"Bryce and I have been friends since the third grade." Justin began. "And friendship, it can be this really powerful thing, and complicated. You find yourself doing things you never thought you'd do. Because, friendship, you commit to it no matter what." He stopped to look at Elizabeth, and then continued. "Being friends with him, it was about loyalty. But it was also about fear."

The lawyer on Mrs. Baker's side spoke to Justin calmly. "And how would you describe Mr. Walker's relationships with girls? Were they fear based as well?"

"Yes, sir. They were like conquests to him. " Justin nodded slowly. "He would always brag about what he'd done with girls. And then, he would call them sluts for hooking up with him."

"And did he ever mention and on-again off-again relationship with Hannah Baker to you?" The lawyer questioned him.

"No, sir, because it never happened." Justin snapped a little bit, but calmed down immediately. "Maybe they hung out, but there's no way he would have hooked up with her without telling me about it."

The lawyer began to pace in front of him. "Because he liked to brag, as you said?" Justin nodded in reply. "How would you describe Hannah?"

Elizabeth tensed up, because she knew Justin would have to start saying things he did not want Elizabeth to know. Clay grabbed onto her hand, and she sent him a soft smile.

"She was really kind and funny. I liked her from the first time I saw her." Justin answered the lawyer. "We only had one real date, but it- it was nice." Elizabeth did not know what he meant when he said real date. Had they done things any other time? "I walked her home, and then I went home. But, I couldn't sleep." He looked down at his hands. "I had gotten in a fight with my mom's boyfriend."

Justin looked back up and made direct eye contact with Elizabeth. He was about to say things that Elizabeth had no idea about. "I texted Hannah, and she told me to come over. She just let me sleep there all night. She slept on her own floor." He furrowed his eyebrows. "I saw Bryce the next morning, and he knew I was not coming from my house. I knew he wouldn't leave it alone; I knew I'd have to tell him something." He sighed. "I don't know why that was more important to me than doing right by Hannah."

"Because you were an asshole then." Elizabeth mumbled under her breath, causing her brother to chuckle.

"I wanted him to think I was more than I was." Justin stopped for a minute before continuing. "Maybe Bryce sent it around because he was jealous, or maybe because he's just cruel. I don't know." Justin shook his head before looking the lawyer directly in the eyes. "I don't know why people send around photos like that. Bryce did shi- stuff like that all the time."

The lawyer decided it was time to change the subject. "So, at Jessica Davis's party at the beginning of junior year, Elizabeth Jensen left you to guard Jessica's bedroom door because she was passed out in there and Elizabeth was going to get her water?"

Justin nodded. "Then Bryce came up to me and said he wanted to check on her, and I didn't think anything of it. He went into the room." Elizabeth looked down at her hands. If she hadn't left Jessica alone that night, none of this would have happened. "A few moments later, I heard some weird noises coming from inside, so I went into her room. Jessica was passed out, and Bryce was standing over her, and his- uh- his pants were unzipped. She had her panties off, and she wasn't moving. Her eyes were closed. It was like she was dead." Justin looked over at Elizabeth. She knew the pain it was giving him to relive these moments. "I tried to pull him off of her, but he pushed me out of the room and locked the door. Then, I found Elizabeth, and we left."

"Did you think of calling the police or calling for help?" The lawyer asked him.

"I did." Justin nodded. "But I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"I don't know." He shook this head. "Afraid of losing my best friend. My girlfriend. My entire life." He scoffed. "Which I guess I already lost. I'll regret this forever.

*

It was time for the attorney for the school to ask Justin questions. "So, you were intoxicated at this party. Is that correct?" Justin nodded in response. "And you would regularly get drunk at parties, isn't that true?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"And you're a habitual user of heroine, isn't that correct?"

Elizabeth tried to stand up to scream at the woman, but Clay held her down. The attorney defending Mrs. Baker spoke. "Objection. Relevance?"

"Goes to capacity and reliability, your honor." The lawyer smirked as she spoke to the judge.

"Overruled."

"Justin, you're a heroin addict, isn't that correct?" The lawyer returned to her previously asked questioned.

"I wasn't then. I'm in recovery." Justin explained to her.

"And you never saw Bryce and Jessica during intercourse, correct?"

"I heard- uh- noises." Justin stammered.

