hardships | 13 REASONS WHY

one

Tatum had just received the news about her longtime friend, Jeff Atkins from her parents. Her mom rubbed her back and Tatum let out many tears. Bryce just sat at the table in shock, he didn't believe the sad news. Jeff Atkins was dead. Bryce and Jeff had been teammates for baseball for awhile now, not just in high school, but throughout grade school.

"um, I'm going to go over to Monty's," Tatum said getting up from her seat at the island.

"hey, I'll go with you if that's fine," Tatum nodded her head and the two siblings walked out the door and headed to Montgomery de la Cruz's house.

They pulled up to Monty's house and knocked.

"What?" Mr. de la Cruz answered. "Tatum, Bryce. Hi,"

"Hi Mr. de la Cruz, is Monty here?" she asked trying to look behind him. He took a step back, opening the door to let the two inside.

"Montgomery get your ass out here," he yelled. Tatum was never fond of Monty's dad. He would tell her awful things that his dad did to him throughout his childhood, and now into high school. You could hear Monty's door open and he walked out with a serious look on his face. "Bryce and his sister are here," Monty approached the two confused. His dad just walked away, they were guessing to go drink some beer.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"Can we talk in your room?" Bryce asked, pointing to Monty's room just down the hall.

"uh, sure," the three walked into Monty's room. Tatum sat on his bed as the other two stood up. Bryce shut Monty's door which meant that this was important.

"You didn't hear?" Tatum was the first to break the silence. Monty shook his head with a confused expression on his face.

"Hear what?"

"Jeff died in a car accident last night, Mont," Tatum said. Monty's faced dropped. Him and Jeff weren't super close but they played baseball together and he had Jeff to thank for him and Tatum becoming friends.

"Wait, shit. seriously?" Bryce and Tatum nodded at the same time.

"He was in a car accident after Jessica's party," Monty ran his hand down his face still not believing it.

"We should probably head to school. Can I just ride with you guys?" Monty asked grabbing his backpack. Tatum nodded her head and they headed for the door.

It was very quiet that day at school. Not much noise was made in the hallway. Monty even stayed out of trouble. Everyone was friends with Jeff. He wasn't one of those jocks who thought everything revolved around them. He had a good heart and good intentions and everybody knew that.