the reason | 13rw

t h i r t y - e i g h t

the rest of the week monty had skipped school, that is until friday rolled around. i'd woken up late and elliot had left before he even noticed i wasn't up. i got a note from the office and hurried to my first period. everyone looked over at me as i handed the note to the teacher. i turned, walking to my seat but that's when i noticed monty sitting in his seat, no cast on his leg. 

i made eye contact with jeff as i sat down. hannah leaned over. 

"what happened to you?" she asked. 

"i over slept," i shook my head. 

"you have a leaf." she said and pulled it from my hair. scott turned. 

"you look at mess," he said. "you've got toothpaste." 

"get it off," i whined. 

he licked his finger, wiping my face. 

"ew," i laughed, wiping his spit away. 

"i could've just licked your face." he smiled. 

that's when the bell rang. i stood and walked out of the classroom to my locker. 

"nicolette," i heard monty's voice

i turned, making eye contact with him. i opened my mouth but he stopped me. 

"don't," he shook his head. "i've tried to get you to listen and you don't want to." 

i turned, facing him. 

"i never got to give you your birthday present, or your christmas present." he said and pulled something from inside his bag. one was smaller, a box for a bracelet. the other was larger, but slightly flat. "i'll see you around." 

he pulled his back pack on and walked away. i heard the bell ring but i just stood there, staring at the presents. i dropped my backpack and sat down. i tore the paper off the smaller one first, popping open the box. inside was a bracelet. i lifted it, seeing monty's initials on it. i let out a sigh before putting it back. i tore the paper off of the second one and saw an electric picture frame. 

different pictures of monty and i showed, changing everyone few seconds. i felt a tear fall down my face as i watched the pictures. 

"miss james," i heard which caused me to jump, looking up. i saw mr. porter. 

"why aren't you in class?" he asked. 

"i uh..." i trailed. "i don't know." 

"why don't you come to my office," he suggested. 

i nodded and placed the presents in my locker. i pushed it shut and grabbed all the trash. i dropped it in a can as i followed mr. porter to his office. i sat down in one of the chairs. 

"what's going on?" he asked. 

"nothing," i said and wiped my face. "it's just some teenage drama." 

"i understand that," he nodded, "but you can't be skipping class. that means you will have a detention after school." 

"okay," i nodded. 

"you'll just report to the library after school." he said and wrote down a detention slip. he handed it to me as i stared down at it. more tears began falling down my face. "nicolette..." 

"sorry," i shook my head. "i'm not crying to get out of this i swear. i've just got a lot on my mind." 

"would you like to stay in my office for the day?" he asked. "i can go get your work and you can just stay here." 

"can i really do that?" i wiped my face. 

"yeah," he nodded. 

"thank you mister porter." i said. 

....

after spending the rest of the day in mr. porter's office i felt refreshed. my friends all assumed i'd left school which i was okay with. i didn't really want to tell them that i'd spent the day crying in mr. porter's office. 

i got into the library, handing my detention slip to the librarian and took a seat at one of the tables. i let out a sigh before i heard three familiar voices. i looked over, seeing clay, jeff and tony walk in. 

"i have thirty minutes before i have to go to the locker room." jeff said. "this is the most important game and monty's still out." 

"i get that," clay said. "but this paper was due yesterday." 

"nicolette?" tony asked as we made eye contact. 

"hey," i smiled softly. 

"i thought you went home little one." jeff said and took a seat. 

"no, i spent the day in mister porter's office doing my work." 

"why?" clay asked as he and tony sat too. 

"because i didn't feel like being in class." i said. "i'm in detention by the way, not here for leisure." 

....

after detention was up, i dodged out of the library before any of the boy could catch up with me. i hurried down to the football field, seeing hannah waiting for me. 

"hey i thought you went home." 

"i didn't," i said, "i was in guidance all day." 

"why?" 

"i didn't want to be in class." 

"oh," was all she said. 

i leaned my head on her shoulder, hugging her arm. i heard the clicking of a camera and looked over, seeing tyler. 

"hey," he said. 

"hey," i replied. 

"i hope that's okay, i just want to get some pictures of the first game." 

"yeah, it's fine." i nodded as hannah elbowed me. tyler walked off as i looked to hannah. "what?" 

"if you give him permission to take one photo of you, he's going to do it through your window too." 

"would you guys just stop with that." i said. "he's the one who helped me find out monty was cheating." 

"by taking pictures of him." 

i rolled my eyes and pulled away from her. 

"i'm not doing this." i said and got up, walking away.