I walk into my last period, Biology, i was scared that I would have all my classes with Scott as he was in all of my classes up to Lectures, but thank god he wasn't in my last two periods, and by the looks of it, he's not. "Please take out your notebooks," I'm sitting at the table alone, Jessica and Alex at the table next to me, thank god no one is sitting next to me, that is until the door opens, "Mr..." Mr Letterman asks for a name,

"uh, Reed." Jessica, Alex and i's eyes fly up to the boy who was standing awkwardly at the door. 

"Let's see... Scott Reed?"

He nods. 

"Good luck with that." Jessica teases as she sends a wink my way. "Well you're late, I hope this isn't a daily routine for you, Mr Reed." 

My eyes move back to my textbook. 

"Uh- it won't be I promise." Mr Letterman looks up. "Have a seat next to Miss Dempsey." He points to me, I huff and look up, meeting his patronizing beautiful eyes, he send a wink my way, a warm spread goes through my cheeks as I embarrassingly lower my head fidgeting with my hands. 

"Ooooh" Jessica and Alex tease. I playfully smack them and shake my head. I giggle as the boy sits next to me. Letterman starts talking, 

"you think it's fate?" He asks, but doesn't quite turn to me. He knows I know he's talking to me. 

"what?" My eyebrows furrow together. 

"I mean we have 5 out of the 7 classes together." he states. 

I shrug. "I don't know.-" I get cut off by the bell ringing. "Bye Scott." I wave him off as I throw my backpack over my shoulder and walk out into the hall, soon being joined by a giggling girl.

 "What?" I giggle as she catches up to me so she's now standing next to me. "You and Scott, eh?"

I roll my eyes. "Look, just because I said he was cute doesn't mean i have a crush or anything." i lie.

She sighs. "So that's why he was looking at you any chance he could get?" she questions, I roll my eyes once more. 

"He was not looking at me."

 She shakes her heads. "Rae, he was staring at you like you were the only girl he's ever seen." Jessica giggles again. 

"Oh just shut up."

Clay and I were walking into school when Zach comes running up to us. "hey! Clay!" He shouts,

"Hello to you too, brother." I say, 

"Funny." He gives me a deadpanned look. 

I chuckle, he rolls his eyes and ignores me. 

"You went to court this morning?" He asks Clay. 

"Yeah. I couldn't take Tyler's lies, so i left."

"What happened? Court?" They look at me. 

"Shit." They both mumble under their breaths. "uh.. we'll tell you later." Zach says, i roll my eyes.

I go to my locker, I open it, but i hear a locker door slam behind me, i turn to see Tyler, Monty, Bryce and Scott. 

Scott has an arm holding him up on the locker, Monty next to him, Bryce's face inches away from Tyler's, 

"The hell?" Tyler starts. 

"I never laid a hand on you." Bryce states. "Never. I saw the other guys fucking with you, i told them to back off." He says. "so why are you talking about me in court?" 

Scott takes his arm off the locker, making quick eye contact with me, assuming he doesn't know that my locker is right across from Tylers. He looks away from me quickly.

"Jesus, how did you know that already? Did Clay tell you?" Bryce shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "Nevermind, just tell me why you talked,"

"Cause your little darkroom threat doesnt scare me," Tyler spat back.

 "What 'Darkroom threat'?" Bryce questions.

"You can fuck with me all you want, i don't care, you'll pay." Tyler replies, Montgomery makes a mocking face at Tyler, Mr Porter comes up behind them. 

"Mr Walker," He starts, They all lay off and sigh, they turn around. Scott looks at me once more, just this time, longer. I grab my stuff and I walk up to Tyler. "Listen, if uh.. if Bryce hassles you again, you come and tell me, And i want you in my new special skills class," Mr Porter tells him, Tyler closes the locker door and turns to face Mr Porter, 

"No thank you." 

He tells, "It's not optional, I spoke to your folks, you can start tomorrow," He continues before walking away, Tyler turns around and sees me. 

"Hey.." I start, he gives me a glare. 

"Did you enjoy the show?"

"I came over here to see if you were okay, actually," I scoff, leaning against the locker. 

"Why would you want to see if i was okay? You're Zach Dempsey's sister," he states, I roll my eyes.

"Okay? Being Zach's sister doesn't make me any less of a decent human being."  I scold. 

"Right," He says, trying to walk away, i grab his arm.

"Look, I just wanted to see if you were okay, if you need help with anything, im always here.. to talk, study, i dont know,"

He turns to look at me, "Why?"

I shrug. I don't actually know why. But I can tell he's struggling and I want to be there for him if it helps at all.

I walk to Clay to see him opening his locker, "Hey!" I run up to him, a wide smile on my face. 

