"I made a mistake, Monty."
Montgomery turned around, shocked to find Ophelia standing in his room. He had just gotten out of the shower, and had been in the middle of changing into his pajamas. He only had shorts on at this time. His chest was bare, and he noticed how her eyes were staring at him, taking in his whole body.
"How the fuck did you get in here?"
Ophelia just pointed out the door. "Estela let me in."
Montgomery hesitated. "Estela's not here. No ones here right now."
Ophelia looked guilty. "Okay. I'm sorry, I just came in. I really wanted to see you."
Ophelia walked closer to him.
He was untrusting. "Why?"
Ophelia continued walking until she was right next to him. She reached out and put a hand on his chest. Montgomery almost flinched at her touch. But then he relaxed and leaned into it.
"I just broke up with Zach."
Montgomery was beyond surprised. "W-What?"
Ophelia told him. "He said he hated you. And then he asked me if I loved him more than I loved you. And I didn't. I couldn't. You were right, Monty. I can never love someone like I loved you."
Montgomery watched as she moved her hand up his chest to his face and caressed his cheek. Her touch so familiar yet so far away. Her beautiful eyes seeming to gaze right into his soul, as though deciding whether or not he was worthy of her again.
Will things be different?
Of course they would. He would make sure of it.
"I meant what I told you," Ophelia said, "What I told you at Hamlin's."
The fact that she brought it up astounded him. Because he thought she forgot about it, while it ate him alive everyday.
"I meant more than that," she told him. "I want you back, Monty. Will you take me back?"
He felt like he would pass out, but the excitement and adrenaline kept him conscious. As did the confusion. How could she possibly think he would say no?
"Of course."
He was barely able to say it. He was barely able to speak at all.
Ophelia smiled. "Do you think you can love me again? The way you used to?"
He couldn't let her think he ever stopped. "I'll love you more, O."
Ophelia smiled, this time showing her teeth. "I love that name, ya know? Zach used to call me it. But it never felt the same. It's your name for me. Only yours."
He could only nod. Montgomery looked out his door, into the hallway and living room to make sure no one had come in. He looked down at Ophelia again.
She kissed him before he even realized she was leaning towards him. He devoured her. His mouth hot and open, her letting his tongue dominate hers.
He broke off to say, "I love you."
Suddenly, Ophelia was on his bed. He hadn't seen her move. Montgomery fell on top of her. He connected their lips again, and grabbed the back of her head. His fingers gripped her hair, and normally she would have hissed in pain, but now she made no sound. He kept her face slammed into his as he consistently dominated her mouth.
He used a free hand to harshly grip her thigh, which now felt bare. He kissed down her neck before hungrily returning to her lips.
Her clothes were off, suddenly. He didn't question the haste in which it happened. Her hands were on his shorts, and he felt the air on his body as they came off completely.
He was moving rapidly, so rapidly as he gripped the inside of her thighs, and moved them apart, displaying the most sacred part of herself to him.
"Zach lied," Ophelia told him. Montgomery wondered how she knew his face suddenly came to his mind. "He never fucked me. I never let him. I knew I would come back to you."
"He said you tried," he muttered, trying to hide his hurt.
"We didn't," Ophelia assured him. "I would never want to." Ophelia grabbed Montgomery and pulled him closer. "Fuck me, Monty. Please. Fuck me like I know you've been wanting to. Fuck me like Zach never could."
Montgomery wanted to say more. To tell her he loved her, to tell her he had been waiting for this forever. But the lust overtook him.
Montgomery pushed himself into Ophelia, feeling her body clench around him. He had thought he was good at sex, and that he could last a decent amount of time. But as soon as he entered her he knew it was over. The feeling was too intense and too immediate. He felt himself release inside of her. The amazing and longed for feeling shooting through his body, being felt in far more places than just his lower areas.
Because it wasn't just an orgasm that was making him feel this way. It was Ophelia. It was being touched by her and finally being loved by her. Being accepted by her. The sex was over but he didn't care because he wanted to stay with her for hours, for days, for years. He didn't want her to go back home, he didn't even want her to leave his bed. He didn't want to 'recharge' himself to have sex again like they had done before. He didn't know if he wanted more sex at all. He just wanted to keep being with her.
