"What the hell do you mean!" Alma yelled at her uncle. Instead of going to the police station, she ended up just going to her uncle instead before making the report.

"Alma, i'm sorry." he apologized to her slowly. "But if there isn't any way you can prove he took the condom off, then there isn't anything we can do."

"What about my voice? I'm telling you! Can't you just believe me!" she yelled. Her voice dripped of agony. After the trauma of getting an abortion hit her, all the panic and thought of having something sexual done without her consent, that ended with her in an abortion clinics with that trauma, every single god damn emotion hit Alma. All she wanted to do was cry, leave her body even.

"I believe you." her uncle reassured her with a shake of his head. "But the system-"

"Is bullshit." Alma stared at him in disbelief. She stood up, ignoring his calls for her. Alma stopped out of his little apartment, hurrying down the stairs before her phone gave a small ding. Looking down, she sighed with a satisfying smile.

Fez texted, telling Alma he'd whipped any record of her at the clinic for her.

Alma gave a sigh in relief before leaning against the apartment building, going to her instagram page. Where she'd usually access her account, ready to expose Elliot and call him out, she was met with his pictures already. She hadn't posted it to her feed, no, she'd remember that. Someone had her password, or her phone, and did this on their own.

Whoever had posted the photo had Almas back. The hashtag was trending, surely being taken up by the police any day now. A video was attached to the hashtag, #putelliotaway on a poster board, six people infront of the police station chanting it. Alma didn't know what to feel. She cried, because he needed to be put away, but also because there'd been no possibly way for them to be able to do anything unless she spoke up, unless she let all of East Highland know that the victim had been her.

And then after that, what? Have people treat it differently because it's her? Have her mother find out? Go to court and be shot down because a white man with a good future is at stake? There was so many what ifs, too many risk, and Alma wasn't sure what she was ready for and what she thought yet. Elliot deserves to rot, sure, but was it worth her suffering in the process?

"Are you sure you're up for a clique school dance?" Ethan asked Alma honestly as she sat on his bed, dressed in her blue dress and waiting for him. "I mean, all things considered."

Alma shrugged. "Maybe it'll get my mind off of it."

"We could always totally skip it and just play video games again?" Ethan suggested, shrugging heavily with his tie. "Tops standing awkwardly in a corner with watered down punch."

Alma stood, her heels making her taller then him again. "Let's go for an hour just to get all the drama on everyone, then we leave."

Despite Ethan knowing the drama was for an anonymous, harmful, instagram page, he'd do anything for her. If this made her happy, then it made him happy. Besides, he still needed to play the part. No way could Alma know he'd been the one to put the picture up on her instagram, grabbing the password after leaving her phone in his car. Leaving her name out of it was always his intention, but if Alma knew, he didn't know how she'd reaction to it, despite no one knowing she was the girl people were protesting for.

"Did you see the news?" Ethan asked her as Alma fixed his tie. "The protest is getting bigger each day."

Alma frowned. "I know. I need to say something by now."

Ethan grabbed her arm. "You don't need to say anything at all. Not until you're ready, even if you never want to."

Alma met his eye, holding his face. Ethan let his head hang in her hands as she held his face. It felt like a moment, like maybe something was about to happen. Then Alma cut in. "Kats gonna be all over you again."

Moment ruined.

"Alma! Hey, Alma!" Jules calling the girl over after she saw them walk in. Ethan and Alma shared a look as he let her arm go, encouraging her to go. Alma hesitated, promising she'd only be a minute. Jules sat at a round table with Rue, Maddy, Kat, Laxi, and Cassie.

"Hey there." Rue greeted as she pulled the chair out.

"Hey, ladies." Alma spoke, sitting down. She saw Kats eyes go to Ethan, meeting Maddys eye as she looked at her.

Just as she expected the absolutely worst to come, Maddy blinked at her. "I like your makeup."

Almas sparkly blue eyelids and glossy lip not going unnoticed. Alma smiled. "I like yours too."

