"Holy shit!" Justin Foley laughed as him and Clay and Elizabeth Jensen all opened iPhone 11 boxes on Christmas morning. Lainie and Matt Jensen both sent him a look. "Sorry, but these are the brand new ones!"

Lainie giggled as she nodded. "They're pre-loaded with all the hot apps. I had a Mac Genius help me."

"Merry Christmas." Matt smiled at his kids.

Justin wrapped his arm around Elizabeth, pulling her closer towards him. "Thank you, guys. Merry Christmas." He smiled before pressing a kiss on Elizabeth's forehead.

"Yeah, thanks mom. Dad." Elizabeth giggled as she took Justin's hand and looked down at it. She began to trace his veins with her thumb.

"You guys really went all out." Clay stated, sounding unimpressed, but he recently never sounded impressed.

Lainie leaned against her husband as he began to speak. "Well, it was Justin's first holiday with us, so..."

"And now we're broke, so that's it till college." Lainie shrugged.

Matt's eyes widened as he stood up. "Actually, there is one more thing." He grabbed a wrapped box that was behind the tree.

"Honey, we were on a budget."

"Oh, I know, I know." Matt nodded. "This is just a little surprise." He handed the box to Justin as he sat down.

Justin looked down at his girlfriend and raised his eyebrows excitedly. He started to unwrap the present. It was a framed picture of the entire Jensen family including Justin. "Oh, is this the picture we took on Thanksgiving?" Clay spoke, leaning in to look at the photo.

"Yeah." Matt smiled. "It turned out pretty good, right? Given everything."

"Uh- I love it." Justin chuckled as he looked up at his adopted family.

Lanie tapped Clay's knee. "As requested, a picture of the five of us." Clay nodded in response.

"Let's go find a place to put it." Matt stood back up, taking the picture with him. Elizabeth, Justin, and Lainie followed close behind him, with Clay taking a little bit longer to get up. Matt made his way towards the fireplace to put up the picture.

Elizabeth turned around to see her broth gripping the table and looking as if he were going to pass out. "Clay, you good?" She questioned, making her way over towards him. Justin turned around and followed his girlfriend, placing his hand on Clay's shoulder.

Clay stood straight up and looked around. He nodded. "Yeah, no... I'm fine. I- uh- I think I just stood up too fast."

*

The day after winter break ended, the three Jensen were walking through the parking lot and met up with Jessica and Ani. Ani gave her boyfriend a hug. "So, is everything with Tyler still good?" Jessica questioned Clay as they made their way up the entrance to Liberty High School.

"Yeah." Clay nodded. "I spoke to him every day over break. The story hadn't changed."

"What does Alex say?" She continued. "Does his dad think that..." She stopped talking when she noticed a line of teenagers waiting to get into the school.

Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows. "What the hell?"

When the five teenagers reached the front of the line, they stepped into the school and were greeted by a police officer. "All right. Got ahead, step through. Backpacks on the table, please." Elizabeth looked up and saw students being herded through a walk through metal detector.

Jessica frowned. "What the actual fuck?"

Clay stepped closer towards Jessica and lowered his voice. "Don't lose your shit."

She looked up at him and shrugged. "I haven't lost it yet, have I?"

Elizabeth set her bag down on the table and stepped through the detector with Justin behind her. They were both cleared. Clay walked through and was cleared. Jessica followed close behind him with her backpack on her back. The detector went off. "Backpack on the table, please." The officer spat.

Jessica threw her bag onto the table. "Knock yourself off."

The officer ran the hand held metal detector across her bag, and nothing. He ran the detector across Jessica's body, and it went off around her breasts. Jessica scoffed. "Please step aside for a screening."

"It's probably the metal wire in my bra."

"We'll see." Jessica just stared at him. "Step aside for a pat-down."

She raised her eyebrows. "I sure as shit hope you have a female officer to do it, because you and your boys aren't putting that anywhere near my body."

The officer shook his head. "Young lady, step aside now."

Jessica rolled her eyes and grabbed her backpack. "Whatever." She spoke as she walked away.

"Hey! Get back here!" Jessica responded to the officer by raising her middle finger.

*

"So, Bolan did reprimand you?" Ani asked as her, Jessica, and Elizabeth sat together at the booth for Hands off at the Future Fair.

"He literally just wanted to chat?" Elizabeth let out a scoff, rolling her eyes.

Jessica nodded. "Crazy, right?"

Ani furrowed her eyebrows. "He didn't ask you for anything or to do anything? Or not do?"

The girl shook her head. "No. Nothing."

Elizabeth nodded awkwardly as she at the fifty kids who were in the cafeteria. "Good turnout, huh?"

"Is it?" Ani chuckled, having expected there to be more students there. Ani's eyes widened as she noticed a kid named Winston Williams, who had gone to Hillcrest with Bryce. "I'll be right back." She stated before standing up and leaving the booth.