"Montgomery." He looked at Ophelia, only to see she wasn't talking. In fact, he couldn't find her at all.
"Montgomery." He was standing now, looking around.
"Montgomery!"
Montgomery woke up.
"Montgomery, are you dead or something?"
Montgomery sat up, suddenly. He spotted his sister Estela standing by his door. She looked annoyed.
"Literally how can you sleep so deeply? I wake up every time dad walks down the hall."
So it was a dream.
Ophelia hadn't come over. They hadn't had sex. She hadn't broken up with Zach. It was a dream.
"Woah, are you okay, Monty?" His sister seemed concerned suddenly. Her kind, caring spirit wanted to reach out to him. He didn't know why until she asked, "Are you crying?"
Montgomery reached up and touched his face. It was wet. He wasn't sure if it was tears or just sweat from his dream.
"No," he said. His voice came out groggy.
She walked closer, now even more concerned for her older brother. "Were you having a bad dream?"
Estela came over and sat on the bed. She reached out and touched his face. It was tears.
"No...it was a good dream. A really good dream."
Estela pulled away, and rested her hand on the bed, before suddenly jumping up. The concern was gone, and replaced with an annoyed sibling look. "Ew, Monty! Did you piss your sheets or something?"
Montgomery noticed the wet spot right where his crotch was below the blanket. It was from his dream, and it was definitely not pee.
"Get the fuck out of here!" he suddenly shouted at her before she could get a better look.
Estela rolled her eyes. "Your stupid friend is here. Go get him before he honks again or dad'll get mad."
Montgomery shifted out of his bed, carefully. His damp clothes sticking to his skin. He grabbed his phone and saw missed messages from Scott. He sent a quick text 'ten minutes'.
Montgomery hopped in the shower. He didn't bother washing his hair, just cleaning the sweat and bodily liquids off his body.
Montgomery hadn't dreamed of Ophelia in a while. Not since he was forced to see her and Zach together everyday. He didn't know what caused the sudden occurrence, or why he had a wet dream about her out of anything.
When he got out of the shower, Montgomery just threw on denim and a flannel. Estela was sitting at the kitchen table.
"You go to school so early," she commented. She was eating cereal. "But your teacher always tells me you're late."
"My teacher shouldn't be telling you shit about me," Montgomery grumbled as he reached over her to grab an orange, and then grabbed his backpack from in front of the door.
"Hey!" Montgomery turned, nervous now, as his father called out for him.
"Yeah?" he asked. His voice came out more annoyed than he meant for it to.
His father pointed an angry finger at him. "If your fucking friend pulls up to this house fucking honking his horn and shit imma put a goddamn hole in your head, do you understand?"
Montgomery lowered his head, embarrassed already. His sister stilled, stopping her meal and hoping her father wouldn't set his sites on her. Although her father never violently put his hands on her, he often spewed cruel words if she did not stay on her best behavior.
"He won't," Montgomery muttered.
"You look at me when I'm fucking taking to you!" his dad yelled. Montgomery had no idea why he was that upset so earlier in the morning. Scott must have been honking for a long time. Why didn't Montgomery wake up?
"I'm sorry," Montgomery mumbled.
His father began to shout, "Pinche-"
Montgomery slammed the door behind him.
Scott was waiting in his car, engine running. He was listening to a pop song on the radio, hitting his fingers on the wheel to the beat. He smiled and nodded at Montgomery.
"Good morning, man."
"Did you honk?" Montgomery accused him. He flung himself into his seat.
Scott looked embarrassed. "I did. Once. But on accident."
Montgomery just rolled his eyes. "My dad fucking freaked because of it."
Scott scratched the back of his head, guilty now. "I'm really sorry, Monty. Was he upset with you?"
Scott knew of Montgomery's father's temper. He felt sorry for causing him any anger.
"It doesn't fucking matter," Montgomery said, "Let's just get the fuck out of here."
On the drive to school Scott noticed how quiet his usual loud, obnoxious friend was. There was only one other time he had seen him like this. A few months ago, back when him and Ophelia first broke up.
