Abbott Academy

Chapter 4- Montgomery Winslow.

The Bradford's house was giving off a golden glow when we pulled through the gate. String lights twinkled over the drive and up to the front door. Father opened my back door as Mother came around from the passenger side. Valet slid in and left to park the car. Many other families from school are walking up the steps beside us. We enter the front door and Arthur, Branson's dad, greets us. "Vance, old friend, how are you?" They shake hands. Arthur had been friends with my dad's for years. Arthur used daddy in a lawsuit many years ago against the hospital when Arthur's wife passed during child birth. 

"Very well, and you?" my dad replies. 

"Great really, better turn out then last years mixer I'd say." He looks over to me and Mother. "You ladies look extraordinary." He goes in to give us a hug. "Montgomery, such a fine young lady. Look more and more like Odette every day." 

"That's a good thing, Mr. Bradford." I smile. "Better than looking like this old man." I nudge my elbow at my dad.  We all share a laugh. 

"Branson has a table saved for you and your friends. Why don't you go catch up with him." I nod and walk further into the house. It matched the decor outside. Very elegant and golden. I walk out the back door to the back yard where many tables were scattered about. Waiters walked around with finger foods and trays of drinks. I see Branson sitting with Leo at a table. I walk up to them draping my arm on Branson shoulder as I sit down beside him. He looks over and smiles. I sneak and kiss him on the cheek. 

"Montgomery, you look great." 

"Of course I do." I retort. "Just kidding, thank you." We sit and talk for a while as Lilybeth and many other people arrive, including The Sinclairs . I wave Alexander over. "Look at you all dressed up. Looking handsome I must say"

"Meredith had the suit laid out on the bed when I arrived home after school. I would have much rather worn my jumper." He laughed. Before he could could say anything else Meredith swooped in and introduced him to others at the party. 

I held Branson's hand as we sat and talked about all the events our first week of school held. Alexander joined us sitting at the only available chair, which was next to Branson. Branson lets go of my hand under the table and his body seemed to tense up. "What's wrong?" I lean in and whisper. 

"Nothing."

"Are you sure?" I pause, " Are you jealous that I've been hanging out with him?" I motion towards Alexander.

"M, we are not having this conversation right now. Drop it."

"No, because you totally are jealous." my whisper has gradually gotten louder.

"Shh!" he scolds. "You are being loud. Listen there is nothing to be jealous of. If there was a problem I would tell you. So just, like drop it."

"Fine." I can't help but continue to stay pissed. The chiming of a fork hitting a class grabs the crowds attention. It's Mr. Bradford.

"Can I have your attention please." He pauses while everyone becomes silent and turns to face him standing on the steps leading up to the back on the house. "I would just like to thank everyone for coming out. We hope that this year at Abbott is another great one. As head master I plan to give it my best shot to make that wish come true.  I would like to thank our booster club and the few special families involved; The Winslows, The Sinclairs, The Franklins, The Vergils, The Adams, and The Abernathys. Their donations to Abbott have already been put to good use and will be used through out the school year." he paused while everyone clapped. "Our guidance counselor has been hard at work making sure our new and returning students have had an easy start to the year. So, special thanks to Mr. Martin." he paused so everyone could clap again. Mr Bradford continues to talk on about other things he hopes and dreams of for the school year, but my mind drifts off to what happened with Branson. If not jealous then what? Is he actually embarrassed of me? Has he lost feelings? "So let us raise a glass to great school year at Abbott" everyone picks up a glass and clinks them together. An array of cheers fills the back yard. 

"Wait, you guys are gonna drink? In front of your parents? Not to mention the head master of your school?" Alexander asks.

"They don't care bro. They are honestly so boozed half of them don't realize we do it." Branson laughed. 

"All part of being the elite. Parties, booze, and money." Leo laughed. Not much to say about Leo beside he's basically a dick and likes to use his a lot. He parties way too hard and I'm pretty sure has spent the night in jail once or twice. He's on the lacrosse team with Branson, but really that is all he's got going for him. 

"Like I said before, not a big drinker." Alexander states.

"Oh yeah, maybe we shouldn't be drinking in front of you." Lilybeth says.

"No, no it's okay." Alexander stands up. "But I am gonna excuse myself for a moment." He walks off towards the house. 

"Well while he's gone I'm gonna go grab another drink. That is if that's okay with you M. Wouldn't want you to accuse me of feeling some type of way." Branson stands up and pushes his chair in almost aggressively.

"Wow." I simply say. I turn to Lilybeth. "Do you see this guy? He totally started acting odd earlier and now this is my fault because I asked him if he was okay." I roll my eyes and sink down in my chair. His attitude was off. This was never like him, but over the summer he had changed a lot. He says he's still the same, but I truly see a change in him. 

After a while, Branson comes back to the table. He looks ruffled. I figured I would ignore it like I had tried to all night but I couldn't. "Can I ask what took you so long?" 

"You can, but I don't know why you would want to. Going to accuse me of something, Montgomery?"

"No, but you look like something is wrong. I had to ask." I pause for a moment. "I'm just gonna go sit with my mom. You clearly don't want me here." I stand up and storm off to where my parents sat. "Can we go?" I ask. I hate this term, but I definitely sounded "bratty". 

"It is getting late Vance, dear. We probably should head out." Mother states as she pats dads shoulder. "Let's say our goodbye's." We walked through the crowd of people and say bye to many of the familiar faces. My face, however, was not a happy one. I'm not even really sure what was happening between the two of us. When we make it up to the front the valet pulls our car around. The car ride home was filled with Mom and Daddy talking about the gossip they had heard from their table. Their gossip was never good. It was always about a tennis match gone wrong, a five star restaurant dropping to four and a half, or a personal favorite: who is divorcing who.

I arrived home and went straight up to my room. I threw myself onto to my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I hear my phone buzz. Along with the notifications from "The Courtyard"  I had a message from Branson. It said: "I love you forever."