KISS & TELL " one last time !" EPISODE THIRTEEN; CHAPTER ONE
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" GOOD MORNING, MISS Price."
Rory Price's life had changed so much recently. It was hard to even imagine the girl she was before all this started. But now here she was, sat in the clothes her mother had reserved for funerals, about to begin her deposition.
"Good morning." She replied shakily, twisting the necklace she wore around her finger aimlessly.
"I'm Dennis Vasquez. I'm representing Andrew and Olivia Baker and this is a deposition." Rory nodded along politely as he spoke, "I'm going to be asking you questions, and you must answer truthfully. Do you understand?"
"Yes." She whispered, hanging her head.
"You must speak into the microphone so everything is on record, too." Dennis said.
"Okay, sorry." Rory replied, shuffling in her seat. She was yet to meet the eyes of Hannah's parents, too anxious to be under their disapproving glares.
"As you are aware," Dennis continued, "this is an official legal proceeding so you are under the same obligation to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth as you would be if a judge was present."
Rory nodded again. The necklace was wrapped so tightly around her finger that the top started to throb. She quickly unraveled it and sat on her hands to avoid more fidgeting.
"Okay, for the record, please state your full name, your age, where you go to school and what year you're in."
"My name, my full name, is Regina Katherine Price, but everyone calls me Rory. I'm 16 and I'm a Junior at Liberty High." She mumbled, stuttering occasionally.
"And when and where did you meet Hannah Baker for the first time?"
"It was in my math class. We sat next to each other." Rory chuckled as she remembered how the two first talked. "I invited her to my house the same day."
"How well would you say you knew Hannah?"
Rory took time before answering. "We were best friends." She mumbled, finally plucking up the courage to look at the Baker's. To her surprise, their gazes were bit ones of spite, but of concern. Rory pulled a tiny smile at them as Dennis carried in questioning her.
"And are you aware of anyone bullying Hannah?" He asked her.
Rory gulped, "I mean, people were mean to her sometimes but I wouldn't call it bullying." That was a lie. The torture Hannah endured from the students of Liberty High wasn't anything less than bullying, but Rory's conscious still told her it wasn't their fault she had died.
"Would you classify yourself as popular, Miss Price?"
Rory looked over at her mom with a panicked expression. "Objection; relevance?" Her attorney spoke.
"I'll rephrase. Many of your peers described a 'social hierarchy' of sorts at Liberty High. Could you describe to me where you and Hannah both lied?" Dennis didn't miss a beat in rephrasing his question. It unnerved Rory to think that he had so many questions and ways to say them to her.
"Hannah flitted between groups. One minute she would be by herself at the bottom, sat with Jessica Davis in the middle or sat with me." Rory's stomach churned as she said Jess' name.
"And where were you, Regina?"
"I'd say at the top." She whispered, trying to avoid telling them what they wanted to hear.
"Can you speak into the microphone, please?" Dennis presses again.
"I'd say the top." She repeated. Her heart pounded as she awaited the next question.
"Reporter, can you mark this document as Exhibit Seven?" Dennis asked, causing Rory to wriggle in her seat again as he slid a photograph over to her. "Miss Price, could you tell me who this locker belongs to?"
"It's mine." She answered.
"And what does the graffiti say?"
"Slut." She mumbled, turning the necklace around her finger again. As she started at the image, the memories of her tape came back; flashing scenes of when Hannah was alive blurred her vision.
"Who do you believe wrote this, Regina?" Dennis' voice became concerned and Rory was confused at how the conversation suddenly revolves around her and not Hannah. She considered lying to him and telling him she didn't know who did it. She thought about telling him what Hannah said herself in tape 11.
"It was Hannah." She answered. It wasn't exactly true, but she couldn't guarantee it was false either. It's not like she could ask her anyway.
Her response seemed to cause the Bakers and Dennis to falter. They were hoping Rory would unveil that indeed there was bullying at Liberty, but her answer backfired on them. They never expected Hannah to be the bully.
"Did you or anybody else say anything to Hannah that might qualify this behaviour?" Dennis asked her as he tried to regain his original stance.
Rory's mind went numb. "There was a night." She whispered, repeating herself louder afterwards like she had been told to, "There was a night. We were at a party."
"Whose party, Miss Price?" He interrupted her.
"We were at Bryce Walker's party." Rory swallowed harshly. She looked over to her mom, whose sharp scowl dug like daggers into her head. "Hannah, Zach, Bryce and I were in the hot tub together and then Zach left with me an-"
"Why did you and Zach leave?"
"Do I really have to answer that?" Rory asked, a panicked look across her face. Both of the lawyers before her nodded their heads. "To hook up." She sighed, hearing her mother's scoff from beside her. She never did like Zach.
"You can continue."
"We left Hannah and Bryce alone for a while. I saw her leave crying but her and Bryce never really got along so I thought they'd just argued." Rory's heart started beating even faster than how it did before.
"Regina, do you believe Bryce could have done anything physical to Hannah while you and Zach were absent?" Rory knew what Dennis was hinting at. Her breathing quickened as she stuttered to get an answer out. Seconds before the word 'yes' tumbled off her tongue, she saw Bryce with his parents through the glass window in the mirror.
Her world came crashing down. Could she really be held responsible for ruining his life? Rory looked again at her mother, hoping her face would be one of kindness that urged her to tell the truth. Instead, it was a cold stare that begged her to defend Bryce.
"No." Rory shook her head, biting her lips. She had let Hannah down. She had let Jess down. She let herself down. And Clay. And probably more girls at Liberty. She single handedly let them all down.
"That'll be all." Dennis concluded.
That was the end. It was all over. Rory said her thank you's and goodbye's and walked out of that room with her head hung in shame. She felt as if the world was in slow motion. As her and her mother walked past the Walker family, she felt Bryce's dad's had pat her on the back. The deepest remorse welled in her stomach and she wished with all her might she could run back in that room and tell them the truth.
But that was it. She had let Hannah down in life. And in death.
