A/N: ABOUT THE BATHROOM SCENE

So I put this story on hold until Season 2 came out so that I could make sure the stuff I said was accurate, but I am disgusted from what I learned. I will be continuing this story, but a few things will be different then how I planned. Not just because of Montgomery, but because of Zach/Hannah. Montgomery's actions in episode 13 were unforgivable and if Ophelia knew about them (or if she learns about them if this story continues to Season 2) then there is no way she would get back together with him. But seeing as that hasn't happened yet I will be writing this story with Season 1 Montgomery in mind.

There may be a few spoilers for Season 2 from this point of the story on. Especially when it comes to flashbacks from before Hannah died.

TW: Mentions of sexual assault

"You were really fucking drunk" Zach told her, "you were, like, wasted."

It was ironic for him to be saying that, seeing as he was laying drunk on her couch at that very moment. Montgomery had only just left, and she could still hear his tires screeching. He hadn't had any right to come over. Then again, neither did Zach. But she let him stay.

"So what? Everyone was drunk at Jessica's party" she said.

She was nervous. Actually-she was scared. Scared of what direction this was going in. Scared of what 'secret' Zach was about to tell her.

"You and Montgomery were sitting with Bryce-"

She flinched at the name.

"-and Justin, Marcus, and I were across from you."

She nodded, "Yeah."

"Well..."

He stopped.

"Well what, Zach? What the fuck happened that I don't remember."

She was scared he was going to tell her the same thing Jessica heard. She was terrified as soon as Bryce's name was mentioned.

"It's...I don't know, it's nothing really..."

No. He couldn't stop there. Not after saying that much. Ophelia's muscles began aching.

"Zach..." she breathed, "what happened?"

He kind of sighed. His reluctance infruriated her.

"Look, Monty what to go grab another drink, and you kind of...I don't know, you fell onto Bryce's lap."

A shutter went through her body. "What did he do, Zach?"

She still waited for him to say it. To say that horrid word.

'Rape.'

'You were raped, Ophelia.'

'Bryce raped you.'

"Zach, what the fuck did he do?" Ophelia screamed. She no longer cared about her sister waking up.

"Nothing!" Zach yelled back, "He wanted you to give him a blow job. But nothing happened. Monty showed up and nearly beat the shit out of him."

"He...He wanted me to what?"

"Nothing actually happened, Ophelia" he told her, "I just wanted you to remember that...Monty isn't the worst guy out there."

Zach recalled the words he said to Ophelia the other night.

'Monty isn't the worst guy out there.'

What the fuck was he thinking? Why would he say that to her, especially after hearing the tapes? Did he just want to watch her crawl back to him? Part of him wanted her to forgive Montgomery, because Montgomery was his friend, and he'd never seen him as heartbroken as those days at school when Ophelia wasn't by his side. That part must have taken over when he let out his drunk confession.

He had never seen Montgomery so serious until Ophelia left him, but then again, he apparently didn't know Montgomery as well as he thought anyways. He hoped what he heard about his friend was a lie, but as he sat there studying the way Montgomery interacted with Ophelia, he didn't think it was.

It was Zach's fault that Ophelia was at Bryce's house with them, and he knew this. He had basically given her a reason to forgive him. He had never seen Montgomery act like such a 'gentleman' before. He opened the doors for her, offered her something to drink every few minutes, and even kicked Alex off the Xbox so that Ophelia could play a round with him.

Zach could feel her resistance towards him breaking, and it was all his fault.

Alex, who sat next to Ophelia on the couch in Bryce's pool house, and was watching Montgomery casually rest his arm over Ophelia's shoulders, was having a harder time staying silent.

He remembered when he first heard the tapes. He couldn't believe Montgomery wasn't on them. But then again, Hannah didn't know what he knew...

Alex's leg was touching Ophelia's, and he could feel her body stiffen. Looking over, he saw Montgomery was whispering something to her.

"Hey!" Alex interrupted, "Pay attention to the game, man!"

Montgomery laughed, but he agreed. He pulled away from Ophelia and turned back to his game. He hadn't noticed the silence in the room.

