Chapter 95

                                    

                                          
The evening that Clay was invited to have dinner with Tyler and his parents went pretty well. Small talk, as well as talk in general, came pretty easy, and there were no awkward pauses or uncomfortable moments between them. Topics varied, including school, current interests, Clay's family, as well as any plans for the near future. The Down boy's parents knew about the events of Halloween night and what happened to the 19-year-old to some extent, though they weren't clued in about every single little detail. However, that topic never popped up in conversation, and the Jensen teenager was happy about that, because he didn't want to darken the mood with that brutal event.
                          
As of right now, on a Saturday morning, Clay was at the mall with his sister and niece. Even though the boy sadly would not be taking on the role of Rudolph this year, due to his current state, the blue-eyed teen was still in a good, festive mood as he waited in a decent line with Allison and her daughter to see Santa Clause. Surprisingly, the line moved pretty quickly, and, soon enough, it was Harley's turn to sit on Santa's lap and get her picture with him. Unlike some toddlers, Harley really loved Santa Clause, and she wasn't afraid of him one bit, so she didn't go off or anything like that. The one-year-old smiled with excitement when it was her turn with the man in red, and Santa Clause even gave her a free gingerbread man cookie before she left as well.
                          
After seeing Santa Clause, Allison and Clay walked through the mall for a little while to get some gift idea insperation for Matt and Lainie, as well as anyone else they were looking to get presents for. As they walked around through the decently busy mall, Allison carried her daughter as she slowly snacked on the festive cookie that she had recieved from Santa Clause. The two siblings had been on top of things as they already had most of their Christmas shopping done. They mainly just had to find something for their parents now. While they were busy looking for gift ideas, Justin was back at the Jensen residents, helping Matt get the house decorated with Christmas lights. With his situation, Lainie had offered to wait and let her son help her decorate the inside of the house since he usually helped his father. 
                          
Once they got back home after a couple of hours, Clay and his mother set to work on decorating the interior with a bunch of festive things. Since the tree they bought yesterday was still bare, the two tackled that task first by decorating their Christmas tree with white lights and ornaments, topping it off with the traditional star at the very top of the tree. Once the tree was completely decorated, Clay helped his mother with other things, like placing some lit garland over the fireplace, along with stockings as well. On fireplace's mantle  sat a pair of silver reindeer, front and center to go along with the garland quite nicely. Resting beside the fireplace was a plastic reindeer that lit up too. Having extra garland, Lainie and Clay fixed it up so that the stair railing was neatly covered and lit by the festive decoration. Any main doorways on the main floor were outlined with strands of white lights as well. 
                          
After a few hours of decorating, everything was finally in place, making the house more festive inside and out. Though he missed helping his dad, Clay loved spending time helping his mother decorate the house just as much, and it showed as he smiled brightly to himself, satisfied with all of the work they had done together. Since the day had been swallowed up in seeing Santa, Christmas shopping, and getting the house finally decorated, the Jensen family, along with Ani and Amara all decided to have a late dinner together and end the night by watching a Christmas movie of their choosing. There was some debate between a couple of the festive movies, but, in the end, the classic Elf movie was victorious as it ended up being the movie that everyone agreed to watch together before calling it a night. 
                          
The next few days went by with not much happening. The investigation of Monty's death was still going on around town, but no leads had been made public yet, so the small town of Crestmont was pretty much left in the dark when it came to the progress police were making with the possible homicide that took place that horrible night. The days Clay worked, whether it be at the Crestmont theater with Hannah or at Monet's with Justin and Skye, were fairly easy-going for the Jensen teen. And, though he had been given the option to take some time off to recover a bit, the boy turned it down as working gave him something to do as well as a reason, besides school, to get out of the house rather than being on bed rest all day. Besides, Clay was someone who didn't want to disappoint, so, if he felt like he was capable of working his shifts, then that's just what the 19-year-old would do, no questions asked. 
                          
