West Ark High

Confrontations

"Oh. It's you."

The blunt, rather rude greeting left Octavia feeling more stunned than mad. In all of the years that she had known Monty, not once had he ever looked this pissed, especially not at her. It was weird, slightly scary, and she did not like it. "I'm sorry," she murmured, shouldering her bag as she took a step back. "Maybe I should talk—"

"No," he cut her off, rubbing his eyes. Octavia paused in her retreat, watching him closely. He jerked the door open wider, just enough for her to make out the pile of laundry at the base of the staircase. "You can come in if you want, but I can't be held accountable for any radiation poisoning."

Octavia fixed him with a hard look. "What's your problem? Have I offended you in some way?"

Monty sighed deeply, running a hand down his face. This time Octavia noticed the dark circles around his eyes. "Not you directly," he admitted. He offered a dry smile, but Octavia didn't find it comforting. "You haven't talked to Jasper recently, have you?"

The sudden switch of conversation made Octavia uncomfortable. "That's kind of why I'm here to talk to you."

Monty peaked over his shoulder into the house as if to make sure no one was watching, and then he stepped out onto the front porch, closing the door behind him gently. "You need to be straight with him about how you feel." His voice was calm but his eyes were intense.

By nature, Octavia had always been fearless; she'd put a snake's head in her mouth on a dare, gone up against some pretty big guys in soccer, and now she was starting to take on more experienced challengers in martial arts. The only difference was that none of those things had made her squirm as much as she was as she stood under Monty's firm stare.

She was so used to doing things that concerned only herself; having other people's feelings riding on her was nerve wracking.

"I know I do," Octavia replied when she finally found her voice again. "How," she paused for a moment, "how is he doing?"

"A train wreck," Monty said. "What did you have that was so important that you stood him up at homecoming?"

Octavia ignored his accusing tone, instead trying to keep her eyes level with his. "I went to TriKru's homecoming. It was the same night."

Monty's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing into slits. She supposed he would have been scarier if it weren't for the way he was swaying back in forth in exhaustion. "You chose a Grounder over Jasper?"

"Hey," Octavia snapped. "Jasper never asked me. And that Grounder is my boyfriend so back off!"

Octavia realized her slip the moment Monty's angered expression went blank. She shouldn't have said that. What was he going think? What if he told Bellamy? Lincoln was her secret, the one part of her life that belonged to her and only her. If it somehow got back to her brother, all hell would break lose.

She considered denying it, but at this point there was no use. She had hesitated too long.

"Well, then," Monty's soft words surprised her. When she met his eyes, he didn't look angry. It was more like...disappointment. "I suggest you tell that to Jasper. Because if you don't stop leading him on like this, I'm going to take care of it myself."

Octavia wanted to be mad.

She wanted to be mad at Mony for the way he basically scolded her and threatened her. She wanted to be mad when he walked back inside the house without another word and closed the door in her face. She wanted to be mad at the disappointed look he gave her.

But she couldn't.

...

"I'm bringing muffins for bribery purposes if all else fails."