Her morning walking route to school brought her past Tony's and she waited for him outside. If it wasn't for her, he probably wouldn't ever come to school. She kept his attendance at least somewhat regular. As he came walking out the front door, Harper smiled. He pulled a small stack of papers from his backpack, one he only ever carried when he had something for her. Handing them over, Harper attempted to put them in her own backpack as they started walking. Tony only ever walked for her. It was sweet of him, really, but maybe she was taking advantage.

Harper paused and slid the papers in her backpack before asking, "Actually, do you think you could drive us today?" This caused Tony to stop in his tracks. Harper never wanted to take his car, no matter how many times he offered.

"You sure," he asked. Harper nodded. Why should it be him that always compromised for her?

"I could use the change," she said in confirmation of her choice.

"Alright, hop in," Tony replied, still a little baffled at her sudden change of heart. The drive to Liberty High was short, and the two made a bit of awkward small talk, Harper clearly not used to taking a car. It was strange for her, but not bad. Tony was a good driver.

After arriving at Liberty High, they parted with a hug. "Thanks for everything, Tony," Harper says in his ear.

"Yeah, no problem," he replied. This wasn't the Harper he'd known just several days ago. Something about her had changed, but maybe it wasn't a bad change, he thought to himself as he watched her walk away.

Harper passed the early part of her day catching up on her missed classwork and homework. She made quick work of most of it, while maintaining a sense of what was going on in her classes today. For anyone else the task may have been too difficult, but Harper excelled at multitasking.

When lunch finally came, Harper felt her stomach rumble. She'd forgotten she hadn't eaten breakfast this morning and the reminder was hitting her full force now. She went to grab some food before spotting Clay sitting alone at the far table. "Sorry for flaking on you yesterday," she said in greeting, causing him to look up at her. "I was sort of having an off day.

Harper took a seat across from him. "No, yeah, I get it," Clay told her. "I have those too, especially since…"

"Right," Harper said, neither of them needing to say her name. They both knew exactly what he meant.

Harper ate a few bites as their conversation dissolved into an uncomfortable silence. She noticed that Clay had his bag next to him, and was keeping it oddly close as if he thought it would be stolen or something. The realization hit her in an instant. He must have the tapes. She had no idea how far he was, and thought it best not to bring them up at all. There's no telling who may be listening and overhear something they shouldn't.

It was clear Harper wasn't making much traction on starting a friendship with Clay, but she didn't really expect to be best friends overnight. That wasn't really what either of them needed from each other. "Look," Harper began, finally breaking their silence, "I know we haven't spoken much in all the years we've gone to the same school, and I don't expect that to change now just because of one lunch, but if you ever need to talk about Hannah, I'll always listen."

Clay opened his mouth to reply, but found himself momentarily floundering. "I, uh, yeah, thanks. Same—same to you. You know, if you ever need to talk."

"Thanks, Clay. And I mean it. If you ever need anything, you can come to me." He nodded and the two of them finished their lunch in quietness, only the indistinct conversations of people around them keeping it from being completely silent again. Harper left the cafeteria thinking it may not have been much, but an effort had been made. She'd just have to wait and see where it went from there.

Caught up on most of her missed work from the day before, Harper was feeling good about her upcoming driving test. It was scheduled for an hour after school in the empty school parking lot. All she had to do was wait it out and she could cross the last thing off her to do list for the day.

The hour's wait after school felt like it dragged on for much longer than sixty minutes. Harper sat out on a bench looking out at the parking lot as car after car left and emptied the place. Finally, with a glance at her phone, Harper realized it was time. Her driving instructor pulled up a minute or two late and got out of the car. "Ready, Cassidy," he asked, referring to her by her last name. She hated that, but she supposed it came with being a coach. What sport exactly he coached at Liberty wasn't coming to her, but she didn't much care either. She just wanted to get this done and over with.

Harper got in the car, adjusting to the idea, as she'd done with being in Tony's car just that morning. It still felt somewhat foreign to her. She'd had lessons, of course, but she didn't think she'd ever stop preferring using her own two feet to get around.

Besides a static old eighties radio station and the scribbling of pencil on a paper attached to a clipboard, this test went as quietly as most of her day had gone. As she pulled the car to a stop she heard, "Congratulations, Miss Cassidy. You passed."

Harper kindly thanked the instructor and got out of the car, opening the back door to grab her things. When she reached for her backpack, she noticed a balled up piece of paper on the floor. Thinking perhaps it fell out of her things, she picked it up and stuffed it inside. If it turned out not to be hers, she could at the very least throw it away.

Beginning her walk back towards home, Harper had a bounce to her step. She felt good for the first time in a while. She'd accomplished so much today, and she planned to keep up her good work. But right now in particular she wanted someone to share her good news with. Tony, she knew, would be busy at this time of day, so she went to the next person on her list that she knew would care. Olivia Baker.