One Friday evening, after classes were done for the day, a pep rally was being held in the gymnasium. Despite "pep" being in the title, it was really anything but peppy. Over the last few months, Jessica had befriended some students, and they had started an anti rape group together. As of right now, Jessica was front and center as she stood at the podium in front of the crowd of students that had gathered. When Jessica ended her speech by saying that she was a survivor, the room fell silent for a few minutes. Soon enough, other girls stood up one-by-one, giving their names and saying that they were survivors too. Glancing around, Skye took a deep breath before standing up herself, giving her name and saying that she was a survivor. Sitting next to her, Clay glanced up at his friend, giving her a proud and supportive smile when she glanced down at him. The 19-year-old then stood up. "My name is Clay Jensen, and I'm a survivor." He said, eliciting a small smile and proud look from Jessica as she saw him. 
                          
"My name is Tyler Down, and I'm a survivor." Another male voice spoke up after a second, and Clay turned towards the direction it came from, seeing the tall photographer now standing up behind him. The blue-eyed teen smiled proudly at his friend, and the taller boy returned a small, flat smile in response. Following the first two, another male student, Robby, soon stood, giving his name and reciting the three-worded phrase. "My name is Justin Foley, and I'm a survivor." Another male student said, and everyone was equally as shocked to see that Justin Foley was standing now too. Though everyone was surprised by this, I think it's safe to say that Clay was shocked by this new information the most. 
                          
After the pep rally ended, Robby came up to Clay and Tyler who were talking. "Um, hey. It's Clay, right?" The boy asked, gaining their attention as they turned to face him. "Yeah, hey. Nice to meet you, Robby." Clay replied with a small smile. "Thank you for being the first. I mean, first guy to stand up." Robby spoke, stammering slightly with his words. "Yeah. I mean, for sure." Clay responded. "Do you guys think I could be a part of HO, too? Is that...allowed?" Robby asked curiously, refurring to the group that Jessica and a few other girls had started not too long ago.
                          
"Fuck, yeah!" Casey interjected as she was standing nearby. "It's more than allowed. Everybody's welcome at HO." She continued, coming between Clay and Tyler as she wrapped an arm around each of them. "Fucking everybody." She emphasized, gently tightening her grip around Tyler as she glanced up at him. "Even if some people were dicks to them in the beginning." She finished, apologizing to the taller boy about how she had treated him when he tagged along with Jessica to some of their meetings. "Some people are sorry." Casey added, still looking up at the Down boy as he met her gaze and smiled, nonverbally accepting her apology. 
                          
While friends met up and continued talking, Justin and Jessica came up to Clay and Tyler. The four friends talked amongst each other, mainly saying how proud they were of each other, among other things. Ani, Skye, and the others were busy talking to other students, but promised to catch up with everyone before they left school for the day since the pep rally had taken place after classes had wrapped up at the end of the day. As everyone was still talking, the gymnasium doors opened, gaining everybody's attention. "Clay Jensen!" Sheriff Daughtry said loudly as he and a few other officers entered the crowded gymnasium.
                          
"Clay Jensen, I have a warrant for your arrest for the murder of Montgomery de la Cruz." He proclaimed as he marched over to the teen who was about to be arrested yet again. "Turn around. Put your hands behind your back." Daughtry instructed before grabbing ahold of the teen's right arm and turning him around himself. The sheriff then proceeded to cuff the Jensen male as he read him his rights, the boy's friends helplessly watching as the other offercers held them back from doing anything. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you by the court." He said, placing his right hand on the boy's right shoulder as he finished his last sentence. "Let's go." Sheriff Daughtry said, turning Clay around again and escorting the cuffed teenager out of the gym, leaving his friends and everyone else behind in shock.
                          
Out of everyone, Justin was easily the most upset about this whole thing. The Foley teen knew how hard his brother has had it lately, and it just seemed like the poor kid couldn't catch a break, even with the holidays just around the corner. All the football player knew right now was that he was going to do anything he could to help his innocent brother get out of this one. Almost as soon as it happened, Clay's friends left the school in two groups. One group headed towards the Baker's residents to fill them in on what had just happened since Hannah has home sick with a cold for the last couple of days, and the others made their way towards the Jensen residents to unfortunately break the news to Matt and Lainie that their son had just been arrested for Monty's murder.