Warning : Mentions of Sexual Assault and Suicide

Josie Saltzman sat on her bed, patiently waiting for Justin Foley to knock on her window. She stared down at the box of tapes sitting next to her and burst into tears. Over the past five minutes, she had been able to calm herself down, but it was obviously not permanent.

The girl jumped off of her bed when she heard tapping at her window. She opened it quickly, and Justin came inside of her room. "What's wrong?" He asked her, examining her face to figure out what happened. "Are you alright?" She shook her head, turning towards her bed. Josie motioned towards the box of tapes before covering her face with her hands. "Fuck. Do you believe her?"

"Why should I not?" Josie snapped her head back to the boy. "Did it actually happen?"

Justin shook his head. "I was with Jessica all night. I slept on her floor to make sure she was okay." He cupped Josie's cheeks, wiping away a few of her tears.

"I don't know if I should believe you." Josie let out a tiny gasp. "How do I know that you're telling the truth."

"I'm not going to lie to you, alright? And that's the exact same thing that I told Jessica when she heard the tapes." Josie nodded, glancing down at the ground. "Are you still made at me, Jo?"

Josie let out a scoff, returning her gaze back to him. "You slept with my sister because we got into one fight. Of course I'm still mad at you."

*

Josie spent the whole night listening to the last tapes. The tenth was for Sherri Holland, and how she killed Jeff Atkins by knocking down a stop sign. The eleventh was for Clay Jensen, telling him how much Hannah actually loved him. The twelfth was for Bryce Walker. He raped Hannah inside the hot tub on the night that Josie broke things off with Justin. And the thirteenth and final tape was made for Mr. Porter, the guidance counselor. He was Hannah's last hope, and he let her down. Just like the rest of them.

She barely had any time to sleep before school the next morning, and to be honest, she couldn't really sleep anyways. Josie made in her through the hallways of Liberty High School, silent. She stopped at her locker, opening it slowly before taking her books from inside and placing them into her backpack. "Did you finish listening to them?"

"What?" Josie turned to see Justin standing next to her, cautiously looking her up and down. She had been the one who worried him most about listening to the tapes.

"The tapes." The girl nodded. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head, letting out a sigh. "None of this is okay, Justin. A girl killed herself because of all of us."

"Are you going to pass it onto Sherri?"

"Yeah." Josie turned back to her locker, showing the box of tapes inside of her bag. "I'm going to drop them off at her house on my way home."

Justin nodded, placing his hand on her back. He noticed her flinch, and he removed his hand immediately. "I'm so sorry that you got caught up in all of this."

"It's not you're fault, is it?" Josie let out a scoff. "I mean, you are the one who's saying she's lying, right?"

He paused before looking at the ground. "Yeah. You're right."

"We just have to somehow get through this, okay?"

Josie glanced down the hallway, seeing Zach Dempsey staring at both her and Justin, and she let out a sigh. "He hates me, doesn't he?"

"No." Justin chuckled, shaking his head. "He hates me. And I don't blame him."

*

Private Message Between Jess👅 and Jo👀

Jess👅
Justin said you listened to the tapes last night?
You good?

Jo👀
No

Jess👅
I know it's a lot babe

Jo👀
Yeah

Jess👅
And I'm sorry that it got between you and Justin

Jo👀
What?

Jess👅
Well he just said that you two broke things off and he didn't want to talk about it so I just assumed that it was because of this

Jo👀
No
He slept with Lizzie after we got into one fight

Jess👅
Shit
He did not say anything about that
Is that why you and Lizzie haven't spoken at all to each other in over a month?

Jo👀
Yup

Jess👅
Honey I'm so sorry
He really cares about you tho

Jo👀
I don't care anymore