Justin had no clue what the hell was going on. He went to the bathroom to clear his head and when he got back, not only were there fresh tear tracks on Clay's face but everyone was freaking out.

"Clay? Clay! Jensen! What the hell is going on?" He yelled, watching Zach pull Cyrus and his sister away and into the crowd.

"You-you need to lock the doors and get somewhere safe." Clay said, he was swiveling around, his eyes cutting through the gym, his breathing fast and harsh.

"Why? Dammit Clay, tell me why!" Justin reached out with shaking hands and placed them on Clay's shoulders. He had never seen Clay this scared before, not when he was holding a gun to his own head, not a year ago when they were trying to scare him into giving up the tapes, not even when Justin was being carted away by the cops and Clay didn't know what was going on.

Clay stopped moving and looked back at Justin. Justin nearly flinched at the complete horror in his eyes. "Stay safe." Clay said before reaching up and squeezing Justin's hands.

Justin watched as Clay ran, ran towards the front door and left Justin to scramble, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. He wanted to run after Clay immediately, wanted to grab him and force him to tell Justin what was happening, why he needed to stay safe, what was it that he needed to stay safe from, but Clay had given him instructions.

Clay had trusted Justin to complete a task, so in turn, Justin had to trust Clay to handle himself.

"Justin!" He turned to find Jessica running towards him, she almost slipped and fell in her heels and bumped into about four people. Her hair was wild and her chest was heaving, which made sense considering she had probably run the length of the school gym while also trying not to run anyone over with her shoes.

"Justin, I already locked the back door and Zach and Alex are doing the side gym door."

"That leaves the front." He mumbled and while Justin didn't know what they were locking the doors for, he knew that they were trying to keep something out. They were trying to keep something out and Clay had just run right out those front doors.

Justin cursed and ran, swerving and dodging people with expert feet that could only have come from his years playing basketball and running late to class. When he got to the front door, instead of locking it, he sprinted out of it.

He immediately scanned the parking lot and sidewalk for Clay, wondering why he needed to go outside if they were just going to lock the doors.

When he finally saw him, his heart dropped. Clay had his back to him, facing Tyler Down, who was holding a giant machine gun in his hands.

Clay Jensen had a machine gun pointed at his throat and Justin couldn't do a thing about it.

Clay, who had given him a place to stay, who saved him, who helped him try to get clean, who had given him a family.

He was about to lose him forever. Justin would lose his brother before they even got the chance to be brothers. He would lose his new family,
and everything that actually mattered to him.

"Clay!" He yelled, desperation and fear pulling a raw scream from his throat.

Clay turned and suddenly that gun in Tyler's hands was pointed to him-them-Justin could vaguely hear Jessica's gasp from behind him.

"G-go back inside." Clay yelled. When Tyler moved again, leveling the gun Clay immediately moved in front of it.

"Go!"

"Jesus Clay." Justin exclaimed, dread pooling in his gut. He frantically pushed Jessica inside and shut the door behind him.

"W-what are we gonna do?" Jessica whimpered, looking up at Justin with huge, fearful brown eyes.

Justin looked into those eyes and made a decision. He had let her down once before, he would not do it again.

"We have to hide," Justin said, he could feel self hatred clawing at his chest, yanking at his feet telling him to go-go help him-but he couldn't.

"But Clay!"

"We need to-we have to trust him. If anyone can get Tyler to stop, it's him."

Justin wanted so badly to go and protect the boy who has been protecting him for who knows how long now. He wanted to fucking end Tyler Down for pointing that stupid fucking gun at his brother and threatening to hurt the Jensens and everyone else he loved.

But ultimately he didn't, because Justin Foley was a coward, who was much better at running away then showing that he cared.