Standall sighed.

"Miss Jensen, how do you feel about Mister Walker being dead?" Deputy Standall asked, and Imogen scoffed while rolling her eyes. She knew to other people she could be vulnerable about how she really felt, but seeing that this was a murder investigation, she had to be careful.

"Well, Deputy Standall, if your rapist was dead, how would you feel? Bryce Walker got exactly what he deserved. That's how I feel about it." Imogen lied. She didn't think that Bryce deserved to die, that's how she truly feel, but will it really matter? As soon as the news broke that he was dead, everyone was looking at her and Jessica, like they did something, like they were happy he was dead.

Imogen's never happy over death.

"What happened to the gun Clay had that night?" Deputy Standall asked.

"Justin got rid of it that night. He threw it in a dumpster downtown somewhere. He didn't tell us. Deputy Standall, Justin and I really just didn't want Clay to hurt himself." Imogen said.

"Or try to hurt Bryce again?" He asked.

"No. We truly did not want him to hurt himself. When I'm telling you is that if Justin and I hadn't intervened, Clay definitely would've shot himself before he shot Bryce." Imogen said.

"Imogen, let's go." I heard, and I looked at the door, and saw that my mom was standing in the doorway and she did not look happy.

"We're in the middle of a conversation, Lainie. And she's eighteen." Deputy Standall said.

"Are you arresting my daughter?" Lainie asked.

"No, she's not under arrest." Deputy Standall said, and Lainie looked at her daughter.

"Imogen, let's go. Now."

―

Mama Lainie was not happy at her children being interrogated, as she shouldn't be.

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