He tried asking, "Are you alright?"
Montgomery just mumbled, "I'm fine."
When they finally pulled up to school, Scott noticed the familiar grey car.
Scott pointed it out to him. "Hey, look, I guess Dempsey's not skipping morning practice anymore after all."
Montgomery looked ahead, just in time to watch Zach get out of the car, and then run around to open the passenger side door. Ophelia stepped out, and took his hand. Montgomery clenched his jaw, and looked down. Scott pitied him.
"Ignore them, man," Scott said.
Montgomery scoffed. "Yeah. I will."
Scott slowed down a bit as it looked like the two were about to cross ahead of them. Zach looked towards the car, and made eye contact with Montgomery. Montgomery swore he saw him smile, even though they were a good twenty feet away.
Montgomery suddenly picked himself up, and threw his left foot over Scott's divider in his car. Scott's foot was hovering the break, and before he realized what Montgomery was doing, Montgomery slammed his foot on the gas pedal.
They went speeding towards Ophelia and Zach. Zach heard the car accelerate, and instinctually he shoved Ophelia hard behind him.
"What the fuck?!" Scott screamed.
Montgomery was laughing as Scott shoved him hard, forcing him away from the driver's side and slamming his foot on the breaks. They were already passed where Ophelia and Zach were when they ended up stopping, luckily Zach and Ophelia were both already out of the way.
"Monty, what the actual fuck is wrong with you?!" Scott continued to shout.
Montgomery was suddenly in a much better mood. "Calm down, Scotty. Obviously we weren't gonna actually hit them."
"Oh, was that fucking obvious to you? Because it wasn't fucking obvious to me!"
Scott pushed his door open and got out of the car. Montgomery laughed again, getting out after him. Zach ran to them. He pushed Scott against the car.
"What the hell was that?! You could've fucking killed us!"
Scott wanted to say that it was Montgomery, not him who hit the gas, but he wouldn't betray his friend. Luckily, Zach was smart, and as soon as Montgomery stepped out of the car with a smile he knew.
Zach trudged over towards Montgomery, and shoved him back. "How many fucking times do I need to beat your ass?"
"Beat my ass? You know damn well you've never-"
Zach didn't even bother with letting him finish, he just shoved him. Montgomery stumbles back, running at him, grabbing him below the arms and trying to continuously push him back while Zach fought against him.
"Fucking cut it out!" Scott yelled. "God fucking damnit everyday with you two!"
Scott ran and pushed them both.
Montgomery fell against Scott's car, a sadistic smile appearing on his face. "Chill out Zach, no one's gonna die getting chased by a car going like five miles an hours."
"I know you're not fucking good with numbers," Zach spat, "or fucking anything, but you were going faster than five fucking miles an hour."
Scott looked over and saw Ophelia. She had fallen on the ground when Zach pushed her. Everything must have fallen out of her bag, because she was still on the ground, collecting it.
Scott rushed over to her. He tried to help her stand, by reaching out for her.
"No!" she said, throwing her body away from him. She was scared, that was for sure. Ophelia didn't think she was scared of Scott but she knew she was scared and that was enough.
Scott kneeled down, and began helping Ophelia collect her things. Cautiously, she held her bag open, and he placed what he had picked up in there.
Zach had left Montgomery, deciding he didn't want to play into anymore of his craziness.
"Are you okay, O?" Zach asked when he reached her. Ophelia allowed him to help her up.
"I'm okay," she said, wiping her clothes down. Zach inspected her for injury. One of her elbows looked a little scratched, but that was it.
Zach threw an arm around Ophelia, and kept her on the other side of him as they passed Montgomery. Ophelia didn't say anything. She knew that's what he wanted. He didn't pull this stunt so Zach would get upset and lash out, he did it so Ophelia would.
She knew he enjoyed starting the argument yesterday. She refused to give him the satisfaction that morning.
Montgomery's smile dropped as the two left without another word, Ophelia not sparing one glance at him at all.
Scott came up and shoved him, not as hard as Zach had. Enough to tell him he was fed up with him.
"Do you want to get me fucking arrested?" Scott demanded.
