hardships | 13 REASONS WHY

three

After Tatum made her rounds inside, she decided to go outside to see what the boys were up to. to no surprise, she saw them all with their shirts off shoving each other in the pool.

"Tatum, come join," Justin said waving his hand over at her. she shook her and laughed. monty walked up to her knowing he'd get her to join in on the fun.

"tater tot please come join. it'll make me happy," Monty said with the cheesiest smile on his face. she pushed his shoulder lightly laughing only to notice marks all over his chest and a black eye she hadn't noticed until now.

"Mont, what happened?" she said looking at him with concern.

"it was just a fight, no big deal," he shook his head and looked back down at her seeing as she wasn't buying any of it.

"which one of those bruises is from your dad?" he looked down at his feet. she knew him too well to know that it was just from a fight.

"are you guys coming or what?" Justin walked over to the best friends standing on the wet concrete by the pool. Tatum shook her head and crossed her arms across her chest.

"go without me," with that, she turned around and walked back inside the house to see what Jessica was up to. Montgomery ran after her knowing she was getting madder until he would tell her what happened. he grabbed her arm gently spinning her around to face him.

"the one on my shoulder," she nodded her head letting him know she was following. "the other marks are from a fight though," he let out a long sigh before walking over to an empty set of chairs alongside the house. "after I got home from practice yesterday, my dad was drunk, as always, but this time it was worse. he kept telling me why mom left us. he said it was my fault and how worthless I was and how much he wished mom would of gotten an abortion. he saw the bruise on my face and decided to make me pay for getting into another fight." she grabbed his hand and looked him in the eyes and saw the hurt. his dad would always beat him but this time she knew it was different, worse. she needed to do something to help him.

"Mont, I'm so sorry you have to go through that," she brought him in for a small embrace before cupping his face in her hands. she quickly wiped a tear that was falling down his cheek. "hey, it's okay. I'm here, I love you. why don't you stay here with me tonight. we can deal with your dad in the morning okay?" he nodded his head, quickly wiped his tears before they fell and walked back over to the boys.

tatum walked back into the house, needing a drink after her conversation with monty. she ran into marcus on the way over to the beer.

"hey tatum," she looked up at him with tears forming in her eyes. "you okay?" he asked showing concern.

"yeah, i'm fine. thanks though," she quickly walked around him and went straight to her room. she closed her door so no one would see her break down. she laid her head on her pillow and just let all of her emotions out.

why would his dad beat him?

what did he do to deserve this?

she woke up with a pounding headache, and it wasn't because she drank too much, it was because she cried herself to sleep thinking about how bad monty had it. she sat up and noticed montgomery was asleep in her bed. she shook him quietly waking him up.

"hey, i was going to go to monet's before school, you want anything, "he rolled onto his back looking up at her.

"yeah, i'll come with though," he got out of bed and went into Bryce's room to grab a pair of clothes.

bryce was sound asleep in his bed with bottles of beer scattered on his night stand. montgomery grabbed a a shirt and jeans from Bryce's closet and went back into tatum's room to change.