"Monty" Justin suddenly started, "Why don't you and Bryce go on another beer run?"

Jessica sat next to Justin, and she wasn't hiding her angry looks from anyone. She had been glaring at Montgomery the entire time.

"Why me?" Montgomery asked.

"You and Bryce are the only one with your fake IDs on you right now."

Bryce let out a laugh. He sat at the table in the pool house, sipping on a beer as they spoke. "Is there a reason I need to babysit him?"

Justin rolled his eyes. "You trust him not to fuck up the order?"

"Fuck you!" Montgomery yelled.

He didn't look like he planned on moving, so Alex paused the game.

"Come on man, just do the fucking run" Alex told him.

Montgomery let out an annoyed sigh. "Fuck you guys." He jumped to his feet, and then turned around to face Ophelia. "Let's go."

She stayed in her spot. "I'll just stay here."

"The fuck are you talking about? Come with us" Montgomery started.

Justin butted in. "She looks like a fucking fifteen year old, Monty. They're not going to sell you beer with her there."

"She doesn't need to be twenty one, dumbass. Just me and Bryce do."

"Yeah and you'd be the dumbass twenty one year old dating the fifteen year old." Justin flung his arm toward the door. "Would you just fucking go already?"

"Jesus, Justin, would you give me a fucking second" he snapped. Montgomery looked back at Ophelia. "Just come with us."

Ophelia shared a quick glance with Justin. He shook his head.

"Just be quick" she told Montgomery, "I'll be waiting right here for you."

'I'll be waiting for you.'

That must have eased him, because she could see him become more relaxed.

She smiled at him. "Can you get me a coke while you're there?"

He smiled back at her, a genuine smile that she hadn't seen in a while. "Yeah, of course. We'll be right back."

"Let's go, dumbass!" Bryce yelled out at him.

Ophelia watched him go. She smiled, subconsciously. She hadn't realized she was doing it until she heard Justin say sarcastically, "What a cute couple."

"Stop it" Jessica snapped, "Why the fuck are you guys still hanging out with him?"

Ophelia wished they wouldn't start up on this topic.

"Why not?" Justin said, "Hannah decides she wants to exaggerate some things that happened to her, and you decide I should drop one of my best friends over it?"

"I'm not talking about what he did to fucking Hannah!" Jessica yelled at him, "I'm talking about what he did to Ophelia! Did you see him? He didn't want to leave her alone with us."

Ophelia stayed silent, staring at her hands in her lap. She tried to pretend she wasn't hearing them talking about her. She tried to pretend she didn't come to the pool house. Alex noticed her discomfort, and tried his best to change the subject.

"What about Bryce?" Alex asked, "What are you doing about him?"

Jessica rolled her eyes at him. "It's different. She made up the thing about Bryce. I believe everything I heard about Montgomery. You guys know how he gets."

Marcus, who decided to stay silent until now said, "That's not our fucking call. And that's not why we're here. We're here to talk about Clay. He has the tapes."

Justin smirked. "You can let me and Zach take care of him."

"Woah, Woah, what are you planning on doing with him?" Zach asked. He stood and crossed his arms. "I don't want to hurt him."

Justin's face turned more serious. "You want him to go to the fucking police, Dempsey?"

"No, I don't want him to go to the fucking police. I think we should include him in our meeting. Make him understand."

This caught Ophelia's attention. She spoke up. "What meetings?"

"We meet every time a new person gets the tapes"Justin said, "Not like you would fucking know. You haven't fucking been here."

Zach was quick to come to her defense. "Neither has Sheri. Or Courtney."

Ophelia wondered why she had to come if neither of the other girls did. She wondered if Clay would actually come to these 'meetings'. And if Clay refused to go, should she?

"Clay won't say anything" Marcus said, "I doubt he'd risk saying anything that would make Hannah look like a slut."

Jessica's head snapped his way. "What tape is that exactly?"

"Most of them" he said, "especially the ones with Bryce."

