"You want the aux, O?"

Ophelia glanced towards Montgomery in the drivers seat. He was holding out an auxiliary cord towards her.

"I'm good" she told him.

Montgomery shrugged, and handed it to Justin, who then put on hip hop. Justin turned the stereo on high, and she could feel the bass through her seat. She tightened her high ponytail. The wind coming into Montgomery's jeep caused her hair to whip back and fourth violently. She straightened her sunglasses, which were the only thing keeping her hair from flying into her eyeball.

Justin, who sat behind Montgomery, leaned up and began talking to him. But because of the loud music and wind, it was more like yelling.

"Hey man, you think I could crash at your house tonight?" Justin asked his friend, "Seth's in a real mood, man."

"Sorry" Montgomery told him, "I'm not even at my house tonight. My dad went on a fucking bender the other night. I dipped. Probably not going back for a few days."

This surprised Ophelia. He always called her when his dad went off on him. Yes, she had been avoiding him, but she didn't want him to have to deal with his dad alone. She wondered how many of those missed calls was him hurt and in need.

"When did that happen?" she asked him.

"I think last Thursday."

Last night, the night before, the day she came back...

He had been on his own all that time. And she didn't even know it.

"Where have you been staying?" she asked him.

He looked at her through the rear view mirror, "You know where."

Ophelia knew exactly where he was talking about. She cringed thinking about it. In the ruins of an abondoned building. In the middle of three concrete graffitied walls and no ceiling. In the dirt. Probably no sleeping bag, or blanket. He was the worst packer she knew, so he probably only had a single pair of clothes.

She studied his outfit. He had a different shirt on then the day before, but the same jeans.

She bit her lip. She didn't want to point out the dirt on his pants, or the ketchup stain that she remembered seeing at the pool house the day before. But she thought it would be worse if one of his friends did.

She licked her thumb, before bringing it down to the crusted dirt near the front pocket of his jeans. She wanted to rub it off, but as soon as she touched him the whole car swerved.

"Monty, what the fuck?" Justin yelled from the backseat.

"Shut the hell up" Montgomery snapped at him. He glanced at Ophelia, "The fuck are you doing?"

"Your jeans are really dirty" she told him.

"Yeah, I know. You don't have to grab my dick while I'm driving."

"I didn't-" she stopped, and rolled her eyes. She tried to surprise the laugh that was building inside of her by shutting her mouth, but that only caused her to let out an unattractive snort. She couldn't stop herself after that. She let out a soft laugh, that Montgomery wouldn't have heard if he hadn't turned down the radio.

He laughed too, as did Justin.

Skidding into his parking spot, Montgomery came to a sudden halt.

"Jesus Christ, Monty. You're going to hit someone" Ophelia scolded, but she was partly amused.

Justin had already began jumping out of the back.

"The only way I'd hit someone is if I was aiming for them" Montgomery shot back.

"Okay, well when you get into an accident, I'll make sure to tell the person you hit it was intentional."

Ophelia hopped out of the Jeep, throwing her backpack on, and tightening her ponytail again. She took off her sunglasses, hanging them on the front of her shirt. Montgomery and Justin waited for her, and the three walked in together. Montgomery slung his arm over her shoulders. She shrugged it off.

"Knock it off" she told him.

He backed off. "Fine, Fine."

Entering Liberty High, Ophelia noticed Tyler lurking by the door. She wanted to ignore him, but he apparently wanted more with her.

She watched him raise his camera in her direction, and snap a photo. She frowned. She watched him take a second photo, and decided she didn't have time to deal with the crazy stalker that day.

Ophelia elbowed Montgomery, causing him to look over at her and notice Tyler. He straightened up. "Hey, get out of here you fucking stalker!"

Ophelia nodded to herself, happy with his reaction.

Tyler didn't back down, "It's for the yearbook."

"Yeah? Take another one. See what happens."

Tyler lowered his camera. Ophelia smiled, and gave Montgomery a grateful look. He smirked at her, "He's a fucking pussy."

Montgomery made the bold move of putting his arm around her again. She hesitated, but this time she let it stay. She felt a power rush standing next to the buff athlete.