Montgomery brushed it off. "C'mon, Scotty. They were obviously gonna get out of the way."
Scott couldn't even comprehend what he was saying. "I-you-I..." He needed to take a breath. "What in the fuck possessed you to do that? Normal people don't fucking gun the gas when people are walking by!"
Montgomery just scoffed, and he looked back towards Zach and Ophelia, who almost reached the school entrance now. Scott noticed his lingering look, the pain he had in his eyes.
"Is this because of yesterday?" Scott asked. "Because they, like, finally fucked or something?"
"Shut the fuck up-"
"No, Monty. You need to get over her," Scott told him. "Look, I know you started dating in the beginning of high school and you haven't known to do any of this without her, but she's moved on. You need to move on."
Montgomery looked down. "You don't know what the fuck you're talking about."
Scott sighed. "Listen, man. I'm graduating this year. You're graduating next year. You're gonna go off to college, and meet so many chicks you won't even think about her, okay? Just one more year for you and you're out. You can start your own life. Trust me, you are not gonna be in college thinking about Ophelia fucking Tristano, okay?"
He cleared his throat. "I'm not gonna get my own fucking life. I'll be working for my fucking dad."
"No, you're gonna go to fucking college," Scott insisted, "You're gonna get a scholarship for baseball and you'll either stay here or leave, but either way you'll meet a better girl."
Montgomery didn't think there was a better girl. Maybe Scott was right, maybe he would find someone that would help him move past Ophelia.
But Montgomery knew he wouldn't be able to forget her.
"That fucking psychopath!" Zach screamed.
Ophelia shushed him. The hallways were pretty empty. School didn't start for an hour. The only people there were academics and athletes there for morning practice.
"It's okay, Zach. Just drop it."
He was astounded. "Drop it? He tried to fucking kill us!"
Ophelia shushed him again.
"He used to do shit like that with his friends all the time," she explained.
Zach was bewildered. "I used to be his fucking friend. Yeah, we would speed up and stop as a joke sometimes, but just for a second. We wouldn't aim and speed through a fucking parking lot."
Ophelia grabbed Zach's hand, stopping his walk. She was worried. Not for herself, but for him.
Ophelia knew of Montgomery's temper. She once thought she could deal with it, but she knew now she couldn't. There was no way. She was worried for Montgomery because she feared he would do something so extreme that he couldn't go back from it. She worried for Zach because he may fall into that anger.
"Can you promise me something?" She asked, shyly.
Zach nodded. "Of course. Anything." He meant it.
Ophelia touched his hand, brushing her finger down it's length. "He's gonna keep doing shit. And saying shit. Please don't start anything if he does."
Zach wasn't sure he could keep that request. "I'm not just gonna listen to whatever bullshit he has to say-"
"You don't have to," she said. "You can leave or whatever. Just promise you're not gonna start a fight over some stupid shit he says. Because that's what he wants to happen."
Zach was unconvinced. "And what? You think I'll lose the fight?"
Ophelia now grabbed his hand with both of her. "I don't want to see you in one at all. Okay?"
Zach sighed. "Fine. I promise. I'll ignore him."
Ophelia let out a breath of relief. She reached up, straining her neck to kiss him quickly. She smiled at him. Her smile is all he needed to get through the rest of the day.
"Thank you, Zach."
Morning practice was hard for him. Not just because of Montgomery constantly running his mouth, and trying to make a joke about what happened that morning when Scott told Bryce and the rest of the players what he did.
Bryce was really upset, but Montgomery has a way of making people forgive him fast.
Zach forced himself to make practice harder. He forced himself to run longer and faster. He was forced to take his shirt off due to the heat. He didn't give himself a break at all.
It wasn't just the guilt of Hannah anymore, or the guilt of not having told Ophelia about Hannah. Now, he was driving himself crazy with fear. He was terrified of them bringing it up at the trial. But he was even more terrified of bringing it up on his own.
Ophelia was having a similar guilt driving her crazy. But it wasn't something she did, it was something she said. Something she confessed.
She didn't want Zach to have to fight all her battles for her. She wanted to fight her own. She decided she would give Montgomery a piece of her mind the next time she saw him. She assumed she would be with Zach, or Montgomery would be with one of her friends when it happened.
