One Time [Montgomery De La Cruz x OC]

I hope your soul is changing.

I silently laid in my bed staring at the ceiling. I had been doing that for what felt like hours. I could feel the tears falling out of my eyes because of all of the events that had taken place earlier. We had three days worth of court and it was like two days worth of hell. It was the hardest thing I had ever gone through in my life. It was harder than actually being assaulted and raped because I had to openly talk about it in front of a whole crowd and have my story picked apart. I had so much incriminating evidence that no one could deny the fact that my story was true. Hannah however didn't have any evidence other than Jeff and me testifying on her behalf but once Bryce took the stand, he portrayed it as though they had a secret relationship that she didn't want anyone to know about. Part of me felt like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders but the other part of me felt like I would never be able to live down the guilt that smothered my heart and mind after the verdict. The trial ran through my head again, for the fifth time in just the past hour. I was trying to figure out how everything happened and why it happened the way that it did. I just didn't understand. The events ran through my head at a lightening fast speed, like they were tired of being replayed. I didn't shove the thoughts away though like maybe I should have.

Hannah had just told her side of the events that took place on the night that Bryce raped her. She was asked for evidence but all she had was some pictures of the bruises he left on her that she had saved on her phone for just in case she ever did decide to press charges. Jeff and I both took the stand on her behalf, reciting word for word what happened that night. She had no medical records to prove that it was rape, it was a year later, and Bryce portrayed it as though they were secret fuck buddies and that she liked it rough and I misjudged the situation entirely whenever I caught them in the hot tub. I looked around and could tell that the jury along with the crowd, other than our friends and family, were buying into Bryce's ridiculous story. His parents didn't waste any time getting a lawyer and they of course dropped a pretty penny to make sure he had the best of the best. His lawyer was tearing Hannah's story apart, trying to make me seem crazy and like I was hormonal at the time, and trying to make Jeff seem like his loyalty to me ran so deep that he just trusted whatever I said without any second guessing. I couldn't believe that they would question whether or not Hannah was telling the truth. I could see her strength wavering and her faith lessening by the minute. I could also sense her distancing herself towards us but I hoped that it was just because it was a rough day for us all. The second day of court was my day to testify against Bryce. I had medical records to prove that I was raped and also showed the extent of my damage from the battery. The records also proved that I had Bryce's DNA under my nails from me scratching him to try to get him off of me. I had several people who were in the gym that day testify on my behalf that they saw how horrible I looked afterwards and there were even a couple of people that testified that they saw Bryce walk back to the locker rooms alone not long after I did. When it was Bryce's turn to testify, he tried to claim that we also had something going on and that's why his DNA was under my nails but that someone else had to have raped and assaulted me. For further proof on how he treats girls, I printed out as many comments on every social media account that I own that he had commented on saying something degrading and sexual to me. The third day was verdict day. I was more nervous than I had ever been in my entire life and I had to redo my makeup three times because I kept crying. Once we all got settled in, we had to go over all of our testimony's and evidence again and then the jury went back to deliberate. It took them two hours to come to a decision but they eventually did. My heart started racing as soon as I heard the judge ask them their decision. "We find the defendant Bryce Walker guilty on the charges of battery on Marci Whitmore." I let out a small breath at the first guilty. "We find the defendant Bryce Walker guilty on the charges of rape on Marci Whitmore." I let out another breath and could feel the tears rolling down my cheeks and the weight lifted of my shoulders. I reached over and grabbed Hannah's hand right before they gave their verdict on her charges. "We find Bryce Walker not guilty on the charges of rape on Hannah Baker due to no evidence." Hannah immediately snatched her hand out of mine and whipped around and walked off. "Hannah, wait!" I called after her. She spun around and put her hand up. "Everything would've been fine if you hadn't of decided to press charges. I wouldn't of had to relive everything and go through all of this embarrassment." She snapped at me and I took a step back surprised. "Hannah, I'm so sorry this happened to you but you were the one who chose to press charges on your own, that has nothing to do with  me. I decided to press charges so that he couldn't keep hurting us or other girls. It needed to be done." I responded carefully. "You know what Marci? You are so much drama it's impossible to be friends with you without being drug into the drama myself. Every aspect of your life is drama filled. Just stay away from me." She shouted before storming out of the courtroom, causing everyone to look. I looked down quickly and tried to avoid eye contact with anyone so that they wouldn't see the tears, embarrassment, or shame in my eyes. I felt a hand press against my lower back and I jumped at the contact. I turned around and saw Monty staring down at me sympathetically. "She hates me now. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I thought it was the right thing to do..." "It was the right thing to do. Bryce is going to jail, where he should be. Hannah will understand soon, right now she's just really upset. Give her some time and she'll come around." He interrupted me while running his hand across my cheek. I lightly nodded my head before he pulled me in for a hug and I rested my head on his chest. I felt so happy that I got justice but the guilt that Hannah didn't completely consumed me and I was worried that there was no going back from this.