"Hey, Jess" Ophelia heard Justin say.

She watched Jessica walk up to them. A dirty look was sent towards Montgomery. She didn't bother addressing him.

"Hey, how come you haven't been answering my texts?"

Justin sighed, "Sorry, my phone's been fucking up lately."

Jessica's facial expression read unamused. She hadn't done her makeup that day, and she looked tired.

"You never fucking answer me" she said.

Ophelia looked at Montgomery, who had glanced her way at the same time. They rolled their eyes in unison, knowing how angry Jessica got when Justin didn't text her back.

Ophelia understood her anger, but she didn't understand her need for confrontation at school. Ophelia considered fights to be something done indoors, away from prying eyes.

Unfortunately for her, Montgomery had all the confidence in the world. When he was unhappy with something, he'd tell her. He didn't mind making a scene, and he had been doing so all week.

"Calm the hell down" Justin told her, "Can we talk about this later?"

Jessica huffed. Ophelia even saw her nostrils flare. Jessica looked at her, glanced at Montgomery holding on to her, and then back to Ophelia.

"He's on my tape, you know. Barely half way through and he's already asking questions." She spoke with such an attitude, it made Ophelia seem inferior to her, like she needed to apologize for some reason.

"Who?" Montgomery questioned.

Jessica tilted her head as she asked, "Was I fucking talking to you?"

Ophelia's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. She was unused to anyone talking like that to Montgomery. Even during their fights, Ophelia was able to keep a calm tone with him. She knew how life was for him at home, and how badly yelling could trigger him.

"Woah!" Justin shouted.

Montgomery's grip on Ophelia's shoulder tightened. She felt him beginning to take a step forward. She placed a hand on his chest, nonverbally telling him to back off.

Montgomery spoke to Justin, "You better check your fucking girl, Foley."

"Or what, Montgomery? You gonna do it for him?" Jessica dared.

Ophelia pleaded with Montgomery, "Lets just go, okay?"

He just ignored her, pushing Ophelia behind him. "You really wanna find out?"

"Fucking touch me and Justin'll put you in the hospital."

Montgomery let out a laugh, and looked over at him slim friend.

Justin was shaking his head. "Jessica. Shut the fuck up."

Ophelia was looking around the hallway, trying to find someone who would step in. She spotted Bryce coming there way. For the first and only time, she was happy to see him.

Bryce came up and patted Justin on the shoulder. "What's going on, brother?"

"Nothing" Jessica told him. She shook her head, storming away.

Montgomery looked like he was almost about to go after her, but Ophelia took his hand in his. She said, "Don't worry about her. She's just upset, don't let it bother you."

He shook his head. "She better get over it quick. What the fuck is her problem?"

"What isn't her fucking problem?" Justin grumbled, shaking Bryce's hand off his shoulder.

"Fucking psycho bitch" Montgomery mumbled.

Justin shook his head, "Hey man, that's my girlfriend."

"And?" he taunted.

Justin scoffed, "And maybe that's how you talk to yours, but it's not how I talk to mine."

Ophelia was irritated immediately. Just because Justin was upset, didn't mean he needed to drag her into the argument.

"Woah, calm down Justin" Bryce told him.

It was so strange to Ophelia that Bryce seemed to be the 'peace keeper' of the group. Whenever one of his boys got into a fight, he would get them out of it. If only he cared as much about the girls as he did the boys...

"Fuck you, Foley." Montgomery looked at Ophelia, and then nodded his head down the hallway. "Let's go."

Ophelia nodded, leaving the other jocks alone. She heard Bryce casually ask Justin, "Are they back together?"

She paused in her step, hesitant until she felt Montgomery's strong arm pushing her forward.

They were not back together. They weren't.

Were they? She didn't want to be. She told herself numerous times that they would never be together again. Yet, here they are, walking the halls together like any other high school couple. She was surprised he hadn't given her his varsity jacket yet. He wore it proudly that day, but she was sure he'd take it off in a heartbeat if he thought someone was trying to flirt with her. It's what he always did.

