Clubhouse [ THIRTEEN REASONS WHY]

S I X T E E N

Clay Jensen walked into school feeling more normal than usual. Everyone around him seemed to forget about his trial and his confession for taking drugs with Jeff and Hannah.

Clay felt as if he finally forgave himself for not reporting Hannah when she shared a sense of helplessness to him.

"Alex!" Clay yelled happily, running over to his friend and slinging his arm around his shoulders.

"Hey, Clay," Alex said with a smile and limping down the hallway.

"Why don't we take the long way to our first class?" Clay asked and swiftly moved the boy's direction toward the longer way to class.

Alex could tell Clay was hiding something but he ignored it. It didn't make sense to Alex for Clay to be so- weird.

"Happy birthday, Alex!" Clay shouted once they reached the hallway that contained a banner exposing the light brown haired boys special day.

"Jessica made the design and well, Zach hung it up," Clay said with a smile.

"Happy birthday, dude!" Zach Dempsey yelled, fist bumping the now seventeen year old boy.

"Yeah, happy birthday" Jessica said hugging the boy.

"Awe, happy birthday buddy," The four of them heard from behind them and all of them recognized the voice.

"Is your mom bringing cupcakes later?" Scott Reed then said and looked over carefully at Clay, trying to not let his armor down.

"I hope she's bringing enough for the whole class," Bryce said following Scott's response.

"I mean maybe you'll get a new cane this year," Scott chuckled and quickly stopped once his eyes caught Claire's from down the hallway.

"And some new friends" Bryce continued as the two boys started to walk away from Alex and his friends.

Claire stood there frozen with fear once Bryce's eyes met her. Her eyes fell from Bryce's to Scott's while her blood boils a little bit she was afraid.

She noticed her brother from behind the two boys and her chest felt heavy with fear, but what could Bryce do to her in broad daylight? Did he know Claire was going to testify against him?

Claire fell back into reality once she heard someone yelling.

"Fuck you, you fucking rapist!" she heard Alex scream and watched as her boyfriend quickly turned around to look at the crippled boy behind him.

Claire's breath hitched as her eyes trailed back toward Clay. Their eyes meeting and his eyes feeling sorry for the broken girl.

"Dude shit like that doesn't do any of us good?" Zach Dempsey said making Clay shake his head.

"Yeah well it felt good to me. Maybe if you stopped defending him-" alex said but zach was quick to cut him off.

Clay looked over to where his sister was standing; she looked frightened and so did the girl standing beside her.

"Jessica-" Alex whispered, "I'm sorry".

Jessica walked away quickly. Bryce turned around and stared at the two girls.

Flashbacks of the clubhouse ran through her mind as she shivered, "you bitch-" she screamed looking at Bryce.

"Claire," Clay snipped and grabbed her arm.

"No. Why do I have to run away from him? Why can't he fear me anytime he looks at me," she cried out, "he raped me. Not the other way around," she let out loudly.

Bryce came closer, his chest puffed out, his nostrils flaring.

"And the best part is that wasn't even the first time he did that to me," her voice broke.

Clays face fell as he looked at Bryce who was now standing two feet away from them. Clay grabbed his sisters arm and dragged her away.

"No one's running away but you sweetie. You asked for it honey. Remember that next time you want some-" Bryce's voice was cut off by the twins turning the corner.

"Twice, what do you mean twice?" Clay said practically shoving his sister to look at him.

"It doesn't matter-"

"Yes it doesn't. This can build a case against him," Clay raised his eyebrows.

"Monty told me yesterday about the first time it happened. I don't remember it, at all. I don't even remember how I got there and how I got home. I don't know if Nathan drove me home- I walked home. All I can remember from that night is hearing his belt unbuckle and Nathan telling me that he was right there-" Claire began to cry and leaned against the wall, "Monty witnessed it. As much as I love him, I hate that he told me about this"

"Oh, god, Claire-" Clay began and stopped, "do you need- do you want to talk to someone about it?"

"Isn't that what I'm doing right now?" she chuckled a little.

"I mean yeah, but someone professional. Maybe they can help fix the memory of that night?"

"I don't think I want to relive that night if I don't even know for myself what happened," she shrugged, "if I knew it happened that night- I would've gone to the police station and I already know Jeff would've backed me up-"

"I'm sorry," Clay said cutting his sister off, "I know it isn't easy to talk about it," he embraced her into a big hug.