Jessica scoffed, "Come on-"

"He's right, Jess" Justin said, "She seems desperate."

Zach nodded, continuing his towering stance. "And if we convinced Clay that it's in all of our best interests to keep it quiet, I'm sure he'd stay quiet."

Marcus spoke again. "I need this to go away. If it gets out, there goes my chances at Harvard."

Justin let out an annoyed groan.

"There you go with fucking Harvard again" he said, "If these tapes get out, and someone actually believes them, some of us could go to jail."

Marcus huffed and gave an angered reply. But Zach's attention was taken away from them as he heard Ophelia's phone go off. He looked towards her, and noticed Alex and Jessica did the same. Ophelia looked down at her messages, smiled, and then replied. He bit his tongue. But then the phone went off again, and then a third time. He wondered who she could be talking to that would make her smile like that.

When it went off a fourth time he asked, "Who the fuck is that?"

He spoke too angrily, and he watched her flinch at his tone. It wasn't Zach's fault his voice was deep and intimidating.

Ophelia was startled, and for a moment scared, like she had just been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing.

"No one" she answered quickly. She put her phone on mute.

Zach made eye contact with Alex, who was still next to her, and was able to see her phone.

Alex sighed, "It was just Monty."

Ophelia looked angry with his answer, "What the hell, Alex?"

Alex shrugged, "It's true."

"Why is he texting you?" Jessica demanded.

Ophelia scoffed. "Guys, chill. He's just asking me if I want any gum or anything from the store."

She looked at her phone again, only to find another message.

'Omw back'

She frowned. There was nothing bad about that. Nothing mischievous. So why did she feel so guilty about it?

Because she broke up with him. And he's acting like it didn't happen. And now she's acting like it didn't happen. Because Montgomery is a bad person, and she's letting him get to her again.

"So this is all you do at the meetings?" Ophelia asked, "Just talk about which people you need to threaten?"

"Don't be fucking dramatic" Justin told her.

Ophelia almost laughed. "Dramatic? Hannah is dead because of us!"

Justin jumped up from his spot and quickly moved in front of Ophelia on the couch. He towered over her, not in a way meant to be threatening, but in a way that he could get his point across.

"Hannah is dead because she slit her wrists in a bathtub. No other reason."

Zach marched over and pushed Justin away from Ophelia. "Lay the fuck off."

Justin shook his head, "We know you have a little crush on her, Dempsey. You may see her as innocent, but I don't. Just because she regrets what she did doesn't mean her and her boyfriend won't have to face the consequences."

"She never said Montgomery's name" Ophelia told him, "He never had a tape. He's...he's not involved in all of this."

"Maybe he should be" Justin snapped, "Maybe we could get him to slap some sense into you."

Justin's words seemed to deflate her. The stress of the day, and the stress of the night before all caught up with her. She tried to hide her face as it contorted into an ugly expression, and she tried to close her eyes before anyone could see how red they were becoming. Justin was too much that day. Everything was too much that day. She couldn't help it when she started crying. She tried so hard not to, but she did. She felt so pathetic.

"Shit" Justin whispered.

Jessica almost slapped him, "Are you fucking kidding me, Justin?"

Jessica sat down next to her, and attempted to pull her friend into her arms. "I'm sorry, O. Justin is a fucking idiot."

Zach was stumbling for words, "Is-um-Do you think she's okay?"

"She's fucking crying you dumbass, how do you think she is?" Alex said.

Jessica continued to console her. But the damage had already been done.

By the time Montgomery got back to the pool house, she had calmed down, but she still demanded he took her home.

"Why?" Montgomery asked. He placed two six packs of beer on to the table.

"I just really need to be getting home" she got out.

Montgomery looked around. He noticed the hesitant looks of his friends.

"What happened?" He asked. He looked to Jessica suspiciously, who was still holding Ophelia in a gentle pose. "Did someone say something to you?"

"Monty-"

"What the fuck happened?" He asked again.

"I can take you" Jessica cut in.

"No!" Montgomery said quickly. His need for clarification left quickly as the thought of him being left behind hit him. "I'll take her."