But they ran into each other alone.
She was only walking towards her first period, ready to sit in there and wait for the day to begin, when she found Montgomery hurrying out of a different classroom. It wasn't his class, so she wasn't sure why he was in there.
She was startled to see him. Practice wasn't even over yet. He looked nervous to be caught.
Ophelia looked between the classroom door and Montgomery. "What are you doing?"
He snapped at her, "None of your fucking business."
She rolled her eyes his angry tone. She didn't want to speak with him anymore, not while he's already upset. She took a step forward, and he stepped in front of her.
"Wait," he said, "I'm sorry. I was just grabbing something I left in there earlier."
Ophelia knew he didn't have that class at all, and she knew he probably knew that, but she let it go.
"Okay," she said, simply.
She took another step, just for him to get in front of her again. Ophelia would have been nervous if she couldn't see a few people down the hall.
"And I'm sorry about this morning," he told her, suddenly nervous. "I was just messing around, you know?"
Ophelia didn't find the joke to be funny. "You could've gotten me and Zach hit with a car."
Montgomery tried brushing it off. "Come on, you would've gotten out of the way."
"But we might not have!" she snapped at him. "I don't give a fuck if you were playing around, it's fucked up you did it in the first place."
Montgomery was surprised by the anger in her words. She normally didn't cuss like that. He said, "Its not like I would've wanted to hit you."
Ophelia wondered if he really thought that was better, or if he just wanted to get her to move on. To forget it. Because he knew it was a fucked in mistake and he regretted it.
Ophelia scoffed. "I would've rather you were aiming for me."
Montgomery looked away from her. She saw him thinking. He turned back and said, "You know I wouldn't."
Ophelia shook her head. "Do I know that? I'm tired of this, Monty. I'm tired of you pretending we were some great love story that was forced apart by other people. You..." Ophelia lowered her voice. She pointed a finger at him. "You fucking abused me. And even if I did love you, I don't want to be with you. And if we end up back together, it won't be something I'll be happy about. It'll just be me repeating a mistake."
As she was speaking, she was only then hearing the harshness of her words. But honestly, she didn't care. It was time to be brutally honest. She knew he was joking around that morning, because if he wanted to hit them they would've been hit.
But if she kept her mouth shut, and allowed him to lead himself on, how long until he wanted to actually run them down?
The words rang in Montgomery's ear more painful than in Ophelia's. She was planning on saying more but he suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist that was held in front of him. He wasn't hurting her, but it was a tight grip, and she feared he would tighten it until she felt pain.
Montgomery looked her in the eyes. She saw him swallow. His throat moving. Three times. After the third time, he dropped her hand.
She watched him slowly look her up and down. When his eyes met hers she saw his anger in them.
Montgomery scoffed, and took a step away from her, gripping his backpack tight enough that his knuckles turned white. She imagined he wanted to use the grip on her.
Montgomery kept the eye contact to say, "Like I would want a bitch like you back."
He regretted saying it, of course. Like most arguments he never thought before he spoke. But he wouldn't apologize for it. Ophelia was always well articulate and thought her words out carefully. So he knew she meant what she said.
How the fuck could she really think that though?
Maybe Zach was manipulating her against Montgomery? Maybe he had been all along?
Ophelia took a deep breath, offended by his insult. Bitch. She hated that word. It was so demeaning.
This time, she looked him up and down. It felt intrusive to her, so maybe it would be the same to him.
She gave him a fake smile.
"This bitch wouldn't take you back."
Ophelia noticed the change in Jessica's hair before lunch. It was straight. She was dressed pretty, really pretty. For a moment, Ophelia forgot about everything. She wondered if Jessica had a date that day, or if she was dressing to impress.
Then she remembered it was Jessica's court date.
"I think we should sit with her," Ophelia told Zach. They were on there way to lunch, to Bryce's table. She didn't want to be there.
"No, I think it's better to give her space," Zach told her. "She has a lot to think about."
Ophelia wasn't sure. "We should show our support."