Elizabeth watched the girl leave out of confusion. "Do you have any idea what that is about." She asked Jessica.

"No idea." Jessica shook her head.

A girl Elizabeth had seen around the school approached the table. "Hi- uh- I'm Estella." The girl spoke to the two seniors. She was Estella De La Cruz, Montgomery De La Cruz's little sister.

"I know who you are." Jessica nodded.

"I just wanted to say I really admire what you're doing." Estella had a small smile across her face as she spoke. "Trying to change the culture of the school?"

"Oh.." Jessica scooted her chair closer towards Elizabeth. "Thanks." 

Estella nodded. "I know you've been through some shit, and you're so strong." She looked down at her feet and then back up at the two girls. "I guess I'm just asking if I can join HO." Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows, cocking her head to the side. "And I know because of everything, it's really complicated, but I'd like to join. If that's okay with you?"

"Of course." Jessica was still trying to understand what was happening as she began to talk. "Of course you can join. It's a safe space for everyone."

"Go on and sign your name." Elizabeth motioned to the sign up paper with a smile on her face. Estella nodded as she began to sign her name. Her phone buzzed, and she looked down. It was a text from Justin telling her to meet him in the biology lab. "I'll be right back, Jess." She stood up and left the cafeteria, making her way into the empty biology lab. She saw Justin standing with a large packet of papers in his hands. "What's up?" She asked him as she closed the door behind her. "What's that?" She pointed to the papers in his hands.

Justin let out a sigh as he walked over towards his girlfriend. "It's from Dr. Singh. I guess she heard that there's an admissions officer that's interested in me."

She looked down and saw the logo for Occidental College in Las Angeles on the papers. "At Occidental?" She smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. "That's amazing. I'm so happy for you."

"Yeah." Justin nodded as he pulled away from the hug. "They liked my essay. I guess if you have, like, life circumstances and a good story or whatever." Elizabeth took the papers from him and began to read. "So, we kind of talked about what would happen next year a few months ago, but we never really finished." The girl nodded, listening to him. "I would really like us to be together next year."

Elizabeth looked at him and smiled. "So, you want me to apply?"

Justin nodded. "I mean, I'm probably not going to get in, but we can apply to some other ones, too." The girl smiled as she pressed her lips against Justins. His hands landed on her waist as he pulled away. "Is that a yes?"

"It's a hell yeah." She giggled. "I don't want us to be apart for the next few years." Justin chuckled before hugging his girlfriend again.

*

The next morning, the Jensens sat at the breakfast table, and Matt and Lainie were staring at their son, who had a black eye from a fight he got in with the football team. "You expect us to believe you got that from an accident in gym class?"

"I have really back hand-eye coordination. You know this." Clay spoke as he swirled his cereal with his spoon.

Lainie looked over at the other two teenagers. "Elizabeth, Justin, were you two present for this sports-related injury?"

Clay looked up at the two of them and sent them glares. Elizabeth shook her head. Justin let out a sigh as he looked down at the table. "He got in a fight." Elizabeth's eyes widened as she looked up at her boyfriend. She had not expected him to tell the truth about Clay's black eye.

"Dude." Clay snapped.

"Who did you get in a fight with?" Matt questioned, crossing his arms over his chest.

Clay looked up at his parents. "No one."

"A few guys on the football team." Elizabeth stepped on Justin's foot after he spoke. "Ow!" He exclaimed, looking towards her. She was shooting him a glare.

'Why?" Matt asked.

"It was nothing. It was stupid. I didn't do anything."

"Really? Nothing?" Justin let out a scoff as he set his spoon on the table. Elizabeth began to hit her hand against her forehead. "Since when do you start the fight?" Clay just stared at Justin before shaking his head and leaving the table.

When Justin and Elizabeth finished their breakfast, they made their way up to Elizabeth's room. Elizabeth slammed the door behind her. "What the actual fuck was that? How many times has Clay saved your ass, and you just turn around and spill all of his secrets?"

"I don't want to lie to them anymore." Justin shook his head, sitting down on Elizabeth's bed. "They done so much for me, and I'm tired of disrespecting them like that."

Elizabeth sat down next to her boyfriend placing her hand on his knee. "I get that, but Clay really didn't want them to find out about the fight."

"Somethings up with Clay. I just know it."

"Something's always up with Clay."

"I know that, but I mean something new." Justin turned towards Elizabeth. "He's acting really weird."

Elizabeth shook her head. "He always acts weird."

"I know, but like extra weird."

"Okay." The girl nodded. "What do you want to do about it?" Justin shrugged in response.

Rewritten
Word Count - 1844

An: it literally took me almost forty minutes to find a good gif for this chapter. Also, I just realized that this story is going to be finished soon and that makes me really sad. I don't even remember when I started writing this because I took a lot of breaks in between updates, but I have always loved this story and Eliza. She's my bby.

Please vote and comment what you want to see in future chapters!

Have a nice day, lovelies 💕