Why was she with him? Maybe because it felt so normal to her. They had been dating since half way into freshmen year. If she was being honest, she couldn't imagine high school without him. She'd grown so used to him. And him to her.

She knew about his home life. His father was an alcoholic, and extremely abusive. Besides his friends from the baseball team, she was all he had. And she doubted his friends took as much care of him as she did.

His father took no care of him at all. He was such an awful man. He used to constantly cheat on Montgomery's mother, and he never missed a chance to tell Montgomery exactly how useless he thought he was.

Thinking about it, Ophelia realized that she had never been worried about Montgomery cheating. She remembered getting annoyed when he looked at others girls. Such as, Courtney and Sherri. But she was never worried he would actually cheat on her. He was hers, and he never questioned it. He never wanted someone else, and he never seemed to get tired of her. He was loyal. Undoubtedly loyal.

Ophelia felt a sense of pride all of a sudden. Montgomery was an award winning baseball and football player, he was one of the most attractive and popular guys at Liberty High, and he was her boyfriend. All hers. No one else's.

"You need anything from your locker?" Montgomery asked her.

It took her a moment to get her head away from her thoughts. "What? Oh, yeah. I need to grab my English text book. Save me a seat?"

He smiled, "Of course."

Reaching her locker, Ophelia found none other than Tony Padilla waiting for her.

"Hey, Tony..." she began hesitatingly, "What's up?"

Tony just shrugged. "Saw you come in with Montgomery."

She could hear the judgement in his voice.

"Yeah, he gave me a ride."

There was nothing wrong with just a ride, or the fact that she walked in with him. It's not like he could peak inside her head and see what she was thinking. He couldn't possibly know how easily she persuaded herself into loving him again.

"Saw him yelling at Jessica."

"He wasn't yelling" Ophelia quickly defended, "And she was the one threatening him."

"Good for her" Tony said.

Ophelia rolled her eyes. "Did you want something, Tony?"

"Are you back with him?" he said outright.

"No."

Ophelia opened her locker, grabbed her English textbook. She slammed it shut. She took three steps away from Tony before turning around to glare at him.

"What if I was back with him?"

Tony let out a low whistle. "Then that would be a huge mistake. A mistake I'm not willing to let you make."

"Jessica and Justin are still together" she said, "Justin did something far worse to Jessica. But it's fine for them to be together still?"

"It's not fine" he told her plainly, "But Jessica's in denial. You're not. You've accepted this, and you're okay with it, that's the problem."

"This isn't your life, Tony. It's mine. And I think it's better with him in it."

Entering her English classroom, Ophelia made eye contact with Zach, who sat in the third row. She looked away quickly. She took a seat next to Montgomery, who was farther back.

Two seats in front of her, Zach turned around. Ophelia became nervous. She wondered if he figured out she blocked him yet.

"Hey, are you understanding the homework alright?" he asked her. It was obvious he was trying to think of a way to start a conversation with her. After all, she had the higher grade in the class.

"Yeah."

Zach nodded, "Good. But, you know, if you ever need help I'm here."

"Thanks-"

"Bro, she's got me" Montgomery interrupted, "She doesn't need two tutors."

Zach withheld a scoff. "She does if it's you. Seeing as you need a tutor yourself."

Ophelia let out a small laugh, one so quiet it almost sounded like she was just letting out a breath. But Montgomery heard it, and she could tell he was embarrassed.

"Go fuck yourself" he said.

Montgomery casually slid off his varsity jacket, revealing the brown and red flannel beneath it. He held it out to Ophelia. "Here."

She wasn't cold, but she put it on anyway. She saw Zach's confused expression as she did so.

"Ophelia-"

"She doesn't wanna fucking talk to you, Dempsey" Montgomery snapped.

Zach continued anyway.

"Are you two...back together?"

Ophelia looked up, making eye contact with him. All the anger from last night seemed to come back again in that very moment. She felt herself tugging on the sleeves of Montgomery's jacket, brining it all the way over her hands so that her arms disappeared in it. It made her feel more comfortable, and more confident. She glanced at Montgomery, who was waiting for her answer as patiently as Zach was.

"Yes."