Trust Me (a Montgomery de la Cruz fanfic)

2 The safe place

I zoned out, going through every possible outcome of this in my head while the teacher finished her story about Romeo and Juliet, and the actors finish their little preview. This must be a really bad dream. I could not let him ruin my safe place.

"Let's give them a big applause, people", she said, and we did. "So now, you might have noticed we got a new addition to the group today. Everyone, this is Montgomery. He is not as experienced as you yet, so we all have to be helpful and patient, and soon he'll be just as talented as the rest of you. Montgomery, would you like to introduce yourself? Maybe say a few words?", she asked. "Just... just call me Monty", he said, looking at the floor. He didn't look so scary all of a sudden, he just looked lost. Like that whole big bad bully act just dropped and was replaced with an insecure little boy. "Alright", she broke the awkward silence. "I was thinking that since this play is so big, I will pair you up and give each of the pairs one scene to work on for the next couple of weeks.", she continued and pulled out the familiar "randomizer" as she liked to call it. The "randomizer" is pretty much a big black bowl that she uses every time she has to make choices so it will be as random and fair as possible. We have been an uneven number of participants in the class for a long time, so the last three people left in the bowl always ended up as a trio. I watched her as she picked out name after name after name. "Sarah and... Jake, pair up. Ricky and... John, pair up...", she went on until there were three names left. Millie, Taylor and myself. I turned to them and smiled as we were now the last trio. "And finally we are an even number here", the teacher smiled ecstatically. I had totally forgot about Monty. "I was thinking that maybe you, Maya, could pair up with Monty here. After all, you are the most experienced and he is brand new. Maybe you can give him some tips and help him out", she grinned like it was the best idea she'd ever had. I immediately got a big lump in my throat. Me pairing up with Monty? This is the worst nightmare I've ever had.

The groups disappeared into the groups they were assigned to after picking the scene they were playing from the "randomizer", and handed the matching script to the title they had picked. I tried swallowing the lump in my throat and looked over at Monty, who looked very uncomfortable. I decided right then and there that I was not letting him ruin this place for me. Time to grow some balls, even if it meant I had to change school when this was over. This is my place! Mine! And if he wants to be here he has to play by my rules! I walked over to him, trying to be as confident as possible, made one more failed attempt at swallowing the lump and spoke. Here goes nothing. "I need you to know this right away: We are all here by choice. This is our dream and passion. We do not kid around, so if you want to be part of this class you are gonna have to practice, show up on time, do your best and take this seriously. If you are not up for it you should leave right away. This is not school, okay?", I said, not sounding as stern as I was trying to. I prepared for the worst in return. "Okay", he replied. He looked a bit surprised, maybe even a bit scared, but not as surprised as I probably did. Okay? Was that it? Was he just going to take that from me? "Good! Now you go pick a scene for us", I could hear myself say. And so he did. I watched him almost in shock as he walked away from me. I could not believe it. I guess "Mr. Bad ass bully" isn't so tough without his crew around to have his back and cheer him on. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. He came back with the copies of a script and handed me one of them. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt after all. I mean, he seemed so different now. All alone and scared without a single friend, like a lost sheep. "Okay. Remember that this is a safe place. No one here is going to think that this is stupid or lame. No one is going to laugh at you.", I told him and gave him a smile. He didn't reply.

For the rest of the class we just sat across from each other just getting to know our lines, reading them back an forth. He didn't look up from the paper once. "Alright folks. Great job! We are done for today, but hold on to your scripts because you are gonna need them for a while. Remember to practice at home", the teacher yelled from the center of the room so all the groups spread out across the theater could hear her. This was the first time Monty had looked up from his script since we started reading. I was still surprised by how shy and insecure he suddenly was. "Hey, you did great", I encouraged him. He turned and our eyes met. That face that makes all the girls melt was staring right at me, and I had to compose myself to remember how to breathe. "I'm sorry if I was a bit harsh there to begin with", I apologized. "It's okay. Thanks", he finally spoke, his face hard as stone.

As I drifted off to sleep that night I had a dream about him. I dreamt that he had an evil twin. The evil school-Monty VS the good acting class-Monty. It's so hard to wrap my head around that these two Montys was the same person.