Higher (East Knights book 1)

Monty

Sunday 12:47 pm

"Good morning finally," Maggie mumbles as she turns back around finishing her makeup. "I thought you were never gonna wake up," She adds.

She makes her way over to the bed and hands me a cup of coffee and a Chick-Fil-A bag. "For me," I say sarcastically as I grab the bag from her in excitement.

"Not if you're going to act like that." She explains as she tries to take the bag back from me. Instead of allowing her to do so I pull her down on top of me and lay a kiss on her lips. "Thank you,"

"Yeah yeah," She says getting up and making her way over to the mirror again. "Get ready, please," She says as she finishes up her makeup.

"Where are we going?" I mumble through the food in my mouth. "Beach?" I add questioning.

"No, we're going to fucking Mars," Matt says as he casually walks into the room. "Sorry I forgot you just joined the land of the living," He laughs as Kevin walks up to him.

For some reason, everyone is in our room right now. For what? Did I miss something when I was sleeping? Wait. "Where's Arlin and Ivy?" I ask scanning the room, as well as looking through Matt's rooms door.

"Lunch I think, I don't know, what are we doing right now is the main question," Matty mumbles as he reaches into the bag in my hand and pulls out food. I hit his hand away but he manages to get a hash-brown out and puts it in his mouth.

"Okay, why is everyone in here?" I say pulling my bag closer to me before anyone else can take anything out.

"Cause we're trying to make plans, get up," Maggie says pulling one of my arms up with her. "Monty, for real let's go." She adds pulling my arm harder.

"Fine," I finally give in before getting up off the bed. "Where are we going?" I survey the room. No one has no idea. By the looks on everyone's faces, they have no idea. This was a waste of time. "Okay, good talk then," I say turning back for the bed.

"Beach! Wasn't that an original plan?" Matt asks before I'm able to lay back down.

"Wait, who has a costume for tonight?" I ask. No one moves. They all just look at me like I'm fucking stupid. "For the club tonight? You need a costume to get in." I reiterate.

"Wait, I thought we were just having another party here?" Kev brings up as he sits down at the end of the bed.

"No?" I question as my eyes scan the room. No one's faces seem to know what I'm talking about. So great. This is great.

"So, let's go get costumes then," Matt announces as he shakes his keys in our faces. "Come on," He adds before making his way out the door and into the hallway.

Sunday 3:56 pm

"What do you need a new phone for?" I mumble agitated. We've been standing in this line for over an hour. And for what? Maggie has a perfectly good phone. It turns on it turns off. No cracks. Perfectly fine.

"Pictures!" She squeals in excitement. I sigh in relief when I notice that there's only one more person in front of us.

Arlin: Wya?

Monty: With Maggie, where tf have you been all day???

Arlin: Nowhere man, what r y'all doing?

Monty: Suppose to be getting costumes for tonight.

Arlin: Shit okay bye.

That was weird right. I haven't seen him all day. The last thing I hear is he's out with Ivy, who's dating our best friend, and now she's suddenly gone?

Monty: Wya?

Ivy: With Matt, what's up?

Monty: Nthn, see you later.

"Do you think Ivy is cheating on Matt," I finally announce full-fledged curiosity filling my voice. "I'm sorry what?" Maggie says looking up from her phone. "Like with Arlin, maybe?" I add.

We move up in line and she holds her hand up to me informing me that we'll finish this in a minute. All I know is I hope she's not cheating on him. Matt has been through a lot. Fuck.

Sunday 4:26 pm

Maggie finally got her phone, and I'm not gonna lie I'm jealous. "Okay, so what we're you saying about Ivy?" She says as we both walk towards my car.

"Is she cheating with Arlin?" I ask again reaching down for my keys to unlock the car door. "Not possible," She says without hesitation before opening up her side of the car.

"Why not? You've said it yourself you don't think she likes Matt that much." I say in defense starting the car.

"I just think she likes Arlin more or liked him more. I don't know, she doesn't talk to me much anymore. Her and Celia are bff's." She says sounding hurt.

Honestly, I don't think I remember the last time Ivy and Maggie did hang out. Other than parties of course. But the last time just the two of them hung out. I can't recall it.

Sunday 9:18 pm

"Monty," Ivy shouts as she sloppily throws her arms around me. "Hey, Ivy," I say adjusting her arms so that she isn't hanging off of my neck.

"You are great," She says breathing between every word. She takes the bottle in her hand and brings it up to her mouth. I take it from her before she's able to take a sip of it.

"Where's your boyfriend?" I shout over the music in the club. "I don't know fucking Celia maybe." She's not talking about Matt. Matt would never fuck with two girls at once. He's learned his lesson before.

"Arlin?" I ask, curious about what Maggie and I were discussing earlier. "Yeah, he's off with Celia somewhere." She says sounding hurt. Which she has no right to be.

"Just sit down okay," I say before picking up a bottle of water and handing it to her. "Drink this," I nod towards the bottle as I pull my phone out of my pocket.

Monty: Get up to our table man fr

Matthew: okay

Next thing I know I see Kev and Matt racing up to our table on the loft of the bar. I turn my head towards Ivy and then back at Matt. Maggie is sitting next to her now.

"What's up?" Kev asks as he gets closer. Matt skips me altogether and goes straight for his girlfriend. "I think we should get her home." I imply before looking down at my watch.

I know what Kev is about to say. Shit, I'm about to say it myself. But I really don't want Ivy drinking anymore and saying something she might regret. Especially in front of Matt. That might break him altogether.

"It's barely 9:30." Kev whines as he looks down at his phone. "I know," I mumble before turning my body to look back at Ivy.

It looks like she passed out. But I see her eyes flickering every so often telling me that she hasn't.

"Me and Matt will take her to the Hotel, you watch Maggie." I say no question in my tone as I turn back towards Kev.

"Heard, see ya boys," Kev says before reaching his hand out to Maggie. "Wanna dance?" He asks her smiling. Fuck what am I doing?