hardships | 13 REASONS WHY

six

Tatum woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. Monty sat at the edge of her bed holding a glass of water.

"thanks," she took the glass taking a large sip out of it. he nodded his head and rubbed her feet.

"you were a mess last night," Monty said shaking his head.

"what did I do?" she asked only imaging the worst.

"you tried to get dicked down by Pratters," her jaw dropped as her hand flew across her face.

"NO," Tatum then busted out laughing, "you're joking right?"

"nope. i walked in because i knew you'd regret it in the morning," Tatum was glad he had walked in.

the last time she had sex was with her ex boyfriend, Chase Parker. they dated freshman year and half way through sophomore year. his dad got a new job a town over so that meant he had to leave Liberty. He didn't want to have the stress of long distance they decided to end their relationship.

"thank you for doing that," she smiled at him softly. their talk was interrupted by Bryce's yelling coming from downstairs.

"get the hell off my property!" Tatum and Monty both ran down the stairs. as Tatum reached the bottom, she froze. in the doorway was her ex, Chase Parker.

"ch-chase? what are you doing here?" she moved slightly towards the door, still in shock of seeing him.

"my dad's job relocated him back here," he had the biggest smile on his face. Tatum ran over to him and gave him the biggest hug.

"oh my god!" she said as they pulled back from the hug, "does that mean you're going to liberty?" he nodded his head. she took a few steps back from him so they could all talk.

"Montgomery de la Cruz, good to see you again brother,"

"i'm not your fucking brother," Tatum was confused as to why Monty and Bryce were acting so different with Chase now.

"hey, some of our friends are coming over soon to hang. do you want to stay? i'm sure everyone would love to see you again," Tatum was really happy that he was back.

"sure," Chase walked through their front door looking around, "place hasn't changed much."

tatum and chase were sitting at a table in the guest house drinking a beer while monty was playing a game on the tv, occasionally looking over his shoulder to make sure Tatum was good.

"what's up man," Zach called from across the yard as he held up a case of beer. he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Chase talking to Tatum.

"yo man what the fuck you stop for?" Alex said as he ran into the back of Zach. He looked up and met Zach's death glare on Chase. Monty pauses the game and stood up looking at Zach telling him not to do anything stupid.

"what's up fuckers?" justin yelled as he held hands with jessica. "Chase?"

"why does everyone look like they've seen a ghost? It's just Chase," Tatum said standing up to give Jessica a hug. "Chase is coming back to Liberty," a huge smile came across Tatum's lips as she said those words.

as the night went on, Tatum would walk over every now and then to see what Monty was up to but other than that she hung with Chase.

"Tate? can you come with me to grab more beer?" she started standing up when Chase grabbed her wrist.

"you can get it yourself can't you? I haven't seen her in forever, let me spend some time with her." Chase said as he let go of her wrist.

"you've spent enough time with her. tatum come on," he touched her back lightly, guiding her out of the guest house.

"what the fuck Monty? ever since Chase got back here you've been acting different," she stopped right outside of the doors. to their luck, everyone inside could hear them. "are you jealous of him because i'm spending more time with him then i am with you?"

"jealous? you think i'm jealous? why would i be jealous of a guy like him? he's a fucking worthless piece of shit!" monty said, partially yelling. everyone in the guest house stopped doing what they were doing to watch the scene behind them unfold.

"what the fuck? i literally dated him and you had no problem with it until before he left? was it because i was hurt that he left? what is your fucking problem with him?" bryce knew what was about to happen so him, Zach, Alex and Justin jumped up from their spots and ran over to Monty and Tatum. Jessica and some other baseball boys were sitting in chairs confused.

"Monty, lets not do this, okay?" Bryce said putting his hand on his shoulder trying to get him to calm down.

"do what? what aren't you guys telling me? why don't you like me hanging out with him? huh monty? fucking tell me," she yelled in his face.

"he fucking raped you Tatum. okay? he raped you," Bryce and the other 3 boys hung their heads low and Tatum stood their in shock. Jessica was now standing by Justin getting ready to chase after Tatum. Chase jumped up from his chair and ran over to Tatum.

"Tatum, you don't believe him do? I would never do anything to hurt you," he said putting her hand on his shoulder. she jerked away quickly thinking back to all the times she was drunk. memories from her birthday party came crashing in. tatum slapped Chase across the face and ran into her house.

"Tatum wait," Monty yelled after her. he grabbed her arm, turning her around so she was now facing him. "i'm sorry i didn't tell you sooner. if i didn't tell you then i thought it would convince me it didn't happen. i didn't want to see you hurt. i love you,"

"i- i need to be alone right now. please," she begged. he let go of her arm and let her run inside up to her room. Monty marched back over to where he left the others.

"i suggest you fucking leave. Now," he said glaring at Chase.

"fucking assholes," Chase said, grabbing his jacket leaving.

"he raped her?" jessica said tears streaming down her face.

"monty, what the fuck? we said she wasn't going to find out," Bryce said, obviously mad he told her.

"Would you rather her find out or keep hanging out with him? huh? i'm going inside," monty grabbed his cup, threw it in the trash and went up to one of the guest rooms.