"What if these are, like, the big moments in life? I mean, my Mom always talks about how high school is this big moment of her life, but I can not imagine being forty and looking back at this like wow." Cassie pointed out while looked to all of them, Maddy laughed.

"Yeah, but that's because most people peak in high school." Maddy said as the girls all laughed.

"I definitely haven't peaked." Kat said with a shrug before Lexi spoke up next to her.

"I feel like i'm not even a person yet." Lexi said as Alma nodded along with her.

"I haven't even shown the world, like, at all who I actually am. Everyone just has this idea of me that isn't even true." Alma said honestly, earning guilty thoughts from a few people around the table.

"Yeah, i'm definitely at like 25% peakness." Cassie laughed at her own honesty.

"I feel like i'm at 100, but I can definitely get to 150." Jules said as she sipped the gatorade Maddy brought.

"Honestly, I never thought i'd make it this far." Rue spoke up, catching all their attentions.

"Rue." Alma frowned as she rubbed her back.

"What do you mean?" Cassie asked her as Rue sighed.

"I don't know, I guess i've always just had this overwhelming, anxiety something bad would happen." Rue said as she rose her eyebrows.

"In all fairness, last summer there was like three weeks were I thought you were dead." Maddy admitted, looking at the tall girl.

"Yeah but she's been sober for, like, three months." Jules said while grabbing Rues hand.

"Weren't you in rehab like six months ago?" Maddy asked as Alma held back a laugh, seemingly just looking adorable doing so.

"Ugh, no" Rue said with a grin.

"What if people care about high school because it's, like, the last time in their life that they can dream?" Cassie asked no one in particular.

"I think we just have this epic plan for the future and then it actually never goes the way we want." Alma admitted honestly with a long exhale.

"Points made." Rue agreed.

"After this, it's just jobs and bills and bad relationships. Maybe i'm generalizing but I don't know, you guys get what I mean?" Cassie asked as Jules quickly spoke up.

"I don't know, I kinda feel the opposite. Feels like high school is super fucking suffocating." Jules spoke up as Maddy gave her a odd look.

"Really?" she questioned as the blonde nodded.

"I'll be right back" Jules said after her phone went off and she disappeared toward the bathroom.

"He looks like he has a mentally disorder and needs to be hospitalized." Alma glared at Nate, dancing with a blonde girl. Lexi had to agree with a point of her finger.

"Maddy don't." Kat tried to stop her but the latina already shot out of her seat and storming over.

"I guarantee you Maddy ain't gonna get married, probably divorced three times in some strange way and living some happy life." Kat said as they all watched the girl dance around with a guy she didn't seem to know, only a few feet from Nate.

"Yeah." Lexi agreed.

"Yeah." Cassie said right after.

"Yeah." Alma exhaled.

"Yeah." Rue said from next to her as well.

It didn't take Kat long to find Ethan. He met Almas eye, and despite what she was truly feeling, she encouraged him to go. A forced smile on her face, watching the pair walk off together. Maybe Alma could have stopped the kiss, the relationship, that was forming between Ethan and Kat if she didn't get the message just seconds before she nearly interfered.

Looking down at her phone, Alma stared at the message in her box.

Uncle:
I know a lawyer. If you want to fight this, i'm with you.

With the message was a video, hitting okay, Alma gapped. A mob of people stood outside of the police station, and in front of Elliot's house chanting to put him away. Not just a few, an entire community standing behind her. Alma took a deep breath as she watched the videos over and over again before hitting her uncles name once's more.

Alma:
I'm ready.

•

kylie speaks

god, i have so much planned
for alma fighting the justice
system in s2, this was the
entire reason i started this
book. the lack of justice for
sexual assault survivors is not
spoke out enough and i'm gonna
get into it so much more when s2 releases and show so much
of the reality of the system.
for now, i'm still obviously
rooting for alma and ethan!
i shall see you guys for s2, love
always.