Ophelia nodded, and left with him.

She muttered a quick "bye" before Montgomery put his arm around her and gestured her out.

Zach watched from the window as they left.

"Jeez, Zach, are you a stalker now?" Bryce joked.

"I'm just making sure they get out okay" Zach said, speaking in a tough tone. But his cheeks began reddening regardless.

The car ride over was silent, which was surprising to Ophelia. Montgomery was a natural class clown, and she couldn't believe he hadn't been making any comical comments. She also couldn't believe he hadn't invited one of his friends to come along. But then again, she was sure he valued this alone time.

The air was on too high, and Ophelia had goosebumps. She wouldn't say it out loud, though. She didn't want to say anything at all.

When they got to her house, he opened the car door for her, and then walked her up to her door.

"Can I..." Montgomery hesitated, "Can I come in?"

"I don't think thats a good idea" she said quickly.

He sighed. "Ophelia, what the fuck happened? I thought you were having a good time."

She searched for an excuse. "It's just too much. The pool house. Too many people."

Montgomery nodded like he understood, but she knew he didn't. He loved being around people. He loved his friends. He would do anything for them. It's who he relied on.

"Jessica said something, didn't she?"

Ophelia looked up at him. "No, Jessica was being nice."

"Did she tell you to break up with me?"

She shook her head, "Monty-"

"She's been talking about me to the boys. I heard her. Fucking bitch. She told Justin that he shouldn't let me talk to you. I fucking saw it on his phone."

She hated the direction this conversation was heading in, but she didn't know how to stop it. She decided just to let him vent for a moment.

"Like their relationship is so fucking perfect" he scoffed, "We're better than them. You know that, right? I've protected you when Justin couldn't protect her."

His statement shocked her. She wondered, did he know what happened to Jessica?

"Are you talking about...Jessica's party?"

"I'm talking about more than her fucking party" he said.

Ophelia took a step closer to him, and dropped her voice. Her parents weren't home yet, but she was still scared someone would hear.

"Zach told me that Bryce...he was going to make me do stuff..."

"He wanted you to suck his fucking dick" Montgomery said, continuing in his loud voice, not caring who heard. "I'm the one that stopped him."

Montgomery spoke in such a crude tone that it made her shudder.

"Zach told me that. Thank you."

"Are you best friends with Zach now?" He asked.

"No, Monty. Our families are friends-"

"He couldn't protect you like I could" Montgomery stated in a possessive tone. "He's a fucking pussy, O. He was sitting across from Bryce the whole party and he didn't do a goddamn thing."

Ophelia tried to register what he was saying. No way that was true. No way Zach would've sat back and done nothing.

"He would've if you hadn't come back" she tried to say. She felt a need to defend Zach.

He shook his head. "Ophelia, I left you alone for two second to go get a drink. I come back, your head is in Bryce's lap and his dick is half fucking out. If he wasn't shitfaced drunk I would have killed him. Not to mention Zach was just sitting back, watching the whole thing."

He stopped, and he seemed to be waiting for her to respond. But she didn't. She had nothing to say. There were no words that would process in her brain.

"But you don't have to worry about that" he told her, "You don't have to worry about anything. Especially this fucking lawsuit. Or anything to do with Hannah fucking Baker. Because I'll be with you the whole time and make sure nothing bad happens to you, got it?"

Montgomery smiled. It was so strange for Ophelia to see him smile after being told about such a disgusting thing. But he smiled, none the less, and he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.

Ophelia flinched, and seemed to come out of her shock.

"You can't do that!" She yelled at him, "We're not okay yet, Monty!"

"But we're getting there" he told her, smile still on his face. "Don't worry about getting a ride tomorrow, I'll come pick you up at seven, okay?"

She didn't tell him 'no'. She should have, but she couldn't.

Entering her home, she got a text from Zach.

'Hey, are you okay?'

Montgomery's words came back to her, and with them she received a burst of anger. Especially at the tall basketball player who 'sat by and watched'.

And with this anger, she deleted his contact.