Zach continued to fight back. "We can do that in class. Come on, we should keep our distance. At least until after the trial. Once everything calms down again we'll sit with them everyday. I promise, okay?"
Ophelia interlocked fingers with him, trusting his words. "Okay."
When they sat, Ophelia looked directly at Montgomery. She wasn't avoiding eye contact. Not anymore.
Zach was eating a lot. In fact he was eating about three small containers of fruit loops plus two sandwiches. Ophelia had packed a large lunch that morning also. Although, they had run out of bread at her house, so it was mostly just fruit.
Montgomery was quiet. Enough for Bryce to notice.
"Monty, you coming over today?" Bryce asked, attempting to lift his friends spirits.
Montgomery's attention went to him. "Fuck yeah. What time we starting?"
Zach looked up. "Staring what?"
"Just a little baseball party," Bryce told him. Bryce nodded to Ophelia. "All ladies welcome, of course."
Ophelia faked a smile. "Amazing."
Montgomery eyed her for another moment. "Hey, maybe we should go to the club house."
Bryce shared a look with him before shrugging. "That doesn't seem like a bad idea."
Ophelia watched as Clay walked across the cafeteria. He sat at the table with Jessica and Alex.
Zach seemed nervous. "Me and Ophelia probably won't be able to make it."
She wondered why. But she trusted Zach. He knew their intentions more than she did.
"That's too bad," Bryce said, "We were looking forward to watching you chug one beer and throw up."
Montgomery started to bust out laughing.
Zach was embarrassed. He glanced at Ophelia, who cracked a smile. She was at that party, at it was a humorous memory for her. It was cute, even, to see someone with a low tolerance.
"I fucking told you it's because I'm allergic," Zach snapped.
Scott came to their table. Ophelia had become more familiar with Scott now than before. He was always a really close friend of Montgomery's, but he recently started eating lunch with them once she started dating Zach. He apparently had a falling out with one of the other senior boys.
Scott heard Zach's sentence.
"Are we talking about how Zach can't handle alcohol?" he guessed.
Ophelia chuckled. Scott seemed glad he lifted her spirits.
Zach frowned at her. Ophelia wrapped her arms around him, giving him a hug. "It's okay, baby, I can't handle my alcohol either."
Zach laughed sarcastically. "I can handle it just fine, thank you." He looked like he was pouting. But she saw the hint of a smile on his face. "Except when it's strawberry. Because I'm allergic!" He was stressing the allergy.
Bryce chuckled. "Right."
Montgomery looked away from the hugging couple. Looking to the right, he noticed Clay, Alex, and Jessica all staring this way.
He chuckled. "Your boy keeps looking at you, Zach."
Zach looked over, and saw that Alex was in fact staring.
Montgomery joked, "Does he need his diaper changed?"
Zach tried to ignore Alex's stare. "Shut up, Monty."
The boys around the table laughed. Montgomery continued, "Why don't you go take care of him, Dempsey?" He looked at Ophelia. "You know, Dempsey, it's normal for nurses to fall for their patients. I'm sure Ophelia would understand."
Ophelia rolled her eyes.
"Fuck off," Zach snapped. "I don't even like him, okay?"
Ophelia frowned. When she looked over, Zach wouldn't meet her eyes. She wanted to question him about his sudden attitude, but wouldn't do it now. She didn't want to embarrass him, so she made a mental note to speak to him about it the next time they were alone.
"Oh right," Bryce acted like he was remembering something. "It's just your mom that makes you carry his books and wipe his ass."
Montgomery and Scott laughed.
"No, the ass he does for pleasure," Montgomery joked.
Ophelia bit her lip quickly. But it was too late. His joke made Ophelia smile.
Scott noticed and said, "What do you think, O? You think Alex and Zach are destined to be? Are you prepared to fight for your man?"
It didn't go unnoticed to Zach, nor Montgomery, that he called her 'O'.
Ophelia shrugged. She felt extremely guilty for laughing all of a sudden. "I don't know if we should even be making jokes about it. I mean, even if it's funny to us , it's Alex went through a traumatic experience. If he's not laughing we shouldn't be."
