perfect? - montgomery de la cruz

Watch yourself

The ribbon cutting was too important to miss. Or that's what Ashley had been told this whole day at school. Her bruises were covered by layers of makeup so they at least looked presentable.

She was standing with Jess, Sherri and Alex, she had been ignoring all their questions about her bruises all day.

"Ashley, when did he do this?"

"Ashley, they look so bad."

Something that did grab her attention was Bryce. Or the fact that he was talking to Justin. She could see that Justin was getting real upset about what his former best friend was saying.

Bryce walked away from him, Justin was left alone and they met eyes for a second. His eyes were filled with anger but they softened up when he saw her face.

"I have to get to class.", she told her friends and walked away.

"I'm worried about her.", Alex admitted to Jess and Sherri.

"Yeah, she's acting like everything's fine but it's just a facade.", Sherri said and watched her friend walk to class.

"She's scared.", Jess stated.

———————————————————————

Ashley was sitting next to her boyfriend, watching Marcus walk up to the podium. Monty was wearing his baseball clothes and his signature baseball cap. He was holding her hand, he had been this way the whole day. It was like he felt bad.

She kind of zoned out, focused on all of the reporters instead of Marcus.

"But today, I'm... officially, resigning from that group.", that line caught Ashley's attention again.

"Because I'm a hypocrite. How can I say that I care about protecting girls when I've been protecting a rapist like Bryce Walker.", Marcus nervously said, the whole crowd went quiet and he ran off stage.

She had to cover smile with her hand so her boyfriend wouldn't see that she was literally laughing at what Marcus said.

"Fuck!", Monty quietly raged. He started squeezing her hand harder and harder, he probably didn't mean to do it, it just happened.

She didn't tell him to stop. She was scared. She didn't know if he was going to attack her right here, right now.

He didn't attack her, he just left her to go and talk to Bryce. She was nervous, her hands were shaking and her breathing was quick.

There were too many reporters who knew about her tape. Too many reporters who knew about her boyfriend. They knew too much about her life.

She rose from the chair and made her way through the reporters. Marcus almost ran into her when she was walking into the school again. The halls were filled with students who didn't want to watch the ribbon cutting, including Bryce.

"Hey buddy!", he greeted with a smirk and put his arm around her shoulder. He was trying to make her scared and he was succeeding.

"Listen, it's been a while since we talked and I know I've helped Monty beat the shit out of you and I'm sorry about that but I've got no beef with you.", he said and smiled to the students who looked at them.

"Really, we're not enemies, so just mind your business and I'll take care of mine.", he continued and stroked her chin with his thumb.

"Get your hands of me.", she hissed at him.

"Watch your fucking tone.", he answered with a smile and grabbed her shoulder harder.

"And, you know, watch yourself.", he added.