"Oh, hey, Rae." He says, and he even gives me a slight smile. As he open his locker a polaroid flies out of it, we both look down at it, its a picture of a very drunk girl with another boy, not sure who.. and Clay flips over the polaroid and theres a piece of duct tape and in blue marker it says 'HANNAH WASNT THE ONLY ONE' 

"What the hell?" I look at the picture. "The only one? What happened with Hannah?" 

He ignores me and looks around him, i do the same, we see Scott at his locker, looking our direction.

 "what's going on, Clay?" i question, Scott looks down at the polaroid and closes his locker as he tightens his grip on his backpack and he walks away, Clay rushes to put the polaroid in his backpack pocket, He closes his locker and walks away, i follow after him, still waiting for an answer, Tony comes up behind us. 

"Hey Tony," Clay sighs, 

"Hey," I sigh aswell, 

"what the hell, man?" Tony snaps, "you told me the case was gonna settle," He continues.

"are you guys gonna tell me why the hell you guys went to court?" I sigh, 

"We thought it was," Clay scoffs, completely ignoring me. 

"Well, they called me to testify," Tony responds.

 "Why are you guys testifying, again?" 

no response.

 "I-I wouldnt worry about it," Clay starts, "The Bakers know you did what Hannah asked,"

"What are you guys talking about? And Hannah, the Bakers? What are you guys not telling me?"

"Look, youll find out, we just cant tell you right now," Tony turns back finally speaking to me and acknowledging my presence.

 I scoff, "I'll find out? Why can't you just tell me?" 

"The Bakers didnt call me, the school did, why?" Tony asks Clay, aaand they back to ignoring me. 

"I dont know." Clay tells him, what the hell is going on? "my mom said each calls whoever they think will help tell their version of the story,"

"How am I a part of the schools story?"

I go to the field, where I was going before just quicker now that I dont have Clay and Tony walking slowly infront of me, im trying to get there cause thats where I was told Mr Porter was right now, I walk out and the coach, Mr Porter and the baseball team are all sitting in their little shed, i walk on to the field, making my way over to the outhouse their all in, "So we live in an 'affirmative' consent state." perfect, my day could not get any worse now I have to sit through the baseball coach giving the baseball team a consent talk. "That means you must have an actual affirmative, from your sexual partner in order to engage in an intercourse," He starts. "Silence or lack of resistance does not demonstrate consent," I finally reach the outhouse and i stop as i go over to where Mr Porter is standing, "Just wait til this is over and we can talk," He whispers to me, I nod, I look over and see practically all the boys staring at me, they look bored as fuck, i chuckle and i roll my eyes, they all look away, except Zach and .. Scott, Zach gives me a 'what are you doing here' look, Scott and I just lock eyes before he shyly looks away, "Consent must be given in words or actions," He says, looking up from his clipboard, I see Scott relax in his seat on the bench, "does a scream count?" he smirks, i glare at him, my eyes full of disgust, he notices by looking up at me, his smirk quickly fades as the rest of the team other than Zach chuckles, "you wanna be a comedian, Mr Reed? Or do you wanna play ball this year?" Scotts eyes quickly turn to Mr Porter, his eyes full of disbelief and disgust aswell, "Cause i can arrange you to take the season off,"

Scott looks away from him, "I didnt think so." Mr Porter finishes, "Right." The coach says before going over affirmative consent again, I lean against the outhouse wall as I wait for him to be done, finally he is, the players all run out to the field as i talk to Mr Porter, I just needed to ask him about some grades and those sort of things, since im done I go over to the track field where cheer practice was, Jess is practically forcing me to join, they all give Jess a warm 'welcome back' hug as I walk with her awkwardly to the rest of the squad, not sure what to do with Jess back, I had to do the cheer squad alone once Jess left but it was okay, she needed a break, "Jess and Rae!" Chloe exclaims, "Hey Chloe," Jess and I both say, "Jess its so good to have you back! Just in time, we're starting our routining for summer competitions," She exclaims, "And I want you to be a flyer," She has got to be kidding me, "Wait, wait, what?" i ask, "I thought I was supposed to be-"

"You have the athleticism and focus." Chloe cuts me off,

"this bitch," I mumble under my breath,

"And hey, its work but you're ready, right?"

"totally, im totally ready." Jessica says back, 

"all right, well lets start marking it out," Chloe says, we all make our way to the field, 

"You okay?" Jessica asks me, 

"yeah, yeah, im fine." I tell her,

 "Are you sure? I dont have to be flyer-" 

"No, its okay, Jess, You deserve it," I assure her, flashing her a small fake smile she nods, "5,6,7,8," Chloe counts as she claps, I'm backspotting for a blonde, who i dont care to learn her name, the two bases are on the side, i grip my hands around her ankles as we go up, i make sure shes up before moving my hands back to her ankles, 

"1,2,3,4," we do a twist basket toss, on 4, Jessica steps out on the side to observe what to do as she was gone for a few months.