Scott nodded, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Wise words." He held his hand up for a fist bump. Ophelia stared at him for a moment, awkwardly, before bumping fists.
Montgomery wondered if Zach was jealous by Scott's conversation with her. He figured he wasn't. Zach didn't get jealous as easily as Montgomery did, so he decided to press his buttons even more.
Montgomery chuckled. "You really standing up for him? What, you got a crush too? I know! You guys can have a threesome. Would it bother you to be with a cripple?"
Ophelia nearly gagged at his words.
Zach just said, "Cut it out, Monty. He just fucking got back. Be a little nicer."
Ophelia grabbed her boyfriend's arm, and scooted herself closer to him. "You're so dirty minded," she said, meaning it as an insult.
Montgomery only laughed. "Says the girl who let me fuck her at-"
"Hey, have you noticed Clay's been acting hella weird?" Scott cut in as quickly as he could.
They all turned to him, Ophelia only sending one more irritated look at Montgomery.
"What do you mean?" Zach questioned him, confused why Scott was paying attention to Clay in the first place. It worried him.
Scott just shrugged. "I mean, thought he was an honor student and shit. Look at his face. He got fucked up."
Ophelia looked over, and saw the cut up skin Clay wore. She was worried for him suddenly.
She caught Jessica's eye, suddenly. She looked away, guilty she wasn't sitting near her.
Jessica noticed Ophelia's guilty look. Across the cafeteria, at their table, Alex, Clay and her were conversing.
Alex had been sent a target from a gun range, with a threatening note that said 'BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME'. Someone also tried to run Clay off the road in a car. They were trying to figure out who did these things, and why.
"What if it's Zach?" Alex asked, suddenly.
Jessica and Clay shared a doubtful look.
Jessica couldn't imagine that possibly being true. "That's crazy. He's been helping you with everything."
Alex asked, "Then why is he still hanging around Bryce?"
"It must be Bryce or someone protecting him," Clay theorized, "He doesn't want the truth to come out."
Alex glanced back again, and noticed how often Ophelia was looking over. He turned back and said, "What about Ophelia?"
This sounded even crazier to Jessica. "No way. I mean, I know she's been acting kind of different since we got back, but she would never send some shit like that. And she definitely couldn't run you off the road, Clay. Jesus, she can barely drive."
Alex continued, "Well, what if it's Zach doing it for Ophelia. I mean, Zach doesn't even have much to hide. He barely did anything wrong. But he loved Ophelia, and the tapes could send her to jail."
"Not jail," Jessica told him. "I mean, you told me yourself they can't prove she..." she trailed off, remembering that Alex had no memory of their conversation that took place before his suicide attempt. "I mean, yeah she would get in trouble. But not enough for her or Zach to do some crazy shit like this."
"Well, she was fucking pissed at Tony for giving the tapes to the Bakers," Clay mentioned. "Who knows what she's really capable of."
Jessica was still unconvinced. "Not this."
Clay thought for a moment. "What about Monty? I mean, if she told him about the tapes he'd definitely try something like this."
"No," Alex said, "If he knew about the tapes, he would've done something by now. And Ophelia would've told us if he knew, right?"
Jessica nodded.
"Okay," said Clay, "So not Monty, not Bryce, not Zach, not Ophelia. We know that for sure."
"Zach is still a maybe to me," Alex piped up.
"We should stop talking about this," Jessica pleaded. "We'll try to forget about it. Nothing happened to me yet, and I go in to testify today. Let's just hope for the best."
IM SORRY THIS CHAPTER IS SO SHORT I JUST HAD REALLY BAD WRITERS BLOCK FOR THIS EPISODE SINCE THERES NOT A LOT OF ZACH AND I DIDN'T WANT TO MAKE YALL WAIT TOO LONG
I'm also so sorry for the wait ? ﾟﾘﾭ? my work reopened and I've been working everyday but I have a few days off so I'll try to post next chapter in the next three days
Also I forgot how cute Scott was until rewatching this season ?
But so sorry again about the wait!
SEASON 4 SPOILERS WARNING:
I've seen a few people say that Chloe and Scott are dating in season 4 but that's actually not true lol they were only sitting together at graduation