"Noises that could have been the sounds of two very drunk teenagers having sex?" Elizabeth hated this woman. The way she turned everyone's words against them was despicable.

"No, she was passed out. She couldn't speak."

"She was passed out when Elizabeth had left her, yes?"

Justin nodded. "She had literally just left the room."

"And, when you entered the room, you saw Bryce standing over her, not on top of her, correct?"

"No, but he shoved me out-"

"Mr. Foley, isn't it true that you never saw Bryce assault anyone?"  The lawyer crossed her arms over her chest. "Isn't it true that you just concocted this rape story to get back at Bryce for what he did with your girlfriend?" Both Elizabeth and Justin had wide eyes. The lawyer turned to motion towards Elizabeth.

Justin's eyebrows furrowed. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Earlier at that party." The lawyer moved closer to Justin. "Bryce told the jury that your girlfriend had been begging him to have sex with her before you even got to that party."

Justin looked over at Elizabeth, who shook her head, trying to say it wasn't true. "That's not true." Justin frowned as he kept his eyes on Elizabeth. "Eliza loved me."

"Are you sure about that?"

"What does this have to do with Jessica or Hannah?" Justin snapped at the lawyer. "Bryce raped Jessica. I'm telling the truth."

*

Elizabeth had drove Justin home from the trial, and she could tell that he did not think that it went well. They walked up to her room, and she grabbed his hands. "You did great."

"No, I didn't. I let Hannah down." Justin pulled his hands away, and turned away from her. "And I let you down."

"Hey, you didn't not let me down." She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, and leaned her head against his back. "Justin, look at me." He slowly turned to face her. "You could never let me down." Tears started to run down Justin's face, and Elizabeth pulled him into a hug. "I love you so much, okay?"  Justin looked down at the ground. "And Bryce lied about me. Nothing happened at the party between Bryce and I."

"I know."

*

Because of the way everyone could tell that the jury was not believing his story, Jessica and Justin decided to go to the police.

So, there, at the police station, sat Courtney Crimsen, Alex Standall, Zach Dempsey, Ryan Shaver, Tony Padilla, and Clay and Elizabeth Jensen. They were all waiting for Justin and Jessica, but mostly for Jessica. They had all grouped together to be there for her while she spoke up. Justin came out of the room where the police questioned him and sat down next to Elizabeth. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

Then, Jessica came out with her parents, and everyone stood up. She had tears running down her cheeks. Elizabeth ran up to her and hugged her. "I'm so fucking proud of you, Jess. You're the absolute strongest person I know." She whispered to her. Jessica hugged her tighter and sighed.

*

Days later, most everyone in town sat in the courtroom, waiting to hear the jury's report. When they finally came in, they pronounced the school to be not guilty. Elizabeth was shocked. She could not believe that after everything that was said in Hannah's defense, the school still got away with everything.

When everyone left the room, people and reporters were gathered outside listening to Hannah's mother speak. Elizabeth heard a voice from about twenty feet behind her that was too familiar. She turned to see Bryce speaking with his father. "Fuck Bryce." Elizabeth spat as Justin turned around too. He intertwined his hand with hers.

Suddenly, Bryce was surrounded by a few police officers. "Bryce Walker, you are under arrest for felony sexual assault." Elizabeth looked over at Jessica, and smiled. He was finally going to get what he deserved.

They pushed him through the crowd, but he tried to stop when he got to Jessica. "You're making a big fucking mistake." He spat at her.

"Justin Foley, you're under arrest as an accessory to felony sexual assault."

"What the fuck." Elizabeth's eyes widened as she watched the police officers grab Justin.
They started to bring him to the door, but Elizabeth tried to chase after him. "No, please stop!" She shouted at them. Tears rushed down her cheeks.

"No, 'Liza, it's okay." Justin slightly turned to her. "It's okay." He nodded softly before being pushed into the police car.

Elizabeth ran back up to her mother. "They arrested Justin."

"I know, honey."

"What?"

"Justin knew that was a risk going on record about what happened." Elizabeth's mother explained to her, wiping the tears from her cheeks, but they were just replaced with new ones.

"Mom, I love him so much." Elizabeth looked back at the police car. "We have to help him. Please, mom."

"We will." She nodded, pulling her daughter into a hug. "I promise."

Rewritten
Word Count - 1701

An: Sorry I didn't update last night! But, I'll do two today!!

Have a nice day, lovelies 💕