The Ending They Should've Gotten - Monty and Winston

Part 4

To say Winston was intrigued by Diego's words would be an understatement, "What kind of plan?" Winston asked before he could stop himself.

"It's not a plan, per say, but more like an idea." Estela corrected and Diego groaned.

"Ughh, that doesn't sound as cool." Diego whined as he dropped his head onto the table.

"Nothing about this is cool, Diego." Estela snapped and Diego immediately straightened up.

"Sorry." He mumbled and looked down.

A few seconds of awkward silence passed by before Winston broke the silence, "Well, whatever this plan or idea is, I want to help."

Estela and Diego both looked up at him when he said this.

"Are you sure? I mean, this is kind of intense stuff and we weren't sure if you were going to want to get involved in this." Estela asked him.

"I cared about Monty a lot. He deserves justice and he's going to get it." Winston said and Diego couldn't have smiled wider.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Diego whooped in excitement and Winston let out an amused laugh.

"Diego, calm down, we don't want people thinking we're going anything suspicious." Estela reprimanded.

"But we kind of are, aren't we?" Diego asked.

"There's nothing suspicious about trying to prove the person you love didn't commit a murder." Winston spoke jokingly, before he realized what he had said.

Estela's eyes widened as Diego looked at him in confusion.

"Love?" Diego asked.

Winston's face turned a dark shade of red. His palms began to sweat as he answered, "Uh, yeah, you know, like brotherly love, he was a really close friend of mine."

"Oh, I had no idea Monty had any friends outside of Liberty." Diego said and Winston let out a breath of relief, thankful he didn't catch on.

"Speaking of, how did you and Monty meet?" Estela asked, like she had no idea. Like she hadn't read those pages in the journal.

"We met at a Hillcrest party. He was with Bryce, but then he left him alone to go get a drink. Monty was standing there all alone, so I introduced myself and we talked for a little bit." Winston lied and Estela knew it, but Diego seemed to buy his fake story.

Just then, a waitress came over and asked if she could take their order. Diego immediately asked for a double cheeseburger. Estela ordered a vanilla milkshake and Winston settled for french fries.

He had been having a hard time eating anything lately, so he hoped the fries would be bland enough to keep down.

The waitress left to put their order in, but as soon as she was gone, Diego was back to asking questions.

"Wait a sec, how were you and Monty such good friends if all you did was talk at some random party?" Diego asked. Winston contemplated telling him the truth right then and there, but he ultimately decided it would be best to tell him later.

"Well, we hung out a lot at that party. We, uh, just talked..." Winston paused when he saw Estela and Diego's facial expressions. Diego looked confused again as Estela nodded at him to continue.

"We were both pretty drunk, so we ended up telling each other a lot about ourselves and I guess a friendship formed between us. Bryce took him to a few other parties and we always would end up hanging out."

Diego still seemed unconvinced, but as he opened his mouth to ask something else, the waitress returned, this time with food.

As soon as the plate was set in front of Diego, he ravenously began to eat. Estela looked at him in disgust.

"Ew, that is seriously disgusting." She said and Diego glanced at her with an annoyed look.

"You try practicing for four straight hours without any food in your system. I need to replenish my fuel." Diego said with his mouth full. Estela started cracking up and soon they were all laughing.

Winston forced himself to eat a few fries, because even if it wasn't healthy, it was still food.

"So, I'm still confused about what this idea is exactly." Winston said, pushing his fries around in the basket.

Diego and Estela looked at each other for a moment, before Estela spoke up, "To be perfectly honest, we don't have a solid idea. But the fact that now we know where Monty really was, means that we're one step closer to proving his innocence."

"We know Monty was framed, but we don't know who actually framed him and why they did." Diego added.

"They had to be protecting someone." Winston said.

At Estela and Diego's confused looks, he continued.

"Whoever framed Monty obviously knew who really killed Bryce. What would be in it for them if they weren't protecting someone or themselves?"

"Oh shit, you right. Whoever went to the police has to know who actually did it." Estela said.

"There's this group of students at Liberty who always look paranoid or like they're plotting something. And they're always together." Diego said and Winston thought of something.

"Would this group of students happen to include Clay Jensen and Ani Achola?"

Diego looked at him, surprised, "Yeah, how did you know that?"

"And how do you even know who they are?" Estela asked.

"Clay Jensen messaged me on Facebook a few days before Monty was arrested. They had found a fake id that some guy used to take the SAT's for me in Monty's car. They wanted to meet with me to see if I knew anything about Bryce's death. I told them I had no idea who did it. But I told them me and Monty were together the night Bryce died."

"They knew." Diego said under his breath, "They're the only other people who knew where Monty really was, which means they had to have been the ones talked to the police."

Winston leaned forward as he spoke, "The paranoid group knows something that we don't."

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Author's Note: Seems like they're getting closer and closer to figuring out the truth!

If you're wondering where Deputy Standall and Monty are, don't worry, you'll find out next chapter!

Thank you for reading! :)